S: *in a place filled with gamer level worlds, Ori, alongside the legendary pokemon latias were on a mission to get through all the worlds to get a fabulous prize! Unfortunately it wasn't gonna be easy as ori and latias have already had some tough opponents in front of them, and it's about to get worse for them when they enter what seemingly is gonna scare and annoy latias the most...underwater levels...*
L: After first spawning in the level, Ori quickly realizes what he and Latias are going to be in for. "Oh boy, it's a water level... This is gonna be such a pain..."
S: *latias yelp in fear*
"No no no no...I don't do water! I'm not a water type!"
L: "N-neither am I... But, we're not really gonna have a choice here. We can probably stay out for a little while, but we'll have to go under at some point."
S: *that made latias shake a little in fear*
"I-i don't know about this Ori... and I thought I was nervous enough when I met you for the first time... me and water don't necessarily get along..."
L: "I know how you feel, I don't do well underwater either. I'm at least really good at swimming, but I can't hold my breath very long... W-we probably at least don't have to stay under very long! ...Hopefully not just for now..."
S: "Oh don't say that... oh boy... I can hardly even swim! And holding my breath? You might as well forget about that... cause I can't do any of that stuff! Ugh!"
L: "We'll have to think of something, you're bigger than me so you can't just hold onto me... Maybe you could try sort of "flying" underwater? The same way you're doing now, just with water around you instead of air."
S: "Huh? Yeah I don't think that's gonna work... cause I've tried that once and failed miserably... water is very different then the air yknow... it's hopeless..."
L: "So no underwater flying then... Maybe you could practice swimming for a while first, and get used to it before we go anywhere?"
S: *latias sighs heavily, look over at the water*
"I guess I'm gonna have to practice if we're gonna get through this level...I'm just gonna pray that we won't have to go underwater that much, or even better at all..."
L: "I'll come in with you, I'm not gonna leave you alone when you're so uncomfortable." Ori climbs into the water, staying on the surface for now.
S: *still rather scared, latias is very hesitate about to go into the water, but eventually she let's her body float on it, but she's more hovering on it then actually being in the water*
L: "That's it, now just let yourself float instead of hovering. I can head under you and try to hold you up so you don't sink as much if you want."
S: "Oh my gosh...f-fine...i-i can do this..." *latias lowers herself further down and now her body is touching the water, floating gently*
"I guess I don't need a hold up..."
L: "Nice, that's a great start! Do you think you could try paddling around some? Might be kind of hard without legs, but I bet you can do it!"
S: "I've got arms at least so...I'll give it my best shot..." *latias lowers herself a bit more into the water, using her arms to try and paddle around, it's not the best but it seems like it working fine*
L: "There you go, you can handle the surface just fine now! Let me know when you'd be okay with trying out diving, because... Pretty sure we'll have to do that at some point."
S: "....I rather not think about it until that moment comes, so let's just try and progress as much as we can..."
*little do they know, it won't take all that long for them to have to go underwater*
L: "I suppose there IS the off chance we won't have to do any diving, yeah. May as well see if that's the case first." Ori and Latias progress through the level together... And not even 2 minutes later they come to a section with a tunnel leading underwater. "...Welp. Guess we don't have a choice..."
S: "Whyyyyyyy!!!! Nooooo!!!! Gosh darn it!!! Just my luck!"
*latias sighs heavily and groans*
L: "I've been meaning to test something, hang on. Might help a bit." Ori dives into the water, a breath meter appearing above him not long after. "Can you hear me?" Despite Ori being underwater, Latias can hear him perfectly fine.
S: "Whoa! I-i can hear you! But your underwater! How's that possible??"
L: Ori surfaces, the breath meter refilling the tiny bit it had lost and then disappearing. "Places like this tend to have things that make stuff a little more convenient than it would really be. We've seen that already, with respawning, so I figured there might be something that lets us talk underwater. And there is!"
S: "Oh lovely.... but you've still gotta get me down there! And it's not gonna be so easy! I'm way too scared!! And yknow what I said about not being able to hold my breath, I bet my breath meter is gonna be coming down so fast when I do submerge..." *latias shudders at the thought of drowning*
L: "You don't know for sure! Maybe you could just dip your head under to check? I'm not sure you'd even need to do that, you could probably just hold your breath to get an idea of how long you can go."
S: "Ugh...but that's the thing I don't know if I can stick my head underwater! I'm that scared!"
L: Ori puts a hand on Latias' cheek. "It's gonna be fine. Even IF something happens, we'll just respawn, and I doubt drowning is gonna hurt as much here as it really would."
S: "I'm still not sure ori... it's not often I go underwater...and I don't know what it's gonna feel like and all that!"
*she's shaking with fear*
L: "We're gonna have to do this eventually... We can go under at the same time, that might help!"
S: *she thinks for a second*
"I suppose we don't really have a choice I guess... fine, I'll at least try to go under this once, just to see what it feels like, and maybe going under at the same time would help..."
L: "Okay, great!" Ori hugs Latias. "I don't think we have to worry about preparing much, especially since we're not gonna be under long this first time, so we'll go under whenever you're ready."
S: *latias nods, then lowers herself into the small pool till she floats on it, she's still trembling with fear*
"Oh boy...I'm so nervous!"
L: "Just try to relax, a few seconds underwater never hurt anyone." Ori holds Latias' hand to try to help keep her calm.
S: *she tries to relax and take a few breathes of air to steady herself, and after a while she seems ready and smiles slightly*
"Ok...i-i think I'm ready..."
L: "Alright then, let's do this! 3...2...1..." Ori takes a deep breath and goes underwater, hoping Latias will do the same.
S: *shutting her eyes she takes a deep breath and goes underwater as well, but it hadn't even been 5 seconds and she already came back up, when they did go under latias's breath meter was lowering faster then ori's, she's got so much anxiety that it's making her lose air fast*
L: Ori surfaces as well. "Yikes, that's even worse than mine... It must be because you're so stressed, there's no way that's just how breath holding is for you."
S: *latias blushes embressingly*
"Lucky guess... it is because I'm too stressed! I can't seem to calm down no matter what I try to do!"
L: "Then we'll have to figure out a way to keep you calm... Is there anything you do to relax that we might be able to do here?"
S: *she thinks again for a few moments*
"Umm, n-not really...I'm usually a very calm pokemon... but not when it comes to water...then that's when the anxiety inside me builds up..."
L: "Makes sense, you're part psychic type... Do you know what it is in particular you really don't like about water?"
S: "Well, mainly the thoughts of drowning and not being able to breathe scares me the most, plus...when I was younger a giant tsunami hit me and dragged me into the water... now everytime I see water I get flashbacks of that accident..."
L: "Had a feeling there might've been something you'd gone through that caused your fear of water. I don't really think there's anything I can say to make you feel better, so..." Ori hugs Latias again.
S: "It's hopeless...we're never gonna get through this level... unless there's someway of calming me down enough so I can hold my breath and everything..." *she hugs ori back, ori feeling tears from latias's eyes fall onto his body*
L: "I'm not giving up, there has to be something we can do... I guess if all else fails, we could try having you keep going under for a few seconds over and over, and you probably wouldn't be scared any more eventually, but I don't want to put you through that."
S: "Going under once was hard enough... but doing it over and over again is just gonna make me feel more scared... ugh! This is ridiculous! My brother latios is the complete opposite of me, he's not scared of anything... wish I could be more like him..."
L: "...You know, as much of a pain as it'll be, I bet Latios would be pretty proud of you if you managed to overcome your fear! What do you think?"
S: "Well...I guess he would, I mean he's known about my water fear for as long as it first happened... he would be pretty shocked if I came back from these game worlds and told him I went underwater..." *latias couldn't help but chuckle lightly*
L: "And just imagine the look he'd have if you told him you swam through an underwater tunnel! I bet even HE hasn't done that!"
S: "As a matter of fact, he hasn't! He's never done this type of thing before! I guess he would be extra shocked at that too... I can already picture the look on his face, haha!"
"And a sister like me, does like making a brother jealous of things, and making them looked shocked at things, heh"
L: "That's the spirit! I can't imagine this'll be your favorite way of surprising him, but diving through here is gonna be good for multiple reasons now!"
