Josh could admit, it was a little... Interesting that a free yacht trip had been offered in some sort of contest that they had conveniently won. But as a former Interpol agent, it was inevitable he was going to be suspicious of just about everything that seemed, well, suspicious. But so far, there didn't seem to be any issues. It was a nice hot day out, they were able to relax at the side and talk out their previous issues from the museum. Josh had already explained his side -- Izumi had acted completely in a way that was not okay and had been completely unapologetic about it, and worse yet, done so in front of the kids who they needed to be better examples for.

Things were fine at the moment at least though, and the two were relaxing at deckside while the kids ran about. Josh reached over just as Izumi tried to make small talk to sneak a playful little peck on her lips when she faced him, greeting her with a cheeky smile. "Is now" he teased. Their sunbathing was fun, but he did enjoy her company a bit more.

“You know, I envy you slightly,” she remarked as she turned red at his affectionate peck on the cheek. “You can go shirtless whenever, wherever. Whereas I, can’t. And that sucks,” she added with a sigh as she gave his topless form a very appreciative look before winking at him.

“Lucky I have this very nice view for myself, too,” she teased as she poked him in the side with a greasy finger before offering him some grilled meat to chow down on.

“I got some food, you want?” she gestured to the platter of barbeque on the table between them. It wasn’t just crammed with the meat sticks, there were also burgers and hotdog buns atop it. Enough for them all to enjoy.

While he always had one eye towards the kids, watching them like a Braviary at all times, there was love in his eyes no matter where he looked, between the kids and her. He smirked at her remarks in turn. "I never mind the sight of yourself like that, if it makes you feel any better" he teased right back, tilting his head to sneak a second peck, this time on the lips. Of course the kids weren't looking at the time, he made sure of it.

When she offered the meat on the stick, he laughed a bit as he leaned over and caught the food with his teeth. There was plenty more though, and he would certainly get his share by the end of it if he could help it. Getting up to his feet, he squeezed her hand playfully as he went to see what the kids were doing. Of course, they were looking through the railings in hopes of finding Pokemon.

It appeared the Applin didn't fall far from the Trevenant.

“You really picked the right time to do that when they’re not looking, eh,” Izumi chuckled as she felt her cheeks burn red this time at the full-on kiss on the lips. “You know what they’re going to say if they saw you at that moment,” she added as she burst out into a chuckle.

“Zach, Lyra, don’t stick your heads out too far!” she called out again as she took another bite from the skewered meat on her stick. Once the stick was empty, she then reached for a burger before chuckling his way.

“Seriously, you think they can find something if they do that,” she added a few moments later. “Ah, drats, I forgot to get the drinks. I’ll be right back…”

With that she stood up and made her way back to the buffet table to get some fruit punch for them. Stopping a few moments, she then took a small cup and had a sample of the fruity drink, relishing said fruity taste in her mouth. She couldn’t tell what the other flavors were, but one thing was for sure, there was a lot of lemon in this one!

"Well, of course. That's the whole idea of waiting until they're distracted" the blonde teased right back, sticking his tongue out at his wife in turn. He knew what they'd say, so he'd made sure they didn't see. Izumi called for the kids not to stick their heads out too far, and they both looked to her with a look that viewed her as the world's biggest party pooper, but they obliged. That got a laugh out of dad.

Izumi went to get drinks, and after a quick glance to see if the kids were distracted, Josh pulled out an old trick as he playfully reached forward and tapped her rump. He shot her a wry little wink as she left. No matter how many years went by, he never did get tired of that. Sign of a healthy marriage, perhaps?

But Izumi wouldn't have long to try and get herself some drinks, as the doors to the inner hold would suddenly open, and a group of rough looking men would run past her, not noticing her as they dashed through, carrying weapons. On the other end, some who had been clinging to the lifeboats below the deck would climb up onto the deck as Josh sprang to his feet. The kids backed up in surprise, but quickly found knives pointed at them, causing them to cower against the wall.

"Any valuables and Pokemon ya got, hand 'em over before the kids-"

Josh didn't know how they'd gotten here, though he had ideas. But he didn't really care. But the moment the kids shirked like that (And Zachary had let out a terrified little whine and started to cry for his father) something seemed to snap in his head. They hadn't finished their statement before, just as Lightning came to Josh's side, he had let out Fawkes as well. He didn't say a word.

"Are you deaf, boy? Or the kids will-"

The Charizard let out a loud roar as Josh held out his hand and immediately placed the other atop the Keystone. The look on his face was cold as ice, his teeth were bared and there was almost a dark glow to his expression as the Keystone started to glow without a word or any sort of emotion out of him besides searing anger. Fawkes began to steadily transform...



The Mega Evolved Charizard by mere presence alone caused the pirates to steadily back away from the children... As if slowly realizing the error of their decision making.

Izumi caught on the little action before she’d left to get some food, and an equally wry smile flashed across her face for a few moments before she distracted herself at the buffet table.

Wondering if she’d be able to balance as much food as she could bring back to where they were seated, enjoying the free time they had—the entire scene changed when several ruffians burst through from below decks. She blinked, much like a deer caught in headlights the moment they started talking.

She heard the screaming, the terrified outcries of the other passengers before she saw a familiar light and a very familiar Charizard had transformed from its normal coloration into a darker hue.

