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

[[Desolate Divine]]

All bunnying done with explicit permission from Chakramaster and Noblejanobii in order to condense this into a single post. BTW that half hour gap to work in is killing me XD

Jon Drake
Infirmary
Affected RPers: Noblejanobii

As Jon and Avery passed the final corner leading to the Safe House that acted as an infirmary, for what Jon felt like was too many times in the space of twenty-four hours, strange noises were audible from the infirmary.

"Goddamn it..." Jon muttered, as he readied Scizor's Pokeball.

However as he pressed his ear to the door, the Pokemon chatter he heard sounded less like dialogue and more like a scuffle...

"Be ready for anything..." Jon said to Avery, before using his keycard to open the door.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw next.

The room itself looked like a bomb had hit it, with furniture overturned, some having bite marks in it, and two Pokemon, Jon presumed Lance and his security playing a serious game of tag. One being an Applin, and the other a Munchlax, who saw the former as a snack now, more than a protection target or protector.

Applin couldn't outrun Muchlax easily, instead resorting to going through gaps the larger Pokemon couldn't fit through to buy time. Finally, it managed to jump onto the tipped over bed, and from there onto a nearby counter, out of reach.

"Goddamn..." Jon muttered, struggling to suppress his laugh. There were two possibilities regarding which person was which Pokemon, and Jon sincerely hoped he was right about which one was which. He turned to face the Applin.

"Lance?" Jon asked, "That you in there, Mr. Dragon Fetish?"

Applin began growling at Jon confirming his suspicion, as Jon burst into laughter before pulling out his phone.

"I know I should be taking this a lot more seriously, but the irony is too much." Jon chuckled as he got out the camera app and took a photo of the seething Applin and the Munchlax who seemed confused. Apparently Munchlax's hunger outweighs its own common sense...

"You love your dragons, how does it feel being one?" Jon asked, "Now behave yourself, or you might wind up in a Pokeball. That goes for you too, chubby."

"Now here's what's gonna happen." Jon explained, as he began resetting the toppled furniture, "We got a situation, and I promise you it isn't the Diamond Ladies fault. I'm not stupid enough to tell you what, but you can't add this to your rage-boner list. Nothing to do with them."

"Instead, we will give it an hour and wait this out." Jon explained, "Give the other operatives a chance to sort this s**t out, and that way, if someone makes their way in here, they don't mistake you for a stray Pokemon and take you out of here."

Jon quickly opened the messaging app, opening his text thread with Steven.

"Alyssa told me Jirachi went haywire and was going to turn people into Pokemon whether they liked it or not, and you were in the room? If you don't respond, I'll assume you got caught up in it.

I am keeping an eye on Lance, who somehow was caught up in it all in the infirmary, alongside his supposed guard. I'll sit here for an hour before taking him with me somewhere more secure, and try and figure something out, otherwise, I will leave it to the other operatives got turned.

If you weren't caught up in it, or get changed back, you mind keeping me in the loop?

Also, check this picture out...

Jon quickly attached the photo of Munclax reaching towards Applin, who was cowering away on the counter.

"Guess which one is Lance."

It wasn't too long before a response came.

"Cynthia and I are okay. Once Alyssa escaped, Jirachi decided to let us go, and teleported us away. We have lost contact with Sami, so can assume that her and the Ladies were turned. Stay with Lance, I will keep you posted."

After another twenty minutes of Lapplin hiding behind Jon, though hating every moment of it, there was a flash as Munchlax and Lapplin turned back into their human selves.

"Idiot!" Lance shouted at Anthony, "You turn into a Pokemon, and all you can do is try and eat me?"

Jon began laughing, as Lance shot him a glare.

"I swear to God, I will make you regret this." Lance sneered at Jon, "Everything."

"Try it." Jon said as his phone buzzed, "I hope to not get into many fights after this cruise is over, but I gotta stay in shape somehow."

Lance flipped him off as Anthony kept silent to the side in his embarrassment.

"Sami has been in contact. Everyone affected has been reverted and Jirachi is now in a Pokeball. They played with it until it wore itself out and went to sleep." Steven had sent.

