Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was a date and a fine one at that! The two trainers had eaten a slightly late lunch at a beach side restaurant and then opted to go for a stroll along the sand and the surf. There was chatting, goofing around, and a bit of flirting. Definitely not a bad date by either of their reckoning. Dugan gave Iona’s elbow a little tug and he pointed out past the breakers. The young woman paused and looked out to see one luvdisc leap up out of the water, following shortly thereafter by another.

“Oh, wow,” Iona breathed. “How cool.” She gave a little titter, leaning up to give Dugan a bit of a kiss. “Aren’t we lucky?”
“Indeed we are.” He said with a sigh. “What do you say…we join ‘em for a swim!” Giving his date a playful nudge, he ended up with a startled gasp when she turned it around on him and he ended up on his hands and knees in the foaming surf. He chuckled with a shake of his head.

Iona, on the other hand, was cracking up. She backed away from her downed date with a few hopping steps backwards when he flicked some seawater at her. “Uh-uh! You can’t get meeee~!” She teased, giving a delighted shriek when he sprang up out of the water and came running after her, or did his best to quickly waddle after her with his wet clothes. With that, the two raced on down the beach.

A young seel wasn't altogether far from them. He wasn't moving--for he was stuck. It seemed an old fisher's net had been washed ashore--with the young seel in it! Though Niall had attempted to chew his way out--to butt at the rope and free himself, he had only succeeded in tiring himself.

"Seel, seel!" he called to the humans nearby, but his voice was captured by the beach winds. He called instead to his sibling, Aiofe. "Help, Aoife!" There was no way they could get him out by themselves. They needed something...something sharp. "See if they'll help?"

Uhhh. Oh dear. Oh dear, this wasn’t good. Niall was stuck and there wasn’t anything she could do to help him, at least not without risking getting stuck herself. The seel stuck near her twin brother, making little distressed sounds and looking around. Initially, the sound of the frolicking people hard worried her. What if they came close and she and Niall couldn’t get away! Well, she could, but she’d not leave her brother!

Aoife drew closer to her sibling when he called out for her. “What can I do?” Looking over toward the people, she gave a worried little whine but nodded. “I’ll try. Hang tight, Niall. I’ll be right back!” With that the young seel made her way over to where the humans were playing as quickly as her land gait would allow her. “Seel! Seeee-see-seeel!” She called out to them, feeling a little knot of anxiety settled in her gut when the two people stopped their goofing around and looked her way. “Seeel,” She added plaintively before turning and making her way back towards her brother, pausing often enough to see if the two humans were following along, which they were. “Niall,” Aoife called to her twin, “They’re coming! I’ve got them following me.”

“Oh, Dugan, look. I think those seel need our help. Look! One of them is stuck. Is that a…net?”

Dugan frowned as they drew closer. “Looks like. Hang on, little ones. We’ll help.”

Aoife came to a stop near Niall and made another soft series of distressed, worried sounds.

Iona drew close, kneeling down next to the net. “Ah, geez. You’re in quite a pickle aren’t you? Hold still, okay? Dugan, do you have your pocket knife on you?”

Dugan, having come to a stop nearer to the fretting, free youngster, nodded and fished into his pocket and tossed her his closed pocket knife. “Here.”

Niall was unable to show his graditude in his usual fashion. If it had been any other situation, the seel would have butted his horn against Aoife's. The humans were coming! They would help. Wouldn't they, now that they had seen him? Wouldn't they help? "Thank you," he said to Aoife, his dark gaze meeting hers. Those words conveyed more than his thanks; Niall was frightened. What if the humans couldn't get him out? What if a tentacruel in a nasty mood showed up? What if the humans decided to leave him and take his sister?

He watched Iona carefully as she spoke to him, eyes never leaving her hands. What was she going to do? "Seel?" he asked, inching as far from her as he could, tangled as he was in that net. It was only then that he seemed to notice Dugan's close proximity to his twin. He gave an angry snort, struggling against the ropes. "Be careful, Aoife!" he called to his sibling. "We don't know these humans."

They were young, but Niall had seen trainers leave the beach with other pokemon; and though he was caught in a net, he would do whatever it took to protect Aoife.

"You're welcome," Aoife muttered in return, anxiously watching the humans as they approached. Her and her twin had never needed any human's help before but this was a situation that neither of the seel could get out of on their own! Dreaful is what is was. "It'll be okay, yeah?" The sentence, half statement and have question. As if she were hoping to offer reassurance all the while needing some herself. Aoife wasn't worrying about herself, not worrying about being taken from her brother and him being left there, not fretting over whether or not some big meanie showing up to further complicate their day. She simply wanted her brother to be free again.

Iona shushed and soothed softly. "Don't thrash around too much, pup. I only want to help. Shh." She slowly and carefully opened up the pocket knife and kept the bulk of it hidden in her palm. The young woman didn't want to give the poor tangled thing a fright. That's the last thing she wanted. Cautiously, she began working at the tangled mess of netting. Some pieces were easier than others, feeling more worn by age and tidal action perhaps, some strands felt slimy from getting tangled in seaweeds. The angry snort and struggling the youngster gave made her pause. What was the matter? She followed the pup's gave to Dugan and its sibling. "We're not scouting around for pokemon, wee one. Dugan and I are on a date. We didn't come to be beach looking to catch and battle pokemon. Please calm down. I don't want anything getting tighter on you. Please, be still. I won't take long."

Aoife slapped her tail flippers against the damp hand in a heavy wet smack. "I will be, you goof! I don't want you getting tangled up worse! I dunno what I'd do if they couldn't get you out of there." She gave a soft, distressed whine at the mere thought. Niall was the best playmate and pillow and sibling ever. "Besides we have to trust them a little or why did I even bring 'em over?" The sister gave her brother a snort of a sort of her own.

