New Happenings

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Cracker awoke to the chirping of nearby Pokemon nesting in the hollowed tree he called home. Some sort of flying-type Pokemon. Pidgeys, or maybe Pidove. Whatever the case they were harmless these days. It had taken a while for the wilder inhabitants of this forest to accept his presence, but he was finally on good enough terms to coexist with them. Of course there were still the occasional scuffles, usually regarding those he'd pranked previously; somewhere out there that flock of Pidove and Tranquill still had it out for him too, so he had to keep his head down near the border of Pecha and Shadowhue.

Sitting up, the Aipom yawned and stretched his arms before worming out of his bedding made of leaves and grass. He'd been used his Golden Ribbon as a makeshift blanket, which he promptly and very carefully folded up to put away. Quickly stuffing it into his new backpack, made of fabric instead of the cruddy old bits of plant matter that had since fallen to pieces, he shouldered the burden and sprung into the air, hoisting himself up to the closest hole in the large, old, hollow tree he'd taken up residence in. Poking his head outside, he climbed out onto a branch extending from the hole and took a long, deep breath of the forest's fresh air.

With a content sigh, the purple monkey let out one more yawn, shook himself awake and took off into the forest. He didn't really know where he was going, or what he was looking for. Really he just wanted to get away from his house for a while, maybe explore more of this vast forest. Possibly even meet new Pokemon. Actually, meeting a new face would be just the thing to brighten this already sunny day. As he swung through the trees, the Aipom sung a joyful tune. Unfortunately it was completely off key and painful to the ears; he was a terrible singer, but that never stopped him.

((Energy: 23))

Skylar struggled to hold onto the aipom, confused why he was fighting her. "I'm right h-he-" She began to stutter as she felt her front paws melt away, into the water, releasing Cracker. Before she could scream at the shock, her entire body melted away into the water. A moment later, she began re-forming a few feet under the water, having drifted down into the water a bit in her new liquid form. However, her body was still having trouble staying completely solid. The massive panic-attack being brought on by this event certainly wasn't helping.

Looking back up to the surface and quickly propelling herself back up with her tail fin and paws, Skylar searched the darkness to locate her aipom friend. "W-where'd you go? I'm here!" She called out in the hopes of receiving a response.

The recently evolved vaporeon's thoughts raced immediately. What if in the few seconds she had somehow lost her grip on Cracker, something had happened to him? Her stress increased from this thought, resulting in her body beginning to melt away again, which only caused her to stress even more. At this point, she couldn't scream. She was too busy being terrified she'd lost her new friend for ever and the water was trying to....assimilate her? Fear had too tight of a hold on her for her to find her voice in order to scream.

Kicking up a spray of water in his panic, the Aipom felt the unknown force holding him abate, then release as he swore he heard Sky's voice nearby. The monkey was still flowing down the stream as it turned to rapids, but he couldn't see a thing. He swam blindly in search of land or anything to grab onto. There were the occasional stalagmites, but whenever he wrapped himself around them, they snapped off below the water and sent him sprawling into the wet darkness.

His heart raced whenever the water attempted to consume him, but it wasn't his greatest fear. The ever encroaching darkness that crowded in around him was what was making him lose his mind. He didn't know what to do. He'd lost all contact with Sky, the shore and even the pillars of stone. Rocks that were placed sporadically throughout the stream were knocking him around left and right, never lingering long enough for him to scramble onto one of them.

He thought for sure the two of them were done for when he abruptly heard the former Eevee's cry. The voice was so close, mere inches away, that it startled him in that direction, grabbing hold on the slippery object that called for him. "I can't see! I don't know where we are!" he cried, his own panic rivalling hers as he attempted to use her like a floatation device. "What do we do?!"

At first, something suddenly clinging to Skylar made her panic even more, but when she heard the aipom's voice, she relaxed. Cracker made a good point. What were they to do? "Calm....down...." She said in between her panicked breaths, trying to keep her self calm. "Okay....the water's flowing....it leads somewhere. We can let it carry us and it'll have to lead us out. Either we'll go down a waterfall or we'll just come out of the cave in a river." She theorized in an attempt to calm the aipom down. Though, honestly, it was also to calm her self down.

The water was was indeed carrying them in one direction, stronger than it was further up, which meant there was likely a waterfall. Maybe it wouldn't be a long drop. At the very least, this meant they had a CHANCE of living. Still, she decided to keep silent about how likely it was that there was a waterfall. She didn't want to worry her friend, nor did she want to hear her self say something so worrying.

