When Olimar woke up the first thing he registered was something poking at his arm. Part of him was actually thinking of just ignoring it, just turning over to the side and slipping back into sleep. Another part of him knew that would be a probably be a terrible idea. He groaned, still feeling very tired, and found himself wanting to keep sleeping. Regardless, whatever had been poking him was incredibly incessant. When whatever had been trying to wake him up began to try harder, he found himself unable to ignore it. He sat up.

Instantly it felt to Olimar like one of those days.

He just knew it was going to be one of those days where you want to lay back and sleep the day away, but as much as he wanted a break he knew that today was also very important and was surely not one to sleep through- it was the final push. They were close, so there was really no time to rest right now, resting was for when they finally got on board the ship. When they fully and truly earned it. It had been a rough few days and it was really taking it's toll on the small captain; sleeping on the ground was pretty brutal, even if he had admittedly gotten somewhat used to it it didn't mean he wasn't still missing his bed.

He got up and stretched his aching self a bit, looking over at the red Pikmin with the flower, the culprit of his awakened state. It chirped the Pikmin equivalent of a 'good morning' to him and he wearily smiled, going to pat it on the head. He cleared his throat.

"Good morning...," Olimar yawned. His words came out coarsely, somewhat a jumble of regular speech and Pikmin speech through his tire. He watched as the red stared at him for a while, it's expression not really readable. He noticed it's hands had taken to being wrapped around his arm when it started to pull him excitedly, trying to get him off the ground.

"Okay, okay..." The Hocotatian was a bit taken by surprise by it's eagerness, but allowed the Pikmin to pull him to stand. As he now stood, he felt a head rush coming on, but didn't have time to think about it for long as the Pikmin started to pull him to walk with it. Olimar scratched his head.

"...Where are you trying to take me?" he asked. As reliable as Pikmin had been to him in the past, this little one's urgency still seemed at least a little unsettling. That, and they were walking further into the very potentially dangerous cave. Olimar wondered what it could want with him.

It cooed an answer, and the captain keyed in on the words 'big' and 'flower'.

"Big flower?" He didn't really understand. On this world there tended to be many large flowers as the foliage tended to grow to a rather large scale there. The Pikmin had seemed to pick up on his misunderstanding and touched it's unoccupied hand to it's face in thought, before it seemed struck by an idea.

The words that came out this time were 'queen' and then 'flower'. The captain pondered this.

"...You mean a Queen Candypop Bud?" The Pikmin began to nod happily, expressively pulling twice gently on Olimar's arm.

Olimar was suddenly very mirthful, he couldn't help but be happy at the news: with a Queen Candypop Bud, they would be able to raise their Pikmin numbers again, even if just minorly.

They walked further through the cave, Olimar looking all around the area constantly and remaining at watch as he let the Pikmin lead the way. It was surprisingly empty and calm in this area.

"...You're the red Pikmin from before, right?" Olimar spoke up. The Pikmin seemed focused ahead. "The one that had called me Olimar? The others all seem to call me by the name 'Pikmin Father', but not you." The Pikmin turned around to the short captain briefly and nodded, before turning back around.

"You seem to know a lot more terms and understand me a lot more than the others seem to. Is there a reason for that?" The Pikmin made a high squeaking sound.

'Here' 'since' 'start'. Olimar cocked his head.

"You've been here since the start?" He wasn't sure what it meant.

He picked up the next words: 'followed' 'after' 'Louie'.

"What do you mean?" He thought it to be an obvious statement as all the Pikmin had followed after Louie at some point.

It said 'Olimar' 'helmet' and 'smashed', but then repeated 'followed' 'after' 'Louie'.

It suddenly clicked to Olimar that the Pikmin must be from the previous group, the group he had taken into the Dream Den all those days ago. This red Pikmin was trying to say it had followed Louie all through the Wistful Wild and into the Unforgiving Woodland, it was around before this whole mess, it knew what had happened to him, it knew who he was before he was turned into a Pikmin, it was around before he became what he was...

In the back of his head, Olimar somehow thought he recognized this Pikmin from all those days ago. It was weird, there was nothing very distinctive about it but somehow he felt like he knew it to be true.

"I didn't know that...," Olimar paused, suddenly lost in thought, "...I guess I can rely on you to know what you're doing then, huh?"

He looked down to it, waiting for an answer but he can't help but be surprised when, abruptly, the red comes to a sudden halt.

