Riddle Time

[Aldo512]

"Okay, they said the gym was in the center of town," Amy said, holding a map of the city close to her so she could see where she was going. "Which means it should be right ab-" she began, but accidentally ran into a building. "Ow, ow, ow," she said, looking up at the building to notice a sign with the city's badge on it. "Well, this is it, I guess," she said, knocking on the door frame three times before knocking on the door itself.

[Bayhound]

Well, this girl wasn't strange. Not at all. She had to knock on the actual building a few times before thinking of hitting on the door? Gauge cleared his throat and dusted off his shoulders as he stood beside her, barely peering over her shoulder to look at the map. He would have questioned her if it wasn't for the huge Wave Badge on top of the building. Gauge sighed and decided to forget about his new traveling partner's antics to focus on the Breeding Center, where it was, and how he could learn from it. He wondered if they practiced any of the things he wanted to do...

Below him, Ipswich plopped down on his rear and scratched the back of his fin, sticking his tongue out playfully when Chinook looked down at him from the top of Gauges hat. Bleh! Filthy water type. "Let's just get this over with" the breeder mumbled, reaching up to calm the Vulpix with a pat.

[Catilena1890]

The door opened and a tired-looking Aquafina smiled at the duo, whistling softly. A floatzel appeared beside her and handed a baggy with a scroll inside as it walked out of the door to stand behind Gauge and Amy.

"I know what you are looking for, here it is:

Underneath you must seek
That is where to go.
This place is not for the meek
It fills fire-types with woe.

Your guide is dragon-like and beautiful
And may seem like a gigantic prick.
But over this you shouldn't mull,
For what else do you expect of a Milotic?

Good luck finding Becker, amazing what you can find in your yard, or someone else's." She said with a wink, closing the door again.

[Aldo512]

"Um...thank you," Amy said before Aquafina closed the door on the two of them. Taking a moment to think over the riddle, and what Aquafina said before leaving them, she walked over to the edge of the section of lake nearby and ran her hand through the water. "Do you think the center is underwater?" she asked Gauge.

[Bayhound]

Chinook was the one to respond to Amy, not Gauge. She growled and her fur stood on end as she jumped off of his head, sitting by the Gym's door in outright defiance. "Well duh, it's underwater! Didn't you hear her? Fire types will woe. There's nothing we woe more than the putrid element water." The Vulpix pressed her paws together and curled her tails around them. "I'll stay here while you two... go do your thing."

Gauge folded his arms across his chest and shook his head. "You won't be staying here, sorry about that. Chinook, return" he called, whipping out her pokeball, the pokemon's expression something of utter shock. He... he really just threw her into confinement? Hah! He'd have a ball of fury from her when she was next released! He released his Zorua, Kalkaska, next, the smaller fox shaking his fur as he looked around. Ipswich nearly squeed and tackled his new 'friend' down while Gauge prepared himself for the water. Which... didn't take long. He was already in his trunks and a wifebeater - he didn't need anything else.

"Most likely" he said, finally addressing Amy. "We probably need to go to the edge of the water to find our guide, though."

[Aldo512]

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Amy said, wondering how she would find the Milotic before finally getting an idea. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a small bag of Pokemon food. "I was hoping to save this for when we were leaving, but maybe it'll come out for food," she suggested. Of course, there were probably plenty of other hungry Pokemon in the lake that would eat the food as well, but she could still hope.

[Catilena1890]

The food floated in the water serenely as the tiny waves gently lapped at the docks. Floatzel couldn't help but shake his head at such a crude method and decided to take pity on them, seeing as how they figured out where it was anyway. He snuck up behind Gauge and Amy and promptly pushed them into the water, leaping after them in cannonball fashion.

Below the surface of the water, a vast underwater paradise could be seen. The bottom of the lake was filled with all sorts of colors both from pokemon and from human decoration. It was almost like an underwater city, with the pokemon going to and from corals and caves and swimming in straight lines like a road. In the center of this complex network was a large bubble with a building inside. From the bottom of the bubble, a long, serpentine form emerged and swam towards the group.

"Lotic." It said upon reaching them. Extending it's hairlike fins forward, it gave Gauge, Amy and Kalkaska an underwater respirator and beckoned them to follow, leading them towards the bubble. It showed them where to crawl from the bottom and they were in the bubble on perfectly dry land. A nearby Swanna saw the group and shook its head, waddling over and flapping a gentle gust towards them to dry their clothes as a woman came out from the building.

"Pushed you in did he? Sorry folks, that Floatzel is a bit mischievous and selective. He can't seem to find anything else to entertain him other than tormenting the challengers. I should know, I gave Fifi his egg. Now the--thank you swanna--now then, I am Becker, the Head of the Deep Seas Breeding Center. Ready for my challenge to see if you are worthy of one of my eggs? I hope you are up to getting a bit wet some more. Follow me, I`ll show you what you need to do." She said leading them towards the building.

