Oh, Arceus.

How could Josh not know ‘The King and I’?! This was… outrageous!

To be fair it was about the only musical she could stand watching, if but for the cheesy song numbers that were interspersed between acts. Who knew that the story was kind of (sort of?) based on an actual story that took place in a faraway nation—only everyone had their own tropical Pokémon and it was utter bedlam.

She then chuckled at his attempt at romance, cheesy yet subdued.

“Hey, the kids might catch you,” she teased back as she leaned into his touch before finally finding the radio station she was looking for and setting it down not too far from where they stood.

“Alright, lead the way.”

As she descended deep into the belly of the ship—she realized that there was something amiss.

Who knew that her partner had called it right when he’d asked her to check out the engine room?! Instead of finding pirates down there, she found passed-out crew members, and the control panel was set on autopilot at that moment. Checking the crew members to make sure they were just asleep, she sighed.

“No wonder…” she mused out loud, before hearing several thumping noises not too far up ahead. Oh? There was something going down?

Making a mad dash out of the engine room, she prepared herself for the inevitable and swung a fist out at someone who had tried to grab her from one side, before following it up with a sweeping axe kick.

“Oh no you don’t!” she exclaimed as the woozy brigand—she could smell the stench of rhum on his breath—attempted to grab her and knock her out.

“Not on this ship, you jackass!” she added a few moments later as she brought down her elbow and sent the brigand reeling. She could hear more shouting the further top deck she went, and presumed that the one she’d knocked out was the one who had knocked out the crew members down below.

“Making me take the lead now, are you?” she teased back with a grin.

Sighing, as she knew there was no other way she was getting out of this, she followed suit and began helping the two shrieking children (who ended up playing in the water after being distracted by the Froakie) and showed them how to kick-paddle with their feet.

It was so cheesy, yet at the same time it felt so right to do because well, they were a family, and families did things together, right?

Eventually, she took both their hands and slowly led them out to deeper water.

“Hold on tight, you two. Keep kicking. You’re lighter than the water, keep kicking like how I showed you,” she encouraged them as she waded out towards waist-deep water.

Ah, subtlety.

It was something she’d learned to pick up on all those years she was travelling through the known world with her then-boyfriend, now-husband. People-watching skills? She definitely picked up on those from him. While not an official member of the organization that he was a part of, she had learned a lot of useful things…

“For starters,” she began with a chuckle, “…everyone is up here on board—look over at the buffet table,” she pointed out. It was nearing dinner time, and most of everyone was milling around the dinner spread. Even the crew members were helping themselves off to a smaller table on one side.

“…good idea. I’ll do that,” she nodded, reaching into her back pocket and pulling out a pair of metal-plated gauntlets and slipping them on. “Be careful up here.”

Oh, she had no idea of what was waiting for her down below as she descended below decks…

Unfortunately the next thing that she came across was something… that she wasn’t in the market for.

Sighing, she left the Sunkern alone—she was pretty sure there were more people who would appreciate the Grass-type. She wasn’t one of them.

And to think she was looking for two very specific Pokémon in the Safari Zone! Well, what was she going to do? She had no idea… honestly she just wanted to go scream in a corner about it.

Now, on to the next location!

She had actually decided to put her ‘training’ to use, and was now—well, she was part of the Rangers now, so to speak. Even if she had kids and a family, well, at least it allowed her (actually it gave her) a pretty good excuse to be out and about with Pokémon.

It also gave her reason to look for nice Pokémon she could bring home and show the kids! So right now, finding herself all the way out here on the shores of Eastern Hoenn… well this was a quandary.

Normally she did things together with Josh, but seeing as he was playing catch-up with a fellow agent from who knew where (Thomas) she decided to strike out with this one by herself.

“If they were here, I would know,” she replied, her eyes roving through the crowd.

The last thing she encountered was a…

It was—she couldn’t find words for it.

Izumi could only stare at the pink-colored…thing…that was floating out of the water. How was it not dying?! She could only shake her head in silent wonder at the Jellicent as it continued on its merry way.

