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

[C0L0R3D]

Ozona Reverie
Central Park (Heading to Battle Stadium)
Affected RP'ers: N/A

Even with everything that was going on, Ozona was more focused on not drawing attention to herself then seeing what was unfolding. Even with Wafer trying to grab her attention, she ignored it and just occasionally informed the Scrafty to 'keep her unnoticed' and he was actually rather annoyed to comply. During wandering she realised where the battling stadium and it would never hurt to get extra training done, even if Ozona couldn't recall if she had a match to prepare for. Better safe than sorry.

During the walk, Oreo had let herself out of her Pokeball to walk by her owners side as the brash Scrafty was recalled, her shawl glittering in the sunlight. That kind of attention was what Ozona preferred anyway. Although she wondered if she was gonna get interviewed like some others did. Maybe, but she wouldn't mind.

[Shruikan]

Luneth Tarot
Central Park
Affected RP'ers: @Neo Emolga


Luneth looked around the corner the Zorua had hurtled around, but couldn’t see anything going on. If the Zorua had been running from something, it seems they’d lost it. Just like the Diamond Ladies had lost Luneth. Though probably not intentionally. They didn’t even know she was following them, did they?

Luneth looked the Zorua in the eye. “Ok, it’s dangerous to be running around central park for someone so small. I’ll carry until we can find your trainer.” By now the Zorua appeared to have given up struggling, and was resigned to being carried around by this strange girl.

Luneth was soon back in Central Park. This time Circuit had been returned, both to give his feet a rest, and so as not to accidentally injure any more small pokemon that might run into her. As such Luneth was on foot, and quickly discovering she didn’t like crowds. People kept getting in the way, causing her to have to take detours and follow the crowd’s flow.
She noticed a duo cutting through he crowd. No, it couldn’t be? But it was. There were the Diamond Ladies, getting waylaid by fans as usual.
Third time lucky? Despite the Zorua’s protests, pulling at her sleeve like a madmon and trying to wriggle away, Luneth followed after them, getting swept up in the crowd following the celebrities.

Eventually the crowd thinned, enough for Luneth to see that Cassandra was absent, which was concerning. They were always seen together, had something happened to her? Was she ill? What would happen with her upcoming battle tonight?
Caught up in her thoughts, she almost missed the ladies slip away into the Pinnacle Chapel.

Following them into the chapel seemed wrong, so Luneth decided to give them their privacy for now, sitting down on a bench nearby and setting the Zorua down to wait for them to exit.

“So, while we wait, why don’t we talk a bit?” The Zorua raised an eyebrow quizzically, “Zo zor zorua zor?” it said with a condescending tone, as if to point out that it can only speak pokemon.
“No, I don’t mean like, actual words.” Luneth said holding back a laugh. “you can mime stuff, or something? Oh, you’re a Zorua, you can make illusions right?”
The Zorua looked surprised by this, as if only noticing this now. After a few moments as standing motionless, it frowned and shook it’s head.
“No illusions? Huh. Well, you can still mime right?”

The Zorua gave her a “really?” look, but before it got the chance to try and respond, the conversation was cut short as there was a crashing sound from inside the Chapel. As Luneth got up to see what happened, she saw the Diamond Ladies leaving the chapel, and would have gone after them straight away, if not for the Zorua dashing off at the first sign of the ladies.

“Zorua? Where did you go? Why do you have to do this now?” Luneth said, looking around the various crannies, before pulling the fox pokemon out from behind a bin.

With that setback, Luneth had to hurry to catch up, the Zorua’s renewed resistance not helping matters as he constantly tried to wriggle free of her grip, only stopping once Luneth had almost caught up with Violet and Jerena in Central Park, at which point he hung his head, trying to look as small and meek as possible.

Rushing up to the two Ladies, Luneth wasted no time. “Hi! It’s me again!” Luneth said, forgetting that last time she had been distracted by Avery before actually meeting them, so they’d have no idea who she was. “Is Cassandra ok? She isn’t with you, and after the crashing in the chapel I got worried. Are there stalker fans after you guys? Oh, cute Eevee! I’ve never seen you with one before.” Luneth said, before realising that she was getting off topic. “Anyway, is everything alright with you guys?”

[Noblejanobii]

Avery Miller
Guest Quarters Hallway => Battle Stadium
Affected RP'ers: @Desolate Divine @Chakramaster

Avery watched with concern as their Pokéballs and clothes were swept up into Alyssa's bag. They hoped that Daybreak and the others were alright. Though as annoying as being a Pokémon was, it did present the unique opportunity of being able to speak with their team. Avery made a mental note to see if they could at least have one conversation with their team before they turned back human. Though this was assuming it was possible to change back.

Alyssa scooped up Jimmy and Gloria before asking if Avery could walk since they were a bit too heavy for her to carry. Gloria didn't seem all that much bothered being carried by Alyssa, since Avery carried her like that all the time, but Jimmy was a different story. Avery winced a little as Jimmy froze up. Poor guy. They nodded their head and began to follow after Alyssa. It took some getting used to the more waddling style of walking, but at least as a Buizel they had the option of walking on two legs instead of all fours. Still, balancing with the new twin tail was a bit tricky.

