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

[[Desolate Divine]]

Jon and Alyssa Drake
Safe House C
Affected RPers: @Neo Emolga @Chakramaster

Jon groaned internally when he saw Jirachi float into the room, with Jimmy entering a minute later, seemingly catching up to it.

"After last night's s**tshow, he still lets it run around off leash..." Jon thought to himself irritably, before hearing out what Cassandra had to say. Really, what she and the others wanted was to cut their losses. And at this point, it made the most sense.

"Then lets cut our losses." Jon explained, "I only became involved in this investigation because I felt like I owed the league for giving me a sense of purpose, after a s**ty start to life, and by helping resolve this, I could keep it the way it is, and hope that it does for someone else what it did for me."

Thinking about his next words carefully, Jon continued.

"Even when I suggested taking the fall, that was the same reason behind it. That people who need it can get involved, without worry of being cheated, or the opposite, being overly scrutinized in the name of keeping things fair. I mean, you all probably have seen the way airport security is in Unova since the terror attacks twenty years back. The response is to treat everybody going through security like they're criminals. I didn't want to see the League turn into that."

"The sad thing is, that in the last day, I have seen the ugly side of the league. I have seen a trainer that I once looked up to, that is one of the faces of the League, try and murder three unarmed women in cold blood, all for his pride, and try and blame me for it, choosing me as the scapegoat probably for the same reason." Jon continued, noticing Steven's face sink at Jon's comments about the League, "Don't get me wrong, I know Lance doesn't represent the League. But it has put a person like him in a position of authority, and can't seem to stop the in-fighting between those at its peak, that I can't help but lose a little bit of faith you know?"

"Everything until now has been for the sake of the League. But I think I can finally say I have done enough, and been through enough for it. The League is on its own now." Jon said, before turning to Cassandra, "I agree to your offer, and I’m going to make sure that win or lose, you’re given the hardest battle you will ever face. I am still going to pay Lance a visit, because he made this personal, and I'm not the forgiving sort when it comes to stuff like that though."

Jon unclipped the Pokeball containing Zoroark, and tossed it to Steven.

"I won't be needing this anymore. But I will need you to send me a copy of that footage." Jon explained, before making his way out the door.

"Cass, if you feel like joining me on a trip to the infirmary, I'd appreciate the company. I think I'm going to enjoy seeing the look on his face when he realizes how little he actually achieved at the cost he paid..."



Jon Drake
Infirmary
Affected RPers: @Neo Emolga (Bunnied with permission)

Jon and Cassandra made their way from Safe House C towards the infirmary, stopping by Jon and Alyssa’s room for Jon to get his tablet. As he opened up the lock screen, there was an email notification containing a video file.

Jon tapped it, and was quickly taken to security camera footage of Lance ordering his Dragonite to use Dragon Rush on Violet and Jarena, before being thrown by an invisible force against a wall.

”Lance… What the f**k are you doing?” said Jon’s voice in the recording.

Jon quickly scrolled through, seeing the footage of Latios Mega Evolving to hold the two Dragonite in place, before Jon began beating Lance.

“This is more damning than I remember… You want a copy?” Jon asked Cassandra, as he quickly sent a copy of the video to Alyssa and to his own mobile, just in case, before leaving the room and making their way to the infirmary.

When they arrived, and entered the safehouse that had been designated as the infirmary, they were quickly stopped by someone before they could get too far in the door. Jon recognized this person as Operative Anthony Hunter from briefing for the mission. During the briefing Jon had found himself irritated at how much Anthony would tend to run his mouth, before weaseling his way out of action when called out.

“Sorry, he isn’t allowed visitors.” Anthony said, stepping forward, “Especially you two. Cynthia’s orders.”

“Really?” Jon asked, “You have written confirmation? A confirmation code?”

“She gave me these orders in person when she escorted Lance here.” Anthony replied irritably.

“Even then, it’s policy to send through a written order as well.” Jon explained, “Covers your a** if she makes a bad call and something goes wrong…”

“Listen she-”

“Also covers hers if some a**hole is using her name to validate their bulls**t…” Jon interrupted before staring Anthony dead in the eye.

“I don’t know what you-” Anthony began before being cut off by the sound of a Pokeball activating, and Latios manifesting in the tight space they were already in.

