{RP} The S.S. Wishmaker - Tides of Witchcraft

[[Desolate Divine]]

Jon Drake
Central Park
Affected RPers: None

As the girls fled, Jon saw Latios about to take off after them, however heard Victini's threat.

"Don't." Jon explained, "They want this. They want to cause a big enough mess for the league, and have the only way out to be to let them off. We need to be smart about this."

Latios looked solemnly at Jon, a look he wasn't used to seeing in the juvenile.

"Sorry." said Latios' voice in Jon's head.

"Don't be. Being sorry will get us nowhere, and even if this could be on you, it's on me more." Jon explained, trying to stay calm and think of what to do next.

The fact that they seem so defenceless and helpless is inviting for operatives to try and take them on alone. This is what they want. However Jon had higher priorities. Pulling out his phone, he called Alyssa.

"Hey, did you get those Pokemon to the trainers?" Alyssa asked through the phone.

"Sort of, I will explain when I see you." Jon explained, "Where are you?"

"I'm still at the Aquatheatre," Alyssa replied, "Why?"

"Find somewhere to hide until Latios can find you. He will be invisible but let you know he is there, then meet me at our room."

"Jon, what's going on?" Alyssa asked, starting to sound worried.

"I've been working..." Jon said, knowing Alyssa would know what he meant, "Things haven't gone to plan, and s**t is hitting the fan. Just hide for now, and get back to the room when Latios arrives. He will protect you. I will explain everything there."

"You better." Alyssa replied, "I was looking forward to this holiday..."

Jon knew she was joking, but wasn't in the headspace to reciprocate that.

"I love you. Stay safe, and if you see an Eevee, Buneary, Furret or Victini, let Latios handle them, and get away."

"See you soon."

Jon turned to face the Eon Pokemon.

"Alyssa is in the Aquatheatre, the indoor pool near the back of the ship. Find her, let her know you are there, then make sure she gets to our room safely. Stay invisible, since you aren't too popular with the guests right now." Jon explained, before his tone shifted, "If any of those three girls try and lay a paw on her, kill them. Stay invisible so they can't see you and use your telekinesis. Snap their neck, compress them, tear them limb from limb. Whatever it takes to keep Alyssa safe."

Latios looked at Jon shocked, never having heard such dark instructions.

"Nothing is more important to me than her, no title, no mission, nothing." Jon explained, "I can't protect her right now as well as you can, and I am worried that they will use her as leverage to get me to play their f**ked up little game. I don't want her getting caught up in this. I wouldn't ask you something like that if it were anything else. Can you do this for me?"

"Protect Alyssa. No half measures."

"No half measures." Jon agreed, "The mission can go to hell for all I care as long as she is safe."

Latios turned invisible before zooming off, as Jon left, making his way back to their room.

Alyssa Drake
Aquatheatre -> Jon and Alyssa's Room
Affected RPers: None

After Jon hung up, Alyssa, who had ended up going for a swim, dried herself off, quickly putting on her clothes from that morning, before finding a quiet corner of the room, out of sight of the entrances, whilst she tried to figure out what was going on.

The fact Jon had mentioned a Victini brought to mind Cassandra, who was rarely seen without hers. Additionally, when she saw Violet and Jarena this morning, they were carrying an angry looking Eevee, whilst Cassandra wasn't present, and Jon had mentioned an Eevee too. What confused her most was Jon's advice to, if she saw an Eevee, Buneary or Furret, to stay away from them and let Latios handle them. Whilst she wasn't a trainer, her Gardevoir was more than capable of handling those Pokemon. Latios seemed overkill.

After a moment, Alyssa remembered what Jon said that morning when she mentioned Cassandra. Be careful around her...

If Jon was working, was it investigating Cassandra? Had things gone bad?

"Alyssa..." came an unfamiliar voice in her head. Alyssa looked up, out to the near empty pool, before a familiar Pokemon materialized in front of her. Jon's Latios. Whilst her Gardevoir was more than capable of telepathy, Jon had said Latios wasn't able to, and seemed to think Latios was too young. Maybe this was recent.

"What's going on?" Alyssa asked, "Why is Jon so freaked out?"

"Not my job." Latios replied, "Take you to room. Kill them if they try and hurt you."

Alyssa's jaw dropped at the brutal words Latios had replied with. If he was saying this, it must be Jon's instruction, and if he is giving those instructions, things must be bad.

"Lead the way." Alyssa replied, as the Pokemon turned invisible, before she made her way out of the Aquatheatre, followed by an invisible guardian.

It didn't take long for Alyssa to reach the room, but as she did, she heard people talking about what was happening.

"Violet and Jarena turned eachother into Pokemon, and a Latios attacked them..."

"They are in Royal Promenade, turning people into Pokemon..."

Whilst every instinct of Alyssa's was to interview these people, she knew Jon must think the situation is desperate to tell her he was working. This was the first time she had found out in the middle of an operation.

Before too long had passed they arrived at their room, as Alyssa opened the door, finding Jon inside on the phone. Their bags were completely packed, as well as a slightly familiar bag with them.

"Steven, I am taking Alyssa and the belongings to Safe House C." Jon said on the phone, "Meet me there ASAP, and stop the agents from approaching them unless they are going to attack someone. This is what they want, and we are playing into their hands..."

Jon noticed Alyssa at the door before speaking again.

"I gotta go, we will be there soon."

Jon hung up as Alyssa walked in the room, followed by Latios.

"We gotta go, you aren't safe here." Jon explained, as he passed Alyssa a bag, "I promise, I will explain everything when we are somewhere safer."

"Is this something to do with Cassandra Silvers?" Alyssa asked, "I heard the other two got turned into Pokemon somehow, and are now turning people in Royal Promenade into Pokemon as well? And that Latios attacked them?"

"I'll explain once we are there." Jon explained, "The sooner we are there, the sooner I can tell you."

Jon and Alyssa Drake
Safe House C
Affected RPers: None

Jon and Alyssa hurried through the hallways, eventually finding a room that seemed completely unassuming, as Jon tapped his room key against the reader. To Alyssa's surprise, the door opened for him.

The Safe Houses were a series of seemingly random rooms that the league had strongarmed the S.S. Wishmaker into allowing them to renovate for the sake of the operation. Compensated for of course. Whilst they served different purposes, they were all larger rooms, soundproofed and reinforced structurally. In addition to needing a key to enter, a key was also needed to exit. Jon's original plan, should the Ladies have accepted his offer, was to bring them here. Now it was to keep his wife safe.

This room in particular was the one where all of the agents communications came from. The text updates as well as the voices in the earpieces all came from here, with a series of computers hooked up to the ships Closed Circuit Security Camera System.

Jon called out to one of the three people at the computers.

"Matt, is Steven far off?" Jon asked, as a man in his mid thirties looked up from a computer.

"He will be here in a couple of minutes."

"Jon, what's going on?" Alyssa asked.

"Jon, what's she doing here?" Matt asked, "This is classified."

"They want to try and twist our arm so we let them off the hook. That's why they're doing this." Jon explained, "I think if they find Alyssa, they will target her."

"Still, she can't see this." Matt tried to argue, before Jon cut him off.

"The Diamond Ladies had been suspected of cheating for a while, so this cruise and tournament was set up as an operation to figure out how they were so lucky, and to expose it." Jon explained, "And we found out."

Steven walked in the door, as Jon turned to Matt.

"Have you got that picture from last night? The one from before the video feed cut out?" Jon asked.

"I do, but she isn't authorized to see -"

"I don't give a f**k!" Jon shouted to Alyssa's surprise, "You can show her here, or I can show her the copy you sent me on my phone, it doesn't make a f***ing difference."

"But-"

"Matt, just show them the goddamn picture." Steven said irritably, "Jon is right, they are trying to put us in a position where we have to ask for their help, and Alyssa is a prime target for that. She needs to know what she is up against, so show her the damn photo."

"This is why I didn't bring my wife along..." Matt muttered as he opened the picture revealing the books that Jon now carried in the bag with him.

"What is this..." Alyssa asked as she leaned forward to get a better view of the blurry screenshot.

