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

[Neo Emolga]

The Diamond Ladies
Main Pool

“Whiiiiiiimm!!”

Cassandra was woken up from lightly dozing off for a few minutes to the sound of Jarena’s Whimsicott crying out. After quickly opening her eyes and taking off her sunglasses, it only took two seconds for her to realize the puffy cotton ball Pokémon had slipped off of the inflatable inner tube and had fallen into the pool, soaking her cotton puff and causing it to become a heavy water-soaked wad that looked unsightly for a Whimsicott. Cassandra was expecting the whole incident to happen sooner or later just from knowing how Jarena liked to recklessly play with her Pokémon, but she would have preferred another fifteen minutes of relaxation before it inevitably happened.

“Floof, you’re supposed to try and keep your balance!” Jarena exclaimed with laughter at her soaking wet Whimsicott. “Come on, let’s get you dried off and cleaned up, you silly puffball.”

“I’m done anyway,” Violet replied. “Let’s go.”

“You sure?” Jarena asked her. “We’ve only been here for an hour or so. Lunch isn’t for another few hours.”

“It’s probably going to be mobbed soon anyway,” Casandra replied, sitting up and beginning to pack her sunglasses and other belongings. “Better we go now before some screaming kids show up or some chump’s water Pokémon take over the whole pool.”

Jarena frowned at the thought of that and knew exactly what Cassandra was referring to. She distinctly recalled what happened on the second day of the voyage where another male trainer’s Poliwrath was distressing Vanilla, her Cinccino, by harassing her with fighting attacks after the inner tube that Vanilla was on unintentionally floated and wandered into what the Poliwrath had decided to claim as his pool territory. Vanilla was clearly upset and was thrown off of her floatation tube and into the water much to Jarena’s horror.

Though she hadn’t seen them again since then, she had a feeling it likely had something to do with how they both must have felt after she struck them with a vertigo hex on their way out. She had to smirk at the memory of that, wondering if they blamed it on something silly like seasickness or something of that nature. She also wondered if it wore off by now, but she figured as long as they weren’t bothering her anymore, it didn’t matter.

After packing up their things and preparing to leave, Jarena couldn’t help but look at Cassandra curiously as Victini clung onto her left shoulder.

“So who is your opponent tonight?” she asked, looking curious as she wrapped her white towel around her.

“Some person by the name of Avery Miller,” Cassandra replied, having done a bit of research on tonight’s contender. “It’s weird, I looked them up and they're usually a contest coordinator.”

“Ah, nothing you can’t handle,” Jarena scoffed, making a brushing hand gesture. “Who do you plan on leading with?”

“I’m thinking Opal,” Cassandra told her, slinging her pool bag over her right shoulder. “Ruby had her fun last night so I think it’s only fair Opal gets her turn. It’s another three Pokémon battle like last night, and while normally I’d switch things up during such a thing for variety’s sake, Ruby had such a nice tempo going last night.”

Jarena distinctly remembered what she witnessed last night. That Vaporeon, Gyarados, and Swampert likely thought they might have had the advantage before going up against Ruby the Ninetales. From the memory of it all, Jarena wondered if that battle held the record for the most amount of fire used in a single match, but it wasn’t the only thing in play. Watching that battle as a spectator was shocking, first with Ruby using Fire Spin upon every target, burning them, and then continuing to entrap them in Fire Spins before unleashing a Hyper Beam into the fire and flames. When Cassandra battled, she meant business and wasn’t giving anyone any quarter at all.

Not an ounce of mercy was shown until defeat was declared by either the referee or the opposing trainer recalled their Pokémon to stop it from getting any worse. Jarena imagined it must have been very disheartening and demoralizing to see one’s own Pokémon go through a ruthless punishment. And as expected, some critics thought it was luck, some suspected performance enhancers despite no proof of use, others thought it was just Victini’s presence there, among many other reasons beyond a legitimate victory from battling experience. But hidden among the biting flames and blinding smoke and with all eyes focused on the intensity of the battle, other things had transpired that had gone unseen…

No one had seen the Vaporeon’s dire face of panic amidst all of the flames and smoke, simply too paralyzed with fear to move. No one, not even the Vaporeon’s own trainer, Freddy Davis, was able to see it. But such sudden, paralyzing fear was unnatural, all result of a menacing hex inflicted upon him. But even if they saw the panicked Vaporeon, anyone in Cassandra’s defense could easily claim it was due to the feeling of entrapment from the Fire Spin in combination with the burns and the bewildering smoke. And the same had resulted from the Gyarados. Being blinded and in such sudden fear could easily explain why he couldn’t land a Hydro Pump attack on the nine-tailed fox. In the Gyarados’s panic, he couldn’t comprehend the priority of extinguishing the flames with his water or trying to target the Ninetales herself, and trying to aim and calculate the trajectory of his attack proved to be nearly impossible with his ability to concentrate and focus completely disrupted. Lastly, despite having twice the advantage, the Swampert fell victim to the same strategy as well, losing the mental game against the Ninetales’s attacks and the hexes and curses that were quietly and subtly inflicted.

There was very little anyone could do to separate the effects of the attacks from the hexes and spells themselves and to the outside beholder, they simply just seemed to be particularly more effective as if by straight luck, happenstance, or possibly from simply the nature of Cassandra’s Pokémon and their reputations. The Pokémon in these battles simply couldn’t explain the effects they went through to their own trainers, especially not in any kind of communication form their human trainers or officials could understand. Anyone could simply dismiss it as being psyched out, and it did not help morale or confidence at all with Victini by Cassandra’s side. Anyone who knew anything about the Pokémon of victory was already heading into that battle with that pressure looming over them that Cassandra was destined to win, not them.

And yet, with all eyes locked onto the battle, no one thought to pay close attention to Jarena and Violet, secretly casting these spells and hexes from their private audience booth. A simple finger or hand gesture of drawing the corrupting and hexing marks and sigils could easily be done under cover, and even if it was witnessed, it could simply be interpreted as simple fidgeting habits no different than thumb twiddling, arguably triggered due to anticipation and excitement of the battle unfolding before them. Meanwhile, their muttering and whispering of the incantations could not be heard over the yells and applause of the crowd and the thunderous noise of the Pokémon attacks, drowning out those quiet whispers of hexes and curses...

To keep their opponents guessing, different strategies were deployed each time, which varied especially among the three women themselves. What Freddy Davis and his three water Pokémon went through was simply called the “stage fright” strategy, which paired with the entrapment, blinding smoke, and oxygen-consuming flames of Cassandra’s Ninetales with hexes and spells of mind-consuming fear and panic that made it impossible for any of the opposing Pokémon to be at their best.

Tonight, Cassandra was wondering if Avery Miller might suspect the same kind of thing as last night. But anyone who avidly followed the Diamond Ladies knew not to expect the same show two battles in a row.

No, she had something different ready for tonight’s battle…