"Lance is back to normal as well. I'll leave him here. The operatives all know not to let him out, and if one of his does, we will be on it. I'm gonna have a chat to Cuddles."

It didn't take long for Steven to reply.

"You know this is our only infirmary right?"

"Just a chat. I'll buy him dinner."

Jon quickly opened up the database of operatives that was hidden in an encrypted app on his phone, something they all had access to, finding Jimmy Kendo's number.

"Cuddles, we gotta talk. Sekichiku Ramen in Central Park, fifteen minutes. You might get there first, so get a table for three."

Jon's match with Cassandra was supposed to be in half an hour, however the last few evenings the matches started at least half an hour late, and Avery still had to battle Ethan to determine third place in the tournament first. He had time. That and the restaurants on the ship were renowned for their speedy service, and Jon knew exactly what he wanted to say. Assuming he could scoff his food, fifteen minutes to chat was plenty.

"Avery, I gotta have a chat to Cuddles. If you have something to say, you're welcome to come along." Jon explained, before making his way to the door, leaving Lance glaring between him and Anthony.

Avery agreed to come along, so the duo made their way to the Ramen Restaurant, where an awkward conversation awaited them.

"Everything okay?" said Latios' voice over a telepathic link, detecting Jon's calmer demeanour.

"Jirachi is in a Pokeball for now, so bring Alyssa back, but stick with her. Tell her to meet up with me in the waiting room at the Arena. Gonna have a chat to Cuddles first." Jon replied, as he felt Latios' sense of relief through the telepathic link, knowing that for now, killing Jirachi wasn't anywhere near as likely.

"Don't hurt him."

"You been talking to Steven?"


***********************
Jon Drake
Sekichiku Ramen, Central Park
Affected RPers: @Noblejanobii @Chakramaster
It was fifteen minutes later when the pair arrived at the Ramen restaurant, where they found Jimmy sitting at a table with two other empty seats, and thankfully, no Jirachi in sight...

"Order whatever you like." Jon said, as he sat down, "Dinner's on me."

A waiter arrived very quickly, taking their orders, as Jon got his usual dish, as well as a beer.

"My grandfather was the one who taught me to battle, and I will never forget the first thing he taught me about being a trainer." Jon explained, "He said this. As a trainer, your first responsibility isn't to yourself or your Pokemon, but everyone around you. Pokemon are incredible with the abilities they possess, but us humans are a lot more average, and while your Pokemon can take a direct hit and still stand up again, one hit can be enough to kill the average person. That's why your responsibility as a trainer is to the people around you. The cost of training Pokemon is having to do whatever it takes to make sure everyone around you is safe from them."

"At the time, I thought he was being overdramatic, but as time went on, I remember seeing stories on the news of people, mostly children, killed by a Pokemon lashing out under pressure, and most of the time, the trainers are just shocked that their Pokemon did it... The Pokemon is euthanized, the trainer ends up being demonized by the media, and someone has died." Jon explained, "There isn't anything in this world I care about more than Alyssa, and today, I had her in front of me in a panic, because Jirachi teleported you out, locked her in that room, and made it clear it was going to do what it liked with everyone in the room. She escaped by chance, because it was equally likely her plan would have failed. Even if Jirachi had have teleported her out like it did Avery, and if everything is back to normal, the fact is, that Jirachi acted without your direction, in a way that directly affects other people, and especially seeing as no harm was done that we are aware of, under the current circumstances, I have no reason to believe that it won't do the same thing again, since it had so much fun, if not something worse..."

"I have had Latios in my team for ten years now." Jon explained, "I caught him when he was quite a bit younger and smaller, on an island in the south of Hoenn that it would roost on. Other than Latios and a few other Pokemon, it was completely uninhabited. And for the first six months he was in my team, I would travel there every weekend, as that was the only place that I could let Latios out of his Pokeball and know that there was no risk of him hurting somebody. I trained him to make a point of staying invisible around other people unless I okayed it, and to protect people, no matter what. And the reason it was six months was because that was how long it took for me to be satisfied that Latios was safe to be around other people."

Their food arrived, as Jon continued talking, sneaking in bites, and occasionally speaking with his mouth full...

