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

[Neo Emolga]

The Diamond Ladies
Central Park
Affected RPers: @Shruikan (Lucky Luneth gets a front row seat to all this chaos)
@Desolate Divine, , @Chakramaster, @Noblejanobii Yes, everyone. If you aren’t an eyewitness, you’ll certainly hear about it soon enough!

As the Ladies and Victini walked away from the guest room, Jarena had a bad feeling as she looked at her watch. Getting through Central Park in ten minutes and making it to Windjammer Marketplace before they stopped serving lunch seemed impossible. Given the circumstances, however, it was understandable. But she figured just this one time, she’d settle on just getting a bag of chips and a can of fruit juice would be enough for her. There was time to indulge when it came time for dinner when hopefully most of the mess was sorted out.

After arriving at Central Park again, they sat down at an empty metallic picnic table that was bolted to the floor and had metallic seats around it. While Violet focused on greeting fans and signing autographs for a while and Cassandra and Victini sat down on the table itself, Jarena had made a quick dash for the Windjammer Marketplace to grab some snacks to make up for a lack of having lunch. While she was there, she had also brought some berries and canned fruit juice for Cassandra and Victini. When she got back, she saw Violet hadn’t had any luck yet with the nugget they needed. After distributing her gathered food to everyone at the park table, she joined Violet and sat down in the seat next to her.

Any time they were approached by fans and recognized by passersby, Jarena and Violet took the opportunity say hello and sign autographs on papers, shirts, and Pokéballs, though the fans they encountered were disappointed they wouldn’t be able to get Cassandra’s signature as well. As they figured, the allure of having all three Ladies sign the same item made it that much more appealing. Having only two of the three didn’t quite have nearly that same charm.

And after every signing and conversation, both Violet and Jarena took every opportunity they could to inquire for gold nuggets. Some simply said they didn’t have any, others were curious to know why which Violet gave a false explanation about her fictious jewelry hobby, and a few were just confused by the request, feeling nuggets were useless and were just meant to be sold, having no idea what they wanted one for.

“Bloody hell, this is a real pain in the butt,” Jarena grumbled between sipping on her can of fruit juice and between potato chips after having signed thirty autographs. “Come on, there’s got to be someone on this tub that has one. Hopefully we just haven’t found them, yet.”

“Cass wins by default tonight if we can get this before 7pm,” Violet added. “We’ve got less than five hours remaining.”

“Yeah, please don’t keep reminding me how much time we’ve got left,” Jarena sighed. “But at least we know Avery won’t be there. At least not as a human, anyway.”

In the meantime, Cassandra was keeping a watch on all the passersby. She almost fell into the temptation of looking out for any sign of a gold nugget, but the chances of it being exposed in plain sight and out in the open were like winning the lottery. If anyone had one, chances were good they’d have it in their bag or in a pouch, but definitely not out in the open.

“Oh, what an adorable Eevee!” a teenage girl with long brunette hair greeted Cassandra before looking to Jarena and Violet. “She’s really cute, what’s her name?”

“Cinnamon,” Jarena smiled as she signed her name. “Newest member of the team.”

“Aww, she might just be the cutest Eevee I’ve ever seen,” the brunette patted Cassandra on the head. “Hi there, Cinnamon! My name’s Susan! Would you like to sign my Pokéball, too?”

“Vee! Vee!” Cassandra smiled in excitement, trying to put on an affectionate display to appease anyone who might have the nugget they needed.

Susan then presented the Pokéball that was already signed by Jarena and Violet and instead of signing with her name, Cassandra signed with a pawprint after Susan rubbed the black felt marker on the paw pads.

“This is just the sweetest thing, ever,” she remarked, admiring the autographed Pokéball. “Happy to meet you too, Cinnamon!”

“Vee!” Cassandra smiled and cried happily.

“Say…” Jarena smiled to Susan, coming up with an idea. “This might sound like an unusual request, but you wouldn’t happen to have a gold nugget on you, would you? Cinnamon loves shiny objects and loves playing with toy balls, so we’re looking for anyone who might have one. Heck, we’re willing to pay double the asking price of what any mart might give you.”

