The sun is shining brightly, enveloping the area in an exhilarating flair which directly drives your excitement further when you walk along the white sidewalk – directly towards the building with the massive glass-front.
Your eyes are directly driven across the large letters at the top, naming this special place the “Breeze Academy”, and also to the insides, through the glass-pane as it’s easy to recognize that what you see is one of the main, flooded training areas you have heard so much about.
In your mind you can already hear the bubbling and occasional moans of strain as well as joy coming from the silhouettes barely visible from your position. The wet, scented air just enhances this those thoughts even if it origins more likely from the large lake belonging to the shore where the “Academy” had been built on.
However, you don’t only want to watch from the outside but actually be part of all this! Thus the reception is your goal.
The doors slide open and you enter a room just of the right size not to appear uncomfortably overwhelming. With half an eye you notice a plate saying “Dry Lobby” but inhabitants who are lounging around might distract you slightly – quickly making you feel a tad out of place especially if you are wearing clothes because that seems somewhat uncommon here.
Still that isn’t really new for you – after all the entire rule-set which is also proudly present on a wall, is giving a hint of that and had been available to you long beforehand. Together with friend’s suggestions that had surely been part of your motivation to lead you here after all. You remember how you have been told about this place, described as a heaven for all lovers of aquatic adventures, challenges – and pleasures.
Eventually a warm, somewhat echoing voice draws you from your thoughts. You need a moment to comprehend that the person talking is the one inside a round, approximately 15 feet tall glass-cylinder surrounded by a wooden table: It is a mature, yet sweet looking, female avian with a beautiful cobalt-blue feathers yellow-golden chest. The setup is quickly revealing that she is the receptionist but of course she wasn’t just standing or sitting on a chair like for her job but instead floated in water – the tube was flooded except for a surface about 8 feet above her head.
The more impressive it was how she talked though; bubbles seeped from her gray, smooth beak but still the sound was clear touching – testifying that she surely had lots of experience with that. After all she was Terrie Wingheart, the initiator and manager of the Breeze Academy.
People who have contact to her regularly, know that she can choose to breathe water and possess a form of telepathy but decides not to use it on newcomers, not to scare them. Also even after years here, it is still fun to challenge her lungs! She didn’t excuse herself a single time to get any fresh air during her entire talk with you and only if your eye is trained for such a thing, you might notice how her chest gradually deflated though.
However, you will have enough time to make your own experiences with her in the next weeks and months. Right now she is just welcoming you and explains this place which shall be your home for a possibly long, lovely time.
The formalities luckily don’t take long and after you are reminded that there will be a practice-oriented skill test additionally to the written one for safety reasons, a small lid opens inside the desk, revealing a set of keys and you are also given an adjustable band so you can safely wear them around your wrist, leg or neck. So you get on your way to your room, just seeing from the corner of your eyes how the bird idly floats to the surface, only to take a single, calm breath before she focuses on the next customer.
Part 2: Dormitory
The way to the rooms was not very exciting – just a simple lift but that was only because people had luggage too. Dry transportation as not the typical way of moving around at the Breeze Academy as you would find out soon enough. However first a different kind of surprise was awaiting you.
It is well known that the Academy is under fairly high demand and even if they were regularly expanding the buildings, it was surely making sense to have room – mates. Terrie and her organizers had recognized early that this could also greatly improve ones will, skills and joy not to be alone here.
Still you might have imagined the first meeting with your room-mate a tad different. Directly after entering you could already hear strange, gurgling sounds from behind the door which most likely lead to their bathroom. A tad confused but surely also secretly excited you listen until the sounds stop and it becomes dead-silent.
That silence is broken more abruptly than it began: A loud gasp, followed by coughs and accompanied by the sound of water comes from behind the door. However before you can react, the door already opens and a visibly out-of-breath, nude and completely soaked sneasel stands in front of you.
Her green fur glistens slightly in the lights of the room as she looks startled at you for a moment but then directly smiles at you, not seeming to attempt to hide her dripping body in any way. She knows that she doesn’t have to worry about the water either in every case as literally everything in their dorm is waterproof and yet comfy.
Instead she mentions her name – Lira – and excuses herself more for the slight mess in the shelves across the room even if that draws your attention to the fact that there were a couple of fairly untypical things on those shelves – at least it would be untypical if you had been wanting to think of the mildly chubby sneasel as being a noble woman.
Eventually she steps aside to sit onto one of the beds and you can see that the bathtub is equipped with more than a simple shower. Its cabin can be sealed well and it is fairly sure that this had been the reason for the pokemon’s aquatic sounds – the “shower” had a timed lock; perfect for simple, private challenges. However it wouldn’t be hard to fit inside together either though.
