The smell of salt hung in the air of a small seaside town. Pokémon of all kinds, some residents and some just passing through, all went about this warm, sunny day happily. But today was a bit different compared to normal. The town was far livelier than normal, and for good reason.

Most of the town was gathered in the central area, used for giving announcements and as a hangout spot for the locals, watching a group of traveling Mienshao performers spin and hope their way across a wooden stage, dancing with extraordinary coordination. Their bodies twirled and moved in strange, fascinating ways, leaving the crowd they danced for in awe. Everything was perfect… Almost.

Among the other performers on the stage was a Mienfoo, younger than all of her siblings but still old enough to not be a child. She moved much like the other performers, but she wasn't as experienced as them, and her smaller size meant that she had to move differently than everyone else, making her steps off-beat enough to be noticeable to someone who was watching her in particular.

And there was always someone watching her.

It wasn't long until the performance was done, the music coming to a halt as the crowd erupted into applause, a few whistles ringing out as the dancers all stepped forward to give their bows to the audience.

After the crowd dispersed, the rather large family was left to talk and count the coin their performance brought them, which wasn't insignificant by any means. They were all happy with how the performance went.

All, except for one.

"SYLVIA!" A voice rang out over the crowd as a larger Mienshao walked towards the youngest of her children. Her body was muscular, yet also sleek, a testament to her countless years in her profession. The rest of the performers stepped back; their mother's scoldings were something to fear.

"Don't think for a second I didn't see those slip-ups! I know I taught you better than that!"

"B-But, Mom, I-"

What followed was a swift whip across the Mienfoo's face from the fur covering her mother's arms.

"And don't call me that! I am your mother, and I will be addressed as such! Honestly, I might as well throw you in the ocean while we're here… useless…"

Sylvia bowed her head in shame. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened. And it most likely wouldn't be the last. "Yes, Mother."

"There we go. Was that so hard? I'll just have to train you harder to make sure you don't drag us all down with you." The Mienshao scoffed. "For now, just… get out. I'll have Jonathan or Augustus find you when we're leaving. At least I can rely on them."

"Y-Yes… Mother…" She gulped and turned to leave, walking away from her family. She rubbed her cheek as she walked off, which still hurt from the whipping she got. No matter how many times it happened, it still hurt the same every time.

Sylvia sighed and looked around at the local shops, trying to find something to do for now. Maybe she could head down to the beach and just relax on the sand… but then her mother would be mad at her for getting sand in her fur. And the last thing she wanted was another sore cheek. She was considering what else there might be around here when she saw something that drew her attention: a juice bar. A variety of berry juices at low prices, according to the sign at the front. Which was good, since she didn't have a lot of money. Her mother didn't give her a share of the money whenever she didn't do perfectly, so that left her with little for herself.

Inside the bar she could see it was a fairly simple area, with tables lined around the area with many types of Pokémon gathered at them, just making merry and toasting with their cups of juice. Sylvia wondered for a moment what it was like, just not caring about the world for a moment and enjoying a drink with someone else… She walked up to the barkeep, a rather lean Gurdurr, and got his attention. "Excuse me, sir?"

"Huh?" The barkeep looked over the worn wooden boards of the bar before seeing the Mienfoo. "Oh, sorry, I didn't see ya come in! What can I get for ya, missy?"

At least the townsfolk were friendly. "Do you have any Pecha juice?"

"Pecha juice… I should have enough berries for that. It's thirty Poké for a cup."

Sylvia nodded before digging around in her bag, pulling out a small pouch that made a clinking noise as it was set on the bar. "Is that enough?"

"It should be. Hold on." He took the pouch and checked the contents to make sure they were authentic as Sylvia took a seat on one of the barstools. Maybe it wasn't so bad. She could just relax with some time to herself, a cup of juice in her paw and-

"Hey, missy."

The Mienfoo was brought out of her trance, looking up at the fighting type in front of her.

"Yer a couple short. There's only twenty-eight in here, and I can't give credit."