Despite her fear, the vaporeon ducked lower into the water for a moment to allow Cracker to easily climb onto her back. It was her turn to carry him. "I-I'll try to get us out faster, hold on." She said as she began to paddle with her legs and new tail-fin. The latter was instinctual, as she hadn't even really fully grasped that she'd evolved, let alone that she now had a fish tail and could use it to help her swim.

As he listened to Sky's reasoning, the Aipom relaxed a little, but he was still incredibly uneasy. To make matters even more curious, when he accepted the former Eevee's silent offer for a ride, he noticed she was much larger. Did she have a sudden growth spurt in the dark? Before she could fit easily on his head, now he was riding on her. This all seemed rather fishy. He would've assumed he was being tricked, if not for her voice and the evident fear in it as she tried to calm herself as well. No one could pretend to be Sky like that.

"How did you get so big?" he asked, clinging to her back with his eyes closed. At least this way he could pretend he wasn't in the dark. He could hear the rushing water, as it flowing increasingly towards a small waterfall not far ahead. Sky seemed confident she could ride it out, but he wasn't sure why. She must still be terrified, yet she had enough bravery about her to take on the water. It didn't make much sense. Had she overcome her fear? And if she had, why did Cracker still struggle with his?

Skylar remained silent for a moment. She'd expected to be bigger, but she hadn't actually gotten to see her self all too well considering the darkness. "There was a water stone. I....think I'm a vaporeon now." She finally hesitantly replied. "So I'm bigger than I was be- ow!" She was cut off as she bumped into a jagged rock.

She would have jumped back in fear and pain if not for the fact that she was floating in the water. This entire situation was a big deathtrap. She began outstretching her paws into the water as she paddled in the hopes of feeling any rocks coming before they hit her. With each stroke, she shivered a bit as she thrust her front paws forward into the water. She kept thinking something was going to grab her, or she was going to suddenly stop being able to swim, or she'd slam a paw right into the sharp edge of a rock.

The sounds of rushing water were growing closer and she began to notice the cave seemed to be getting a bit brighter, while still not enough to give any clear visibility. Both of these indicated they were nearing the exit. The exit was probably a waterfall, which was probably going to hurt.

Riding atop the newly evolved Vaporeon's back, Cracker was surprised to hear that she'd found a water stone. With how this river flowed, it was shocking that it hadn't eroded away or something. But it did explain her new size, and why her physical form was so inconsistent beneath the water's surface. He couldn't tell if he was riding her or floating freely. Her shape was constantly shifting with the rapids. He couldn't imagine how horrified she much be to have become her greatest fear, though.

"I guess that explains why you keep dissolving!" Cracker replied over the rushing water as they approached the falls. "You're gonna be... alright, right? I mean, seeing as how you--" Before he could say another word, the pair reached the precipice of the falls. As they toppled over, a lit cave shimmered several meters below. Then they were thrust underwater. The Aipom lost his grip on the Sky, and both Pokemon swirled through the ebbing currents.

Struggling to right himself, Cracker swam upwards with exaggerated movements, breaching the surface to take a deep breath. They'd landed in a pool of water, beyond which a gaping bright maw  in the wall led to daylight. "We made it!" he cried. "We actually made it! Sky, we--" he paused, looking for the Vaporeon. He couldn't see her at first and he grew worried. "Sky? Where are you?"

Skylar felt a great relief when the aipom mentioned noticing she had apparently been dissolving.  What a relief, she wasn't going crazy.  But this relief was short lived as they finally went over the waterfall.  Upon splashing into the water, the vaporeon found her self right-side up, facing down into the water.  She would have immediately swam to the surface if not for the beautiful sight before her.

Now that there was some light, she could actually see under the water. The smallest bit of light was like a beacon with her eyes so adjusted to the darkness.  The water was surprisingly clear, not crystal clear but enough to see the bottom.  There were bits of plant life scattered around the bottom, adding to the spectacle.  When she finally realized she was under water and propelled her self towards the surface, then came the best part.  She looked up to see the light shimmering on the water's surface.  From under the water, it looked fantastic.  Maybe it was just because she'd been nearly completely deprived of light for quite a while.

Finally breaching the surface, her first instinct was to take a deep breath, but she found that she didn't feel a need to.  She'd been....breathing under water.  It hadn't hit her until she realized she didn't need to catch her breath, but apparently, she could breathe under water now.  Within moments, she'd spotted the exit and wasted no time in propelling her self towards it.  "Come on, lets go!", she spoke frantically, but excited.  She looked back as she swam along the surface of the water to make sure Cracker wasn't having any trouble.  She wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, but of course, she wasn't going to leave her friend behind if he was having trouble swimming.