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Story 1 summary: Riolu gets help with underwater meditation from older brother Lucario
Themes: Pokemon, extended breath holding
Rating: General
Gifted to squirtlerocks07
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Down near the seabed in a reef, Riolu held his breath as he swam along, happily looking at all the fish nearby. They weren't quite what he was here for, but they were certainly a nice bonus. No, he was looking for a clear, comfortable-looking spot in the reef... After a couple dives, he found the right spot: A patch of bare sand, with aquatic plants all around. Smiling, Riolu swam back up for a fresh breath before returning and sitting down.
After a little bit of looking around and taking in his surroundings, Riolu relaxed and closed his eyes. He intended to practice breath holding using something his older brother Lucario said helped: Meditation. Though he'd never done it before, Lucario had explained how to do it. He was supposed to get comfortable, close his eyes, and relax as much as possible. While it did just sound like sleeping, Lucario had insisted it was different. So, Riolu gave it a shot, sitting and thinking calming thoughts...
...But, it wasn't working. The minutes ticked by, and there kept being little annoyances; maybe he'd get a little uncomfortable on the sand and have to adjust a little, or a random fish would brush up against him... And eventually, 5 minutes in, his need to breathe joined in on stopping him. Though his breath holding record sat at 9 minutes, he couldn't relax at this point. With a bubbly sigh, Riolu got up and swam for the surface to gasp. This was a little frustrating, so... Maybe some other time. But, as he was swimming back to shore, Riolu saw his brother swimming out toward him!
They greeted each other and hugged, before Lucario asked why Riolu seemed just a little bit annoyed. Riolu sighed, explaining he'd tried underwater meditation but couldn't manage to actually do it. Lucario nodded, knowing how hard it is to do that alone... And he offered to go under with Riolu to help them. Riolu happily agreed, and led Lucario above the spot he'd tried meditating in before they started taking deep breaths for a little while. Then, they both held their breath and dove under, swimming down to the spot.
Lucario sat down and motioned for Riolu to sit in his lap, which they did. With Lucario hugging Riolu, they both closed their eyes in an attempt to meditate... And this time, it worked! With both Pokemon fully relaxed and hardly even thinking, the minutes ticked by like seconds. Barely any bubbles left either of them after the first minute, and even the occasional fish didn't bother them. Eventually, blushing heavily with their faces beginning to turn more blue than normal, Riolu and Lucario came back to awareness, realizing how badly they now needed to breathe! They both quickly swam for the surface, gasping and panting once they got there.
Riolu was briefly disappointed he'd never know how long he'd been underwater, but Lucario had thankfully brought his stopwatch, having come out here for practice too. He looked down to see what it had to say: 31:24. Riolu's eyes went wide; he'd gotten just over TRIPLE his record, and even Lucario had nearly doubled his! The two happily hug, wagging their tails and glad they were able to help each other improve by such a huge amount, and began swimming back to shore together. Though they hadn't been aware for a lot of it, holding their breath that long had been exhausting, and they needed to rest for now. But, this certainly wouldn't be the only time they'd meditate together in the depths!
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Story 2 summary: An anthro flower and her two children go swimming together
Themes: Flora fauna, child characters
Rating: General
Won by Kangaroo2009
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Walking to the beach together for a swim one day was a bit of an odd-looking family, each of its members being a flower! In the middle, holding the hands of the other two, was a roughly human-sized flower person with a yellow face and blue petals around her head - the mother of the other two, who were both much smaller, only coming up to her thighs. One of those children had a similarly yellow face though with green petals, while the other's face was blue and they had orange petals. As the trio stepped onto the sand, the two kids happily ran toward the water while the mother kept her pace, smiling at them as they began swimming on the surface. She was able to stay wading in for longer than them due to her height, but eventually had to swim as well, the three flowers going farther out into the water.
With all of them enjoying diving, they looked for a good spot to go under, eventually seeing a reef some distance below! Together, the flowers did some deep breathing, before the kids held onto their mother as they all held their breath and dove underwater. The mother was the best swimmer of them, and while her kids could swim on their own, they still preferred holding onto her instead. All three flowers had their cheeks puffed up as they went deeper, soon about 40 feet down as they arrived in the reef.