Dugan glanced between the two seel and held up his hands. "You two can relax. We mean no harm. Easy now, little one. You don't have to cry so. Iona knows what she's doing. Watch and see."

"It'll be okay," Niall attempted to assure Aoife. "I'll be out soon, then we can get away." They wouldn't have to be caught. They'd be safe. Away from humans, away from scary tangly things--Niall wasn't sure what it was, but he had seen this sort of thing in the hands of a human!

"Seel?" he inquired of Iona, holding still so she could cut at the net. He fell silent then, listening to her words, attempting to comprehend them. She had a nice voice, he decided. A nice, kind voice. She didn't want to hurt them. "Seel seeeeeeel?" he asked, moving his right flipper closer to her. The rope had begun to cut into his skin there. It was tight, but not embedded--there wouldn't be a scar. Certainly uncomfortable for the young seel, but not nearly as bad as it could have been, he attempted to alert her to it. "Seel!"

It seemed, for now at least, he had decided he could trust her. Dugan however, he wasn't so sure about him.

The little lady seel gave her brother a nod. "Okay. That'll be good. Yeah." Aoife puffed a sigh, floofing up her fur a bit and tucking her flips close against her sides. She just wished that her brother was free already. It was scary and she couldn't do anything.

Dugan looked down to the seel nearest him and gave a little sigh too, crouching down where he was and tentatively reached out a hand to give the youngster's head a scratch at the base of her horn. "Heeey. It'll be alright. Iona's got nimble hands. She'll have your, ah, friend, sibling, ah...anyway, free in no time. Just watch, okay?"

Aoife had tensed slightly went the human man extended a hand towards her, but his touch was gentle and his hand was warm in spite of the fact that he was kinda wet too. His voice, thought she couldn't make out what he was saying, was saying whatever he was saying nicely. As such she relaxed a little, not much, but a little.

When the seel stilled, she gave him a small encouraging smile. "That's it." Iona continued cutting at the ropes and nets. Fishermen ought to be held accountable for nets carelessly tossed overboard or just left in the sea. Things like this happen when they aren't careful. "Huh?" She asked focusing in on the offered flipper. "Oh dear! I'll get that right away. Shh shh. I see it." Scooting a little closer to get a better look at what she was doing, Iona inspected the bound flipper. Not good at all, but it could definitely have been worse. Easing the pocketknife dull, flat side down against the seel's flipper, the woman gingerly began sawing and working at the rope, practically counting the fibers that thinned and broke at the work of the little blade. With a few moments of work, the rope fell away in her hand. "There. That's gone." She brushed her fingers over the fur where the rope had been. It hadn't broken the skin or anything. "That ought to feel better. Now to finish the rest of it." Iona held the knife between her teeth as she pulled the loose rope and netting away to sort out what was left and if there were particular strands that needed cutting. She was mostly done though and took the knife from between her teeth. "Just a couple more, wee pup, then you'll be free again." And so, she set right about to finishing off the rest of the netting. With a few snaps, the last of the tangle was removed and folded up next to her. "There you go."

Niall was free! He stayed and nuzzled Iona for a moment before bounding over to Aoife and butting her gently with his horn. "They helped, they did!" he said excitedly. "I never thought humans would help us, but they have. Maybe you can trust him, too. I--" he fell silent, and instead returned to Iona's side.

He butted her with his horn gently. "I think we could stay with them, Aoife," he continued, nuzzling the girl who'd saved him. "I think they'd keep us safe. We don't have to run. Not from these humans. They saved me."

He had nothing to give them in his graditude. Maybe friendship would be enough?

Aoife gave a little hoot of jubilation. Her brother was free and not hurt! Hurray! She returned the headbutt. "They did! They did and they haven't tried anything bad against us. She cut you free and he helped keep me calm. I think so maybe..." She said looking back toward Dugan who was now sitting on the sand with his knees brought up and and arms resting folded on his knees.

Iona watched the reunion with a warm, pleased grin. "Aww, they're so happy to be together again." When the once trapped seel turned and returned to her side, the woman's brows rose slightly. "What's this?" The nuzzling brought her to smile again. "Heh heh. You're most welcome, pup. It was my pleasure."

Aoife made her way back to Dugan's side, giving his hand a little lick. "I think so, Niall. They seem like really good people. They're not demanding anything of us. They did this out of the goodness in their hearts." She rubbed her muzzle against his forearm.

It was Dugan's turn to raise his brows, a smile creeping on to his face also. He looked across the short distance to his lovely date. "It seems they've taken a shine to us, my dear." He scratched under the little seel's chin.

Iona chuckled and patted the seel's shoulders. "It does seem so. Think we've got ourselves a couple of new friends?"

"We may well have. Are you two going to stick with us now? We won't mind if you do."
Niall agreed with his sibling silently, continuing to butt and nuzzle at Iona. He didn't want to leave her side. She'd saved him! She had, she really had. "Seel? Seel seel!" Would she keep him? She wouldn't make him go with Dugan, would she?

"They are good people," he said, looking to Aoife. "I didn't think good people existed, but they do. I like these people. ...I think we should keep them, Aoife. But how do we tell them we want to keep them?"

Humans were so very strange, with their language.

"I agree," Aoife chimed. "They're good people and we ought to keep them. They can be our people." She paused as she pondered this. Humans had their own weird language thing going on. Hm. "If they're trainers, they'd probably have those balls on them, right? If we find 'em, they might get the hint? Or we can just flop onto them and look like we're not going anywhere. They might get the hint then too. Or we can do both maybe?"

Giving a light laugh, Iona angled her head to take in the young seel. "You're a happy camper now, aren't you?"

Aoife made her way around Dugan, bumping and rubbing against him. "See-see-se-seel!" Hm. "I think I'll try it, Niall." Hmm. If he was a trainer, he'd have those ball things somewhere. Ah, there were some on his belt. Without much of a pause, the seel plucked one from his belt and made her way around to his other side before giving a wiggle and heaving herself across the human's lap, essentially belly side up. "Seeeh." She chimed, holding the minimized pokeball in her mouth which muffled her slightly. Her antics caused Dugan to give a big belly laugh.

