World Tree MUSH

It was a beautiful afternoon as usual on Ula'Ula Island, with just a few wispy white clouds in the sky, and a cool breeze coming of the ocean which helps keep it from feeling too hot on the beach. The beach wasn't overly crowded, but there were some people and Pokemon around, enjoying a fun day at the beach. 

 Miwa has had a pretty relaxed morning and was currently sitting on the beach in an area away from most of the other people. Having just finished scrubbing herself down a short time ago, she was now brushing her hair while she watched the ocean, and all the wild water Pokemon playing within it. "Ahh, what a nice day, nice to relax after that thing at the lab yesterday...." She stretches as she finishes up and just ends up laying stretched out in the sand.

Bewul was not aware of any 'lab' things, he was just trying to relax, having time for now, and hoping his home will be safe while he roams around a beach, wondering about bringing a friend here eventually. He was in his Fangmon shape, he kind of felt more comfortable like this in a place where a random kid might try to attack him with pokemon, or toss a pokeball to his head without warning. He tries his best to look non threatening, with some success, walking down the sand and taking wide detours around people. He perks his ears as he spots Miwa, rushing to her side at full tilt, "Miwa!"

A Few Hours Ago:

 Ash wandered Ula'Ula, somewhat confused and growing irritated at the local clothing stores. He lookedfrom the shirt in his hand to the lady at the counter with a scowl. "Tell me." His voice and posture suggested irritateon, "How do you sleep at night?" As if to emphasize his point he pointed to the tally on the register.

Now:

Ash wandered onto 'iwa's' beach sans-warframe wearing a pair of knee length kaki shorts and a shirt loud enough to break most noise ordinances while carrying what looked like a fruit drink. On spotting Miwa his pace quickened, sandals making distinct 'clip clip' noises as he jogged through the sand. Then he angled on seeing Bewul. "Oi!" He waved to the digimon. "Fancy meeting you here." His voice was easy and the smile on his face genuine. When he finally got within earshot of Miwa he gave a laugh, "Just another day in paradise huh?"

Hearing the rapid footsteps in the sand as Bewul rushed toward her, Miwa sat up to look and see what was coming, just in case it was someone trying to battle and 'catch' her. She smiled as she saw Bewul and waved a flipper. "Bewul!" She called back, echoing his excited tone. "Nice to see you!" Then she noticed Ash and tried to hide a grin about his outfit, though mostly she fails. 

 "And hello you to also Ash. I see you've visited the local clothing shops. One day I'll have to take you to the bigger one on Akala Island. It has a much bigger selection things that don't scream 'I'm a tourist hitting the beach!' it's where I got that dress I wore when we were at the mall with Kakyoin. But anyway, yes, another day in paradise. I've seen the world, and I wouldn't dream of living anywhere else but right here. What brings you both to my humble beach... which isn't really 'mine' but hey, it's kinda my backyard I guess." She says with a chuckle.

Bewul seems indeed to be planning to just zoom around, making usre to dodge a suspicious sand castle on the path, and seemingly getting ready to jump over Miwa, when she gets up to wave at Ash. He does turn to look back at his friend as well, upon hearing the voice. Unlike Miwa, he seems to lack the mental fortitude to avoid a little chuckle. Unfortunately, it also breaks his concentration, and ends up tripping one of his oversized paws on a random bit of debris (or rock, or toy shovel) and trips head over tail, his chuckle turning into a yip as he rolls forward. Miwa might be wondering where a fox learned to do Rollout!. He manages to avoid hitting Miwa at least, his impromptu spin ending up with him on his back near Miwa, dazed and twitching his paws on the air, still chuckling between soft 'ouch' noises.

Ash shouted back while closing the gap between himself and miwa, "Do they get any less arm, leg, and first born with prices?!?" Then he skidded to a halt by Bewul and offered the big furball a hand. "You alright there big guy?" He seemed far happier now than he was when swimming near the labs with Miwa, then again at that time he was trying to keep his mind on the task at hand and now he could afford to relax.

Miwa winces as she sees Bewul trip and go into a roll, ending up laying next to her on his back. She takes the opportunity to gently rub his belly with her flippers. "You ok Bewul? If you want to learn Rollout, I know a Marril that might be able to give you some tips." She says with a chuckle. At Ash's comment about the prices, she grins a bit but shakes her head. "Considering Akala has two world renowned resort hotels, sadly no. If you're having trouble earning money, or the exchange rate is killing you, well, I was thinking of doing a concert in the near future, maybe you could help out for some extra Pokedollars. But anyways, you both look like you came here to relax, which was pretty much what I was looking to do today. You guys up for a swim, maybe make some sand castles, maybe take a ferry ride around the island? What's your pleasure?"

