“You hunt and fight pirates?” That did surprise her, actually. Granted, she did not exactly know what a sailor really did for a living, but she had not expected that. More something related to ferrying goods or fishing. Though the suspicious lack of nets and rods should have tipped her off in that regard. However, hunting pirates was still somewhat outlandish. She hadn’t even known that pirates still existed. Hadn’t they all been made extinct by changing climate or something? A guy she’d taken for a ride had talked about that, once. However, it seemed like they still existed. Her question had been poised with some incredulity, yes, but she did not actually think that Skyler would actually lie to her. The woman was prone to pranks, yes, but no serious lies.

And speaking of pranks, Vi shot her a confused glance when she was pulled in, though she certainly did not mind it at all. Then the boat suddenly lunged forwards, drawing a surprised yelp from her lips as she held onto the other a bit more strongly. Clearly, that had been the point of this tactic.
It was well played though. Still clinging to the other, eyes squinting to shield herself a bit from water coming at them in unusual ways, she found herself laughing a little, too. It was quite a ride indeed, something she would not get any other day. The only small problem was that, in doing so suddenly, they kind of put Frosmoth in a tight spot. The Pokemon had to follow somehow, not having been secured on top of the boat right away. And thanks to its overuse of that ability during the Pokeathlon, it simply reacted as it always did, conjuring up a Tailwind that kicked up behind them.

That way, it was able to follow along – but as always, the ability was indiscriminate, causing it to also boost a nearby Frillish just minding its business. Having just dodged the boat bruising along, the Frillish was agitated already. Now it was suddenly pushed towards said boat again, ultimately ending up crashing into the two girls, while a confused Frosmoth ended up overshooting and confusedly flapping about. Fortunately, the boat had already stopped by then and, assumedly, Skyler would still hold onto them, even if the sudden appearance of a oddly-feeling ghost would most likely rattle her cage substantially.
Hearing the confused cry of her Frosmoth, in addition to being caught flat-footed herself, Violet acted on impulse, putting the lessons of her father to use. She was only really able to do that when she didn’t have time to think, really. Usually, she was much too stubborn and uncaring to swap out pokemon. But, wriggling her hands free, she would recall Frosmoth and instead tap the ball with her Golett. “Shadow Punch it!” she called out, not really knowing if that thing was an actual threat.

But it had attacked them, so she instinctively attacked back, the ghostly golem landing on the boat with a thud and immediately going into a punching motion towards the Frillish. Vio wasn’t really thinking far ahead, just wanting to scare that thing off. However, the attack connected, hitting the befuddled ghost in the jellyface. Smelling an opportunity once more, the girl simply threw one of her remaining balls at it anyway, hoping to hit the right ghost in the fray.

- Attacks the Frillish and attempts to catch

Phew. That was a problem sorted out immediately. Or so she thought. Two pairs of confused eyes - one icy set with a hint of bemusement, the other utterly life- and emotionless would turn towards the dear sailor. Her sudden departure had been rather surprising, after all. Granted, it was not the first time that someone had reacted in such a way to her Golett. Lots of people were super superstitious for some reason. Vio really didn't get that. She'd spent most of her life with ghost Pokemon, having had her Dreepy and Golett for years now. They were a little bit different from most 'mons, yes, but not massively so. In fact, some of those beings were made of ice or living ice, which was much more dangerous. Golett though was very huggable.
Thus, she had not at all expected someone this strong and dependable to outright run from it, even if she should know quite well that one of Vi's team would never cause her harm. Though it was good to know that she could capitalize on this in a pinch. Good enough.

Still though, in that very moment, de-escalation was probably better. With something somewhere between a pout and a sigh, she raised the ball once more. "Come back for now," she told the little golem, who was intently watching the other woman with a slightly angled, curious face. For now though, it vanished. Instead, she fished for another ball on the belt and brought out her Gardevoir. It was probably best to have a Pokemon out. “Didn’t tell me there would be this many Pokemon appearing here….” She muttered to herself – right before she had to jump backwards for a small freakin’ whale suddenly landed on deck. “What the…! I don’t know about you, but I think these sorts of things happen if ghosts are about or not!”

It was really weird after all. Not the epitome of weirdness, though. Mostly because, well, as the whale-mon landed hard there, it happened to spit out what was at least halfway in its mouth, possibly even in its belly. A whole other Pokemon. How did it get there? Well, how did a bipedal fairy get into the middle of the ocean, anyway? It seemed most likely that the other one had either been actively trying to eat it or….no, she wasn’t going to think too hard on that. The little doggy was on deck now, clearly being weakened as it stumbled about without any sense of balance. Gardevoir, being a bit mischievous, just decided to float over and give the little one a push, causing it to fall over. Probably had been hit by the psychic, too. Well, and almost potentially half eaten. Poor thing.
Despite running relatively low on balls, Vio threw one at the mon anyway. She could always release it later, but it was cute and hurt, the inside of a ball was safe and had some sort of healing properties she never truly understood. It was better than just…scrubbing it off the deck? That would have been terrible, even for her.

