G: Most of the world has been flooded for a while, now. Many old cities are covered in water, with many materials being stuck in them. Without many remaining air tanks for diving, freedivers are out here to explore what others can't.
In one boat, an otter dips his head underwater to check for the place they're looking for... and soon he would see some tall buildings. He pulls his head out of the water and gasps. "Alright. We're close by. Hah..."
L: Next to him, a froakie turns off the boat's engine. "Right... Hopefully we get something good out of this, the past few dives haven't gotten us much."
G: The otter grabs his tail bag and secures it before putting on his goggles. "This place seems bigger and deeper. I doubt many have explored this place." The otter jumps off and floats on the surface, taking deep gasps for preparation while waiting for the Froakie.
L: The froakie puts on a belt with some pouches on it, then hops into the water next to the otter. "That ought to mean there's gonna be a lot waiting for us down there... Well, here's hoping." The froakie starts taking deep breaths as well.
G: The otter soon starts swimming before taking a gasp and sinking below the surface for the city ruins.
L: Before long, the froakie takes one more gasp before diving down as well, catching up with the otter and swimming alongside them.
G: It's a long way down, but it doesn't stop the otter. Just need to make sure they don't forget to surface for air...
L: The froakie is far from being intimidated too, calmly swimming deeper and deeper, ready to start keeping track of the way back whenever the two eventually go into one of the buildings.
G: The otter can definitely be too hasty and forget the way back out... For now, he swims for one of the buildings, towards the roof entrance.
L: Following the otter's lead, the froakie heads for the same place, hoping the entrance will actually be usable and not just blocked off.
G: Only way to find out is to try... The otter smiles and lands on two paws, pulling on the door.
L: The froakie joins in on that, pulling hard enough that a few bubbles trickle away from his nostrils... And, the two working together is enough to get the door open!
G: Perfect! They can get exploring and don't need to go deeper. Not yet, anyway.
The otter takes the lead, swimming down the staircase as he kept exploring.
L: The froakie follows behind, looking around in the hope of finding anything interesting as the two descend into the ruined building.
G: The otter keeps an eye out for anything special, making sure to grab some important stuff inside his bag. Not that there's much of note, so far.
L: The froakie grabs a few basic things as well, though indeed, there isn't really anything special just yet. He hopes that'll change at some point.
G: It's the start of their dive, thankfully. Shouldn't need a breath, yet...
Against his better judgment, however, he heads down some stairs to keep searching...
L: The froakie follows them down. Despite his prior confidence, having a longer and longer route to the surface does start to get him a little bit nervous.
G: The otter tends to forget about how deep they get in the water, admittedly. He gets excited to see what he could see.
This room doesn't seem to have much, either, however...
L: By now, the froakie's unsure whether the building will have anything of note, and he's feeling an urge to breathe... But he'd be fine with going down one more floor, if the otter decides to do so.
G: The otter's own chest is hurtling lightly. Maybe he should head back up with the Froakie. But there's still more to see. He swims down the next set of stairs...
L: While he's gradually getting more nervous, the froakie follows, planning on stopping the otter if they start going down another level after this one.
G: Thankfully, he knew their limits were approaching. This next floor... Well, there seems to be a decent pile of resources they could get. The otter looks rather excited, bubbling out some air and swimming over to it without much care...
L: The froakie smiles as he sees all that, and eagerly swims over to look through it with the otter, thinking about what to take as he doesn't have much room in his pouches.
G: As he approached, though, the otter would suddenly get trapped by a cage surrounding him. "Mgblbl!!"
L: "MMM!" The froakie narrowly avoids being trapped himself, and almost starts to panic, trying to pry open the cage to free his friend.
G: The otter tries to help... but then he lets out a cloud of bubbles and covers his mouth! "Mmgbl... Mm..." Is there any way out of this? he looks around in worry...