"He-hey, you silly thing. What are you doing with that? Do you want to be my poke-friend? Huh? Wanna come with me and be a partner of mine?" Dugan reached up and claimed the pokeball from the seel's mouth. The ball she happened to grab was an empty one so he went ahead and enlarged the ball and held it up to her.

Without much delay at all, Aoife gave the button-y looking thing a bump from her horn and in she went.

Niall watched as his sibling diappeared within the pokeball, before pointedly studying Iona. He circled her carefully, hoping to catch a glance of the telltale red and white ball--ah! She had a belt too, just like Dugan did! He took one with his teeth. "Seel, seel!" his voice was muffled from the ball, but he hoped his message had gotten across. One could never tell with humans. "Seel?" He dropped the pokeball in front of her.

He pushed it towards her with his horn. "Seel?" he asked hopefully, tilting his head. He couldn't let Aoife go without him!

Iona watched the seel make the round about her, letting him investigate. She chuckled and angled her head when he returned about around her to drop the pokeball down in front of her. "I see what you're saying, pup. I get you." The woman picked up the dropped ball, expanded it, and held it up at Niall's level. "Do what you gotta do, champ."

Niall struck the button with his horn, and when it opened, entered it willingly. He had a feeling they would be with these humans for many years to come. Perhaps forever.

Things were good for the Seel. When they had initially joined the company of Dugan and Iona, the two trainers had only been dating. While they did their best to be accommodating to the sibling seel, sometimes they didn’t or couldn’t be together. Fortunately, for possibly everyone involved, the two decided to move in together. Without having to go back and forth and still being in close proximity to the sea, life for Niall and Aoife had improved considerably.

The weather was clear and the afternoon sun had just been calling trainer and pokemon out to enjoy the day. Dugan and Iona were sitting out reading, talking, and watching their pokemon companions having fun themselves. While up in the dunes amid the beach grass was always a fun place to frolic, the warmth of the sun simply made playing nearer to the water impossible to resist. “Niall,” Aoife chimed, “Let’s try to find some pretty shells! Or chase fishes! What do you wanna do?”

"Let's find shells for them!" Niall responded eagerly, gazing at the sand. He had made his way to the water's edge and was studying his surroundings carefully. "I haven't seen any," he complained. "Do you?"

He wondered what his trainer was doing. Why wasn't she playing in the water? That's what he felt she should be doing. It was a nice day to play! "Let's swim after," he invited his sibling. "Maybe they'll join us."

"Yes! I bet they’ll put them up on a shelf or in a nice bowl or something.” The prospect delighted Aoife. Using her flippers to scrape some sand away, the seel gave a thoughtful hum. “I haven’t seen many,” she admitted. “Little ones, mostly. Maybe they’re buried or we’d have more luck in the water itself? Hm. There aren’t any tide pools close by. There may be some in those, but they’re farther off. We might find driftwood if we poke around in the sand enough. Ooh! Or sand dollars!” Any number of finds would be exciting, expect perhaps a crabby, well, Krabby.

Niall’s pause to look over towards their trainers prompted Aoife to do the same. Huh. Was Dugan wanting to stay dry or something today? It was early yet or maybe they were having to wait off lunch that they had eaten a little while earlier. Hopefully they’d both join them a little later after Dugan and Iona digested their lunches some more. Aoife smiled. “Yeah, we can all swim together. It’ll be great.” Returning her attention to the task at hand, she poked about on and in the sand. “How many should we look for, you think? Should we see about checking out the tidal pools?”

"Let's check the tide pools!" Niall agreed at once, hurrying over to the closest one. The seel gave a trill of excitement before dipping his head into the tide pool. He raised his head. "I found one!" he informed his sibling excitedly, picking a sanddollar out of the sand with his mouth. He made his way back over to her. "Look, look!" he said, but his voice was muffled due to the object in his mouth. "I found one, I found one! See? Do you think they'll like it?"

Yuck. Sand. But it'd be worth it, if Iona liked it, right?

"Now you find one!"

When her twin first spoke, she didn’t appear to be listening too terribly close. Her attention was more focused on ridding her tongue of the gritty particles of sand. A few moments of spluttering and spitting passed before Aoife snapped to attention. “Wha? Huh?” She glanced around before focusing in on the area her sibling was homing in on. Oh! Huh. What was that? “Yeah, you’re right. It’s…different.” She agreed as she followed to investigate the find. “Weird. It definitely seems outta place, doesn’t it?” The seel give it a little sniff, angling her head this way and that to take in the little curiosity at different view points. It was rather pretty.

Casting a glance to Niall before returning her dark gaze upon the object of interest, she angled her head again. “It’d look nice in the house, I think. We can collect it and show Iona and Dugan when we get back down to their part of the beach. Maybe they’ll know what it is.” Shifting her weight onto her side, Aoife reached out a flipped to draw the shiny possibly metal looking thing closer. Before she could move it anywhere, the pretty, shiny thing seemed to vanish at her touch. She drew back her flipper in confused quiet. What in the world? Aoife seemed to pause, blinking drowsily.

“Oh…Niall…It’s the,” She paused to yawn. “darnedest thing. I’m so s’eepy.” She finished with another yawn, her dark brown eyes fluttered heavily, threatening to close. The seel sighed, laying her head down on the sand, drifting off to an easy and very, very sound sleep.

Niall panicked almost at once. The shiny thing had disappeared! And Aoife--Aoife was alsleep! It was early afternoon and not nearly time for their after-adventuring nap. He butted her gently with his horn. "Aoife, this isn't funny," he said. "Wake up. You're faking. They'll worry. We're supposed to find--" he paused, noticing another of those shiny things. He went over to it, sniffing it carefully before taking it into his mouth.
He wavered for a moment, settling his head down onto the sand. The star burst into dust just as the seel fell asleep.

