This was a lovely piece I commissioned from the very talented UWfan-Tomson from DA (http://uwfan-tomson.deviantart.com/)!
This idea went for a long while in my head, so I couldn't resist to write a long story for it too!

Btw. anyone else loving Misty mermaid? ^_^

Please enjoy!


Part 2: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/15061939/

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Misty gently hugged the vaporeon and stroked over its back reassuringly. "Are you ready?", she asked and her tail was slowly dangling from the edge of the springboard. The watertype shuffled closer, looking down at the water of a round pool - the entrance to the cave systems.
Some people were watching nearby, already clapping their hands to encourage them two though she knew they probably wondered how it came that a watertype was participating this time at Pokemon- and Trainer- Divingcontest.
Yet the vaporeon shuffled slightly back from the edge and she fiddled with her chest and paws.
One would think that a vaporeon could impossibly be nervous about just taking adive, but Misty knew that this was a special case. It was fairly long ago since the now well known trainer and arena leader from Azuria city, had adopted this pokemon from a center. She had been told that the vaporeon didn't seem to be able to stay underwater like others of her kind. Scientists at the pokecenter found out that the small, female vappy had a genetical deffect, keeping her gills from working properly. That was also the reason why she prefered to hide her gills and Misty had got her this smooth, dark blue pokesuit.

It had surprised the trainer though to notice that her pokemon didn't seem to avoid the water in any way nevertheless. So she had decided to train the special vaporeon in surviving underwater - just like she her trainer herself as long as she could remember. Possibly that was a reason why this vaporeon had oftenly been her secret favorite in her pokemon team, even if she rarely showed her.

"Come. I know we can make it!", Misty added to convince the little one and she finally saw her moving slowly, eventually stepping closer to the water's edge again and positioning herself next to her trainer. The red-haired girl nodded at the supervisor of the contest and began to take deep, long gasps of air while a countdown had began to count down from 10 to 0.
The watertype did the same, causing her chest to swell up and down under the firm suit. She focused on her preparation, yet looked from time to time in her trainer's eyes, only to see her confidence.
Eventually a loud gong could be heard and both partners gasped in a last, deep breath and pushed off the edge, heading down about 10 feet towards the surface.

A large cloud of bubbles sourrounded them both for a second o two but soon it disolved and revealed the artificial, black, glistening rock this cavesystem was made of. A faint glowing came from a large entrance of a tunnel and the girl swiftly headed in that direction, causing the pokemon to follow swiftly. Inside they could see the source of the gleaming: Smooth, perfect crystals were attached to the walls and provided them enough light to look around.
The water rushed through Misty's beautiful hair but she was calm, knowing she had to save her energy for this long, adventurous dive. Yet she peeked behind at the vaporeon once, watching how she was forcefully flexing her tail to make her way through the water. A quick smile of pride washed of her trainer's face while both partners swam just like true creatures of the water - and they both looked like they were maid for the water.

Misty felt her feet tingling slightly inside of the firm mermaid-tail as she had been wearing it for quite a while now, but she loved that feeling. She felt united to her element.
The young girl had been close to the water her whole life and when her sisters had this idea of the first underwater shows with pokemon at their arena in Azuria City, she recognized how much fun it could be to swim in such a costume. Additionally it was very effective as well, allowing her to take far longer distances than she could alone with her legs.
So it was no wonder she always particpated like this to diving contests like those. The girl felt happy as she calmly kicked her tail in a graceful manner threading water behind to keep up with the agile watertype next to her. Since this tunnel was wide enough, she even swam a graceful circle around her pokemon.
She knew hidden cameras in the walls were filming them but she did it just for enjoying the rush of water against her body and to make the vappy smile.

Soon they came across the first chamber with a window. It was a smaller than the place they had begun their dive, yet Misty could wave at the spectators outside who were watching them. She smiled and the vaporeon seemed to have caught some confidence by now too as she took a swift looping through the water before heading further towards the other side of the tunnel where she caught up with the costumed mermaid. The girl gently brushed along vaporeons side before they swam straight through the tunnel again, side by side and keeping an eye on the walls and spiky crystals around, not to hurt themselves.
The whole track consisted of multiple sections, each one harder and trickier than the one before. The participants were given only a vague map which didn't show much.
Misty knew this passage from her earlier dives though, so she wasn't surprised when the tunnel around them became more and more narrow. Yet the vaporeon hesitated , becoming slow. She knew that they had to swim behind of each other now, yet she didn't want to leave the side of her trainer. The human girl gave her another smile though and gently stroked vaporeon's back while she had stopped to swim as well.