“Hmm, maybe,” Susan replied, taking off her backpack and checking through the pockets. “Let me check!”

Susan tried to recall if she had found one on her many adventures with her Pokémon. Her hand plunged into the back pocket and rummaged through the many miscellaneous items inside. After a few moments of digging and searching, her hand emerged… clasping the highly desired golden sphere nugget that the Ladies were desperately seeking.

“Oh hey, look at that!” Susan smiled, presenting the gold nugget before them.

They all smiled and Cassandra lit up with joy, which of course Susan simply interpreted as a very happy Cinnamon excited to see a new toy to play with as opposed to Cassandra who was relying on it to transform back.

“Yep, that’s perfect!” Jarena smiled, counting through a large stack of bills before handing the wad of money to Susan. “Thank you so much!”

“Oh, no problem!” Susan replied happily as she accepted the money. “Enjoy!”

And that was when one operative, Doug Henderson, with jet-black hair and black leather attire, had decided to spring into action. He had been watching the Ladies the entire time and found it that it was no coincidence they had been requesting that gold nugget from command. While all the operatives had gotten the call to buy out every available gold nugget they could from any vendor, he realized Susan was just a regular civilian and was completely unaware of what was going down. Nonetheless, he prepared for that and was ready for that possibility.

He made sure Susan was in the clear before moving his move, as he was well aware of the risk and what it might mean. When his window of opportunity presented itself, he sprinted by the table, dashed in, and quickly wrapped his hand on the golden nugget before any of the Ladies realized what was happening.

“Yoink!” Doug laughed and taunted them as he snagged the nugget away. “Sorry, Ladies, can’t let you have that!”

When the Ladies saw that happen, immediately they all wanted his head on a stick. Both Violet and Jarena bolted from the table and prepared to stop him by any means necessary to get the nugget back.

…But it was how they decided to try and stop him in their different ways that would change everything.

“You damn thief!” Violet shouted, sprinting right after him.

Meanwhile, Jarena didn’t care how many people could be possibly watching. Doug’s snotty attitude and the fact he just stole a rare golden nugget they needed for the spell and after they had paid for it merited him being wiped out of the picture completely. She plucked a Pokémon strand of hair from her pocket and prepared casting, ready to nail him right on his leather jacket. The dark incantations were whispered from her mouth as she focused on her line of sight for the spell.

Had she been a second faster or slower, it would have made the difference between landing the Pokémon Transformation Hex right on his jacket… or at least being able to stop herself from landing the hex on Violet’s black leather jacket instead. But no… instead, the hex struck onto Violet’s jacket as she crossed her line of fire attempting to tackle Doug to the ground right on the park path.

Jarena’s heart sank when she realized her hex landed on the wrong target.

“Oh crap, oh crap!!” Jarena exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hands in shock. “Violet, get rid of your-!“

It was too late. Violet’s wrist making contact with the sleeve was all it took to trigger the hex. Within seconds, Violet’s body instantly changed from being a human into a Furret, with brown and beige-colored fur all over her body as her form and stature were completely changed. Her sudden transformation into the long, slim-bodied furry ferret Pokémon caused her to stumble to the floor, half buried in a pile of her own clothes.

All the while, there were several passersby that had saw the chase, and a couple of them were even recording it on their phones. Violet’s transformation in front of all of them was a sudden shock and there was gasping among the crowd.

Jarena hadn’t ever felt so sick before.

Violet was deadly silent as she emerged from her pile of clothes, like she was ready to murder someone in cold blood. She knew exactly what happened and she was absolutely not at all thrilled about it. She realized what Jarena was trying to do, but she still felt it was really stupid and reckless, especially in front of all these people watching. She would have had Doug on the ground if Jarena hadn’t done what she did.

Instead, she threw off her clothes and looked back to Jarena, quite fed up with her having so recklessly blown away the remaining sliver of a chance they had at keeping their witchcraft secret. Meanwhile, Cassandra watched the whole incident in absolute horror with her mouth gaping open like it was the grizzliest and goriest horror movie she had ever watched.