Urban sighed. Why was he at the beach? Oh yes...because Cam had asked him to go to the beach with him...and seeing as he was working on that whole...friendship thing with Cam so there they were...sun, sand, blue water...and babes as far as the eye could see! He was knee deep in the water at the moment, Cam was out on a surfboard and he admitted it...he was admiring the other. He couldn't surf.

Not far off in the water was Phee, or Lyre as she was attempting today...and listening intently to the names people used for one another. Nothing was striking her fancy. A sigh escaped her and she dove under the water and swam deeper for a few moments to enjoy the cooler depths.

In the sand was Mei...who was staring at Brenny curiously. "And whats the point of sand? Its getting in my fur..." she was less than impressed by it really as she poked a foot at it.

"I don't know!" Brenny chirped cheerfully, "But it's fun! See? If I get it wet, it goes up like this!" The celebi boy demonstrated by patting sand down into his pail with his shovel, and turned it upside down. He waited ten seconds, ten pulled it up off of the molded sand. "Yay!" he exclaimed. "See, it's a sand castle! I made it for you, Mei! Now you have a castle and you can be a princess!" Girls liked to be princesses, didn't they?

Niall was not so far away from Phee. After his initial reaction to having been transformed, he had found that hands could be as useful as flippers. It had taken him several days to adjust, and now, for the first time he was exploring the beach in his new form. He had been watching the Manaphy carefully for a long while from the shore. What was she doing? She seemed kind of bored, he figured. Maybe she was? He waved her over. He'd never seen a manaphy before! What was she doing there?

Fun? This was fun? It was gritty and annoying... still she was semi fascinated by the sand keeping its shape when wet, and she settled in the shade being thrown by someone's large umbrella more than happy for it and tried to mimic what was done...but forgetting to wet the sand and it falling to a pile. "Guess it's a good thing one of us can build castles." she laughed in amusement.

Urban decided to swim and moved further into the water and ducked under enjoying the feel of the cool water. Cam for his part wiped out and came up laughing and swam back to shore to have another go of it.

Phee was surprised to see someone else under the water like she was...and at the motion to come closer she did, glad she'd left her boots, and other what not on shore in her backpack. They would have weighed her down a whole lot. She paused by the boy, looking at him curiously.

Brenny giggled at her attempt, shaking his head. "No no, silly," he said, "you have to get it wet first!" He went to the water and filled up his pail, bringing it back over to Mei. "I saw Cam, I think!" he told her excitedly. "The boy who gave me the money for icecream! He's swimming, just there!" he pointed towards the waves, but was surprised to find that the boy had come up onto the shore. "Cam, Cam!" he called to him, waving. "Come make sand castles with us! It's fun! I'm teaching Mei to make them!"

"Want to play?" Niall asked, tilting his head slightly. He wasn't used to playing with others; he had a habit of attempting to ignore that others existed, when his sister was around. But since she wasn't--and he lacked an alternative form of entertainment, he figured he might as well find someone to talk to. "We could look for shells," he said, gesturing to his empty pail. "My trainer likes to put them up on a shelf."

"Ohhh..." she sounded sheepish at that and was in the middle of getting up to get water in the small pail when Brenny got all excited and caused her to look where he was pointing...only to blink at the teen boy coming over towards them and jabbing his surfboard into the sand and settling. "Sandcastles huh? That looks like fun. Sure, I'll help for a little bit. Nice to meet you Mei, I'm Cam." "Hi Cam, Brenny's told me a lot about you."

"Play?" she looked at him blankly. "How do we play? I've not played since I changed..." she looked so lost at the idea! "Shells is a good thing to look for though. We can dive down and get some from the bottom!" well, why not?

"Yay! Good. I think Mei's learning well," he said, and then lowered his voice, leaning closer to the teen's ear, "She forgot water though. If you help me teach her, I think she'll be happy!" He paused and glanced to where he had first seen Cam. "Where's Urban?" he asked. "Is he with you? Maybe he'll want to make sandcastles too!"

"We play... well... I don't know. I don't think I've tried to play since I changed either. I didn't figure it would be so different. We can still play chasing games and have swimming races," Niall began thoughtfully. "We could do that!" he agreed immediately. "I'm not sure I can hold my breath that long now, though..." But maybe! Maybe he had kept that ability!


"Urban is here...somewhere. I went surfing..." he turned to look out towards the water. "Oh, there he is. Why don't we let him swim a bit, and then maybe he will." maybe. He didn't know. "You two going to go swimming?" "Swimming?" Mei didn't know how.

"I didn't think I could hold my breath that long either, but I still can, so maybe you can too. If nothing else I can always go down and find some for you. The prettiest ones are always down there." so much for her acting big and bad and tough. She was in her element, and in a happy mood really. "I'm Lyre...." and here she wrinkled her nose. "I really don't like that name. I'm Phee. For now. Till I find a really good name!"

"Oooh, he's swimming!" Brenny had caught sight of Urban when Cam had turned to look for him. He'd followed the older boy's gaze. "Okay, we can let him swim for a while," he agreed. He hesitated, before adding, "I can't swim." He had never gotten the chance to try. He had been hatched in the late autumn of the year before, and had only been just discovering the world outside his egg when winter had struck full force. "Can you teach me?" he asked, hopefully. "Mei, do you like swimming?"

"I just changed," Niall said, frowning slightly as he glanced at his hands. "I'm still not used to it," it had taken a while to get used to walking up right. And to having legs, hands; being so big. "You think I'd be able to?" he asked, smiling slightly. It was nice to think some things hadn't changed. "Alright, I'll try. We can find her some really nice ones." And if he couldn't, the manaphy was nice enough to help him. "I'm Niall," he said. "Lyre's a pretty name, but if you don't like it, I'll call you by the name you gave me. Nice to meet you, Phee!"