The next hours you would spend talking about your reasons coming to this surely relatively strange type of “Academy” and also about other water-oriented topics and passions. Your roommate was here for two months already and had greatly improved her skills from two minutes of static breathholding time to full five minutes whilst actively swimming! You could be sure that you would be able to learn quite a bit from her.
She also doesn’t hesitate to show you around, however she does friendly ask you to take your clothes off – they would be only hindering you – and that was surely not completely exaggerated when you realize how people cross the distances between the different sections of the building-complex.
When thinking about it, it is in fact fairly natural – after all the goal of the “Breeze Academy” is to provide its usually air-breathing habitants, an aquatic environment to fulfill their desires. Therefore the fact that instead of hallways, there are flooded tunnels even seems harmless compared to other aspects like all dorms having the feature to be flooded completely almost as easily as you would normally switch the lights on.
Your roommate has told you how exciting it is to spend the day like that or even to sleep just with an air-tube in your mouth.
Nevertheless, so much talking and diving has surely made you hungry and so it’s once more time to take a deep breath and head through one of the luckily shorter tunnels to the dining hall. Warm jets of water caress your body in certain places down there but also help you to move quicker. You don’t fail to notice how some other participants, in this case Naomi and Drarra, just use those tunnels for a few semi-private moments too.
Part 3: Challenges
The “Breeze Academy” is huge. Besides the dorms there are easily a few dozen of special places one could spend their time at. The “Wet Lobby”, “Pressure Tower”, “Rubber-Suffocation Park” and the “Dark Caves” were just a few and not even the most frequented ones.
One of the most crowded places were surely the “Challenge and love -rooms” instead. “Rooms” was a bit exaggerated however. It was more likely another demonstration of how pure openness and carelessness when it came to stuff so many people would sadly call inadequate for a typical, prudish lifestyle, was encouraged, not to say celebrated here.
Still your eyes would inevitable widen when you see an earth-pony and a vaporeon-hybrid making out inside one of the transparent chamber. That one even seemed to be pressurized, according to a display at its top, simulating the depth of 100 meters below the surface. That was surely crushing the poor participants lungs and the strain was visible, yet there was pure determination and love in their expressions as they were supporting each other despite their bodies raging with air-deprivation but also eagerness and arousal. Delta and Varra would help each other out in more than one way though…
Another tank was showing an orca herm named Casey at an even more daring challenge. A “toy” three times the size of hir own proud shaft was half stuck into her privates and if you would already know her closer, you would be sure that shi wouldn’t give up until she had not taken it all – no matter how much of hir precious air was escaping hir blowhole.
All in all it was not possible to doubt that sexual gain from the challenges was not a downside here. On the opposite. In more theoretical talks with instructors who had the duty to help the habitants improve their skills or reach their goals, it came out that many people discovered that distraction off the urge inside ones chest, was the key to set up new personal records.
Soon you gulp but also smile, feeling how your heart beats faster when you hear the voice of a certain charmander – Artizard being his name as you are told soon since he is the security chief – telling you that you are scheduled for the next free tank to use for the skill test.
The “Breeze Academy” is meant to be a safe place. Therefore, teams rescue-divers are always prepared for any incident – partially even stationed permanently near especially dangerous spots. Still even being a rescue-diver didn’t mean that you would get scuba-equipment at the “Academy”. After all they should blend in with normal habitants and those were wearing fins at most, and some even went for hinderances like heavy weights on their limbs or immobilizing costumes.
However, to be able to avoid waiting too long but also not break anyone’s fun early, it is crucial that the potential rescuers know exactly when you truly need help. Ultimately some people with enough determination, special skills or talents could actually handle entirely flooded lungs and still maintain consciousness for a few seconds – and some would even reform in various ways after passing out.
Therefore the tests and challenges would provide that information together with the card you filled out at registration and you could always repeat the tests later to prove how much you have advanced during your stay at the “Academy”.
Part 4: Training Hall
A few days have passed – lots of instructions, training and lovely times with your room-mate and other, fellow fans of water and breathless scenarios have kept you more than busy. The “Breeze Academy” also offers more relaxing places though where you can just focus on yourself.
One of those is the large lounge- and training-hall which you had already seen from the outside before you entered the building for the first time. It’s separated into multiple levels connected by a staircase for habitants who chose equipment hindering their swimming capabilities.
The highest level is for simple relaxing on loungers or floating around in joy. Of course like most places here, some people – in this case a certain umbreon, Phantom and Lithium the dragonair – use the occasion for some teasing and more arousing activities too. One can only guess how long the dragon-type is squeezing his friend. The state of his shaft is surely and indicator for it being quite a bit longer than it’s comfy for his lungs for sure.