The Pikmin didn't get the chance to respond, as they suddenly arrive at a clearing as well as the apparent destination the Pikmin envisioned.

Olimar can't help but gasp.

In front of his eyes is a miraculous sight.

The Pikmin wasn't lying when it said that there was a Queen CandyPop Bud, in fact, in his view now stands several of them, what could be said to be a sort of Candypop Bud gold mine; there's Queen Candypop Buds scattered everywhere and there's Ivory and Violet ones as well. The entire space is lit up as if it were outside rather than deep within rock, there's glowstems off to the sides as well as luminescent glowcaps, the whole area has this warm and welcoming feel that's oh-so inviting...

In the area are all of the Pikmin that they still had, a rather sparse amount-especially in variety- and as they enter the room the little guys are all greeting Olimar, calling to him, and they all seem very much awake. All of the Pikmin seemed to be rather ready for the day, a strange thought, as Olimar often found them to be sleeping in until he had been the one to call them out. There's spectralids all colour of the rainbow flapping through the air as Olimar spots some Pikmin happily eating nectar off to the right...

"This...is incredible."

It's a beautiful place that makes part of him wish they might stay for some time longer...

A thought crosses his mind, a thought that this may now all be do-able. He feels hope well up inside of him, hope that maybe they might be able to do this afterall. This place has bestowed him with a new sense of optimism. He decides that when or if he gets the chance to document this he will name this newly found place the Unanticipated Oasis, named as his lucky break in the harshest of times.

He smiled as he stepped forward, instantly feeling more awake than he had in probably a long time.

He had a lot of work to do, after all.


When Louie awoke it was in a bit of a panic. His experience with the insect: the insect that had threatened him and Olimar's life yesterday and deemed him a parasite, had unfortunately seemed to have left him with unsatisfactory sleep: rather harsh and nightmarish dreams had left him on edge.

He tried to calm himself down but he couldn't help but feel scared, shaky...

When awake he could at least relish in the fact that he knew they were only bad dreams, nothing more. He realized that lingering on it wouldn't do anyone any good.

There was also the relief that using his strange power wasn't something he would have to do any more, that he had gotten the whole 'side-effects for his power' thing off his chest but...

He felt like maybe he should keep trying it out? He wondered if maybe it was like many other talents: that it required practice to really get good at it. With what had happened the motivation to try it again was just about depleted but...

He wouldn't lie, part of him would like to try it again, if only to be more helpful to Olimar-

'Olimar?' Sudden realization hit Louie that he seen no sign of the other Pikmin-Hocotatian to be seen. He begun to look all over.

Said captain was nowhere to be found.

Looking into this further, the Pikmin were nowhere to be found either.

A sudden pang of worry rushes through him.

He worries that maybe just maybe...

Had Olimar gone to look for the ship alone? Had he forgotten and left him behind again? He didn't think he would be able to take being alone again, especially right now. Not when he would be left with himself, left fearfully having to figure out fully what he was now and what he could do now and all by himself-

He hears a shuffling sound from outside the cave, and he turns to look quickly.

'Olimar-'

His eyes go wide at what he sees.

In his view isn't Olimar but several small bugs, strange looking brown bugs, looking to be at a larval stage of growth but of a species he can't recount ever seeing before. Their backs are turned to him, preoccupied it seems eating and swarming something. He freezes, trying not to make any sudden movements so they won't notice him. He begins to back away slowly: although they are rather on the small side there are somewhere around thirty of them and not knowing their nature they could potentially be dangerous. He was clearly outnumbered-at the very least.

He stops as he steps on a twig, the small snap makes a cringe-worthy sound. They're all stopping and he could feel his pulse quicken. It feels like it's in slow motion when one turns to look at him, it's eyes shift and it's entire body turns. The others are quick to follow, each individual gaze shifting and directing right to where he is.

Louie gulps audibly.

What immediately puts him off are their eyes: they have eyes that are empty. Eyes that are white. He's put into a staring contest with the bugs, their gaze unyielding as he finds himself unable to look away in the fear they will attack him, that they will strike at any moment-

"Oh good, you're up!" Louie jumps a good centimetre. He turns around quickly to the voice, to be found looking at none other than Captain Olimar standing in front of him, and with what seems to be an incredibly large group of colourful Pikmin in tow.

