This fic wasn't planned, but my Dad was playing Pikmin 2 a few days ago and I had an idea. I'll explain at the end about that.

Pikmin 2 spoilers? Idk this is early game stuff, but figured I'd give a warning. I also mention Pikmin 1 events too, so spoilers for that game as well. (Although if you're reading fics about Pikmin 2, I'd hope you know 1.)


Olimar took a moment to glance over towards Louie. The lad seemed to be exhausted, despite how early the two of them turned in last night.

"Rough night?" Olimar asked concerned.

Louie didn't respond. There was only so much sleep a person could get in a tiny cockpit in the middle of space. How was Olimar able to get up so early and still have the energy to do their daily tasks?

"If you want to go back to base and rest that's fine by me," Olimar offered.

Louie shook his head in response. He was tired, but he could continue on with the mission. He didn't want to feel like he was trapped in his cramped up cockpit, but he also didn't want to be alone in base without anything to do. They couldn't afford to have a rest day, and Olimar needed all the help he could get. Olimar was concerned for the other Hocotate, but didn't want to force Louie to go back to camp. The last time he did that, Louie went off on his own nowhere near camp and didn't come back until almost sundown. Olimar almost thought he'd have to take some Pikmin and go search for Louie, but he came back right when they needed to get back inside the ship. Louie didn't speak to him for the rest of the night, but was apologetic the next morning in his own way.

The two continued walking through the Perplexing Pool with their squad of red and white Pikmin. As they flew into the area, they were able to see where the yellow Onion was. Olimar decided that today was the day to get the yellow Pikmin, they needed them in order to progress through other areas. Other locations had electrical gates that needed the yellows to break through in order for them to gather the treasure hidden beyond it.

While they were flying towards the base, they were able to take notice of the areas the yellow Pikmin were located in. There was a white gate that was immersed in a poisonous gas, Olimar knew they'd need whites in order to knock down that gate since they were immune to the gas pipes. He was lucky that they ended up getting a bunch from previous cave expeditions. Olimar also took notice of the Fiery Bulblax that seemed to be guarding the poison gate. They prepared for the creature by calling a bunch of red Pikmin with them. They had more reds than whites.

As they continued towards the gate, Louie slowed his pace. Every movement felt sluggish, and he was regretting not taking Olimar's offer of going back to camp to rest. They were already almost near where they saw the yellow Onion, he couldn't leave now. The Pikmin ran up to Olimar and cried out to him. Olimar stopped walking and looked down at the Pikmin trying to get his attention. A few grabbed his arms and looked behind them. Olimar followed suit and noticed Louie a bit behind him. When did he get so far ahead? He should've noticed that Louie wasn't keeping up pace with him. What kind of captain was he if he didn't notice his crew mate was behind? What if there was a creature that attacked? How would Olimar have known? Olimar was regretting not pushing Louie to go back to camp, but he didn't want to cross Louie's boundary by trying to tell him what to do.

Olimar waited for a moment before he kept going, but he slowed up his pace so Louie could keep up with him. Usually it was Louie who was outpacing Olimar when given the chance, but that wasn't the case now. How exhausted was Louie that he was struggling to keep up? They navigated through the stumps and finally reached the elevation platforms.

"Think you can jump high enough to reach the other platform?" Olimar asked trying to crack a joke.

Louie raised an eyebrow. Was Olimar serious?

"I'm kidding," Olimar said realizing Louie didn't pick up on his joking tone.

Olimar used his whistle to dismiss the Pikmin away from the elevation platforms. He knew there were multiple ways they could tackle this, but he was going to go with the easiest option he could think of. He would have Louie take control of the Pikmin while he stood on one of the platforms, and have Louie throw Pikmin on the other to raise the one he was standing on. Then Louie would toss a bunch of red Pikmin towards him so he could use them to fight the Fiery Bulblax, afterwards he would toss the whites. That way Olimar could save the white Pikmin for when he needed them, instead of unnecessarily sacrificing white Pikmin. He didn't want to go back into the caves to get them if he didn't have to.

Once Olimar figured out the plan, he explained it to Louie so they could execute it. Louie tiredly nodded in understanding. Despite the seeping exhaustion, he knew what he had to do. Olimar got in place, and Louie threw a few red Pikmin on the other platform in order to raise Olimar's. Once the platform was raised, Olimar ran on the ledge away from the platforms. Louie called the Pikmin to come back to him, once they were close enough he threw a bunch of reds on the ledge for Olimar to take control of. Once all the reds were on the ledge, Olimar whistled them towards him and went off to fight the Fiery Bulblax.