Bewul is hurt, especially on his pride, but the bellyrub oddly helps, the scary looking fox creature kicking a leg, before gingerly taking Ash's hand between his paws to pull himself up, chuckling, "I am... sorry, you look a bit funny to me." he admits, smiling and seeming embarassed, stretching a bit, "Maybe I should get those tips later." he says with a grin. He is carrying a small bag with snacks on it, "Wish I would offer help on the money area but all I have are bits, and I mostly live on my own so I don't have much even then... I can get something rare to sell, if I needed to, but I should save that for a real emergency." he explains. He of course brushes his side against Ash in a friendly way, wagging, "I am up to playing and doing sand things, swimming is not really my strong point."

Ash grinned at the mention of swimming, "Well I think you had promised to teach me how to swim, but I'm fine taking a ferry or anything Bewul here feels up for." He grinned at the digimon, "You and Waffles really would get along." He chuckled fondly at memoriesof his Kubrow'sfirst time on sand, and er ending up taking a few minutes to goof around, which was then ruined by grineer showing up. He gave Bewul an affectionate pat before looking to Miwa, "Seems sandcastles are the order of the day." He looked about the beach in case random trainers, team skull folk, or the like were going to be annyingly interruptive of the enjoyment they were planning. "About the other day? You did real good keeping your head out there. Thank you."

Miwa nods to Ash. "I did, and I'd be happy to do that whenever you like. But if Bewul feels more comfortable on land, then that's fine. Doubt you could manage much more than the normal way canines swim Bewul so I'm not sure how much help I could be. But yeah, lets make some sand castles and we can decide what we want to do after that when we get there. Looking at the bag Bewul was holding, having smelled what's likely in it. "Seems like Bewul brought food for later if we get hungry." Miwa says before finally nodding as Ash compliments her on how she handled herself at the research facility. 

 "Thanks, I was trying to hold it together as best I could. Not sure what i'd have done if we ran into one of those things, but hopefully we won't have to find out..." She comments as she begins to shape the sand in front of her, carefully adding just enough water to make the sand stick together. Her flippers may not have the dexterity to make more than a basic shape, but she works from there, starting to sculpt out a sand castle with small and precise blasts of water.

Bewul leans into the patting, chuckling a bit as he hears what Miwa says, "Yeah, I am not quite good at swimming in any shape." he muses, before glancing back at Ash, "I might, who is waffles?" he asks curiously, his tail wagging slowly, moving a bit to carefully dig on the sand. "I mean you can go swim a bit if you want, and I will cheer from the shore." he chuckles. He tilts his head at the talk of the facility, since he wasn't there.

Ash isn't sure why, and couldn't answer even in a hindsight sort of way, but as he settled beside Miwa he reached over to lightly flick the end of her hair before settling in to watch what she was doing. He watched as Miwa worked, at first wondering how she would deal with having no fingers. However the use of water seemed to deal with fine detail. "Huh..." He tenetively reached in to occasionally and gently touch here and there. Then when Bewul asked who Waffles was he pulled a small phone-sized device out of his pocket, and after a few taps handed it to Bewul showcasing a dog-like creature that came up to his stomach. "Waffles is a bit of a derp, but a good friend. I'll be glad when Ordis can get the retrieval systems fixed so I can pull her out of cryo safely."

When Ash touched her hair, she looked at him with a tone of curiosity. If he wasn't a close friend, she might have barked at him to not mess up her hair. The gentle flick didn't really do any harm though. "You like my hair? Just wanted to see what it felt like?" She asks wonderingly. As for working on the sand castle, Miwa's flippers did have digits, but they lacked the dexterity of true fingers, and even if they didn't, she also lacked a thumb, so Ash's help was welcomed. She would let Ash handle the really fine details that would be hard for her to manage even with little sprays of water. As Ash introduced Bewul to Waffles, Miwa smiled and added. "Sounds like a fun, if rather large pet. I do look forward to meeting her, even if she bowls me over at first meeting and starts licking my face like an excited puppy."