S: "Yeah! I-i guess so! I'm still pretty nervous tho... and I gotta figure out a way to calm myself down when we go underwater...so I can calmly hold my breath and not have anxiety..."
L: "Try to just keep thinking about how great it's gonna be to tell Latios that you managed to get through an underwater section in one of these game worlds!"
S: "Yeah...I guess I could try to think that, when you hug me it's kinda relaxing too, so maybe nuzzling me a bit while we go down there may help too"
L: "That's what I'll do, then. Let me know when you're ready, and we'll see just how much better you do, which I think is gonna be a lot!"
S: "As much as it's gonna be a pain to do this, imma try my hardest to stay as calm as possible..." *with that, latias closes her eyes for a moment to take some deep breathes, preparing herself for the long dive ahead of them*
L: Ori takes some deep breaths as well, though he's fairly confident that he and Latias will get through this section without much issue regardless.
S: "Stay calm latias, stay calm... don't let the water intimidate you..." *she said softly as she takes a couple more deep breathes, and after a bit...*
"Ok, I'm ready, for real this time..."
L: Smiling at Latias, Ori counts down with his fingers as he gets a few more breaths, then he dives underwater again, hoping Latias will do better there this time.
S: *taking a final deep breath of air and with her eyes still closed she dives underwater again as well, she's a little scared at first, but quickly manages to relax a little bit, breath meters appearing above both of them with latias's draining a little slower then last time*
L: Already able to tell how much of an improvement has been made, Ori happily hugs Latias both to help her keep calm and to see if she'll do even better that way.
S: *latias hugs ori back, nuzzling him softly and starts to puff her cheeks up a little, bubbles escaping her nose as she tries to relax herself...still feeling anxious tho*
L: Ori gestures to the tunnel ahead of them, wondering if Latias is okay with moving on through the level. The tunnel turns fairly early on, so they can't see much of it.
S: *at first, latias looks up at the surface, her body wanting to back out again, but she shakes her head and nods as she wants to finally continue forward*
L: With a nod, Ori starts swimming into the tunnel, making sure to not go far from Latias in case she gets scared again.
S: *staying close to ori, latias swims to the tunnel with him, their breath meters above slowly draining, and latias's is already half way empty, a blush forming on latias's face as well from the lack of air*
L: Ori is doing better, but not by much, having about 2/3 left. Turning the corner reveals that the rest of the tunnel goes straight before heading back above the water, and thankfully not taking all that long to get to that point.
S: *noticing that the water goes back up, latias's gets excited and feels relieved that it didn't take overly long for them to get to this point*
L: Before too long, Ori and Latias reach the surface, Ori gasping and his breath meter refilling before it soon disappears.
S: *latias gasps as well, panting a bit before her breath meter refills and disappears as well*
"I-i-i did it! I did it!!! I really did it!!!"
L: "You sure did!" Ori hugs Latias again. "Latios is gonna be so jealous of you!"
S: *latias happily hugs ori back* "Ooh he's for sure gonna be jealous! I can't wait to tell him later! Hehe!"
*little do both of them know that, this was only the start of the underwater levels, and its gonna get a lot more difficult from here on out and requiring them to stay underwater even longer!*
L: A bit later on, in a different level, Ori and Latias finally come to another underwater part they can't get around. "Alright, here we go with another... You ready? This probably won't be as easy as last time..."
S: "Oh no...here we go again! I thought that was only gonna be one time! Not multiple times! Yikes!" *she clearly doesn't look excited about this*
L: "Wait, really? I kind of figured you'd expected this, it's not like something is going to be introduced and then only used once... But we can do another, it's fine!" Ori pats Latias' back.
S: "Ugh! So stupid! I don't know if my body is gonna handle a another one tho... I was more prepared to do it once..." *she sighs sadly*
L: "Well, being able to boast about one tunnel dive is good... But imagine how great it'll be to tell your brother you got through an entire water-themed set of levels!"
S: "He would certainly be very shocked if I told him that, and not even believe me... I'm just worried that I will drown... and I don't wanna drown!"
L: "...Tell you what. I can swim faster than you, so how about I scout ahead some and see what this one's going to involve?"
S: "Hmmm, I suppose knowing what's gonna come will be nice, ok..if you can do that for me then I'll appreciate it, just be careful!"
L: "Alright, I should be back before too long. One way or another..." Ori holds his breath and dives in, soon swimming out of view.
S: *latias patiently waits for ori to return, growing a bit more anxious*
L: A slightly disconcerting amount of time later, Ori surfaces with a heavy gasp, his breath meter having gone down to a third. "O-okay... This one's longer... Th-there's an air pocket, but it's not big enough for both of us at once..."
S: "Oh no...that doesn't sound good... I don't know if I'm gonna survive this one! Yikes!"
L: "Yeah, this isn't gonna be as fun as last time, and they're probably gonna keep getting worse too... Still, we kind of have to keep going."
S: "Nuh uh, nope! I don't want this to get worse and have terrible flashbacks to that incident, I'm not gonna move" *latias quite literally sits down where she is, crossing her arms and sighing sadly, the slightest tears forming in her eyes*
L: Ori sighs, sitting next to her. "Then I'm staying here too, and not just because there's going to be stuff after that tunnel that'll need both of us. We'll figure out some way to get you motivated again, I know it."
S: "Ugh!!! I hate this! First I thought I was having fun in this gamer type world and now the water is ruining it!! There's no hope for me..."
L: "I'm sure there isn't going to be much after this set of levels, we just need to get through what's left. I'd be surprised if there were more than a couple water parts left after these levels."
S: *latias sighs again*
"Ori I really don't wanna do this anymore... one time submerged is enough for me, not multiple, I can already at least make latios a little jealous..."
L: "I guess we don't have to... But you remember what the reward for getting to the end is! Plus... I'm not really sure I'd want to do all this with someone else." Ori blushes.
S: *latias blushes too*
"W-wait...what are you saying? Y-you like...doing this game world's with me? D-do you um...like me?"
L: "...I think I do... I-I've always found you really cute, and that's why I asked you to come with me on these."
S: *latias blushes even more*
"W-wow...thank you I...I don't know what to say, I mean...you're kinda cute too honestly... t-thats why I was shy when we first met..."
L: "I-I'm really glad you feel the same way..." Ori nervously fidgets for a couple seconds, then kisses Latias on the cheek, blushing more.
S: *that made latias's face turn even more red*
"Awww... that was...s-so sweet" *latias gently wraps her arms around ori, giving him a sweet kiss on the lips*
L: Ori calms down as Latias kisses him back, and he wags his tail a little. "Um... Do you think you'd be willing to dive again? I'm not gonna force you to, it's up to you."
S: *she thinks for a moment*
"Y'know what... because you called me cute... i-i think I'll go ahead and try again, just for you Ori...and again to rub this in my brother's face, hehe"
L: "Really glad that helped so much! Get ready, this'll be longer than last time..." Ori starts breathing deeply like before.
S: *latias trying to calm herself down again, taking some deep breathes as well, looking over at Ori in the process, although deep down inside her she's still frightened*
L: Though a bit nervous himself, once he feels he's ready, Ori jumps back into the water, waiting for Latias to follow.
S: *she's very hesitant, but in the end she shuts her eyes again, takes one last deep breath and jumps into the water as well, breath meters back above the two of them*
L: With a smile at Latias between his puffed cheeks, Ori starts swimming through the tunnel with her, hoping the two can get to the air pocket in time.
S: *latias smiles a tad bit between her puffed cheeks and swims along side ori, her breath meter draining steadily from the anxiety deep down*
L: The two cross the first turn before too long, and Ori points to the air pocket, still quite some distance away. He's blushing some from his need to breathe.
S: *latias looks up at the air pocket, her eyes going wide at it, she's blushing as well from the need to breathe, but since they can only go one at a time, she's having a hard time deciding who should surface first*
L: Despite having less than half his breath left, Ori gestures up to the air, wanting Latias to go first. "Y-you first, I can handle a while longer than you."
