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

[Neo Emolga]

The Diamond Ladies
Central Park
Affected RPers: @Desolate Divine

While the Diamond Ladies had their breakfast with Sami, Cassandra took on a whole new approach and decided to say hello and sign autographs whenever they were requested. But she couldn’t help but notice that the number of requests was maybe only half of what they usually got.

There were a few people that asked about the incident at Central Park yesterday and the viral video online, but Cassandra, Jarena, and Violet were more than happy to dismiss it and say it was probably a video filter or some other camera trick. Despite their efforts, it didn’t seem to be sinking in all that well.

“Is it true you three are witches?” one male teenage trainer asked with a curious smile.

“Ha ha,” Jarena laughed, trying to pretend it was funny. “Nah, where did you hear that?”

“Yeah, First Watch Post and Silver Wing News had posted articles about it this morning,” he told them. “Apparently you guys had witchcraft books or something? I dunno, was just curious. I was wondering about it after watching that video people are talking about.”

“Huh, yeah, I’ll have to check that out,” Jarena replied nervously. “See ya!”

Feeling a bit anxious after overhearing their conversation, Cassandra decided to pull out her phone and look up the site for First Watch Post. Meanwhile, Jarena and Violet were looking at her, thinking the same thing. When Cassandra had arrived at the site, it didn’t take her very long to find the mentioned article on the front page among several other news stories. With her heart racing a bit, she tapped on the article icon.

And it got ugly very quickly. Cassandra couldn’t help but read the article out loud so Jarena and Violet were aware of it.

Diamond Ladies with connections to the occult

For years Pokémon trainers and non-trainers have been wondering how Pokémon trainer international superstars Cassandra Silvers, Jarena Farrell, and Violet Radcliffe got their famous battling talent and prowess from. Turns out it may not be what you think it is! Under the guise of youth and rich glamor, there’s something a bit more nefarious underneath.

In a recent investigation leak, informant sources confirmed that the Diamond Ladies did in fact possess multiple textbooks of ‘Shadowcraft,’ a form of old witchcraft which was banned over three centuries ago and thought to have been erased. Instead, sources confirmed it’s still very much alive and it supports claims and suspicions that the Ladies are doing something behind the scenes to get their advantages in battles.

While it was only a rumor at first, a recent upload to PokéTube with over seven million views says it’s more than just that. User “Zageon” caught Farrell and Radcliffe seemingly turning their own witchcraft on each other as the video depicts Farrell turning her friend into a Furret and Radcliffe returning the favor by turning Farrell into a Buneary. While video editing analysts have gone over the video multiple times, none of them have any suspicion any kind of editing or alterations were performed.

But the same goes for security video footage from the S.S. Wishmaker cruise ship, currently where Silvers is participating in the first ever Pokémon High Seas Tournament that has ever taken place. All this was recorded before sources confirmed Silvers had been apprehended by security and confessed to a long history of using the centuries-old witchcraft that Farrell and Radcliffe had also attested to. Photographs and page scans of the books that sources had confiscated are currently undergoing analysis, but so far the consensus seems to be genuine.

“Ohhh CRAP…” Jarena moaned anxiously, looking pale. “One of Lance’s goons leaked everything to the media!”

“They even have pictures…” Cassandra muttered, feeling anxious. “Look at this, someone must have scanned every one of the books and transmitted them.”

“Victi-nini…” (“Eww, that isn’t pretty.”) Victini remarked unhappily. “Vic-tini-ni…” (“Jon’s not going to be a happy camper when he finds this out…”)

As Victini mentioned, Cassandra knew Jon was going to be livid when he found out someone on the ship had been one of these “sources.” But as they soon discovered, the articles were popping up on various other sites. And Cassandra knew this was not a problem Jon could solve with his fists. While Lance was out of the picture, there were others working for him, and it had seemed to them that one of Lance’s operatives had found a way to work around Lance’s incapacitation and ruin both the Ladies and attempt to destroy Jon’s plan.

“Who the hell did this…?” Violet muttered, knowing this was pretty bad.

“Nathan, Doug, probably one of those two-bit punks,” Jarena growled. “Now what do we do? Tell people the truth? What will people say?”

But before Cassandra could answer, she had suddenly been approached by Alyssa, who she recognized from last night before Jon introduced her and they had pizza together.

“Miss Silvers!” Alyssa called out, unaware of what the group had been discussing. “My name is Alyssa, and I’m a reporter with BattleNET. I presume you are about to have breakfast, so I won’t hold you. I'd love an interview with you sometime before, or even after tonight's match, so please give me a call when you can spare a moment to make that happen!”

“Yeah, sure,” Cassandra replied, a bit sheepish considering the articles she just read.

Alyssa then placed a rolled-up note in Cassandra’s hand.

“I loved last night's match! Good luck with tonight's battle!” Alyssa called out before heading out.

“Thank you!” Cassandra called out to Alyssa. “See you later!”

Cassandra then took the note, and unrolled it as Jarena and Violet looked on.

I can't risk being seen in person with you before tonight's show. Send me a message so I can reach you directly if things change between now and tonight.

With it, Jon had left his mobile number. Almost scrambling to do so, Cassandra quickly grabbed her phone and added Jon’s number, as well as a message.

This is Cassandra, we’ve got a big problem. Someone leaked info about our connection to Shadowcraft and now it’s popping up on a number of news sites. We don’t know who did it, either, but it had to be one of the operatives Lance was affiliated with.

At this point, as much as she was hoping Jon would be able to pull off the illusion, it was looking increasingly doubtful it would dissuade what was rapidly unraveling around them. But just before she put her phone away, she had gotten a mysterious text from an unknown caller…

Truth hurts, doesn’t it?

Cassandra looked at it with a bit of unease, and then she quickly typed back a response.

Who is this and what do you want?

And then a few seconds later…

Just someone who thinks everyone should know the truth about you witches.
Call me ‘Karma’ if you’d like. But this should be easy for you to face. You confessed to the League, so now you can confess to everyone. Best get started. :)
It’s about time you three and Mr Jon Drake, who I’ll just call “Punchy,” get untangled out of these lies you keep spinning.

Cassandra turned off her phone and put it face-down on the picnic table. As if she needed a stalker on top of everything else…