Bewul is not that bad with the sand, digging and trying to gather sand, long, sharp lookign claws helping him make small, simple shapes, like a small dome house, or a sand figure of a sitting dog. He might have some talent on that!. He pauses to look at the image of the huge doglike thing, "Looks cute, would love to meet her as well." he says, smiling, "Seems like a fun partner to run around and do some rough pouncing and playing." he says happily, tilting his head at the mention of Cryo, "She is frozen?"

Ash looked to Miwa when she asked, flushed, then looked down at the castle in progress, "It's something i've seen people do.." He muttered. Then on Bewul's question, "Long story short? She was still undergoing gene therapy treatments when I saw the anomoly that dumped me here, and since i wasn't sure on the sort of shape everything would be in I had Ordis put her in stasis since she'd be safer there than running around on ship." A headshake, "Ordis tells me she's stable, it's just part of the retrieval mechanism is busted and nowhere i've been to can fab up replacements." Beat, "Well, nowhere i'd trust to not rip my orbiter apart and sell it for parts, or add things i don't want added."

He then looked over at what Bewul was doing, "Whatcha making over there?" He hrmed softly as he considered swapping from one sand structure to the other. "Pity I didn't bring my articula....." Then when he saw the non-comprehension, "WHat? You don't have action figures?"

Miwa grinned at how flustered Ash got when she asked him about why he touched her hair. "Well, if you weren't such a good friend, I might berate you for risking messing up my hair after I just brushed it, but you can touch my hair if you want, besides, I still have my brush, so even if you do mess it up, at least I can fix it so I don't have to go around looking like a mess." She chuckled, moving on to finishing up her sand castle with a gentle and controlled icy wind, which just put little shards of ice into the sand to look like windows, and some smaller sparkling flecks across the roof, at least for the short time before they melted. She would admire the work she and Ash had created together for a moment before following Ash over to Bewul's creation, watching curiously as he worked with those big claws. "Well Ash, I wish I could help. The most advanced thing we have around here is the Aether Foundation. Their base is a large artificial island, it's pretty high tech, but their research mostly focuses on Pokemon genetics and medicine."

    Bewul perks one ear at the mention of action figures, "I know of those!, there are some digimon ones back on my world, and stuff from their tv." he says, chuckling, "I actually have one of what I hope, might be my strongest shape, eventually, who knows." he muses, scratching one ear with a hindleg. 

    The dog figure seems fairly cartoony, needing help getting wet sand, using his claws to slowly smooth down shapes. IT seems like a chubby creature, somewhat similar to his base form, short legs, chubby torso, long arms, a tail, ears and snout. ( https://wikimon.net/Dogmon ) before he is distracted by the talk of technology. "I don't know how good the humans are on my world... they are good on computer stuff." he says, "I know Andromon, he is really good with technology things, and a few other digimon, perhaps if you tell me more, I can ask them if they know about this."

Ash mmmed softly, "That might actually be helpful after getting her thawed out." He didn't want to dampen the mood by explaining the condition waffles had was partially due to flaws in the incubation process,so neither here nor there. "Can they be trusted? She's... Well OK she's smart, but like... Animal-smart," His voice hitched as if he were trying and felt like he was failingto find the right words, "Not people-smart. Y'know?" He patted Miwa's shoulder gently before turning his attention to Bewul's sand creation. "Well the problem isn't just 'a part of my ship is busted.'" He paused to actually smile at what Bewul had made, finding it rather charming looking, "The real concern is Ordis isn't just 'the thign that runs the ship.' That's his body and anyone that goes poking around is going to be given a lot of trust to not do anything to hurt him, and... well... I know he's showing his age, but I don't know what trying to fix wear and tear would do to him either since the Orokin had a rather 'fun'," The word was invested with as much sarcasm as humanly possible, "habit of leaving boobytraps in everything."

Miwa shrugs at Ash's question about whether they can be trusted. "I don't really know too much about them. They do seem to have their heart in the right place though. I do know they run a house on this island which is basically an orphanage for children and Pokemon. Have done a few charity shows there in the past." She offers, watching Bewul create a sandcastle that was actually the shape of a cartoonish dog-like Digimon. "That looks pretty cute Bewul. That's a Digimon too I'm guessing?" She asks, then chuckles a bit as Ash mentions action figures. "They have those here too. Mostly for children too young to be trainers, but it seems plush Pokedolls are more popular as even some adults collect them. A few have even been made to look like me in some of the outfits I've worn in shows."