S: *she does really need to breathe, so she simply nods her head and swims up to the air pocket, gasping in the air and panting a bit, but she stays up there for a while...*
L: "Mmm..." Not wanting to rush her, Ori keeps waiting, covering his mouth and nervously looking up at his breath meter going below a third left.
S: *it seems latias was a bit too nervous to go back under, having completely forgotten about ori's own need to breath, wanting to stay in the air pocket for as long as possible*
L: Ori pokes at Latias, his blush starting to turn purple. "L-Latias, I need air too!" His breath meter goes red as it drains to a quarter left.
S: "Uh oh! I almost forgot! S-sorry ori, got too caught up in the air and was nervous to go back down, h-here..." *shutting her eyes again she takes a deep breath and dives back underwater, finally opening space for ori*
L: Ori quickly swims up to the air pocket and gasps, finally getting a chance to breathe. He stays until his breath meter is full again, his airless blush fading away, then he holds his breath and goes back under.
S: *latias give a shy smile at ori, looking down guiltily for staying up in the pocket for too long*
L: "I don't blame you. We should keep moving, though." Ori resumes swimming along the tunnel, making sure Latias comes with him.
S: *after a brief look around, latias eventually swims with ori onward as well, trying to distract herself that she's underwater right now, bubbles rising from her nostrils*
L: Thankfully, before there can be any more issues, Ori and Latias reach the end of the tunnel, the water's surface in sight. Ori smiles at the fact this dive had gone fairly well, and heads for the surface.
S: *latias smiles as well, heading for the surface with him, both of them gasping for air, but these two underwater routes were nothing compared to what they are gonna have to do next*
"Phew!! W-we made it out! Thank goodness!"
L: "Glad they're taking their time to introduce new underwater stuff... Think we're pretty much ready for anything at this point, huh?"
S: "I-i wouldn't say that, I still feel very nervous deep down inside my body when we submerge... I just hope that this is the last one we have to do..."
L: "For your sake, I hope so too..." They both resume progressing through the game world... Eventually coming to yet another unavoidable underwater part. Ori sighs at the sight of it. "Yep, here we go again..."
S: "Nooooo!!! You've gotta be kidding me right now!!! Not another one!!!"
L: "And this one's gonna be even worse, I'd bet... Do you want me to stay here for now, or are you okay with me going ahead to check it out first?"
S: "No, i-i just want you to stay here for now... cause there's no way on this planet that I'll be able to handle this one!"
L: Ori hugs Latias and kisses her. "It's gonna be alright, we've got this. We got through the other two just fine, we can do this one too.
S: *she hugs and kisses ori back* "I don't know ori, this one is gonna be probably the most difficult one...and I'm really scared!"
L: "Maybe we're still in a sort of tutorial with this? Although that's not very likely at this point..." Ori sighs. "But we've come this far, I don't want to give up."
S: "There's no way we're in a tutorial anymore, I don't wanna do this ori I know we came so far...b-but..." *latias tears up*
L: "Is it alright if I go ahead some to see what's down there? It might not be that bad after all!"
S: "I-i don't want anything to happen to you while your down there...that's what gonna worry me...because it may he too challenging for you do to alone..."
L: Ori smiles at Latias. "Thanks for being so concerned about me... How about we just relax here for a while like last time, and see if it helps again?"
S: *she sighs*
"Yeah, I guess we could do that then... cause my body is getting pushed to its limit..."
L: Sitting down next to Latias, Ori looks up at her. "You know, we don't have to do all of this in one go, we can leave for now... But I don't think you're gonna want to come back with something like this being the next thing to do..."
S: "Yes...i-i don't want that at all, I'll make the situation worse for me... ugh! I've got a bad feeling I'm gonna drown this time! And I don't wanna drown!"
L: "Neither do I... Maybe it won't end up feeling that bad? We might end up fine anyway, we just have to be careful down there."
S: *latias sighs heavily*
"I don't know ori... I still don't like the thoughts of this... it's probably deeper and much longer, and their may not be any air pockets!"
L: "However hard it is, it's going to be possible to get through. People have finished this game world before, and we can too. But man, the underwater parts in this are such a pain..."
S: "I know right? I hate it so much... but there's no way I'm gonna have the motivation to go underwater this time, especially when it's gonna be harder... i-i don't know what to do Ori, I just dont"
L: "Do you want to at least see what's going to be going on in this one? We don't have to go far, just enough to get an idea of what it's going to be like."
S: "I-i mean it would help, but as I said, I'm not motivated to go underwater...and I certainly don't want you going alone" *spoiler, it's gonna be really difficult, like VERY difficult, I'll require the both of them for sure in this one*
L: Ori sighs, and hugs Latias. "We'll figure something out... We've done that twice already, I'm sure we can do it a third time."
S: *she hugs ori back*
"Well I don't think that at all, I'm not gonna be able a third time, I'm way too worried that we will drown or anything..."
L: "We'll be fine no matter how it goes, we respawn in these game worlds. It's probably not gonna feel good, but at least we'll know after that. Some people love letting themselves drown, but I kind of doubt we will."
S: "What?! What kind of idiot likes to drown?! I would not wanna be friends with them... and I must certainly don't like that at all! I'm still not gonna move tho, cause I'm way too freaked out on whats gonna happen...and I don't feel like drowning"
L: "Yeah, I don't get those people... I've been through a lot of bad stuff before, and I definitely didn't like any of it. I'm worried how drowning is gonna feel, even though it'll probably be toned down here..."
S: *latias gasps*
"DO NOT SAY THAT!!!! your gonna jinx it and it's gonna happen... ugh! So stupid!"
L: "Crap, you're right, I should've said "how drowning MIGHT feel"... Sorry, wasn't really thinking about that."
S: "Ori! Dang it... now you've said it out loud and it's gonna happen as soon as we submerge, now I REALLY don't wanna go back down underwater..."
L: "I can prove it's not, I can dive in and come back out if you want. I've never really believed in stuff like that."
S: "I wouldn't do that if I were you... it's not worth it... but if you really wanna prove to me that it's not gonna happen...then fine, dive under and get a good look at that part of the underwater section...I won't try and stop you..."
L: "I'm gonna be fine, and so will you when we finally get going." Ori kisses Latias, then dives into the water to check what'll be down there.
S: *while latias blushes at the kiss, she's still very much scared, still sitting down as she waits for ori to return, hoping nothing happens to him while he's down there*
L: Ori returns in a shorter time than last time. "We've got an issue. There's stuff we need to do down there to open up the way forward, we can't just go straight through."
S: "....say what now? No...your kidding with me right?? Oh great, now I know for sure I won't be going down there"
L: "Hey, I came back up like I said I would, I clearly haven't jinxed anything. Besides, even though there isn't an air pocket this time, we might be able to do this in multiple dives!"
S: "There's no air pocket? Ugh... I don't care ori, I still don't wanna do it! I won't survive!" *latias whines and whimpers*
L: Ori climbs out of the water to sit next to Latias again. "Even IF we don't do this first try, we can keep trying until we get it. It'll be annoying, but we'll eventually beat this part no matter what."
S: *latias looks at ori with the cutest eyes you'll ever see, whimpering some more...she's clearly very unhappy that they have to do this eventually*
L: "We're gonna be just fine, Latias..." Ori hugs her, giving her a kiss as well.
S: *latias hugs and kisses ori back*
"If only my brother was here to support me, he's always behind my back and covers for me when needed, it's not like we have telephones so I could tell him the situation..."
L: "...You're a psychic type, right? And Latios is too? Do you think telepathy might work? I haven't heard of people outside game worlds being contacted by people in them, and I don't know how telepathy works, but maybe that can do it?"
S: "Hmmm...yknow what, I haven't thought about that, it might just work! We are both psychic types... I'll give it a try then!" *latias uses her telepathy to try and sent latios a message of a simple hello, hoping that I'll work*
L: After a moment, Latias feels a psychic connection form, and hears Latios' voice. "Hey, sis! How'd things go in that game world?"
S: *latias communicates via telepathy for now*
"Bro, I'm so happy you answered...things were gonna fine...until there's underwater sections in the game world... making me feel scared!"
