{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..."