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

[Noblejanobii]

Avery Miller (They/Them)
A Bunch of Places since this’ll be a summary
Affected RP'ers: @Chakramaster Desolate Divine

Avery followed along with Jon as they went to secure Lance. The champion had been turned into an Applin with his lackey, Anthony, now a Munchlax in hot pursuit of a snack. Avery felt a bit bad for the dragon master, since they weren’t aware of most of Lance’s crimes, but it seemed Jon was getting a kick out of this.

It wasn’t long before Lance and Anthony were changed back though. Once they were secured again, Jon invited Avery out for ramen to meet with “Cuddles” for a talk.

Once they arrived and ordered their food, Jon said his piece first. It had a lot of nuggets of wisdom for Jimmy when it came to raising a legendary, which Avery hoped dearly that Jimmy would take to heart. Whether he would or not remained to be seen. Still Jimmy’s response seemed promising.

Once Jon finished speaking, Avery jumped in to offer some advice as well. “Jon’s lecture is a tough act to follow but if I may second what he said, you need to be attentive to your Pokémon’s needs. Research them, yes, but also learn from them. Shaymin, and Jirachi, are the creatures of myths. There is not a lot of material out there on them. That is why you must listen to your Pokémon itself. It will convey its needs to you. Gloria was able to do so even without my ability to understand Pokespeech, so you have an advantage here. Use it. This whole situation could have been avoided if you had originally.

“In addition, remember that you are raising a child. You need to be a role model and parent to them. Be stern when necessary. It may hurt but they’ll need it if you want them to grow up into a Pokémon you can use freely in society. If stuff like what happened today continues to happen with no punishment of any kind, or even worse, a reward like playing with them, it only incentivizes the behavior. We can’t guarantee Jirachi won’t do this again just to get more playtime, so you have to be hard on him. Ensure that it doesn’t. Because then, as Jon said, it’s on your hands.”

Once they finished their meals, Avery and the others left to prepare for their battles that night.

***

Avery Miller (They/Them)
Wishmaker Stadium

Avery’s battle against Ethan was first so it wasn’t long before the two stood across the field from each other. Gloria was resting on Avery’s shoulder again, almost completely recovered from the battle prior. Avery hoped to not have to use it again if necessary but they’d have to play it by ear since it was entirely possible they’d need to use her against Ethan’s Salazzle.

Ethan initially sent out his Golem, likely anticipating that Avery would lead with Knautia, Mint, or Daybreak. Instead, to Ethan’s surprise, Avery sent out Picotee, wanting to give the Sawsbuck a chance to shine.

“Golem, use Earthquake!” The Boulder Pokémon leapt into the air and slammed its body into the ground, sending chunks of the battlefield all over the place.

“Picotee, dodge!” Avery called out. The deer gracefully leapt into the air, managing to avoid most of the debris simply by leaping between the disheveled parts of the battlefield. Still, he took some damage due to some debris managing to strike Picotee as he jumped around.

“Now set up a Sunny Day!” Picotee paused for a moment to charge up an orange ball of energy before launching it into the sky. The sun, while setting, seemed to get brighter for a moment.

Ethan took the opportunity to strike once more. “Earthquake again!” The golem slammed its body into the ground, sending ripples through the battlefield. Picotee wasn’t able to escape so easily this time, becoming caught between some parts of the shifting earth. Still, Avery had a plan for that.

“Nature’s Power!” Picotee grimaced as he found his lower half caught underneath the battlefield, but that still left enough of him free to follow Avery’s command. The Sawsbuck slammed his foot into the earth, sending ripples through it as Nature's Power turned into its corresponding move: Earth Power.

The ground underneath Golem erupted like a volcano and shook the entire battlefield, giving Picotee enough wiggle room to squeeze his way out of the crack he was stuck in.

“Now go in for a Horn Leech!” The Sawsbuck didn’t wait a moment, charging across the broken battlefield and slamming into the Golem with his horns. Picotee drained his opponent of its remaining HP, restoring his own health in the process. With that four times super effective attack, Golem stumbled and fell, rendered unconscious.

“Golem is unable to battle! The winner is Sawsbuck!”

Ethan returned the Golem to its pokeball before sending out his next Pokémon, the dreaded Salazzle. Avery quickly returned Picotee to its pokeball. “You did great,” they whispered before preparing their next pokemon.

“It’s showtime, Acacia!” They threw the pokeball high into the air, unleashing the Girafarig onto the battlefield. Acacia stomped her hooves on the ground and snorted, showing she was raring to go.

“Don’t give them a chance to attack! Sludge Bomb, let’s go!” Ethan called out. The Salazzle lowered herself onto all fours and unleashed a barrage of poisonous bombs towards Acacia.