“Here’s the deal Anthony.” Jon said, before brushing past, giving him a good shove when he tried to interfere.

“Matt told me you’re really taking orders from Mr. Dragon-Fetish in there, when I beat the truth out of him about the leak.” Jon explained, “Lucky for you, I’m really trying to stop getting my hands so dirty. I hadn’t been in a fight in years before this cruise, but s**t, it really brought out the worst in me.”

Anthony went silent, as Cassandra passed him.

“So be a good boy, and wait right here while we have a little chat with your boss.” Jon explained, “And if you are good, Latios won’t do to you what I told him to do earlier if you tried to leave this room.”

”Didn’t tell me anything?” said Latios’ voice in Jon’s head.

”You and I know that but he doesn’t. Just put on your mean face.”

“Cheers Anthony. Keep up the good work.” Jon called out as he entered the main part of the infirmary, leaving Anthony in the company of Latios.

“Now for the fun part.” Jon muttered to Cass as they made their way towards Lance’s bed.

In the bed sat a bruised and bandaged Lance, who gave Jon a glare before noticing Cassandra with him, his glare turning to an arrogant smirk.

“I’m so sorry that the truth got out.” Lance called out sarcastically, “I wish I knew who was behind it…”

Jon walked over to the front of the bed, noticing the machines that Lance was hooked up to, and the painkillers he was receiving via IV. He was talking big talk, but really, he was in a lot of pain still.

“Looks like I really did a number on you Lance.” Jon said cheerfully, before pulling the file from the holder at the foot of the bed.

“Hey what are you-” Lance called out, before being interrupted.

“Smashed eye socket, four broken ribs, bruised tailbone, missing teeth- Oh god, how will you ever do those cover shoots without that dazzling smile!” Jon read out, “Ooh, patient history, this will be fun. Oof, syphilis, that’s rough buddy.”

Lance began to speak up before Jon closed the file.

“Just kidding around. About the syphilis at least. All the current stuff though was legit.” Jon explained, “Just came to tell you that we are abandoning the cover up story. The Ladies are gonna come clean about the witchcraft, you will get your title back, and they will be punished, after tonight’s match of course. You get your pride back, and it only cost you…”

Jon opened the file again, reading it out.

“A smashed eye socket, four broken ribs, a bruised tailbone and some missing teeth.” Jon explained, “That’s what your pride’s worth, isn’t it?”

Lance began to speak before Jon interrupted him again, mostly because he knew being cut off would agitate an egomaniac like Lance.

“Except that’s not all.” Jon explained, “The ladies are getting punished but it’s going to cost a whole lot more. Because you involved me, and you made this personal...”

Jon made his way over to Lance’s bed, giving him a light shove to move aside, which would have hurt with the broken ribs, before sitting next to him, and unlocking his tablet to reveal the video footage.

“Wait, where did you-?” Lance began as he recognized the footage.

“Yeah, your guys didn’t do a good job of burying this.” Jon explained, as he pressed play, “I don’t blame you for wanting it buried. Pretty heavy stuff. The well loved Indigo Champion, having his oh-so powerful Dragonite attack two unarmed women, and arranging to pin it on someone who works under him.”

The video played, getting to the part when Jon began beating Lance.

“Ooh, this is my favorite bit.” Jon explained, “But want to know the best thing about this?”

“What…” Lance asked through gritted teeth, knowing Jon was going to tell him anyway.

“Had we all just played nice and went along with the plan we discussed, my wife, Alyssa, would have had to have quit her job. She is a reporter at BattleNET. 600,000 subscribers, and standard stories get 3 million hits.” Jon explained, “With Jon Drake being branded a cheater and given a lifetime ban, it isn’t a good look for her if she continues covering League Events, so she would have left all of that audience and influence behind.”

Jon locked the tablet, as he got off the bed.

“That’s one of the reasons I wanted to pay you a visit Lance.” Jon explained, “To tell you that now that I am not taking the fall for the Ladies, just like you wanted, Alyssa can keep doing what she is doing. Spreading the good word about what is going on in the League. And as soon as this cruise is over, BattleNET will be getting the story of the century…”

“You wouldn’t.” Lance replied, trying to feign confidence, “If she publishes this, the public will see the High Sea’s Champion or Runner-Up, depending on how tonight goes, beating a League Champion ruthlessly. Your reputation will be just as ruined as mine.”