Eventually the group made their way to the battle stadium where Alyssa's husband was waiting. Avery recognized Jon from some of the previous matches and from their conversation with Alyssa earlier. They tilted their head a little as Jon lied to Alyssa about Avery currently being in the showers. It was a good cover for sure but why lie about that sort of thing? All quickly became clear after Alyssa left.

"You two aren't really Pokemon are you..." Jon said quietly, "They got to you, didn't they..."

Jimmy quickly began to panic and pace around. The reaction was somewhat reasonable though the idea that Jon might actually fight Jimmy over being so close to Alyssa made Avery's eyes roll. It's not like he could help it. Turning to Jon, Avery nodded their head, trying to confirm that they were in fact humans turned Pokémon. At the very least they could answer some yes or no questions pretty easily, Avery supposed.

Gloria trotted over to Avery's side and began to call out to get Jon's attention. "Min min! Shaymin!" Once she had Jon's attention, she caused her unique morning glories to blossom all over her body. Gloria shook her back a little before gesturing as best she could at Avery. "Min min!" (This! This is Avery!) she said. Avery's eyes widened as they caught onto what Gloria was doing. Definitely those years of playing charades with Avery were coming in handy here.

[Neo Emolga]

The Diamond Ladies
Central Park
Affected RP’ers: @Shruikan

“Hi!” the three Ladies heard a call out to them. “Is Cassandra ok? She isn’t with you, and after the crashing in the chapel I got worried. Are there stalker fans after you guys?”

“Uh, yeah, we’re fine,” Jarena replied with a casual smile. “That was just someone’s… crazy Pokémon. Yeah, I swear, some people need to train their Pokémon better and get them under control.”

And then Jarena noticed the Zorua, looking a bit anxious and bewildered. It was making her wonder if it was Nathan, the same Zorua that had broken into their room and escaped earlier, but not before getting transformed.

“Cass hasn’t been well,” Violet told Luneth. “Someone broke into our room while we were out this morning. And she’s been under a lot of stress.”

And they knew that part certainly wasn’t a lie.

“Oh, cute Eevee!” Luneth exclaimed, looking at Cass without knowing the truth. “I’ve never seen you with one before.”

“I did have one before this,” Violet told her as she cradled Cassandra in her arms. “Before she became the Umbreon she is today. For this one, I’m still deciding. Possibly Glaceon or Flareon once she’s ready.”

Cass wasn’t keen on the idea of evolving, as she couldn’t imagine what a Pokémon felt like they were undergoing that whole process. That, and she considered that it could possibly destroy her only chance to change back to normal. There was a possibility that evolving as a Pokémon made it impossible for the Affliction Reversal Spell to work. Because if she evolved, that could possibly mean it was no longer an affliction and now her new natural state. Just the thought of that was enough to send a chill up her Eevee spine.

“Anyway, is everything alright with you guys?” Luneth asked.

“Could be better,” Jarena sighed, feeling like a tinge of the anxiety was getting to her, also. “Between our room getting broken into, Cass not feeling well, and that Pokémon that disturbed us while we were just trying to get some quiet time in the Chapel, it hasn’t been a great morning.”

It was then that Cassandra noticed the Zorua, also. Nathan looked at her with a puzzled look at first, but then he started to wonder.

“Zorrr… rrr…” (“You… are you who I think you are?”) Nathan asked Cassandra. “Zorrr-ura!” (“Where did you come from?”)

“Veee…eee” (“That’s right, you do look familiar.”) Cassandra growled angrily. “Veee-ee! Vee! Vee!” (“You’re Nathan, aren’t you!? You’re the punk who raided our guest room!”)

“Zor! Rrr-ura!” (“I knew you three were some kind of scam!”) Nathan snarled back at her. “Zorrr-rrruu…! Zor-ura!” (“Looks like you got your just desserts then, didn’t you, little Cassandra! Too bad the voodoo on that pillow backfired on you! Ha!”)

Cassandra growled at him again, but Violet quickly nudged Cassandra trying to get her to stop, realizing what was going down between her and this Zorua, though she had a strong feeling she knew who it was and wouldn’t have minded to boot him clear across Central Park herself. She didn’t know the exact details of the conversation, but she had a pretty good idea. Regardless, she decided to treat it as if they were both normally Pokémon to keep her cover story intact, as she felt that was more important than getting payback on Nathan.

“We need to get going,” Violet told Luneth, trying to leverage this squabble between Cassandra and Nathan as a means to break away. “Doesn’t seem like Cinnamon likes your Zorua friend very much, unfortunately. And this is no place for a Pokémon battle.”

“Yeah, sucks,” Jarena shrugged, trying to help Violet defuse the situation. “Ah well, nice meeting you!”

With that, Violet and Jarena walked away from Luneth, though Cassandra shot an evil eye back at Nathan. Meanwhile, Violet headed toward the guest room, keeping a watch out to make sure there weren’t any of these pursuers standing around it or going in and out of the room itself. Still, Violet wasn’t thrilled about Cassandra’s reactions. Already too much had been compromised.

