Cassandra Silvers
Infirmary
Affected RPers: @Desolate Divine

Cassandra couldn’t help but be amused at the way Jon had essentially memorized Lance’s injuries, and would probably commit that to memory to a ripe old age. Meanwhile, Anthony could consider himself fortunate that he had not ended up the same way Lance and Matt did. Still, it would mean Anthony would need to heed Jon’s advice if he wanted to keep it that way.

“Unless you particularly feel like joining me, I do have one last bit of unfinished business to attend to,” Jon told Cassandra. “Don't worry, no beatings. I just owe Ethan an explanation about last night, now that things have changed, so want to give him that. Otherwise, I'll take you back to Sami. She seems pretty cool, and will probably not impose too much on you unless she has to.”

“I hear you, Ethan probably has no idea what’s really going on,” Cassandra agreed with Jon’s plan after they had both left the Infirmary. “I’ll leave you to it, then, as I think Ethan needs some peace and quiet and maybe us explaining the situation to him one at a time would be best, especially since both of us really got on his case yesterday.”

In the meantime, Cassandra had a feeling Lance was not going to call off his operatives, and it was very likely there was someone else in Lance’s chain of command calling the shots for him while Lance was incapacitated. Still, she had given him fair warning, but considering Lance’s hungering for murderous revenge, she had a feeling it might not end even after she stepped off this ship with Jarena and Violet.

“Sup,” Sami had greeted Cassandra once she arrived. “I’m curious, Lance still alive in there?”

“Alive, but still a psychopath,” Cassandra told her, disgusted a bit. “Jon beat the stuffing out of him and yet he’s still hellbent on revenge and murder. You’d think Lance would have learned something out of that.”

“Yeah, there’s something really screwed up about him and some of the guys he hired,” Sami told her, keeping it a little hushed. “I was recruited by Cynthia, but I did some digging on some of these guys Lance hired after one of them started groping me and I had to kick him in the balls to get him to stop. I contacted one of my friends in law enforcement criminal records and it turns out a lot of them have their own file in that database. Makes me wonder if Lance was planning on helping them get a pardon if they got their hands dirty and if he was looking for some thugs with experience.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Cassandra replied, casting a suspicious glace back toward the Infirmary. “My word against theirs isn’t worth what a Rattata could spit, especially with what they just leaked out to the public. So I don’t have too many options right now. Jon and I have the video surveillance and a recorded confession, more than enough to get Lance in an orange jumpsuit. It’s his goons that are the problem now, and I don’t know how many of them are involved and how far they’re ready to go.”

Sami could see where this might be a problem. It was the last day of the cruise, and tonight the ship was expected to dock at Castelia City port shortly after the final match of the High Seas Tournament had concluded with the winner crowned and a celebration party had been thrown. Once the Diamond Ladies had stepped off the ship, tracking them down would be difficult. Lance had attempted murder but failed, and if they were going to attempt it again, they were going to have to do it soon.

“You know, this whole situation started off ugly as all hell with you three, but there was always something different about you, Jarena, and Violet despite all the cheating you three did,” Sami had concluded. “This Shadowcraft stuff is powerful, but you never used it to kill anyone.”

“No, we’d never do that,” Cassandra told her, reflecting on the fact that even at her worst, she still wouldn’t have done what Lance tried to do. “Pokémon transformation was the worst anyone ever got.”

“Which…” Sami replied, smirking a tiny bit when she tried to recall her experience as a Minccino, “…wasn’t even all that bad. I mean, the insightful conversation I had with my Pidgeot and Mienshao last night never would have been a thing had it not been for you. I mean thanks to that, if my Pokémon are ever feeling sad, or hungry, or sick, or there’s something bothering them, I know exactly how they’re feeling and I can do something about it whereas before… it was anyone’s guess what the problem was.”

Cassandra hadn’t thought of that, but Sami had a point.

“I didn’t really appreciate how smart and down to earth they are until I was really able to chat with them,” Sami smiled, thinking back to last night. “They know a lot of things and they feel happiness, sadness, anger, and anxiety just like we do. Their memories and experiences stick with them just like they do with us. And there’s a lot we can learn from them and it’s nice understanding what they think of us and what they’ve learned from what we tell them. I never thought I’d find myself saying this but… thank you. I never realized how powerful this gift is.”

