Aleron hesitated before she sighed and beckoned Jolteon and her older Eevee over. "Alright, you two," she said. "Make sure I don't drown." She moved into the water after Jolteon went charging in.

"I'm starting to think maybe I should have evolved him into a Vaporeon instead."

"Seriously," Trent agreed as he held a hand out to her. "I've never seen any pokemon not at least half water like swimming so much."

Aleron took his hand after a moment. "Well, I've got this Eevee, and there's the little one, and we'll probably end up with more since Eevees tend to take semi-permanent mates. I'm thinking of eventually having one of each of the Eeveelutions around the ranch."

"Then you're not going to end up with any more until Margaret comes back with her Espeon," Trent observed. "Not for a while, at least." Gently, he tugged her out into the water, until it was to her chest.

"Not for a little while," Aleron agreed, shivering briefly. "But in under a year the little Eevee will be old enough, so we might end up with two breeding pairs." She moved forward a little more, pausing when the water was up to her neck.

"Not a bad thing, considering the demand for them," Trent pointed out. Gently, he reached around to put one hand on her back. "Here, I've got you. You won't fall or anything."

Aleron swallowed but moved forward carefully until she was treading water. She wasn't actively scared of water; she'd been swimming before. But she normally didn't like swimming for the sake of swimming.

"It's alright," Trent soothed. "I've got you. There are plenty of pokemon here who would help, if you needed it. You're safe." He didn't let go of her hand, even as they got into slightly deeper water.

"I can swim," Aleron grumbled, though she didn't let go of his hand. "I just don't, unless I have to."

"I know," Trent said. "That means we need to get you more comfortable in the water, and part of that is knowing that you're perfectly safe."

"And why do we need to get me more comfortable in water?" Aleron did feel better when Red moved under her, brushing her feet before moving away again.

"What if something happens and you don't have Big Red around?" Trent pointed out as Lady followed suit and swam under them.

Aleron hesitated at that. Okay, that was a kind of valid point. So she sighed and swam a bit further out.

"You don't have to get into the deep end today," Trent said as he went with her. "Small steps."

"This is the deep end," Aleron grumbled. "My feet aren't on the ground, it's the deep end."

"Lady and Red are twenty-five feet down in the middle of the pond," Trent said, grinning a bit. "We're still practically in the shallows." He gestured to his pokemon and Blastoise came over to them, coming up underneath them so Aleron was standing on his shell.

Aleron relaxed a little at that. "You didn't have to ask him to do that," she said after a moment, once she was feeling a little more confident.

"Feel free to step off any time," Trent said, grinning.

Aleron rolled her eyes and watched Jolteon paddle back over to them. "You ever been tossed in a river?" she asked after several moments of silence.

"Sure, plenty of times," Trent replied, nodding. "That was how I found Lady, actually."

"Then you're crazy," Aleron said flatly, watching Red roll just underneath the surface of the water, sending little waves their way.

"Rivers, as long as they aren't rapids, are good places to find pokemon," Trent said. "Rivers connect everything, so you can find a lot of variety in them." He rolled his eyes at Red and splashed a little water his way.

"Yeah, well, rapids are not fun," Aleron said, her voice flat. Jolteon growled at Red and started to swim circles around his person.

"No, they're not," Trent agreed. "Even I don't like rapids. But normal rivers are good."

"Rapids are part of why I don't like swimming," Aleron admitted slowly. "I fell in one when I was younger, got swept out almost two miles. Took my older brother a while to get me."