On an Important Mission.....

[Virgil]

Virgil was alone again after leaving Tane at the center. This time he didn't have the pleasure of being with two companions. At least, he still had Von to keep him company. Von was trotting by his side and keeping up an idle conversation with himself. Not that Virgil could overhear what this conversation was about since Von was muttering to himself but he seemed easily amused.

Rona had kept a careful eye on her surroundings before deciding to glomp the fire mouse Pokemon. Von didn't seem to be too surprised by this. He stopped for a moment.

"Friendly, aren't you?" he asked happily.

He got away from her after that and stationed himself directly on the other side. Rona decided to stay on the same side that she had been traveling. The Seedot was trailing behind him along with Thorn. Kiki had made her way over to Von. So, they had started up a conversation with mostly Von talking in human tongue. Kiki was letting out a whole bunch of "kips", "mud", and "mudkips" were uttered by the other side.

Virgil looked around as he found himself trying to locate the gym. Why hadn't he asked for directions from the nice nurse lady? It would have made his task of making his way there a lot easier. He was terrible with directions. Very terrible with directions. Why didn't he go with anyone else? There wasn't really anyone else around. By some struck of luck, he overheard a conversation between two men about where the gym leader would be located. It was at the center of the city, something about a gym field and that the gym leader's place would be close by to the field. He silently praised Lady Luck for being kind to him. He had been fortunate. He wanted to slap himself for not thinking of it first himself. Why did he always have to have help from others? Because he was a no good person when it came to certain things.

He made his way over there quickly and soon found himself over by the side of the gym field. It was filled entirely with water except for the floating platform at its middle. The water was rather calm today. The sky was still sunny. And he felt a bit of a breeze. It was a totally nice day out. He pushed his hair back before walking up to the door of Aquafina's house. He knocked on the door and took a step back.

[Aquafina & Becker]

"Hold on, I'm coming," Aquafina called, opening the door and peering out at Virgil. "Oh, there you are. I'm guessing you're not here to battle, so hang on for a sec," she told him, reaching for a baggie nearby and pulling out a scroll, Floatzel walking out the house and observing Virgil while Aquafina read the riddle.

"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?

Well, there ya go. Good luck finding Becker. Might be closer then you think," the gym leader said, rolling the scroll up and placing it back into it's bag before closing the door.

[Virgil]

Virgil turned around as he stared at the water behind him. The riddle was easier than the Gustella one. He should focus his efforts on the first one since the second part wasn't really of any use. He just had to look for a Milotic. He kept Aquafina’s piece of advice in mind as he stared at the water. That was what fire-types were afraid of. Water-types were super-effective against them.

If he took into account that this guide was closer than he thought, well that left him with really one option if she meant this close by. Did he see any other big areas of water nearby other than coming into the city? He might as well look around this body of water to see if he could find the Milotic.

With this, Virgil headed away from Aquafina’s home and started walking along the pathway that was along the water’s edge. He kept his gaze out towards the water, constantly just looking for what he had to look for, and not really keeping an eye on much of anything else. He did on occasion look in some other direction but just to make sure that he didn’t miss anything on the other side. His search was on. The more that he thought about it, there was another part of the riddle that he should pay attention to, and that was the first line. The one he sought was underneath the water or underneath somewhere that was on top of the water. That piece of advice and this first line were definitely connected.

He focused on the floating field in the middle of the lake. He would go there first, the rest of the lake could wait, and he didn't need to go out to the city limits to find this Pokemon. Nothing told him about that. It had to be somewhere underneath that floating field at the center of this lake. He would head straight to the field as soon as he found something that would get him there like a bridge or something else. Or was he going about this wrong? It could just simply be underneath the water surface but if that was the case then he would have to swim. He wasn't sure if he was up to that.

"No way, you're making me jump in there. Go get yourself wet, not stepping in water for the life of me. I'll burn you to a crisp if you do!" Von exclaimed sternly as he stared up at Virgil from where he was. Von was pretty far away from the water and he seemed to want to be even further away from it. Virgil didn't really reply. For now, he would just figure things out from the floating platform once he got there.

[becker]

Watching Virgil head out towards the field, Floatzel thought about whether or not to help him figure out the clue. He could always try showing him where he had to go, but his usual way was just more fun. Sneaking up behind Virgil, he knocked him into the water, cannonballing in afterwards.

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 Virgil.

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

"Oh good, you got here okay. Anyway, welcome to the Deep Seas breeding center. I'm Becker, the center head here. Now, are you ready for to take my test?" Becker asked, walking over towards Virgil.

[Virgil]

Virgil was rather surprised by the whole being pushed into the water thing. He had to make an effort not to open his mouth and suck in water like most people do when they get surprised like that. Fortunately, he didn't go without some sort of breathing device for long. A Milotic had brought him one and then it led him to an underwater breeding center. He took off the respirator once he was on dry land inside of the bubble. He would have looked around, filled with awe if he wasn't brought to the brass tax of the matter that he was here for, and so he was meeting with the head of the center.