“Behave yourself before we get into even more trouble,” Violet scolded Cassandra. “I don’t care who that Zorua is, we can’t afford to screw up yet again.”

“Seriously, Cinnamon,” Jarena agreed. “Learn to relax for once and at least pretend to be a polite Eevee, because this whole cover story is flimsy at best.”

Cassandra simply pouted, already feeling tired of having to be carried everywhere, but she didn’t want to suggest she should be put into a Pokéball instead. Meanwhile, at the same time, what Nathan told her still bit at her nerves. He barged into their room after stalking them, threw her things everywhere, went through her private belongings, and now here he was, laughing about her misfortune and was now aware of her dark secrets. It was enough to make her get livid, but she decided to follow Violet’s advice and forgo her feelings of vengeance upon him. She needed to focus and get back to the original plan.

[[Desolate Divine]]

Jon Drake
Battle Stadium
Affected RPers: @Noblejanobii @Chakramaster

Jon watched as the Pachirisu began somewhat freaking out, and couldn't help but chuckle internally at the embarrassment it seemed to show.

"I'll have some fun with this..." Jon thought to himself before the Shaymin, that Alyssa had mentioned was Avery's came forward and began making charades.

"So you're Avery?" Jon asked, "You're supposed to be battling Cassandra tonight aren't you? I'd say you're s*** out of luck, but it looks like she is too..."

Before Jon could question the Pachirisu there was a flicker of light as Latios seemed to materialize out of nowhere between Jon and the Pokemon.

"I'll get to you in a second, Cuddles." Jon said to the Pachirisu, before turning to Latios. At least he used the hole he made on the way out to get back in...

"You did well following them, but you really need to be more careful!" Jon said to the Eon Pokemon, "You're the ace in the hole in this, and you being caught would put the whole mission at jeopardy. We don't even know what they're capable of. Let's say they have some mind control spell in that book of theirs, and they caught you. Not to mention these holes you keep leaving in the walls. Now they probably know they had a Latios tailing them, and not some ghost type. If you ever need to do that again, blast the wall out with a telekinetic pulse, that way its ambiguous."

"Not to mention my insurance is going to go through the roof getting this fixed." Jon said gesturing to the hole in the roof, "Excuse the pun."

Jon turned to face the two Pokemon.

"Latios here can turn invisible, as you just saw. But his real talent is his ability to show what he sees." Jon explained, nodding towards Latios, who began sight sharing his view of Jon and the three Pokemon to all of them for a moment, before cutting out.

"After you two went in to back up the missing operatives, I had Latios tail Jarena and Violet, and send everything he saw to me." Jon explained, "There is definitely witchcraft at work. You two are evidence of that, and they turned Cassandra into an Eevee and were freaking out trying to find a way to turn them back. Good news is they found one, and better news is we can make it difficult for them to turn her back without our help. Bad news is that it may be a little tricky for us to turn you back, and we still need their help to turn you back."

Jon looked at a pair of paints and noticed a wallet sticking out, before walking over and picking it up.

"This yours, Cuddles?" Jon asked the Pachirisu before opening it up and finding an ID. "Jimmy Kendo... Interesting..."

"Well I wasn't lying completely to Alyssa when I said I had a meeting she can't be at. And technically, now that you two are here, more and more of it is true." Jon explained, "I have requested a meeting with a commander to share what we found out and organize next steps. I will explain everything then, save me having to repeat myself. He should be here soon..."

[Neo Emolga]

The Diamond Ladies
Guest Rooms
Affected RPers: Possibly Shruikan

It was starting to get to be in the early afternoon and none of the Ladies had a bite to eat since breakfast. Still, the morning had been so full of ruckus and they had so many other things on their mind that they didn’t think about it until they started getting hungry.

“We maybe only have about fifteen minutes before the restaurants close and won’t reopen until dinner,” Jarena told Violet. “I think after this, we should grab at least something. Otherwise we’re stuck having to digest whatever we can get from a vending machine.”

“Fine,” Violet muttered as they approached the room. “We need to head to Windjammer Marketplace anyway to see if we can get ourselves a nugget after this.”

But then Jarena looked to Cassandra, and it was a bit of an awkward situation.

“So, what are we supposed to feed her?” Jarena asked, referring to Cassandra. “Seems a little… odd to be having Cass eat Pokémon chow.”

“As long as she’s an Eevee, she’ll need to eat like one,” Violet replied. “Though we can try to see if there’s at least something we can share with her.”

“Veee…” Cassandra sighed, feeling humiliated yet again.

Shortly after, they had arrived back at their guest room, and it seemed the coast was clear. The door had been left unlocked and left only slightly ajar, but just to be safe, Jarena slowly and carefully opened it to make sure whoever was pursuing and watching them didn’t have an ambush ready. But after slowly opening it, she saw it was left in the same condition the last time they were here.