L: "Ah, yikes, I know you don't do too well with water... You went into that game world with a partner, right? Maybe they could help keep you calm?"
S: "Yeah...I did, their name is Ori... and he managed to get me through 2 underwater sections...but now this third one is gonna be the toughest of the tough and I'm too scared to go down there, even with ori's help!"
L: "Wh- H-hold on, did you just say you got through 2 underwater sections!? That's awesome! Even just 1 would've been amazing for you, but 2 is incredible!"
S: *she couldn't help but chuckle a bit*
"Yeah bro! I did get through 2 underwater sections... being underwater is scary and interesting at the same time...but now I gotta get through this 3rd one..." *she sighs*
L: "Hey, you've got this! You handled 2, and that's impressive enough already, but I bet you can handle a third! I can't imagine it'll TOO hard if it's still so early on."
S: "Early on? It's definitely not early on... we've been here for a while and ori went ahead to see what was gonna happen and it does look very hard... it's not gonna be so easy for us :("
L: "Well, I meant early on in terms of how many underwater parts there's been so far. But hey, you must have gone through some tough fights and puzzles already, I doubt whatever's there is gonna be something you haven't seen before!"
S: "I mean it wasn't so bad up until this point, and I don't know how many parts there are... maybe this is the last one or the 2nd to last one, I don't know... ugh! I hate this, that's why I wanted to talk to you to help get some encouragement..."
L: "I'd hug you if I could... I wouldn't really blame you if you ended up giving up, but we both know you want to see this through. Every game's got its bad parts, and you've just gotta power through it so you can get back to the fun stuff."
S: *even tho latios can't tell latias is crying, he can most certainly tell it by her voice*
"I-i don't know latios... I don't know if I can power through this... if I know what's gonna be at stake...what if I drown?!"
L: "Then at least you'll know, and then it won't be as scary. I get the feeling you're imagining drowning to feel worse than it actually would, at least in a game world. You might end up being pleasantly surprised if it turns out to not be so bad."
S: "Not so bad?! Are you crazy?! It's gonna feel horrible! I just know it! Ugh... what's worse is that I learned that I'm definitely not the greatest breath holder, especially when I'm nervous!"
L: "I'm not really sure it'll matter how long you can hold your breath. Game worlds always change a little bit based on the abilities of whoever's in them. There's a chance it'll bring you to your limit, sure, but as long as you do everything right, it'll always be possible for you to win."
S: "I mean our luck has been fine for now, but I've got a feeling that's gonna change with this 3rd try...I'm so nervous to go under, plus I even looked and the waters looks so deep!"
L: "That "Ori" guy that's with you, if he can hold his breath longer than you, he can probably share some of his air with you to help you stay under longer. That's worth a try, right? Maybe it'll help."
S: "....and how exactly is he gonna share his air with me? Yknow I don't know much about that stuff bro..."
L: "Right, should've explained. As long as you're cool with it, since I don't know how much you like the guy, you and him could, well... Kiss, and he could exhale some of his air into you. Might be a bit embarrassing, but I've heard it can be a big help."
S: "K-kiss? Like on the lips?! Oh my gosh...well it's a good thing I do actually like this guy...he's cute...but are you sure this works?"
L: "It does work, I've done it before. It works best if the one giving the air can hold their breath longer than whoever's getting it, but getting more air is always helpful regardless."
S: "Well i guess it's good that ori can hold his breath a bit longer then I can... if you're saying it works then I may have to give it a shot... that's if I can get myself down there again tho..."
L: "If you want to just try it, you wouldn't have to go far down. You wouldn't even have to go underwater at all, actually!"
S: "Huh? Then how would I know if this whole air sharing thing will work unless I'm underwater..."
L: "I mean, you could kind of just do it, you don't have to be in a place without air to pass some through a kiss. There's isn't much point if there's air already around, but you can still do it."
S: "Hmm...interesting, I still don't know about this... yknow what, lemme talk to ori for a second, hang on bro" *she disables her telepathy connection with latios temporarily so she can speak with ori* "Hey ori?"
L: Ori: "What's up? I can tell you managed to talk to Latios after all."
S: "Yeah I did, I'm still speaking with him I need to ask you a question, would you be ok with sharing air with me through a kiss underwater if I needed it that badly?"
L: "...I've heard of that being possible, but I've never tried it... I'm up for giving it a shot, especially with you!"
S: *latias blushes*
"Well alright then, I guess we could try it then... if you're really up to it..."
L: "Yep, I'm fine with it! Hopefully we can get it figured out fairly quick, and don't end up taking in any water during it..."
S: "Goodness I hope not either, just give me a moment..." *latias returns to telepathic speak to latios* "Alright well he said he's willing to try it with me"
L: Latios: "Glad to hear it! Ori sounds like a really good guy, I'm looking forward to meeting him sometime once you're done in there!"
S: "He's amazing...I love everything about him...plus...w-we have feelings for each other too..."
L: "Oh, really? Ha, I knew you'd find the right guy eventually! Now I'm even more excited to meet him!"
S: "Yeah...took some time but, he seems like the right guy for me... ugh, if only I wasn't so scared to go underwater a 3rd time, I could have been outta here already"
L: "Maybe you could try just hanging out underwater for a while, instead of going for whatever you need to do right away? It might help if you get a bit more used to being underwater."
S: "I mean that could help...but I don't know... it's complicated to explain on why I'm so darn scared, mainly cause of drowning, and the water surrounding me just feels weird to me..."
L: "Hey, I don't blame you for being scared, given what happened in the past, but you've proven to both of us that you're finally recovering from it. Maybe having a really positive experience could help speed things along?"
S: "A positive experience? How am I supposed to have a positive experience underwater? That hasn't happened at all for me..."
L: "Well, you've got Ori there, you could try asking him if he'd be up for some underwater cuddling, or something like that. That'd be a good time to practice air-sharing, too."
S: "Underwater cuddling?? Like we have a cuddle session underwater? T-that actually sounds cute...like, very cute!"
L: "Then you should try it! I'm sure Ori would be up for some of that, maybe even just relaxing underwater in general!"
S: "You sure are the best when it comes to tips bro, thank you so much, I think imma go ahead and try it then!"
L: "Cool! Let me know how it goes once you're done!"
S: "I will! Talk to you later latios, I love you!" *she disconnects her telepathy line with latios* "Alright ori, latios has a pretty cute suggestion we could try to do so I can get comfortable with being underwater"
L: Ori: "Alright, whatever that is, pretty sure I'll be up for it. What have you got in mind?"
S: "Well, latios suggested we should just spend some time relaxing underwater together, and have an underwater cuddle session" *latias blushes*
L: "That does sound pretty nice! Just being underwater is actually more relaxing than you'd think, I like hanging out down there sometimes."
S: "Really? You do? Wow, I didn't think being underwater could be relaxing...I thought it's always a very stressful situation"
L: "There's this lake back where I'm from that has a huge waterfall, I've always loved swimming there. I'll take you there sometime, if you want!"
S: "Hmm, it sounds interesting...I think I would like that, but for now....I wanna try latios' suggestion to see if I'll help me"
L: "I bet it will!" Ori gets into the water and starts preparing for the upcoming dive.
S: "Maybe..." *latias lowers herself into the water next to ori* "A-as long as we don't go too far down for this..."
L: "Just under the surface then, that's fine. Should still work, I don't think the depth is really gonna matter."
S: "I guess we can try that then...I just hope this works..."
L: "I'm sure it will!" With one more gasp, Ori holds his breath and sinks underwater.
S: *after a little hesitantation latias takes a few breathes of air then holds one and sinks underwater too*
L: Ori smiles at Latias as she goes under, and hapily hugs her, letting a few bubbles loose from his nostrils.
S: *latias hugs ori back a little tightly, trying to calmly herself down as bubbles escape her nostrils*
L: Keeping the hug going, Ori sways his tail some as he looks up at Latias. "So, what do you think?"
S: *she uses telepathy to try and communicate with ori* "It feels...different...I'm not stressed out like I was eariler..." *she keeps hugging ori, kissing him too*
L: Ori kisses her back. "Awesome, it's working! We probably shouldn't stay like this too long, feeling a need to breathe makes it kind of hard to relax."
