Moss

Moss is a space dog in. 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.

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.

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. 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.