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

Chapter 12: flying high

The onions had already landed when I woke up. I could almost feel tension in the air…I knew the storm was close, I didn't need the ship to tell me. Brittany was looking at the metal plate with Olimar, and Alph had gotten out a group of pikmin. It looked like he had 14 of each type, except for red and yellow, which he had 15 of.

"Morning Alex" Alph said as he walked up to me.

"Good morning" I said with a yawn

"Brittany got Charlie's signal" Alph said "the only thing is, she also got the ships signal"

"Is that a bad thing?" I asked.

"Well…" he was hesitant "you see, the signal isn't coming from above ground, neither one is…but the ships seems to be coming from a place we can't get to"

"Well, let's tackle that problem when we get there" I said optimistically. I wasn't really sure why I was feeling optimistic about anything, but I decided it was the best thing to do.

We headed down the pink path. There were crystals scattered along the path, as if they were plants. Thinking about it, I had learned that crystals 'grow' just like plants when the right conditions are met. Actually, I had a kit that let me grow my own crystals at one point…it was too messy and not fun enough.

The arena area was deserted, except for the various plant life. I could see a cave nearby, but it was blocked by a rock with some fluke weeds on it. I swear, those things will grow anywhere. Across from us, there was a gateway in the back of the arena, which was the only way to continue.

"Hello?" I called as I stepped through.

"CREATURE!" before I knew what was going on, a winged pikmin tackled me.

"Ow…" I said weakly.

"Flight! What did I tell you about attacking things?" I heard a different voice yell.

The pikmin that had pinned me down fluttered up, letting me get up. She giggled "sorry Ariel!" Flight said.

Another winged pikmin flew over, three others following. "Its fine" the pikmin, who I assumed was Ariel, said "who did you attack anyways?" she turned to look at me.

"I think he's a captain" Flight said "Oh my goodness! Maybe he has pikmin! Then we can talk with whites again! Oh my god I love whites, like, this one time…" she just kept going on about different things the whites did. I swear, something was up with her.

"Uh…I think I can clear that up" I said.

They looked at me "you can understand us?" Ariel asked.

"Maybe he can understand other creatures too!" Flight said "maybe he can stop them from attacking! Or figure out how the defeat them permanently! Maybe he can talk to the Onion!" she kept going on and on again.

"Flight! Stop talking!" Ariel practically yelled.

"But I can't help it! It's not my fault I'm one of the few hyperactive wings!" Flight said "I still say we come from whites, which is why we're so fast and weak. I don't care what anyone says! Like, this one time, I was talking to them…" she started talking in rapid fire mode again.

Ariel rolled her eyes "Flight, if you don't stop talking I'll slap you into the next cycle!" Ariel said.

"Ok, I'll stop!" Flight said, finally being quiet. She was still buzzing with energy, but it didn't show as badly.

Ariel turned towards me again "so, population growth, right?" she asked.

I nodded "you're smart for a pikmin" I said.

"No, just used to it" she replied calmly "girls, get to it!" she called. The other wings giggled and flew in different directions. We got up to 14 before there were 100 total pikmin.

"Ok, that's 14" I said, turning to the captains.

"I still don't get how you do that so easily!" Brittany said.

I shrugged "it helps to be able to listen to them as much as they listen to me" I said.

"FLUKE WEEDS!" before I could figure out where the sound was coming from, all 14 pikmin had rushed over to the Fluke Weeds on the rock, and were all pulling. In a moment, the rock launched up, and rolled off, smashing into pieces too tiny to see.

"Huh? Who's there?" a voice echoed from inside the cave.

"The captain!" Alph exclaimed, running in. I didn't dare go in, but I didn't need too. After a moment, Alph came back, pulling Charlie along with him.

"Oh, hello" he said.

"Hi" I replied as he looked at me "don't worry, I'm friendly" I swear, I felt like my words weren't all my own.

"Oh, you have to see the structure we found!" Brittany said. The wings went to their onion as we started heading back, the sun setting behind us.

When we got back, the sight I found was stunning. The whole obelisk was brightly lit, and the colors made it stunning. The symbols had almost blended with each other, and it was really hard to depict the different pictures from one another.

I yawned as the pikmin went into their onions and took off. I knew the storm was close, and so was escaping this weird and wild dream. As the onion took off, the obelisk sent a rainbow colored beam up. I thought nothing of it, and the captains didn't notice.

"We're going to sleep" Olimar said "good night"

"Good night" I replied as they went to their normal sleeping places.

I yawned and laid down on the pile of leaves. I was convinced this was a dream now, but I kind of liked it…although I was a bit home sick. The obelisk seemed to be pulsing with color now, but I convinced myself it was my imagination. I was happy I'd be going home, but also kind of sad I'd leave this adventure. With those thoughts, I slowly drifted to sleep.

Yay! Another chapter done! I'm sorry about the slow updating, I can't focus on the story much anymore…but the next chapter is going to be the last one! A future warning, the last chapter is a bit…spasmodic? It takes the dream part of the story, and really puts it into action. I hope you're looking forward to it as much as I am! Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!