L: Trying to ignore his own need for air, the froakie quickly looks around, hoping there'll be something around he can use to get the otter out before it's too late.
G: As the otter focuses on holding his breath, he looks to see... some kind of shadow? "Mgblbl? mm..." He tries to see who it is, but it's hard to focus when his lungs hurt.
L: The froakie is too concerned about the otter to notice whatever that is, but he decides to gamble on talking a little. "Hbl-hblellblo!? Hblelp, mbly frblienbld's trblappbled!"
G: As they wait, a Primarina appears from behind the wall, revealing itself to be the shadow. "Hm? Oh, someone else is exploring here?" her eyes widened as she saw the two other divers, including the trapped otter.
L: The froakie loses a few bubbles in surprise at seeing the primarina. "Hbl-hblelp mble geblt hblim oublt!" He gestures to the otter in the cage.
G: "Mm... I'll try..." She swims over and searches around the cage as the otter covers his mouth. "Pbleablse... Hblurblbly..." He bubbles out.
L: The froakie quickly looks around the cage again as well, wondering if he might have missed something on it that'll help.
G: This is a strange trap... Clearly someone set this up recently... Likely to loot them long after they drown...
"Let's try something... Froakie, you help me hold this up as best as you can." She suggests as she grabs one side of the cage and starts swimming up...
L: He nods, and grabs the opposite side before trying to swim up with as much force as he can manage.
G: It takes effort to slowly lift it. Soon, the otter manages to slip out...
...although the Primarina drops it after he escaped, covering her mouth. "Mgbl..."
L: The froakie gestures for the primarina to follow as he starts quickly leading the two back outside, hoping they'll make it in time.
G: The otter and Primarina both nod as they follow the Froakie out, the otter's chest heaving quite a lot.
L: As his panic fades a little, it occurs to the froakie he's really running low on breath too. He covers his mouth with one hand as he keeps swimming, his chest now visibly heaving as well.
G: They kept going together, although the Primarina's doing the best of all of them, despite her chest also squirming. It's not too far back to the ceiling... right?
L: Though it's a bit of a trip, the froakie feels that the group will probably end up fine... They've gone up a couple floors now, with just one more to go, then the swim to the surface.
G: The otter covers his mouth, slowing down because of it! But he soon sees the rooftop entrance and quickly swims for it, with the Primarina following, staying close by if needed.
L: The froakie has to put both hands on his mouth now, bubbles trickling away regardless as he swims as fast as he can. He's just beginning to get a purple blush now, whining as his lungs burn.
G: The Primarina's face did turn rather red, in contrast to the otter and frog's purple faces. She grabs the two to help out, swimming for the surface with swift tail kicks.
L: The froakie now focuses entirely on holding his breath, counting on the primarina to get him and the otter to the surface in time. He's shivering a little bit from how badly he needs to breathe, approaching his limit.
G: It felt like forever for the otter, also trying to focus on holding his breath...
But finally, the Primarina surfaces and gasps for breath, letting go of the two so they can swim up. the otter quickly swims up for a breath of his own, taking desperate gasps.
L: Just a moment later, the froakie surfaces as well, gasping heavily and briefly struggling to stay on the surface before he calms down, panting to catch his breath.
G: The otter pants and grabs the bag on his tail, scanning through it to make sure what he grabbed would actually help... He sighs between gasps.
L: As the froakie starts to calm down, he looks through his pouches as well. "...D-didn't even really... G-get all that much good..."
G: "Yeah, most of the top floors have been picked clean, from what I can tell... It's the bottom floors that typically have all the remaining materials." The Primarina says as she grabs a bag from around her waist and opens it, showing lots of rather high quality and mostly intact stuff. "Not many are willing to dive so deep to explore, but some of them make traps for others to fall into after they do the hard work..."
L: "Makes sense... I don't think we'd be able to go deep enough for that stuff... Guess that's kinda just gonna be it for this building then."