"I don't know how to swim either. Never had a place to swim where I lived." Cam listened to the two of them and smiled. "I sure can teach you to swim. Why don't I start with you Brenny? I bet I can get Urban to help you Mei." "No its okay. I can sit in the shallow water and watch." and cool down!

"I changed not that long ago. I've been traveling around but I missed the water and decided to come back today for awhile." and she was glad she had! She felt so much better being in the water, more energized. "Okay on three we'll go down, and you can see if you can stay down or not." she grinned began to count. "One, two, three!" under she went then, breathing just as easily underwater as above.

Brenny beamed at Cam and nodded. "Okay!" he agreed. "We can start with me! I want to be a good swimmer. Then I can surprise Daddy! He'll be so impressed," the boy was delighted at the prospect of learning something new. He looked forward to showing his father how much he'd learned today. "Can you teach me now, and we can make sandcastles after?" he asked. "It'll be fun!" He hesitated and glanced at Mei. "Don't you want to learn to swim?" he asked. "You can show Daddy after! I'm sure he'll be proud of you too!"

"I've never left the beach," Niall said, shaking his head slightly. "My trainer lives there," he pointed towards a small cottage. "With her mate and my sister. She changed too. We both did. We were looking for shells for Iona, she's my trainer, and we found stars instead. They were very pretty, so we picked them up to take them--" he hadn't noticed the manaphy girl begin to count, until she hit three. He took a breath and dived under, a second too late. He held his breath for a long moment, afraid of what would happen if he didn't. When he couldn't hold it any longer, he let it go and found he was breathing under water just as he had been able to before. He pointed to the sandy bottom. "There! I saw something!"

"Sure lets go into the water now and we can do sandcastles later." Cam eased to his feet and held his hand out to Brenny, looking back at Mei. "Maybe later. I dunno...the water is sorta...unnerving." she'd never been to an ocean before! "Alright Mei. You sit in the water and watch and maybe later we'll try."

"Ohhh how neat. I got tired of every one telling me I was cute, and sweet and helpful...I'm trying to prove I'm not!" and doing a poor job of it in this moment. She listened to him talking until she went under, and waited patiently for him to figure out if he could breathe under the water or not. Seeing he could, she grinned and swam deeper. "Where?"

Brenny took Cam's hand, beaming at the older boy. "You're so nice," he said. He meant it, too. Cam was almost as nice as his Daddy was! He was sure if they met, they would become friends. "Is it scary?" he asked, once they reached the water's edge. "You won't let me drown, will you?"

"You are cute," Niall said, flashing Phee a small smile. "But I won't call you sweet or helpful. I don't like being called those things either." Cute wasn't such a bad thing, though. His trainer called him cute regularly. "Cute, though," he began, "I think it's a way for people to say 'I like you'. My trainer tells me I'm cute. It means she loves me."

Cam squeezed that hand gently as he made it to the waters edge and watched Mei settle in the shallow water, looking like she was cooling down some, and spotted Urban and waved him over. "Hey, mind helping my new friend Mei learn to swim?" Urban looked down at the tiny (to him!) pokemon. "Sure, why not. Hey kid." he gave Brenny a smile and moved towards Mei then, while came gave a gentle laugh. "I won't let you drown, and it can be scary, but fun. When you get good at swimming you can do other things like diving, and surfboarding."

Phee looked ready to protest till Niall explained the sentiments behind it and she looked thoughtful. "Huh. I never thought of it like that before. I'm still learning about this sort of stuff. I never had a trainer after all." she gave him a bright smile, and found a pretty shell with some green inside. "How's this?"

"Yay, Urban!" was the celebi boy's response to Urban's greeting. "Mei gets to learn to swim too!" And even if the mienfoo seemed afraid now, Brenny was sure Urban could help. "Let's go!" Brenny was reassured by Cam's words. The water could be scary, but it would be fun? And fun was always a good thing. "You'll teach me how to dive and surfboard, too?" he asked. "If I get good enough? It might take a while, but I'll be good at it, and then you can teach me!"

Niall nodded in understanding "I'm learning too," he said. "I hadn't had a trainer until the week before I changed. Aoife and I were playing in the water, and I got caught in a net. So Iona saved me! She cut me out of it. I don't know what would've happened if she--" he paused, glancing at the shell. "Oooh, that's perfect!" he exclaimed, moving to the sand to hopefully uncover more.

Urban gave a smile to Brenny, and looked to Mei and after the other two walked off, sat down to talk to her a little so she relaxed. Wouldn't do to go rushing into this. Cam smiled at Brenny and nodded. "It'll take time, but once you're good enough yes I'll teach you, and your dad too if he'd like." well it didn't hurt to offer he knew. "Alright, into the water we go, I'm going to help you lay on your stomach in the water. My hands will be on your chest and stomach..." and Cam began to carefully explain the swimming process.

"Oooh...well thats good she saved you! I hate those nets." she huffed some, and handed him the shell while sweeping sand off of others, a few broken ones pushed away and a really pretty white one pulled up. "Looks like you! All pretty and white!" yes...she'd just called him pretty in a round about way.

"Oooh. Daddy might like that!" Brenny exclaimed, delighted. "I'll tell him you offered! I don't know if he can swim or not. I never asked him! Oooh, I can ask him tonight! I'll tell him you're teaching me!" He followed Cam into the water, and cautiously allowed him to help him lay onto his stomach. "You won't let me drown?" he asked, watching the waves move around them. "You promise?"

Niall flashed Phee a bright smile. "Thank you for helping me," he said. "I'll introduce you to my trainer sometime. I bet she'd let you visit. She's really nice!" He beamed. There were two things he truly loved to speak about. One was his sister. The other was his trainer. He was equally possessive of both of them, and loved them dearly. He blushed at the compliment, taking the shell. "I wonder if I'll find one cute and blue like you!"

