Up Close and Personal

Y-Y-You sure we c-can’t, like, do this another time?!” A nervous Audino girl laid by the side of a pool, delaying the inevitable as much as she could. Her hands were tied behind her back, and a very pretty shell bra modestly covered up her small boobs. “I-It’s kinda chilly today, that’s all! And I, um, left the st-stove on!” Her attempts to dodge this full-speed cannonball of an experiment weren’t succeeding.

“Pfff, naw, we’ve delayed this long enough, Ellie. Whatcha so nervous about, anyway~?” Morgan, the famous and dubious Mawile scientist, leaned down to ogle her latest test subject a bit closer. She wore a high-tech headset and her usual white lab coat, an obvious sign that she wouldn’t even have to get wet for this test. Behind her, the maw drooled and licked its lips with deep growls. “We won’t let anything bad bad happen to you! There’s just, y’know, a few things that are seen best from up close, when you’ve been pushed beyond every reasonable limit, hehehe…”

Morgan helped remove Ellie’s cute, round glasses, then thoroughly rubbed the Audino’s soft cheek and cackled; she wasn’t lying, really, but she also wasn’t being totally upfront about the science supposedly involved in this test…

“Ready when you are~!” A delighted voice rang from Morgan’s headset. Down under the spacious pool’s surface, a waterbreathing light-pink Primarina lurked and swam around with a bright, cheery expression. She carried a waterproof camera, another nifty gadget that Morgan had devised just for these situations. Even with her big, squishy flippers, Tina would have no problem reaching the one big red button needed to take lots and lots of pictures!

“Heehee… There’s the signal, Ellie.” Morgan playfully shoved the Audino’s back with her foot, nudging her just a little closer to the pool’s edge. “You sure you don’t wanna start those deep breaths already? Your tail’s not gonna help much, just saying~…”

Indeed... Ellie happened to be wearing a big, cute mermaid tail, and for whatever reason, Morgan spared no expense in finding the best fit for the soon-to-be-blubbed gal. It blended onto her skin so seamlessly, and fit around her waist so nice and snug, that Ellie lowkey suspected Morgan had taken her measurements when she was asleep or something. Sure would be fun if the Audino knew how to swim in the first place! As is, all she could do as she awaited the start of this devious experiment was timidly swish it around, light anxious thwaps and slaps against the wet floor.

Knowing she couldn’t convince Morgan to delay this anymore, Ellie stayed quiet, a deep blush forming on her face as she started to take those deep, long breaths, though they were getting increasingly shaky. If she was trying to relax enough to make it count, it sure didn’t look like it.

Morgan didn’t even bother hiding her grin. That cute, toothy, yet immensely shady grin. She waited patiently for Ellie to draw in a long inhale… Then shoved her off the edge with one strong push, aided by her maw.

“Wh— M-Mrmph—!” Ellie wanted to yell out something, but she prioritized holding her breath instead, and just moments later she sank into the water with a noisy splash.

From below, Tina wiggled excitedly as she saw a very pretty mermaid crash-land through the surface, descending so gracefully amid a flurry of tiny, frothing bubbles. Less graceful, though, were her attempts to “swim” back to the surface, impeded by her tied-up arms and the big, smooth-scaled mermaid tail where her short, stubby legs would normally be. She sank and sank, shaking her head and causing some serious jiggle against her poofy air-filled cheeks.

At most, she could stop her descent enough to sway her tail in just the right way and make… maybe one or two swishes upwards rather than down. But that hardly amounted to much when she was spending so much more time slowly sinking to the pool floor. She could already taste the saltiness of the water in this pool, a necessity for the seafaring Primarina who now lurked very, very close to the bubbly Audino.

“Heehee, don’t sweat it, hun! It always takes a bit getting used to! Just ask your friend Mira, haha!” Tina encouraged her fellow mermaid with a smile, speaking clearly in the water. “Morgan said I’m not allowed to help ya back up, though, so if you need to breathe, you’ll have to figure that out yourself! No biggie!” The sound of the lens shuttering over and over soon surrounded Ellie, as Tina got to work documenting every angle of this lengthy process. ….What was the test about, exactly? Well, she didn’t bother asking, she simply went along with it when she learned it was an easy task for easy money!

Poor Ellie was totally unprepared for the intensity of this scenario, even this early on. Without her glasses, everything was even more of a blur underwater than usual. The water itself was brisk, though at least not cold enough to cause any issues. It slid up against her nostrils, just waiting for its chance to make an unwelcome entrance. The one thing she did handle mostly fine was holding her breath… Though even that had its limits.