That being tried, she would sigh once more. “You really hate ghosts that much, though?”

- attempts to catch Snubbull

It made some sense, yes. But somehow, in her ears, it just sounded like ‘I don’t like ghosts’ and little more. Maybe Vio was being a bit childish about this in particular. But it wasn’t like she could help it anyway. That was just how she took it when someone seemingly insulted her mons. Sure, she didn’t treat them all that well herself. But that was her prerogative. Others would have to first earn that right.
Did that mean Skyler hadn’t yet? Violet briefly blinked, wondering that to herself. It was the logical conclusion, wasn’t it? If she still felt like that, it probably meant that Sky had not yet reached that point, that she wasn’t part in this family. Then again, Vio had severe issues in that regard anyway and wouldn’t let any of her family members do that either.

She sighed, then decided to let it go. It was probably horribly unfair to expect her feelings to be catered for all the time, anyway. Or to judge relative strangers by such harsh standards. Instead, she gave a slight smile while listening to the instructions following, trying to handle the device for the time being. It was faintly familiar to her. One of those ranger exercises father had taken her to had been about this, hadn’t it?
Whilst sorting that out, she noticed a brief encounter with a Feebas, along with a Seel swimming nearby as well. Recalling her own Gardevoir – since it couldn’t dive with them – she still pulled out another ball anyway. Best to have someone under her control down there. Well, supposedly at least. She hadn’t actually tried this one out yet. But it had seemed useful for a trip like this, so she had packed the Cloyster, which she called forth now. Conducting a brief field test, she had him send an Ice Spear at the Seel and, since it seemed wounded after, threw one of her remaining balls at it too. This was a cute looking one, after all. Not as ugly as that Feebas thing.

Though the one who’d potentially caught that was far from ugly, of course. Once more finding herself close and face to face with Skyler, Violet briefly blushed, then nodded, before closing her eyes and trying to follow. This would be tough, after all. To hit the water and keep going, instead of returning to the surface. But she felt safe enough with this woman. She could risk it, this time.

- attempts to catch Seel

This was a whole new world she had never experienced before. No other way to put it. Diving briefly after jumping into a lake before coming up to get water was one thing. But allowing herself to fall so deep, being entirely surrounded by the depths and seeing a very different ecosystem altogether? That was incredibly different. Sure, she had seen depictions of what was below the waves relatively often as a child. Even as a toddler, it had been father’s ideal to turn her into another ranger too, so he’d mostly given her nature-related picture books from a young age. Experiencing it was quite something, though. She honestly liked this a lot more than what she had been shown before. It felt exciting, it felt different. And she could get used to new experiences like this.

Especially with someone who seemed to adore her, despite all the ghost business. Vio did her very best to not get left behind, even though there was next to no chance of that actually happening. Her guide was taking good care of her. Yet, she wanted to prove herself just a little bit, so she ensured to not fall back too much and to describe a bow of sorts when being given a little pearl. Didn’t quite know what to do with it, but she took it anyway. Gifts were always welcome.

In the meantime – and it was mean, since her pokemon did have quite the aggressive streak as it floated about – the latter was making new acquaintances. The Cloyster briefly followed the school of Goldeen for a bit, as if to chase them away. Once they’d left, it all but huffed victoriously, before suddenly turning around angrily when something bumped into it from behind. The Piplup responsible did look just as befuddled, but narrowed its gaze as well when the bigger mon simply glared at it. After a good minute of glaring and angry posturing, Cloyster broke the stalemate first, simply smacking the other mon with one of its spikes. It was more an act of marking one’s territory or such than an attack, really.
But a brief fight erupted anyway, both pokemon exchanging some attacks. But ultimately, the Piplup got hit square by another Ice Spear and just drifted around dazed. The Cloyster then proceeded to push it around, towards its master, presenting it ultimately like a cat might present a caught mouse.

Vi, surprised and a little confused, decided to just accept that this had happened, logging an underwater pokeball at the mon just in case and deciding to more closely monitor Cloyster.
However, soon Skyler approached her and distracted her once more. Violet allowed herself to be drawn to the surface once more, eventually breaking it and greedily inhaling proper air, once the apparatus was temporarily suspended. “Yeah, it is certainly something else,” she replied, slightly short on breath, only now feeling the first vestiges of exhaustion. Maybe a little break was in order, after all. Hence she followed quickly and decidedly.


- attempts to catch Piplup