I got Pikmin 1 and 2 for Christmas, and I'm about to make it everyone else's problem.
This fic was loosely based on my own playthrough, written right after it happened cause I was sad about how it went. I'll go into more detail at the end of the story.
Unlike AO3, I can't tag this, so character death is like the major thing. The character deaths here are Pikmin, that's the entire story.
"Did I make a mistake?" Olimar asked himself looking at the newly golden ship.
He was transported back to the base in Wistful Wild along with The President, who was knocked unconscious, and the small amount of Pikmin that were left. The fight was finally over, but was getting all the treasure worth the amount of Pikmin that was lost? Olimar spent so much time punching the Dwarf Red Bulborbs in the 8th sublevel of the Cavern of Chaos to save as many Pikmin as he could, but it was all for nothing.
He ended the expedition with only a few Pikmin left, not even able to save any Purple Pikmin he acquired from Violet Candypop Buds. He still needed over 20 in order to lift the treasure outside the base. The White Pikmin he took down with him didn't fare well either, most of them were killed. He'd have to go back to the Valley of Repose and hop into the Subterranean Complex to acquire more White and Purples.
Olimar looked down at The President, he was still unconscious. He got knocked out a few sublevels in and Olimar was on his own for most of the cave. It reminded him of his first time on the planet, that lonely feeling suck in, but he couldn't dwell on it too long as he had to continue through the cave by himself. He knew if he left at the first chance he got, The President would scold him for not staying down there to grab all the treasure.
Olimar couldn't bring himself to leave either, he had to go through all the sublevels to see if he could find Louie. It was a long shot, but he had to try and find Louie no matter what. The research pod from the ship did say that it would be able to detect Louie, but Olimar knew technology could always malfunction. He still held out hope even when the ship couldn't detect Louie.
He lost almost his entire squad before he was able to get all the treasure. He was not expecting to have constant rocks drop as he was trying to fight the Segmented Crawbster, and despite trying to dodge the attacks so many Pikmin fell to the blasts. He thought he could've left with 35 Pikmin, but at the last second rocks unexpectedly killed the majority of his squad. He barely remembers getting out of the cave, or even getting all the treasure. It was almost as if he was on auto pilot until they were brought back to the surface.
Olimar looked up to the sky, "I should've been more careful," he said with a somber tone.
"It's not your fault," a familiar voice said.
Olimar looked down and saw The President sitting up but still looking like he was in pain.
"You did what you had to do to get us our treasure," The President said matter-of-factly, "Pikmin can grow back, but we can only hold out for so long down in those caves."
Olimar didn't respond. It was moments like this he missed Louie, the young lad understood that Pikmin weren't just pawns to an end. He probably wouldn't know what to say, but he still sympathized with Olimar in his own way. Olimar knew that Louie had a soft spot for the Pikmin as well, and would be devastated at how the exploration went had he still been his partner. If The President didn't care so much about gaining as much treasure as he could from this mysterious world, they probably could've found Louie already.
Tomorrow was a new day, Olimar knew he couldn't wallow in self pity for much longer, but he'd allow himself to be sad until nightfall. He would have to be more careful tomorrow, that way more Pikmin wouldn't die due to his incompetence. Tomorrow he'll be better, and maybe someday soon they'll find Louie.
Cavern of Chaos was a nightmare and I wanted to cry at the end. In my playthrough the other night, Olimar ended up dying over The President, and I did the rest of the cave with him, but I don't think The President would care too much about Pikmin dying. From what I can see in canon, all he cares about it treasure to make more money for Hocotate. Idk how much he really cared about going to save Louie. This was more of me venting through the eyes of Olimar than anything. I had feels and needed to vent.
I actually stopped playing my game for the night since I was so devastated at how many Pikmin I lost in that cave. I know they aren't real, and it's just a game, but it did hurt a bit cause of all the work I did trying to keep them safe. It was only a matter of time before I contributed to this fandom considering it's been a hyperfixation of mine since the Pikmin 4 demo was released. I do have another fic I'm writing, and a third I have planned since I have ideas.