Chapter 4: The lake

21:00 – Slowly creeping along in the water, small ripples came off of us as we went. Looking down, I could see the stone littered bottom of the pond through its crystal clear water. I allowed my feet to glaze the surface…it was icy cold. I shivered at the thought of falling in.

Looking around at the vast beauty of the landscape, I watched a few wollypogs, as Olimar named them. I was always afraid of these creatures, until I watched a pack of blue pikmin chase after them. Wollypogs seemed to be afraid of us…they will run away from anything…thinking back on it, they kind of remind me of…me…

I was so enticed at watching these small creatures swim around that I almost forgot the kind of danger I was in…until I saw a two black orbs pop up from the water in the distance. Then another pair rose from the opposite side of me…then another behind us. Two more pairs popped in front of us. Bulbmin didn't notice them because he didn't have my inferred vision.

"Stop!" I said in a loud, scared whisper, "Don't move!"

Bulbmin stopped abruptly. Terrified, it moved its eyestalks to face me and said "…What do you see?"

"Shhh…Look over there to the left…ya see those two black orbs, glimmering?"

Taking much longer to spot them than I did, Bulbmin finally spotted them. "What are they?"

"…They're eyestalks…" was my answer.

"…of what?"

Pausing a moment to recall what Olimar referred to them as, I replied "…hermit crawmads."

The hermit crawmads eyestalks began to sway as if caught in a light breeze…or ready to strike at any second.

Looking around, Bulbmin said "We're boxed in!"

I remembered fighting these creatures on land before, and I also recalled the battle strategy Olimar used to defeat them. I whispered "Don't move until I tell you…I've got a plan."

"Let's hope you do, 'cause I sure don't!" whispered a terrified Bulbmin.

Suddenly there was an enormous explosion of water and five of what looked like giant hermit crabs without shells charged at us with tremendous speed, parting the water as they went with their enormous, bone-crushing claws.

"Wait…"

Charging at us from every direction, it seemed hopeless. Bulbmin was even shaking violently.

"Wait…"

When the hermit crawmads were about forty paces away from us, I screamed, "NOW! Run strait as fast as you can!"

Bulbmin didn't hesitate. Running directly between two of them, just centimeters from their snapping claws, causing them to ram into each other, we had escaped. I looked back to see all five of them ram into each other in a frenzy. Dazed, they all crawled slowly and disappointedly back to their holes.

Breathing a sigh of relief from safely escaping that horrendous encounter, Bulbmin and I finally reached the opposite shore.

"You should be safe here for now, at least. What an ingenious plan! Where'd you learn that?"

Slightly blushing, I replied "Well…Olimar used that tactic against them once. If you don't move at the right moment, they will follow you as you run, instead of charging in a strait line."

"Nice! How's your arm?"

"Fine…I guess." After a few moments, I tried to end this conversation before a monster snuck up on us. "Look, I'll keep watch, you can get some rest."

"Now you listen here!" Bulbmin said in an almost demanding voice. "You're the one who should get some rest. I'm the one who's nocturnal, and you're hurt. I'll keep watch, you sleep."

Supposing that was final, there was no sense in arguing. As I lay, trying to sleep, a horrendous thought occurred to me that I couldn't push aside. What if Olimar never returns? He has other places he can go…I may have to survive many more nights than this…I could be stuck here for years!