Author's Note: What? Only one review last chapter? Come on, people, is anyone out there?

And to Bob, yes I read my reviews, and I think a fic from you would be great.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pikmin, but I do own Holly, Artemis, Kararos, and the Shadow Assassin.

Pikmin 3: Wrath of the Shadows

Chapter 3: Darkness Under the Ice

Day 2, The Valley of Repose

As our heroes landed for another day, one thing was on their mind, the Naz'kra from yesterday.

"How do we beat something like that?" Kararos muttered. "My sword went right through it." Olimar had an idea.

"This thing seems like the Water Wraith, a nasty ghoul, it can probably be harmed by Purple Pikmin… Oh! I have to show you how to use the Onion!" He stood under the Red Onion's glowing circle and said, "Pikmin!" A glowing screen appeared with the Pikmin count on it. Olimar pressed a button and the 20 Red Pikmin came out and gathered behind him.

He directed them to the Pellet Posies that had sprung back up overnight, this time with more joining the originals. The Pikmin harvested the Pellets and produced 14 seeds, which were immediately plucked. While Olimar and Kararos went over the map, Holly and Artemis talked about clothes.

"Holly, how can you wear that in this weather?" Artemis wondered. While he was in a jacket and jeans, Holly was wearing the same outfit as she did on the day they received the assignment.

"I was raised up at Flanoir, the city of snow." Holly explained, "This is nothing compared to my hometown." (A/N I don't own Flanoir, the name came from Tales of Symphonia, which is owned by Namco.) Kararos yelled for the two to come over, and they did, followed by the Pikmin.

"Bulborbs." Olimar whispered, keeping one eye on the two Dwarves, and the other on their larger counterpart that they had come across. They split the forces. Holly and Artemis grabbed a few Reds and squashed the Dwarves

Unfortunately, Olimar and Kararos were having a bit less luck. The huge monster had woken up and had already eaten 6 Pikmin! And its appetite wasn't gone yet! It headed towards Olimar, and was about to make a snack of it, when… SLASH! The Bulborb crumpled to the ground, dead. Kararos pulled his sword out of its back, cleaned it off, and sheathed it. The Pikmin gathered the corpses, producing 20 new Pikmin, 46 total.

A bit farther north was a small hole. The Dolphin gave a brief explanation on the underground areas, and its exploration pod followed them into the hole.

Cave of Beginnings, Sublevel 1

"Wah!" CRASH! Our heroes landed on the cave's snowy floor. Holly spit some snow out of her mouth as Olimar took a look around. The small room was empty, but a room right next to them had 4 Snow Bulborbs and a large treasure. They flattened the enemies and brought the bodies back for 2 pokos a piece. The remaining Pikmin gathered the bizarre treasure and followed Kararos to the next hole.

Treasure: Mystical Card (A Dark Magician card) – 200 pokos

Sublevel 2

Next, a small tunnel. It led to a small clearing. In the clearing, three Snow Bulborbs, and a pair of Violet Candypop Buds. Once more, the enemies were flattened, and then Olimar threw 10 Reds into the Buds. He explained to the confused group about the Buds as he was plucking the Purple Pikmin.

For 6 more pokos, the Pikmin took the bodies into the ship, and the exploration continued into another tunnel. Unfortunately, there just happened to be a huge rock in their path. No one had an answer on how to get through this one, no one but the Purples. They went to work on the rock and destroyed it.

At the end of the tunnel, there was a room that looked like a shrine, a banged up shrine that is. The room was circular; in the middle of it were two pedestals. Both were empty. A nearby geyser had been knocked out of commission, and next to it was a bizarre looking hole. On the floor by the right pedestal was a small object, which the Pikmin took back to the Dolphin's pod. Our heroes gathered their courage and nervously descended into the darkness.

Sublevel 3, Final Floor.

They were surrounded by darkness. The only path was in front of them. Piercing through the darkness, a small geyser was visible. Olimar told the others to stay back as he took the purples into the square room. Sure enough, the assassin was waiting for him.

"So you have come… Prepare to die!"

Boss: Shadow Assassin

Music: The Tales of Symphonia Sheena fight music.

The Assassin pulled out the dagger arm and swung at Olimar. He dodged, but the attacks kept coming, until Olimar was up against the wall. The monster swung into the wall, and was stuck! Olimar took the opportunity to throw Purples at its eye. The purples pounded half of its health away before…

"ENOUGH!" A wave of dark energy knocked the purples off, and it speared one, killing it. Then it took aim at Olimar with a blast from the claw-arm. It hit Olimar head-on! He staggered up and ran circles around the Assassin to narrowly dodge the blasts. He got behind the Assassin and…

"Boo!" The Assassin turned around and Olimar bombarded him with the Purples. It fell to the ground, never to rise again.

"No! Impossible!" It disintegrated, leaving behind a computer chip…

Cave of Beginnings – COMPLETED!

Back on the surface, the Dolphin scanned the computer chip and found map data.

"It will take me all night to decode this information, we'll blast off now, and visit the new area tomorrow. Oh, the Purples, they can go in here."

"The Assassin has failed… How?" "I told you it would fail, Olimar is tougher than he looks, and those others are pretty smart, too." "JUST SHUT UP!"

End day.

Pokos: 594/40000

Pikmin

Red: 46

Purple: 9

Author's Note: I've revised the chapter a bit, fixed a typo, and added a teaser. Also, if anyone has any treasure ideas, let me know.

Next Chapter: Our heroes enter the Bulborb Cliffs, what new challenges await, and what new color is waiting for them, find out next…