Okay, now she was starting to regret not getting the Horsea from earlier. While it was no Mudkip, it would’ve worked while she was trying to get the rest of her Pokémon back.

Now see, that was fucking regret right there.

At those words, Izumi froze.

A nervous chuckle escaped her, before she looked over where Josh stood. Did she—did she just hear that right?

Inside her mind, she was screaming and flipping all manner of tables; however on the outside she was just—a blank face of what appeared to be stoic calm. Keep it in, keep it down, she thought as she turned to face their children once more.

“No, there is no such thing as a water-type Pi—Pi—Pikachu.”

Hell, she even stammered when she mentioned the Pokémon’s name.

What the fresh hell.

If there was one thing Izumi was good at, it was the art of distraction. Either way, she was able to divert his attention from all seriousness into something that required a little more… ‘loving’, to say the least.

She’d very nearly missed the Magmar, though.

Thankfully, they didn’t end up getting roasted alive thanks to his quick thinking.

“You think we can find our own hot springs when we get back home, then?” she asked him—catching sight of a Gulpin but allowing the small sucker to escape unharmed. It wasn’t even doing anything to them, either way. “Our own private bath…”

Well, maybe there was something about a private hot springs to call their own in more ways than one. They’d have to dig into the side of the mountain though, and she didn’t know if that was allowed…

“Well, if you can tell them to get the hell ready and join us here as quickly as they can then you’re free to get them. I’ll keep an eye on the kids,” she replied as she gently pried his hands from the whining kids since they wanted to see where the hell they had ended up at.

Well, it wasn’t Slateport Beach, but it was far quieter. And the white rock of the city made the view even more pristine than it normally looked.

“Either way, this place is much less crowded. Shall I get the stuff set up?” she added as she took the picnic basket from his hold and began to pull things out from inside it. There would be a need for a beach umbrella later; the important thing was to get the entire place set up as soon as possible so the kids could start running for the shores of the crater lake and start swimming in the cold, crisp, clear water.

At least it’s not salt water! She added to herself in the back of her mind.

“Okay then, Mister ‘I know kung-fu’, show me your best moves, then,” she teased back, this mischievous twinkle in her eyes. She was looking for that one radio station that played nothing but dance music the entire time it was on-air, and happened to pass by a few sports-related channels while she was at it.

Sports? Wasn’t dancing also considered to be a… ‘sport’, in some circles? Either way, she knew that there was such a thing called ‘competitive dancing’, but hell if Izumi could cut a rug across a ball room floor.

The only kinds of dance she knew were the ones that her mother had grown up with back in Ecruteak, so…

Well, then.

“Or do I have to look for that one song from that… that one musical and make a fool of myself dancing to ‘Shall we Dance’ around here and hope the kids don’t wake up?” she posed a few moments later.

All she could do was internally shrug at his response before following him into the water. To nobody’s surprise, his Froakie was already lounging in the surf, blowing bubbles towards the two and generally keeping the kids preoccupied.

Izumi then looked over at Josh before nodding in her Braviary’s direction. “Keep an eye out for us if anything weird happens, okay,” she said in the avian’s direction before kicking off her sandals and joining the three in the water. While she wasn’t a fan of salt water, she wouldn’t say no to a round or two of swimming in the surf—no matter how salty the water tasted.

“Okay, Mister ‘I’m the world’s best swimmer’,” she teased her husband, “Do teach us the first thing to do when we’re out in the water.”

Maybe the ego needed to be patted every once in a while…

“Why you dissin’ the mini boombox?” Izumi sassed him, sticking out her tongue his way.

“Is it because you’re not so used to having everything literally at your fingertips is why you’re sassin’ the boombox?” she added a few moments later as she continued to crank it up.

“Besides, having a crankable radio like this is loads easier to carry around. Just gimme a bit,” she went on as she continued to crank the radio in her hands several more times, and continued on winding it just a few more extra times for good measure just in case the danged thing cut out on them mid-dance.

“Oh, right,” she smirked a few moments later as she looked up.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know how to dance?” she teased.