Author's Note: Sometimes when I get bored of writing things, I work on something else to take a break. However, today, I felt like not working on any of my multi-chaptered stories. So, I wrote a little one-shot. I hope you enjoy.

Contains references to: The First Newcomers

Captain Olimar skipped through the halls, a handful of Pikmin following him closely. It was four in the morning, and, as far as he knew, no one else wakes up at four in the morning. This enabled the miniscule man to pursue one of his hobbies without being harassed by his peers -

Gardening.

When the tournament had started, Captain Olimar had made a request for a garden to be put in his dorm, so that his Pikmin would have a natural habitat. Although he wouldn't let him build in his dorm, Master Hand had reserved a spot in the castle's courtyard for him. While the courtyard is a popular hangout for the Smashers, there's of course no one hanging around there at this time.

As he walked, his and his Pikmin's footsteps seemed to get louder. Perhaps more Pikmin had joined their march? Olimar stopped in his tracks and turned around. He had the same number of Pikmin he had when he started on his way.

The Pikmin had stopped too.

The footsteps kept going.

It became clear that they weren't alone. Olimar looked past his Pikmin, refusing to let his adorable people cloud his sight.

That's when he saw the Villager, smiling and skipping toward him.

"O-Oh no!" Olimar cried out. The Villager has a reputation around the Smashers to be somewhat... unstable. And terrifying. Yes, the tournament hadn't even properly started yet and he was already one of the most terrifying things around. It certainly didn't help that the Villager and his friends beat up Bowser upon arrival.

"Hey, Mr. Olimar!" the Animal Crossing boy chirped. "I have something to ask you!"

"Y-yes? What do you have to ask of me?"

The Villager stepped closer and closer to them until he was looming over the group of tiny people like a tower. "Can you..."

He pulled out a shovel.

Olimar flinched and held up his hands. "N-no!"

The Villager's expression broke, turning into a frown. "Aw... I was just going to ask if you knew a place to plant stuff..."

"Don't hur- wait, what?"

The Villager pulled out a second object - a sapling in a flower vase. "I wanted to plant this, and ROB told me that you were an expert at gardening, so..."

This was a surprise to the space captain. "Oh, I'm sorry! I just assumed that you were going to..." he coughed. "Well, I'll h-happy to help you in your task. I was on the way to my garden right now. You can just... er... follow me."

The Villager went back to smiling. "Got it!"

Now, Olimar had the Villager following him on his daily routine. It was unnerving, having a cheerful psychopath that's bigger than you following you.

However, he did seem to mean well, Olimar noted.

Finally, they arrived at his garden, which was a section of the courtyard cordoned off with a nice white picket fence. The Villager looked at the garden in wonder, admiring all the flowers and small plants that the captain had planted. "You have a really nice garden, Mr. Olimar!"

"Oh, really?" Olimar was a bit flustered by the compliment. "Why, thank you."

"However, you're missing one thing..."

"What that might be...?"

He held out his potted plant. "A tree!"

Olimar directed him to a part of the garden where the Villager could plant the sapling. The boy carefully dug into the ground, creating a nice little hole for the plant to fit in. Olimar's Pikmin dragged the sapling into the hole and Olimar covered it up with dirt, leaving a little sprouting tree in the middle of it.

"I daresay, this is a nice tree that you picked out."

"Thanks. It's the same tree that I always plant back home."

"Really?" Olimar was intrigued - it looked like someone else enjoyed gardening.

"Yep! I planted all sorts of things: regular trees, flowers, trees that grow fruit, really nice stuff." he looked up into the sky, fondly reminiscing. "I hope my friends can take care of my plants for me while I'm gone, though. It'd stink if I find all my flowers wilted when I come home."

"I'm sure they will." he looked at the little sapling, which was as tall as he was. "I'm sure that your sapling will grow to be a mighty tree, too."

The two (plus several Pikmin) stood there for a while, looking at the precious, beautiful garden. It was a nice moment, standing around, admiring the nature as the sun rose, with no one else to bother them.

"...Can I plant more things?"

"Hm? What do you have in mind?"

"I wanna plant a peach tree, or maybe a lemon tree. Those sound nice, and they taste best when grown yourself."

"That sounds quite lovely, actually. You have my permission."

Villager flashed a smile; a smile that did not have creepy intent behind it, but a truly, cheerful smile. "Thanks, Mr. Olimar!"

"I'll help you take care of the trees, too. I've never raised a tree, before."

"Aww... you're the best!"

"...Once again, thank you." Olimar said, accepting the compliment and keeping it filed away in memory.

"Now..." the Villager produced an ax, making the Pikmin step away in panic. "I need to go practice my chopping skills."

Olimar watched as the boy trotted off, (hopefully) heading to one of the castle's training rooms. The captain looked around the garden, watching his Pikmin wander around the nice place. His garden was quite nice.

However, with some collaborating with his new acquaintance, he's sure that it'll only get better.