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Rated: NPL · Interactive · Action/Adventure · #2257950
The Pokemon world is a lot less friendly when you're a few inches tall. Can you survive?
This choice: Swim underwater, only surface when necessary  •  Go Back...
Chapter #5

Making it to the sandbank.

    by: sneakyk Author IconMail Icon
A world of salty seawater with waves nearly as dangerous as the predators that lurk beneath them and little in terms of actual shelter awaits you. But in this ecosystem, it is not the fish that you should be worried about. With fish come seagulls and other assorted coastal birds of prey... and your body is far less adapted to dealing with them than a fish might be. Back when you were normal-sized you found the idea of a Pelipper storing fish in its bill to be equal parts exotic, amusing, and intriguing. An almost romantic ideal of predatory evolution. Now that you stand to become the prey for any bird that sees fit to collect you, your perspective on avian's fine dining habits is decidedly different. You are easy to spot, a slow swimmer, - at least compared to a fish -, and not particularly appraised of the cover this area might have to offer.

A bird converting your maladapted body into a gooey heap of guano would just be nature taking its course.

And so it is that you conclude that you're going to need to use the sea water as cover. You take a deep breath, the intensely salty scent of the sea water very nearly making you lose it, then proceed to dive down under the waves, hoping that you'll be able to last long enough to find cover. Your descent is a slow one, as your tiny arms and legs aren't exactly equipped to propel you great distances in a short span. You keep your eyes closed as you propel yourself forward, not wanting to damage them from prolonged exposure to the raw, untreated seawater.

After about a minute of swimming underwater, your chest begins to ache. It is a taxing pain that will only grow over time, at least until you get a fresh breath of air. You realize you will likely have to surface soon... but is now really the time? You quickly open your eyes and examine your surroundings. Nothing but sand and the distant silhouettes of what you hope are sandbank islands. You quickly swim back to the surface, which is thankfully not too far, and steal a gulp of air. Looking back, you find you have made a modest amount of real progress from the shore.

You duck down once more and proceed to resume your swim. You advance exactly as you did before, repeating the process several times. Duck down. Swim forward, occasionally glance your surroundings, and pop your head out of the water as quickly as you can lest your heroic journey end with your remains being shat out of a Pelipper's posterior.

As you advance underwater you begin to hear a whooshing sound to your left. You quickly surface and scan your surroundings, finding no immediate explanation for it. Kids are playing off in the distance, but this sounded close. You duck back down and immediately scan the area to your left. You see something in the corner of your vision... a fish of some sort? A Goldeen? You cannot be sure. You turn and look behind you, your eyes beginning to grow irritated. Still nothing.

You do your best to shrug it off. If it were a predator, it surely would have eaten you by now. You continue swimming forward, a building undercurrent of fear now accompanying your growing chest pain. You want to get to land. Fast.

As you advance further, you find yourself closing in on a sandbank. You can hear a melody of sorts coming from below the water. Turning towards the melody, you see the sand give way to rocks and coral. Quite interestingly, some of the coral appears to be bio-luminescent. This underwater patch of coral seems to lead deeper. It would appear as if the route might not be as uniformly shallow as you initially assumed. It's something worth nothing, but you cannot exactly investigate. Even discounting the risk of predators, your lungs simply won't allow you to safely investigate!

You surface and find that you are now within eyeshot of the sandbank. You begin to swim along the surface, slowly progressing towards the bank.

Suddenly, a menacing blue thing bursts out of the water, and you find yourself staring into a gaping black abyss. That abyss, you find to your utter dismay, happens to be the tunnel-like mouth of a Seadra! It glares at you menacingly...or at least you think that's a menacing glare. Somehow you have a hard time imagining this creature as anything other than intimidating at this scale!

You were so close to land...and now you're about to be this creature's meal? You curse your misfortune. If your swim was doomed from the start you would have probably preferred just drowning! But now that you think about it...what exactly is the Seadra doing? Why hasn't it eaten you yet? Is it assessing if you would be a good meal?

The Seadra seems to confirm your fears. It begins swimming around your body in brief, lunging glides. It keeps its vision honed in on you as it circles you, but still it does nothing to directly threaten you. Eventually the Seadra comes to a halt with your body directly between its snout and the surface. After a brief and awkward silence, it nudges you with the edge of its snout...then proceeds to expel a powerful wave of water right at you. Your body is sent tumbling through the air and landing directly on the sandbank's surface.

Did....did it just help you? Your body aches from the impact (or perhaps that aching is from the long swim? You can't quite tell... ), but you managed to make it to the first sandbank without being eaten. You groan and get to your feet, then turn and sit upon the shore. Looking out, you can see the Seadra's face glaring at you, its expression just as intimidating as it was before. You tentatively call out to thank it. Rather than acknowledge your thanks, the Seadra simply tucks its head underwater, vanishing beneath the water.

You really that you have little time to idly ponder its intentions. You might be safe from drowning and from aquatic predators, but you aren't exactly safe from birds. You get up and make your way along the sandbank. You spot three features of note. A simple rock, a large lump of sand, and some vegetation. You also notice that a smaller object seem to be positioned against each. You glance at those objects a bit more and realize that they appear to be...suits? Against the plants is a green winged suit that blends in well to the foliage below. Against the rock appears to be some sort of grey diving suit. And atop the lump of sand appears to be...well. You cannot exactly tell what it is. It might merit further inspection...

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