For a moment they looked in eachotehr's eyes Misty placed her hand on vaporeon's chest, telling her that they were alright and after anotehr second of hesitation, the watertype finally swam forward, letting out a bubble or two.
As they were a few feet down the tunnel, Vaporeon halted for a second as she had spotted one of the displays fixed in the wall which was displaying the time they were already down: 1:14. Misty knew it was better not to think about the time and gently patted vaporeon's back.
Calmly they continued on their way, occasionally pushing against the walls to save energy. The seconds trickled by without mercy but the two girls still showed confidence.

As they came across another one of the windows and air chambers, the vaporeon looked upwards at the surface with a yearning expression on her face. Yet Misty only shook her head and gently brushed over her headfins to turn the vaporeon's, brightblue face at her and give her a reassuring look. The pokemon nodded as it quickly swam down across the chamber and headed through the continuing tunnel where the mermaid girl followed closely behind. She could see a few small bubbles seeping from her pokemon's snout again and rise against the walls of artificial rock. Yet by now, the experienced, young women was starting to be reminded that she wasn't a real mermaid either.
A slight strain began to spread within her proudly filled chest, but she quickly pushed all thoughts about air aside, just focusing on making their shortest way possible through the caves and chambers.

The air breathing vaporeon was in a similar state as her body was using more and more of the oxygen contained in the air within her lungs. Just like her trainer had taught her, she closed her eyes for a moment though and slowly tried to relax, using one of her webbed paws to rub slowly over her chest, helping to ease the feeling. Misty had noticed that the vappy had slowed down and she turned around, looking at her, feeling proud of it as she noticed its concentration and determination. So she gave her a smile when the vappy opened her eyes again and began to swim faster, using all her limbs. "We are a good team..", the girl thought.

This passage had many turns and sharp edges, greatly increasing the efort, both partners had to put up to make it through. It didn't take long till Misty could hear a slight grunt from behind her, followed by a couple of bubbles from the vaporeon each time they had to change direction. She looked catiuously at her little partner, going sure she was still alright but the blueish pokemon was showing no sign of slowing down.
Yet Misty's glance fell on another small clock which was placed in the dark wall and was showing their time: 1:52. She gulped once as she suddenly felt more aware of her own body's needs now, but she urged herself to relax the best she could and rubbed her neck a bit with her hand.

The vaporeon was obviously in some more distress by now. It felt like a fire was burning within her chest and when she tried to rub it, it barely helped any more. On the opposite: It was only slowing her down and for a moment she pressed both her paws against her lips as her chest was about to spasm, yet she managed to keep the feeling at bay and only loose two or three bubbles.

Vappy knew her trainer was relying on her and she tried to push all the urge about air, out of her mind. Yet she could still hear her own heart pounding hard. "How long are we down?.." she wondered but quickly realized it was better not to know and she swam closer to her trainer who was visibly in need as well. She could see how Misty's chest was slightly sucked in right over the waistand of the costume, showing her contracted muscles.
In an attempt to help, the vappy gently brushed along Misty's chest, yet it only spasmed, causing her to gulp and look down at the pokemon who was showing a worrying exression before she began to swim faster again. Misty returned the glance but to vaporeon's surprise, there was strength and confidence visble in her eyes, signalizing that she wasn't going to give up. Calmly she rubbed over the poke's chest, causing her to feel the warmth even through fabric of the swimsuit.
The vappy returned the expression with a soft smile and quickly used her tail to swim forcefully, ahead of her trainer.

Unfotunately for the two, the environment soon changed once again after the next window. The tunnel had not only many turns now but the walls also seemed to come closer and closer with every second they swam deeper. Misty hoped that the vaporeon had no fear of tight areas but she also worried how long they both could hold on.
The artificial, yet hard rocks were scratching her skin slightly from time to time, yet she wasn't caring as she only had a target: To make it through. Aditionally her mermaid tail was luckily protecting her slightly and so did Varra's suit.
Yet as she looked ahead at the vaporeon, Misty bit her lip, knowing she should have swam ahead, because this cave was the trickiest one of all.
The light was weak and the walls and rocks were jagged and everything but smooth. So it was no wonder that Misty's fear immediately became true without any time to react.
-Owrblblw!..-, a burbly, obviously painful sound could be heard through the tunnels and the vaporeon was curling out of sudden, pressing her paws against her head and leaked bubbles in a constant, yet small stream - she had hit her head in one of the more protruding rocks.