"Yes, I am" Virgil replied promptly to Becker's question. He had no clue of what the test might be but he might as well try his luck and go in head first to the challenge that awaited.

[Aquafina & Becker]

"Alright, come with me then. And please put one of those on before we get started," Becker said, indicating a rack of wetsuits as she walked past them and stuck 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 challenger.

"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 Virgil.

"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

[Virgil]

Virgil put on a wetsuit as she told him to and then listened to her explanation. Not that it mattered too much. He got the gist of it. Pick a strange Pokemon, become adapted to its quirks and take command, and win a race. But the choices weren't what he was he expecting. He had to win against her and that Milotic with one of these choices. He carefully looked them over for a moment before scratching his head and just dropping the matter. All of them looked like decent choices. He closed his eyes, letting Lady Luck decide for him, as he turned his head slowly going from the first Pokemon to the next, and down the line. He stopped turning his head as he focused in one direction. He started walking in that direction. He stopped and opened his eyes to see that he was close to the Gorebyss.

"You're going to be my choice, Gorebyss. If that's totally fine with you that is" he said confidently as he looked at the Gorebyss.

Trust was important here as he would be doing something that a racer would do. No sign of weakness could be shown. Virgil was confident that he could win. He turned over to look at Becker.

"So, let's go do the race. Good luck" he said smoothly.

[Aquafina & Becker]

The unchosen pokemon retreated back into the sea Gorebyss assessed her partner. Becker smiled at the choice as she handed Virgil 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 must beat me in this race. Now, let's go." She said, diving into the water with Milotic not far behind. Gorebyss grabbed Virgil's ankle and pulled him under as well, making sure he had his respirator in before leading him to the starting line. The starting line was comprised of four clamperl side by side, with one being a royal purple. Milotic 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 challenger, 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.

Becker's Racer:

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

[Virgil]

Virgil got onto Gorebyss, and looked at the Clamperl once. The time had come. He was going at this by chance and hope that he won. No, he was going to win this. But he was still rather new to this whole racing thing. Wasn't Tane a racer? Or did Tane even tell him what he was? He couldn't quite remember at the time. All he could focus on was the here and now. He kept a wary eye on the Clamperl from the corner of his eye. He turned slightly so that he could see the second Clamperl and the shiny one from the corner of his eye. That would give him enough warning. He adjusted his mouthpiece and everything else as he settled down on Gorebyss's back. With this, he was ready and waiting for the race to start.

[Aquafina & Becker]

As Becker got prepared for the race, a swarm of Remoraid approached, each of them trying to catch the best view of the racers. Soon after, the Clamperl began to open, although the first one closed almost immediately after. As the second and third closed, Becker braced herself for the race, clutching Milotic's antenna just as the final, shiny Clamperl closed itself and Milotic was off, trying to conserve energy for the end of the race.

[RESULT: 2]

[Virgil]

Virgil would have to go for it. The Clamperl closing one after the other signaling the race would start soon. He took a deep breath and then let it out. He became calm just as the second one closed. He leaned forward and whispered, "We'll win this" to his partner in this race. Now or never. He had to win this race. And now the third one closed, and Becker had gained the advantage. He would get past her. He prodded the Gorebyss gently and they went off like a shot.

[RESULT: 9]

Virgil watched in surprise as he went past Becker and her Milotic. This Gorebyss was faster than he originally thought but if he didn't control the speed then he would lose at the end. He would have to hold back the speed and then push it when there was only a half of the lap left.

[Aquafina & Becker]

Seeing Gorebyss and Virgil pull ahead of them, Becker smiled and continued to urge Milotic on, hoping to recover the lost distance.

[RESULT: 3]

[Virgil]

Virgil had to press the advantage a bit and then he would slow down as if he made the one catching up use most of the energy up then he could pass them later. Or maybe not. Increasing the distance was his only concern.

[RESULT: 8]

He hadn't yet said for the Gorebyss to stop at its pace. They were pulling even further ahead and that was both bad and good. Using up that much energy would be bad but it was good that they were increasing the distance. Drat, that was just a mistake on his part. "Slow down or otherwise we're going to lose this race" he said to the Pokemon. "Cannot use all of our energy at the start."

[Aquafina & Becker]

"Alright Milotic, keep going. We'll catch up with them soon enough," Becker said, encouraging her Pokemon to push forward.

[RESULT: Miss]

[Virgil]

Virgil did his best to tell to the Gorebyss that it should slow down a bit. But all he could hope for that it would listen and do so.

[RESULT: 6]

He and Gorebyss further increased the distance and they sat in a comfortable distance ahead of Becker. His partner had taken the cue and slowed down a bit. He didn't know if it was due to him telling it or if it was slowing down because it couldn't keep up the pace. If he could just keep this exact distance between them up then he would win.