"Books." Jon explained, "Books filled with witchcraft s**t that lets them do all sorts of things, including turn people into Pokemon..."

"Matt, Alyssa is staying here until its safe for her to leave." Jon explained, "Make her up a room key."

"If she is staying here, why does she need one? She isn't author-"

"Matt, if you tell me one more f**king time that she isn't authorized, I will tie you to a pole and you can be my Absol's new scratching post..." Jon replied, "She needs a key in case the ship goes down. She can't leave this room without one..."

"But-"

"Matt..." Steven said, glaring at the data analyst, before he sighed and pulled out a blank room key.

"This morning, Cassandra accidentally turned herself into an Eevee." Jon explained, "My working theory is that these books were booby-trapped so they couldn't be found, and all the operatives who breached their room got turned into Pokemon. She might have panicked, and touched it herself. Either way, Jarena and Violet took her and the books, and on their way out ran into Operatives Avery Miller and Jimmy Kendo, whom they turned into a Buizel and Pachirisu respectively. That was right before you found them..."

"Wait, those Pokemon were Avery and this Jimmy guy..." Alyssa asked, realizing how close she was holding the Pachirisu because of how cute it was. "Wait, how did you know when I found them?"

"I had Latios tailing them while he was invisible, and sight sharing everything he saw to me." Jon explained, "He was able to listen in and we confirmed it was some sort of witchcraft, and that they needed some DNA of the targets original form, and a Gold Nugget to turn them back. Unfortunately, he doesn't make the best decisions unsupervised, and tried to take one of the books. They saw him, and he fled, but left a pretty distinct hole in the wall..."

"Not long after is when you arrived, and I figured out who the Pokemon were." Jon explained, "Once you left, I got an update that Jarena and Violet accidentally turned themselves into a Buneary and Furret, and during that struggle, I had Latios go take their bags when they weren't expecting it."

Jon held up the bag that Alyssa didn't recognize from earlier.

"This has the clothes they were wearing, their Pokemon and the books." Jon explained, "Unfortunately Latios took the instruction of do whatever it takes to heart, and made a scene."

"I stashed the bag whilst Latios tracked them down, and I went to take them in." Jon explained, "Latios and I surrounded them, and they tried negotiating with me. They told me they would turn everyone back if we dropped all charges and stopped pursuing them, and let them live out the rest of their days as Pokemon..."

There was silence in the room.

"Really?" Steven asked, shocked more than anyone.

"So I made a counteroffer. I told them if they came willingly, complied with us, and accepted whatever punishment they were given, I would try and vouch for them, and convince the league to make their punishment a private ban, not disclosed to the public. They could still find work elsewhere, they wouldn't be in any danger, and could start over." Jon explained, "Before this happened, I figured the league wouldn't want this being public anyway. If it all got out, we would be having copycats at every tournament. So an agreement like that was probably in both parties best interest."

"They decided they would try their luck at getting off with nothing." Jon explained, "They fled, and are now causing as much damage as they can, that only they can undo, so we have to make a deal with them. Steven, you have to tell the other operatives not to approach them unless they start targeting civilians. We are just playing into their hands now..."

"You have to be kidding me." Matt retorted from his desk, "This guy let's them get away, and now he's telling you what to do Steven?"

"I've done more than give a s**ty out of focus photo." Jon retorted, "Every bit of confirmed intel we have is from me, and if not for me, they would be rampaging with their Pokemon as well, and we'd have no way of figuring out how to get out of this situation without their help."

Matt stood up, looking Jon in the eye.

"Take away that Latios and what are you? I've read your file." Matt sneered, "I'll tell you what you are. An emotionally damaged man-child with Mummy in the ground and Daddy rotting in prison, hey Ryan?"

Jon stepped forward, shoving his left forearm into Matt's throat, pinning him against the wall, before punching the wall next to Matt's head with his right hand, forgetting the walls in this room were reinforced, as his knuckles cracked, and the skin broke, his hand starting to bleed."

"Jon!" Alyssa shouted, watching what had just happened. She knew the situation was serious, but had never seen Jon lose his composure like this.

"Jon, wait for me outside." Steven said, walking over to pull Jon off of Matt, "Matt, get an order to the cruise administration, and tell them to order all guests return to their rooms, because of a Wild Latios that is causing damage. Order all agents to back off and focus on recon. We can't take them in now, but they can't run forever. We need to plan an attack, before things get worse."

"Hopefully they can get you a bed in your dads cell..." Matt muttered as he attempted to walk back to his computer, before Jon punched him in the nose.

"Jon, outside, now." Steven said angrily, whilst Alyssa looked on, unsure of what to do.

Jon made his way outside into the empty hallway, as Steven followed him.

"Did I do the wrong thing?" Jon asked as the door shut behind them, "They were helpless, and I could have had Latios knock them out and brought them in."

"Why did you do it?" Steven asked, "Try negotiating I mean, even consider vouching for them?"

"Latios." Jon explained, "He can see peoples emotions, and showed me theirs. Asked me to talk to them, and told me they were people first."

Jon sat down against the wall as he explained.

"They were sad and terrified, and honestly they reminded me a bit of myself. I always wondered what would have happened if Dad got caught before things got as bad as they did. He might have gone to prison sure, but what if he was given the opportunity to change after that?" Jon asked, "I tried negotiating because for a moment, I saw three scared little girls who had dug themselves a hole too deep. I wanted them to face their mistakes, but wanted to give them a chance to rise up from them after. The chance my Dad never had."

Steven sighed, as he looked down at Jon.

"Well, even after what just happened in there, I'd say Latios picked the right trainer." Steven muttered.

"Why do you say that?" Jon asked.

"Latios will only open its heart to a Trainer with a compassionate spirit." Steven replied, quoting one of the legends about the Pokemon, "Trying to give a target a chance to turn their life around is pretty compassionate for someone in this industry. Usually we hand them over to the league, and wipe our hands of it."

Jon remained silent, still thinking about how he was to blame for what was happening now.

"I know this isn't ideal, but don't think for a second that what you did was a moment of weakness." Steven replied, "You gave them a chance nobody else would be willing to give them, and they spat in your face. This is completely on them. You understand that right?"

Jon remained silent as Steven continued.

"They are sure as hell beyond that sort of arrangement now, and I will be damned if after this, we are going to negotiate with these b***hes." Steven replied, "We can fix this, we just need to be one step ahead of them. If three girls who are stupid enough to turn themselves into Pokemon with it are able to learn this magic, surely one of us can figure this out. We just need to be able to make sure those books are safe."

There was a beep before an announcement came over the PA System. (@Noblejanobii @Neo Emolga @Chakramaster @Shruikan @SlickSlack)

"Due to reports of a wild Dragon Pokemon assaulting guests, we request that all guests return to their rooms immediately. Room service will provide a complimentary meal and pay-per-view movie for each guest whilst this lockdown is in effect.

"Take a bit of time to get yourself together, then get out there and try and round up all the Pokemon they turned." Steven explained, "If you see them don't engage them, just let us know where they are. It shouldn't be too difficult to follow them on the cameras when the chaos has died down a little. We just need to know where to start looking."

Jon nodded as he stood up.

"Keep Alyssa safe for me, okay?" Jon asked, "I'm not asking you as an operative or a trainer here, but as a friend."

"She will be safe." Steven replied, "I was the Hoenn champion after all? Now I know what sort of tricks these girls are pulling, I should be able to hold them back..."

[Chakramaster]

Jimmy Kendo
Celestina's Room -> Central Park -> Royal Promenade
Affected RP'ers: @Noblejanobii

Jimmy has taken the time to listen to his Pikachu's instructions while Avery adjusted their Pokeball belt to get it to fit the new Pokémon body they were in.

Before long, Jimmy had learned how to bring sparks to his cheeks. "Congratulations Jimmy! You have officially learned the move Spark!" His Pikachu exclaims proudly to his Pokemon trainer. "It may not be much or as strong as my Thunderbolt, but in a sticky situation. Spark can still be effective and if lucky. Paralyze you're foe. Imagine if you paralyzed one of the Diamond Ladies. If they don't know how to use moves themselves and rely solely on their magic in their Pokémon forms. Well they're in for a surprise from us." Pikachu said confidently to the Pachirisu.

