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

[Neo Emolga]

The Diamond Ladies
Safe House G -> Battling Arena Waiting Room
Affected RPers: @Desolate Divine

The pieces were falling into place.

It will work. It has to. No half measures…

“No half measures,” Cassandra whispered to herself under her breath.

Ninetales, Espeon, and Hatterene. Despite what had transpired in the past, she had faith in their strength and capabilities. Like a mother letting their child out into the world and no longer providing that helping, nurturing hand, she had to do the same for legitimacy’s sake. Let them battle on their own. Let them prove themselves… show their strength, or at least realize where they needed to improve in the face of failure. It was the way battling had to be. It was the way everything had to be.

While Jarena and Violet would now only be watching, she knew she had their support as well. Jon, as well, after having sacrificed much to give them this second chance and put so much on the line.

And she had considered Jon’s words carefully. No strategy was flawless. No amount of pre-planning could ever guarantee a victory. It was that way with all things in life. “Opportunities are made and opportunities disappear.” And no matter what, she had to remember that her choices were half-chance. So were everybody else’s. Without foresight into the future, people and Pokémon could only move forward using the knowledge, experience, and beliefs they had acquired to make the best choices they could, even if the world and its ruling declared it was not to be.

One of the operatives, a younger teen with short black hair and wearing a red Pokéball bandana, had arrived to escort the Ladies to the stadium for tonight's battle. She seemed a little sheepish about being in the same room with the Ladies, but she knew she needed to make this look as normal as possible. She had been there at the pool on overwatch when Cassandra was an Eevee transforming all the affected operatives back into humans. She was just relieved nothing unexpected had gone down, half-expecting to be covered with fur or feathers before the day was done.

“Name’s Naomi,” she introduced herself, smiling quick and lightly. “I'll take you to the Battling Arena, but is there anything I can get for any of you before we go?”

“Yeah, I could use a few aspirin before we get started if you have any,” Cassandra told her, hoping to reinforce her intended alibi. “My head’s been feeling a bit… well, fluffy all day…”

Although in a different sense, the term “fluffy” took on a whole different meaning with regards to her being a soft and furry Eevee all day. But that could go off the record.

“Sure,” Naomi agreed. "I'll be right back in a minute."

They needed to wait until Naomi came back after the door was locked again, but when she returned with a few tablets and a cup of water, they were free to make their way to the arena, but under Naomi's close supervision. For now, Cassandra tried to pretend looking a bit ill, intending to wait until a fair number of people saw her being escorted before taking the medicine. From the way she saw it, Jon still needed to fake his injured hand while she needed to keep her alibi of having been ill and not seen out and about through most of the morning and afternoon.

When they had stepped out of the Safe House and headed to the arena waiting room through the ship’s hallways, she had seen Victini was there just outside the door to greet her, smiling optimistically as usual.

“Vic-ti-ti-ni!” (“Ah, back to normal, I see!”) Victini smiled before perching himself on her shoulder. “Victi-nii…” (“Although you make a very good and sweet-looking Eevee!”)

“Jon has a plan…” Cassandra started, smirking a bit at Victini’s flattering comments.

“Vic-tini!” (“Oh, no need to repeat, I overheard.”) Victini grinned. “Vic-ti-ti-ni…” (“So, about that alibi…”)

Cassandra felt falling back on the idea that she was not feeling well all day might be her best bet. It was the go-to coverup that they were using to conceal the fact she had transformed herself into an Eevee, and it didn’t make sense to deviate from it now.

“I'm sticking to following through on the rumor of me being sick,” she told him. “At least let them think I’ve been in bed most of the day. No one needs to know about Nathan turning the place upside-down.”

After making it to the waiting room, the Ladies had found Jon and Ethan there, while Jon held onto Cassandra’s Pokémon belt as he relaxed in his chair. It felt like it had been forever since she had last seen her Pokémon, but it was a refreshing sight to see as she would get another chance to battle tonight when just earlier today she had given up on almost everything as a panicked Eevee feeling like all the walls were closing in on her. Now, they had to take it as if this was like any other tournament, but Cassandra took it with a whole new mindset.

“Hey guys,” Cassandra greeted them with a smile. “Didn’t think I’d find myself saying this earlier, but I’m kind of glad the whole tournament didn’t go bust after all. Gives me a chance to see what we’re made of. For real this time.”

“Yeah, this is going to be fascinating how this turns out!” Jarena agreed. “But hey, at least Violet and I can now join in on the cheering! Instead of the… well, you know… hocus pocus stuff.”

“Now’s a good time to stop mentioning that altogether,” Violet reminded her. “This cover story is already fragile as hell, so let’s not push our chances.”

“Right…” Jarena agreed, flushing a bit. “Sorry about that…”

Now, they just needed to wait for Avery to arrive…