"This is a terrible idea."

"Quit your whining. You're a big boy."

"This pool is also much bigger than me."

Tempest huffed at Sonic's childish response. Sonic glared indignantly at the dolphin easily keeping herself afloat in the pool by merely kicking her legs in tandem. He was averse to water just as much as he was quick. And he was very quick.

It'd been a simple case of a bet gone wrong; In a misguided attempt to prove Sonic was getting faster, he'd bet the dolphin he could get from the hotel on the beach of Station Square to the end of the archipelago on Emerald Coast in record time. Tempest bet Sonic couldn't beat his current time. To cinch the deal, if he won, she'd have to pay for dinner next time they went out to eat. If she won, he finally had to learn how to swim. Tails had been referee to the event, and counted the time himself with a stopwatch.

He wasn't about to take a dip in any body of water if he could help it, so he pushed himself extra hard that day.

He lost.

Baffled, outraged, and ultimately pleading to not go through with it, Sonic had to relent when Tempest wouldn't stop smugly grinning at him to the point it was getting unbearable trying to explain himself on just why he'd lost. He didn't believe it for a second until Tails had shown him the stopwatch. He was a few seconds slower.

Utterly defeated and not wanting to look like a coward, he agreed to the swimming lessons.

Presently, he'd gone to the effort of donning a pair of orange tropical swimming trunks with flowers on them. Suitably tourist if one asked. Not only that, but he also had a lifejacket and a pair of floaties on each arm. She still had her purple two-piece wetsuit on, minus both of their shoes and gloves. Didn't want to get the hotel pool dirty, or risk getting thrown out.

Letting go of a breath, Tempest pointed to Sonic, swimming up to the edge of the pool and looking up at him. "You can't be that afraid, Sonic. We're in a public pool. You're not gonna drown."

"You don't know that."

Man, he really was afraid of water, wasn't he? She watched him test the pool by dipping a toe into the crystal clear blue water, sticking a tongue out in disgust as he stared at it. What got her was that he seemed utterly unafraid when dealing with water when running around. She supposed the thrill of adventure and adrenaline quashed any qualms he had about water in general, only springing up when his nerves weren't on fire from running around as fast as any high-end sports car.

She was the opposite. She was more afraid of asphalt and the ground from going too quickly. Falling and tripping by running over two-hundred miles an hour would hurt like hell. She'd seen him do as such, but he always seemed no worse for wear afterward.

Huffing again, she poked his furry blue foot. "I'm not going to let you drown, Sonic." She tried to sound reassuring, but Sonic still seemed hesitant. She'd saved him from water before, and she thought he'd remember as such- but again, that was when they were on an adventure. He didn't seem nearly as afraid then.

It was beyond strange.

"Why don't you try the shallow end, then? You can stand on the ground there."

"What if I slip?"

Sweet Chaos, this was like pulling teeth.

"Sonic." She started, adopting the same kind of tone he'd heard Sonic's mother use with him on occasion. He didn't flinch, but it did seem to hit him in some way. Visibly bristling, Sonic wrinkled his nose and ruffled his head fur, seemingly frustrated with himself.

"Okay, okay! Fine!"

Impatient and agitated, Sonic walked over to the steps of the pool, putting a hand on the thick railing atop the stairs, into the shallow end of the pool itself. He'd gotten to the third step, sinking to about his ankles, before stopping dead in his tracks. It was bad enough he was doing this without his special brand of sneakers covering his feet, but there it was. The sensation was alien to him, and not in a good way. He was used to baths and showers, but anything that wasn't meant for cleaning triggered his danger senses unlike any other.

This was primarily a human sized pool, so it was much bigger to the both of them then normal. Faced with the prospect of going deeper than he was, Sonic leaned on the railing, looking a bit green in the face. This was getting ridiculous, and Sonic was all too aware how difficult he was being. He didn't care, exactly. Tempest knew of Sonic's aversion to water. He never planned on learning how to swim when he could just run across water.

"Wow, this sure is great, ha ha."

Tempest slapped her face, grimacing in turn.

"What the heck do I have to do to get you in here? You're wearing swimming gear too. Stuff specifically designed to keep you from falling under." Sonic's ears flattened against his skull and for a moment, she was concerned she'd said something she shouldn't have, before Sonic sheepishly looked at her from his position on the pool stairs.

"It's not you. I just-." Sonic fiddled his hands together, wringing them out and clenching his knuckles. It would have been adorable had Sonic not looked terrified. Swallowing a lump in her throat, Tempest swam over to the stairs, stepping up them to stand beside, putting a hand on his arm.

Oh. He was shaking.

Poor guy.

"You know I'm not gonna let you drown." Sonic pursed his lips together, staring at the rippling blue body of liquid before him. He bit his lip next, before looking at Tempest from the corner of his eye, shame etched on his muzzle.

"...Promise?"

Tempest nodded, letting a soft smile creep onto her snout. "Yep. In fact, how about we walk in together? Would that make you feel better? You can even hold onto me if you like." Almost imperceptively, Sonic's hand shot out to grab ahold of Tempest's bicep. She chuckled, patting him on the back. She had to admit, it was progress. Sonic was a simple boy, as well as being many things, but coward was not one, apparently.

"Okay, here we go." Tempest took the first step forward, tugging her arm to let Sonic know they were moving. He only followed her to keep himself from tripping forward from the pull, slowly extending a foot down, deeper into the next step. She waited for him to get to the next step with both firmly planted, before she took the next one. This continued for a few minutes until they were at the bottom of the steps, with their waists fully submerged in the pool.