Misty quickly dashed forward with a kick of her tail, almost hitting the dangerous stone as well. Luckily she managed to dodge it and despite the very tight area they were in, she took the vaporeon to her chest into a tight hug and pressed its head against her neck in an attempt to help to keep her air in while she rubbed her forehead where the vappy had taken a slight scratch.
Some bubbles seeped past the vaporeons lips nevertheless and her cheeks bulged hard, about to exhale even more, if not all her air. The vaporeon wasn't sure why, yet something allowed her to regain some strength just in time though. The closeness of her beloved trainer was so warm, soothing her body. She knew they were down here to show that they could rely on eachother and so she forced herelf to suck in the air from her cheeks into her lungs again and calmed slowly down.

The young girl wished they could continue next to eachother like this, yet the walls weren't alowing them to. She decided to swim ahead now though and gently let the vaporeon go. Just before, she had leant down though and placed a gentle kiss right onto the scratch of vappy's head. A couple of bubles had seeped from her lips, but she didn't regret it as she saw the vaporeon swim now forcefully again.
By now, the costumed mermaid had fairly clearly lost some of her gracefullness and calmness underwater. She couldn't supress the urge of her chest to inhale anymore, resulting in the muscles around her lungs bottom and stomach contracting and a couple of bubbles seep from her lips, glistening visibly in the light while they rose through her floating, red hair towards the cave ceiling. Again she forced herself to stay calm and continued to kick her fin in a steady rythm and guide her body with her hands as her thrill was everything but broken.
More seconds trickled by as they made their way and from time to time they looked at eachother, just as if to go sure that they were still together. The vaporeon seemed to have more struggle though as she rubbed her chest once every few seconds and she clenched her eyes during that.
It hurt the trainer to see her pokemon in pain and strain like that, yet she knew that in the end, they both wouldn't regret this adventure in any way. Inbetween the straining moments, the vappy was still always giving a soft smile up at her dear trainer and swam confidently again.

After they came another sharp edge, Misty's glance fell on one of the clocks which were displaying the time they were under already: "3:18" could be seen and she already wanted to look away, yet it was too late. "We are longer down, than I thought!..", came to her mind and immediately, the young girl squirmed slightly, slowing down for a moment as she pressed one of her hands against her mouth and clenched her eyes. She knew the clocks were like an additional torture for the participants, spreading nervousness and she regretted that she had looked. Now she had to withstand it.
Nevertheless, she had slowed down quite abruptly, needing all her focus for holding on, so the vaporeon accidentally bumped against her back. The pokemon lost a couple of bubbles, yet she quickly kicked her tail once to swim close to her trainer's face, nuzzling around her neck and chest.
"I.. cannot.. give up...", she thought to herself while focused hard to delay the spasms of her chest again. The feeling of the vaporeon's snout rubbing gently helped a lot and she managed to pull her hand down off her lips. "she relies on me...".
Suddenly she opened her eyes and began to achieve some hope when she realized that the tunnel was becoming brighter and also less tight ahead of them.
Quickly she pointed forward at where she believed to see the brigther light to come from and forcefully began kicking her tail. The vappy followed close after.

The shock and the dull pain from the impact a couple of seconds before, was still on vaporeon's mind and aditionally she could feel how her lungs were barely half filled by now. Yet she kept her eyes only focused on that graceful mermaid-tail one or two feet ahead of her, knowing everything she had to do, was to follow her trainer, no matter what.
Unfortunately, this task seemed like an enternity for the vaporeon. With every passing second, more pain and pressure accumulated in her chest. Soon she had to press a paw against her maw to prevent all the air from bursting out from her. Instead her cheeks bulged once again. Nevertheless she wasn't giving up - not while her trainer was still just infront of her. So she wriggled her slightly chubby body through the narrow tunnels. Finally they both noticed that the sourroundings had changed once again, leaving them more room to swim and the vappy knew that another surface would come soon - where she would eventually breathe.

With the vaporeon close behind and the nearly drowning mermaid ahead, they eventually came across the brighter edge, emerging into another small chamber with a large window, as well as a surface for exiting at the top. A lot of people had gathered infront of the window there since they knew, this was the place where even the best divers were usually giving up.
Misty's lungs were hurting in agony and she felt the tightness as well as a hint of dispair and dizzyness. She knew she was close to her limit when her chest heaved hard and her body arched, but she pressed a hand against her breasts to calm herself while her cheeks bulged with air and showed a slightly pale blueish color - a clear hint of the lack of oxygen.
Her body was trying to urge her to dash for the surface, yet she hesitated, looking across the chamber in search for the exit leading away from this cave. She knew that they were at the last airhole before the final passage.
Misty had always given up here, never dared to take the next tunnel leading to the final exit, but this time an incredibly strong thrill went through her body.