Before Jimmy could say anything to his Pikachu. Their ears perk up as they hear Celestina's radio turn on. Celestina listens in before putting it back down and turning to the Pokémon. Telling them the situation. Pikachu, Jimmy, his Rotom nod confidently.

"Now that I can effectively defend myself a little better in this Pokemon form of mine. Wait til I get close to those Diamond Ladies! They're in for a surprise! I'll literally shock them before forcing them to change us back!" Jimmy says as his Rotom mumbles."Good one.". Chuckling to himself

Avery protested to Celestina. “Bui Bui? Buizel! Zel zel zel Bui Bui!” (But what if they turn you into a Pokémon too? We might not have enough nuggets to change you back!)

While Jimmy knew it was dangerous. We can't afford to let this go on. More and more people will be turned into Pokémon if we do nothing. This could be an entire ship full of nothing but Pokémon if we don't do something...and NOW.

Celestina shook her head as she knew the same. We couldn't afford to wait. Avery looked to Jimmy as they both nodded in succession. "Chi! (Lets go!)

Jimmy and the others watched as the others flew off on their Pokémon.

"Well there goes our rides" Rotom exclaims. As Pikachu and Jimmy both had their mouth dropped as they were left behind.

Then it hits him. Jimmy runs on all fours now like it's natural. Having been a Pachirisu long enough he's learned how to move more accordingly. With haste, he shuffled through his belongings and finds the Pokémon he was looming for.

"Pa-CHI!" (I've got it!). He tried to remember how Avery did it in their body, but Buizel is much bigger than his little body. He holds the ball over his head giving a hard toss into the air off the balcony. A bright white light materialized summoning his Salamanca into the air before the ball retruns into his face at full force. Forgetting it happened to Avery esrlier as well. Knocking Jimmy onto his puffy tail.

"Paaachiiii" (owwww, the things you forget as a Pokémon...) rubbing his face with his paw before getting up. Jimmy quickly looked up and explained the situation to his Pokemon along with Pikachu. So he can understand. He nods before hovering beside the balcony as they jump on his back. Jimmy holds off a second before running back to his stuff and releasing his Grovyle. Telling him the situation as well as another plan.. "Grovyle I know you can be pretty agile. Think you can keep up with us on foot?" He nods and takes a pose as Jimmy jumps onto Salamance back and they begin to catch up to Celestina and Avery.

As they fly off. They hear a PA announcement go off across the entire ship.

"Due to reports of a wild Dragon Pokemon assaulting guests, we request that all guests return to their rooms immediately. Room service will provide a complimentary meal and pay-per-view movie for each guest whilst this lockdown is in effect.

Jimmy couldn't help, but look a little saddened. "It couldn't be....Latios? Jon? I hope they're okay." Saying to himself before looking down to Salamance. "Alright buddy, we'll hold on. Make haste to where the commotion is most active and where you see passengers running from.

Glancing around the ship. There's chaos almost everywhere, but the most traffic seems to be round the where the Central Park and Royal Promendade Areas are. Catching up to Celestina and Avery. Jimmy points out the highest point of traffic and chaos.

"Pachi. Pachirisu! Riiii-su!" (I'm gonna check down there. Follow me if you want or keep a lookout elsewhere.

Jimmy and his Pokemon all make their way to the Central Park. Where still some chaos was taking place. Passengers running to their room.

Before long. They hear a scream. “Skkwwwoooooooo!?” (“Natalie, oh god, what’s happening!?”)

Jimmy and his Pikachu grip Salamance. His Rotom still floating close behind. "They must've target someone else. Salamance! Let's go." Making haste to where they hear the scream coming from. People screaming seeing the Pokémon on what they think might be the dragon Pokémon the PA was talking about. Jimmy sweats a little as he didn't account for this. He'd hoped to be a little more stealthy. Before long, they arrived at a scene. Seeing a Skwovet passed out and a Dendenne and Beautifly knocked out by each other.

They turn to see three lone Pokémon that must've caused it. An Eevee, a Furrett, and Bunnery. Jimmy and Pikachu swallowed before saying,"it's them." His Rotom just as oblivious as usual while Salamance hover over the scene.

[Neo Emolga]

The Diamond Ladies
Royal Promenade
Affected RPers: @Chakramaster, @Noblejanobii

For now, it didn’t appear that any more operatives were confronting the Ladies. And shortly often, Victini was able to catch up with the three of them.

“Eveee-veee…” (“Hey, we thought you were right behind us.”) Cassandra told Victini after he had arrived, wondering why he had been absent for a while.

“Vic-ti-ni-ni…” (“Had to send Jon one last message.”) Victini replied, showing a bit of a nervous smile. “Vic-ti-ti-ni…” (“In a not-so-nice nutshell, I told him things would get pretty ugly if he didn’t take our offer. Well, I sure hope he’s at least thinking it over and told his friends!”)

Cassandra was just about to respond, but then a massage was suddenly broadcasted throughout the PA system.

"Due to reports of a wild Dragon Pokémon assaulting guests, we request that all guests return to their rooms immediately. Room service will provide a complimentary meal and pay-per-view movie for each guest whilst this lockdown is in effect.”

“Furr-reettt…?” (“Good god, who is that Latios trying to kill now…?”) Violet moaned and shook her Furret head before covering her face with her paws, totally in disbelief anyone could have so little control over their Pokémon.

But the girls looked around and it didn’t seem like there was any sight of Latios around them, so it seemed he wasn’t their target this time. Meanwhile, anyone that was still in the Royal Promenade was quickly clearing out, heading back upstairs to avoid running into whatever this wild dragon Pokémon was.

And that was when they heard a voice coming from one of the radios. Natalie Barone’s radio, in fact. She and her Beautifly were still out cold and never got the message, but with it being a network wide communication, she was still a recipient.

“Attention all operatives, your orders are to stand down and disengage,” the voice on the other end declared. “Stay on reconnaissance and report all activity, especially if you have eyes on the targets. Out.”

Jarena’s Buneary eyes went wide as she heard that from Natalie’s radio.

“Bunn-eary…!?” (“They’re calling off the attack!?”) Jarena exclaimed, looking quite relieved. “Bun-bun-eary…!” (“Yes! I mean, we’re geared up to take on an army of these goons, but if they’re calling this off, it certainly makes waiting this out a heck of a lot easier!”)

“E-veeee-vee… Vee-veee-vee” (“Let’s pick a quiet place and hold up there for a while.”) Cassandra recommended, retrieving Natalie’s radio. “Eevee-veee… Vee-veee…” (“I’m going to hold onto this so we know what’s going on. Meanwhile, Studio B right below us seems quiet and empty, there’s no performances scheduled tonight, so we can use that as a new home base.”)

“Furr…?” (“What about Jon?”) Violet asked. “Furr-rett…?” (“We still trying find him?”)

“Vic-tini…!” (“Wouldn’t recommend it, he’s definitely not the type to joke around!”) Victini replied to her with a nervous smile. “Vic-ti-ti-ni-ni…” (“Best to just keep out of his way unless he comes after us directly. Besides, I think he flew the coop, I don’t sense his presence upstairs in Central Park anymore, so he could be in La-La-Land for all we know right now!”)

Despite the lovely idea of completely ruining the Pokémon High Seas Tournament that the Ladies had, if Jon was no longer in Central Park, trying to hunt him down throughout the ship almost sounded like a suicide mission to them and they weren’t sure where he was now. Between gauging what was more important, just getting off the ship safely without being hunted and ruining the tournament, they felt just surviving this whole ordeal was the better goal to aim for. Beyond that, with all the damages that Jon was responsible for, even if he was declared the de facto winner of the tournament, he would end up with a bigger bill than a bigger prize money check. Not to mention Cassandra figured such an unclimatic end to the tournament would still get a very sour reaction from most people and would leave the tournament sponsors unhappy. Jon’s trophy would just be a booby prize and would be nothing more notable than a kindergartener that got a gold star sticker because they were well-behaved during nap time. It was enough for her to abandon the idea of going after him with the risks that would be involved.