G: The otter nods lightly, though the Primarina looks to the two. "You can come with me. I'll give you bubbles to breathe with on the way down and give any extra air when you're running low."
The otter seems surprised by this, tilting his head. "Are you sure?"
"I am. How long can you both last?"
L: "Oh, um... That'd be great! I can go about 9 minutes static, and closer to 7 while swimming."
G: "I do worse. I get too excited and can only do 6 when active, but I can reach 9 static."
"That should be good. I can reach about 2 hours when active, maybe 3 static. Though I'm gonna be quiet during the dive unless needed. I can speak clearly, sure, but that takes a lot of air to do..."
L: "Man, I wish I could go that long! Maybe once I'm a greninja someday... But yeah, with you helping us, we can probably get all the way to the bottom!"
G: "I think I can make bubbles that'll give 5 minutes of air if I use an entire lungful of breath. I can bring you two to the bottom in that time, if you grab onto my shoulders." The Primarina suggested, with the otter nodding. "Got it... Um... There's air down there, right?" "I haven't found any pockets, yet..." She shook her head.
L: "Should still be enough time to get some good stuff from down there... Oh, speaking of that, we better put what we got on that trip into our boat." The froakie swims back to the boat, emptying his pouches into it.
G: The otter does the same. "We'll sort through it more, later. You have a boat?" He asks the Primarina, though she shakes her head. "I can handle swimming for as long as needed. Plus, the boat I used beforehand fell apart and sank. Now..."
She takes the deepest breath her lungs can take before putting her nose near the otter and exhaling, making a bubble that fits his head, before approaching the Froakie and doing the same.
L: The froakie experimentally pokes at the bubble. "This is cool! This ought to be a big help!"
G: She then swims around to let the two grab onto her, taking more breaths before they head down.
L: The froakie gasps one more time and holds his breath again, looking down as the group approaches the underwater building again.
G: The otter still breathes with the bubble on their head, this time they're going to the bottom of the ocean. It didn't take long with the Primarina's help.
L: While the froakie had wanted to sort of ration out his air at first, he decides to just not bother with that, and exhales to breathe normally. "Alright, there ought to be some good stuff down here!"
G: The otter looks over to the Froakie with a nod as he lets go. Saving the bubble would be difficult with these ruins all around the place, so he holds his breath in case it pops...
L: "Hm... How durable are these bubbles? Maybe I SHOULD actually be holding my breath for most of this dive, even with an air source like this..."
G: "They're not very durable, admittedly. I try to make them sturdy, but they're easy to pop." The Primarina said, the otter still holding his breath.
L: "Okay, better actually hold my breath then." The froakie gasps a deep breath, deflating the bubble a tiny bit, and holds it as he continues searching around.
G: It didn't take long for the otter's search to pop the bubble around his head, small bubbles fluttering about his head as he searched around some of the smaller buildings on the bottom.
L: Not long after that, the froakie ends up accidentally doing the same, thankful he decided to start holding his breath.
G: Like the Primarina said, the buildings at the bottom had more desirable materials than near the surface. The otter and the Primarina started gathering what lies this far down.
L: The froakie smiles as he sees it all, starting to fill his pouches with the good stuff he finds lying around down there.
G: The otter is rather excited to see all of this... Almost made him forget he needed air. Thankfully, his chest reminded him with a light heave. "Mmf..."
L: Since the froakie started holding his breath a little later, he's still fine for a bit longer, happily combing through the assorted things on the bottom and not noticing the otter's need for air.
G: The Primarina's too distracted with her own search to see the otter. Despite his need, however, he doesn't ask for a breath, yet. He wanted to push it a little longer.
L: Soon enough, the froakie remembers he needs to breathe too. Just like the otter though, he doesn't say yet, confident he can handle a while longer.
G: The otter smiles at the Froakie, swimming over and holding his hand for some cute assistance, and encouragement to push themselves...