“Hardly.” Jon laughed, “Yeah, I went over the top. But at the end of the day, it was to protect someone you intended to harm, as well as having found out I’d be your scapegoat. I’ll get an assault charge at worst, which will probably get thrown out, seeing as no court will want to deal with the cancel-culture backlash of a man being punished for defending a woman from another man who means her harm.”

“See, wanna hear something that I find to be hilarious?” Jon explained, “I’ll tell you. We were originally going to show the second half of this clip. When I am beating you senseless, to sell the cover up.”

Lance’s expression shifted as it dawned on him what Jon was implying.

“We were going to tell everyone that the evil Jon Drake was blackmailing Violet and Jarena of the Diamond Ladies, but the heroic Lance, Master-Of-Dragons found out and tried to intervene, before being brutally attacked by the monster. You would have been a hero.” Jon explained, “So instead of just letting things play out the way we planned, winning your title back in a true underdog story, and being dubbed a selfless hero in helping catch the evil mastermind, Jon Drake, you now are sitting in a hospital bed, beaten to s**t, now branded as an attempted murderer and coward, and probably finding yourself in some s**ty prison cell instead of the house arrest the league would have pushed for to sell the story. But hey, now everyone will know the girls cheated, and you are still Indigo Champion. Sounds like a good price, right?”

Jon began to smirk, as Lance seemed worried by what he would say next.

“See, I am not too happy about you trying to throw me under the bus.” Jon explained, “If your plan worked, I would have wound up in prison, my wife would be alone, and you’d be living the high life. So there is going to be one more thing this will cost you.”

Jon leaned in close to the bed-ridden Champion.

“As you can tell, I have made it a bit of a mission of mine, to burn you and everything you love to the f**king ground.” Jon explained, “Tonight, Cass here, and I are going to battle, and put on a hell of a good show. It will be the last time for both of us for a while. And because I already began fulfilling my end of the deal with the league by tanking my reputation last night to set up for the cover up, I’m still getting paid regardless. It’s what, 500k, 300k, 200k and 100k for first, second, third and fourth? So whether or not I win tonight, I’ll be walking out of here with first and fourth’s prize money, so six hundred thousand dollars. And Cass is looking like she will be walking out of here with a pretty sweet gig consulting for the league on these sorts of matter in the future since she was so cooperative by the end of it."

“She was a target this morning, and now you’re on a nickname basis with her?” Lance hissed.

“Yeah, funny how cooperating and not being a general piece of s**t does that.” Jon retorted, “But I’m still talking, so be polite and listen.”

“The real fun begins after.” Jon explains, “Because once you are able to battle again, I’m taking the thing you care about most. Your title.”

“Even if the league strips it because of the whole attempted-murder thing, people will still see you as the champion unless someone earns that title from you.” Jon explained, “So when that time comes, I will challenge you, and make sure BattleNET is there to cover the whole thing, so that when I beat you, when people think of the Indigo Champion, it is me they think of.”

“You cocky piece of s**t.” Lance laughed, “You think you can beat me?”


“Oh I know I can.” Jon explained, “You know what leagues I participated in?”

“I got all the badges in Kanto when I was sixteen or so.” Jon explained, pulling out his Trainer Card App on the tablet, showing his sixteen badges, “I never challenged the league though, because I didn’t want the attention. I moved to Hoenn instead, getting the badges there, and even though I didn’t challenge the league there either, met Steven and wound up in this life.”

“That was twelve years ago now.” Jon explained, “And now that I think about it, I wouldn’t mind the attention of being the one to beat Dragon Tamer Lance. Hell, I might even raise a team of Dragons myself just to beat you. I imagine people would forget your battling prowess pretty soon, only really remembering the s**ty things you did.”

“So congratulations.” Jon explained, ”You won. Was it worth it? I hope so, because everything that comes now, is all on you…”

Lance sat quietly, fuming, but unable to think of a way out of this.

“Cass, you got anything you want to add?”