The mother sat down on a rock while her kids let go to start swimming about in the reef, with her watching them to make sure they didn't go far or get in trouble. One started playing with some nearby fish, while the other explored, walking on the sandy seabed. Meanwhile, their mother was starting to sun herself, enjoying some photosynthesis despite the depth she was at.
The yellow-faced kid was the one playing with the fish. All sorts were around, all perfectly fine with the flower child's presence, and quite curious about him as well. They'd poke at his petals, making him giggle out bubbles at the feeling of it, before he reached out to poke them back. The fish felt a little strange, their scaly bodies smooth to the touch as they all swam around him, but the flower didn't mind it.
Meanwhile, the blue-faced flower was happily strolling around the reef, still walking instead of swimming. She happily blew some bubbles as she hopped between rocks, pretending both that she couldn't swim and that the sand was dangerous. Not being used to the resistance of the water around her, she slipped a few times, but was still enjoying herself as she started climbing up a bigger rock. Soon, she sat on the top of it, looking around the reef from her vantage point... Before grunting a little from her need to breathe.
Her brother was feeling the same by now, and they both swam to their mother again, nervous looks on their faces. Understanding what that meant, she nodded to them and let them hold onto her again. Even though she herself would still be fine for a while longer, she wasn't about to keep her kids from breathing when they wanted to. With them both secure, she stood up and jumped from the rock, starting to swim up. Despite being plants, the trio still needed to breathe - it was just that they breathed CO2 instead of regular air, the bubbles they'd let out being fully breathable air to anyone else.
Three gasps rang out as all the flowers surfaced, though only two were panting. After some checking to make sure her two kids were okay, the mother smiled, floating on the surface while they caught their breaths. A little while later, they were ready again, and with another deep breath from each of them, the flowers all dove underwater again, eager to continue happily exploring underwater together.
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Story 3 summary: Piplup goes to enjoy the mud at the Great Marsh, gets overeager and sinks entirely, but is saved
Themes: Willing sinking
Rating: General
Won by Noname0322
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Finally, Piplup had arrived at the Great Marsh; the perfect place for mud lovers like him. A large portion of the swamp was quite deep, with bridges built over it so Pokemon could still get around, but specific areas were much more shallow, and were marked as such. With a bit of searching, Piplup found a perfect one for him: Just over a foot deep, barely shallow enough he could stand on the bottom and still breathe. Happily running on over, he jumped from the bridge and splatted into the mud, about a quarter of him immediately going under before his sinking slowed.
Very slowly, he was sinking into the mud, about an inch of his body going under every 10 seconds. Piplup closed his eyes, smiling at the feeling of the cool, squishy mud pulling his body under it. Deeper and deeper he went; his flippers slowly went under, his torso, what little neck he had... Eventually he had to start tilting his head back, blushing at the thought of going entirely under the mud-
Then, his sinking stopped, his feet settling onto the bottom. He was actually sort of disappointed - all that, and a good portion of his head was still above the surface. But, this still felt great! The coolness almost all around him reminded him of cold nights he liked so much, and the thickness of the mud was like a hug around what parts of him it covered. He could duck down to go fully under if he wanted, but that didn't feel right...
But, of course, there was another option. Piplup looked past the markers that denoted the safe parts of the marsh... There'd be no going back if he went out there. But, the thought of sinking fully under, holding his breath under all the mud... He just couldn't resist. Pulling himself up with the bridge, he got himself ready, and started running along the surface. His feet made wet slapping sounds against the mud, and he quickly went past the markers warning him not to do exactly what he was currently doing, ignoring them. It slowly became harder to keep lifting his feet, until he couldn't any more, stuck in place far past the point of no return, sinking once more.
Gradually, his mostly mud-covered body was going back under, likely not to return, and Piplup just smiled as he watched. Somehow, it felt even better this time, and he gave a happy sigh as coolness slowly covered him again. Once more, it crept up his body, the Pokemon welcoming the slimy mud back to surrounding him. Eventually, his head was going under again, and this time there was nothing beneath him to stop his sinking. Tilting his head back, Piplup closed his eyes and focused entirely on the feeling of the mud around him. His hearing was altered a little as it covered his ears, it tickled just a little against the bottom of his beak... Almost too soon, he was barely still able to breathe, tilting his head so far back that his beak was above the surface while even his eyes weren't. He spluttered a little as mud kept pouring into his mouth, and he stretched up just barely high enough for one last breath... Then, he was fully under the mud, holding his breath.