Oh thank the stars

He feels relief, relief that he finds vanishing almost instantly, as he quickly remembers the insects that are outside and quickly jolts and he turns around-

"What are you looking at?"

Louie's surprised to find that they are no longer there; all of the insects seem to have vanished without a trace. He stares for a good minute, but there's no trace of them in sight. He turns back around to Olimar.

'...I,' he pauses, 'I just thought I seen something...' Olimar looks rather concerned.

"Oh." There's a heavy pause: the only noise some of the Pikmin that are playfully moving all around.

Louie can't help but go to stare. He had taken to directing his sights to the large hoard of Pikmin following behind Olimar and looks to be stunned.

'...How did you get so many...!?' Olimar laughs. He goes to pat one of the Pikmin standing next to him on the head.

"I had a little help."


The day began uphill. As in literal walking up a hill. Stepping out not far from the cave, the ground began to slope upwards; walking turned into a climbing act. The atmosphere seemed a lot different outside now- it almost felt like it was autumn, and they now found themselves surrounded by cooler air, trees with leaves of reds and oranges, earth below that became cool, the world consisting of primarily soft browns and a dull haze.

As they were reaching the top they could see the faint morning sun peaking over and out of clouds. They had stopped walking not long after they had reached flat ground, though, at a certain new development.

The first thing they see is a large wall.

A large stone gate, closing everything that could possibly be ahead in. It was something they had seen before, gotten used to seeing in fact, these barriers that are placed among the forests, looking fitting where they stood yet not at the same time. They were often built strong and out of stone, this one happened to be a deep grey colour. It was rather ominous, these structures, made a sense of wonder arise over this planet, wonder of if somebody really had been here, intelligent life perhaps, building these structures…

"Okay everyone," Olimar points straight out and forward, "Charge!"

He called the group to swarm the structure, the sounds of leaves, bulbs, and flowers clashing and smacking at rock was almost immediate, the vocalizing grunts of the Pikmin rising high. Expectantly, the wall was going down fast, all one hundred working at once, the foundation crumbled away in meer seconds.

As the dust clears away from the work, Olimar turns to Louie as he does the same. They both nod to one another, before Olimar decidedly steps forward to lead the group through the debris and onto the other side.

No turning back now.

Olimar stops as he looks out into vast land ahead and Louie does shortly after. As they peer out they're both in awe.

Louie had never gotten to really see the Wistful Wild except for the moment briefly when he had fled away from it but for Olimar...

The view was certainly different from what he remembered.

It had only been a matter days since he had been there but the whole area had taken on a series of noticeable changes.

New walls had been erected.

Creatures that were taken down before were back once more, along with several enemies that hadn't even been there last time.

Several of these small brown insects travelled in something that could only be described as a swarm. They travelled numerous, all in one group...

Even though Louie hadn't ever really been there, he was sure that something was definitely wrong with this picture. He turned to Olimar to ask him if this area had looked like this before but his suspicions were soon confirmed of this place. His superior's shocked expression at the display was the only answer he needed to know things were definitely off.

And looking out into the distance, there was something...

A large, off-white mass.

It came in patches all around and it seemed to cover the entire area...

At the very core it surrounded the centre of the terrain, but looking closer is when they spotted something even more strange.

It was a round object.

An unknown object.

What was most noticeable was how big it was...

So sizeable, so large, such an incredible mass.

'Wh-What is that?!' Olimar didn't tear his eyes away once he had spotted it. He found that he really didn't have an answer. He didn't know what it was, all he knew was absolutely sure that he had never seen it there before. He looked ahead in disbelief.

It almost looked like...

Webs.

A huge tangled up mess of webs.

"I think...," he stopped, squinting his eyes further, "I think it might be a nest."

He could almost feel Louie trembling. Maybe it was him that was trembling, he didn't know.

'A n-nest for WHAT?!'

Good question.

Olimar was really hoping they wouldn't find out. He really didn't want to find out. They both stared ahead.

'Okay, okay...,' Louie spoke, taking deep breathes, seeming to be trying to calm himself down, 'So there's that...but where is the Ship?'

Olimar felt his heart skip a beat. Realization flooded over him like a bucket of the coldest ice water.

That area...it's...

He realized that if the ship was still stationed here, if it hadn't left yet...

It would likely be somewhere in the centre of the nest.


(Thanks for reading as always! On another note, this just reached a 1000 views(yay))