And then all of a sudden, there was a huge commotion. While most of the previous guests had cleared out of the Royal Promenade, the Ladies saw what appeared to be a group of Pokémon charging down the hall toward them. Among them were a Salamence, a Pikachu, a Rotom, and a Pachirisu. Following closely behind the group was Celestina, wearing a white jacket with her puffy brown hair being blown back as she was riding a Flygon swiftly down the length of the Royal Prominade.

“Bunn-earyy!!” (“Wha-, I thought they were calling off the attack!”) Jarena exclaimed.

Unlike before, this was a more sizable force they would be up against and the Pokémon were already out and deployed, but nonetheless, the Ladies were prepared to stand their ground if these new arrivals stepped any closer.

“VIC-TI!!” (“STOP!”) Victini shouted out, trying to defuse the situation before it got out of control. “VIC-TI-TI!!” (“NOBODY MOVE!!”)

The Ladies were silent. They were outnumbered, but they looked sharp and were ready to start casting if it looked like these new arrivals were about to launch an assault. Thankfully, it seemed like there was only just a standoff, but one wrong move and it could rapidly escalate into something nasty. And it was exactly why Victini had to step in the way he did. To the mythical Pokémon of victory, something didn’t add up.

“Bunnn… eary….” (“Look, we don’t want any more trouble.”) Jarena spoke softly. “Bun-bun… earyyy.” (“I’m sure you don’t want any either, whoever you are.”)

Jarena figured if she could get them to agree on that, it was a good start.

“E-vee vee…” (“Tell me, before anything happens…”) Cassandra told the Pokémon. “Ev-vee-vee…? Eev-vee…?” (“Who are you and what do you want with us? We overheard the attack was being called off, so what are you here to do?”)

Victini had then looked to Celestina, thinking she was the sole trainer of all these Pokémon. To him, it made sense she had deployed her entire party in anticipation of the attack considering the other trainers that had just been transformed were caught without their Pokémon deployed in advance, but if the operatives had been told to disengage, then was she refusing orders? And why? He had to admit, they looked terribly guilty standing over Ethan and Natalie now as a Skwovet and a Dedenne, but that was just before the order to disengage had been given out!

Victini focused on the young female trainer riding the Flygon, using telepathy to reach her mind. Right now, he was the only one capable of communicating with her, so their only hope of getting them to stop this attack was on him.

<Hey, Victini here! I’ll admit I’m at a loss for knowing you who are, but hey, we don’t want to fight! We overheard the operatives pursuing us have been ordered to stand down. Yes, before these two right here were transformed! If you stand down, we’ll stand down! I promise! Yes, with sugar and a cherry on top!>

And if they didn’t listen, well, that was going to lead to something else…

[Noblejanobii]

Celestina Veres
Celestina's Room => Royal Promenade
Affected RP'ers: @Neo Emolga @Chakramaster

Jimmy had managed to overtake and pass Celestina on the back of his Salamence, the other Hoenn dragon zipping right past them. As Jimmy landed and began to charge with a herd of Pokémon, Celestina’s radio crackled to life again with a call to stand down. Shoot. Since Jimmy and Avery didn’t have radios, they wouldn’t know to stand down. They’d need backup which Celestina could provide, but she’d have to do so carefully.

As she neared the group in a stand off, she felt a voice enter her mind. Celestina directed her Flygon to land, keeping his wings between herself and the girls. They weren’t exactly sure how the hexes worked but keeping her out of the line of sight should help.

“I’m afraid you misunderstand,” Celestina responded, “those aren’t my Pokémon. I can’t dictate any actions they take. I’m just here to keep an eye on them is all.” As she spoke, Celestina released another one of her Pokémon beside her: a Roselia. With any luck, she could use a sleep powder to potential subdue the girls and their Victini, but she had to wait for the right moment.

“If you want to negotiate you’re better off talking terms with them, not me,” she added as a final thought, “because they’ve got some very angry backup on the way.”

Avery Miller (They/Them)
Celestina’s Room => Central Park => Royal Promenade

Riding a Girafarig probably was not their smartest move, in hindsight. Avery did have much faster Pokémon, like Zebstrika or Rapidash. But Acacia was doing well enough in navigating the ship and using her psychic abilities to keep an eye on those outside. She had also managed to locate the ladies in the Royal Promenade, which was good.

Avery looked at Gloria behind them. “You sure we can do this? I’m not exactly a battler you know.”

“Say that to a semi finalist in the High Seas Tournament,” she retorted, “You’re better at being a trainer than you give yourself credit for.”

“Fair enough I suppose. We need to think about this strategically. Do you think their hexes can go through a Light Screen?”

“We can try it,” Acacia chimed in, “Who knows if it’ll work.”

With a plan in place, the trio approached the Royal Promenade, only to slow down when they heard a commotion had already started. Avery’s group hung back out of sight as they eavesdropped on what all was going on. It seemed the ladies didn’t want to fight, but that didn’t meant they couldn’t and wouldn’t. Avery’s paw hovered over their pokeballs. They were ready to provide support if necessary, but wanted to retain the element of surprise for now. Especially with this supposed call to stand down.

[[Desolate Divine]]

Alyssa Drake
Safe House C
Affected RPers: None

Steven returned to the room without Jon, as Alyssa stood there awkwardly with Matt who was nursing a broken nose in the en suite, and the two other data analysts who were refusing to make eye contact with anyone else in the room after the outburst.

"I've sent Jon to try and locate any people who have been turned into Pokemon, and to do some recon on the girls." Steven explained, "Don't worry, he won't approach them. He knows what we need to do."

Steven sat at a couch that sat against one of the walls, seemingly deep in thought, as Alyssa approached him.

"I want to help." Alyssa explained, "I don't want to sit here while everyone else in this room works to fix this, and to protect me, whilst I do nothing."

"I'm sorry Alyssa, but I told Jon I would keep you safe, and unless you are in more danger staying here, I'm not letting you leave the room." Steven explained.

"Then I can help you here?"

Steven looked at her for a moment, before letting out a sigh. He knew that there was no convincing her.

"Right now we need a plan." Steven explained, "Letting the operatives engage has just helped their cause, so we have had to pull them out. But the problem is that we are on a timer here. We dock the day after tomorrow, and once we dock, they have a chance of escaping. The ship is full of civilians so staying at sea until we catch them isn't an option. It would be seen as a kidnapping, and they would just turn more people into Pokemon."

Steven laid his head back against the rest, seemingly struggling to piece together his thoughts.

"Right now, we don't have control of the battlefield. They control it, because they can turn people into Pokemon, and we don't understand how this works, or have a way of turning them back without them. The more we try and stop them, the more damage they cause, and the longer we let them run rampant, the more damage they cause." Steven explained, "We are trapped here."

"Okay, so what if we took back some of that control..." Alyssa replied, "The biggest issue is the fact that there is a chance what they are doing is permanent, and because we don't understand how this works, we can't protect ourselves. It seems pretty clear what our next step should be..."

Alyssa gestured to the bag that contained the books.

"The problem is that we don't know whether or not they are trapped or not." Steven explained, "Chances are, we touch them and we end up as Pokemon like them..."

"What if we don't touch it..." Alyssa asked, before letting out her Gardevoir.

"Serena, I need you to do me a favour..." Alyssa explained, as the Gardevoir looked around at the unfamiliar setting and faces.

"In this bag, there are some clothes, Pokeballs and books." Alyssa explained, holding the bag out, "I want you to very gently remove the Pokeballs, making sure not to activate any of them, then the books, making sure none of them make contact with anyone in this room. We think they may cursed or something."

Serena nodded, as her eyes began to glow, and slowly the contents of the bag Jon had taken from the Diamond Ladies began to slowly and carefully float out. Finally came the first book.

"Now hold it in front of me, and open it." Alyssa explained, as she grabbed her camera from her own bag, "We are going to get a picture of every page."

The book remained suspended in the air in front of her, as it opened revealing the first page, as Alyssa began taking photos.

"Okay, onto the next one." Alyssa said, "This may take a while..."