Send them back with Psychic!” Acacia’s eyes turned blue as she unleashed a series of psychic waves that changed the trajectory of the sludge bomb attack. The Salazzle was unable to dodge them in time, taking a direct hit. “Don’t let up! Use Hyper Voice now!” Acacia stomped her hooves again before letting out a loud cry, sending the Salazzle tumbling. “Finish it with another Psychic!” Acacia started to prepare another Psychic attack when a Fire Blast came barreling across the field.

Acacia cried out as the flames consumed her, the attack doing a lot of damage. Before Acacia could fully recover, the Salazzle drew in for a close quarters attack with Poison Jab. Acacia wasn’t totally down yet, striking with a Psychic at the same time. An explosion ensued from the two colliding attacks and when the smoke cleared…

“Salazzle and Girafarig are both down! Trainers sent out your next Pokémon!”

Ethan set out his final Pokémon first: an Aegislash. Avery smirked. Easy. This battle was already won.

“Curtain call, Daybreak!”

The Rapidash burst forth, eager to battle in the final showdown for third place. Daybreak had been somewhat “cheated” out of a battle the previous night with the weird time jump that Jirachi made, so he was more than ready to let off some fire this way. The Aegislash didn’t stand a chance.

“Don’t even give them a chance to attack, Daybreak. Flare Blitz, let’s go!”

Daybreak let out a loud neigh before charging at the Aegislash. As he dashed forth, he erupted into a ball of flames, streaking like a comet across the battlefield.

“Aegislash, King’s Shi-”

Ethan wasn’t able to get off the command in time, and like that, in the blink of an eye, it was over. Daybreak slammed into Aegislash, knocking the steel and ghost type into the air. Daybreak then leapt up and struck the Aegislash one more time. The sword fell and clattered to the ground, unconscious.

“Aegislash is unable to battle! The victory goes to Avery Miller!”

Cheers erupted from around the arena. Daybreak trotted over to Avery and rubbed his nose against his trainer. “Shay-min! Shay-min!” (We won! We won!) Gloria cheered from Avery’s shoulder. Avery couldn’t help but laugh as he pet both of his Pokemon. They really were a great team.

“Come on, ease up. We can hug it out later. Let’s take a bow first.” Daybreak moved back from Avery and the trio gave a bow before walking off the field. Third place was theirs, and with it, a confirmation of what Avery intended to do next.

***

Avery Miller (They/Them)
Unloading Deck

Avery weaved their way through the crowds of people as they prepared to leave the ship. Since their battle last night (and the subsequent party afterwards), they hadn’t seen any of the others they had encountered on the ship. Jon, Alyssa, Jimmy, and the Diamond Ladies had all somewhat eluded them, though at least in the latter’s case there was a reasonable explanation as to why.

Still, this didn’t mean they’d soon forget them. In fact, quite to the contrary, this trip would be unforgettable. Not only was turning into a Pokemon on its own quite the wild tale, but also the fact that it helped set Avery on a new path in life was something incredible on its own. How long they’d remain a battler was yet to be seen, but for now, they’d play this out at least until they and their team changed their minds. For once, a socratic discussion wasn’t quite as difficult as it could be.

“Hey Avery!” Celestina called out, the fellow coordinator and operative shoving her way towards them. “Wait up!”

Avery stopped and laughed as Celestina struggled her way through the crowd. “I wouldn’t need to wait if you weren’t so slow,” they teased.

Celestina pouted a little and punched Avery in the shoulder once she caught up to them. “Now that’s a mean thing to say. Apologize right now!”

This only resulted in more laughter from Avery. It was only after Celestina delivered a few more shoulder punches that they raised their hands in surrender. “Okay okay, I give up. I’m sorry. Now come on, I want to get to the Castelia center before registration closes for the day.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Celestina asked as she followed Avery towards the dock.

“Yes,” Avery responded with conviction, “I’m one of the top coordinators in the world right now. There’s not much more I can achieve there before I plateau. People are constantly expecting me to come up with new and creative performances but if I’m being candid, I don’t know if I have much left in me at the moment. Challenging the Unova Battle Circuit not only gives me the opportunity to study battling to further incorporate this kind of thing into my performances, but also just in general serves as a creative break for me. I’ll be back eventually, but for now, it’s time to try something different.”

Celestina nodded her head in understanding after a moment. “I can understand that. Well I’ll be rooting for you the whole way. Perhaps we can travel to Mistralton together? My flight home is out of there.”

“Sure,” Avery said with a smile, “that’d be great.”

As Avery and Celestina made their way to exit the boat, Avery caught a glimpse of the Diamond Ladies. They were too far away to say anything, so instead they tried to catch one of their gazes’ and waved. It wasn’t much, but they hoped it’d be enough to convey the hope to meet again someday in the near or distant future.