Moss

Moss
Name	Moss
Gender	Female
Eye color	Brown
Hair color	Green
Home planet	PNF-404
Known related characters	Captain Olimar, Louie
Height	Unknown
First game	Pikmin 4
Latest game	Pikmin 4

Moss (モス^?, lit.: "Moss") is a space dog in Pikmin 4. In the game's prologue she is found by Captain Olimar when he crash-lands on PNF-404 and quickly befriends her, helping him throughout his search for his ship's missing ship parts. After the prologue, Moss is seen accompanied by a leafling-transformed Olimar, and accompanies him during Dandori Battles. Much later on, she accompanies Louie in the same fashion. She is only ever seen with a leaf on the tip of her tail, much like the one atop a Pikmin's stem.

In gameplay, be it during the prologue when the player controls Captain Olimar, Olimar's Shipwreck Tale, or during a Dandori Battle, Moss works exactly like Oatchi. An exception is how she learns new skills: in Dandori Battles her skills depend on the exact cave Olimar is faced, and in Olimar's Shipwreck Tale, instead of exchanging Pup Drive, she gains new abilities as rewards for the ship parts Olimar recovers.

Throughout the story, when she is keeping the player from their mission, she can be fought in various ways like an enemy.

The following article or section is in need of assistance from someone who plays Pikmin 4. Particularly: List what skills she has during the prologue.

Stats

Weight	Max. carriers	Seeds	Value	Health
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	7000

Personality and appearance

Moss is fairly similar to Oatchi, with some notable differences.

• She is larger.
• Her fur is green.
• Her eyes are brown and are always squinting, instead of fully open. She will still squint if she is near an enemy.
• Her ears are perked upward and forward instead of drooping down.
• Her cheeks are not as firm and droop more.
• Her bark is deeper.

Unlike Oatchi, Moss is seen to be a native of PNF-404, with Olimar speculating that her leafy tail has actually been that way since birth, similar to the Pikmin. Despite being born light-years apart from each other, Oatchi and Moss are both stated to descend from the PNF-404 native Ancient Sirehound, which Olimar believes suggests something deeper about the nature of their universe.

As an enemy

Hero's Hideaway

Until Olimar's vault is opened and the entrance to Leafy Showdown is discovered, Moss can be found in the Hero's Hideaway. According to the Voyage Log, she appears to be guarding Olimar's bunker. Unlike most enemies, she has a unique map icon.

She will seek out Pikmin (both idle ones and ones in the player's squad), and whistle for them to put them under her control, much like an Antenna Beetle in Pikmin 2. Upon gathering Pikmin, she will try to run off with them; if she does so, she will toss them on a fan which leads to the bunker. These Pikmin then stay lying on the ground on the bunker's table, and need to be whistled. Despite them not reacting to the Idler's Alert, they do react to the Homesick Signal. The only way to gather Pikmin under Moss's control before she brings them to the bunker is if she takes significant damage, at which point she will let them go and try to escape

Moss takes damage like any enemy, and can even be damaged by other enemies.. If she takes a lot of damage, she will run off to a corner of the house in a panic, dropping captured Pikmin along the way. Once she reaches the corner, she will fall asleep so she can heal herself. Waking her up some time after this nap will cause her to become active like normal again. Moss cannot be permanently defeated; when her health is depleted she will be incapacitated and begin regenerating her health over a period of exactly five minutes. Collin will inform the player when Moss's health is fully restored so they can plan their activities accordingly. Moss will disappear once the bunker is opened.

If Oatchi is around, she will periodically stop to bark at him, even if she's busy taking Pikmin away. Oatchi himself will also bark at her at random. If the player approaches her without Pikmin, she will just continue roaming around, with the ocasional bark at Oatchi. She ignores scrummy bones, and while she will approach and prioritize pikpik carrots, she will only sniff them and bark at them.

Dandori Battles

In Dandori Battles, she can be knocked out, which transports her to the Onion, and can then be roused by Olimar or Louie.

Notes

Dalmo's Notes

“Oatchi and Moss are like two peas in a pod. It's quite unprecedented that a space dog should meet such a similar creature on a far-off, unknown planet. You could even call it miraculous. Could they be siblings separated at birth? No, that's just not possible.”

Olimar's Notes

“As far as I can tell, Moss has been a leafling pup since birth, and some of her DNA resembles that of the Pikmin. This is the one point in which she differs from Oatchi. When Oatchi transformed from a standard space dog into a leafling pup, I started to theorize that the Pikmin are, in some capacity, propagating their DNA in other organisms. The phenomenon in which all those castaways, including myself, became leaflings was very likely caused by being absorbed into the Onion. Perhaps that process was also some sort of Pikmin-ification of the body. Pikmin-ified organisms can't leave this planet, so the Pikmin may have been motivated to carry out this process in an effort to secure a permanent leader. Of course, this is all a theory...”

Louie's Notes

“Convenient for procuring ingredients. Compact, with a tight turning radius.”

Naming

• Common name: Moss. It comes from her green coat of fur, which resembles moss.
• Japanese nickname: モス^?, lit.: "Moss". It comes from her green coat of fur, which resembles moss.
• Japanese name: イチヨウイエイヌ^?, lit.: "One-leaf Domestic Dog".
• Scientific name: "Folicanis amicaris". It is based on "foliage", the Latin for "dog", and the Latin phrase for "you are friendly".
• Internal names: CHASER. It refers to how she chases the player and their Pikmin down to try to whistle them under her control.
• Prerelease: None.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	モス? Mosu	Moss
Chinese (traditional)	莫斯 Mòsī	Moss
Chinese (simplified)	莫斯 Mòsī	Moss
Dutch	Moss	-
French	Moss	-
German	Moss	-
Italian	Moss	-
Korean	모스 Moseu	Moss
Portuguese	Moss	-
Spanish	Moss	-

Gallery

This article or section is in need of more images. You can help Pikipedia by uploading some images.

• 

  Leafling Olimar and Moss.

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  Moss giving the player character a nasty stare.

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  Oatchi and Moss, side-by-side.

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  Moss's Piklopedia icon.

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  Moss using her whistle ability to steal Pikmin from the player.

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  Moss frozen.

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  Moss using her whistle in Olimar’s Shipwreck Tale.

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  Moss being shocked in the Piklopedia.

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  Moss as seen in the "Pikmin-Summoning Battle" comic.

See also

• Oatchi
• Bulbie
• Leader
• Ancient Sirehound