Ash nodded. "I'll probably look them up when Waffles gets out." Miwa seemed to hold a high opinion of their work, so for the moment Ashwould extend a little trust. Then his eye lookedfrom castle to digi-dog and he smiled, reaching down to gently poke at places where he would place figures. Amusingly it might become apparent that this was a defensive position. "Castle fortification against something that makes even the Eidolons look tiny. Might not likethe Grineer, but they're stubborn enough to throw themselves into impossible odds." There was an almost sentemental quality to his voice as he looked the fortification over. "Then again the boots on the ground aren't really bad, they're just... well" He didn't want to go on about gene-enforced obediance, "Their leadership stinks. Worked with them on a few outings so yea. I could see more than a few actually coming up wit ha decent defense of your little sand fort."

    Bewul sits up as he finishes the basic shape, smiling as he hears the praice, shaking his paws from some of the sand, "Thanks, and yeah, I know one, he is funny." he says, "He is like one of those cartoon characters, like he is made of rubber, I saw one get smashed under something heavy, crawl out and spring back up." he says with a chuckle, "I think he actually finds amusing to surprise people with that." he chuckles a bit more.

    He nods when Ash talks about how to take care of his dog... well, his dog yeah, "Makes sense, I feel the same about someoen trying to poke around my digivice and stuff... it really is dangerous if something happens." he says softly, "Booby traps... wow htat sounds risky.". 

    He is glad at the change of topic, chuckling a bit at the talk of figures and fortification. "I don't know much about that, so I might follow your experience on that." he says, smiling.

"With all that's happened with the connection to various worlds, they might actually be happy to see a creature from off world and how Waffles differs from Pokemon. I'll check with Kaleo and see if he knows anyone there that he'd trust with something like that. He organized the charity events so he may have some contacts there." Miwa offers to Ash, watching as Bewul continues to work on his sandcastle likeness of Dogmon. "Made of rubber huh? Wow, I guess that would make it pretty easy to spring back from getting pummled or squashed. Digimon really do come in all sorts don't they?"

Ash blinked and stared at Bwul, "Rubber..." THen his lips formed the words 'How in the-' but no words came out. His head shook as he tried to procss before giving a laugh. "The world is not only stranger than I imagine. It's stranger than i CAN imagine. And somehow that is the best thng ever."

Bewul chuckles a bit as he hears the reaction, "Yeah, I mean... he is not rubber... I think? but... he is really stretchy... he likes showing off, and surprising people... he is rather friendly actually." he says with a grin, before turning to Ash, "You should visit my world sometime, meet digimon!" he says. "I think you might also like Toyagumon." he says casually, before nodding to Miwa, "Yeah, as far as I can tell."

Miwa chuckles at Ash's reaction to how varied Bewul's world is. "I suppose though that there are some pretty strange Pokemon here too. I mean, there are some that have metal-like skin, some that are literally formed from the pollution of factories and power stations, even some that are more or less the embodiment of departed spirits. Not to mention a few really scary ones that were actually created by humans, though one is not so frightening, and like Digimon, was made through a program. It's called Porygon, kinda looks like a duck." She explains, starting to gaze longingly at the ocean.

Ash reached over to pat Miwa's back. "Wanting to go for a swim, or a bit of memory?" He wasn't sure what else to do there but lok on and wonder. "I still say Bewul's ham trees are pretty up there.... and if you could get those to grow elsewhere you personally could stand to make a killing, and make vegans all over the worldsflip...."

Miwa nods at Ash. "Feel like I've been sitting here too long and getting the urge to get moving. Would be nice to get out there and um, stretch my flippers a bit." She says with a grin at her turn of phrase. "So, tell me Ash, have you done any swimming at all outside of your warframe? Just wondering how much experience we're dealing with here." She asks as she takes a moment to stretch, feeling a bit stiff.

Ash stretched his arms overhead and smiled, "I can float a bit, wade around, but I've never really done much." He looked at Miwa then the Ocean. "Saltwater though? Never done salt water. Any advice before I go running out there?"

Miwa nods, looking at the ocean a moment, then back at Ash. "Well, I'm not sure if we want to try finding a pool where you don't have to deal with waves and current, but we're here on the beach, so the ocean is convenient at least... I would advise, don't get out too far, stay where your feet can touch the shore under the water till you feel comfortable. Don't worry though, I'll be there if anything happens, you won't drown on my watch." She says with an attempt at a reassuring smile as she pats Ash on the back and begins making her way toward the ocean and finally swimming out a little before looking back and watching Ash. "At least the surf is pretty calm today, come on in, water feels great, but then, I do almost live in it." She says with a laugh.

