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

Chapter 7: water monster

I gasped for air as I woke up. Where was I? Did I die? Why do I feel like I've been underwater for hours? I rubbed my eyes and looked around. Wait…I rubbed my eyes…my helmet!

I jumped up and realize I was in the same place as yesterday, but I had my regular cloths on! No suit, no helmet, nothing protecting me…and I was fine. Nothing was broken, I was breathing normally…in fact, I felt better than before!

"Morning Alex" Olimar said, walking up to me with my helmet and space suit.

"Morning!" I said "why did you take off my suit?"

"Well, I realized the reason it was giving the 'critical levels' reading" he said "it was because it was filtering out the thing you needed most: Oxygen"

"Oxygen?" I asked. I wasn't the best at chemistry, so I had no idea what Oxygen was.

"Yea!" he said "as it turns out, you didn't need the space suit at all. In fact, it was hindering your ability to breathe!"

"Huh?" I asked. He wasn't making much sense.

"Let me explain" he said "you see, these space suits filter Oxygen, which is poisonous to Hocatitians…" he started explaining what had happened, but I couldn't really pay attention.

"Wow…that's a lot to take in…" I said.

"Yea, isn't it amazing?" Olimar asked

"Yea, it is" I said, not wanting another explanation "let's take out the blues and go down the purple path, I think that's where the signal is coming from"

"Ok!" Olimar said. I put on the suit and helmet, turning off the life support. We got out 100 blues, and then we headed off down the purple path.

Everywhere I looked, there were dew drops along the path. Looking at my sensor, I could tell the air was moist as well. I started thinking about how each path showed a different element…before I knew it, we were in another arena…this time it had water everywhere.

"Look! There he is!" Olimar said. Sure enough, lying on the other side of the lake was a boy in a light blue suit.

He looked over "oh, hi!" he said, waving.

"Why don't you come over?" I asked

"Well…there's the problem" he said.

"What problem?" I asked, stepping into the water…big mistake.

A large creature grabbed me, pulling me into the water. I quickly turned on the life support to let me breathe as the creature pulled me down…and then stopped. All I saw was a large, grayish object, nothing else was around. Being my curious self, I decided to grab the object…and I was launched up.

A loud roar rang through the forest, and the water moved…and formed a large, humanoid creature.

"What in the world is that?" Olimar asked.

"That is what the problem is" Alph said "I can't get out with that creature there"

The creature stared at me…not menacing, not with hatred, just…curious. "What are you doing in my nest?" it asked.

"We were just trying to get across" I said.

It stayed silent for a moment "fight me" it said "I cannot be killed, so you would merely send me somewhere else"

"Ok I guess" I said. Before I could say anything else, it swung at me…and the battle began.

The moment the creature swung, the pikmin jumped into action. Most of it was a blur of blue, whether it be water or pikmin. I could never pin-point the height of the action, but I knew something was happening.

1 hour…2 hours…3 hours… they were still going at it, with no signs of stopping. It was getting even more bizarre…and suddenly, it stopped. The creature let out a final roar, then shook off the pikmin. A moment later, a spout of water shot up…and goo poured down. There wasn't a lot, but there was still a pool of water, so the pikmin took the goo back and we headed back to the obelisk.

"That was amazing!" I heard Jet say "did you see me? It was all 'get off me! And I was all 'no way!' and…" Jet went on and on, much like Daisy did sometimes…I guess the thrill of battle gets to a lot of the pikmin.

"Enough Jet" Aqua said "go talk to another pikmin"

"Ok!" Jet replied excitedly. He immediately started talking to another pikmin.

After a bit of walking, Aqua spoke up, talking to me this time "do you think I did well?" she asked.

I looked at her, then looked back at where I was going "yes, I think you did very well" I said. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her smiling, obviously delighted at my comment.

She stayed silent for a bit "why are you the only one who can understand us?" she asked.

I thought for a moment "because I'm native to the planet, like you" I replied.

"Oh" she said. She thought for a moment "how come you wear a space suit then?"

"Because it protects me" I said "otherwise I would be dead by now"

"Oh" she said again.

By the time we got back, it was already dark, and the pikmin went into their onions, then they took off. I looked at the symbols on the obelisk, noticing how each side had a different bulborb, different suit, different pikmin…in fact, even my suit was on one of the sides, there was even an emperor Bulbax on one side.

"I'm going to sleep" Olimar said "sweet dreams" he walked off.

Sweet dreams…was that why so many things were confusing? Was this all one big dream? Was I in a coma? Was someone worrying about me, trying to wake me up with no luck? I yawned and laid in my normal spot. Whatever was happening, I knew I needed to complete it, regardless of whether this was real or not. I thought about the pikmin and how much they had surprised me as I fell asleep.

Yay! Another chapter done! I don't have much to say, mainly because I feel it would be a waste of time at this point… Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!