From Louie's position, he couldn't see the path Olimar was going. He didn't know how far the gate was in relation to where he was now. The cliff was too high to get a good look at where Olimar could have gone. Louie still had the white Pikmin on him, there was no sense in throwing them up when the creature was still alive. They didn't need to lose whites because of a careless mistake. Louie stood there for a moment before moving towards a nearby stump. Maybe he could rest for a moment, he needed to kill time while Olimar was fighting the creature. He sat down, leaned back, and closed his eyes. He would only rest for a few minutes, that's all.


"Finally," Olimar thought.

It took longer than Olimar would have liked, but the Fiery Bulblax was defeated. Olimar whistled the red Pikmin back to him so none of them would try to take the corpse back to their own Onion. He wanted to save it for the yellow Onion in order to grow the yellow population up. He walked back with the group of reds towards the edge of the ledge.

"Louie could you throw me up some whites?" Olimar asked shouting down towards where he left Louie.

Olimar didn't receive a reply. He used his whistle to try and get Louie's attention, but he didn't hear the boy. What Olimar did hear was the pitter patter of white Pikmin running towards the ledge trying to come towards him. He heard their cries below him. Did Louie leave the white Pikmin here and go off on his own? From Olimar's position he was able to see the Yellow Wollyhop in the water nearby. Luckily the whistling didn't attract the attention of the creature.

Olimar sighed, that boy was going to be the death of him one day he swears. He could get the whites up there by himself with a few Pikmin, but it would take a bit more time by himself. He should've expected this, he knew Louie would sometimes go off by himself when he got too bored. Over the last few days, Olimar learned quite a bit about his new coworker. He could easily be distracted by something entirely new that interested him. Most of the time it was a creature he saw that he thought could make a good meal, other times it was something shiny. Olimar shook his head. They did talk about this though, Olimar wasn't going to be mad at Louie for going off on his own, he just wanted the kid to give him a heads up so he wouldn't worry so much.

Olimar thought for another moment, maybe it wasn't on purpose Louie went off on his own. Louie was pretty tired, and there was the possibility he passed out and a few Pikmin took him back to base. That would explain why the white Pikmin were by themselves. He was a bit away, so maybe he didn't hear the Pikmin taking Louie back to base. Olimar dismissed the reds that were with him, he wanted to keep them on the ledge for the time being. He jumped down on one of the platforms and was lowered to the ground. Once he was back on the ground again, he whistled for the white Pikmin to gather around him. They were calling out to him, a few even grabbing his arms and trying to pull him in the opposite direction. Olimar let the Pikmin lead him to where they wanted him to go. Soon all of Olimar's questions were answered.

Olimar saw Louie sitting there in front of him. His eyes were closed, and he was leaning his head against the stump. There was a white Pikmin cuddled up on Louie's lap with its eyes closed. Olimar wished he had a camera with him, this sight was adorable. The scene reminded him of when his daughter would sleep with one of her stuffed animals or was cuddled up with Bulbie. He missed them, he missed his son, and he missed his wife. Olimar was taken out of his thoughts by hearing the Pikmin murmuring among themselves. He put a finger up to his helmet, near where his whistle is, and tried to shush the Pikmin. Hopefully they'd get the message to keep their murmuring to a low volume to let the boy sleep.

The Pikmin lowered their volume. Olimar was thinking on what he should do next. Should he direct a Pikmin to take Louie back to base? This area certainly wasn't the safest place the kid could sleep, but he would probably wake up if he was moved. Louie had a normal sleep pattern, as opposed to the forced sleep their spacesuits put them in. If this was a forced sleep, Olimar would have no qualms about directing a Pikmin to take Louie back to the ship. Should Olimar stop the mission and wait till tomorrow to get the yellows? They seemed like they'd be safe for another day if they stayed near their Onion. No he had to get them today, he already did so much work that he couldn't let go to waste. He knew the scolding he'd receive from their ship if he stopped the task now. If he continued, he'd still have time to grow the yellows. Olimar looked around, the creatures surrounding the area haven't noticed them yet. Louie would be safe for the time being.

Olimar made the decision to continue what they set out to do today. Doing the rest of the job would be a bit harder by himself, but he was used to doing tasks alone. He did spend almost a month on this planet by himself with only the Pikmin as helpers after all. If he could gather all 30 of his ship pieces by himself in less than a month, he could gather the yellow Pikmin and regrow their population in the few hours he had left.