"Once Alyssa and I moved in together, it took weeks before Latios got used to the fact he didn't have to be invisible around her, and even though he has done more than his fair share of property damage in the last few days, that was due to my lack of judgement when giving him instructions, and even then property can always be repaired. In the last nine years, he has given me absolutely no reason to believe he will harm another person. But that meant six months of him spending most of the week in the Pokeball and me blowing most of my income to go somewhere safe to train." Jon continued, "I trust Latios completely, to the point where when I wanted to keep Alyssa safe from Jirachi, it was Latios I tasked with protecting her, and told him that if Jirachi approached her, do whatever it takes to keep it away from her. And Latios hated being under that instruction, but was willing to do it anyway, without hesitation. But even though things are great, and I have no reason to believe that will change, I am still responsible for Latios' actions, and if he turns and the only way to keep others safe is to do whatever it takes, I will be the first person to do it. It is the last thing I'd want to do, but part of training such a powerful Pokemon is being prepared for that possibility."

"Cuddles, you have somehow wound up with a Pokemon that has incredible power, but your first responsibility isn't to Jirachi or yourself. It's to everyone else in the world. It's your responsibility to train Jirachi to never use its power against another human, unless you command it to, and in the event it does, it's your responsibility to do whatever it takes to minimize the damage, regardless of Jirachi. That's part of the responsibility of being a trainer." Jon said, taking another sip of his beer, "If I didn't think you were up for training Jirachi, I wouldn't be telling you this. I'd be having you held down, and taking the Pokeball from your belt by force. Training a Legendary Pokemon isn't easy, Avery and I can tell you that much, it's incredibly difficult. But I think you can do it, and am willing to help how I can."

Jon took another bite before continuing.

"However, I don't think anyone could get Jirachi to the point of certain safety before the end of the cruise, so my orders to Latios will still stand. Keep Jirachi away at all costs. Jirachi is in the Pokeball now, and the cruise has a matter of hours left. Make it easy for yourself, and keep it in there until we are off this god-forsaken ship. There is too much potential for another incident if you let it out, and too many distractions for it to focus on your training. And if you do decide to let it out anyway, keep it away from Alyssa. Nothing good will come from that."

Jon finished the last of his ramen, before checking his watch, seeing he was cutting it dangerously close with the match, before pulling some cash from his wallet to leave at the table.

"Also, a good word of advice, and this is for yours and Jirachi's sakes, train Jirachi to not run off like it has been, and keep out of sight of others, quickly. It puts a massive target on both of your backs." Jon explained, "If consequences can be wished away, there is very little stopping someone from slitting your throat in your sleep and taking Jirachi's Pokeball. That sort of power brings out the worst in people. If one of Lance's guys were to take Jirachi from you, we'd be in all sorts of trouble."

Jon stood from the table, making his way to the exit.

"There should be enough cash there to cover a few more drinks, but I gotta get to the arena for this battle with Cassandra, so I'll see you around." Jon explained, "You have my number. Send me a message if there is something I can do to help you train Jirachi."

With that, Jon left the restaurant, making his way to the Arena, reading messages from Alyssa asking where the hell he was, with the matches starting so soon...

*************************

Once Avery's battle with Ethan was over, Jon found himself in the empty locker room again, given some time with his Pokemon before the match. There wasn't a great deal to be said outside of tactics, however he gave Latios one instruction.

"You my friend, are going to cost me quite a bit of money with all the holes you have left in the ship." Jon explained, as Latios began to look away, struggling to make eye contact.

"They can be paid for so don't worry, but I do want to be able to battle again at some point without rotten fruit thrown at me by an angry mob, so we gotta make sure we can curb some of the hit to our reputation." Jon explained, "Reckon you can act all cutesy and funny in front of the crowd, and win them over? Make the damage look like a silly accident because I hadn't trained you right?"

Latios' expression turned to a grin as he began scheming. Jon put Nidoking and Scizor in their Pokeballs, whilst Latios turned invisible.

"Pretend you're going to send someone else out." Latios said telepathically, as Jon chuckled, seeing where he was going with it.

"This will be fun..."

Once their briefing time was over, Jon entered the battlefield, ready to win the High Seas Tournament.