Sure enough, this felt even better! He was glad he could stay under so long, it gave him loads of time to enjoy himself. Piplup's smile was glued to his face as he absolutely loved just about everything about this; the cool mud all around hugging him even more than before, the pressure very slowly increasing, even holding his breath was adding to it! The submerged Pokemon let out a happy chirp, bubbles slowly floating from his beak. The only thing he didn't like about this was that this would be the only time he could enjoy this, but it was worth it...
Suddenly, a little bit after his chirp, Piplup felt something grab one of his flippers, starting to pull him up! Before long, he was brought to the surface, and after wiping the mud from his eyes, he was met with a family of mudkips, one of which had pulled him up. They all looked concerned, asking Piplup if he was okay, to which he said he was... And then the mudkips were quite confused when Piplup said he'd sunk under on purpose! But, they weren't put off by him, and explained that they often wandered the marsh to help Pokemon that sink too far get back to the surface. Piplup realized that meant he could enjoy sinking fully under more than once!
After happily hugging the mudkip that had brought him up, he let the family bring him back to the bridge he'd run off of while he told them his idea. They all certainly thought it was reckless, but said they'd help out if they could - they could see very well under mud, and sound traveled far in it, Piplup's prior chirp having alerted them from quite the distance. With it all but confirmed he could sink safely here, Piplup smiled - this trip had been great! He discovered a new passion of his, AND he made new friends in the process!
Saying goodbye to the mudkip family for now, Piplup tried to wipe the mud off himself, but that wasn't working all that well, it all sticking to his feathers. It seemed he'd need to go find water to clean himself off, but there was a pond near where he'd entered the marsh where he could do that. On the way there, he couldn't stop thinking about how incredible it'd felt to sink under mud... What if there was something else he could sink in that felt even better? He'd start looking sometime, for sure!
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Story 4 summary: A fish gets grabbed by an osprey, then brought to her nest and air drowned
Themes: Air drowning, suffocation, gillplay, ambiguous ending
Rating: Mature (Peril)
Won by LuftRaptor
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In a river, as always, a salmon swam. He was being a little careless today, swimming close to the surface, but his mind was occupied by thoughts of what his next meal could be. Some smaller fish were always nice, and he'd certainly love a frog, but pretty much anything smaller than him would do right now. As he swam, a slight shadow briefly passed over him... And he heard a splash, something grabbing his back! Several sharp things were holding onto him, trying to pull him up... Just barely able to look at what it was, fear filled him as he realized an osprey had caught him! He struggled in their grip, but he wasn't getting loose, and he quickly took and held a deep breath of water before being pulled entirely into the air!
The salmon panicked as everything went a little blurry, his aquatic eyes not being able to see well in air. He continued to fight against the osprey, trying to bite them a few times, but there was nothing he could do - she'd grabbed him in just the right way that he was entirely at her mercy. Still, his instincts wouldn't let him give up, and he kept struggling as he was brought to a bowl-like collection of branches high in a tree - the osprey's nest.
He was dropped into the nest as his gills were already starting to feel uncomfortable, the dry branches feeling awful against his scales. With a bit of flopping, he got to the edge of the nest... And paused at the edge. The salmon wasn't very familiar with gravity, but even he knew: He wouldn't survive falling from here. He looked back at the osprey, who smirked. Clearly she was well aware he had no way out of this on his own. Trying to stay calm, he flopped back from the edge, and nervously looked up at the osprey towering over him. All he could do was hope she'd have a change of heart before it was too late... But would she? And how long would it take?
The osprey leaned down to rub her beak on the salmon, lingering a little longer on his gills, which made him shudder. He HATED having his gills touched... But, that shudder had led the osprey to becoming aware of that now, and things were about to get worse. She brought her beak to his gills again, which the salmon struggled to hold closed. They and his mouth were keeping in the water he wouldn't be able to get more of up here... Soon, the osprey moved over a little, and started using a talon to pull at his gills instead. He kept fighting it, but she was stronger than him, and water spilled into the nest as she successfully pried open his gills. In seconds, nearly all the water he'd been holding was gone! Air flowed in to replace it, stinging the inside of his body and making it even harder for him to hold his breath.