Ash joined in with Miwa's laughter, tossing the rather loud shirt to one side, kicking off his sandals, and running into the water.... Right as a wave rolled in causing him to stumble backward. thankfully he kept his footing, but was a little less overeager when walking up til the water ws up to his chest. His mouth opened, then he sputtered, and looked about. "Well this feels diffrent than Loka's wading pool lake." Granted that wasn't really what it was meant for, but even if the syndicates did oppose eachother they played nice on the relays, hence his taking advantage of the fact Loka decided to do the whole nature pond thing.

 The ocean was nothin g like that. Here he kept his head above water as he frowned at hte feel fo wet sand on and around his feet. "This feels really weird." He toed at the sand again. "Advice?"

Miwa watches as Ash goes running after her into the ocean, wincing as his enthusiasm is rewarded by a wave bashing into him. "Careful, pay attention to the waves, you should be able to see the ocean rising and falling in a sort of pattern, and use that to know when a wave is coming, though they usually don't hit you as hard once you're out into the water a bit." She offers as she swims over to where Ash was, while trying to think of what advise to give him. She wasn't human, but she had watched humans swim pretty extensively in her time living near this beach. 

 "What feels weird?" She asks, never really having the problem of walking on the seabed. "Try pushing off with your legs and kicking your legs a bit, you can use your arms to help you balance if you need to, paddle like this." She says as she strokes her flippers against the water in the way she meant for him to do with his arms.

"The sand feels... weird." Ash tried to mimethe motions Miwa laid out, and kept his head above water as he bent his legs, letting his arms do the work of keeping him upright, "I mean I've felt wet sand before, but never sand while it's underwater. Feels... Strange." He wiggled his toes now that they were freefloating." His attention turneed from Miwa to the open water then back before setting his feet back in the sand. "OK I want to try a thing since it seems fairly clear."

Then he brought bot hands in front of his body, one palm forward, the other hand acting to brace his arm. Miwa could hear a noise that could have almost sounded like an inhale coming from the space in front of Ash's palm followed almost immediately by a loud BRWWWWWEEEEEEEEEERN and a beam of white light as wide as his hand shooting forward barely above the water's surface.

Ash would hold his position, bracing against the motion of the water as he brought his hand down to the water itself. The beam caused the water to carve away. Any water near it would get warm, but it wasn't boiling away per se. It was almost as if the beam were forcing space for itself to exist by shoving the water aside rather than flash-boiling it away. THe look on Ash's face suggested he was focusing to continue producing this beam underwater. Then... it was gone. No cooldown or between. One moment Ash was firing a death beam from his hand. The next his fist was closed and he was looking at the water to see what, if anything happened.

Other than perhaps a small temperature blip? Nothing. No bubbling, no cavitation of water rushing to fill the void where the beam was. Just. One moment death beam. Next moment water.
""Huh... Interesting."

"Oh, yeah I guess it would if you're not used to it, though I don't really tend to walk along the bottom of the ocean, so I guess I didn't think about it." Miwa says as she watches with a smile when Ash pushes off from the wet sandy bottom and begins to keep himself afloat under his own power. "Good, you're doing great!" She says in a warm and encouraging tone. She gives him a curious look as he says he wants to try something, and gives a nod. She blinks and moves a bit away from Ash in surprise at the loud sound and the beam of white light coming from Ash's palm, watching with wonder as it seems to pierce the water and form a column of air as it passed through the ocean. Once it was over, she looked back at Ash, still feeling a little stunned. "What was that?"

"That," Ash held his right hand open for miwa to inspect, "Is Void energy," Somehow he was able to capitolize the word. "It is what allows me to pilot the warframes effectivly and what all of its powers stem from." He kicked off of the sandy ocean floor to drift towards Miwa, "What you saw when Mirage poked at my noggen to keep me calm? That was part of the accident that gave us this power." He gave a small laugh, "Really need to find interesting uses for it other than laser pointer of Death, but things just keep comming up, y'know?"

Miwa nods, remembering that time where Mirage brought her and Bewul inside Ash's mind, even if it was an experience she wasn't looking forward to repeating. "It's kinda scary." She comments as she looks at his hand. "But I guess your warframe is a pretty incredible machine, and it kinda makes sense that it would take something special to make it work. More than ever, I'm glad we're friends, not adversaries." She says with a slightly nervous laugh. "Anyway, how do you feel now? Up for trying to actually swim around a bit?"