[Neo Emolga]

Cassandra Silvers
Infirmary
Affected RPers: @Desolate Divine

After a long discussion, Jon had agreed with Cassandra’s plan to accept and cut their losses while the Ladies would take the rightful blame for their transgression, all set on the path of coming clean. The way Cassandra saw it, trying to cover the truth with the lies was never going to help. It would continue this same inane way for years and years and it would still leave her questioning the purpose of it all before the dishonesty caught up to her. The same way her glamorous life of fame, fortune, and deceit had once owned her. But she understood that Jon had dealt with his own demons in the past and now she was facing her own. But she wanted to fight them rather than hide them. She wanted the world to watch her as she fought them, and sure, there would be many that would claim she failed or succeeded, but everyone was going to witness her fighting them… one step at a time.

It was not going to be easy or clean. There would be days voices in her head would question why she didn’t take the easier route, and she needed to remind herself to tell those nagging voices in her head to shut the hell up. It was a harsh truth that would make her a better person. Own your mistakes and sins. And eviscerate them however you could by doing the right thing. Regret didn’t earn forgiveness. Redemption was only accomplished through action.

At the same time, there was unfinished work with Lance. Destructive intentions were put into motion and they needed to be shut down before the situation escalated. And for that, Cassandra was willing to help Jon every step of the way, even if it entailed turning the nearest object into a weapon to make a point and drive it home with pain if words weren’t working. She followed Jon to the infirmary, each step marking distance walked away from the dark life she once lived.

As Jon had reviewed the footage of Lance’s attempted attack, Cassandra looked on and saw for herself what Jarena and Violet had dealt with. It disgusted the hell out of her, seeing Jarena and Violet simply watching the battle on a monitor before Lance tried but failed to destroy them and frame Jon and Latios for the incident.

“This is more damning than I remember… you want a copy?” Jon asked her as he sent a copy of it to Alyssa.

“It’s going to make me sick as hell every time I watch it, but yeah,” Cassandra confirmed. “This is what the truth looks like, and Lance has to own it, too. I know people are going to remind us about the mistakes of our past, probably for as long as we live. But Lance has to with his own mistakes as well, and if anyone who believes otherwise and thinks Lance is still clean, they need to see the truth as well.”

But it wasn’t all that Cassandra wanted to get out of this meeting with Lance…

While Jon was dealing with Anthony and uprooting his attempt to cover for Lance, Cassandra approached the former champion in his hospital bed, bandaged, broken, and humiliated. He looked pathetic. A man defeated.

“I’m so sorry that the truth got out,” Lance called out sarcastically to Cassandra. “I wish I knew who was behind it…”

“Yeah, your friend who calls themselves ‘Karma’ seems to be enjoying it as well,” Cassandra told him, not at all looking anxious or intimidated about it. “And you know, it’s actually quite alright with me, because unlike you who tries to hide your demons away and expect other people to deal with them for you, we’re dealing with our past and our problems head on, even if you decided to open the floodgates all at once in a cute way to get the world to despise us. Between Jon, myself, and you, we all found ourselves in Hell in our own unique ways, but the difference between us and you is we started climbing out while you thought digging deeper would be your easy escape.”

After Jon had approached the bed, he had pulled the file on him and had his way with him for a while, going over the plan Cassandra, Jarena, and Violet had to come clean. And what Jon said was true, the punishment was severe and before, it would have driven Cassandra nearly to broken insanity.

But not anymore…

Jon then showed him the security tape footage, making it clear he was now armed with the truth, a weapon that would hurt Lance far more than any punch to the face or kick to the ribs would hurt. He made it clear where before he was ready and willing to take the fall for the Ladies, Cassandra wanted him to take a different path. Come clean. Let Alyssa continue her passion being a reporter for BattleNET. And there would come a time that Jon would strip Lance of his title, legitimately, and Cassandra could see how his anger would fuel determination and commitment.

“Cass, you got anything you want to add?” Jon asked.

“Sure,” she replied with a small casual sarcastic smirk that hid much more underneath it.

She took a step closer to Lance, looking into his eyes. Unknown to anyone else but her, she was using her phone to record the conversation. Because while the video recording of Lance was damning enough on its own, she wanted that one last nail to seal Lance’s coffin. Because to her, it was as if she was looking into the eyes of her would be killer.