"Well I can always teach him if he doesn't know how." he was used to teaching people things, and he was between jobs with that whole body guarding thing, and his school was lacking students at the moment. So his time was his own really. "I won't let you drown I promise." Cam was sooo patient!

"I'd really like that Niall. I like meeting new people...and hearing their names. Maybe one day I'll find a name I like. I named myself...and it's too similar to Manaphy." and she frowned some. Though there was a blink and a slight blush at his words, a sort of shy smile given. "Oh...well...uhm...I can help you find one." she didn't know anything about relationships...crushes...or any of that. So that she was blushing at him calling her cute was...unexpected! She didn't know how to react!

Brenny felt himself relax. Cam was really good at this, he thought. He was good at reassuring him that he would be safe, even when he was afraid. "Okay. What do I do now?" he asked, instinctively beginning to kick his legs to avoid being washed away by the waves.

"I can help name you, maybe!" Niall said, concentrating. He'd never named anyone before. It would be a new experience. "Maybe Laura? That's kind of like Lyre, though... I don't know. Something pretty. Something that suits you. I don't know if any name ever could, though. A name certainly couldn't hope to be as pretty as you are!" He moved to pick up a shell. His smile widened as he swept the sand off it. "Look, Phee! It is blue, just like you! It's a snail shell! See, it spirals. It's for you!"

"That's perfect Brenny, you kick your legs like that. You also need to move your arms which helps pull you through the water as well." he held the boy firmly so he wouldn't feel in danger of slipping and coached him. He noticed Urban now doing similar with Mei a little ways away and smiled at the Mienfoo listening to Urban's instructions, though it sounded like there might be some squabbling there too. Still, he'd let them work it out.

Oh was she ever a mass of mixed emotions...he was so sweet really, and made her feel things she hadn't ever before...but there was uncertainty too. Did she like him too? Maybe...she didn't know. He was so nice though, that maybe it wouldn't hurt to find out right? Right! If nothing else they could be friends... "Help would be really nice. I dunno...I've gone by Grant, Merit, Lyre, Lynx, Bob..." and she began to rattle off the names...only to blink in surprise at the shell and took it from him carefully. "Oh wow this is so pretty! Thank you Niall!" she would have hugged him, had she known about hugs!

Brenny followed Cam's instructions, moving his arms against the water awkwardly. "Like this?" he asked. "But we're not moving," he observed. He glanced over to Urban and Mei, and smiled brightly. So she had decided to learn how to swim, after all! He'd have to tell his Daddy about that, too!

"Bob?" Niall repeated, grinning. "Some of those are boys names, and you're much too pretty to wear any of those," he said, shaking his head. "Maybe Mary, or Hope," he began rattling off names he'd heard before, either on the beach or at home. "You need something pretty." He moved to hug her when she took the snail shell and admired it. "You're welcome!" he said, flashing the girl a smile. He wasn't usually generous--but she was pretty, and a girl. Like Aoife!


"No we're not. I'm standing still. In a moment I'll walk into slightly deeper water so you can kick and paddle against the water and feel it pulling at you. Don't worry if it's hard. It will get easier as you get better."

He saw Urban was already at that step with Mei, who was faring well enough, though he admitted it was probably difficult to learn to swim like a human as a pokemon. "Hey Urban, keep her shallow!" "Sure Cam."

"There's a difference?" she blinked in surprise. She didn't realize there was a difference in girls and boys names. This brought another frown to her face. But no one had ever told her before. The fact her clothing choice made her look like a boy didn't enter her mind. The hug was new and made her eyes widen in shock, a whisper coming from her. "What was that? That...that thing you did with your arms?" how stunned she was! The shell was looked at again and she carefully put it into a pocket of her shorts so she wouldn't lose it. She wanted to keep it! Maybe see if she couldn't make it into a necklace!

"I'll try," Brenny promised, continuing to kick and paddle. He wasn't sure if he understood the concept, but he would try! "Mei's older than me," he confided in Cam. "She's closer to Daddy's age, she said she remembers being young like me many, many, many years ago." The boy's eyes widened with each 'many', as if to prove his point. "She's very smart! She likes being my pet, I think."

"Older than you huh? That has to be sort of interesting for all of you." he smiled and moved into the water to let Brenny kick and paddle against it then, watching and Urban did move to more shallow water for Mei, an approving nod given before he looked back to Brenny. "I'm glad she's happy there with you both."

"Ohh...no ones ever told me there's a difference before. I've just listened to names and tried them out...none seem to fit though." she frowned some and let out a sigh one bare foot kicking at the sand and uncovering some more shells. "A hug? I didn't know...never seen one...or hand one...or done one." how puzzled she sounded! But she was smiling anyhow, and did hug him back, even if it was kind of awkwardly.

"It is! She's smaller than I am, so it's hard to remember she's all grown up. I tried to buy her a doll when we met a bully, but she said she was too old for dolls. So I told her she could get something else. She's very good at playing catch!" He kicked and paddled against the water, attempting to keep afloat. "Yay, I'm doing it!" he exclaimed. Apparently the celebi boy had forgotten that he was being supported by Cam's hands.

"Well, now you have," Niall said with a nod. He had a feeling there were many things the girl hadn't experienced yet. He was willing to teach her, he supposed--but there were many things he hadn't experienced, either. "We can learn together," he said with a smile. "We can learn all about everything." He thought for a long moment. "You could be named after a flower," he said. "Lilac or Daffodil--" he wrinkled his nose. "Nah, that's a weird name. "Maybe Rose or Juniper..."

"Well thats good she can play catch really well. I'm sure in time you'll remember she's older than she looks." he gave the boy an indulgent smile at his cheering and lowered his arms a little so Brenny was more in the water. "Turn your head to the side so you can breathe while swimming..."