“Oh, boy,” she muttered as she slowly put the food platters down and searched around for her Pokéballs… eventually finding one and sending out her Gardevoir, Momiji. Hoping that she wasn’t going to be spotted by the bunch of dunderheads, she raised a finger to her lips before the Gardevoir held out its arm and they both disappeared in a Teleport.

And everyone thought Izumi was useless…

Josh had quietly let his Meowstic out of its Pokeball while the pirates were stunned by the revelation of the Mega Charizard. As they backed away, the Meowstic swooped in, and a telekinetic field lifted up both of the twins as the Meowstic flew off with them to a safe place where they wouldn't need to see what was to come. Unfortunately for the pirates, they would be getting front row seats. An interactive experience, so to speak. The pirates remembered they had Pokemon and began to send them out, but a large scale Flamethrower from the Mega Charizard meant they were back in their Pokeballs soon after. Josh wasted no time as he emerged through the smoke from the attack, extending something he'd taken from his pocket into a staff as the blunt end slammed into the skull of one of the pirates.

They didn't know what hit them.

Josh quickly wheeled back and struck another in the shoulder, before reeling his head back and hitting them with a hard headbutt that quickly folded them. The next tried to swing, but Josh blocked it before plunging the other half into their gut. This half though, was electrified! A hundred volts shot through the pirate's body, before Josh switched to one hand and balled the other into a fist to slam straight into their gobber. Another charged from behind and grabbed at his staff, but Josh used that to his advantage. With great strength, he flipped the staff over, also flipping over the ill-intentioned pirate and sending them crashing into the barbecue. That looked like it hurt.

The one who swung at him next had been the one to take the kids hostage.

His continued being here was a mistake.

But this one was more careful, more conniving. He had sent out another Pokemon, an Electabuzz. As the Electabuzz fired a Thunderbolt at Josh, they would find the move did nothing as Lightning had matched it with one of his own. As the attacks cancelled each other out, Josh emerged from the smoke cloud and grabbed his nose, before slamming the back of his head into the wall...

And then again, and again, and again...

"YOU!"

Pure rage screamed out with every word that came next as he spit his bile, slamming their skull into the wall with every word...

"PUT!"

Slam.

"YOUR HANDS!"

Slam.

"ON MY BABIES!"

There was no control. Only anger. They had tried to take away the two most precious things in the world to him to make a quick buck. And daddy was beyond pissed.

Where was she while the shit had hit the fan?

The two had reappeared behind a rather deserted corner, and she then held up her fingers to her lips again just in case they came across some late dunderheads who wanted in on the fun.

And there was one whose back was turned to her, before she reached into her… tankini’s pockets… and pulled out her gloves.

Yes, call her insane for traveling with the weapons of her trade even on a cruise ship but it never hurt to be prepared, right? Anywho…

She then slowly approached the pirate who was busy cackling at the spectacle before aiming a well-practiced whack on the back of his neck.

The pirate fell like a sack of potatoes right after that. The Gardevoir chuckled, before floating the pirate away with her latent powers as she cleared a path towards the biggest commotion, knocking out several more pirates along the way with some combination of luck and stealth.

Of course, she wasn’t prepared to see what the fuck was happening up front.

“Come on, you shitheads, get out of my sight, what the hell’s going on,” she muttered softly as she knocked out yet another distracted pirate, floated away by her Gardevoir a few moments later as they approached the center of the source of noise.

Try as they might, the pirates found themselves overwhelmed by the enraged father’s assault, and the sneak attacks by the mother. Eventually the two came to learn that this had been a setup: The yacht contest was a scam to rob people. Josh had found this out by interrogating the ship’s captain, who had also been in on the attack. The would-be muggers would be pacified and soon enough arrested, and taken out of their sight.

Too bad the family didn’t get their “won” yacht vacation huh?

Well...

In the aftermath of the attack, authorities stormed the head building for the scammers when it turned out the ones behind it were a boat manufacturing company, who had tried to use their resources to scam and rob people for profit. With the owners now in the clink for a very long time and the scam getting out killing their business, they soon enough filed for bankruptcy and were forced to sell their assets at a heavily marked down price if they hoped to salvage pretty much any money from this. That’s just how business works, doesn’t it?

So what happened? How does this apply to our tale?

Well, after their little day out had been ruined, one Serena Dragomir suddenly got very ambitious. “I’ve always wanted to try outfitting vehicles!” the elderly redhead had cried out as her eureka moment struck.

So she bought the boat.

The exact same one they had tried to rob them on.

At the price it was at, it was practically a steal. The cunning businesswoman that she was, the owner and chairwoman of Raicorp was able to leverage the fact they had tried to rob her own family, and attempted to harm her grandchildren in particular, into an even more marked down rate. Even Josh thought it was a little scary just how good she was at haggling and at persuasion. It was pretty clear that Raicorp hadn't succeeded just on her mechanical genius alone.

Though she also looked very scary in general just talking about what they had done and had tried to do. She could have bought the thing at the current marked down price, it was already a steal, a drop in the bucket compared to Raicorp's resources.

But this wasn't about money to her. Grand-Mom wanted blood.

At the end of the day, the yacht was theirs and for hardly anything compared to what they could afford. After fixing it up because the thing wasn't up to her standards -- "shabby-ass job they done" she had proclaimed before getting to work -- she had outfitted it with her own tech, and it was the most unique looking boat that Josh had ever seen.

Perhaps in the next instance they'd figure out a name for it.

For now though, it looks like their vacation is only just getting started. This time, they could even bring the whole family!