S: "Yeah, i-it does...and I'm already starting to feel that need..." *her face blushes red a bit as more bubbles escape her*
L: "Do you want to try out sharing air? Better now than if we actually NEED to do it up ahead."
S: "Y-yeah, good idea, let's try it...it may help relax me further"
L: "Hopefully it's as simple as I'm thinking it is..." Ori swims up a little to kiss Latias on the lips and exhale into her, and while a few bubbles leak out, it works, and Latias' breath meter refills some while Ori's drains a bit faster.
S: *latias' eyes go wide at the air being transferred to her, she smiles happily, giving ori a kiss back on the lips*
"Whoa! That was...great, i-i loved it...but not as much as I love you ori... you just made me fall in love with you even more than ever before!"
L: "I-I really love you too!" Ori happily hugs Latias again, tighter this time, even though he's now in a bit of need for air himself.
S: *latias happily hugs ori back tighter too, kissing him on the lips again* "You're my underwater soulmate... hehe"
L: Ori laughs out some bubbles, then looks up at the surface. "W-we should probably get some fresh air now..."
S: "Good idea..." *latias swims up to the surface, gasping in the fresh air*
L: Ori gasps as well, taking a bit longer to recover than Latias. "Alright... Do you think you're ready to get through that tunnel now?"
S: "...I might need one more cuddle for good luck, heh"
L: "Of course! You can have as many as you need!" Ori hugs Latias once more.
S: "Thank buddy, you're the best" *she hugs ori back, nuzzling him softly as well*
L: After the hug, Ori looks at Latias again, trying to hide that he's a little nervous. "...Alright, I think it's time we started getting ready..." He starts breathing deeply again, this time also to calm himself down some.
S: *latias is trying to hide her nervousness too, taking some breathes as well deeply to get herself ready too*
L: Ori sort of over prepares a little, getting him a bit light headed, but he does eventually dive, waiting for Latias to do the same before he'd start swimming.
S: *it looked promising but latias doesn't dive immediately, still looking nervous*
L: Surfacing again after a few seconds, Ori looks concerned at Latias. "Are you okay?"
S: "N-not...really...I don't know what's going on, why am I so dang nervous again!"
L: "How about we try to swim together? I could hold onto your back and see if I can speed us up some with just my legs, and we'd sort of be hugging the whole time."
S: "Hmm... I guess we could try that, but I don't know..."
L: "I don't really know if this'll be good for speed, but it'll probably at least help you stay calm." Ori swims around to Latias' back and holds onto her.
S: "Ok...we can try then...but I'm still pretty nervous..."
L: "We're gonna be fine, I'm sure of it!" Ori isn't sure of that, but he's trying to prevent Latias from freaking out.
S: "Alright... I'm gonna do this..." *she starts breathing deeply again to relax*
L: Ori prepares again as well, though he at least doesn't need quite as long this time.
S: *latias looks back at ori with a nervous smile*
"Y-you ready buddy?"
L: "Ready as I'll ever be... We got this." Ori takes a few last breaths while he can.
S: *then latias takes one last deep breath and let's her sink underwater, trying to stay calm*
L: Ori holds his breath as well, then starts kicking in the water to help propel him and Latias forward, which does do a little.
S: *latias swims forward with her arms trying to swim as fast as possible forward*
L: Before long, Ori and Latias arrive at a larger section with a large closed stone door ahead. There's a large square indent below the two divers, and what appear to be puzzle pieces are strewn about the room.
S: "What in the world is this? Is it a puzzle of some kind?" *latias said via telepathy*
L: "Think it's a jigsaw puzzle, yeah. There's too many pieces to do it in time unless we split up... Hope that's okay with you."
S: "Split up? I-i don't want that... I'm still scared and I don't want you to leave me behind..."
L: "I'll stay in the room, and we'll get back together on the way out, don't worry. We shouldn't waste time, I don't know if this'll reset if we leave." Ori gives Latias a quick kiss and lets go of her to get to work on the puzzle.
S: *latias is too nervous to help ori with the puzzle, bubbles trailing from her nostrils as her breath meter drains to about halfway*
L: Ori swims back to the indent with a piece, his own breath meter at a bit more than 2/3. "I'm sorry, Latias, but we have to do this eventually!" As he places that first puzzle piece and it locks in place, the path back the way Ori and Latias came suddenly closes off! "...O-oh crap..."
S: "What the?! What just happened?!" *latias suddenly panics, wasting more of her air*
L: "Damn it, damn it! I-I hate to freak you out, but we're gonna drown in here unless we do this in time!" Ori tries his best to pick up the pace, quickly looking around for the right spots for other pieces.
S: "WHAT?!?!? No no no no no no!!!!" *latias quickly gets to work helping ori, not wanting to drown*
L: "Argh, I'm not good at these!" Ori is working through the puzzle frustratingly slowly, only just now getting another piece in place.
S: "Me neither! I hate puzzles like these!" *latias continues her struggle for the puzzle and to hold her breath, her face entirely red at her breath meter is almost empty!*
L: "L-Latias, you need air! Here!" Ori quickly swims to her and gives her another air kiss, uncaring of losing his own air right now.
S: *latias' eyes go wide for a second but eventually relaxes, letting ori kiss her as her breath meter gets refilled slightly*
"T-thanks ori... I needed that..."
L: "...A-and now I kind of do too... B-but we need to focus!" Returning to the puzzle, with his breath at about a third, Ori starts doing a bit better, though it's still slow going.
S: *latias tries to shake off the thoughts of her potentially drowning, but the thoughts consume her, whimpering a bit as she's so scared of drowning...looking at ori trying to figure out the puzzle*
L: Ori's blush starts to turn purple, and he whines and covers his mouth. "...I-I don't think we're gonna do it in time..." Despite that, he keeps at it, with about half the puzzle done.
S: *latias' whimpers continue as her face is back to red, pinching her nostrils shut*
"P-please don't say that ori! I don't wanna drown! I really don't!!!" *latias pitches in a bit to help, but can only do so much with only one arm*
L: "I-I'm sorry, b-but I don't see how...MM!" Ori presses both hands to his mouth, his breath meter now at only 10%. Bubbles constantly stream from his lips even as he tries to stop them, his lungs intensely burning.
S: "ORI!!!" *still having a little bit more air left in latias, she swims over and uncovers Ori's mouth, pressing her lips to his and blowing some air into his lungs, her breath meter going down a bit during this and bubbles escaping too*
L: Now with the two of them having roughly an equal amount of time left, and knowing there's no possible way they'll solve the puzzle soon enough, Ori hugs Latias again. "I-I'm so sorry... I should've paid more attention..."
S: "Please tell me we're not gonna drown ori! I don't wanna experience that right now!" *she hugs ori back then frantically tries to complete the puzzle*
L: "W-we can at least try..." Ori's face has already gone back to purple and bubbles are trickling from his lips again, but he tries to focus on the puzzle past his need to breathe.
S: *latias' face is also purple, she's visibly crying and whimpering as bubbles trickle from her lips as well, trying to focus on the puzzle too*
L: Already, Ori's breath is back down to 10%, and he can't help but keep one hand on his mouth. Even now, he frantically swims around the room, trying piece after piece without paying a whole lot of attention to them.
S: *the pieces he tried worked a bit, but not all of them, latias now covers her mouth as well, still whimpering and whining*
L: "...I...I-I can't..." Ori curls inward some as his face turns blue, both hands on his mouth again with his breath meter nearly empty, constantly whimpering.
S: "Ori please! I don't....wanna...drown!!!" *she covers her mouth with both hands as well, her eyes squeezed shut as her breath meter is nearly empty as well*
L: With the last little bit left in his breath meter draining away, Ori can't hold on any longer, exhaling a cloud of bubbles before gasping down water! While it doesn't hurt quite as much as he'd expected, it still hurts a lot, and he lets out gurgling coughs before inhaling again.