The salmon flopped a little in discomfort, but shuddered in even more discomfort as that movement had made one of the osprey's talons briefly rub the sensitive flesh on the inner side of his gill. Seemingly familiar with his incompatibility with air, she gave another devious smile and leaned down to put her beak into his gill, rubbing it as the poor fish struggled both to hold what tiny amount of water he had left and not cough. Then, she pulled back a bit and took a deep breath before pushing her beak as far into his gill as possible and blowing into it! The salmon tensed up, before starting to cough, finally losing his remaining water... Before gasping. He immediately went into a coughing fit, now instinctually struggling again, trying to flop about in the osprey's nest as she stood on him to keep him from going anywhere.
A bit of purple had joined the natural colors of the salmon's face now, and he kept desperately, painfully sucking at the air that felt like it was burning him. Even the outside of his body was starting to get a stinging sensation as it slowly dried, and his eyes watered a little. As he slowly lost energy, his attempted flops eventually ended, the salmon now laying limp in the nest again, shivering a little with each breath of air. The osprey got off him to get a better look, smiling at her suffocating prey before returning to mess with his gills some more. She was rougher this time - prying them open almost painfully far and shoving an entire foot inside. The salmon choked and tried to fight back, but his weight combined with the lack of energy rendered him hardly able to do more than shudder by now.
As his vision faded and his face tinted blue, the salmon gagged a little as he felt the osprey's talons go entirely through his gill and into his throat, her continuing to hold the slit too far open with one of her wings, her feathers scratchy and painful. But, mercifully, he was going numb from oxygen deprivation, soon hardly able to feel the osprey's continued attempts at tormenting him. He blearily looked up at what he believed to be her face... He was too suffocated to make out any details at all any more, but he hoped she'd finally had her fill. With one last little shudder, the salmon's eyes rolled back and he went still, welcoming unconsciousness at last...
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Story 5 summary: Anglerfish explores dry part of underwater cave
Tags: Air drowning, suffocation
Rating: Mature (Peril)
Won by no one; felt like making it
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The only light in the deep-sea cave was that of an anthro anglerfish's photophore as she slowly swam through, exploring. She may not have been giving off much light, but her extremely light-sensitive eyes let her see about 10 feet with what little glow she had. Eventually, it let her notice something up ahead; the tunnel curved upward, and a surface was above her... Air. She'd already explored every other section of the cave so far, so if she wanted to keep going, she'd have to go up there.
Taking a quick breath of water, the anglerfish puffed her cheeks and poked her head above the surface. From what she could see like this, the tunnel kept going out of range of her light... She ducked back down, a little nervous but willing to do this. After a little while of deep breathing, she drew one last breath of water before going back up, this time climbing out of the water entirely.
The only sounds around were the drips of water dripping off her, and soon the wet slaps of her feet against the stone as she started exploring. Over a few minutes, the water in her body was gradually used up, making her slowly struggle to hold her breath... Just over 5 minutes in, the anglerfish realized she'd gone far past the point of no return, and water started leaking from her lips and gills as she sped up, trying to find somewhere to breathe...
But, all she found was a dead end. Shivering, she turned back and started running, before she couldn't hold her breath any more. Water poured from her mouth and gills with an exhale, and she shuddered as she gasped, the air feeling awful as it rushed into her. The anglerfish had no option but to keep gasping, air uselessly rushing into her and out her gills as her face started turning blue.
Gradually, she was weakening, suffocating in the air... Stumbling to one side, she propped herself up with a webbed hand as she struggled onward. She did eventually see the water, but tripped and fell before she could reach it, laying a few feet away. Slowly, her strength fading, the anglefish crawled forward, even her photophore beginning to flicker as she reached the edge of consciousness...
With one last push using the last of her strength, she went just far enough to get her face in the water. Her weak gasps now sent water through her strained gills and spilling onto the stone floor, and her strength began to return, her light also going back to normal. She lay there panting for a while, before pulling herself fully in, getting her uncomfortably dry skin wet again as well. The anglerfish looked up at the surface again, then swam away, disappointed and frustrated that all she'd found was a near death experience.
