Disclaimer: pikmin belongs to Nintendo, and so do its characters.

Chapter 5: electric current

I woke up and stared at the sun. I didn't really want to get up, but I knew I had to…for my sake and the others. I groggily got up as the onions landed, and saw that Olimar and Louie were already up and walking around.

"Morning Alex" they said

"Morning" I replied with a yawn. I felt like everything was thicker, and I had no idea why.

Olimar took out 50 of both pikmin "you know…the colored markings on the floor are intriguing" Olimar said

"Yea" I replied, yawning again "let's follow the blue one today"

Olimar looked at me with concern "you don't look well Alex" he said "are you ok?"

"I'm fine" I said, yawning a third time "let's just go, ok?"

He hesitated "ok, if you insist" he said, then we started off the path with the blue line.

Besides how bad I felt, I looked at my surroundings. It looked very peaceful, and it looked brighter than normal…though that might have been my head messing with me. The thing that was the most strange was the suit was picking up electrical signals, which shouldn't happen.

"Is anyone else picking up power signals?" I asked sleepily.

"There's probably electricity nearby" Olimar said, as if it was usual "with the yellow pikmin we'll be fine"

After a bit more walking, Olimar sent Louie to put the reds away and exchange them for yellows, because the signal had gotten WAY stronger than before. He got back as we got to a large arena, with a charged gate in the back.

"Well, there's the energy charge" I said, yawning again.

"Alex, you aren't ok" Olimar said "you shouldn't be that tired unless you either didn't sleep, or something else is wrong"

"I'm fine" I said "just haven't woken up yet"

"It's been 6 hours" Olimar replied, concern obvious in his voice "you either need to rest, or we need to figure out what's wrong with you"

"Fine" I said "but later" before he could argue, I started walking to the gate, 50 pikmin following me.

As I was walking, I noticed the scenery. The place was barren, but this time it wasn't scorched. Everything seemed to be naturally not there, as if the seeds were repulsed by something. What I didn't notice was the fact that there were several metal plates sticking out from the ground…so you can imagine my surprise when a giant robotic creature lifted me up and flung me into the wall.

I shook my head as a loud whistle rang out from my suit, though I didn't even know it had a whistle. The robot went crazy, and its hands turned into tesla coils as it started zapping everywhere, completely missing everything. After a bit it stopped, and I got up unsteadily.

"h-hey!" I said, not really thinking "that wasn't nice!"

It looked at me "did I really hit you that hard?" it asked, obviously surprised at my reaction "no matter, it isn't nice invading my nest either"

"We didn't mean to invade" I said "we just need to find someone"

"Look somewhere else then" it said "or I can just zap you"

"But I-" I was cut off as the robot tried to zap me. Luckily he missed, so I didn't get the full impact…unfortunately I was flung back by the power of the impact, and I hit the wall again.

As I tried to focus my now double vision, I saw Olimar next to me, and the pikmin in front…I had no idea where Louie went.

"You're lucky I missed" the robot said "now, you can either get out or I won't miss this time"

"What did he say?" Olimar asked

"Get out or fight pretty much" I said, dazed.

Olimar didn't even have time to react before the pikmin attacked. It was another crazy battle as the pikmin attacked the robot in ways I had never seen, all the while avoiding the bolts of electricity it constantly shot at them. It was weird watching the fight…but it didn't seem like either side had an advantage.

And suddenly…the robot stopped. A loud screeching sound filled the air, and then it exploded, leaving a single metal plate.

Me, Olimar, and Louie stared at the plate as the pikmin cheered. "That was…interesting" I said.

"Yea, it sure was" Olimar replied. The pikmin started carrying the plate and some yellow goo that I hadn't seen before.

The pikmin came back soon, and we looked at the wall of electricity in front of us "well, might as well take it down" I said.

I sent the pikmin to take down the wall, then Olimar turned to me "there isn't a signal coming from anywhere…I think the others might have gotten hurt"

"The signal would still be there" I said, remembering that Charlie still sent a signal when he was in the Phosbat, and so did Louie in both cases "I think there's something else we don't know"

We had made little progress on the gate by the time the sun started setting, so we went back to the Obelisk, and then we put the pikmin in. I noticed the metal plate was lying in front of the obelisk as the onions took off.

"Hey, do you guys know what this metal plate is?" I asked

Olimar came over and looked at it "hmm…doesn't look like anything I've seen" he said "maybe we should look at it in the morning…night Alex"

"Night" I said as he went to wherever he was sleeping.

I looked at the plate again, noticing it had some symbols on it that were similar to some of the ones on the obelisk. I yawned, trying to clear my head… at least I wasn't passed out… not yet at least. I went to my normal sleeping place and laid down, looking at the stars. I thought for a moment about the metal plate, and why it might be useful…but I quickly fell asleep.

Yay…another *yawns* chapter done… this chapter took way too long to complete…sorry…I haven't had the best sleep recently, so I haven't been as focused as I'd like to be…not that most of you care…at least that's how it seems. Anyways, I might be a bit slow at updating the next chapter, but I'll try my best. Remember: criticism is welcomed, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now…