[Chakramaster]

Jimmy Kendo
Royal Promenade
Affected RP'ers: @Noblejanobii @Neo Emolga

Arriving and catching sight of the group. The Diamond Ladies in their Pokémon form look surprised. Even a little terrified. Were they not expecting this? It caught Jimmy by surprise. The Pokémon riding on Salamance hop off. Pikachu, Jimmy, and Rotom all next to each other. Salamance lands by them. Jimmy gives a glance around using his eyes. Hoping they wouldn't notice he's looking around. Noticing his Grovyle camouflaged in some shrubs nearby. Ready for a signal from Jimmy.

Before he could do or say anything. Celestina arrives responding to the ladies. Trying to help calm the situation down. Things could go from bad, to worse in an instant if we play this wrong. In this case. We can't fight. It'll only cause more damage and we could possibly be hexed further. We still don't know if our transformation into Pokémon is even permanent or not. We don't have any proof of the supposed cure working or not.

"Name is Jimmy Kendo. Originally I was here to just take you down, but given the situation. I'm taking a few moments to talk. About time we have a proper chat. Since you know. You can actually understand me now after succumbing to your own hexes." Jimmy states. "In case you haven't noticed. I'm a Pokémon now and don't have so much as a radio on me. So I don't know anything about the attack being called of. Other than a rampaging dragon Pokemon."

"Look. I won't sugar coat things like Victini did over here. Things aren't looking good for any of you here. Much less the passengers or the operatives here." Jimmy responds to the Ladies along with Victini. "You say you don't want anymore trouble, but what are you doing? I bet these Pokémon here. The Skwovet and this Dendenne are just more operatives that freshly changed from human to Pokémon. Whether that happened before or after the stand down orders were given to the operatives...You're just making things worse!" Jimmy tells them frustrated. To himself. Jimmy now understood why Celestina didn't come in blazing and would rather watch us than help take them down. So instead of attacking. He continues to play more cautiously.

"Look at yourselves. You're all Pokemon now just like you turned me into a Pokémon. That's right. I'm the operative that was with Avery the moment you changed them too. Look I get it. You're doing this from fear now, but let me ask you this. What if you manage to get away? Let's say you get off this ship and live the rest of your lives as Pokemon. What's to say you won't keep changing people into Pokémon out of fear of being caught one day? That a random operative may find you with a grudge. If not that, then what's to say you get away and continue living your lives as Pokemon and a trainer ends up trying to capture you or succeeds and catches you? What would you do? Would you change the trainer who caught you into a Pokémon out of fear to get away? You just....nothing you say right now comes out as trustworthy. It's like lies from a child who is just scared of getting in trouble and facing the punishment." Jimmy tells them looking a bit saddened.

"How do we even know what you say can cure us and return us to normal? You haven't even changed anyone back. You've only continued changing people more into Pokémon and caused more damage." He responds once more. "You rely on witchcraft and your magic. You've done more harm than good with your cheating and Magic's. So I can't offer you any protection or anything. What can you do to prove yourselves? Anything? Just like how you have protective measures. So do I." Jimmy says taking a stance and sparking his cheeks in frustration. He may have learned to control the electric yin his cheek, but when frustrated. It's hard for a Pokémon to hold back their electrify when scared or angered or even frustrated.

His Pokemon standing idly by ready for any commands while Celestina still watch over them. Jimmy took a glance over them to notice what all they had with them. Their pouches of course with most likely various amounts of items to be used on hexes they can use against us. Then what looked like a radio. Most likely from one of the operatives they just turned. We can't afford to let them take it. Or can we? Jimmy thought.

"How about this. I'll give you one chance. Take it or leave it." Jimmy told them. "That radio you have is mostly useless to the operatives network unless you have a Rotom control it. It'll pose as a direct line to one of the Champions. Steven, Cynthia, Blue. Take your pick. All you need to do if have Rotom here take control of it and have an operative here that knows how to access it. Reason why I say we need to use that one is because as you can tell. I don't have one now being a Pachirisu. If you want the chance to explain yourselves and have a way out. This is your chance. If you don't take the offer. Well, I can't guarantee your safety. You can listen in and find one of the Champions to explain." He says obviously looking for a way to keep this settle and not cause for any dismay. Knowing full well this was nothing more than a ploy to have his Rotom take control of the radio for their own gain. Knowing their location at all times so long as the radio is with them.

He then adds,"In case you're worried. Yeah it's a little hard conversing and communicating with humans without the help from a Pokémon that's actually able. Rotom here can do that. Allotted he has the proper given equipment. You take this offer with Rotom from me. There goes my way of communicating outside of putting on a show of charades."

[Shruikan]

Luneth Tarot
Central Park > Royal Promenade
Affected RP'ers: @Neo Emolga, @Chakramaster, @Noblejanobii

Luneth was surprised when the Victini turned it’s telepathy to her, informing her that Cassandra was already here.
Cinnamon was Cassandra? In hindsight it made perfect sense. But it was still weird to think that all three Ladies had managed to get themselves turned into pokemon at the same time…

After a few moment, where she assumed Victini was talking to the scary guy, Luneth thought the Ladies might be going to accept the offer. From the guys answer it seems they didn’t believe him though, and had turned it down. Then before he could make a move, the Ladies made a run for it.
Luneth was torn on whether to try and stop them, but she had no proof that they’d done anything too wrong yet, and the “operative” didn’t seem like the nicest of people to hand them over to, so she stayed put and let them flee.

As the guy started talking to his Latios, he started scaring Luneth with his intensity, so she sidled away as quickly as possible without drawing attention to herself.

Once she was alone again, Luneth had time to think over everything that had happened. The attacks on the Diamond Ladies had been set up by the league to figure out if/how they were cheating, but their methods seemed a bit extreme. Especially Latios guy’s. But then, the diamond ladies had been cheating, so they weren’t the good guys either. And they turned down the reasonable offer and ran for it. Unless they had accepted, but he really didn’t want them too and was putting on a show because Luneth was there?

Then a thought occurred. The Ladies had turned previous operatives into pokemon, and that Zorua had been running away from where the Ladies had been. Was that Zorua an operative too?
She needed to find Glimmer. With all that was going on, it wasn’t safe for the Shaymin to be out there alone anymore.

Luneth began heading back to where the Latios’s “attack” had happened, but before she could get very far however, a message blared out over the PA:

"Due to reports of a wild Dragon Pokemon assaulting guests, we request that all guests return to their rooms immediately. Room service will provide a complimentary meal and pay-per-view movie for each guest whilst this lockdown is in effect.

While it was true about the Dragon type, Luneth knew it was obviously a cover up to get everyone away while they hunt down the Diamond Ladies.
Even if she didn’t need to find Glimmer, there’s no way Luneth was going to sit in her room at a time like this. The Diamond Ladies knew real magic, and once they were caught any chance to find out more about it will be covered up likely forever. Plus, she needed to find out for definite who was in the right here. Now she’d just need to be a bit sneakier when traveling.

Luneth made her way “stealthily” back through central park towards where the nugget thief had struck. Start at the scene of the crime. Who knows, maybe Glimmer was back there already. No luck however. Ok, so they’d run off towards Royal Promenade so that was next.
Luneth’s stealth consisted of dashing from hiding place to place, sticking to walls and trying to blend in, while ignore all the security cameras along the way, somehow managing to stay on camera more frequently that if she’d just walked through normally.

As she entered the Promenade, she heard a commotion from up ahead. It’s them again, isn’t it? How do I keep running into those three today? Luneth hoped that whoever had found them this time, that it wasn’t the Latios guy again.
Sneaking closer, she saw a large group of pokemon, including the Diamond Ladies, all in a stare down, like a cowboy movie. Except with more pokemon yelling. There was a woman there too, almost definitely another Operative, though she had way more pokemon than are allowed per trainer with her. She hadn’t been turned into a pokemon yet though, so maybe the Diamond Ladies really did only use that spell in self defense?

Still hiding a reasonably safe distance from the face off, Luneth whipped out her phone, and zoomed in on the Diamond Ladies as much as possible. If they were going to use their magic, she wanted to see exactly how it worked. And if not, nothing would be lost. If only she could get closer and hear what they said, but all her pokemon were too large and noticeable, apart from the presently unavailable Glimmer, and Flan, who needed another small pokemon around to copy first.
She’d just have to make do with long distance recording, hoping the words didn’t matter too much.