“I learned something from all this, Lance,” Cassandra told him. “You want to know what this is? It’s that the truth will come for you, sometimes in pieces, sometimes all at once. And you’re never ready for it but it will haunt you until it appears. The first time you lie, the first time you cheat and break the rules, sure, you may get away with it once. Sometimes many times if you get the devil’s own luck about it. But you become a slave to it, forced to live up to new expectations everyone has of you, expectations you couldn’t achieve honestly and now can’t run away from without revealing the truth, so you keep trying to hide and bury your sins that keep trying to reemerge.”

“If all had gone in your favor, sure, Jarena and Violet would be dead right now,” Cassandra explained. “You might have found a way to kill me as well when I returned from the battle and was caught unaware. But I’m really wondering why you tried to do it, and what was it all for. Why did you?”

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Lance spat with a dark smile.

“You would have gotten away with murder,” Cassandra continued, “and once you crossed that line, you would have tried it again on whoever became a threat to you because you would now instinctively use that to solve your problems. But the difference is you got caught early, and here you are, broken, but at least alive and not prepped to be fried in an electric chair because once you started killing, you couldn’t stop. Maybe that’s something to think about when you’re able to walk again.”

“So you think you’re redeemed now?” Lance asked, chuckling despite his pain and broken teeth. “You have nothing now. We took everything you had, and now you’re empty. A has-been. How does the floor taste now that you’ve been kicked off the throne?”

“A good friend of mine told me it isn’t until you’ve lost everything that you’re free to do anything,” Cassandra told him, never mentioning said friend was actually Victini. “All you’ve done is give me exactly what I need to become someone else. Someone better. Right now, sure, you’ve destroyed my reputation, a false reputation that never should have been. And my privileges to compete in the League will be dead and gone after tonight, but I volunteered for that because I realized integrity means more than fame and attention. But what you didn’t take and never will lay on hand on is my ability to live well. And I intend to do just that, live a better, cleaner life. A happier life.”

And then she leaned in close.

“Because that’s how you really get revenge,” Cassandra told him in a serious tone. “Instead, you wanted to destroy us to remove us from the spotlight because it was easier, faster, and because you had the opportunity to do it and have Jon Drake as a fall guy to use as leverage. The League had already won and our illegitimate glory days were over, but for you, that wasn’t enough. Being the better man was taking too long, wasn’t it, Lance?”

“A prison cell would have been too good for you freaks,” Lance smiled wickedly. “After what you three did to steal the world’s love at our expense and dignity, no, you didn’t even deserve the right to breathe, see, hear, or feel anything in this world ever again, and the sooner the world is purged of fecal rot like you, the better. But Steven and Cynthia didn’t have the balls to do what I would have done had it not been for your pathetic dime-store guardian angel here.”

“So you thought this was justice?” Cassandra asked, looking at Lance like he was nothing more than a deranged madman.

“In part, but pleasure more like it,” Lance chuckled before growling at her. “Because after years of seeing you three everywhere I looked, illicitly fulfilling your fantastical dreams and never once suffering for what you did and what you stole… I wanted to hear your screams. I wanted to see what you looked like as mutilated corpses, a testament of filth purged that the world would no longer have to suffer with. Because unlike humanity and our pathetic justice systems, death has no due process! You think this is over? It will never be over until you’re over!”

And it was then that Cassandra had revealed she had been recording the whole conversation the entire time, putting the phone before Lance’s eyes when all he could do in his broken state was watch as the seconds were increasing… red recording light blinking… blinking… blinking… as the device was capturing every vile word that oozed out of Lance’s mouth.

And now Cassandra had her final nail for Lance’s coffin.

“Thanks, Lance, that’s all I needed,” she told him, standing up and looking down on him. “You can tell Matt, Doug, this ‘Karma’ person, and all your other goons that you all would do well to stand down and not pursue us any further. Because nothing you’re after or paying them will be enough compensation if you don’t.”

And with that, she was ready to go.

“Thanks for waiting,” Cassandra told Jon, stepping away from Lance. “Sorry you had to sit through another round of his crap, but I got what I needed and now I can put a bow on it before I pass it along to the League.”

After that, she headed toward the door, honestly hoping it would be the last time she would see Lance ever again.

---

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

While Cassandra was busy with Jon, Victini had decided to stay with Jarena, feeling he wasn’t really up for what could very well turn into more blood and guts being sprayed everywhere.