Quickly, Jarena headed to the bathroom to look for Cass’s hairbrush while Violet went to grab the fallen jeans, t-shirt, and other clothes that Cassandra was wearing from this morning before she got turned into an Eevee. If by chance they got what they needed and the spell was successful, Violet logically concluded her clothes wouldn’t magically spring right back onto her. On top of everything else that happened today, Violet figured getting caught naked wasn’t something Cassandra wanted to add to an already disastrous list.

“Ah, found it!” Jarena smiled as she emerged from the bathroom, holding Cass’s pink and white hairbrush. “Yeah, there’s a few hairs on here. Should be all we need.”

“Now it’s down to that nugget,” Violet replied, knowing this was going to be the most difficult step.

“Yeah…” Jarena sighed, knowing this was going to be a challenge. “We’d be lucky if there’s even one on this ship.”

Violet figured with this many people on board, there had to be at least a few. Trainers often found them, stashed them away, and didn’t always remember to sell them at the marts on their usual touch-and-go shopping trips before they were back out and went back to training and catching Pokémon. She was hoping they might find such a trainer that still had one on hand and was willing to part with it with some persuasion. Violet was even willing to pay double of what was usually given for them, though she fully intended on having it be noted to Cassandra that she owed her. Big time.

However, she was trying to think of ways they could inquire for a gold nugget without it looking odd. Normally Pokémon trainers or their Pokémon themselves would find them out in the wilderness while exploring, sell them to Pokémarts for a tenth of they were worth, and the marts would then sell them to anyone that could smelt the gold and use it for jewelry or whatever else they could fashion out of the valuable raw material. Violet figured she could pretend to be interested in using the gold for her own jewelry crafting hobby. It was slightly out of character for her, but given the circumstances, she felt it was worth trying.

“Vi-vi!” Cassandra’s Victini had awoken from his slumber.

At first he was excited to see the Diamond Ladies return, but there was no sight of Cassandra anywhere and it left him confused and worried. Meanwhile, the sight of everything thrown about all over the place was unusual to him.

“Ev… ev-veeee…” (“Eh, hi, Victini. It’s… me, Cass.”) Cassandra spoke to her Victini, feeling quite embarrassed. “Eev-veee-e” (“I accidentally triggered one of my own spells so…”)

“Vic-ti-ti!” (“Oh, that’s why!”) Victini laughed, coming to Cassandra’s side. “Vi-ti-tini!” (“My, you’re a very pretty Eevee! What a lucky day for you!”)

Cassandra was instantly not very thrilled about that comment and gave Victini that “come on, really?” kind of suspicious look, lowering her eyelids and not looking very amused. Despite being a flattering comment, she didn’t have any intention of staying like this. Meanwhile, there was also a bit of concern in that if Victini felt like her becoming a pretty Eevee was “lucky,” the mythical Pokémon of victory might have an unintended effect on altering the fates and seeing to it that Cassandra stayed “lucky” and “victorious” by remaining in this form.

She was really hoping that wouldn’t be the case. But before she could correct Victini and mention it, Jarena had spoken up.

“Okay, I think we’ve got what we need,” Jarena smiled, adding Cass’s hairbrush and clothes to her tote bag as she allowed Victini to ride on her shoulder. “Off to Windjammer Marketplace. I’m starving.”

“Fair enough, let’s go,” Violet replied, scooping up Cassandra and carrying the Eevee in her arms. “This plan better work.”

As they headed out the door and turned to make their way toward Windjammer Marketplace, Victini closed his eyes and hummed a happy melody.

[Chakramaster]

Jimmy Kendo
Battle Stadium
Affected RP'ers: @Noblejanobii @Desolate Divine

Jon had figured it out. Thankfully for both Avery and Jimmy. The two operatives that had been changed into these new Pokemon forms. Jon looked to the Buizel and Gloria the Shaymin. Who had started doing what looked like charades.

"So you're Avery?" Jon asked, "You're supposed to be battling Cassandra tonight aren't you? I'd say you're s*** out of luck, but it looks like she is too..."

He looked like he was about to question Jimmy as well, but got distracted. Looking at him and saying, "I'll get to you in a second, Cuddles."

Jimmy, while still embarrassed, looked up to him shouting. "Suuu! Pa-chiii. Pachiri! Pachirisu. Pachi-ri! Su. Pachi-chi. Pachiri....su." ("Hey my name isn't Cuddles!. I was being held against my will! Why don't you try being turned into a Pokémon a foot tall and being held tightly to the chest of someone....attractive!"). The squirrel Pokemon shouted. Knowing very well he couldn't understand him. He just felt like he was being judged and wanted to get some frustration out. An idea had come to his mind. An oh so terrible one, but he couldn't help but smirk slightly. Keeping this veiled from Jon's eyes while he's distracted.

Keeping his voice down. He couldn't help let out his thoughts. Jon couldn't understand him after all he thought. "Ri-Su. Pachi Pachi. Pachirisu. Riiii Pachirisu." ("Go ahead. Call me Cuddles again. Next time Alyssa stops by. I'll have a little fun with this myself."