[Neo Emolga]

The Diamond Ladies
Royal Promenade
Affected RPers: @Chakramaster, @Noblejanobii, @Desolate Divine, @Shruikan

As more Pokémon joined the group that had intended to bring down the Ladies, Celestina had confirmed they weren’t all hers. Nonetheless, it was Victini and the three Ladies up against Celestina accompanied with her Flygon and her Roselia along with Avery as a Buizel accompanied by their Shaymin, Gloria and their Girafarig, while Jimmy as a Pachirisu was accompanied by his Pikachu, his Salamence, and his Rotom. They were looking up at an army and there was no way to fight it or run from it as they were outnumbered four to one. And they didn’t even notice the Grovyle…

If any kind of fight broke out, they knew they would go down. The Ladies, along with Victini, were a bit nervous.

Jimmy as a Pachirisu had stepped forward, introducing himself before getting right into the grim nature of the situation. All the while, Jarena felt ashamed, knowing it was her that turned him into now Pachirisu self. And after that, he mentioned the fact they had turned Ethan into a Skwovet and his girlfriend into a Dedenne and that they were only making things worse.

I know… I suck. Jarena thought to herself as she looked down with an unhappy Buneary face.

Jimmy then mentioned what they had done to themselves, and what they were even planning to do, even if they escaped. In his words, he explained that this could go on and on endlessly as they kept getting themselves entangled further and further into a web of lies. But what really hit home to all three of them was being told that nothing they said was trustworthy. And all three of them just felt ashamed because of how badly they had dug themselves into this situation.

Jimmy then felt they couldn’t even be trusted to turn them back and undo the damage they had done. They had felt like they never got the fair chance at trying that before they had gotten all the reagents only to have everything stolen, but they didn’t mention any of that. In the meantime, he felt that they had become too reliant on their witchcraft and cheating, whereas he had been practicing using his own Pachirisu abilities to make a point that they didn’t need such things.

He then had recommended to use the radio to contact one of the Champions while Rotom would help translate the message into a form of communication the recipient could understand. And he was only willing to give this offer once.

There was a moment of silence among the Ladies and Victini, all of whom looked downcast. Cassandra couldn’t help but sit down, sigh, and look down to the ground as her Eevee ears drooped down and her eyelids fell.

“We’re… awful, I know…” Cassandra sighed. “You said it. We’re cheaters, liars, scumbags, numbskulls, we’re a real bonafide train wreck when it comes to morals.”

“Hey, I’m no numbskull!” Jarena exclaimed back at Cassandra. “But… eh heh… yeah, you’re totally right about everything else.”

“It’s more than that,” Violet commented, looking off to the side as she slouched with her Furret paws by her side. “We’re responsible for the biggest scam in Pokémon battling history. We own that.”

Cassandra couldn’t help but sigh again. After a moment, she took her paw, pulled off the strap of her black fanny pack containing her spell reagents, and threw it aside well out of arm’s reach. While she wasn’t completely disarmed in terms of spells without her reagents, not having any would limit what she was capable of. But she wanted to show she was willing to cooperate as much as she could.

“We’re…?” Jarena asked, questioning what Cassandra was trying to do.

“Yup,” Cassandra replied mirthlessly. “Or at least I am.”

“No, no, no, I agree…” Jarena replied, quickly removing the strap before tossing her own reagent bag aside. “So long!”

Without mentioning a word, Violet soon followed their example and tossed aside her own bag, and couldn’t help but sigh as well. Without their reagents, they were not quite as dangerous as they were before. Meanwhile, they were no longer standing their ground, making it clear they really didn’t want to continue this any longer.

“Rotom, if you could hop into the radio and connect me with Cynthia, that would be great,” Cassandra muttered, not looking forward to this conversation, but deciding to go ahead with it anyway.

“Why most certainly!” Rotom agreed, leaping toward the device and becoming one with it.

It was then that the radio had directly contacted Cynthia, all while Cassandra held the radio with her Eevee paw. Meanwhile, everyone else was privy to Cassandra’s conversation.

“Cynthia here, what’s up?” her voice came on through the speaker.

“Hi Cynthia, this is Cassandra,” she told her, though not very enthusiastically as Rotom translated her Eevee speak into English so she could understand. “Yes, Cassandra Silvers. And I’m with Jarena and Violet as well.”

“You!?” Cynthia exclaimed. “Young lady, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do!”

“I know,” Cassandra replied, sighing again and looking exhausted. “That’s exactly why I called.”

Cassandra then took a deep breath. She was tired of running, tired of fighting, but most of all, very tired of cheating and lying. It was draining, exhausting, and stressful. She swore she could constantly feel her sins nipping at her nerves and she was tired of it. Very tired of it.

“I want to officially declare this to be my confession to all my crimes,” Cassandra spoke to her. “So if you’d like to record it, share it, get other people like Steven, Lance, Blue, anyone else you know of on the line, here’s your chance.”

As she was saying this, Jarena just looked sick to her stomach and had to sit down while Violet didn’t even want to make eye contact with anyone. They knew this was going to hurt, but like a rotten tooth that was hurting painfully and needed to be ripped out, it had to be done and the sooner it was over, the better. They had been dreading the possibility of this for a while, sometimes in the past wondering if all the lying, cheating, trickery, and deception would ever catch up to them.

It finally had.

“Go ahead,” Cynthia replied, not revealing who else might have joined the radio chat and if she was now being recorded.

“I screwed-… no, we screwed up,” Cassandra began. “But it’s mostly my fault. That aside, I want to start from the very beginning.”

“Jarena, Violet, and I first met during a slumber party six years ago,” Cassandra spoke to her. “There were about ten girls in total, but the three of us had a thing in common where we liked screwing around with supernatural stuff. I had taken a box of tarot cards with me that night and we did all kinds of stupid stuff with them while the other girls watched some dumb movie none of us had any interest in.”

“We exchanged contact information and we became friends,” Cassandra continued. “We met up more often, and found naturally, we hated rules and those who made them. We liked telling little lies at first, mainly because the truth is usually boring. And we liked to mess around with things we shouldn’t have. We went beyond tarot cards and superstitious stuff because even that got boring. And most of that stuff was junk that wasn’t true anyway.”

And then Cassandra took a deep breath. What she had revealed was really only a precursor to some of her darker secrets. But now she needed to come forward with everything. She knew it would mean some dire consequences, but she felt they had to give up. They needed to stop transforming people into Pokémon like they were terrorists taking hostages.

“I came across Shadowcraft through an online vendor,” Cassandra explained. “Everything about the transaction was confidential. I actually took that as a good sign. So I bought the first book, what was called ‘The Initiator Tome.’ I figured either it would be fun to try, or if it was false, well, it wouldn’t be any different from a lot of the other stuff I bought.”

“As Jarena, Violet, and myself discovered, it actually worked,” Cassandra continued. “After coming across so much junk that were mere superstitions, we finally found authentic witchcraft stuff. It took us about three weeks to get ‘initiated,’ but after we figured out the process of tapping into ley lines, aligning chakras and pranas, and things like that, we actually tried a few beginner spells. They were incredible at first, but as always, we kept wanting more.”

“And then…” Cassandra sighed, “…we got reckless. We tried a few hexes and curses on wild Pokémon. Made them dizzy, cursed them with sleep, basically gave our own Pokémon an edge as we participated alongside them. Made wild Pokémon easier to capture, also. From there, we bought more Shadowcraft books, learned more witchcraft, and then we actually started using these spells in trainer battles against other trainers. It started as a funny prank at first, a prank that the other trainers never suspected… but we thought hey, if Pokémon have supernatural abilities, why not us?”

“…I don’t think I need to explain just how far we went with it,” Cassandra confessed to Cynthia, knowing she of all people would definitely know. “One of us would enter a tournament, the other two would spectate and do the hexes and the curses from the sidelines while no one was watching, making it all seem like it was natural. And we took turns from one tournament to the next, never having any two of us enter the same competition.”