"That sounds like a really good idea!" she beamed at Niall then, though look at her blink. "Really? After a flower? Flowers can be names?" as he listed some off her eyes widened. "Oh, that one! Rose! I love roses, they're so pretty! I didn't know that could be a name though. but maybe not for a first name...I dunno...is there something like a second name?" she didn't know about middle names!

Brenny turned his head to the side as instructed, kicking and padding against the water. He wasn't sure about this. It had been much easier when Cam had been supporting him more. This was...kind of scary.

"Yeah, flowers can be names," Niall assured his new friend. "They're used as names a lot. I've heard them on the beach, when I was a seel too." He hesitated, frowning in confusion. "I don't know about second names," he began. "I don't have one, I'm just Niall. But I think my trainers have second names... I don't know."

"You're doing really good Brenny!" Cam's voice was full of encouragement for the boy and he made sure to keep him afloat well as he continued to walk so he'd feel like he was swimming. Mei was coming back up from under the water looking furious and stomped out of the water and up onto the beach yelling at the Aggron, who was yelling back, which made Cam sigh. "Looks like they're not getting along. Shall we go see whats going on?"

"Well then I like Rose a lot...so that's an all the time name now yay!" she beamed a moment, looking thoughtful. "I saw some books the other day...and there was a name I kinda liked on one..." she looked thoughtful...and then pieced the two together. "Armitage Rose...?" she looked at him curiously, wondering his thoughts on the name choice.

"Uh-oh," Brenny said, following Cam's gaze. He winced at the sight. "Sometimes Mei can be bossy," he said, in vague defense of Urban. But he'd seen that Urban could be bossy and rude--and Mei didn't seem to like rude people. She certainly hadn't appreciated Zevian's behavior. "Let's go see. Maybe we can fix it!"

Niall struggled pronouncing the name Phee suggested, and eventually shook his head. The name defeated him. "I can't say that," he complained. "Ami--Am--Arm--ugh! I'll just call you Rosie," he beamed at her. "See, it's pretty and it's not hard to pronounce."

Cam moved back to shallower water with Brenny and helped him back to his feet. "Good idea on checking on them. Urban can be a jerk...and you'll learn older people can be bossy." he gave a light chuckle and got close enough to hear an exasperated ..."........dropped me, twice!" "Just once. The other time you slipped." "I so did not slip!" "Yeah what ever. Are you done now? Or are you still being a drama queen?" "I'm done. I don't want you near me." she huffed and coughed some more, spitting out more sea water looking very unhappy. "Oh boy..." Cam sighed.

Phee frowned. Oh how she frowned. It was too hard? There was a full fledged pout on her lips then, and she of all things sat on the ocean bottom with a sigh, looking lost in thought. "Okay...so I won't go by Armitage...I want people to be able to say my name...but I still like Rose..." she was trying hard to come up with a suitable name! She looked up at him with wide eyes, looking hopeful that this was a doable thing.

Brenny hurried to Mei's side. He scooped her up, frowning in concern. "He dropped you?" he demanded, glancing up at Urban. "You dropped my pet into the ocean?!" His frown became a scowl. "But I thought I could trust you. I thought you were good at protecting people. You can't even protect a little pokemon?" He cuddled Mei close to his chest. "I'll take care of you," he promised. "You don't have to learn to swim with him. You don't have to learn at all, if you don't want to."

"No, it's pretty!" Niall said, frowning slightly. He'd upset her? Oh, this was awful! He moved to sit down next to her, leaning over to put an arm around her shoulders. "Just because I can't say it yet doesn't mean I won't be able to," he said. "I'm still learning things, just like you. Maybe I'll learn to say it. But until then, can I call you Rose?"

"She shouldn't have bitten me!" "I didn't bite you." Mei was honestly really upset at this point. He'd been rough from the start, and she'd accidentally scratched him, but not bitten him. Of all things she struggled out of Brenny's arms...and took off running, looking like she might cry. The look on Cam's face spoke of bad, baaaad things to come for the Aggron and Urban knew it. He couldn't help a grin though. He always did manage to piss Cam off royally...to constantly make him lose his temper. That was one reason they couldn't date. Cam gave Urban a withering look. "You're such an enormous jerk words don't even begin to describe it. Come on Brenny, lets go find her."

She was surprised by the arm on her shoulder, but merely leaned against him and sniffled. She'd never been sad or upset before! It was possible she was crying though in the water like this it was impossible to tell. But there.....his words brought a soft smile to her lips and she gave a soft nod. "I'd like that Niall..."

Brenny was astonished when Mei lept from his arms. He was distressed further when she took off. He sent a glare Urban's way, and stalked over to him. He kicked him in the shin before taking off after Mei. How was he going to fix this one? He'd show Urban later. Failing to protect his pet. Endangering her. Dropping her in the ocean and making her so upset. He'd show Urban! Oh yes. "Mei, come back!" he called after her. "It's okay, I won't let him hurt you!"

Niall was relieved when Phee smiled. He returned the smile and swept a hand over the sand in front of them. He picked up a shell. "Here," he said, holding it up for her to see. "It'll remind you of today," he said. "It doesn't really look like a rose--and it's not blue like you, but I know it's as special as you are. Look!" he gasped, holding it up into a ray of sunshine that had trickled down beneath the surface of the water. "Look!" he said again, gesturing to the inside of the shell. It was shiny on the inside. "I knew it was special!" he declared. "Just like you!"

Cam watched them run and he couldn't help but follow Brenny's example and kicked Urban. "You are such an a*****e Urban!" Urban muttered and rubbed both shins watching as Cam took off after the other two. Mei had very simply run a short distance away and under a pier, hiding in the shaded area and behind a pylon and dropped to sit with a sigh looking dejected.