Ash nods slowly, feeling somewhat bad for reminding Miwa of how scary things can be. "Sure let's giveit a go. I mean you're here right?" He looked to the pokemon lady and smiled warmly as he treaded water, daring to drift further out into the ocean.

"Right, you have nothing to fear with me here swimming with you." She says as she turns slightly so Ash could more easily see her movements. "Now, you want to continue kicking your legs, but at the same time, take strokes through the water with your arms to move you forward. I'll try to show you, even if this is not the way I usually swim." She says as she gently kicks with her tail, similar to how Ash is treading water, and starts moving her flippers in like she's trying to carve into the ocean with them and pull herself forward. "Whew, never really tried this before, no wonder humans are such slow swimmers, this feels super awkward and inefficient, but I guess I'm adapted to swimming, and you're not..."

Ash started kicking with his legs, then got hit in the face by water as his motions either caused the water to start rippling more, or due to just hwo the ocean likes to act. Eithr way it was only because Miwa wasthere, and he'd seen what she can do with her bubbles that kept ash from freaking out. Instead he moved his arms, focusing on keeping his head above water rather than trying t ogo any perticular direction at first. Then when he was sure he could, he started copying Miwa's motions. He would have responded about the comment about ineffective swimming, but he was busy focusing on the whole swimming part. So kept his mouth shut. Well that and the fact salt water tasted gross.

Miwa eventually stopped trying to swim like a human and reverted back to the way she was used to, which allowed her to swim circles around Ash and see how he was doing from every angle. "Keep going Ash! You're really starting to get it." She says happily, then notices a big wave coming toward them and for Ash's sake, quickly swims in front of him and breaks the wave with an accurately aimed Hydro Pump. Ash would probably still notice the water rising a bit as the wave passed, but at least it didn't crash on top of him. "Phew, that was close." She says with a chuckle, turning back to look at Ash to see how he was doing.

Ash saw the water swell, and instead of trying to swim through it, rolled on his back, spread his arms wide, and floated. "Saw a few of the Ostrons swimming while people watching and well... You notice a few things, like don't try fighting waves. Either ride them out or go with them."

Miwa smiles and nods at Ash. "That's good, so you do know some things about swimming at least. I really think you're doing great, though I've never really taught anyone before so I have no idea if you're just a natural, or if I'm a really good teacher..." She shrugs. "How are you feeling, getting more confident?"

Ash tried to speak, then water hit his face and he sputtered. He managed to not flounder, but he stopped swimming to instead bob in the water, instinctivly searching for the bottom with hisfeet. "OK..." He took a deep breath, water flaring from his nostrels, "Let's keep going."

Miwa nodded and smiled, moving to swim beside and just a bit ahead of Ash and match his pace so she wouldn't leave him behind. "Alright then, lets go!" She says with a happy laugh, starting to swim out toward the deeper ocean, leading Ash in a way that he wouldn't get caught in any strong currents as they headed out towards the smaller islands that dotted the ocean just off shore of the main island of Ula'Ula. She wondered if Ash could make it to the island where she lives.

Ash started to swim. His form was poor, but he was moving steadily. Granted he regularly counted kilometer jogs as a 'short walk', and now he wasswimming. He has already come a long way from spindly teenager that literally needed the warframe to carry him outside of his pod. He wasn't thinking about this as he swam. He was instead thinking that Miwa was in front of him and he had to keep pace with her. He wasn't racing. He was simply trying to keep up.

Noticing his poor form, Miwa knew Ash was wasting energy and would get tired more quickly if he continued to swim as he was, so she continued offering pointers. "Ok Ash, you're doing great, but try to swim with the water, not against it, make your movements broad, fluid, and symmetrical." She again tried to demonstrate, swimming as much like a human as she could manage, moving her tail and front flippers in a firm, continuous motion which worked to propel her forward. Of course, this was more work for her, as she was used to using her flippers sort of like rudders, not for actual propulsion. "Does that make sense?" She asks, making sure Ash was following.

Ash tried following along, but the wter kept changing, so for him going 'with' it felt like 'ok stop start stop start stop start.' Instead he stopped, and looked around. Treading water.

Deep breath.

That was his mistake. Once he inhaled the ocean swelled and oh hey coughing, sputtering, flail. Ash tried to orient back down, but he was also in the processof trying to cough the water out he accidentilly swallowed.

