I've returned! First, I really want to apologize for the delay. I was honestly really busy with things and couldn't exactly keep a schedule. Also, I had apparently gotten a review asking to prove that Olimar likes karaoke... Well, take a look at his notes on the Harmonic Synthesizer from Pikmin 2.

—

After the confirmation of both Olimar and Cloud swapping bodies, all of the mansion's residents were quite on edge. Was Crazy Hand going to strike again with Manaphy? Was the Pokémon loose in mansion? The biggest question that was present amongst everyone was how long it would be until Olimar and Cloud were back to normal. Usually, swaps caused by Manaphy were temporary, lasting about a few minutes. But when Crazy Hand was involved in anything like this, then it would never last for JUST a few minutes. Not by a long shot.

Currently, Cloud was absolutely feeling the humiliation suffocating him as he knew that his fellow Smashers were talking about this scenario. Possibly laughing about it as well... Well, who wouldn't? Cloud couldn't deny that he'd be laughing as well if it weren't him.

Since the events at breakfast, Captain Falcon had taken it upon himself to be Olimar's moral support. Which was also a strange sight since Cloud tended to distance himself away from everyone else. Yet, despite his obvious demeanor that screamed 'leave me alone', Cloud had his own company in the living room. That engineer guy that also used Pikmin... Ralph? Alph? Yeah, Alph.

"Uh... Sorry this happened to you," the Koppaite began awkwardly, which resulted in a silent stare from Cloud. Secretly, he was glad that he didn't have to look up to talk to him, unlike most of the Smashers. Not like he'd admit that to anyone. Seeing as he wasn't going to get a response, the rookie Pikmin tactician decided to see if he could strike up any kind of conversation with the guy, "So, um... What do you like to do?"

"Be alone," was what Cloud responded, hoping to drive Alph off. On the contrary, it did the opposite. "Well, I guess you're gonna have a pretty hard time if that's the case. Olimar always has Pikmin following him around," he replied with a light laugh, which made Cloud groan, both at the thought of having walking carrots following him around and the fact that Alph didn't leave. Either the engineer was extremely dense or had major guts... Now that he had mentioned it, Cloud could see a few beady eyes peeking out at him from the other side of the living room's doorframe occasionally.

The Pikmin knew that Cloud wasn't Olimar. It was obvious from their wariness towards him.

Alph could see that Cloud was fixated on the nervous Pikmin and smiled softly. "It's okay, guys. He's not gonna hurt you," the Koppaite assured the small carrot people. This assurance was enough to get the Pikmin to hesitantly make their way over to the two, stopping occasionally to see if Cloud was going to make a move at them.

As soon as the Pikmin were close enough, Alph gave the little guys a pat on the head, then turned to the former buster sword wielder. "Don't worry, okay? They'll only attack you if you attack them."

"Or if you order them to attack me."

"You really think that I'd tell Olimar's own Pikmin to attack his body? That's just wrong."

Okay, that remark made Cloud huff out a laugh, "That's a thought. Olimar's Pikmin having a revolution against him."

Alph blinked, thought about it, then began to snicker as well. For some reason, this exchange made Cloud feel... Happy? Was he honestly befriending Alph? No. He had his own friends and the engineer wasn't going to be one of them. The kid was nice, but not someone who could be his friend.

Yet, the Koppaite reminded him of a few of his friends from back home. It was weird...

—

With Olimar and Captain Falcon, the two were walking around the mansion, chatting about various things... Or rather, Falcon was going on about everything that was on his mind.

"It's crazy how we're pretty much the same height now, bud! But, who's taller now? Me or you? I think it's still me, but it's still insane!" the racer exclaimed as they sauntered through the halls. In return Olimar shifted awkwardly. "Yes, well, I hope that this gets resolved soon. I would rather be myself than not," he admitted, giving himself a once-over for what had to be the fiftieth time that morning. It had been so long since he had dealt with Manaphy's antics. While the feeling of being able to breathe regularly was nice, it still was unnerving.

The first time Manaphy had appeared in one of Olimar's battles back when he was new and the Pokémon hadn't been banned, he had thought that he was going to suffocate. It was Link who he had switched with and he wouldn't ever forget what happened. As soon as Olimar couldn't feel his helmet, he had dropped to the floor gasping for breath, believing that he was suffocating. It... Wasn't one of his most finest moments.

He had lost that match.

As he and the racer continued on, Olimar couldn't help but miss his trusty Pikmin. After all, they had saved his life countless times and he truly felt vulnerable without them, despite now owning a buster sword. Captain Falcon could see his friend's unease and have him a firm pat of the shoulder. "Hey, don't you worry about a thing, 'kay? This'll get sorted out. For now, just bask in the moment of all this!" he said to Olimar with a thumbs up.

This caused the former freight captain to smile to his friend. "Thanks, Douglas."

"Not a problem, bud. Be sure to smile like that tons! I gotta get a few good pictures to keep before Cloud goes back to being a zombie!"

... Okay, Olimar did admit. Cloud had about as much emotion on his face as a stump. He'd never say that aloud, of course. The last thing he wanted was drama in the mansion over something as stupid as that.

After thinking about it for a bit, Olimar sighed, "When do you think Master Hand will be about to fix this?"

"Don't know. But don't underestimate him. I've been here for a while and he's no pushover," Falcon replied, glancing at his friend.

Olimar already knew that, but there was also someone else.

Crazy Hand was no pushover either.