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

[Neo Emolga]

Jarena Farrell and Violet Radcliffe
Battle Stadium Spectator Booth
Affected RPers: @Desolate Divine @Chakramaster

“Well, she’s actually not doing half-bad!” Jarena remarked with a bit more of an optimistic smile.

Though Avery’s Dubwool had taken out Cassandra’s Espeon with a Body Slam attack followed by a nasty Mega Kick strike to Espeon’s head after she had been thrown off following a Psychic Fangs attack, it didn’t spell instant doom for Cassandra’s team. Her Ninetales was able to take out the sheep Pokémon with a Flamethrower attack, but now it was down to see who would prevail between Avery’s Zebstrika and Cassandra’s Ninetales. It was still anyone’s battle and Jarena had to admit, it was quite exciting.

Both Jarena and Violet had been watching pretty intently until suddenly door was thrown open with a harsh slamming sound when it hit the wall. The two Ladies nearly jumped when they turned around and saw Lance standing by the doorway, right besides one of his Dragonites. There was no mistaking the former Indigo League Champion and his navy blue uniform, maroon-colored cape, and spikey red hair. Meanwhile, his tall and pudgy orange-colored Dragonite looked ready to unleash whatever nastiness his trainer commanded of him.

“Son of a…” Violet remarked, irked about the suddenly intrusion. “Hell of a way to knock, Lance.”

“I wasn’t trying to be polite,” Lance replied to her with a scowl on his face, crossing his arms as he stared down at her. “I don’t know what your friend Jon told you, but I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands. His concern is your deplorable Shadowcraft going public, but he’s being paranoid of a magic that’s been buried for centuries. We’re going to eliminate it and destroy every last trace of it easily to ensure it goes right back to being forgotten. And not just for fair battling’s sake, either.”

“Hey, look, buddy,” Jarena told him, thinking they were being more than fair with him. “We stopped, we’re trying to clean up now, you gotta give us a chance here. We said we were sorry and we agreed to stop doing the witchcraft thing. Cass did change back all your hired friends after all. We’re trying to follow Jon’s arrangement and-“

“I don’t give a damn about Jon’s arrangement!” Lance shouted back at her in anger. “You cheated the League, you stole from the League, you robbed me blind of my Champion title, and you won the hearts and minds of millions with your deception! You three utterly disgust me.”

Violet was expecting an attack at any moment. She knew it was the only reason why Lance would have his Dragonite already out of his Pokéball. Meanwhile, the four operatives were at the ready in case Lance needed backup, although they were confident the former Champion had things more than under control by himself.

“Lance, give it a rest, you’ll get them back,” Violet told him, still readying herself for any trace of aggressive action. “I can’t liquidate my assets and investments from here to start paying back the debt, which you still haven’t told me how much we owe anyway.”

“Sixty million,” Lance told her in a strong, aggressive tone. “And forget what Jon told you, he doesn’t write the rules. We do. We want that money now.”

Violet knew even among the three of them, making up sixty million was going to take a lifetime even after they sold everything. She didn’t know how Lance even managed to get that number, but given how much they had earned over the years, it likely wasn’t far off.

“Despite how I’m going to demand you show us an itemized list of how you got to that amount so my legal council can review it, we can’t pay you back sixty million right here,” Violet told him, thinking he was being terribly unrealistic and unreasonable. “I wish I had the money to just instantly fork it all over, but I don’t, so back off.”

I wish I had the money…

…I wish I had the money…

Unrealized by Violet, Jimmy’s Jirachi had bestowed a wish to both her and Jarena. As Violet said those words, suddenly the value of Violet’s investments increased exponentially. Though Violet’s stock portfolio was wide and diverse, Jirachi’s power had allowed those exact investments to go up just enough to boost her asset and investment value to reach the sixty million she wished to have, but without so much drastic change in any one stock that there would be a sudden cause for alarm in the market that would be far beyond normalcy.

Had she been able to get an opportunity to view her stock and investment portfolio on her phone, she would have jumped…

“Look, what more do you want out of us?” Jarena asked him, shrugging. “We already admitted we screwed up, we’ll do what we can to get your darn money back once we’re off this ship. And if you want your title back, that’s going to need to wait, too, buddy, we can’t have a battle since we don’t have our Pokémon on us and we’re not getting them back until after the ship docks. So stop getting your Dratini undies in a knot.”