“Violet, I’m sorry!” Jarena cried out. “I didn’t mean it! Please don’t be angry, can we just talk this over!?”

”Talk this over.” Violet thought to herself, not at all pleased that she was now an adorable Furret. ”Sure, talk this over why don’t we? I’m a freaking Pokémon now thanks to you, girl! You wouldn’t understand me, you moron, that was the whole point of us using this spell in the first place! But sure, you want to talk? Let’s talk, girl.”

Violet simply used her right paw, dug into the pocket where she kept her own batch of Pokémon hairs, and pulled one out. And she didn’t care if the whole planet was watching, the cover was blown, their Pokémon battling careers were toast, and the day couldn’t possibly get any worse for her. Besides, she was curious to see if they could still cast spells as Pokémon. She had nothing left to lose at this point and leaving Jarena as the last girl standing when this incident was entirely her fault didn’t bode over well for her. No, she wanted payback, regardless of what it was going to cost them. For something as inane and ludicrous as this, it had to be done.

She focused her attention on Jarena’s white t-shirt and made that the target of the hex. With deadly, vengeful focus, she muttered the spidery, cryptic incantation, which surprisingly to her wasn’t restricted by her inability to pronounce words in a human language. After those few short seconds, the hex landed perfectly.

And it wasn’t even a second later until Jarena herself succumbed to the hex, suddenly transforming from her 5’8” human self… down to the form of a 1’4” Buneary. Like her two companions, her body was completely reformed and she was also covered with brown and beige fur, with the fur around her torso and now much elongated ears being fluffy and soft. She crawled out of the pile of clothes she was formerly wearing, now piled on top of her like a camping tent had collapsed upon her.

There was a sudden commotion among the crowd at Central Park, many of the passersby were now watching the whole spectacle unfold in full. The word was going around that the Diamond Ladies were there, but no one at all was expecting this.

“Wow, holy crap!” A male trainer exclaimed, watching and laughing. “Did the Diamond Girls just… turn each other into Pokémon!? That’s crazy!”

“Ha ha, I never knew they could do that!” Another female trainer replied. “That’s actually a great look for them, they look cute!”

Jarena had never felt so humiliated, taking the white t-shirt she used to be wearing and tossed it aside with her paw. She looked up and couldn’t believe how different the world around her looked now that she was so much smaller. And everyone in Central Park was watching her and Violet duke it out witchcraft style. She couldn’t help but mournfully look to Violet, who was still glaring at her. Although Jarena had to admit, Violet looked far less intimidating as an adorable Furret than what she looked like as her angry, usual human self. She could honestly say… she could get more used to this.

“Buunnn… ee” (“Oh god, Violet, why did you need to do that…?”) Jarena moaned in humiliated defeat, looking herself over, realizing what she had become before she covered her eyes with her new Buneary paws. “Bu…unnn… Bunn-earryy…” (“I said I was sorry! I was aiming for him!”)

“Furr-rr… ret!” (“What the hell were you thinking casting that with this many people around!?”) Violet shouted at Jarena as she stomped toward her, pointing an accusing paw at Jarena. “Furr… urrr… ret!” (“I had it under control and then you shot me in the back with that stupid hex of yours!”)

All while this was happening and unfolding before everyone in Central Park, Cassandra just buried her face in her paws. Just when things were looking hopeful…

“Eeevveee… Veee…” (“Okay, I’m ready to curl up and die now.”) She sobbed with a melancholy voice.

She was ready to accept there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell she’d ever be human again after she saw all that unfold. Whoever was trying to expose them and bring them and their Pokémon battling careers to an end successfully pulled it off and now all three of them were in the same literal boat together.

“Vic-ti-tini!” (“Oh cheer up, Cassandra!”) Victini smiled, patting her fluffy collar fur. “Tini-ni! Vi-vi-tini!” (“I don’t think it’ll be so bad for the three of you! I can see the headline now… ‘Too Cute to Prosecute!’”)

Cassandra looked at him with lowered eyelids, looking quite irritated. She then whapped him in the face with her paw.

“E-eeveeee…” (“I ought to fire you.”)