"Wh-" Sylvia took her coin purse back and looked through it. That couldn't be right, she thought she had more… but sure enough, there were only twenty-eight glittering coins in the pouch. Her heart sank as the realization set in.

"Maybe ya can find a coupl'a loose coins 'round here, but I can't serve if ya can't pay. Sorry, missy, just the way it is."

She nodded and put the pouch back in her satchel, turning to hop down and walk back out the door when another voice spoke up from behind her.

"Make it two."

The sound of a much larger bag of coins being dropped on the bar in front of her, attracting a couple of glances. "Huh?" Sylvia looked at the Pokémon that had appeared behind her: a Dewott a little taller than her with a red bandana around his neck. His fur was rather messy and he smelled like salt water. Was he a sailor? They were in a port town, so that would make sense.

The Gurdurr behind the bar raised an eyebrow before looking through the pouch and chuckling. "Well, looks like it's yer lucky day, missy. Two Pechas, coming up."

The Dewott nodded and took a seat on the stool next to the Mienfoo, who was still a bit stunned by what just happened. Eventually, she snapped out of it and sat back down, looking up at him. "I… thank you. But you didn't have to do that."

"I know." The Dewott arched his back and stretched while he waited for his drink.

"Why did you, then?"

He shrugged. "I just wanted to. You seemed like you needed help, so I wanted to help." Then he turned to look at her. "Did I do something wrong?"

"O-Oh, no! I'm happy you did it, I'm just… surprised." Sylvia cleared her throat and looked away, awkwardly waiting for their drinks to arrive. But she couldn't keep it up for long. She had some questions that needed answers. "You're a… sailor, right?"

The Dewott paused for a second, thinking about what exactly to say. "…Yes. The crew I'm in stopped by for supplies a while ago, so I'm taking it easy until we hit the water again."

"I see…" Sylvia looked up at the ceiling, wondering to herself… "What's it like, being a sailor?"

"Well, it's hard work… but I can't say it's not fun." The barkeep finally came back with a couple of cups of Pecha juice. "And I have to say, you never know how big the sea is until you're on it. You can be out there for weeks without seeing land."

"Whoa…" Sylvia took her cup of juice and started drinking as she listened. The juice was very sweet, maybe a bit too sweet for some, but it was balanced out by some sort of tanginess- Sitrus juice, maybe? It could have also been Oran juice, but it was hard to tell under the other flavors. Either way, it was an uplifting flavor that made her forget about what happened earlier. "And what about your crew? What are they like?"

"Oh, they're great! Not a lot of people in it, but we all look after each other. We're like… our own little family."

Family. To most people, that word would have felt comforting to hear, especially for a close-knit group like a sailing crew. But for Sylvia, it gave her a bit of unease. She wasn't sure what other families were like, so her only reference was her own. "You're… not stuck with them, are you?"

"I…" The Dewott blinked, a bit surprised at the question. "No? I wouldn't just leave them behind, but I'm not stuck with them. They're all fun to be around."

"Oh… sorry, I was thinking-" Sylvia cleared her throat and looked away. "Never mind."

An awkward silence rose between the two Pokémon as they resumed drinking, the juice seemingly more sour than before. After a while, the Dewott spoke up again. "Well, maybe we can-"

"PIRATES! HELP! PIRATES AT THE DOCKS!" A panicked voice yelled from outside the bar, the sounds of a fight audible in the distance.

"Dangit-" The Dewott huffed and guzzled down the rest of his drink before slamming the cup on the bar and getting up. "I have to go, but maybe we'll see each other again! Bye!" And with no further explanation he ran through the door.

"H-Hey! Where are you going?!" Sylvia drank as much juice as she could before sliding her drink across the bar and running after the stranger. By the time she made it out, he was nowhere to be found. "Urgh, where'd you go…" the Mienfoo pondered, slapping a paw to her forehead to help her think before her eyes widened in realization. "The docks!"