To the both of them, it was completely absurd for Lance to even come in here like this.

“That still doesn’t undo the massive damage you’ve done,” Lance growled at them. “You three are even worse than Team Rocket when it comes to your crimes. I’m going to do the world a favor and make it my personal mission destroy every last trace of this Shadowcraft, starting with you.”

Their hearts were racing when he told them that. Without their Pokémon, they had virtually very little way to defend themselves… unless they broke their promise with Jon. And they could tell Lance waited for this moment when they were separated and away from Jon to make his move, confident he could cover this up in his own way… a way that would eliminate them completely and keep the truth about it hushed…

“We don’t want any more trouble!” Jarena screamed back at him. “How many times do we need to tell you that!? This is probably the millionth time by now!”

“Save your breath,” Lance told her in a dark tone, taking a glace toward his Dragonite. “You’ll soon be savoring every last one you have left to take.”

“Fine, we’ll never battle again if that’s what you want!” Jarena shouted in desperation, ready to surrender everything she had. “Heck, I don’t even want anything to do with the League after this, because you guys are bouncing bonkers out of your minds! And the money and stuff? Just take it all, money, titles, whatever! Even my plushie collection, I don’t care! Heck, I wish we could just go back to the Pokémon we were before so we could just leave this place for a life of peace and quiet and never have to deal with you rotten people ever again!”

“Jarena…” Violet whispered, having never seen her this fired up before.

Violet hadn’t realized just how passionate Jarena had become about Cassandra’s “Suicide Pact Plan B,” but now she could see it and see exactly why. She was tired of fighting this endless pressure and wanted an escape. Despite Jon’s best efforts and sacrifices, there were people in the League that would never forgive, never forget, never let go, and never trust them no matter how much money they handed back, no matter how much they tried to make amends, and no matter how many promises they made and did their best to fulfill. To Lance and the others, their lives were forfeit and beyond redemption. Despite Jon’s attempts to keep the witchcraft hidden instead of attempting to destroy it, Lance and operatives like Nathan, Doug, and many others weren’t going to settle for anything less than completely eradicating every last trace of Shadowcraft. Their books, their reagents, and the Diamond Ladies themselves as well… intending to keep it all hidden while making their tragic deaths look like an accident.

…I wish we could just go back to the Pokémon we were before…

In the meantime, her wish was heard. Ever since Cassandra had proposed it in her moments of desperation and Jarena had let the idea sink in and resonate within her heart, she could picture it all in her imagination, and to her, it was euphoric. Herself as a Buneary with her two best friends as a Furret and Eevee, exploring nature, traveling the world and its many hidden wonders across scenic valleys, rolling plains, lush forests, captivating mountains, and raging rivers in an unending wonderous adventure, learning more about Pokémon as Pokémon, and using their witchcraft powers to help Pokémon in need of rescue and help instead of cheating. It would prove they weren’t all bad, even if the societies of humanity that Jarena had gotten so sick of believed otherwise.

Cassandra’s wish for happiness, Violet’s wish for financial freedom and release from the League’s demands, and Jarena’s wish for the three of them to have a fresh start with new lives as Pokémon were starting to weave together…

“Replace the security tape feed,” Lance spoke into his radio and to the operatives around him. “When they find the remains, you tell them that bastard’s Latios did it.”

“Copy that, sir.”

“You monster!” Violet shouted at him. “Jon is just trying to help and set things right!”

“Dragonite…” Lance told his orange dragon companion, “…eliminate them with a Dragon Rush attack.”

But just before the orange dragon Pokémon charged in with draconic fury, a soft white glow had surrounded Jarena and Violet…

---

Cassandra Silvers
Battling Arena
Affected RPers: @Noblejanobii

It was coming down to the wire.