“…Mmmphbl…” Ellie eventually landed on the pool floor, delicate like a leaf floating down a tree in the autumn. A few small bubbles loosened past her mouth and made their steady ascent to the distant surface. Her long, precious hair swirled and floated all over, clouding her sight, only providing a lovely view of her big cheeks and trembling pursed lips.

“OOOOH~ Okay okay, this is perfect! Stay like that, don’t go movin’ on me, sweetie~!” Tina was beside herself, laying on her tummy just inches away from Ellie’s face. She took as many pics in quick succession as she could, hopeful that one of them would be the perfect shot for this photoshoot. “By the by, can you do a heave or two for me~?”

“Yeah, haha, make ‘em real deep and intense!!” Morgan’s voice squeaked out from the headset Tina was wearing. From somewhere above the surface, she was also taking occasional looks, an oversized set of goggles strapped tightly. The maw insisted on wearing a pair, too, just for funsies. “You two just do your thing down there, I’m just making sure no one sees us -- I mean ensuring there’s a witness! For the test!! Don’t mind me, just go at it~!” She said this last sentence with a bit of a growl in her voice...

And Ellie complied pretty quickly, not that she had a choice in the matter or anything. “Mhhgbl…” The first heave pushed hard against her soft chest and plump belly, even showing a hint of ribs this early on. She was squinting through most of this, but the oomph of this contraction forced her eyes open. She hadn’t even tried to surface yet, but she already knew, with her total lack of swimming knowledge, let alone mermaid swimming knowledge, that it’ll be a tall task.

“Ooh! Got it, got it~!” A shutter noise went off right up against the Audino’s trembling body, and the Primarina timed it so good. “Morgan, darling, I get the feeling you’re gonna looooove these shots~!”

“Eeblheeblglheegbl~” Morgan couldn’t help herself, bubbling out a pleased giggle as she peeped the action from barely under the pool’s surface. She carefully pulled back, making sure not to get herself too wet. “Take as much time as you need, Tina. We got alllll day…”

“MRMPHGBLBL?!” All day?! That wasn’t on the contract! Ellie’s eyes went even wider now, and the surprise of it made the next few heaves land with boisterous thuds. She couldn’t bear to stay down here any longer! The Mer-Audino clumsily sat back up and, despite having tied-up arms and all, made her best effort to ascend, putting all her strength towards swaying that big scaly tail of hers!

“Ghhblbl…” And, even though the sheer effort required was already tiring her out, before she’d even had her first taste of post-dunk air… She did genuinely start to get the hang of it. “Mrmmph!” It required a very specific rhythm, one that Ellie was forced to figure out on the spot, and every successful boost upwards laid the tiniest bit of relief on her strained lungs. She hadn’t even noticed her heaves had gotten pretty bad now; all she was focused on was making it back up and staying there already!

“Woooow~! See, you’re so good at it already, cutie!!” Tina wasted zero time encouraging the Audino, keeping pace with ease as she swam in circles around her and took plenty more pics. “You’re making me wanna take you home after this and teach you how the pros do it, ahaha~!”

Barely any of this registered in Ellie’s mind. “Grrghblbl—!” Her heaves were faster than her tail-swishes now and they weren’t slowing down anytime soon. But relief was within reach… Even without her glasses, Ellie could see the bright sunlight shimmering on the surface. Just a few more seconds away… Or maybe just one or two. Or maybe one…!!

“Pbbbt, gh—” It lasted half a second. Ellie could barely get a breath out, and whatever attempt at breathing in she had in her was rudely interrupted by the salty pool water. A handful of noisy bubbles loomed where her face had just been, quickly pushed away when she made another short-lived effort to surface. “Ghgaaasp—” This time, Ellie could at least refresh her lungs a bit before flipping around and sinking again, unintentionally giving Tina and Morgan a gorgeous shot of her tail flying above the surface and thumping against it with a loud splash; the Mawile hopped back a bit as the splash almost soaked her.

“Oh my goshhhh~! Nice one, Ellie!! You’re such a star!” Tina wasn’t an expert at photography or anything, but the shots she was getting here were such delicious material that her level of expertise hardly mattered. “Such a natural, too~!” A few extra compliments wouldn’t hurt, either…

As for Morgan, well… The sight of Mer-Ellie (briefly) emerging from the water with such a gorgeous display… It was doing things to her. She squealed loudly and flapped her hands all over, and the sheer joy (and lust) was so strong even the maw felt some of it, growling and panting plenty.