The town's wooden port had definitely seen better days. Even though it had been built to last through heavy storms and countless days of hard work, the sheer amount of Pokémon on it made the wooden boards creak. A rather burly Druddigon covered with scars on most of his body and multiple black bands wrapped almost like belts around his right arm. He held a couple of wooden crates under his arms as he was slowly being backed up to the edge of the dock. "Now, boys, I'm sure we can talk about this. No need to get hasty-"

"SQUAWK!" An odd, birdlike Pokémon with yellow feathers and a red beak ran up the length of the dragon's tail and perched on his shoulder. "We don't have any more room to back up, Cap'n!"

The Druddigon huffed as one of the Pokémon that had cornered him, all of whom were wearing matching blue and white scarves with golden pins. One of them, a large Pokémon covered in white fur with icicles hanging from his mouth like a beard, stepped forward. "Just hand over whatever you took and come quietly. Don't make this difficult, you hear?"

"Yeah, I hear ya. But yer yellin' at deaf ears! I'm not leaving without these crates!" The dragon's piercing yellow eyes suddenly glanced through his group of pursuers and into the crowd of Pokémon that had gathered to watch on the dock behind them. "Or without the rest of me crew!"

A flash of blue hopped over the group before rolling to a stop in front of the pirate captain, turning on his heel and unsheathing two bladed, yellow shells. The Discipline Pokémon raised his armaments towards the Beartic as if daring him to get closer.

"Kid! There ya are! What took ya so long?!"

"I wasn't expecting you to get into trouble so soon!" The Dewott glanced back for a moment, not looking at his opponents just long enough to give them an opening, a few of them rushing in to grab the trio. The blue otter quickly stepped back, slashing at the Beartic's paws with his scalchops while the Druddigon behind him swung one of the crates he was holding like a hammer at the other two. "Just get back to the ship! I'll take care of them!"

"Playing the hero is going to bite ya someday!" After readjusting his grip on the wooden box he ran across the dock, tackling past the few guards that were still focused on him.

Now alone, the Dewott sighed and stared down all of the Pokémon in front of him. There were about a dozen, so his odds weren't good if he ended up fighting all of them, but he had a plan. He slowly stepped back and to the side, moving towards the corner of the dock while still keeping his defensive stance. The guards slowly moved to corner him, forcing him against the outer rope of the dock. "Careful. You don't want to fall off, do you? Why don't you come with us so you can stay dry?!" The group all lunged at him in unison, only for their target to jump over the attack and run on top of their heads until he was behind them, standing next to the rope supporting them.

"Sorry, but I'm going out there anyway. Why don't you cool off for a while?" He said as he lifted his scalchop and slashed into the rope, severing it and causing all of his pursuers to fall into the ocean below. The Dewott chuckled as he put the shells back on his waist. "I've gotta go now, see ya!" And with a wave, he ran off after his captain.

Their ship was, luckily, right where they had left it. It was a small vessel- smaller than most houses, in fact- but it was still large enough for a small crew to hold their own. The dragon captain stepped on board and slammed the crates he was carrying onto the deck before leaning over the short railing to watch his last crewmon run back to him with even more Pokémon on his tail, some of the guards even pushing the town's residents into the water to make them get out of the way. "H-He won't make it, squawk!" The small bird perched on the Druddigon's head spoke up.

"Don't worry, he'll make it. We won't if they get on board, though!" He then pulled an item from his bag: a hollowed-out Bouffalant horn, which he put to his mouth and blew into.

BRUUUUUUUUUUUM!

Suddenly, as if responding to the horn, the ship began to leave the dock on its own, drifting back out towards the open waters. Now on the very edge of the dock, the Dewott leaped with his arms outstretched towards the ship. He wouldn't be able to make it on his own- but he didn't have to. The draconic captain rushed to the port side of the ship and reached out, grabbing his lackey and pulling him on board.

The guards gathered on the dock the ship left from, the Beartic from before yelling back at the others. "What are you all standing around for?! After them!"

"But sir!" One of the others piped up. "There's no wind! Our ships won't move without it!"

"Then how are they-" The Beartic just watched in confusion as the pirates' watercraft continued to drift off.