Jon faces them once again. Jimmy giving his attention back as normal. Soon hopes Jon didn't notice the impish little squirrel having any crazy thoughts to himself. He explained his Latios ability to share its "sight." Giving them an example by showing them an example. They could suddenly see images of exactly what Latios was seeing. There was Jon and three Pokemon. Seeing himself for the first time fully in this form of a Pachirisu. Gave him quite a shiver for a moment. This really WAS happening. The ability was cut and gave them their vision back to normal.

Jon explained to them what his Latios saw while we had been turned into Pokemon that moment and tailed them. This was good Jimmy thought. That means more than likely they're searching frantically for a way to change Cassandra back. If we play this carefully. We can still catch them. While finding a way to change us and all the other operatives back as well.

After explaining the situation. Jon noticed Jimmy's wallet sticking out from the pile of his clothes he had been giving from Alyssa before she part away from the group.

He looked to the Pachirisu and asked, "This yours, Cuddles?" Once again giving Jimmy the face of agitation. Making him chime out a moment. Stomping his little foot and pointing his arm as if he told him once before, but again. Jon couldn't understand. He just hears, "Paaa-chiii! Pachiri! Pachi pachi! Pachi-RI-SU!" ("I told you, my name is not CUDDLES!. I was being held against my will.").

Gaining composure again he crosses his little arms giving a sour face. Like an upset friend who is just displeased with you while giving him a slight glance and nodding at the ID.

Jon explained to the two that he wasn't totally lying about having a meeting. This caught their attention. He explained he had a meeting with a commander that would be here soon. Explaining more about their current situation. This gave Jimmy an idea. Jimmy made his way to Avery and began to talk amongst themselves

("Well we really got ourselves into a mess huh? What do you think. Any ideas? We gotta find some way to communicate with them. I'd rather not have to charade things out like you and Gloria did..no offense. If only I had my Rotom with me. We could use it to connect with my phone and see if we can speak through that. Make a sort of translation app for our Pokémon to Human speech. Though I feel we need to start practicing getting used to these forms for now. Might come in handy...if we even have powers like our Pokémon at all that is.)

Jimmy thought to himself. (I sure hope Pikachu found Rotom and they're both okay).

---

Jimmy Kendo's Pikachu
Guest Quarter Hallways - Air Ducts

"I think it's....this way?" Pikachu mumbled.

"Think?! I thought you said you KNEW where Jimmy was. I knew it! We're lost! We're lost! Never to be found again! Stuck in a cold, dark, and damp metal prison!" The Rotom exaggerated.

"Oh stop exaggerating, Rotom. This isn't the time for jokes." The Pikachu exclaimed to the Rotom. I've still got an ideas of where his tracker is. It was with his clothes. So long as I focus in I can try using my electricity to focus in on it just....give me a moment." The Pikachu said. Closing its eyes and trying to use its ears and tail. Both ears and his tail twitching slightly. Trying to focus on Jimmy's electronic signal from his tracker.

The Rotom slowly crept closer to the Pikachu. It truly is just impatient. As it bust out right next to Pikachu's ear. Without even the slightest whisper. "WELL?! AnyTHinG YeT?!" Making the Pikachu let "Pi-KA!" and let out a small burst of electricity surging through the highly conductive metal around them. Sending it in almost an electronic wave down the entire duct." The Rotom chuckling slightly. Pikachu just gives him a glare.

Pikachu mumbles to itself, "I hate this guy..." while Rotom creeps closer again.

"Say something, Pikachu?" the Rotom asked.

"Err, yeah! He's this way!" As Pikachu at least did connect more on to where Jimmy's stuff is. Hoping his partner was at least still there. Hoping he's doing okay after having been transformed into a Pokémon.

Pikachu again thinks to himself. "At least he's an electric type....I can help teach him moves if needed..but why of all electric types is it THAT squirrel. He's gonna be seen as such a trouble maker. Might even get some weird nicknames like: Fluffy, cutie, or if he gets picked up....Cuddles." The Pikachu quivers a moment.

"Yeah let's just hope that doesn't happen." The Pikachu sweats a moment giving a slight chuckle.

The two continue down the air ducts. The Rotom asks "what's so funny, Pikachu?"

"Oh nothing Rotom. Nothing at all..." the Pikachu said hoping to evade another discussion with the Rotom.

[Noblejanobii]

Avery Miller
Battle Stadium
Affected RP'ers: @Desolate Divine @Chakramaster

Avery let out a sigh of relief as Jon got the message about their true identity. At least that cleared up some of the confusion around who they were. Still, Jon had a point. They could hardly participate in the semis like this. Avery tilted their head side to side before shrugging. It wasn't like Cassandra could either. And to be candid, as much as Avery would have liked to win, it's not like they expected to in the first place. No harm no foul, they supposed.

Avery cocked an eyebrow at Jimmy as he began to plot his revenge over the nickname "Cuddles". They rolled their eyes again and exchanged a shrug with Gloria. Whatever floated Jimmy's boat, they supposed. It wasn't really any of Avery's concern at this point anyway. They had bigger things on their mind.

Avery stumbled a little when Latios shared his sight with them. An impressive ability to be sure, and very useful when coupled with Latios' ability to turn invisible. Avery paused, the gears started to turn in their head. As Jon mentioned the meeting with the commander, an idea began to formulate in Avery's mind. Sure they could take Jon's word for everything that Latios saw. But what if they could do something even better to prove the existence of witchcraft? That was when Jimmy came over and gave his two cents on the situation.