As Jarena looked at Jimmy and Jirachi, she couldn’t help but giggle at how Jirachi liked to go wherever he pleased and befriend everyone he saw while Jimmy comically had to run after him like a child chasing after a rolling ball. To her, it was one of those funny instances where the Pokémon was in charge instead of the trainer.

But he was right about ‘Karma.’ Jarena felt whoever this was, they were creepy and she knew what it was like to get creepy, cringy messages from annoying people. She wasn’t sure if Jon was going to follow through on Jimmy’s plan, but knowing how things went between Jon and Lance and how much Jon hated Lance with a fiery passion, she had a feeling it wasn’t on his mind at the moment.

“They may be a while…” Jarena flushed with a bashful smile as she looked at Jimmy. “Say, since Jon may be busy for some time giving Lance some loving extra tender care, maybe we can help you and Jirachi out. Yeah, ‘Karma’ sounds like a real creep. I wonder who it is!”

“It’s Nathan,” Violet confirmed, crossing her arms. “He’s been on Cass’s case ever since he broke into our room. Back at the pool he even said directly to her he was looking forward to us getting a lifetime ban from the League, and I’m sure Lance informed him that the actual sentence we received was drastically lessened with League attempting to make a coverup story. The likelihood of him sharing that disappointment connects with his involvement in the leak to escalate the fallout from all this. His texts, which have only been singling out Cass and not going to the two of us, also have the same snarky nature and undertones I remember from before back at the pool. But before he could do this, he needed Cass’s number from Matt, something he could have only acquired after our belongings were seized.”

“Well… holy smokes, Violet, you need to tell us where you buy your detective hats!” Jarena laughed. “When you mention that, it definitely makes sense. But where do you think he’s hiding?”

“Wherever he can see the feeds from the surveillance cameras,” Violet told her. “He knows he can’t trail Cass without getting found out, but it allows him to attempt to put pressure on her in a way that implies he’s always watching. At this point, he’s only a nuisance to us and his role in this leak operation was already carried out, but if we get to him, we may be able to squeeze him for more information about this network of leakers he’s connected to and what exactly they transmitted and to who. There’s no chance of saving face now, but it can give us a better idea of what we’re dealing with and if anyone else like Lance intends to try and add murder to their modus operandi.”

Jarena nodded, thinking that made sense and gave them a solid reason of why they needed to find him.

“Say, Jimmy, maybe you and Jirachi can help us with that,” Jarena smiled to him. “If you know where Cynthia is, we can get her up to speed and come up with a cool game plan to find where Nathan is and get him to talk! Nathan may have friends with him, too, so making sure we’re ready for that possibility would be great.”

“Vic-ti!” (“I’m in!”) Victini smiled. “Vict-ti-tini!” (“This kid is darn pesky, and I’m sure Cassandra would love it if he quit bothering her! Now if only we could do the same thing to those pesky scammers that keep calling Cass telling her that her car’s extended warranty is about to expire!”)

For now, the ball was in Jimmy’s court to see what he and Jirachi had in mind. But knowing Jirachi’s infinite potential of doing just about anything, they could have some fun with this.

[[Desolate Divine]]

Jon Drake
Infirmary
Affected RPers: @Neo Emolga

Cassandra began questioning Lance, as Jon listened in, standing from behind, noticing the phone held behind her back, as she tapped the screen before Lance started ranting.

"Goddamn, she's more cut out for this operative stuff than I am." Jon thought to himself, as Lance's tirade became more and more disturbing. If the video wasn't damning enough, then this would definitely bury him.

Cassandra soon after revealed she had been recording, before bidding him farewell, and thanking Jon for sitting through another round of Lance's crap.

"No, don't worry about it." Jon explained, "If not for this, I may start to feel guilty down the line for injuring him so badly. But now, I think I can sleep peacefully knowing I..."

Jon tried to remember the injury list.

"What was it, four broken ribs, a smashed eye socket, bruised tailbone and some missing teeth?" Jon laughed.

"Cheers Anthony." Jon said, calling back Latios, "Do yourself a favour and cut your losses with Lance. He is going down, and even though the Ladies are coming clean, the League is probably going to throw the book at everyone who helped Lance try and kill the Ladies, and leak private information. Leave now, and the worst we can get you for is faking orders from a superior..."

