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

[Neo Emolga]

The Diamond Ladies
Safe House G
Affected RPers: @Desolate Divine

The Ladies had seen Jon was kind enough to bring pepperoni pizza for them, though he had to tend to his bleeding and broken hand. After offering the fresh and hot pizza to them, they joined him and his wife Alyssa at the table. And then Jon got down to what the situation was going to involve and how they would go forward with what he had discussed with the heads of the League.

Cassandra and the others were surprised to learn the situation focused much more on covering up the Shadowcraft witchcraft than punishing them and destroying their reputation. In fact, Jon presented the plan in the interest of trying to keep their reputation intact and mostly untarnished, at least on a temporary basis.

He revealed his plan starting with the Cassandra versus Avery battle, which surprised Cassandra to learn the League would even allow her to battle at all considering everything that went down. But it connected with Jon’s explanation that it was the League’s absolute priority not to let Shadowcraft go public and to avoid the potential fallout of other trainers employing witchcraft to gain an edge. At this point, Cassandra somewhat felt like it was much too late for that considering what had happened at Central Park early in the afternoon and their chaotic but thankfully short-lived transformation jamboree through the Royal Prominade. Still, Jon wanted to do his ultimate best to cover it up as much as possible, using a Zoroark, their illusion ability, and creating a disruption similar to what had occurred in Central Park to imply all the supernatural instances were in fact part of this unhinged disruption. Jon made it clear he wanted this cover up to happen flawlessly, so much so that he was willing to stake his own career and reputation on it.

Cassandra couldn’t help but feel ill and dirty it had come to this due to what they had done, but after sighing, she decided she and Jon could at least take steps to fix it, or at least attempt to fix it and address it the best way they could. There was no guarantee it would work, but from the way she saw it, the options were limited and it was worth a solid attempt. The objective now wasn’t to throw the Diamond Ladies into a cell and unleash the ultimate punishment the League could cook up. It was more about trying to turn Shadowcraft into a lame conspiracy theory and not inspire others to follow in their footsteps and jeopardize the League and Pokémon battling in general. Jon was willing to take the fall, be branded as the cheater instead, and allow Cassandra to have the win. In turn, she would need to do her part to reinforce and support the cover story that the Zoroark disruption and the “illusion” of Jarena and Violet turning each other into Pokémon was simply nothing authentic.

Afterword, the punishment involved a five-year ban, but under confidential sentencing. The public was not to know about it at all, on the condition that they would announce a temporary retirement and allow Lance, Steven, and Cynthia a chance to win back their Champion titles, provided they lay off ever using Shadowcraft in competition, though Jon made it clear the stability of the plan and his future depended on it not being witnessed. To Cassandra, Jarena, and Violet, it was a far offshoot from what they were expecting. A five year ban and refrain from using their witchcraft in public was nothing nearly as severe as the hell and high water they were expecting.

Jon’s plan also involved letting the “Jon” side of him take the fall, while his true alias, Ryan Mason, would emerge and he would shed the defamed Jon Drake name like an Ekans shedding its skin. But there was still some risk of his father tracking him down by him doing this, having to relocate, and start a new life in Mossdeep. But as Jon closed it off, it would be a very fragile balancing act. Their Shadowcraft had to be strictly used in secret, and likely only for extreme life and death scenarios.

“What do you think?” Jon asked, putting the ball in the Ladies court.

“Geez, five years, I thought we’d be banned for life for sure,” Jarena replied, surprised about it. “That and like… a billion other things, but… this might be tricky.”

“Use of the Zoroark will likely be the most difficult part,” Violet mentioned, thinking there was a chance it may not work out the was Jon was hoping. “Trust me, Jarena and I would gladly help you paint the lie about what really happened in Central Park this afternoon and support the claim the video was a fabricated prank, but it all depends on how people take it.”

“Claim we were never in Central Park in the first place,” Cassandra proposed. “It was already suspicious I wasn’t there. Or, at least people think I wasn’t there. Whatever misleading information we can plant about it, let’s do it so people can’t figure out anything with all the confusion until they just give up.”

She realized it might be tricky to have the falsification be believable, but already the discovery of witchcraft that can turn people into Pokémon was outlandish enough and barely believable as is. As long as they could get every operative that was transformed to cooperate and not spill the truth about it, there was a chance it could work. Planting misleading information and adding a mix of different interpretations and varying eye-witness accounts would add to the complexity, deterring others from being any headway putting all the pieces together. It would be like trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle, but with the pieces of twenty other jigsaw puzzles added in.

