Hold Your Breath

Kuroro slept soundly on the shore near the base of the Mizu Falls. It was his first day training his first apprentice and since she had yet to arrive, he decided to take a cat nap. It was a nice day, and the crashing of the falls did little to deter him from sleeping. His long tail flicked every now and then as he napped, dreaming of the delicious fish he'd hopefully catch today, so long as his apprentice didn't end up scaring them all away by accident.

Kaori made her way towards the area where she was supposed to meet her newly appointed mentor. The falls weren't at all far from the clan's main camp; in fact they were just outside the tunnels that Mizu Clan called home. The young Eevee apprentice bounced joyfully through the tunnels as she made her way outside, slowing down as she got closer to the entrance.

Stepping outside, Kaori breathed in the fresh outside air along with moisture from the falls. She loved it out here; because it was so close to the tunnels baby pokemon were often allowed to come and play in the water as long as an adult watched over them. The falls had been her favourite place to play since she was just a tiny, newly hatched Eevee, but perhaps now she was old enough to be an apprentice she could explore the rest of her clan's territory.

Kaori could feel the spray from the falls as she made her way towards the sleeping form of her Luxio mentor, but ignored it's cool grasp upon her fur in favour of starting her first day of training. With a small frown of annoyance at Kuroro's napping form, she crept quietly over, making sure not to wake him. Closer and closer she moved until she was close enough that she hoped her sudden words would make him jump as well as waking him from his slumber.
"Rise and Shine!~" she grinned loudly, deciding to have her little bit of fun, even if it meant she wouldn't come across as a very responsible young apprentice at first impression.

Kuroro groaned slightly and opened up one of his eyes. He yawned loudly and stood up, stretching much like any other cat would before he turned towards his apprentice.

"And I was just getting to the good part," he said a bit sleepily, "Anyways, I suppose we should get down to business. If you've talked with more experienced apprentices, they've probably told you that their first lesson was always about swimming. That'll hold true for us because you'll probably be in the water most of your life as a Scout." With that and another stretch he began to simply walk into the water instead of jumping right in.

"As a scout you can't simply dive bomb into the water, you need to walk in quietly so you don't disturb the prey that live in it," he said, "Now you get in." He was only down to his belly in the water as he waited for the Eevee to join him.

Kaori made a small frown for a few moments as Kuroro's reaction was nothing more than a yawn and a small comment. However this expression passed quickly with a small, subtle roll of her eyes as she watched the Luxio get to his feet and began the lesson promptly. It seemed he was that kind of mentor; the type that refused to let her antics bother him and chose to focus on the teaching and learning rather than attempt to make it fun. She hoped he wouldn't be entirely like that, but this was her first impression.

At least swimming sounded interesting anyhow. She had loved water since she was a newly hatched Eevee, probably sprouting from how much time she spent around the falls. However, like most baby Pokemon, she had not yet been taught how to swim. She supposed her love for water was convenient considering the clan she lived in, but it likely also sprouted from her desire to evolve into a Vaporeon, Eevee's water type evolution.

Kaori's eyes followed Kuroro as he walked slowly into the water. It seemed like a boring way to do things but she supposed what he said made sense; prey would just be driven away if she splashed around. And if she did that, she certainly wouldn't make a very good scout. Heeding her new mentor's words, Kaori walked up to the water's edge and gently stepped in, making sure to be as quiet as possible as she waded her way over to her mentor so as to not disappoint in their first lesson. By the time she reached the Luxio, the water was past her belly and reached parts of the cream fur that surrounded her neck.

Kuroro nodded, "Good, now this first part's going to be a bit boring. I'm just gonna teach you how you'll swim. You'll need to keep your head above water in order to breathe while swimming. Most Pokemon, including you and me, will eventually begin to sink if we stay still in water deeper than we are tall," he said as he wadded his way deeper into the water.

"Anyways, to swim, you simply kick your legs backwards as if you were jumping off a ledge," he said. He waded in deeper and began to swim about quite easily, his long tail snaking behind him.

"Now then, you can give it a try and if you do it right, we might be able to continue," he said, turning to look back at his apprentice.

Kaori blinked at her mentor's words, trying to visually imagine what he'd said before she watched him wade deeper and demonstrate what he meant to her. Unfortunately, as water wasn't the best medium to see through when it was being disturbed by someone swimming or the waterfalls, she mostly had to go with her former visualisation. Wading a bit deeper, the water was up to the top of Kaori's neck before she began trying to replicate what Kuroro had done.
It took her a moment and a few close call sinkings, but she eventually found a way that made it simpler and easier for her to swim, even if it wasn't as graceful. It was mostly akin to a sort of doggy paddle.

Kuroro chuckled a little, "Yeah, my father was terrible at teaching me as well. You'll probably learn better ways at swimming on your own," he said, giving the apprentice a sheepish smile.

"Eheh, anyways, when you actually swim, you'll be underwater. You probably won't be able to hold your breath for too long, and the more you do, the sooner you'll need to get to the surface to get air. Diving underwater is pretty simple, you just angle your body downward and swim in that direction. We'll actually dive a minute. When we do dive, your eyes will take a second to adjust to the lower light and all the water. The water won't hurt you eyes, so you won't need to have them closed. When you're diving, you'll need to look for fish, turtles, some underwater snakes, pretty much anything that's not moving because of the current. When you catch a prey underwater, you need to kill it quick and get to the surface. They'll struggle a lot, and the struggle will cause you to lose air faster since you're having to hold onto them," he explained. He waited to make sure she understood everything. I wouldn't be good if his apprentice drowned from her mind exploding from all he had said.