S: "Oh no! Ori no!!" *latias' isn't far behind, she tries her very hardest to not inhale but can't help it, she inhales as well, gasping down water while she whimpers and cries in the process*
L: "L-La-*ghk*-tias!" Ori's voice sounds hoarse as he briefly manages to speak using the water he's choking on. Focusing what little he can, he tries to work on the puzzle some more, holding his neck with one hand while he continues repeatedly coughing and gasping.
S: "O-o-orbklbki!!!!!!" *latias is beyond terrified at this point, not even bothering to do the puzzle anymore and too focuses on her drowning, grabbing her neck and choking on the water*
L: Knowing there's no possible way of getting the puzzle done in time, Ori swims to Latias to try to comfort her, hugging her while still holding his neck. "I-I'm...*grgl*...S-sorry...*khl!*" His strength is fading, which does at least mean his pain is as well, and his coughs are getting less frequent.
S: *nothing works, latias is just way to freaked out, not even hugging ori back as she keeps inhaling the water, wanting to get out of here so badly*
L: Ori's coughs stop entirely, and his breaths of water start to slow down as he begins quickly feeling more and more tired. He keeps hugging Latias, hoping it's at least making her feel a little better, but he's beginning to have trouble holding onto her.
S: *latias quickly gets more and more weak as her breathes slow down and coughs slow down too, still not feeling better as she begins to faint*
L: With his awareness starting to fade, Ori can't hold Latias any more, and he sinks to the floor. After a few last watery breaths, he loses consciousness entirely, the last of his health draining away.
S: *latias whimpers again as she sees ori drown, crying softly as she soon looses consciousness as well, sinking to the floor next to ori*
L: The next thing the two know, they're back just outside the water and laying on their backs, having respawned. Ori gasps, quickly sitting upright before looking over at Latias.
S: *latias gasps as well, looking at ori with tears in her eyes*
"That was so scary!!! I never wanna go in the water again!"
L: Ori hugs Latias, tearing up a little as well. "I'm so sorry, it's all my fault... I-I ruined everything for you..."
S: "I can't believe this! Why must drowning have to occur!!" *latias states legitimately crying*
L: "W-we need a break, we can't be here right now, for your sake. L-let's just leave and relax out in the real world, okay?"
S: "W-wait... we can still come back and our progress up to here will be saved right? I-i don't wanna start over!"
L: "We'll probably have to redo this level, but no more than that, and this is at least early on in it."
S: "Ugh! Are you kidding me?! Whatever... I do need a break, cause I'm not sure if I'm gonna go back down there anytime soon..."
L: "Y-yeah, I think you're gonna need a while too..." Ori opens up the menu, picks "Save and exit", and disappears as he returns to the real world.
S: *latias does the same and she disappears into the real world as well*
L: Eventually, the two return to the game world, and Latias receives a message from the game itself: "In your previous session, drowning caused you extreme distress. Would you like to enable a breath-related assist option?"
S: "Whoa whoa whoa, a breath related assist option? What actually does that do for me? Hmmm..."
L: Ori: "It's offering an assist? That's pretty rare!"
Game: "You can multiply your maximum breath by 2, 3, or 4, or simply make it infinite. The effect can be freely changed between those settings afterward."
S: *latias gasps* "No way, I could make it infinite? Well that would certainly help me...but I've got a feeling if I made it infinite it won't give us a higher reward...heh"
L: Game: "Your completion reward will be lowered if you enable an assist, based on how strong said assist is. You may wish to start with the weakest and see if that is enough."
S: "Eh...and I don't really want it to be lowered...I want the whole reward! Yknow what, I'm not gonna take it"
L: Game: "The offer will remain, should you change your mind."
Ori: "You sure, Latias? That really freaked you out last time..."
S: "That offer would help....nope! I came here for the whole reward and that's what im gonna get... even tho...getting through it with more breath would help...but nope!"
L: Ori hugs Latias. "I'm glad you're gonna try it again, but don't force yourself if it's too much again, okay?"
S: "A-alright... I still don't know tho, I mean I made the commitment but I don't know if my body would wanna push itself again... after drowning it really did frighten me... if only this stupid game would just make the infinite breath lower the reward and not everything else..."
L: "Makes sense that it's the way it is, because everyone would just turn on everything that won't affect the reward... But we can get through this! We should probably have a proper look around that part as well, we were kind of rushed last time."
S: "Yeah, because we got trapped in there! And I don't want that to happen again! This whole thing is too much for me, even the game feels bad for me!"
L: "I'm sure it'll start being fun again once we're past that part, it's gotta just be a weird difficulty spike."
S: "You're telling me... a big ol legendary pokemon like me shouldn't be scared of this stuff, but i am... the only reason I'm even continuing is because of you and latios, without you both I would have quit a long time ago..."
L: "I'm glad I've been such a big help for you! I can't imagine you're the only legendary that gets scared, I bet someone like Moltres isn't the biggest fan of water either."
S: "Oh right, Moltres is probably more scared of water then me, glad they aren't in this game world, heh..."
L: "Yep, it's perfectly normal to be scared of things, no matter who or what you are. Do you want to give another shot at beating that fear?"
S: "As much as I regret not taking the game's offer, I guess I'll try beating that fear again, besides...sharing air with you is kinda nice" *latias blushes shyly*
L: "I-I did really like that... I'm kinda looking forward to doing more of those air kisses." Ori blushes as well, smiling at Latias.
S: *latias smiles back*
"Me too, and as soon as we get outta here, I think you and I are gonna go a celebration date, after I get you introduced to my brother of course, hehe!"
L: "I'd love that, yeah! Let's see if we can speed things up a bit in here so we can get to that sooner!"
S: "Yes, and hopefully we can just breeze through this, I'm just gonna try my best not to think about being submerged, it'll be hard but, I'll try my best"
L: They both progress through the level again, faster this time since they already know what to do, and arrive at the beginning of the underwater part that they'd previously given up at. "Okay, here we are... Are you ready?"
S: "Oh boy...2nd try and this underwater part... this is gonna be something...and I'm super nervous!"
L: "I never got a good look around there last time, so is it alright if I head down and properly look around? We might have missed something helpful."
S: *latias sighs*
"I suppose so, just be quick alright? I don't want anything happening to you..."
L: "Yep, I won't be long!" After giving Latias a kiss, Ori dives underwater to search ahead. When he comes back about 30 seconds later, he's smiling. "Good news! I'm not sure how we missed it, but there's a reference for that puzzle on the ceiling in there!"
S: "Huh??? There is?? Why didn't I look up then, heh... well that's most certainly gonna help us then"
L: "We probably wouldn't have drowned that first time if we'd seen that, and I had scouted before that too... Sorry."
S: "Ugh...well better late then never I guess... least we know what to do down there now, it's just a matter of me actually submerging"
L: "Yep, it's definitely gonna be fine this time. Plus, we got a lot of it done last time, we'll probably remember where a lot of pieces go!"
S: "True true..." *latias sighs then puts on a brave expression* "Alright, let's do this then right! Not gonna let my fear control me!"
L: "Yeah, there you go!" Ori hugs Latias, then starts breathing deeply one more time, a lot more confident than he'd been last time they were here.
S: *latias happily hugs ori back, and keeping on her brave face she takes some deep breathes as well to get ready, a little more confident this time as well*
L: Once he's ready, Ori dives under for what he hopes will be the last time in at least this level, waiting for Latias to join him.
S: *latias takes a last deep breath and dives under as well, floating right next to ori as she turns to smile at him, clearly a bit more brave then the last attempt*
L: Ori nods to Latias and starts swimming to the puzzle room with her, glad it doesn't seem like he needs to hold onto her this time.
S: *latias swims next to ori the whole time, trying to look as brave as possible, eventually the duo makes it back to the puzzle room in one piece*
L: "Yeah, look up there." Ori points up, and sure enough, there's an image on the ceiling that matches what the two had been trying to make before.
S: *latias looks up* "Huh... wow, there is image of the puzzle thing, interesting, well let's get to work then"
L: "Definitely won't be as hard now, since we know what we're making!" Ori grabs a puzzle piece and puts it in place, the entrance closing again once he does. "Doesn't make it less nerve-wracking though..."
