L: Charmander and Helioptile, in their mission to complete a VR game, come to a jungle-themed level. "Ooh, I've always liked jungles!", Helioptile says.
N: Charmander: This should be a fun level to get through
L: The two progress through the level like they would any other, until they come to a section where they'll have to swim. "Oh hey, there hasn't been any swimming up to this point! This might be nice..."
N: Charmander: Oh my... this is forced underwater section too
L: "Crap, right, you're a fire type, you're not gonna be having as much fun with this as me... But we've still gotta get through."
N: Charmander: I did got some water training from Squirtle so I do have some experience with water, hope this isn’t a long swim…
L: "I'm sure it's gonna be fine, it can't need THAT long of a dive."
N: Charmander: Hopefully, let’s continue onward *They hop into the water and start swimming*
L: Holding his breath and puffing his cheeks, Helioptile looks over at Charmander, breath meters appearing above both of them. They're draining at about the same rate, thankfully.
N: *They swim through the tunnel til they reach the air pocket, getting past the warmup part of the underwater section*
L: Helioptile breathes heavily to catch his breath. "That seemed kind of TOO easy... Lucky this is here, at least."
N: Charmander: This is just the warmup it looks like, it might get more tricky from here
L: "Yeah, probably... Hopefully drowning doesn't hurt too bad, if it comes to that."
N: Charmander: Yeah, let's hope so *They dive underwater as they continue forward*
L: There's no other air pocket in sight this time, but Helioptile tries to stay calm, only letting out the occasional bubble as he swims.
N: *They see two different path to take as they both take the left path*
L: With it now having been about a minute since they submerged, Helioptile is having a bit of trouble holding his breath, his breath meter down to about halfway.
N: *They both feeling the strain as they find a bunch of extra lives, but it is unfortunately a dead end*
L: "Mm!" With a bit of fear, Helioptile looks at the breath meters of himself and Charmander, knowing they won't be able to get back to the air pocket before they'd inhale water.
N: *They quickly grab some extra lives and with no other option they have no choose to take the other path and pray that there's the end of the underwater tunnel*
L: Helioptile's face eventually starts turning a bit purple as his breath gets lower and lower, covering his mouth while continuing to swim.
N: *Charmander was also struggling as they both see the surface ahead, their air meter is almost drained as they feared that they can't make it before the air runs out*
L: Reaching the last few seconds of his breath hold, Helioptile's swimming becomes frantic, bubbles streaming from his lips as his face goes blue and he repeatedly whines, barely holding back from inhaling.
N: *They both ran out of air as they start inhaling water, they both losing health as same speed as they keep swimming to the surface, ignoring the pain*
L: Now drawing in gasp after gasp of water, Helioptile gurgles in pain but forces himself to swim, getting closer and closer to the surface...
N: *Their health is halfway drained as they nearly reach the surface, the pain they feeling isn't as torturous as they thought it will be*
L: Even as he starts feeling weaker, Helioptile does his best to keep swimming. Strangely, he finds himself starting to get the slightest bit of enjoyment out of drowning... But, he tries to ignore that.
N: *They both made at the surface at quarter health as they cough out water* Charmander: We barely... made it...
L: "W-way too close... K-kind of thought we wouldn't make it..." As his breathing goes back to normal, Helioptile looks at Charmander and blushes. "Um... This is probably gonna sound weird, but... In those last few seconds, did drowning start to feel... Kinda good?"
N: Charmander: Not really... but it was surprisingly painless which is nice. Drowning doesn't seem so bad now is it
L: "Yeah, that hurt a lot less than I expected it to! Guess it's not really gonna be a big deal if it ends up happening again."
N: Charmander: Yeah *They got out of the water and found some health pick up to get back at full health*
L: Helioptile gives a happy sigh as his health is fully refilled. "Guess they must've expected a bit of drowning in that part, huh?"
N: Charmander: Well, we did made a wrong turn earlier *They reach the next checkpoint as the two see their next obstacle, quicksand*
L: "Oh boy, this is gonna be annoying... At least if we drown it's not gonna be so bad, right?"
N: Charmander: Yeah, since we hit the checkpoint we can test the quicksand to see if this is escapable
L: "I'd rather not waste a life on that, even if we do have a lot... We'll find out eventually anyway though, right?"
N: Charmander: Well I'm going to test it out anyway *Charmander steps into the quicksand and gets out by jumping* It's escapable, no worries here
L: "Fair enough! We've got even less to worry about here than with water!"
N: Charmander: Yeah, but we probably won't be jumping through all that. It might be exhausting *They notice some vines*
L: "Ah, those are what we're supposed to use, we can swing across on those vines."
N: Charmander: Yes, looks like we got some swinging action
L: Helioptile grabs onto a vine. "Hope this goes well, not having hands is gonna make this tough..."
N: Charmander: At least we know that we can escape quicksand *Charmander grabs the vine*
L: Hoping for the best, Helioptile jumps with the vine and tries to swing on it. It works well enough, and he gets to the next vine without issue. "Okay, so far so good..."
N: *Charmander does the same, soon they both miss the third swing and fall into the quicksand* Charmander: Aww, that's unfortunate
L: "Ugh, this is gonna be really annoying... Time to head back to the start, I guess..."
N: *They notice that they are both far from either side as they both start jumping* Charmander: I can't tell if we are closer to start then finish
L: "Then we may as well just go for the finish. We'd better get going before we get tired..." Continuing to hop to keep himself from sinking, Helioptile starts making his way to the far side of the quicksand pool.
N: *They were both at the center of the quicksand as the two stop jumping* Charmander: It feels warm and comfy here...