Ellie had less of a chance to enjoy the spectacle, given she was the spectacle. She lost track of where she was below the surface, unaware of which way was up or down or sideways. “Mrmphgblbl! Mmph!” To make matters worse, her body was already asking for more relief — whatever slight taste of air she had dragged into her lungs was nowhere near close to satisfying.

She regained control of her tail-swishing just enough to try and swim again… though she didn’t know she was going deeper into the pool. Tina sure did, though, and she lurked close to Ellie, snapping shot after shot from low angles and close views. “Heehee, so eager to indulge us, huh~?” The Primarina teased her a little, going as far as rubbing a flipper against Ellie’s heaving chest. “Morgan, is now a good time?”

Up above, the Mawile, lost in thought, suddenly let out a little shiver. “N-Now’s a great time! Go for it!!” Er, go for what, exactly? Ellie would find out immediately.

The Audino felt a tug on her shell bra, and that was all it took to pull it off completely, letting it sink down to the pool floor. “MRMGRBL??” Hey, this part was in the contract, to be fair, but Ellie had forgotten for a moment. She would’ve immediately covered up her small, squeezable boobs if she could, but her hands were a little busy being restrained still. Thus, there was nowhere for them to hide, and they provided tantalizing little jiggles for Tina to capture. The shutter noises came in fast, one after another, and the Primarina was overjoyed!

“You know, I’m not even gonna ask why this is part of the test!” Tina conceded. “I’m having fun with it~!” She even went a bit off-script, taking a few tasteful shots of her flipper giving those boobs a playful squeeze or two, or three… “These are just for me, as long as Morgan doesn’t mind, ahaha…”

“Hey, knock yourself out!” Morgan allowed it with no issues. “I already got plenty of uh… Research notes. Yeah, let’s go with that.” She kinda whispered that last part, but it did come through the headset…

“You having fun too, Ellie~?”

“Ghrgh! Gblblgblgl!!” The Audino shook and jiggled hard, so starved for air she was starting to forget how to coordinate her body to swim back up. Big bursts of bubbles escaped her mouth, one after another, and had a much easier time ascending than the poor Audino. The fuzzy sight of those noisy, bubbly columns only made her panic more and more, her chest caving in so hard that her ribs flared intensely.

Morgan could hear those bubbly bursts and silly noises through Tina’s headset. “Oh god please tell me you got that shot.” She was thirsting, and she didn’t care who knew it. “Keep her going, keep her going! …Don’t let her up!!”

“GHHBLBL—?!” Ellie tensed up. She regained her sense of direction, now aware of which way is up, and swayed that thick tail as hard as she could! If she pushed hard enough surely not even Tina could catch up with her, she just needed to keep at it, ignore the heaves, ignore the water tickling her nostrils, ignore the burning in her lungs, ignore the big, cute Primarina swiftly speeding towards her—

“Awww, not so fast, ya cute chubby mermaid~!” Tina wrapped her flippers around the heaving Audino and lent her a mighty squeezehug. “Orders are orders!”

“Ghhhhmphbl…! M… Mnmm…” Ellie pleaded quietly, her eyes locked on the surface. She let out little tired whines and whimpers, her hair floating oh so gently all around her face, and the most she could get from Tina was some gentle caressing of her depleted cheeks, all the air that had poofed them up long gone by now. In their place: pursed lips, a purple blush, a light quiver along her neck…

“Shh, shh…” Tina held her so carefully, still preventing her from making any progress towards surfacing. She began to speak in such a gentle, whispering tone. “This is the hard part, darling. But you signed the contract, so… You gotta do it. You’ll be fine! I’ll guide you through it, and Morgan’s on standby in case anything wacky happens, okay~?”

Morgan shook in place like an overfilled washing machine.

“Mnmmmmh… Ghhmph…!” Ellie had no more air to surrender to the water. Her emptied lungs burned so hard, and her body couldn’t stop shivering, anticipating the most arduous part of this strange test. The Audino couldn’t even keep her mouth shut anymore, instinctively peeking it open with exhausted grunts and whimpers. She began to shake her head fiercely, hair swirling all over, losing whatever errant bubbles still lingered inside her.

Finally, her body had enough of this and overpowered her mind. One of those weak, needy whimpers was immediately followed by an instinctive gulp, and the salty water splashed down the wrong pipe. “HRRKGRGLUP!! MRMMPHGULP—!!”