S: "It still makes me nervous too! Ahhh!" *latias briefly panics, but quickly calms down so they don't waste air, bubbles streaming from her nostrils*
L: "It's gonna be okay, just stay focused and we can do this no problem." Ori is doing much better than last time, already having gotten about a quarter of the pieces in place on his own.
S: "I hope so" *latias pitches in to help ori, making the puzzle making process go a lot quicker, her cheeks slightly puff up and her face slightly red, but she ignores it*
L: Before too much longer, the puzzle is about 2/3 done. "Getting pretty close... Need any air, Latias?"
S: "I-i could use a little bit of air to help get me through the last parts of the puzzle..." *her face a little more red now*
L: "Yep, I've got you!" Ori swims to Latias and kisses her, exhaling some air into her. He keeps the kiss going a little longer than necessary, but not by much.
S: *latias let's him kiss her, making it longer as well, her face returning to normal as her breath meter is almost completely full now*
"Thanks buddy..."
L: Ori's breath meter is at about half, though he's still calm for now. "No problem! I bet we're gonna be done here before we'd need to share air again, this is going great!"
S: "Sure hope so!" *and sure enough indeed the duo manages to finally finish the puzzle!*
L: With the last piece slotted into place, the stone doors open, revealing a short passage to the water's surface. "Nice! I was kind of worried it'd make us go farther for air than that..."
S: "Yes! Finally! I don't care anymore let's get the heck outta here!" *latias zooms away to the passage, so eager to surface*
L: Ori happily follows her, and the two surface without incident, with Ori gasping. "So glad that's over... I REALLY hope the game takes things easy for a while!"
S: *latias gasps too*
"Me too! Cause this is ridiculous!" *oh but it appears it's not over just yet... before they could complete this thing, they have to fight a boss...underwater*
L: Near the end of the level, Ori and Latias find another pool they'll need to dive in... With a boss door on the bottom. "D-damn it, I was afraid this was coming..."
S: "No....no you are kidding me right?? Is that a freaking boss door?! Underwater?!!? Oh dear lord please no..."
L: "O-okay, well... There's definitely gonna be at least one air source in there, right? And it's probably gonna be a bit easier than the last boss, since the environment itself is an issue..."
S: "I've seen underwater boss battles, and they can get really tough! So this worries me...if there is at least a air source down there I'll make me feel a bit better, but not by much..."
L: "It's definitely gonna be tough, since we'll be able to move vertically... But I really don't think it's gonna be TOO bad."
S: "Come on ori I know you can be honest about this...it's gonna be real bad isn't it? Ugh!"
L: "I'm definitely just thinking more of the boss itself, it's gonna be rough balancing out actually doing the fight AND making sure we don't drown... I really hope there's more than one air source, so we don't have to lead the boss away for us to breathe."
S: "That would suck if there was only one air source... honestly I'm not sure if I'm committed to this one... because there's a big chance that we will drown again! And I don't want that to happen!"
L: "There really is, even more than last time... But it's not gonna be anything we can't handle. We have just about every combat-related upgrade we can have for where we're at, if we're quick we might not even need more air."
S: "I still don't know ori...I'm scared! Too scares! Because it's underwater!"
L: "This might sound a bit weird, but... What if you imagined this boss as a sort of physical form of your fear of water? Might help you feel better about fighting it."
S: "Huh? Like I pretend to fight off my fear of the water with this boss? I don't know about that..."
L: "Kind of just a random idea of something that could help, I don't know whether it actually would. Haven't really got much in the way of more sensible ideas..."
S: "Yeah I'm not too sure it'll help me in this case...thanks for trying tho..."
L: "There has to be something that'll work, we managed to get you this far... Hm..." Ori sits at the edge of the water, blankly staring at the boss door as he thinks.
S: *latias floats back and forth in thought, wondering how she should tackle this... but almost knowing how scared she is doing a boss fight underwater*
L: "You know... We really haven't done any underwater fighting, have we? That's all been in optional stuff so far. Maybe heading back some and trying it out with regular enemies will help, since you'll have a better idea of what it's like?"
S: "I mean, that is an idea...but is it a good idea? I don't know... I'll probably be too focused on holding my breath to do that...the puzzle was fine because it didn't require much, but fighting? That's a different story"
L: "We're going to need to do that boss regardless, so we should probably get at least a little practice. I suppose there's the off chance the boss isn't going to be a fight and we just have to mess with stuff in the room to win, that happened before, but we shouldn't count on it."
S: "Don't get your hopes up for that... most underwater boss fights you actually have to fight them, so I'm pretty positive that this is one of them...ugh! But I don't wanna fight underwater! It's not gonna be good for my body!"
L: "Yeah, now that I think about it, never seen one that wasn't an actual fight... Do you want to try just attacking underwater? Doesn't have to be directed at anything, we could do it right here."
S: "I guess i gotta try something, so that's gonna be a start for me...so yes, let's try that..."
L: "Okay, good, I was gonna be out of ideas after that." Seeing no real point in properly getting ready, Ori holds his breath and dives into the water.
S: *latias soon takes a breath, holds it and dives underwater as well*
L: Making sure to aim well away from Latias, Ori fires some bolts of light from his hands, happy to see that they work pretty much the same as above water.
S: "Whoa... that's actually pretty cool! It still works fine even underwater" *latias smiles softly as small bubbles escape her nostrils*
L: "Glad it does, that's my favorite one. Make sure to get some practice dodging as well, it's probably gonna be harder underwater."
S: "Oh jeez...that too? I'm gonna suck at this I just know it! Heck i-i don't know if I can just attack underwater, I'm too focused on holding my breath to do anything.."
L: "I guess I might be able to handle it myself... I'd really rather not have to do that though, these fights are meant for two people. Can you at least give something a shot?"
S: "How? I'm actually trying to do one of my attacks right now, but my body won't let me! Again, too focused on breath holding" *you can tell latias is trying to make a move but is failing*
L: "Maybe you'd need to be more comfortable in water, but that's not gonna be happening during a fight... Guess it might end up being up to me after all..."
S: "...ugh no, I don't want you to have to fight alone, lemme try this again..." *she tries to do another move, but focusing real hard this time, and indeed she manages to do a psychic type move underwater!*
"W-wha! I think I did it!"
L: "Oh, there you go! I kind of forgot how much focus it takes you to do yours, hopefully that's not gonna end up being much of an issue..."
S: "I'm sure once I get it down a few times, then I'll be fine...hopefully..."
L: "Yeah, see if you can fire off a few more, I'm gonna get a bit of dodging practice." Ori starts trying out quickly and suddenly moving in different directions from different orientations.
S: *latias meanwhile tries to fire off a few more psychic moves, managing to activate them quicker and quicker, but in all this it wastes her air, her face turning red and her breath meter halfway empty*
L: All the exertion of dodging around is using up a lot of Ori's breath as well. "We should push ourselves with this, we probably won't always be doing fine on breath down there."
S: "I-i rather not do that... I don't really wanna push myself like this... it's not healthy for me..."
L: "I kind of feel like it's gonna be happening anyway... I'm gonna stay down longer, if that's okay with you." His breath meter is at about half.
S: "Fine, you push yourself, I'm gonna go get some air..." *latias does so, swimming to the surface and gasping in air*
L: Ori stays under, practicing maneuvering and occasionally firing off shots at nothing in particular. Eventually he finally surfaces with a loud gasp, his face purple and breath meter at a bit under a quarter full.
S: *latias was on the surface the whole time*
"Good lord you were down there for a while... there's no way I'm gonna be able to attack while being too low on air..."
L: "Th-think I'm ready... I'll do everything I can to make sure you have access to air, okay?"
S: *latias sighs*
"Alright...this will probably be the last thing we have to do before we can finally end this game...hopefully...heh"
L: "We better at least be done with water after this... I'll try to keep the boss focused on me during this, so you can focus on your attacks."
S: "Fine, just be careful ok? I don't want anything to happen to you..." *latias said worried*
L: Ori hugs Latias. "I'm gonna be fine, I've got experience with keeping huge things from hitting me. For better or for worse."
S: "Alright alright... well...I guess we should properly prepare ourselves then..."