L: "This does feel nice... Maybe we could let ourselves sink a bit to see if it gets better? Only about halfway under or so."
N: Charmander: Maybe, it already starting to feel like a nice mud spa
L: "Yeah, let's have a break here. I was getting a bit tired anyway, this'll be a nice way to rest."
N: *They sink to their knees as they smile* Charmander: It feels quite nice to the skin
L: "I can already tell I'm gonna want to do this again sometime!" Helioptile reaches down and scoops some of the quicksand onto himself, coating himself in it to feel even better.
N: Charmander: Yeah, I'm already enjoying this feeling and this lovely sink *Charmander sways his tail*
L: "Do you think we should go entirely under? I'm fine with spending a life on seeing if this feels better when we're submerged."
N: Charmander: As crazy as it sounds, I do want to drown in all that warm soft mire
L: "Me too, actually! Didn't want to say it in case you'd think I'm weird, but I want to find out how this feels in my lungs!"
N: *They sink to their waist as they blushed* Charmander: This could be so blissful
L: "Ha, it practically already is! It's gonna feel even better once we're under, I just know it!"
N: Charmander: Yeah, after learning about the drowning experience
L: "So glad we're not gonna permanently die from this, that would kind of ruin it."
N: Charmander: Yeah, good thing we will respawn after this
L: "It sure is taking a long time for us to sink... Not really a big deal, considering how good this feels, but still, that seems kind of weird."
N: *They sink to their belly* Charmander: I don’t mind a long sink, it’s quite relaxing
L: "I mean, like... This is supposed to be a threat. I'm confident the only way we'd sink in quicksand is if we let it happen, like we are now. But hey, works for me!"
N: Charmander: There might be a faster version in later levels so I guess this one is a warmup for the challenge ahead
L: "Oh, I didn't think of that! This is the first time we've seen quicksand, and the game always takes it easy on us when something new is added... Guess later versions might end up being an issue after all."
N: Charmander: An issue that is no longer a problem for what we doing *They sink to their chest*
L: "Yeah, even if it gets quicker, I'm not sure I'd really mind that much."
N: Charmander: Yeah, getting to go deeper might make it better then last time. Plus, we might get to sink in sandy quicksand for more variety
L: "Oh, that'd be fun! Sand might feel even better to sink in!"
N: Charmander: And maybe better to drown in too, blissfully of course *They sink to their neck*
L: "Finally, almost there... I'm kind of wondering whether I should even hold my breath down there, honestly."
N: Charmander: Let’s do some breath holding for a long lasting experience *They tilt their head*
L: "Yeah, at least the first time." Helioptile starts tilting his head back to keep breathing as well.
N: Charmander: I can almost feel like we are slowly dying in warm and soft quicksand, so blissful
L: "Definitely gonna hurt to drown, but it's gonna be worth it for sure!"
N: Charmander: Nearly there now... the need to drown is growing... take us under sweet quicksand *They struggle to keep their mouth above the surface for their final words*
L: "Gah, I can't wait any longer!" Helioptile holds his breath and lowers his head under the quicksand a bit early.
N: *Their head quickly slip under as their nose remains, taking one last breath*
L: Feeling even better now that he's fully submerged, Helioptile happily lets a few bubbles loose as his breath meter starts to drain.
N: *Charmander starts blowing bubbles as well as they enjoy their muddy embrace*
L: Wanting to feel an increased pressure around him, Helioptile actually starts trying to force himself deeper, though he doesn't go much faster than the normal sinking speed.
N: *They sink deeper and deeper as they both feel a strain as they both make no attempt of escaping the quicksand*
L: With half his breath already gone, Helioptile stops trying to go deeper and just relaxes while he still can, smiling a little as he thinks about what drowning in quicksand might feel like.
N: *Charmander happily enjoy his time under the quicksand, waiting for his breath mater to drain more and more*
L: Helioptile's face starts going purple again as he's now struggling, but he still makes no attempt to surface. At this point, he's not even sure he can any more.
N: *Their air is almost empty as the needing to drown is making them more eager then before*
L: While he very much wants to get on with the drowning, Helioptile keeps holding his breath, wanting to also push himself to his limit again as his face turns blue and he squirms from strain.
N: *When their air fully depleted they begin to inhale a mouthful of warm mud as they start losing health again*
L: It still hurts a fair bit, but Helioptile can already tell he prefers drowning in quicksand instead of just water. With an open-mouthed smile, he intentionally takes gasp after gasp of mud, relishing the feeling of the thick substance moving through his airways.
N: *Charmander feel the bliss from drowning in quicksand as he is willing to accept his muddy fate as their health is halfway drained*
L: The feeling of weakening just makes Helioptile feel even better, as if the quicksand's massage on his skin - and in his lungs - were slowly putting him to sleep.
N: *They are both nearly drowned as their health is nearly drained, they happily take in one last gulp of mud*
L: As much as he doesn't want the drowning to end, Helioptile can't fight the game's mechanics. After taking the deepest muddy breath he can, his health runs out and a single large bubble floats from his mouth as he's fully drowned.
N: *Charmander last bubble escapes as he is fully drowned as well*
L: Not too long after, Helioptile and Charmander respawn at the checkpoint, perfectly unharmed. "Man, I didn't think it would feel THAT good!"
N: Charmander: Yeah, that was amazing. Best mud bath of my life
L: "We should keep going, I want to see if there's different kinds of quicksand in this! We can sink in all of them!"
N: Charmander: Yes, let’s continue onward *They successfully swing across the quicksand as they reach the end of the level they are having a blast*
![[RP LOG] The water levels](https://va.ib.metapix.net/images80/overlays/writing.png "[RP LOG] The water levels"){kind=small}