L: The froakie nods and gives the otter's hand a little squeeze. While his chest is occasionally heaving, he knows he'll be fine to push himself a while longer, with the primarina there to help out.
G: The otter smiles, despite the purple hue across his face. He's growing rather impatient... but eventually, the Primarina appears again, leaning down to the two and seeing them drowning!
L: The froakie is occasionally letting out little whines from his need to breathe... He notices the primarina, and tries to make it clear through some gestures that he wants a bubble.
G: The Primarina nods, though the one she makes is smaller and holds less air... Good for a breath, though.
The otter takes another she made, sitting down and breathing in the new bubble!
L: Holding onto his own bubble, the froakie carefully breathes it in, calming down a fair bit. "Wble shbloulbld hblead ublp soblon..."
G: The otter takes his in and looks to the others. "Wble shbloubldn't pblublsh iblt, eblven wblithbl thble Prblimblarinbla..."
She nods to the two. "Grab on... Let's head back up before..."
She stops, looking up to the surface as she sees sillhouettes... Other divers? "...we shouldn't go up. Not out in the open..."
L: "Mm?" The froakie looks up, seeing those shadows as well and quickly getting nervous... "M-mablybe thblroublgh abl bublildbling?"
G: "Thblis oblne!" The otter points to one and swims inside, the Primarina following.
She seems fine on air, at least, and can probably afford a few more air bubbles to share... but even her lungs can only stand waiting for air for so long...
L: The froakie quickly follows the others in, and starts looking for a way to go up through the building, ignoring the stuff on the floor.
G: This building should lead up... Nothing much is on the floor, here, anyway. Where can they find an elevator shaft? Taking stairs would probably zigzag for too long.
L: As the froakie's chest starts heaving again, he happens to find an elevator shaft, thankfully with its doors stuck open. "MMM!" He tries to get the others' attention, gesturing to the opening.
G: The two see the way and follow him up, although with the otter's lungs crying for breath as well, already... They need to go now! And hope nobody sees them!
L: The froakie rushes up the shaft, not paying a whole lot of mind toward being nervous of someone seeing the group. Small clusters of bubbles leave his nostrils with each heave of his chest, and his cheeks are bulging a bit bigger.
G: "mgblbl..." The otter whines as he desperately holds his breath. Thankfully, the only other open elevator is the one at the top... Or at least, close to it.
But as they approached, the Primarina would head in front of the two... and when the others arrive, she stops them from leaving! The otter whimpers, holding his breath desperately!
L: "Mm! Wbl-whblat!?" The froakie stops, covering his mouth and hoping there actually a good reason the primarina's stopping the two.
G: Peeking above the edge reveals the reason. An anthro shark is prowling the area, searching around for what seems to be any victims of drowning... The Primarina makes sure to keep their bubble counts down, despite the desperate and breathless partners... She makes bubbles for them to breathe with, although she is now turning red...
L: The froakie breathes in the bubble he's given, though it's not quite as helpful as last time. He holds his nose and keeps his mouth covered, trying not to let out any bubbles as he nervously looks out at the shark...
G: They do have a weakness... They don't seem to have any gills. The main issue hoping they'll go down and not have to come up for air before they escape...
L: While he's confused why he can't see any gills on the shark, the froakie's a bit relieved to not see any. He tries to stay as calm as possible, cutting down on how much oxygen he's using.
G: The shark sighs out some bubbles... but does notice something from the elevators from the stray bubbles.
The Primarina ducks, looking worried as she waits for the shark to approach... "Froakie... Mm... T-Trap him..." She suggested.
L: The froakie quickly hides as well, nodding to the primarina. He's not entirely sure how to go about trapping the shark, but he's ready to give it a shot once they're in a good spot.
G: The otter looks up to see the approaching shark, thinking of a way to help...
As the shark approached, though, soon the otter prepares to tackle the shark, while the Primarina tries to keep her chest calm... "mm..."