L: "Yeah..." Ori starts breathing deeply once again, hoping it'll be the last time he needs to in this game world.
S: *latias also starts to breath deeply as well, trying to calm herself down as she looks at ori nervously*
L: Eventually, steeling himself, Ori takes one more gasp before diving under, swimming down to the boss door.
S: *latias meanwhile just keeps breathing in the fresh air, not swimming down just yet, or more on the fact that she's doing this on propose to delay the inevitable*
L: Noticing Latias hasn't come with him, Ori swims back up, resuming his deep breathing. "We're gonna have to do this eventually, Latias..." He gives her a hug to try to calm her down.
S: *latias hugs ori back*
"I'm sorry ori, I'm just so nervous about this boss! I've made all the other bosses up to this point easy as pie, but now? I'm terrfied..."
L: "I bet you'll make this one easy too! Your attacks are a lot stronger than mine, I kind of think whatever this is is gonna have a harder time with us than we do with it!"
S: "Heh, I guess you're right, I am pretty strong... alright, I won't let the underwater environment get to me, cause I know you'll keep me safe"
L: "We've got this, no need to worry!" Ori holds his breath again and heads back under, more slowly swimming to the boss door while looking up at Latias.
S: *latias hesitates again, looking down at the water and managing to see ori through the water, a nervous look on her face*
L: Ori sighs out some bubbles, and swims back up again. "Do you want to try going under at the same time like we did before?"
S: *latias blushes embressingly*
"Y-yeah, I'm really sorry... but I don't think my body is gonna go under unless we do it together*
L: "That's fine, I should've done that from the start." Ori holds Latias' hands. "Alright, 3...2...1..." Once again, Ori holds his breath and starts going underwater.
S: *this time latias takes a deep breath, holds it and let's herself sink down underwater while ori held her hands*
L: "There you go... Come on, let's get this over with." Ori swims down to the boss door, waiting for Latias to join him there.
S: *latias rolls her eyes and swims slowly down to the boss door, getting there eventually, then holds ori's hand again nervously*
L: With both of them close enough, the door opens to reveal a fairly dark room. After giving Latias a smile, Ori starts swimming down into the room with her.
S: *latias was very scared to enter the room, she actually shuts her eyes tight and swims into the dark room with ori*
L: The door closes behind them, and the room slowly lights up to reveal... Nothing? Then, there's a rumbling, and one of the walls is smashed open, a kraken bursting through! As if there were any doubt of whether it was the boss, its health bar quickly appears as well.
S: "Ahhhhblblblbl!!!!!" *latias screamed underwater causing bubbles to escape her, but quickly goes back to telepathic speak* "What is that thing?!!? Get me outta here I don't wanna fight them!!!!"
L: "We don't have a choice, we can't leave without winning or losing! Try to stay focused, I'm gonna figure out where air is!" Ori fires off some light bolts to get make sure the kraken's attention isn't on Latias, then does his best to look around the room while dodging.
S: *the kraken roars loudly, eyeing to aim an attack at ori with their tentacles, that little light bolt only causes small damage*
"Ori look out! The kraken is gonna attack!"
L: Ori barely manages to avoid being hit, even just having the tentacles move so close to him making him briefly tumble in the water from how much force is behind them. "H-holy crap! Argh, a-and my light's barely doing anything!"
S: "This is not good! I don't like this at all! I can't concentrate at all! I'm too scared*
*it was then the krakens eyes turn to latias... an evil look on the kraken's face as they get ready for another attack, this one looks like it's gonna be stronger then the last*
"Ori...help!!!!"
L: "L-Latias!" Swimming as fast as he can, Ori manages to push Latias out of the way, but ends up getting hit himself! "ABLABLBL!" Ori yelps out in pain, losing both health and some air.
S: "Ori!!! Are you ok?!" *latias was very concerned about ori*
*the kraken looks to be getting ready to attack again, and it's looking to aim right at latias without her knowing!*
L: Ori tries to shake off the hit he'd taken, though now he's halfway about of breath. "F-for now... W-we need to- L-Latias, look out!" Ori starts rapidly firing at the tentacle that's about to hit her.
S: "Ahhhh!!!" *latias managed to duck out of the way at the attack* "Good lord this thing doesn't mess around!" *latias' breath meter is down halfway because of her anxiety*
L: "We need to find air!" Frantically looking around, Ori happens to notice large capsules of some sort on the bottom. Shooting one, it breaks open, a big air bubble rising out! "There! Those capsules on the bottom have air!"
S: "Huh?? They do!?" *latias notices the big bubbles rising out of the capsule, but tilts her head to side in wonder*
"Wait... it's just some big bubble... what's the big deal?" *latias isn't aware she can inhale the bubble to get air*
L: "I-it might be a bit tricky, but it should work..." Ori swims to the bubble and grabs it, actually managing to keep hold of it as he brings it to his mouth, sucking in. His breath meter fully refills as the bubble shrinks away, and he avoids another of the kraken's attacks before looking at Latias. "I really hope you can do that too!"
S: "You can just inhale that bubble like that?! Whoa... I need one of those now because I can feel the burn in my lungs!" *bubbles constantly stream from latias as she manages to get one hit on the kraken...it's health drained only the tiniest bits tho...*
L: "There has to be something we're missing, this'll take forever... I'm gonna look around it for a weak point! Oh, and sending up a bubble for you too!" Ori shoots a capsule below Latias, a bubble slowly floating up to her, before he starts swimming around the kraken.
S: "Okay so how do I this?" *latias softly takes the bubbles in her arms then copies what ori did, putting her mouth on it and inhaling it, her breath meter refilled as the bubbles goes away* "Whoa, that felt refreshing, heh" *with the new air in her lungs she confidently swims around the kraken with ori to find its weak point*
L: Soon enough, after another dodged attack, Ori gets around to the kraken's back, finding a small section that looks like it's scarred. With a couple experimental shots at it, the kraken's health drops by quite a bit more than before! "Found it! Hit that weird spot on its back!" Immediately after that though, the kraken turns around to attack again!
S: *latias swiftly dodges the attack, managing to use her psychic powers on the weak point which deals an incredible amount of damage! The boss health bar halfway gone!*
"Whoa!"
L: "Holy crap! Okay, you keep shooting it, I'll try to annoy it so you have an opening!" Ori moves so the kraken is between him and Latias, doing his best to shoot its eyes so it focuses on him.
S: *latias mean while charges up another big psychic type move, dodging some more attacks as tiny bubbles escape her nostrils, then finally, launches it! The attack does so much damage that it the bosses health bar is now at the finest slither of health, latias giggling at the sight of it*
L: "And, with a nice disrespect..." Ori quickly swims up to the kraken and simply punches it, the miniscule amount of damage from that being enough to finish it off! The kraken roars, thrashing about for a moment, before going still and slowly fading away.
S: "We did it!!!! WE DID IT!!!!! We beat the boss!!! Yay!!!!" *latias gets so excited that it wasted her air, but she completely ignores it as she's so happy it's over*
L: Ori happily swims to Latias to hug her, wagging his tail. "That was so much easier than I thought it'd be!" His breath meter is back below half again, but he doesn't care right now.
S: "I know right! But thank goodness we did it!" *latias happily hugs ori back, kissing him* "Now let's get outta here!"
L: "Yeah, I kind of need air, and I'm not really sure I want more from those capsules." With the way back still closed, the hole the kraken had created when it came in is left as the obvious path to go, leading to a dry area with the level's end.
S: "Looks like that's our ticket outta here, let's go!" *she makes her way to the path quickly*
L: The two surface again before long. "So glad to finally be done with water, and not just for my own sake..."
S: "Yep, for my own sake too, fresh air I missed you and look, this is the end of the level!"
L: "Still up for continuing through the game? I'd love to see this through to the end with you~" Ori kisses Latias.
S: "Hehe! Yknow it ori~" *latias kisses ori back, smiling at him*
L: "Nothing's gonna stop us now!" Ori holds Latias' hand and walks through the goal with her.
![[RP LOG] William's birthday bash](https://va.ib.metapix.net/images80/overlays/writing.png "[RP LOG] William's birthday bash"){kind=small}
