The pristine sanctuary of natural aquatic beauty that is Lake Watercress is fed by a single larger river and several smaller streams emanating from the high peaks of the local mountain range comprising the backbone of central Sinnoh, including the imposingly lofty Mt. Coronet. Its surface lying roughly several hundred feet above sea level and its lowest depths exceeding two hundred feet below sea level, the lake initially formed as the large glaciers over northern Sinnoh retreated following the last ice age over a millennium ago. The lake is filled with some of the purest naturally occurring water in the entire region, its waters teeming with much life, ranging from large schools of Magikarp and Feebas to the occasional Gyarados or Milotic. The surface itself was largely moss free, with many clusters of fresh watercress growing around the lake's periphery, hence its namesake. Occasionally, animals like Leafy and many other omnivores and herbivores would come to gather or graze upon the watercress and various similar semi-aquatic plants. Fish and insects of all kinds enjoyed feeding off it occasionally, too. Being an interior freshwater body, the temperature of the lake water was variably cool to cold year-round, but could get somewhat warm near the surface in the summer months. It was very common for the lake to freeze over at least once per winter, the ice being as thick as two to three feet in particularly frigid seasons. On a sunny spring day like today, though, the ice of winter had long melted away and gave way to the increased annual abundance of life the lake was long known for.

One of these many denizens is a young female Vaporeon name Aquamarine. This morning, she is seen swimming briskly several dozen feet beneath the surface of Lake Watercress. The brisk swim helps to both wake her up after a long night's sleep, as well as entertain her thoroughly as she performs loops, corkscrews, and even the occasional underwater barrel roll all around the lake's central photic zone. Around and around the lake she swims, playfully chasing the occasional Squirtle, Piplup, or Oshawott she encounters along the way. Most of them are highly familiar with Aquamarine's antics, and often welcome her presence, especially since as a local predator, she can help ward off and protect any other would-be predators for them whenever she's in the area. "I'm gonna get ya silly Oshawott!" she thinks with a smirk, swimming faster and cutting corners until she quickly overtakes him, nipping his tail playfully. "Heh heh, you finally got me!" he says with a giggle. "Hey, you knew I was gonna getcha soon enough! There's no escaping this Vaporeon for long!" she replies, smiling widely. Together, they play around a while longer, swimming all the way near the dark bottom of the lake before quickly returning back up near the surface again. "Whew, that was some swim! Thanks a lot buddy!" she tells him. "No problem Aqua! I'll be here anytime ya wanna play or fish together!" he reminds her before returning to his lakeside home near the mouth of the adjacent river.

Having finished her daily morning exercise, Aquamarine decides it is good time to fish for breakfast. A couple medium-sized fish is more than enough to sustain her appetite, and within mere minutes, she has successfully rounded up her quota, placing the fish on the lakeshore and emerging from the lake onto dry land, shaking her fur off as she does so. "All right, time to sushify these lil' fishies!" she determines, using her claws to carefully descale, skin, and debone the fish. Once that task is complete, she disposes of the remains, apportions the fillets into several smaller chunks each, salts them lightly, and wraps each piece in fresh watercress leaves. "Perfect, just the way I like 'em!"she thinks, taking a single piece at a time and consuming each slowly to get the most out of every bite. Although she was certainly not a trained sushi chef by any means, one could agree that for a wild animal, she could definitely make a mean raw fish roll all her own not quite like anyone else, especially given the rather limited natural resources she had to create her recipes from.