“We couldn’t stop,” Cassandra muttered, looking a bit pale. “We… crossed a line and we didn’t have any way to get a clean exit once the stakes got higher. We won major tournaments, kept setting the bar higher and higher, and we started getting a craving for fame and the prizes were wonderful. I won enough money to be set for life way before most people even really start their careers. All three of us became famous and we thought we could keep it going on forever. And then things got dicey when there were people trying to figure out our secrets because things looked suspicious, but we kept our secrets hidden while there was no way to pull the plug. Anyone that came close to finding the secret had to be taken out of the picture. Turning them into a Pokémon was the safest way to do it. I didn’t want to kill anyone, but we couldn’t let them talk and tell anyone else if they saw our Shadowcraft stuff, so they became Pokémon. And it became this… really dark habit.”

“And…” Cassandra spoke, starting to wrap it up as she looked direly ashamed, “…that’s how we got here today. Everyone knows how far we got, but it was here, right at the Pokémon High Seas Tournament that it all caught up to us… and we deserve it. All of it. As I was in a panic, I ended up getting turned into an Eevee because I forgot to remove a Pokémon Transformation Hex on a pillow we were using to hide the books we brought along for the trip. Jarena and Violet worked hard to try and gather the reagents needed to undo the affliction, but just as we had the human samples and golden nugget we needed, the nugget was stolen and… I’m sure everyone’s seen that video by now. Jarena accidentally hit Violet with the spell after Violet tried to chase the thief down, and she got turned into a Furret as a result of that. And Violet got angry enough to return the hex on Jarena to turn her into a Buneary. I imagine it must have looked really insane to anyone who watched that, but to me, it was… heartbreaking.”

“We tried to bargain our way out,” Cassandra confessed. “And it only made things worse. Trying to fight our way out also just made it worse. When the consequences of everything sped at us, we decided we just wanted to run from it all. No more battles, no more fame, we didn’t even want to go back to being human after everything was taken, including our books. Whatever luck we had left totally ran dry, and… in the end… all we wanted was just to escape, run off as Pokémon, with no more rules and people telling us what to do.”

Jarena slowly and sheepishly approached the radio, wanting to put in a word.

“Uhh… hey…” Jarena softly spoke, smiling nervously. “Jarena here. I just wanted to say… everything Cass said is true. We lied, we cheated, we got… boy did we get carried away.”

“She’s right,” Violet also spoke up. “Don’t know who you have on the line, but this is Violet. I want to add my name to Cass’s confession.”

And Cassandra sighed, hard enough to the point where she couldn’t help but shiver. The rotten tooth was finally dug out, but now they had to brace themselves for the bloody mess that would be coming out next.

“I’m going to need some time to discuss this with the League and the other Champions,” Cynthia replied in a serious voice. “I believe what you said is true, but a simple ‘I’m sorry’ isn’t going to cut it. But if you want to at least take a small step toward redeeming yourselves, then help us get this tournament back up and running by undoing the damage you’ve done. There’s less than a few hours before tonight’s battles begin, so you’d better move quickly.”

Cassandra had looked to Avery Miller and then to Ethan Caldwell, who had actually woken up to at least hear the second half of the confession.

“I’m going to need a few things,” Cassandra explained. “I need a DNA sample of both Avery Miller and Ethan Caldwell, although with Ethan right here, he may have a stray strand of hair on his jacket or cap that we can use. Then we need two golden nuggets. We also need copies of the pages for the Affliction Reversal Spell in the Shadowcraft Evangtin Tome, which I think I remember it being on page 271 and 272. Jonathan Drake has the Evangtin Tome along with the Shadowcraft Anaksin, Xethen, and Zeketh Tomes, so someone needs to let him know what we need. I know he probably won’t trust us with the entire Evangtin Tome, which I understand, but all he has to do is scan and print copies of those pages, because we’ve never done this spell before and haven’t memorized it. Also, you can tell him the tomes are not hexed or anything like that. He was asking about that earlier.”

“Fine, I will contact him and we’ll see what can be arranged,” Cynthia replied. “But if you pull any kinds of tricks or misdeeds, you ladies are finished and I’ll have all three of you confined to a Pokéball if it’s needed. Mark my works.”

Cassandra swallowed hard at the thought of that and she could see Jarena and Violet really didn’t like the idea of being attacked and then finding out the hard way what getting captured in a Pokéball was like.

“Let’s meet up by the Main Pool on the top level,” Cassandra proposed, understanding why Cynthia was warning them. “We need some water for these spells anyway, and the pool has plenty of towels. We’ll probably need those, too because I imagine if the spell works, their clothes won’t instantly wrap onto them, so… they’ll probably not want to be seen naked, and the towels will let them have a quick cover to wrap themselves with to make it to the bathroom to get changed. Also, this Main Pool meeting site is out in the open, so we will have no where to run to if you think we’ll try escaping. Bring an army of Pokémon, trainers, snipers, whatever you think you need to feel confident about this arrangement. I promise you we won’t run, but that’s all I can say. Once we get Avery and Ethan back to normal, your tournament is good to go. Of course I already know I’m well beyond disqualified, but that’s besides the point. And if all goes well, then we can go to step 2 and get the rest of your operatives changed back.”

Cassandra then turned to Ethan, who still seemed a bit nervous. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Natalie was looking at him with a bit of concern, but she decided to let him make the choice for himself.

“You agree to this, Ethan?” Cassandra asked, trying to forget what had happened with him just some time ago. “Your battle with Jon is in only a few hours and we really don’t have any alternatives.”

“I… guess…” Ethan muttered, still not used to being in his squirrely Skwovet body. “But uh… yeah, please… no funny business this time? You Ladies are scary and this ‘Shadowcraft’ stuff is nuts!”

Cassandra nodded and then turned to Avery, still as a Buizel.

“How about you?” Cassandra asked them. “I know you have really no reason to trust me, but I don’t know of any other way to do this…”

[Shruikan]

Luneth Tarot
Royal Promenade
Affected RP'ers: @Neo Emolga, @Chakramaster, @Noblejanobii

Instead of attacking with magic, the Ladies merely slumped, looking defeated, then threw away their bags of what Luneth assumed were potion or spell ingredients.
Luneth saw a Rotom that seemed to be taking orders from a Pachirisu jump into a radio that the Ladies had, the Eevee formerly known as Cinnamon began to speak into it, the Rotom translating what she said. However, from this distance Luneth couldn’t make everything out, including if she was speaking to someone or just using it to translate for the human Operative.
Recording from the shadows wasn’t going to work anymore. Welp, time to take a big risk.

Stuffing her phone in her pocket, but leaving it recording just in case, Luneth came out of her hiding place and nonchalantly sidled over to join the crowd of pokemon, hoping that they’d all be too busy watching Cassandra’s message to notice her, or at least to do anything about it until after this was all sorted out.

Now in proper hearing ranger, Luneth could tell that Cassandra was on a direct line to someone through the radio. Wait, was that the Sinnoh Champion she was talking to? Cassandra seemed to be confessing everything. Had they taken up the earlier offer then? They admitted to all the crimes they had been accused of, but from the looks of it, they really did regret it and had just gotten in over their heads.

And then came the best part. Cassandra agreed to turn the victims back from pokemon to people, and mentioned a few books by name that she’d need. Luneth excitedly made a mental not of the names of the books Cassandra mentioned they’d need. Once everything was sorted, she’d have a lead on finding real magic! Evangtin, Anaksin, Xethen, and Zeketh. She was focusing on imprinting the names into her mind so much that she missed the next few sentences, coming back to reality in time to hear Cassandra talking about pool towels and clothes.
Oh, they’d be heading to the pools soon then? And when they did, they’d probably notice there was one human too many in this group! Luneth started slowly inching away back away from the crowd towards her earlier hiding place without drawing attention to herself.

[[Desolate Divine]]

Alyssa Drake
Safe House C
Affected RPers: None

Alyssa got halfway through taking photos of the first book when Steven's phone buzzed.

The Champion who was still on the couch, trying to come up with a game plan reached blindly for his phone, holding it up above his face as he continued staring towards the ceiling. Suddenly his eyes widened.