Cassandra didn’t know what to say, having a mixed feeling about it. But she was right, having that channel of communication opened up a whole new world of understanding and insight. It’s just the means as to how it was granted that had questionable circumstances…

“Ah sorry, didn’t mean to get philosophical all of a sudden there,” Sami flushed, trying to smile. “I’ll escort you back to the Safe House, maybe we can work together on this problem Lance started.”

“Sounds good,” Cassandra nodded, following Sami’s lead.



Jarena Farrell and Violet Radcliffe
Safe House C
Affected RPers: @Desolate Divine @Chakramaster

Jarena totally welcomed the idea of Alyssa getting in on the action, though she knew Jon was concerned for her safety. Still, she wanted to help catch “Karma,” but wasn’t exactly sure where she could pitch in.

Jimmy had an idea to use Rotom, who had been communicating with the group through Jimmy’s phone. Jimmy’s first idea was to have Rotom assimilate a device that “Karma” was using to contact them, but as Violet had concluded, the only one that had been receiving messages from them was Cassandra through her phone.

“We will… as soon as Cass gets back,” Jarena smiled, thinking the plan had a nice touch to it. “This Karma creep has been texting only her. But we’ll let her know what the plan is once she returns!”

Then Jimmy went over step two of the plan. It involved a distraction, having Jarena and possibly also Violet become Pokémon again. Meanwhile, Alyssa would attempt to try dressing up as one of the Diamond Ladies, posing as them to establish contact with “Karma.” The difference here was instead of using witchcraft to become Pokémon, they would be using Jirachi’s wish power. Jimmy had even mentioned that Jirachi had repurposed Jimmy’s Thunder Stone into a pendant that would allow him to become a Pikachu. But as Jimmy explained, to make the plan as effective as possible, Alyssa would best be taking Cassandra’s place wearing her clothing while Cassandra would go back to being an Eevee.

“Oh yeah, I love this idea!” Jarena exclaimed with excitement.

“Of course you do,” Violet sighed, rolling her eyes. “Back to this fun and games…”

Shortly after, Cassandra and Sami had returned. Cassandra had held up her phone, not realizing that while she had just used it for one intention, it was the interest for a second one as well.

“Got Lance’s confession right here,” Cassandra told the group, showing them she had it as a recording on her phone, “Just as a warning, it’s pretty ugly. He’s gone full-blown psychotic.”

“Cass, Jimmy came up with a brilliant idea!” Jarena told her excitedly, looking like she didn’t even care about the confession. “But we need your help!”

“Jimmy’s Rotom takes over your phone,” Violet explained the plan, shrugging while rolling her eyes, “and Alyssa here attempts to disguise herself as you before making contact with ‘Karma,’ who I have a feeling is Nathan. From there, Rotom would be able to discern where they’re calling from without ‘Karma’ knowing about the trace.”

“Yeah, wouldn’t be surprised if it’s actually Nathan,” Cassandra replied, thinking back to how she had to deal with him before. “Sounds like he’s one of Lance’s goons.”

To Cassandra, Nathan definitely fit the profile. But while Violet had her feeling and a way to rationalize it out, they had to confirm it to be sure, but most importantly, track down whoever it was and learn more about what was really going on and who else was involved in the plot. Besides leaking information to the media, they needed to know who else might be out to try and kill them.

“You wanna know the best part of this plan?” Jarena asked with a smile.

“Here we go…” Violet sighed, looking off.

“We get to be our cute Pokémon selves again!” Jarena cheered. “And go on a cool stealth mission!”

Cassandra had a feeling it was possible to do this mission without that component, but denying Jarena the opportunity to do that once it had already been presented in front of her was like asking a kid what ice cream sundae they wanted, buying it for them, and then just before pretending to give it to them, she swiped it away and ate it right in front of them while they cried. In any case, Alyssa, if she agreed to this, would need to wear Cassandra’s outfit. While Cassandra could have just gotten the clothes she wore yesterday and put those on in a place with no security cameras, it came at the cost of Jarena’s disappointment.

“So come on, we gotta nail this guy!” Jarena told them, trying to encourage them along. “This is going to be awesome!”

Cassandra shrugged, lightly smiling at Jarena’s silly antics, and then turned to Alyssa, wondering if she was really going along with this plan.

“You in on this?” Cassandra asked Alyssa, rolling her eyes a bit. “Though if you’d rather keep a low profile and not get spotted by people thinking you’re me, I get that.”