Her breakfast gladly eaten through to the very last bite, Aquamarine heads back into the lake to converse with some of her lake friends for the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon. These friends consisted of a female Seadra, a female Swanna, and a male Skrelp. "Good morning Aqua! How're you doing today?" the Seadra greets her with a smile. "Oh, you know, same as usual. How 'bout you?" Aquamarine asks back. "Doin' quite swell myself! Glad you asked. Anything new happening with you lately?" the Seadra responds. "I'm afraid not, but that's all right. Rather the same things day in and day out than something new and unpleasant," Aquamarine answers candidly, floating on her back for a moment and staring into the blurry blue sky from underwater. "I'll be honest, though. I'd certainly welcome something new and interesting into my life if it were a truly good thing. Life's never full of enough of those I'd imagine, even a fairly peaceful one like mine," she adds. "True that, but if that were to happen Aqua… how exactly would you respond to it?" the Seadra notes, eagerly awaiting the next response from the Vaporeon. "Hmm… I'm not fully sure just yet, but knowing me, I'd probably embrace it with open arms and, well, just be myself, I guess. What else can I do better than that, you know?" Aquamarine states with a gentle chuckle, flicking her tail swiftly back and forth in the water in anticipation of such a possibility, almost as if to sense it looming on the horizon of her life. To this, the Seadra chuckles back. "Aqua girl, I sure hope something good befalls you soon, 'cause you deserve it for being such a good friend to me and others, too!" she tells Aquamarine, fluttering her fins happily in place for a moment. "All right then, thanks for the chat friend!" Aquamarine responds, grinning. She then bids the Seadra adieu and heads to the home of her Skrelp friend.

The Skrelp is still finishing up tidying his rocky abode when he notices a certain Vaporeon girl approaching him. "Oh, hey there Aqua. What brings you here today?" he asks, flicking away some loose silt from the ground below him with his tailfins. "Nothing special, just wantin' to talk for a bit, that's all," she tells him, smiling slightly. "Oh, well all right. So, what's up?" he says, dusting away some more silt periodically throughout their conversation. "Well, I talked with Seagana earlier, and she and I mentioned that perhaps sometime soon, something abnormally good might happen to me since I'm such a good person and friend and such. Plus, it's been so long since something truly special happened around here, we're due! What do you think? Do you agree?" she explains. Pausing to think for a moment, the Skrelp retorts, "I suppose so. You are a great friend to us, after all. You deserve it!" "Oh Skelly, I'm flattered, but do you really mean it? I'm inclined to believe you do!" an excited Aquamarine responds. "I think you already know the answer to that Aqua," Skelly hints with wink. "Yay! Thanks for thinking the same way!" Aquamarine states happily, nuzzling the small Skrelp suddenly, much to his surprise. "Heh, no problem!" Skelly assures her. After talking for a while longer about various other topics, Aquamarine says her goodbyes to Skelly for now, swimming up to the surface and across to the north side of the lake to where her last friend, the Swanna, lives.

Today, the Swanna finds herself preparing more bedding materials for her young cygnets to nest in. Humming to herself quietly, she is busy weaving some reeds into a pillow when she observes Aquamarine emerge from the water and approach her hastily. "Aqua, what a delight seeing you already at this hour. Are you in a rush to see me?" she inquires of her with a smile. "Not necessarily, but I am certainly excited to tell you this: I think something new and good's gonna happen to me soon, and Seagana and Skelly both agree! Isn't that great?" Aquamarine exuberantly exclaims. "Is that so? Well, I for one think that's a most lovely expectation to look forward to! I hope that regardless of whatever it is that happens, it's all you ever wanted it to be and more!" the Swanna wishfully remarks. "All I ever wanted… hmm, that's an intriguing new angle of this I never before considered 'til now. I appreciate the support though Swanita, certainly!" says Aquamarine in response. "The pleasure is mine, dear. Anytime!" Swanita speaks back, continuing hard at work on her reed weaving task. As with Seagana and Skelly before, Aquamarine stays a while to talk with Swanita about random subjects until eventually leaving later in the afternoon, taking a short afternoon swim before resting an hour or so afterwards in her underground den, which is conveniently connected on one end to the lake underwater, and on the other to the dry land above.

A rumbling belly reawakens Aquamarine, leading her to pursue more fish in the lake for dinner, this time leaving some extra fish out to dry in the sun while the rest is consumed the same way as before. The dried fish would become like a sort of fish jerky, which she would store in her own subterranean cellar of sorts, snacking on it periodically in the days ahead whenever needed. Dinner finished, she spends the rest of the day practicing a couple new swimming techniques of hers, improving noticeably from her efforts the previous session. As nighttime sets in, she returns to her den, prays, and curls up to sleep, dreaming all throughout the night of her hidden future.