"Matt! Get us tuned in to Radio Comms Channel 4!" Steven explained, "Try and trace the signal from it, and get us a visual on cameras."

"What's going on?" Alyssa asked, taking a break from taking photos of the books pages, looking over at the now excited Hoenn Champion.

"They're confessing, and turning themselves in..." Steven explained, "They radio'd Cynthia to talk, and asked her if she wanted to get anyone else in the channel before they did it. You mind getting Jon here?"

Alyssa nodded before opening the phone app on her mobile phone, and pressing Jon's contact.

Jon Drake
Safe House B ->Safe House C -> En Route to pool
Affected RPers: @Neo Emolga @Noblejanobii @Chakramaster @Shruikan (I think)

After his conversation with Steven had ended, Jon made his way to Safe House B, around a nearby corner, which stood as the infirmary for operatives, granted it wasn't equipped to deal with people being turned into Pokemon. However some ice for the hand that he now suspected to be broken, as well as some bandages was definitely available there, and once he stopped the bleeding, Matt would probably need to pay a visit there too.

As Jon was tying off the bandage around his now pained and mangled hand, he felt his phone vibrate, and read Alyssa's name from the caller ID.

"You alright?" Jon asked, "I've barely been gone ten minutes..."

"Jon, get here now." Alyssa explained, "Steven just got tipped off they are going to confess and hand themselves in. You have a few minutes, but you will want to be here..."

"I'll be there in five..." Jon replied as he hung up, before grabbing another ice-pack for the road, and leaving the room, jogging back to Safe House C whilst still icing his hand. As he ran there, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Not even half an hour had passed since they rejected his offer to vouch for them if they turned themselves in, and ran leaving him with essentially a declaration of war if the league didn't agree to their terms of charges being dropped. 15 minutes since reports of a civilian, Jon's opponent for the tournament tonight, being turned into a Pokemon. Why change their mind now? When they have dug themselves an even deeper hole...

Jon's main theory was that it was a trap. He entered the room, returning a glare from Matt, as he walked over to the computer where everybody was huddled around. From the computer came the voice of a Rotom, claiming to be Cassandra, explaining how she met Violet and Jarena.

"Are we sure this is them?" Jon asked as he walked over, "It could be a trap?"

"It's them. Check this out." Steven explained, "I had Matt trace the radio signal and find the closest security camera."

Jon looked on screen, and was slightly shocked to see Cassandra the Eevee talking into a radio. Even more surprising was the fact that standing opposite her was a small army of Pokemon, lead by none other than a familiar Pachirisu, with a just as familiar Buizel in the background.

"Cuddles?" Jon asked without realizing.

"Check that out." Steven said pointing to a small bag on screen, "While we waited for Cynthia to patch in the others, I had Matt look back on the recordings. Those bags contained ingredients for whatever magic they were doing. Before Cassandra took the radio and contacted Cynthia, her and the other girls dropped them. I think this is really happening. They are surrendering..."

Cassandra continued sharing the story of how they got to where they were now, with Violet and Jarena both adding on their responsibility to it, before Cynthia spoke up, telling them that whilst their apology wasn't going to be enough, the could show good will by helping get the tournament running again. Cassandra seemed to accept the agreement, this time with no request for a full pardon, explaining what she would need, and that Jon was in possession of the book they required, offering to instead take a copy of the page, and assuring them the tomes weren't hexed.

Jon thought about everything going on for a moment. Whilst he was sad about the blatant rejection of the olive branch he extended earlier, and the fact that they decided to do more damage in attempt to force the leagues hand, he still meant every word he said to them earlier that afternoon. He didn't want their lives ruined by the mistakes of their youth. He wanted to see justice given, and wanted to see them learn from their mistakes, even if it was the hard way, but didn't want their actions the last few years to be the start of a downward spiral. But there was no point trying to help someone who refuses to be helped.

Jon felt conflicted about all this, wanting to believe that deep down they weren't bad people, but also knowing that they have shown they will say or do anything to save their skins, not even an hour ago, and that this could be a trap.

"You've proven to be one of the bigger pains for them today." Steven explained, "The fact they mentioned the books not being hexed seems to be an invite to handle them. What if this is a way to get you out of the picture?"

Jon nodded, having made up his mind. It was time to take a risk.

"Only one way to find out." Jon said, "If I turn into a Dunsparce, have everyone close in on them and take them out."

"Wait what are you-" Alyssa began, as Jon reached out to touch the book, still suspended in the air by Serena's telekinesis.

Jon closed his eyes, not sure what to expect. He silently prayed that he wasn't going to open them and be twelve inches tall.

"Idiot..." Steven muttered to himself before breathing a sigh of relief.

Jon opened his eyes, and looked at his very human left hand now holding the book. They were telling the truth, so far.

"Which book is it they need?" Jon asked, as he looked at the cover.

"The second one down..." Alyssa muttered, having had a near heart attack at her husbands recklessness.

Jon made his way to the pile of books next to the bag, placing down the book he was holding and getting the book that Alyssa had pointed out before calling out to Steven.

"You mind getting me a few baggies?" Jon asked, gesturing to the kitchenette off to the side of the room, "And a permanent marker."

Steven nodded as Jon began rummaging through the clothes he had managed to acquire during the day. Avery and Cuddle's clothes that Alyssa had brought to him, and the Diamond Ladies Clothes, as well as a pink and white hairbrush containing long blonde hair. Jon quickly plucked a few of these, placing them in a baggie, writing Cassandra's initials on the front, before going through the clothes, trying to find any hair that belonged to the five recently turned Pokemon who were waiting for him, figuring out which belonged to who based on the clothes and hair colors, and desperately hoping none of them had overly cuddly, shedding Pokemon that shared a hair color. Once they were sorted and labelled, Jon turned to Steven.

"Did we manage to get any Gold Nuggets?" Jon asked, knowing this was a waste if they had none.

"Fifteen." Steven explained, "It seems like a fair few trainers offloaded some to vendors at the start of the cruise. Probably to buy merchandise or something. Came in handy, I have to say."

Steven unlocked one of the drawers in the desk that Matt was sitting at, getting a small tube out that contained a considerable amount of small spheres of gold.

"Assuming there aren't many more than the nine we know about, that should be more than enough." Steven explained, handing the tube to Jon, as he placed it in the girls bag, with their clothes and the baggies containing the hair. Lastly, Jon grabbed the book.

"Wait, you're taking the actual book?" Alyssa asked, "If you give us a few minutes we can get a copy of the page?"

"We could, but I will hold onto this myself, and only let them look, not touch." Jon explained, "They offered to hand themselves in because they realized that is better than what the other option is. I don't want them to change their mind. I figure by bringing the book, I can hopefully show them that I have the tiniest sliver of trust in what they just said. They're taking a chance on us here, and I want to make it clear they are doing the right thing. And worst comes to worst, we will still outnumber and outpower them significantly if they don't have their little bags on them."

"Where was this kind of understanding with Matt before." Steven muttered to himself, before realizing what he had just said, and looking up awkwardly at Jon. There was an awkward silence before Jon spoke.

"No you're right. I was way out of line." Jon said, before turning his attention to Matt, "I will get you a beer later, or as many as it takes to stop that from hurting. For what it's worth, my hand hurts like hell..."

Matt sighed at the badly veiled apology, before Jon finished packing the bags.

"I'll be in touch." Jon explained, "Though you should be able to see everything from the cameras."

Steven nodded, inside praying Jon wasn't about to make a stupid mistake and cost them a lot more than this mission already had.

As Jon made his way out of the room, he let Latios back out of his Pokeball, giving instruction.

"Stay invisible, and don't give yourself away." Jon explained, "I hope this is the end, and they come peacefully, but if they don't, knock them out. Take out Victini, then the girls. Use your Psychic attack. But wait for my signal, understand?"

Latios nodded, with an uncharacteristically determined look on his face. He had been wanting a peaceful outcome this whole time, so maybe he was making sure not to get in the way of that?

"Well, let's go, and hopefully not have this blow up in our faces..." Jon replied as the Eon Pokemon turned invisible, and he began walking towards the main pool...