Sonic's form shook harder, and his eyes were firmly closed too. Turning around, Tempest patted Sonic on the back. "Nice job so far." Tentatively opening one eye, Sonic looked around the pool, before looking at Tempest, with her genuine smile beaming at him.

After a moment of huffing quickly, Sonic scowled. "This sucks." Tempest laughed again. Her mirth wasn't directed at Sonic, but at his mood. "Imagine how a cat might feel in your position. You're being really brave though."

"S-so, is that it? Can I get out now?"

"You kidding? You're halfway there! Why stop now?"

Sonic's horrified expression quickly morphed away from slow acceptance to sheer denial, shaking his head vigorously. "Nuh uh! No way! I'm not going deeper!"

"That's too bad because I seem to be floating away. Ohhh noooo~." Tempest had started to gently kick her feet, moving away from Sonic and deeper into the pool. Her mock fright at drifting backwards wasn't lost on Sonic, but she started moving and pulling him away before he had time to react. That sort of thing just happened when you were half-paralyzed.

In that respect, he'd been lightly pulled further into the pool. At this point, it was either let go and probably, in his mind, sink, or hold onto Tempest and float further out. The hedgehog chose the latter out of principle and because fear consumed any rational thought patterns he might've had.

He'd closed his eyes again as the water sank up to his neck. Fear and dread washed over his heart and his body seized up, unable to move. His survival instincts were kicking in, desperately telling him to get out and get to safety. But in those cases, he was already moving fast enough to not think twice about a brief dip inside a pool of water. The wind from running dried him off quickly enough in those cases. Brief brushes like that were nothing to him.

This was an entirely new beast and one he wasn't willing to put up with.

He fully expected his head to submerge beneath the surface of the water. But it didn't come. He was still a head above the water.

"Sonic, breathe."

Opening his emerald eyes, honey yellow ones met his own. Tempest's gaze was soft and apologetic. He hadn't noticed it, but when they were moving further into the pool, Tempest had grasped Sonic by his hips, holding him up, even if he had the lifejacket tightly buckled on. Tempest was a strong swimmer, easily able to keep them both afloat. Sonic's legs dangled beneath him. It was an abstract, aimless feeling. One he didn't like.

Sonic looked about ready to throw up.
"W-what's the big idea?!" He almost shouted. Tempest's amused look shut him up however. Clearly she was having a riot at his expense. Clearly.

"Well, you're still above water, aren'tcha?" Sonic couldn't argue that, but for all intents and purposes, he felt his life was in her hands now. He didn't like having to rely on others if he could help it. Made him feel things he never wanted to feel again.

"W-well, yeah thats great! But I wanna get out now!"
"We just hopped in."
"And I wanna hop out!"

Tempest let out what sounded like a 'snrk', before she started swimming backward, her grip firm on Sonic's waist. Sonic's protests grew louder, but she wasn't hearing them. Instead, she began doing backwards laps in slow, methodical circles around the deep end of the pool, looking as serene as ever. She was home in the water just as much as Sonic was truly home when he was running.

Slowly, Sonic's complaining had died down, having resigned himself to this tour of self-humilation. At some point, he had wrapped his own arms around the dolphin's middle, holding on for dear life. Though, he had to admit, even if he was surrounded by the one of the few things he truly disliked, having a friend there really soothed his frayed nerves. He wouldn't openly admit it, however.

Tempest knew he wouldn't. For her, being this close was nice enough by itself. The prize therein came in the form of a blue, spiky boy that made her laugh and feel things she didn't think she would feel for a long time. Being this close had it's perks. Swimming around with a butterfly deep in your chest was something else. Being this close meant she could be closer to him in turn, even if it was just to get him to trust her long enough to explore things he would normally never try.

Yeah, that was it.

Sonic let himself be dragged along, letting his legs trail behind him. It was serene, in a way. He didn't have to worry when he had an experienced swimmer holding onto him.

Minutes turned into an hour, and before Sonic knew it, he'd almost fallen asleep holding onto the dolphin. Tempest was just having a good time. She didn't mind letting the hedgehog's conciousness flutter about. He sorely needed to relax, and it seemed to work.

Sonic snapped awake. Had he fallen asleep...?

"Wha- where am I? How long was I out?"
"Mm... 'bout ten minutes, give or take?"

That was... that was impossible. He'd fallen asleep? In water of all places? Sonic gulped, pulling back just a bit from Tempest to look her seriously in the eyes, fingers clenching onto her shoulders as that familiar calm disappated back into the engulfing anxiety he'd felt.

"Can we PLEASE get out now?"
Tempest nodded, before swimming over back to the stairs at the shallow end. Sonic couldn't get out fast enough to the point he tripped and fell on the last step.

_

"Sorry I couldn't call earlier. Swimming lessons with Sonic."

"Oh, really? How was it?"

"It could have gone a lot worse, but I'd say we made some progress."

"That's good to hear. How is he now?"

"Besides a minor cold, he doesn't seem to worse for wear."

"Oh, don't mind that. He always gets hay fever around this time of year. He's had seasonal allergies since he was just a baby. Give him a good book and a blanket and he'll feel better in no time."

"He has seasonal allergies? I guess that's why he's rubbing his nose all the time."

"He's a creature of habit, my Sonic. He wouldn't have said yes if he lost the time attack on the coast."

"Wait... How do you know about that?"

"Oh, no reason. Mothers intuition. Toodles, Tempest.~"