L: The froakie gets ready to tackle the shark as well, trying to stay quiet despite his need to breathe starting to get bad again.
G: The otter whimpers... although listening, he isn't the only whimpering one. The Primarina is getting rather desperate... but so is the shark!
"Nblow!" The otter squeaked out as he quickly tackles the shark, trying to stay away from his mouth and sharp jaws!
L: Charging the shark as well, the froakie tries to grab hold of their arms and keep them from getting away. Hearing that they're in need of air, he tries to hit their belly to force out some of their air.
G: The Primarina swims over and holds the shark down, watching as the breathholding shark exhaled out precious bubbles!
"mgblbl! Mm!!" The Primarina followed up by quickly bringing the shark in to steal air she desperately needed, surprising the otter as he watched the fight!
L: The froakie keeps trying to help keep the shark from moving, watching the primarina. While he's starting to get a slight purple blush, he doesn't really notice for the moment.
G: Soon, the Primarina pulls away with only a pink blush, leaving the shark with a blue hue.
The otter suddenly cries out in pain as his chest hurt once more. "Mgbl..."
L: The froakie has to finally let go of the shark, quickly covering his mouth. "Mmgh!" He swims to the primarina, hoping to get another bubble from her.
G: Quickly, she makes bubbles for the two of them, giving ample opportunity for them to take air before she swam off for the way up.
L: After grabbing a bubble and breathing it in, the froakie quickly swims for the surface as well, fairly confident the group will be making it there without issue.
G: They have to... Soon, they make it out of the building and can make it back up... but now they can see so many others besides the shark. Other gilless sharks, orcas, seals... Many different aquatics, though not enough to breathe underwater, and the ones that normally can don't have the ability to... A straight shot might be difficult...
L: The froakie nervously looks around, but he doesn't see any other way to get to the surface... He looks at the primarina, hoping she might have some kind of idea.
G: She looks around for a bit... "Follow me... We can abandon your boat and we'll swim away. I can take you to my home island, if you want, until you can get back..." She suggested. The otter seems a little hesitant, but they don't have much of worth on it, right now... "Fblorablkie?"
L: "Ibl liblke thble boblat... Fiblne..." The froakie holds onto the primarina for now, knowing she can swim faster than he can.
G: The otter nods and holds on, the Primarina swimming away from the sunken city and towards her home island. Though she doesn't surface for a while, until they're far from it.
L: Just as he's been needing to, the froakie does his best to stay calm during the swim and save his breath. Still, he nervously glances about every now and then, worrying someone will see the group.
G: The otter looks back in worry, too... Some other boats are around where they are, so they had to stay submerged...
But soon, some landform is slowly coming into view in front of them, even under the surface.
L: The froakie pinches his nose with one hand to make sure he doesn't give the group away by accidentally letting out any bubbles as they continue.
G: The otter and sea lion did start covering their noses, especially since that all too familiar need to breathe hit the otter's chest once more... How much further to go...?
L: "Mmmmh..." The froakie whines a little at how long it's taking, his chest heaving once again. He hopes he's not going to have to push himself for much longer...
G: "Just a bit longer..." She said to the two, heading onward and closer to the island. She then finally swims up for the surface, close to land.
L: The froakie keeps holding his breath... And when the group finally surfaces, he gasps, panting some. "N-never had a dive that long before..."
G: The otter looks to the froakie as they all hit landfall, gasping quite heavily and desperately. "Hah... hah... I... G-Glad we found her when we did..."
The Primarina flops on the sand, though her gasps weren't as desperate as the others.
L: The froakie gets off the primarina and gives her a few pats. "Thanks for your help... We probably both would've ended up drowning down there without you..."
G: She smiles and nuzzles the Froakie. "I'm glad I managed to find you, especially with that sudden group. They would've drowned you, if the traps didn't."
L: "Yeah, they... Didn't look like they would've helped out if they'd seen us. I hate when I come across groups underwater, there's been times it didn't go that well..."