Olimar sighed in relief. He was finally finished with growing the yellows population as much as he could around their Onion. He used multiple Pellet Posies, as well as the Fiery Bulblax corpse, in order to get the yellows population higher. If he wanted to, he probably could've used other Pellet Posies growing around in order to grow the population even more. Olimar didn't know if he'd have enough time in the day for the yellows to get them back to their Onion, especially when they had to use the elevation platforms to get up and down the ledge. He didn't know if yellows could transport things here, and he didn't think he had the time to try. Olimar decided it was better to wait till the yellow Onion came to their base the next day. He had all the reds and whites with him, with the yellows already being put in their Onion for the night.

Olimar hopped off the ledge and went back to where he left Louie. The lad was still asleep, but his arm was moved to where he was now holding the sleeping white Pikmin against his chest. Olimar was back to his previous predicament. Should he wake up Louie? Should he direct a Pikmin to carry the lad? Olimar didn't know what the right choice was, but he knew he couldn't leave his coworker here. It was getting close to sunset, and the night time creatures would have no qualms about coming after Louie, especially if the white Pikmin was still here too.

He went closer towards Louie. He had an idea but didn't know if it was proper, the two only just met a few days ago. Olimar's plan may be the most comfortable for Louie, or it could backfire. There was a height difference between the two of them after all. Olimar brought his arms underneath Louie and lifted him up bridal style. Louie kept hold of the Pikmin that was against him, and even seemed to hold on tighter to it at the movement change. Olimar was slightly uncomfortable due to the spacesuit and feeling Louie's helmet close to his own, but this didn't deter him. Olimar had no plans to put down Louie until they were back at the ship, or if Louie woke up and got down himself. This was a familiar feeling to Olimar. It reminded him of carrying his own son back home when he'd fall asleep in the living room watching TV. For a moment, he saw his own son instead of Louie in his arms.

Olimar made a slow walk back to the base, he didn't want to wake up Louie with too much movement. He felt some wiggling and stopped to look down at the boy he was carrying. Louie let go of the Pikmin he was holding in order to maneuver himself to the warmth he felt. The white Pikmin was dropped to the ground. It opened its eyes in annoyance at being awoken, but joined the rest of the squad behind Olimar. Olimar could feel Louie's helmet against his, it seemed like Louie was trying to lay on his shoulder but the helmet prevented Louie from dropping as low as he wanted to. Olimar noticed that Louie's eyes were still closed.

"Thanks," Louie mumbled as he gripped onto Olimar's spacesuit, "...Dad."

Olimar's eyes widened. If he wasn't so focused on carrying Louie, he may have dropped him in surprise. Was that a slip of the tongue cause of exhaustion? Did Louie think his own dad was carrying him? Now that Olimar thought about it, Louie only ever talked about his Nana. He hasn't talked about any other family members in the few days they've known each other. Olimar speculated things, but he'd keep them to himself until Louie was ready to open up to him. He continued to silently walk back towards the base.

"No problem son," Olimar whispered after a bit of silence.

If they weren't forced to wear helmets on this planet in order to survive, Olimar would probably have kissed the top of Louie's forehead. Maybe it was too soon to treat Louie as if he was his kid, but Olimar couldn't help himself. His coworker reminded him so much of his own children, and all he wanted to do was protect him anyway he could. It was at this point Olimar made a vow.

"I'll protect you," Olimar promised, "You have my word."


"Louie was not fine, in fact he passes out halfway through the story." -Narrator

Remember how I said in the beginning this was loosely based on my Dad's playthrough? Aight so my Dad was playing Pikmin 2, and was at Perplexing Pool. He started a new day and apparently Louie's health was still at 3 quarters like the previous day. I wasn't really watching him play, but asked if Louie got hit by something, and Dad said no. Tbh I think Louie did get hit by something and Dad didn't notice, since I'm pretty sure Olimar and Louie are both at full health at the beginning of each day.

Dunno what the next story will be. I am currently writing an actual Part 1 to this AU, need to go through and edit it a bit though, but that might be the next thing up after this. I do have other fics in this series in the works, as well as other ideas that I haven't started writing yet. Unlike what I've been doing, the future fics need to be posted chronologically in order for things to make sense and not majorly spoil my own plans for things that happen. Those fics and ideas span from after Pikmin 2 all the way to Pikmin 4.

After everything Pikmin 2 related gets done, I do want to try and keep this series somewhat in order by trying to post After Pikmin 2/Pre 3 fics before posting fics that take place during/after 3 and 4. Even if it's small ficlets they turn into, at least they'll be something to bridge the gap between games.