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

[[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...