Miwa continued keeping an eye on Ash. She knew he was really trying, but he was struggling with the ocean's constant movement. Maybe learning in a lake of some sort would have been a better idea after all. When she saw Ash suddenly breath in as the water swelled up around him, her eyes widened and she took a deep breath herself before swimming over to Ash and wrapping her flippers around him in a sort of hug while kicking hard with her tail to push him even further above water than he had been managing on his own. 

 "You alright Ash? Take a lung-full of the sea? That's never fun, happened to me once when I was caught out in a storm, nearly drowned just trying to get a breath of air." She mused in empathy, though maybe it was a bit of an exaggeration to say she almost drowned.

Ash didn't respond at first. Instead he focused on getting air. Given this was his first time in the ocean, and for that matter according to him is first time swimming at all, he showed little panic. His breathign evened out and he nodded. "Owe. Yea. Le'ts keep going for a little bit then call it. Gotta get back on that rocket." He chuckled weakly and reached back to give miwa's tail an affectionate pat, "Lt's do this." He would wait to be let go before doing anything, but he seemed determined to keep trying.

Miwa breathed a sigh of relief as Ash eventually caught his breath and responded to her. "Glad you're alright. I was going to see if we could make it to the little island where I live, but now I'm thinking maybe we shouldn't have started you off in the ocean at all. We're more than halfway, but if you're starting to have trouble, maybe we should head back to shore..." She says as she takes a moment to look toward her island, and then back at the shore. "Then again, we are closer to my home, and I could just tow you back to shore later if needed..." She offered, leaving the decision up to Ash.

Ash nodded, "Over halfway? May as well go the rest of the way then." Ash sounded more confident than he felt, but if he let this thing beat him here it'd just keep beating him. So he firmed up his resolve and splashed towards Miwa, "Lead the way lady."

Smiling at Ash's determination, Miwa nodded and continued swimming just ahead of Ash again, but not going so fast that she'd leave him behind. "It's just ahead there, the round one, with the palm tree." She says as she continues to lead the way. "Once we're there though, we'll have to swim underwater just a bit to get to my cave, so if you're not feeling up to that, again you can hold onto me and I'll get us both there." The island seemed deceptively close, like you could almost reach out and touch it, but it would be a bit more swimming before they made it there.

Ash said nothing, and instead kept swimming. He knew from others he would be tired and aching everywhere by the time this was done. "Giving me a towe underwater would be good. Can't see without something over my eyes in this." He was unhappy, but again, he's the novice here and Miwa literally lives in the ocean. Plus he was doing what he considered remarkeably well, so no need to push luck on account of pride. However he had to get there first. So one movement after another, after another.

Eventually the island grew larger in view as they got close, and before they reached it, Miwa stopped and turned back to Ash. "Alright, we're there." She says as she swims closer to Ash with her back turned to him. "Ok, grab onto my stomach, maybe even wrap your arms around me there if you need to, just hold on, and I'll take us under and to the other side. Just take a deep breath and let me know when you're ready." She says as she exhales and takes a deep breath herself and once Ash signals her, she would quickly dive into the water and swim much more quickly now that she didn't need to worry about Ash keeping up with her. They'd only be underwater for about a dozen seconds before surfacing inside the underwater cave where Miwa lives. "Well, here we are. You can rest here as long as you need before we head back. I have food if you don't mind seafood, and both fresh water and pinap juice."

Ash nodded as he wrapped an arm around miwa, at the same time aware of where and how he was holding, and at the same time dismissing the whole notion as a matter of practicality. After a few deep breaths he signaled her to dive. He couldn't keep his eyes open for the dive so missed the view. Then he surfaced and looked about the cave." As he hauled himself out of the water he laid on his back grinning. "Rather nice way to get away from it all i suppose." He managed a laugh in spite of himself, "Oh how I am going to be sore when all this catches up to me, but it's all gonna be so worth it. Y'know?" A deep breath and then he sat up, looking about. "I really do appreciate the swimming lesson. and, well, bringing me here." He gestured about. Sure the place was sparse, but when one lived in almost literal paradise how many things did you really need?

Miwa pulled herself out of the water and grabbed two bottles of pinap juice, offering one to Ash before drinking the other one while she lays next to Ash, nodding as he mentions it being a nice way to get away from it all. "When I first went out on my own, having a private place I could go when I wanted to get away was important, so I was really glad when I found this place. You could in theory climb in from above." She says as she points upward with a flipper to light filtering in from a hole in the ceiling of the cave. "But otherwise the only way in is underwater, so I figured I didn't have to worry too much about unwelcome visitors, though a few water type Pokemon have found their way in from time to time, they're usually friendly and understanding if I need my space." 