The makeshift mermaid was no waterbreather, so she’d need a bit of a helping hand for it. “I know, I know.” Tina grabbed ahold of her tightly, keeping her from flailing and squirming and burning all that energy away. “Don’t fight it, darling, just in and out, iiiin and ouuut… C’mon, do it like me!” Although her gills did most of the work, Tina could still mimic an airbreather well enough, and she showed Ellie how to take those long, thorough gasps. …While also taking a few pics as all this went on.

It was easier said than done. Ellie strained so hard to take those liquid breaths she felt like she might pass out at any moment. Her head was throbbing (…along with a certain other thing), and her heartbeat thumped hard and fast against her shuddering chest. There was no effort to even pretend like she could swim anymore, relegated to swaying her tail wildly as she fought for control of her body’s air-related malfunctions.

“Theeere you go~…” Tina saw some encouraging signs, though that was mostly due to Ellie being so, so exhausted. “Breathe in… Breathe out. Don’t force it. It’s just water. It’ll flow through you~.” The Primarina kindly brushed some of that luscious hair off of Ellie’s face, getting a better look at this pretty, drowny mermaid. Her blush was a deep shade of blue, and her eyes remained unfocused, her pupils slowly dilating. High-pitched whimpers gave way to weak little gurgly noises. Vague efforts to resurface presented themselves as frail kicks, disguised by the big, lovely mermaid tail.

“Ghhglp…” Ellie shook hard, and her soft hands clenched and loosened. She gave a glance to Tina, as if asking her for permission to just go and surface already. Judging by the cheerful look on Tina as she held the Audino in place, though, that wasn’t gonna happen anytime soon. Not only was she really, actually going to drown in here, she explicitly signed up for it, and that wasn’t even the main goal of this deranged experiment…

The Primarina’s tail curled around Ellie’s. She laid the most gentle kiss on the Audino’s cheek, and cradled the other. “Mm-hmm-hmm… See how easy it is when you don’t fight it~? C’mon, sweetie… I got you. Let go.”

“Grgh… Mmnmph~.”

Ellie sure seemed relaxed, though there was more than one good reason for it. She tilted her head back and felt a little smile curling on her face. A little further down, though, she humped at the water for just a bit before something white and thick began to spurt through the fabric of her pseudo-mermaid tail. A slight gurgle was pushed out of her throat, and she let out intense shivers with every little burst of cum into the water. Tina took note of it rather quickly, and she indulged the Audino further with some squeezes on her chest and tummy.

“Oh~? Hands-free? You naughty thing, heeheehee~…” Tina did not relent on the teasing, and took this chance to snap just a few more pics from her point of view. She had a feeling Morgan went totally quiet for… a very understandable reason (rubbing one out).

And given that Ellie wasn’t going anywhere in this state, Tina figured she might loosen her up a little more. She carefully undid the ropes around the Audino’s hands and set her properly free, though the most Ellie could do with her newfound freedom was clumsily lay one hand on Tina while the other made feeble attempts to swim up, fueled entirely by instinct. She didn’t swim much at all, of course.

“It’s cute that you’re still trying,” Tina assured her, “but trust me, you’re better off just relaxing. I got you riiiiight here~.” She held Ellie a little tighter and sank slowly onto the floor, giving her a nice view of the surface above. There was no way to know when — or if — she’d be allowed another breath.

“Ghh… Hrk…” Whatever energy Ellie still had left went towards staying awake. Her vision grew dark; a blurry shape that resembled a Primarina’s snout was the only thing she could still kinda see. It was, she had to admit, a little bit scary. But there was no reason to be afraid, really. The feeling of the Primarina’s big, thick tail rubbing up against hers… The soft-spoken tone of that Primarina’s voice…

“Heehee… There ya go.” Tina squeezed her even tighter; if Ellie had any more air left to give, it would’ve been forced out by now. …Instead, it’s just water. “Come on. Don’t even think about the surface. Just sleep with me now… Deeeeep breaths. We could even sync them together and…”

The voice trailed off in Ellie’s head. Everything was becoming a blur; whatever random thing Morgan was gleefully saying through the headset was impossible to distinguish now, though judging by what she had said earlier, the session was nowhere near close to done. The Audino simply chose to stay right here and take those deep breaths.

There would be no feeling of someone lifting her up towards the surface, or trying to jolt her awake or anything like that. Just slow breaths, blue water everywhere, a face so blue and numb she couldn’t even tell she was smiling weakly.

Whatever this whole experiment’s purpose was, not that Ellie would know, it was bound to succeed with flying colors, though Tina and Morgan wouldn’t relish in the results until they dug through all the pics back at the lab.

“…Mmnh.”

Ellie shivered slightly, then went limp, and her pretty mermaid tail laid still.