Where Cassandra was worried her Pokémon would be out of practice and unprepared for this tournament battle, they were holding their own against Avery’s Pokémon. It was still clearly anyone’s battle, and for the first time, there was a feeling of fulfillment and legitimacy for Cassandra. It was clear, they didn’t need the witchcraft. They weren’t weak, they weren’t unprepared…

It was the way it should have been from the start…

Ninetales had fought hard, finishing off the work that Espeon started with taking out Avery’s Dubwool, and was now locked in a ferocious battle with Knautia, Avery’s Zebstrika. Both of them were scuffed and beaten from the battle, barely able to hang on while Cassandra and Victini led them on. But in the end, no matter who won, Cassandra was proud of her Pokémon, and she admired Avery for coming this far against so much, especially with everything that happened today.

And just a moment after Cassandra had ordered Ninetales to strike Knautia with an Extrasensory attack, suddenly Cassandra was surrounded by a strange, white glow.

“What’s… this…?” Cassandra asked as she looked at her glowing hands, never seeing anything like this before.

“Vi-tii…” (“Uh… oh…”) Victini muttered, having a bad feeling he knew what this was about. “Vic-ti-NINI!” (“Bad timing, Jirachi, VERY, VERY BAD TIMING!!”)

The next thing Cassandra knew, everything went black and she found herself waking up from a sleepy, hazy feeling, as if from a very surreal dream that she couldn’t understand and didn’t get the answers to before the dream ended. She could hear gasping, murmurs, and suddenly everyone in the crowds was standing up out of their seats, all looking at her with shock and awe.

“Eee…” (“Wha… what happened?”) she asked, looking up.

And then she felt that familiar feeling as her smiling but bashful Victini and curious Ninetales appeared before her, now eye-to-eye with her much smaller self. Once again she was on all fours, covered with Eevee fur with long ears, foxlike tail, and that familiar fluffy beige fur collar around her neck. It was exactly how she felt and remembered it from earlier that day…

“Ee-vee-vee…!” (“Oh no…!”) Cassandra panicked, realizing she had returned to being an Eevee again. “Ee-vee-vee!” (“I can’t believe it, the Affliction Reversal Spell wears off!?”)

But then she looked up to Avery and saw nothing had happened to them. They were still human and showed no trace of returning to Buizel, so suddenly she realized that wasn’t the cause. And then she made the connection with what Victini said about Jirachi’s bad timing before everything suddenly went black. This had nothing to do with Shadowcraft. This was the wish that Jirachi had given to Jarena… and she could easily recall how much she wanted that escape into the life of a Pokémon… for all three of them…

“Victi-ni…” (“We don’t need keep going if you’re not up for it!”) Victini told her like a coach trying to help an injured player to their feet. “Victini-ni! Vic-tini!” (“They’ll understand, I’m sure! This is crazy! Silly Jirachi just doesn’t understand trainers aren’t supposed to get turned into Pokémon in the middle of a major semifinal tournament battle!!”)

“Eee…” (“No…”) Cassandra got up off the ground from her pile of clothes. “Ee-vee-vee!” (“I’m fine, we’re going to finish this, all the way to the end! We’re all in this together!”)

“Nineee…” (“That’s our girl.”) Ninetales smiled despite the harsh pain she was fighting off from Knautia’s Wild Charge attacks.

“Vi-tini!” (“You bet that’s our girl!”) Victini cheered. “Victini-ni!” (“You heard her, no one’s backing down now!”)

She didn’t care what the audience thought, what anyone watching thought, or what the announcers were likely squawking about amidst the commotion of her sudden and abrupt transformation. She wanted to have this battle in its full entirety. Both her and Avery had come too far to pull the plug on it now, and she wasn’t about to let a very ill-timed transformation stop her. The whole ship could go flying to the moon, spin upside down, and turn into chocolate goop for all she cared, they would find a way to work around it until the final knock-out was declared. She had already learned so much from this battle that almost didn’t happen. It told her that her Pokémon could battle without her witchcraft, that they were strong and determined, and that they could go all the way. She was battling like a true trainer now and it meant everything to her, even if she would have to finish it as an Eevee.

“Ee-vee!” (“Come on, we’ve got a battle to win!”) Cassandra told Victini and Ninetales with a determined smile.

And she would keep her promise. To always be standing besides all of them in every battle, before and after that, no matter who tried to stand in their way or what tried to stop them. And no one’s doubts, no one’s confusion, and no force in the world was going to deny her of it…