 When Ash mentions aching, she offers that he can lay on her bed, a large mesh hammock attached to the stone walls. "Feel free to make yourself comfortable while you're here. I may even feel a little achy in my shoulders tomorrow. Not used to using my front flippers for anything more than rudders while my tail does most of the actual work. Sure I use them for walking and supporting myself on land, but it's not the same motion.

Ash smiled warmly at Miwa and took a swig of juice. Then after getting up and stretching he started doing windmill motions first with one arm, then after swapping the juice from one handto the other, doing the same with his other arm. "On the bright side that was not a trivial swim, and I managed it." His body was already making sure he kenw going that far was not a smart idea, but i nthe moment he didn't care. "There isa lot on my mind and I'm having trouble flipping through much of it." He chuckled to himself as he paced."Mostly wondering why so few pokemon speak anything people can understand. I mean... to me most of the ones I've seen seem to say parts oftheir name over and over again. I can hear small diffrences but I just..." Shrug, "Must be too nuanced for my ears."

"Not trivial indeed, particularly considering you were just learning to tread water just a bit ago." Miwa comments with a friendly pat on Ash's back. "I'm really shocked at how quickly you've taken to swimming. I don't think I have to worry too much about you drowning without your warframe if I'm not around." She jokes as she moves to rest her back against the cool wall of the cave. 

 "As for the whole talking thing, that's what humans call Pokespeak. There are indeed nuanced differences that allow Pokemon to communicate with each other, even across different species most of the time. But really I think many Pokemon could learn to speak if they truly wanted to and put in the effort, but most wild Pokemon don't really have a reason to, and the ones who are with people, are usually focused on training their abilities either for show or for battle, or even for work. Most fire departments on this world use water type Pokemon to help put out fires, and police use a dog-like Pokemon called Growlith which evolves into Arcanine, which is quite powerful. Though, I've learned that canines in police forces is not unique to this world. In the end, I learned to speak because I wanted to, and was willing to undertake the difficult task of mastering the common language of my world, and even native Alolan. Most Pokemon have other priorities." She explains, hoping that makes sense to Ash.

Ash listened to the explaination Miwa offered and nodded, "Well, Tenno use canines as work and companions so that follows." He snorted, "Even the rineer use dogs, and for a Grineer anything non-essential is considered wasteful." He sat down by Miwa and leaned against her "I'm grateful you took the time to learn. THough I daresay if a Pokemon can learn human languages shouldn't the reverse be true?" He mused thoughtfully on the matter, "Suppose that says something abut the humans here when there doens't seem to be much desire on their end to learn either huh?"

Miwa smiles as Ash moves to sit by her and lean against her, gently resting her flipper on that side against the side of his leg. "I'm really glad I did too! It has proven useful for a lot more than just singing and having the audience understand the song better, and it's allowed me to make some really good friends, like you. As for humans learning Pokespeak, well, a few people who study Pokemon are pretty adept at knowing at least the basics of what different Pokemon are saying. Most trainers also spend enough time with their Pokemon to begin to pick up on the meaning of some of the things they say. Most Pokemon can also understand some of what Humans are saying too, so that helps."

Ash sat there catching his breath and smiled ashe considered how the day has gone. "We probably should get going before Bewul starts feeling left out." He then reached over to brush Miwa's hair down as he got up. "Also next time you do a concert lemme know. I'm not above doing heavy lifting."

"Yeah, we probably should, as for the concert, I will be having one soon, and I'll be sure to let you know when I have the date set. I'll need to work with some people to plan things out so that everything is properly set up when the day comes." Miwa replies, hugging him a bit as he brushes her hair a little, it was starting to dry already and looked somehow unfazed by all the swimming they'd been with. "Shall we go then? You up for swimming the way back, or do you want to hang on and have me swim us back? I'm fine with either I just figure you're probably pretty worn out from just getting here."

Ash gave a slow nod, 'As much as i want to try the swim back, I can already feel my arms turning into noodles." He was trying not to think on how he'd feel in the morning, or how fussy Ordis would e when he got back. "Hey I had an idea about what to do about that one kid." He probably didn't need to mention what one kid, "Why not if he pops up next see if he'd be willing to poke around Bewul's end of things? I'm pretty sure he'd like the change of pace, Bewul and his friends wouldl ike the chance to try someone new out, and hey, kid did say he was just wanting to have some fun right?"