“We’ll try it,” Cassandra replied, hoping it would work and allow her to save face considering all that had happened today. “Give it an honest shot, if it doesn’t work, well, hell, at lest we tried. Doesn’t make the situation any worse, really.”

“Yeah, seriously, I try not to be a dumb move kind of gal,” Jarena smiled bashfully. “But back there… yeah, please, let’s dump on that… really big dumb move of mine.”

To Cassandra, the five-year ban and temporary battling hiatus was easily handled. Paying the debt would be a lot more challenging, but as Jon presented, there were other career options that were possible to pursue if earning a living through prize money was no longer a possibility. The way Cassandra saw it, if she couldn’t hold her Champion titles against Lance, Steven, and Cynthia, then bottom line, she shouldn’t be walking around with them. But if she actually could defend them legitimately in a battle with no witchcraft being used, then she felt they were hers to keep.

It was going to be tricky. Many of her strategies made use of the witchcraft and were built around it. With it being voided as an option, she was going to have to improvise and take on a new strategy, one she hadn’t practiced and one her Pokémon were not used to. There was a very good chance this would be a glaring weakness in these battles, but if it cost her the battles and the titles, then she had to own that weakness and defeat, which in turn would mean she would have to improve and accept she needed to work to overcome that. She might still have some fans, but if it looked like she was losing her touch, they would move on. And yet, to her, she would be okay with that. If that door closed, another would open. Not every individual that owned Pokémon was a battler. Many were nurses, rangers, police officers, and workers in many other fields. Some that might have an opportunity for her.

Still, even beyond Jon’s plan, she wanted to at least try. Avery Miller, after coming all this way, deserved a fair fight. A fair competition. No more games, no deceit, no cheating. It would all be happening soon and Cassandra knew that if Avery won, they wanted to win all the way. No wins by default, or free passes to the finals. Clean and pure, from start to finish. If Cassandra didn’t give that to them, then she was cheating them out of fulfillment.

“I’ll try my best,” Cassandra told Jon. “A lot of my battle strategies worked in tandem with the witchcraft, so suddenly not having it may be more than just a thorn in my side for my Pokémon and myself. We’ll try to work without it as best as we can, but don’t be surprised if suddenly Avery has the upper hand due to this. We haven’t practiced a strategy without it.”

Cassandra felt if she lost, then it was meant to be. But she was now interested to see if she maybe could pull through after all. Were her Pokémon strong and capable enough, even without the witchcraft advantage? She was actually curious, but wanted to believe they were.

After standing up, she approached Jon, took a deep breath, and then exhaled.

“You’ve done a lot for us, more than what we really deserve,” Cassandra told him, looking down. “You’re right about Shadowcraft, though, there was a reason why they tried to bury it and keep it forgotten. Even though it’s not all nasty hexes and curses.”

She then lightly took Jon’s broken and bleeding hand, closed her eyes, and focused, whispering a soft and quiet incantation while the others watched. Where there was heavy bleeding, suddenly it began to stop, and the coagulation process was suddenly sped up, followed by the acceleration of fibrinolysis and ultimately, thorough mending of the broken skin and damage to the bones and joints in Jon’s fingers. Tissue and bone damage that would have taken well over a month to heal even with medical assistance and physical therapy exercises was completed in only a handful of seconds. With that, the bleeding, pain, and harm done had stopped… as if Jon had never punched the wall earlier that afternoon.

“We’ll keep that between us,” Cassandra told him, feeling he might appreciate his hand not bleeding and hurting anymore. “Wrap it with a fresh set of bandages for show, pretend it still hurts from time to time. I’ll confess I looked that one up after stumbling into a rosebush and got myself cut up to hell. Well, it may not pay off what we owe you, but… it’s a start at least.”

After checking the clock, Cassandra knew it was almost time for her battle with Avery. Win or lose, she saw there was still hope in her future. She had to try her best in this match despite the change in approach, not just as part as Jon’s plan, but because she needed to know herself. Understand what she was truly capable of in the arena of proving grounds against her competition on an even playing field. Where did she really deserve to be in the picture of these battles, titles, and fame? It was a challenge that held truth and answers to her questions as a reward. And after living in lies for so many years, she needed to know what that truth really was.

“You think you’re ready, Cass?” Violet asked. “Not a whole lot of time left.”

“Let’s see what happens,” Cassandra replied, looking back to her with a confident smile. “Avery is looking forward to this match and they deserve the best I can give without the crap antics. Besides, I’ve got to know for myself where I stand in all of this. For real this time.”

And now it was time for her to find out.