G: The otter nods. "We've drowned before plenty of times, actually... Never easy to."
The Primarina does nuzzle the two again, smiling. "I imagine it's not easy for anyone, really..."
L: "Hopefully once I evolve we won't have as many issues... But, thanks again for everything. We got such a good haul today because of your help!"
G: "Stay as long as you need. There's a city you can rest at, too, while you're preparing again, further into the island." The Primarina smiles as she heads back into the water. "Hopefully I'll see you two sometime later!" She soon dives underwater, again.
"You know, froakie, I don't know when you'll evolve, but I'll still be super jealous. Wish I could evolve."
L: "I hope we find a way someday. People always say it's only a Pokemon thing, and nothing else can evolve, but everything's "impossible" until it's done. Come on, let's head for that city and see what it's like." The froakie starts heading off the beach.
G: The otter nods and follows him. "I... I hope you're right about that. As much as an air kiss with you sounds rather nice, I'd rather not have to rely on you all the time."
L: "I wouldn't really mind, I think. Still though, it'd be a lot better if we could somehow still have similar breath holds. It'd probably be more fun, too!"
G: "Having similar holds has always been nice, even if you beat me when active." He lets out a slight chuckle. "I'll just need to practice harder. Maybe that'll evolve my lungs, at least?"
L: The froakie laughs as well. "That'd certainly be good enough! It would definitely take a LOT of practice, but I'd help you out with that."
G: "Next swim we go, we'll practice breathholding. As a start. Plus it always helps for long dives."
L: "Yeah, I've been meaning to brush up on mine as well. Hopefully we'll find a good spot for that."
G: As they approached the town, they could see the usual buildings. Some apartments, houses, shops... plus a huge round lake in the center, alongside what seems to be a cave system of sorts?
L: "That cave system looks neat... Maybe we could explore that sometime, that might be fun. Might even find some stuff in there, but probably not."
G: "Hm... Come to think of it, that Primarina did head out into the water... Maybe she was looking for a way here?"
Froakie does make a good point... Did some of these hold some unexplored place?
L: "There IS a chance something here connects to the ocean... Guess we'll have to see for ourselves at some point, huh?"
G: "We should. But that was a long journey we had. Unless you wanna go swimming, again?"
L: "Think we ought to rest for a while first. It's not like any of this is going anywhere, we can take some time to just relax for now."
G: "Good." After a short walk around, he finds a good place to stay. "Here. I think a room is open."
L: "This'll work, yeah." After getting the room, the froakie heads in with the otter, sighing in relaxation as he hops onto a bed to sit on it.
G: The otter exhaustingly sighs and drops off his bag, lying on the bed while staring up at the ceiling.
L: "Really sucks that we lost the boat... But, we're alive, and we got some pretty good stuff thanks to that primarina. Hope whatever she went off to do is going well."
G: "I'm sure she's alright. She can't be far. Maybe she can help us with what we want to do. I want to be able to go hours like she can."
L: "So do I, that'd be really cool! We'd practically be able to just live out in the ocean together!"
G: "That would be amazing to do. Being able to stay long enough for a rest underwater, too..."
L: "I hope we can get to the point we can actually sleep underwater for a while, I've always wanted to do that."
G: "It would be fun... Guess we gotta push each other, starting tomorrow!"
L: "Yep! For now though, it's about time we got some rest..." The froakie lays down next to the otter on the bed.
G: The otter smiles and blushes lightly as he lies down and relaxes with the froakie.
L: The froakie pets the otter some as he closes his eyes, planning on having himself a nap.
G: The otter cuddles and blushes before he took a nap with his friend.
L: Soon enough, the froakie falls asleep as well, still cuddling with the otter.
![[RP LOG] Distant friends' reunion](https://va.ib.metapix.net/images80/overlays/writing.png "[RP LOG] Distant friends' reunion"){kind=small}