("Well we really got ourselves into a mess huh? What do you think. Any ideas? We gotta find some way to communicate with them. I'd rather not have to charade things out like you and Gloria did..no offense. If only I had my Rotom with me. We could use it to connect with my phone and see if we can speak through that. Make a sort of translation app for our Pokémon to Human speech. Though I feel we need to start practicing getting used to these forms for now. Might come in handy...if we even have powers like our Pokémon at all that is.)

That was it! Avery clapped their paws together and nodded a little. "I think I have a way around that," they said, "One of the team members I brought with me is a psychic type. Acacia sometimes used telepathy to communicate with me so perhaps we could use her as a sort of translators." Waddling over to their clothes on the ground, Avery began to dig through the pile until they found their Pokéball belt. Pulling it out, Avery began to look over the Pokéballs until they found Acacia's. Avery plucked her Pokéball off and set the belt down. This was going to be a very awkward throw. Taking the Pokéball in both paws, Avery wound their arms back before throwing it with all their might.

The Pokéball sailed through the air before opening. A burst of white light erupted from the Pokéball and quickly took the shape of a Girafarig. Acacia glanced around in confusion, trying to figure out what was going on. "Avery?" she called out in Pokéspeak.

"Over he- ack!" Right as Avery started to respond, Acacia's Pokéball came sailing back and smacked Avery right in the face. The buizel was knocked onto the ground from the force of the hit and rubbed their face as it pulsed in pain. Right. Pokéballs did that. They had forgotten. Normally they could catch the Pokéballs without problem but as a Buizel that made things a lot harder.

Gloria and Acacia both rushed over to Avery's side, starting to inspect their trainer to ensure they were alright. "I'm okay, I'm okay," they repeated a couple times before sitting up. "Good to see and speak with you, Acacia," they said after a moment.

Acacia seemed very confused by the Buizel claiming to be her trainer, but after a quick sniff, it seemed she was satisfied that they were telling the truth. Albeit, she was still very confused as to how Avery ended up as a Buizel. Gloria and Avery gave Acacia a quick rundown of the situation up until that point, before explaining why they had called her out. "We need you to translate for us to Jon and this commander character when they arrive," Gloria said. "Your telepathy should be a good way to prove that Jimmy and Avery are who they say they are."

"You think so?" Acacia answered. After mulling it over a moment, she nodded. "Well alright. I trust you, Avery. Let me just test this out with Jon first."

The girafarig trotted over to Jon and gave a slight bow as a means of introduction. She began to focus on Jon, her eyes glowing a slight blue as she began to establish the psychic connection. She began to send a quiet message along the psychic link, hoping that Jon would receive it. "Testing testing, 123. Mr. Jon Human, can you hear me?"

[[Desolate Divine]]

Jon Drake
Battle Arena
Affected RPers: @Noblejanobii @Chakramaster

Latios went invisible again, as he had been taught to do, as Jon watched as Cuddles threw a temper tantrum over the nickname, before turning his attention to Avery. The Buizel dug through the pile of clothes, pulling out a Pokeball, before throwing it, releasing a Girafarig, before copping a Pokeball to the face. The whole ordeal reminded him of the cartoons he used to watch as a child, when his dad was too hungover to hit him...

"If you want me to help with that, just pass me the ball." Jon explained, "Those little Pokemon paws aren't cut out for catching these things."

The Buizel began conversing with the Girafarig before turning to Jon, bowing its head, as its eyes began to glow. After a moment, Jon could hear a voice in his head.

"Testing testing, 123. Mr. Jon Human, can you hear me?"

Jon couldn't help but chuckle at the testing 123, remembering the sound engineers at shows he had been to see.

"Loud and clear, but just Jon is fine." Jon replied to the Pokemon, before noticing someone entering the room, "But we may have to continue this conversation later..."

"Jon, what's going on?" Came a familiar voice, as the person approached. Though he had traded his usual somewhat formal champion attire for board shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, dyed his hair a chestnut brown, and wore a baseball cap, Jon recognized the voice as that of Steven Stone, the Ex Hoenn Champion.

"You weren't followed in?" Jon asked, knowing full well how easily certain Pokemon can listen in.

"I have operatives posing as ship security at the door, sending anyone else away." Steven explained, "Told them there was a meeting taking place between the organizers of the tournament and the contestants."

"Great minds think alike. I said the same thing to Alyssa to get her to leave before..." Jon replied.

"She doesn't know about the operation?" Steven asked.

"No, it's for her own good, though she would never admit it." Jon explained, "I love her, dearly, but honestly, she can't sit by and know there is something out there she doesn't know. She is here for her own work, which means she is tracking down competitors to get statements, and whilst she does want to interview Cassandra, there are plenty of other people to occupy her. If she knew there was something sour going on, she would hone onto that, and get herself into trouble. Between us, you don't wanna know how many times I have had to bail her out of jail for trespassing or harassing people in the name of the truth."

