UBF

[Pari]

Soaring through a thin blanket of mist, small drops of moisture gathered on her muted indigo jacket and blaring white goggles. Lips shut against the wind, she can feel vapour seeping into her pale skin. Small ripples or waves danced beneath, but always quickly disappeared behind them. They were riding the lake's surface at great speed, the girl with the Altaria beneath her.

The lake was a beautiful sight---crystal reflection, sweet waters. A surrounding of evergreen trees encircled the tranquility of it all. Taking a spin above water, the Altaria soared higher with his trainer---what a wonderful morning walk. Higher and higher they went with each spin of the widespread wings, for the girl had no reason to pull on the reign.

Until it slipped.

Wide-eyed, the girl felt herself falling from sky to the water.

[Chris]

The sun had barely begun to peek over the horizon, a young man treaded the heavily wooded area slowly, almost painfully. The nightmare hung about him like a gum to the sole of a business man's dress shoes. He could hardly hear himself think over the lingering fragments of the dream. He had been hoping that the hike would help him calm his nerves, or, at the least, clear his head, but the stillness of the wood only exacerbated his condition. The mist only aggravated him more.

Behind the young man treaded an umbreon cautiously, fully grown, his fur dark as night. The umbreon had been concerned about his trainer and had followed him. It was very concerned, and took all precaution not to disturb. His valiant efforts were undermined by a loud water splash. In midst the mist, neither the trainer nor the pokemon had a clue where they had been, or that there was a lake anywhere near them.

To the anxious umbreon, it was a relief to see his trainer walk towards the noise instead of away from it. Maybe something can help him forget what it is that was bugging him...

[Pari]

Sleeves fluttered, wind tunneling through and batting at her jacket, cold grey eyes turned along with shoulder and limbs to face the water. Pieces of heaven reflected into her eyes for brief seconds, and she knew it was going to be cold. This was a morning near Snowpoint, afterall.

Good thing her goggles were waterproof.

Rolling twice in the fall to gain her posture, the girl cut straight into the water. She first heard wind, explosion, and then a muted world. The lake engulfed and enveloped, swallowing her slender form with a great splash and spatting out the air bubbles hidden in her clothes and hair. A heavy jacket became completely soaked. It wasn't going to be a fast and easy swim to the shore.

Kiyo will be worried. She knew it was going to take a while, especially in so vast a lake. The Altaria named Kiyo circle the air, cold sweat dripping and waiting patiently with the girls' belongings tied to his back. He would've shrieked once or twice, or even more times considering his personality as a worrywart. But he was well-trained.

Having no Pokeball on her, the blue-haired girl decided to swim to the shore by herself. Leaving arms to the sides and moving like a serpent, she glided easily and speedily through the dark waters considering the weight of the jacket.

This shouldn't be too difficult, just time-consuming---that is, as long as she doesn't come across a Gyarados.

[Chris]

Begrugingly, the young man trudged the forest bed with his umbreon trailing behind him. He was almost irked that Clint, the umbreon, had followed him, but it couldn't be helped, he was just worried. He had half the heart to find out the origin of the sound, but for Clint's sake, he decided to walk towards the noise. Last thing he wanted to do was to create unnecessary altercations. At the very least, the noise gave him some direction in his mindless wanderings.

The source of the noise was a huge lake. It wasn't very far from where he had heard the noise, but to his occupied mind, the walk took eternity. Many a times before he reached the destination, he had considered turning around and going as far away from it as possible. Sometimes, just the thought of seeing another person or a creature was unpleasant. However, all these thoughts banished when he saw the lake. The serenity of the scene relaxed his nerves a little. Kneeling down by the water, he dipped his hand into the cold, clear water.

Clint walked up next to him and looked up and then far into the lake. 'Someone is here.' Clint whispered.

The young man nodded. "There's something else here." But he liked the stillness. The feeling of everything stopping, that's how it was to him since that day, walking through still images, where nothing seemed real.

Clint was still wary of his trainer's conditions, but what annoyed him more was the Altaria circling the sky. He couldn't help but keep staring at it. 'I don't like this.' he growled, 'It's too calm.'

[Pari]

Swimming below the lake's surface, the girl's skin and hair were chilled by the dark, icy world. Her breath held and controlled, the girl knew to recycle her own breathing and stay longer underwater. For a long while she did not turn to the surface for air---but eventually, she did. Breaking the calm surface, she rose to exchange for some air. Resting briefly, she looked up. Kiyo is still there.

With bird's eyes the Altaria caught his trainer emerging briefly from the lake. She was tucking the golden decor ribbons into the neck of her dampened jacket. The girl did not want to be fish bait. The Altaria came closer as he drew circles in the air, then broke smoothly from the circle heading towards the direction of the shore. Having received the message, the girl nodded and dived into the water again.

As Kiyo reached closer to land, the dragon-bird caught the sight of a man and his Umbreon. Though knowing his trainer, the girl would've preferred her Altaria to focus on pointing the direction instead.

[Chris]

Clint growled louder as the Altaria drew closer, but his trainer motioned him to stop before the situation escalated to a fight. A fight was the last thing he had wanted. After seeing the girl in the lake, the trainer looked around the lake with concern. Something was bothering him. He could hear hushed whispers of creatures.

