Research Pod

File:A ship pOd.png

The Research Pod.

When you go underground into caves, The Ship dispatches its nose cone, known as the Research Pod, and sends it down to support Olimar and Louie/The President on their underground expedition.You finally get to see a real use for that propeller on the top of The Ship as to support the pod in flight or a hover, otherwise it is either totally useless or helps The Ship steer in a planet' s atmosphere. Anything that the Pikmin pick up will be carried to the pod and stored in its hull until you exit the cavern.It's interior hull must be big or it uses nano technology to shrink the size of things so they fit, although apparantly alot of room is needed for Olimar and Louie/The President, as if you lose all of your Pikmin or both captains have been knocked unconscious, it will empty itself of all cargo and take them and any surviving Pikmin and go back to the surface; should this happen you'll lose any carcasses and treasures you salvaged. This is why you want to asses the hazards of a cave and build an army of 100 to match the threat.

Click [show] to display the image (contains spoilers).
File:Research Pod.jpg The Research Pod after having paid the debt.