[Bayhound]

Dumping food into the water? Gauge gulped and took a cautionary step backwards. There were more than enough people in this City, and he was sure that water pokemon would swarm towards the surface when they saw them approach because kids, adults, and the like would toss edibles of all sorts for them to eat. His eyes widened slightly as he waited for the supposed mass of pokemon to appear, double-checking to make sure he was back far enough from the edge to not get pulled in. He didn't really want to be surprised today. However, fate seemed to want to throw that want against him as he felt himself shoved into the water head-first, arms flailing as he tried to regain himself.

"Rua!" Kalkaska cried, paws digging at the water as he tried to catch his footing in the unusual ground. Gauge tried to swim to him, but thankfully right before the Zorua went under Ipswich surfaced beside him, giggling. Oh, that Floatzel was fun! How did he know he wanted to play? The breeder sighed and gave the Winter Vaporeon a pat on the head and looked around, also spotting the orange water weasel.

"Was that necessary?" he asked, obviously a little disgruntled, catching the respirator in surprise. Yep, under the water, as Amy had guessed. He gave the girl a side-long glance before helping Kalkaska with his, glad that the dark fox was able to find his 'sea legs' after a few minutes with Ipswich. In a moment's time they were under and in a completely different world, Gauge's eyes flitting this way and that faster than he thought possible as he tried to memorize everything he saw - the coral structures, the schools of pokemon, currents... he even noted how much more agile and graceful Ippy was underwater. Before he knew it they'd surfaced back onto dry land within the bubble, though, and were being fanned down by a Swanna. He snorted and arched a brow at the creature, but nodded in thanks nevertheless. ...And then Becker appeared.

Gauge listened accordingly and looked the woman over before nodding to her as well, smirking to himself as he watched his pokemon shake themselves off one more time. This was... amazing, he had to say. He wondered how long it took Becker to think of all of this - or at least the underwater center, that is. The rest the pokemon had probably fashioned themselves. His mind continued to race as he followed her to the building, deciding that there would be time for introductions and questions later.

[Aldo512]

As she stood there watching the food float on top of the water, Amy thought that it may not have been such a good idea moments before she felt herself be pushed forward and fall into the lake. For a few moments after she fell in, she was more concerned with trying to reach the surface to breath, but that issue resolved as a Milotic, the guide Aquafina had told them about apparently, approached and gave her a respirator.

Once that was taken care of, she looked all around her and realized how much she had underestimated what was actually in the lake. She had expected maybe a few families of Water Pokemon and the center somewhere, but this was like she'd stepped into some whole other world. Following Milotic, she tried to take in everything as best she could until they reached the bubble containing the center and began being dried off by Swanna.

"That was amazing," she said, awed by what she'd seen. The sheer idea that this building could even be built down here at all was amazing enough, but this was all so beautiful and new.

[Catilena1890]

Becker smiled at Amy's wonder and turned around as she opened the door to the center, leading them to a rack with wetsuits lined up.

"Thank you so much. I couldn't have done this without THE Palkia. I met him sometime after I started on the road to breeding, and when I was ready to make a little center of my own, he twisted space around the lake so that my pokemon and I could build it. After we got the dome up and the emergency tunnel made, Palkia went home and we started work on ours. Leftover parts make the reef on the lake bottom. Now then, put these on while I get everything set up for you." She said, walking past them and sticking her head out into the bubble.

"SQUAD 42, FRONT AND CENTER!" She yelled. Five pokemon broke off from the reef and made their way to the bubble, popping up from the bottom and waiting for instructions from their trainer, who turned and observed her challengers.

"By now you should know that a proper breeder should be able to recognize a pokemon by its egg in order to know how to care for it. A proper breeder should also be able to take command of a new pokemon whom you've had no prior contact with. It's important not only for raising newborns, but also for when you need to take in pokemon that need a home, whether they think they do or not." She explained, shedding her clothing until only her bathing suit remained. Shaking herself to crack her joints, she leaned against Milotic and smiled at them.

"This test will determine how well you can adapt yourself to new pokemon and garner their respect. You must choose one of these pokemon, and you will ride and/or hold onto them and race me and Milotic. We will do one lap around the lake. To pass, you must beat me in this race. You may command your steed to attack me and Milotic to try and slow us down, but you must also try and guard yourselves from our attacks if you get too close. So, which do you choose? Pick carefully." She finished, moving out of the way of the 5 pokemon who waited to be chosen.