"I understand." Steven explained, "So what happened?"


"I saw on comms that you guys made another attempt to breach the targets room, and that you had lost contact. When I heard you were sending in backup, I had Latios track down the targets and follow them to gather intel, and was watching via his sight-sharing while it all happened." Jon explained, as Latios materialized again, looking uneasily at Steven. Due to his history of trainers attempting to catch him on sight, Jon had taught him to be wary of them, only ever letting himself be seen for the occasional battle that Jon had him participate in, or around trainers who knew of him.

"What did you learn?" Steven asked, not seeming too shocked at the Legendary Pokemon materializing, "And what's with all the Pokemon? Is that a Shaymin?"

"A lot. Good news and bad." Jon explained, "Those books that were seen? The witchy looking ones? They aren't for show."

"You're kidding?"

"No, there is some supernatural bulls**t going on with these chicks." Jon explained, as he tossed Jimmy's wallet to Steven, "Meet Operatives Avery Miller and Cuddles."

Jon gestured to the two Pokemon, as Steven looked at Jimmy's ID, before muttering something along the lines of "I'm not even going to ask..."

"So you mean to tell me these girls turned these two operatives into Pokemon?" Steven asked, "I take it this is the bad news, but what's the good news?"

"Well the good news is we have solid reason to believe the other four operatives who are missing are still alive." Jon explained, "And Latios managed to overhear a little about how to undo this spell, which Violet and Jarena were frantically trying to find, because their brilliant leader managed to turn herself into an Eevee..."

"Wait what-" Steven asked in shock.

"I'm not too sure how, because I didn't see it happen, but Latios tailed them into the chapel, and they kept referring to the Eevee as Cass, and were looking frantically through these books for a way to change her back." Jon explained, "They found a spell, and Latios and I heard what ingredients were needed for it, but Latios blew his cover before we could hear what we needed to do with them."

"How did he blow his cover?"

"He tried to steal a book they were practically staring at, then when they realized, fled, and left them something to remember him by." Jon sighed as he pointed to the Latios shaped hole in the roof.

"Damn, your insurance renewal is going to suck..." Steven replied, admiring Latios' handiwork.

"I have a Fire and Electric type, so it already isn't good." Jon explained, "Anyway, the ingredients for the spell to turn them back are a cup of water, a gold nugget and a sample of their original form. Violet and Jarena were talking about getting some hair from Cassandra's brush. But beyond that, I don't know what to do. It could be as simple as throwing them all in the cup and tipping it on Avery and Cuddles here, or there could be some incantation or something. It's hard to say since I didn't even realize witchcraft was possible until half an hour ago..."

"I know you're technically the commander here, but you need to order every operative on the ship to buy out every single Gold Nugget they can find." Jon explained, "Firstly so we can turn these two and the other operatives back, and secondly, so that they can't return Cassandra to normal without complying with us. I get the feeling without her calling the shots, they may just slip up enough for us to get the upper hand. It seemed like they were focusing on getting Cassandra's hair first, and that was about twenty minutes ago."

"No you're right, CO or not." Steven explained, "Cassandra is too proud to let herself lose this tournament by default. If we can control whether or not she can return to her normal self and compete, we may have the best bargaining chip we could ask for."

"One other thing, and this goes for all of you." Jon explained, turning to the Pokemon, "Currently the only people who know that I am Latios' trainer are the people in this room, Alyssa, and the odd battle fan who may have seen me use him in one of the few battles I have actually used him in. Steven made sure any record of me online was hidden before this. This next bit, only Alyssa and Steven know. My name isn't really Jon Drake. Jon's my middle name, and Drake is Alyssa's surname. My legal name is Ryan Mason, but I go by Jon Drake because my dad is a piece of s*** and I don't want him to find me."

"The reason I tell you this, is because I don't know what these girls are capable of. One of them was laughing about a spell that could make people see their own worst nightmares or something, and last night all the operatives who attempted to intercept them wound up passed out drunk despite not touching any alcohol. Them having a spell that forces someone to tell the truth is not unlikely." Jon explained, "So if you end up being caught, and they ask about the Latios, you are being more truthful by saying his trainer is Ryan Mason than Jon Drake. Steven made sure nothing on the ship links the name Ryan Mason to me, and unless these girls can somehow hack the Drivers License Database, they should never know. Even if he got himself seen, Latios is still an ace in the hole for this operation, and the less they know about him, the easier he can make things."

"I think that's everything for debrief though. Anything you guys want to mention? That's why you let out the Girafarig, right?" Jon asked.

Once all had been said, Steven approached Latios, the dragon looking at him slightly uneasily, as Jon's phone buzzed, the encrypted message being an order of utmost importance to buy out any nuggets they could get their hands on.

"I knew you had Latios when I met you, but I have never been this close." Steven said, as he looked the Pokemon in the eyes, who seemed confused by the attention. Most of the time when trainers other than Jon or Alyssa were this close, it was in attempt to capture him, "How is it raising a Legendary Pokemon? I was league champion for years, but never got the privilege to raise a Legendary Pokemon myself..."