"BWAHAHAHA!" The Druddigon waved at the pursuers, laughing heartily. "Better luck next time, ya stone-brained scamps!" He then turned back, wiping the red scales on his head with a huff. "Sorry about that. I'm just too recognizable a face these days. Hope I didn't ruin yer alone time."

"Eh, it's fine. I just went down to the town's juice bar." The otter sat down, leaning against the railing on the side of the ship. "You got the stuff, right?"

"That I did!" The Druddigon cracked open one of the wooden crates with his claws, revealing an assortment of rations. "That's a couple more weeks out at sea for us, boys! And there ain't anything left to surprise-"

A mess of soaked yellow and red fur suddenly climbed over the railing, breathing heavily. The Pokémon on the deck got ready for another fight, the Druddigon raising his fists and the Dewott drawing his blades again. The third, however….

"SEA WRETCH, SQUAWK! Er… some kinda squid with fur?" The odd bird watched nervously from behind the captain's stumpy legs.

"W-who are you calling a wretch…" The newcomer slowly stood up before shaking off the water on her fur. "Eugh, why does my fur feel grimy now?"

"W-Wait, hold on-" The blue-furred otter put his blades away, looking at the Mienfoo with perplexment. "Wha- how did you get here?!"

"I followed you after you ran out of the bar. You just left without saying anything, so I… was…" Sylvia finally looked around, noticing the massive dragon and the bird behind him, who hid once she looked at him, as well as their obviously stolen loot. Then she turned back to the Dewott. "You're a pirate?!"

"W-Well, yeah I-"

"You said you were a sailor!"

"I am! Pirates are sailors!"

Sylvia raised her paw at him to try and correct him before curling it and huffing. "Fair point."

"How'd you even get on board, missy? You couldn't have swam all this way." The dragon scratched at his chin in thought.

"Well, after I followed you to the docks I saw you run by, so I tried to follow you but the guards pushed me into the water! I couldn't see where I was going, so I swam and clung to the first thing I could so I didn't drown… which was this ship." Sylvia turned back to look at the land they were sailing away from. "Where are we going?"

"Eh, nowhere in particular. We just drift until we hit something we can explore. That's why we're called the Aimless Brigade!" The Druddigon crossed his arms with a grin, the bird that was hiding behind him running up his back to perch on his shoulder again.

"The… Aimless Brigade?" Sylvia tilted her head to the side. "I've never heard of you before."

"That's because you've got rocks in your brain! That's what happens when you spend too much time on land!" The captain knocked on his head. "The name's Rubyjaw. I'm the captain 'round here." He pointed to the bird on his shoulder. "This here's Shanty. He's here to make this place more lively." Then his claw turned to the Dewott. "And that's Kid, but ya seem to know each other already."

The Mienfoo blinked. "Wait, your name's Kid?"

"Yep." He sighed. "And you?"

She opened her mouth but hesitated for a moment. Then, she opened it again. "…Sylvia. My family's a traveling troupe of dancers."

"Sylvia, eh? Pretty name. Well, I got bad news for ya. We can't go back to drop ya off, so it looks like yer stuck with us for a while. Sorry 'bout the family."

Sylvia just stared at him for a minute. She didn't have to go back? She could just stay here? She wasn't sure if she wanted to stay with pirates of all people, but they seemed better than her own family. "That sounds perfect."

All of the pirates on board looked at her with a bit of concern. "Uh, what?"

"Take me with you! Whatever you all have planned, it's way better than spending another day with any of them!"

Rubyjaw blinked. "Oh. Well, I'm sure we can find a place for ya. So if yer really sure 'bout this… welcome to the crew, Sylvia!" The Druddigon laughed heartily and reached over to pat his newest crewmon on the back, making her stumble forward.

Alight with excitement, Shanty soon lived up to his name with a song:

"A box full of bread and the scales on my head, a brand new face is on the deck! A girl in red that chose us instead, now we sail for the sun!"

As the bird continued to sing the Mienfoo sighed. This wasn't how she was expecting her day to go, but she wasn't complaining. After all, she was free now.