Speed: 8 Bulk: 3 Endurance: 6 Maneuverability: 7 Strike: 7 Guard: 5	Speed: 9 Bulk: 3 Endurance: 4 Maneuverability: 9 Strike: 6 Guard: 10	Speed: 4 Bulk: 7 Endurance: 9 Maneuverability: 5 Strike: 7 Guard: 7	Speed: 8 Bulk: 5 Endurance: 10 Maneuverability: 10 Strike: 8 Guard: 1	Speed: 6 Bulk: 4 Endurance: 8 Maneuverability: 5 Strike: 9 Guard: 3

[Aldo512]

As she put the wetsuit she was handed on, Amy looked at the 5 Pokemon who were waiting for them to pick one of them. They all looked like great Pokemon, but she could only pick one of them. Picking at random definitely didn't seem like the best idea to at least try and be friendly with them, so she approached the Pokemon once she was ready and looked over each of them up close. She could see that they all had differences among them, but she only found one of them that she really liked. "If you don't mind, I'd like to go with you," she said, petting Gorebyss as she spoke.

[Bayhound]

Oh, so that's how it happened? The teen furrowed his expression and followed until they reached the wet suits, quickly flailing around and shoving various limbs in the right holes while listening to Becker explain herself more. Okay, so they'd helped a little bit in the building of the reef. But surely some of it had already been there, since the ocean was so close...? Shaking his head, Gauge jumped backwards as the chick suddenly began shouting commands, surprise overtaking him when five pokemon appeared. What was this?

This was his first Breeder's Test, but he still wasn't sure what to make of it. They had to race Becker around Torrentia... atop pokemon they didn't even know? Normally that wasn't really a problem - he'd heard that the Leader and Breeder's pokemon gladly acted as a ferry to people who didn't have partners who could do so. But the way she worded it... sounded like they had to tame these beasts and make them agree with them some way or another. He sighed. It was good material, but.. he wasn't sure exactly how he should go about it.

Gauge watched Amy as she went to the Gorebyss, deciding to take a like approach. He walked back and forth, up and down, side to side... felt like forever, really. Finally, he stopped in front of the Kingdra, giving the large pokemon some space before he promptly bowed in front of it and rose, smiling somewhat. Had to be careful with these beasties, or from what he remembered he did. "I'll choose you, Kingdra." He placed a hand on the pokemon's neck and then looked to Becker, waiting for further instruction. Kalkaska was waiting patiently to the side while Ipswich began pawing at the other Vaporeon, staring at it in disbelief. Why were they not the same color?! That one was surely a fake!

[Catilena1890]

The unchosen pokemon retreated back into the sea while Kingdra and Gorebyss assessed their partners. Becker smiled at the choices as she handed each of them a respirator.

"Not bad, good choices. Now then, we're gonna head out of the dome here and swim to the starting line of the lake. It's marked, so no worries. We'll start from there and make one full lap around the lake. The first one back to the starting line wins. During that time, you may attack me and Milotic, but we can also attack you. In order to win my egg, you BOTH must beat me in this race, whoever gets first place is irrelevant. Now, let's go." She said, diving into the water with Milotic not far behind. Kingdra and Gorebyss grabbed Amy and Gauge's ankles and pulled them under as well, making sure they had their respirators in before leading them to the starting line. The starting line was comprised of four clamperl side by side, with one being a royal purple. Milotic, Kingdra and Gorebyss settled behind the clamperl as Becker swung a leg over her Milotic's neck, grabbing the two antennae like reins. Turning to her challengers, she spoke through her respirator.

"This is our line AND our buzzer. One by one, the clamperl will close, and when the shiny one closes, we take off. We are going to be followed by remoraid the entire time, but don't worry, they are wearing cameras, and are simply broadcasting the race to the rest of the city. Be sure to put on a good show for them. Now then, let's get ready. Mount your pokemon." She said as she adjusted herself on Milotic while Kingdra and Gorebyss stared at Amy and Gauge.

Becker's Racer:

Speed: 7 Bulk: 9 Endurance: 8 Maneuverability: 8 Strike: 6 Guard: 6

[Aldo512]

Putting her respirator on first, Amy got on Gorebyss carefully as the Pokemon dived underwater. "It's okay, just do your best," she told Gorebyss as she listened to Becker's instructions. She felt a little uneasy about being filmed for everybody to watch, but she didn't have anyway out of this now.

[Bayhound]

Gauge held in a yelp as he was forced underwater yet again, but he could safely say that this time, he didn't feel as cold or as violated with the wet suit one. Once they arrived, he listened to Becker and then looked to Kingdra, wondering how he should... well, get on. Now that he looked, the pokemon was a little oddly shaped for riding, let alone racing. Oh, wait!

Sticking his tongue out in concentration, the teen waited until Kingdra was mostly still, swinging a leg over the pokemon's neck and grabbing the horns that protruded from the sides of his head. Kingdra didn't make a fuss, so he assumed that the position was alright. Felt like he was riding a motorcycle, really, and he was sure that's what it looked like. Hah, or even better, he looked like a jockey! He saw a nearby Remoraid and made a peace sign before looking back to the starting line and then to Amy. They somehow needed to work together to make Becker last... aside from attacking, of course. He tensed as he watched the Clamperl, waiting for the whole ordeal to begin.