"It's not easy, I will give you that much." Jon explained, "Most of the resources out there are myths and hearsay. I could go online and find out everything I know about an Eevee from when it hatches to the day it dies, and how to care for it, but there is next to nothing for Latios. Most of it is looking at how Pokemon of similar types and biology that are more common are raised, and trying to figure out what applies and what doesn't. Avery probably went through the same thing with their Shaymin. I don't even know how old Latios is..."

"Really?" Steven asked, "When most people think of Legendary Pokemon, they think of ancient and wise beings."

"Well he is still learning the wisdom part, but in all honesty, I think he is still a juvenile." Jon said, walking over to give Latios a scratch behind the fins on his head, "When I first caught him he was about 5ft tall and weighed about 100 pounds. Now he is 6ft 7 and over 130, and seems to have stopped growing. He always did well with sight sharing and invisibility, but still can't communicate telepathically like Avery's Girafarig and Alyssa's Gardevoir. He can definitely fly faster than when we first met, and broke the sound barrier last year, though I think he will still become faster. People say they can fly at almost double that, but it's hard to say. And like any teenager, he doesn't make the best decisions on his own. So he still has a bit of growing to do in here."

Jon tapped his head, as Latios looked at him with a scowl.

"What, I bragged about you breaking the sound barrier? Do I need to remind you of that?" Jon explained, pointing at the hole in the roof, before turning back to Steven, "Once he has matured fully, he will be incredible."

"You're a very lucky trainer." Steven replied, "Few have the opportunity to meet such a Pokemon, and fewer get to train them.

"Before you go, there is one last thing." Jon explained, before turning to Avery and Cuddles, as well as their small band of Pokemon followers.

"I can't take them with me." Jon explained, "Alyssa found them and brought them here thinking their trainers might be around. I figured out what had happened, and told her that the trainers were here and I would return them so she would leave them with me. If I return to our room with them, and the other Pokemon that seem to keep popping up, it will make her start asking questions, and if I am seen with them by the targets, I will be compromised."

"That's true." Steven muttered.

"Think you can find another operative for them to tag along with?" Jon explained turning to the Pokemon, "Until we can get them turned back? Is that okay with you guys?"

[Noblejanobii]

Avery Miller
Battle Stadium
Affected RP'ers: @Desolate Divine @Chakramaster

Avery watched the whole back and forth between Jon and Steven in relative silence. Not like they could add much anyway even if they wanted to given their current predicament. It was much easier to just let Jon explain all that he knew up until that point since there were definitely some aspects to it that he knew more about than Avery did. Especially that bit about the cure. So it was possible to turn back into a human. That certainly would be preferable to Avery's current state. Not that they didn't enjoy being a Buizel, it was all well and good they supposed, as there were worse Pokémon they could have become. But they couldn't exactly compete as a coordinator like this.

Avery gave a short nod as Jon explained the situation around his name. It'd be a good way to test if someone was impersonating him too, they thought. They weren't sure there was much of a way for Avery to offer the same type of secret to Jon but having some sort of fail safe like that would be good. The mic was quickly handed off to them, figuratively speaking anyway, as Jon asked if Avery or Jimmy had anything to add.

Turning to Acacia, they nodded to her to indicate starting the telepathy translation. She nodded back and began to transmit. Avery thought it over before saying, "I think that about covers it. Lucky for us, I have a hairbrush in my room as well so unless the Diamond Ladies willfully seek out my room to destroy it, we should be in the clear on that front." Avery scratched their head a little as they spoke. "I do worry that it's possible the Diamond Ladies will try to use their magic for illusions to turn us against one another. So perhaps sharing lesser known facts about yourselves would be a good testing method." Avery's tails began to swish back and forth as they paused in thought. "Perhaps... the fact that my earring was a gift from my father would work. Most people don't know its true origin." Avery looked at Jimmy and asked, "Anything else to add?"

As the top of discussion shifted to Jon's Latios, Avery listened intently to what all Jon had experienced raising the legendary. They began to nod along to the explanation too. They had experienced similar when it came to raising Gloria. When Avery met Gloria, she was still just a baby Shaymin. Raising a baby legendary was no simple task but thankfully Avery was able to rely on their team to help figure out the whole situation. Now closer to a juvenile herself, Gloria didn't need much assistance from Avery anymore and they knew their stuff pretty well from years of experience.

Finally, Jon explained that he couldn't well have the merry band of misfits following him back to when he met up with Alyssa. Reasonable, Avery supposed. It would blow their cover for sure. But who could they go with? It was then an idea struck Avery and they began to call out to the others. "Bui! Bui bui!" Acacia fumbled for a moment before beginning to translate via telepathy again. "Reach out to a Celestina Veres! I think she'd be happy to assist us," Avery said.

Celestina was an old friend of Avery's from the Galar Circuit and, as they found out earlier on, a fellow operative for this mission. She had an affinity for "cutesy" Pokémon so a Buizel and a Pachirisu wouldn't be too out of the ordinary. And as a friend of Avery's, she could easily cover having their Pokémon by just saying Avery wasn't feeling well. It was a mostly full proof plan for now.