Well didn't she already have one shell to remind her of today? Maybe two was okay though...especially when it sparkled. "Oh wow Niall! How pretty!" she sounded so excited and she hugged him (and better than before!) before taking it. "Thank you I love it!" she was all smiled again now.

Brenny was having trouble finding Mei. He searched behind logs. He looked near the shore. He stuck his face in the water to see if she'd fallen in--only to yelp and realize his eyes were stinging from the salt. And realize that the ocean was possibly the worst tasting water ever. Why hadn't suicune visited here? The water definitely needed purified! Yuck! "Mei, Mei!" he called, hoping for an answer. Was this what it was like to lose a pet? Was Mei lost? Would she be gone forever? At the thought, the boy gave a sniffle. He had to find her! He just had to!

Finding the shell had been worth it, then, Niall decided, when he saw the girl smiling. "Let's go back to the surface," he said, gesturing upwards. "I'm getting tired--and my fingers are getting wrinkly," he wiggled his fingers in front of her.

It was too noisy to hear Brenny calling for her, too many people about making it impossible...and after a few minutes of calming down she looked out...only to realize she had no idea where anyone was anymore. Panic filled her as she realized that. Cam was keeping pace with Brenny, and they had moved away from the pier at this point. Urban was grumbling..mostly to himself...and making his way back to the car. He'd call a taxi maybe. He could see Cam and that brat in the distance...and he saw that damn pokemon looking around lost.

He couldn't help a small smirk. Until he noticed her wandering around lost...and someone kicking her and sending her flying. He heard a kid yell "Look! A pokemon! I'm gonna catch it!" and pull out one of those blasted balls. Urban dropped his gear and took off at a run, and scooped up the dazed Pokemon before the ball connected. "Heeeey! No fair give it back! That's mine!" "Like hell she is! She belongs to a kid I know." "WAAAH! Dad make him give it back!" the kids dad took one look at the glowering Aggron and shook his head. "No, no he's right...come along son..." "Smart move." the words were growled as he brought his fingers up to his lips and let out a loud, piercing whistle, and watched Cam's head shoot up and look around. "Brenny...c'mon I think Mei's been found."

Phee...or Rose as she was now going to be called by him giggled and nodded. "Wrinkly fingers!" she didn't have that problem really and wiggled her own webbed hands a bit before she was kicking for the surface, her head breaking the water and she breathing deep.

Brenny looked up. "Urban?" he asked, blinking. Urban had found Mei? Maybe he would forgive him for being mean, after all! The celebi boy ran towards the teenager. "Mei!" he cried, reaching his hands out to take her. "She's hurt?" he asked, fretting over the mienfoo. He studied her carefully, before his expression darkened. "What attacked her?" he demanded. "I'll--" he wasn't sure what he'd do. But he'd do something. They'd hurt his Mei. They'd hurt his pet! His friend! His--she was family! He glanced over at the kid with the pokeball. He scowled and sent--he wasn't sure what that was. Sparkling, rainbow hued leaves came from behind him and moved at a rapid pace towards the boy in question.

Niall followed Phee, grinning. It seemed she had the ability to stay under water for long periods of time without any wrinkly fingers. That was talent. He surfaced, glancing at the manaphy. "Race you to shore?" he asked.

"She was kicked as she went darting out. It stunned her. She'll be okay in a few minutes." Urban had been in the process of handing her off to the kid, when he let loose with his attack. Cam saw, and he did the only thing he could, he got between himself, and the human child arms thrown up to protect himself as best he could as the leaves attacked him instead. Mei came out of her daze about this time, and though she was still sort of stunned there was a clear "Brenny no, stop!" from her even as Cam held his ground against the leaves.

She grinned and nodded. "Okay race you!" she raced that way with a laugh, feet kicking as she started for the place she'd left her stuff. She knew he was bogged down with the pail though, so didn't want to make it too unfair to him.

Brenny stopped, eyes widening in horror. "I'm sorry!" he said at once. He hadn't meant to! He wouldn't have--he couldn't have--what had he done? "Urban, take care of Mei? I have to--" he didn't finish his sentence, hurrying to Cam instead. "Cam!" he cried, wrapping his arms around the teenager. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, I never hurt people, I was just--Mei was hurt and that kid--and I just--" he sniffed. "I just--I just wanted to protect her!"

Niall chased after her, laughing as he swam. This was his element. He was momentarily distracted by noisy people--he wrinkled his nose at a particularly noisy bunch. Honestly, a kid with green hair? He'd have to tell Phee about that later. Green hair!

Urban kept a hold of Mei, who was sitting up a little and rubbing her head with a wince while Cam himself winced at the hug, and patted Brenny on the head. "It's okay Brenny...easy on the hugs though. That was some attack." he gave the boy a smile. "I think the day at the beach is about done. You two want a ride home?" he thought home sounded pretty good about then. "Urban, hand Mei to Brenny, and go get my things please?" Urban gave a nod, and uncharacteristically walked off without a word.

Phee was on the shore waiting while sitting in the shallow water, laughing some. "Yay you made it!" she'd missed the noisy group of people herself. She wiggled her feet and dug out her socks tugging them onto her wet feet, and then her boots. Before long she had her spiked bracelet back on, and the collar, and her chain back on her shorts...and looking very boyish.

"I don't know how I did it," Brenny said, frowning at the realization. "I don't know how I did it, I was just so upset... I wanted to protect Mei, and--" he concentrated, his forehead creasing as he did so. "I can't do it again," he complained. "I don't know. I was worried about Mei and--I didn't mean to hurt anyone!"

"It's okay Brenny...here in a few days you can come by my house, and we'll work on it together, see if you can't maybe do it again. If you did it once, you'll be able to do it again, it'll just take some practice is all. Like swimming." Cam watched Urban come back carrying the surfboard and his bag, stopping to get his own things. "Come on, my cars this way. I'll drive us all back."