One level lower, the sports and dedication enthusiasts may fulfill their desires. Sport equipment is laying around for free use and just like bodybuilders, the instructors give interesting suggestions how to train. You see Flameber, a sweet tiger just keeping his balance on a large – water-filled gymnastics ball while he gradually works on extending his breathholding time in an idle state.
Rumold the rabbit goes a different way, straining himself even more than he would whilst simply swimming and all on one breath.
By the time you have met them all, you will surely demand some air yourself though. On first sight, the entire hall does not seem to have a single openly visible air-surface. However, you are pointed to a set of instructions on the wall. In three simple steps in explains how those boxes in the walls of every level can be used to gasp a fresh gulp of air. A surface is maintained on the inside and constantly refreshed automatically. Later you are told that it is crucial to time well when to go for a window though – after all their number is limited.
Nevertheless, that neatly mimics the circumstances in underwater caves of the ocean or shipwrecks with limited air-chambers too. Additionally, spending time in this hall is a good preparation for the regular skill-challenges which are alternatingly offered in the various sections of the buildings.
Part 5: The Maze
The first week at the “Breeze Academy” went over like nothing. In the meantime, you have surely got comfortable at this ever-wet place. There is still lots of things to see and find out yet but there’s one thing everyone you met told you to visit for once: The “Daily Maze”. It is part of the many available challenges which allow you to test your limits and also prove yourself how far you have improved.
The maze consists of several, semi-flexible, thick tubes which are re-arranged on a massive metallic framework every night and flooded with water. It has an entrance and an exit but that is about everything you know before you begin. Immediately after you have finished your preparations and jumped in, you already encounter a split-way into three directions.
Faintly you can hear gurgling in the distance and a purple, fin-equipped tail of Kapsis, an aquatic dragoness, flashes in one of the tubes before she swims onwards, only enabling you to see a blurred shadow through the walls.
Almost no matter what way you chose – sooner or later you encounter a round sphere with a certain gryphon gurgling and shaking. You might worry upon seeing his face having turned blue as water rushes in and out of his beak, but his expression shows true bliss and luckily Con is partially a phoenix. Therefore, he won’t be truly harmed and just reform and wake up lively as ever later in his room. However, it is more than likely that he will instantly return here, not really seeming to even attempt to finish the labyrinth…
On the other hand, some habitants are more serious about all this. A long, anthromorphic snake peeks at you with narrow eyes but heads onwards through the passages, not really seeming to know more than yourself though. You can only assume whether Nadir really has the ability to hold his breath for an hour or longer like many natural snakes can due to their cold-blooded biology.
A slight tightness in your lungs reminds you that you have to continue too and you eagerly try to kick towards a tunnel you haven’t visited yet. Unfortunately the first thing you see is just a glistening, bright-blue butt. You might think for a moment that the dragoness it belongs to, is stuck in the narrow tube due to her wings, but it’s not hard to notice where her paw has gone. Azuree surely only began touching her sensitive spots with the simple intention to distract herself off the urge to breathe – as you already heard, a recommended technique – but she is clearly of the naughtier kind – like most people here see to be, and so it will probably take some time until she has satisfied her body’s desires enough that she can continue swimming at all. Let’s hope that leaves her enough time!
Nevertheless, you quickly find another way to leave the drowned gryphon behind, going where the snake came from. Immediately you hear the grunts and bubbles from earlier again and it doesn’t take much to see their cause.
Helping each other out is no way against the rules of contests like those and it’s actually, even encouraged. However, some do understand “helping out” in different ways, and Tetra and Rage are fairly good examples of that.
Probably having completely forgotten about what they intended to do in here – assuming the rather unlikely intention not to become naughty – they are in the middle of love-making just inside one of the more confined spheres. Bubbles are gathering at its top already and you can see the scalie’s chest heaving almost the same rhythm the mouse humps her. Doubtlessly they are in pure bliss however.
It is tempting to join this kind of fun and surely some of the participants would be more than willing; yet it is not all that easy to ignore the heaving of your own lungs, especially when you finally see the surface of the exit sparkling through the half-transparent walls.
At least that will surely give you another adrenaline kick to move on. Only question is whether you will make it in time with your lungs on fire. Otherwise you will pass out just like Lily the frog you just released all her remaining air in a big cloud despite having had quite an advantage over other participants. Not only is she aquatic, her puffy cheeks allowed her to store and rebreathe significant amounts of air. The challenges at the “Breeze Academy” are not easy for anyone though…
Good luck to you!
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This image series was the early result of a wonderful Skype Group and later Discord Server called Breeze Academy/Apartments.
It was originally founded by \r\n\t\t\t\t\t
| \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t | \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tArtizardwingheart\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t | \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
The server is long gone and it hasn't always been easy, but a fair number of friends since then remained, so I thought to post this lil' piece of history ^w^
The art is by NyxApnea