"She's not going to swim out of this lake in time..." The young man muttered as he released his empoleon, "Sillah, go help the young lady out of the water."

The silly empoleon puffed himself then shook his short feathers purring before he jumped into the chilly waters.

[Pari]

Looking through the glazed transparency of her goggles, the girl can feel the looming darkness of depths beneath. She was used to it: dim waters, deep, broad and suffocating yet smooth to the touch. Like a fish she swam, quiet and wary of her surroundings. She heard and saw no Pokemon, and the girl knew that wasn't a good sign.

She was the one sole prey in open waters.

That knowledge pressed for time and faster she glided with the waves, her movements smooth yet urgent. It would've been faster if she dropped her jacket, but she did not want to alert anything in that darkness beneath of her presence.

And yet, it didn't come from below.

Pausing, she stared at the silvery shadow that seemed to be approaching her head front. Right at her. It was large, yet it looked not like a Gyarados. It also did not move like a Seaking. The girl backed off slightly to idle and stare, caught in between curiosity and the natural call for escape.

She blinked as the form became clearer. Judging from the way it moves, the Pokemon wasn't there to hunt...

Why is there an Empoleon here?

[Chris]

Sillah twirled around in the water like a torpedo as it sang. After it was done twirling, it started to oscillate side to side almost as if it were ballet dancing.

Above ground, Clint rolled his eyes, 'the bastard's dancing like it's a fuckin' disco!' The trainer let out a nervous laughter and sighed. Maybe it was a better idea to have called on Rusty, his blastoise instead. He was feeling more uneasy.

In the depths of the unusually still water, something stirred. Clint's ears perked at the noise. "It's awake..." The trainer gritted his teeth. Clint poked his head into the water and shouted 'YO DUMBASS, STOP FUCKIN AROUND.'

Despite his best efforts, Clint's voice did not carry very far in the waters. The bottom of the water filled with rumbling sound, but Sillah the empoleon, in midst his loud and terrible singing, did not notice anything. He had finally reached the girl, and just as the girl wrapped her hand around him, a creature brushed by her feet.

[Pari]

The blue-haired girl blinked behind goggles. A jolly creature this Empoleon was, and it seems to have came for her. Judging by its apparent naivety and tamed nature, the girl thought that this Pokemon might've belonged to another trainer. She can't quite speak underwater, but she knew what it was up to. Reaching out a hand she rubbed the Empoleon's neck comfortingly, and with another hand she held him close. Petting his mouth, she sought to urge him not to sing.

Too late to turn back on a bad idea.

The girl's body jerked and instantly glided away from where she felt the contact of another being. A crystalline red tail was about to disappear into the dark depths, but the girl knew that its head is making a U-turn to come back. So that's why none of them are around... Stone grey eyes didn't tell much, but adrenaline was seeping through her veins.

Grabbing the Empoleon's head, she looked into the happy creature's eyes. A solemn stare of command. And then, she pointed to the shore.

[Chris]

The silly empoleon slyly pulled his beak out of the girl's hands and let out a happy outcry. With that victory whistle, the he whirled around in a circle with the girl still hanging on to him, and headed up towards the surface slowly spiraling, until something long shot right through the center of the circle path the empoleon had been following, causing the unsuspecting pokemon to spiral out of formation in surprise.

'SHIT!' Clint hissed back up at the surface.
"This isn't good..." winced the trainer.

In the water, the gigantic red gyarados shot past quick then slowly arced back down to the ground. Upon regaining his senses, Sillah frantically headed towards the surface. He started swimming faster to avoid the gaping mouth of the giant fish. Zig-zagging through the waters, the empoleon was doing its best to keep ahead with the extra weight.

[Pari]

The girl blinked at him as he cried happily, not seeming to understand the situation. That reminded her of a certain Pokemon on her team. Nonetheless, she quickly gave up and simply attached herself onto the Empoleon by wrapping slender arms around the creature's neck. The was no cheat run to fight for. It was just going to be a race of speed once the Pokemon realizes what they're up against. And sure enough, he did. The force of water blasted at the girl's face as they sped through the lake, and she held on.

The Altaria in the sky cannot help by let out a shriek at the sudden activity in the lake---waves, bubbles, the long shadow of a red Gyarados speeding right beneath the water's surface. Arching back his neck, the bird blasted a quick and desperate ice beam at the dragon-fish, causing an angry red Gyarados to burst mightily out of the water in all its crystalline grandeur.

Gripping tight onto the Empoleon, the girl would've stopped to stare in awe. But now, they were fish bait.

[Chris]

'Ho shit....' Clint gaped at the humongous gyarados in disbelief. 'That bird has guts.'

"Clint." the umbreon's trainer nodded as the gyarados bent over to dive under the waters again. Clint took the chance to blast some confuse ray. The umbreon growled viciously, as he skirted around the edge of the lake shouting profanities. The trainer looked up at the altaria and signaled it towards him.

Meanwhile, understanding the dangers, Sillah quickly regained his position and started rushing towards the surface barely avoiding the gyarados falling down back into the water. With great difficulty, the empoleon surfaced and started racing towards the shore with the great pokeman on his tail.