Jon called back Latios, who was still holding his mean face, as the pair left the room.

"Unless you particularly feel like joining me, I do have one last bit of unfinished business to attend to." Jon explained, "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."


Alyssa Drake
Safe House C
Affected RPers: @Neo Emolga @Chakramaster

Alyssa's jaw nearly dropped when Violet claimed with all certainty who Karma was, and made a pretty convincing argument for it.

"Well, now battling is out of the picture, I'd be happy to put in a good word for you at BattleNET." Alyssa laughed, "Your instincts are killer."

"But on a more serious note, I am sick of sitting on the sidelines while Jon and the others do the hard work." Alyssa explained, "He didn't even tell me what he was doing here until he thought I was in danger of you three turning me into a Psyduck. I tried to help by taking photos of the books while my Gardevoir levitated them because he thought they might be rigged, but they ended up getting leaked anyway..."

"I want to help catch this Karma a**hole." Alyssa explained, "So what can I do?"

[Chakramaster]

Jimmy Kendo
Safe House C
Affected RP'ers: @Neo Emolga @Desolate Divine

Jon and Cassandra left to handle Lance. Jimmy kinda scratches his head before shaking it slightly.

"Should've known that's about how that would've gone." Jimmy says to himself

Jarena had giggled a bit looking to Jimmy and Jirachi.

"They may be a while" Jarena flushed with a bashful smile as she looked at Jimmy. “Say, since Jon may be busy for some time giving Lance some loving extra tender care, maybe we can help you and Jirachi out. Yeah, ‘Karma’ sounds like a real creep. I wonder who it is!”

"It's Nathan" Violet claimed, crossing her arms. She insisted that it was him for various reasons. Including how he broke into their room. Jarena seemed to believe her and the evidence she provided.

"You're right. Wherever this 'Karma' person is. They've probably able to see anything and everything on this ship. So we need that extra precaution." Jimmy says as he reaches into his bag pulling out a Pokeball. Releasing the Pokémon inside. Revealing his Rotom.

"Ahhhh, finally decide to let me back out huh? Just cooooouldn't deal without me Huh?" His Rotom exclaimed using the voice box from his phone to speak aloud.

"Relax Rotom. It's time to do what you do best." Jimmy nodded.

"Crack jokes? I've got a million of those. How about the one about the old lady in the Pokemarket? Or maybe the one-" he was interrupted by Jimmy as he clears his throat.

"Okay okay fine. Whatcha need boss?" Rotom give a slight salute.

Jimmy looks to Jarena and Violet. Is there a device Rotom can jump into that this Karma person has been contacting? If we let Rotom in there. The moment you receive another message. Rotom here can bounce to the signal it's coming from. Turning on the GPS and sending your phone a location. We may only have a limited window of time before they know what's happening and so long as Rotom doesn't give away that he's jumped to the device." Jimmy says staring at him.

"Don't worry! I'll be quiet as a mouse." Rotom says as Pikachu glares.

"Pika! Pika pikachu!" (Hey! I take offense to that!) Pikachu says.

"Hahaha! You're so funny Rotom!" Jirachi floats down as it laughs at Rotom's joke. "It's funny because Pikachu is a mouse Pokémon!"

"Alright enough you guys. This is serious. The next step is a bit tricky, but I feel we need a distraction. One of you need to become a Pokémon...or both of you....again...Jarena and Violet. This is where Alyssa would come in. You are good with costumes right? How would you feel about dressing up as one of the 3 Diamond ladies? Posing as them to contact this 'Karma' person. Once we establish a connection. Rotom can do his thing. Then, you can lead us to the location." Jimmy sits there a moment.

"You might be wondering why Jarena and Violet would need to become Pokémon. If we recreate the event from earlier, without the witchcraft we of course. We stand to have reason to show that there's more here than that. Jirachi will be there right with them. Jirachi. That's assuming you'd be up for this. I can even be there too. Jirachi has already given me a way to turn into a Pokémon too." Jimmy says as he grips his new thunderstone pendant around his neck. Revealing it.

"Haven't used it yet, but Jirachi told me it'll turn me into a Pikachu. Like I asked you about earlier. Apparently it's my way of changing back and forth. Not sure if it has its limits yet. Maybe I'll find out one day, but for now. I could make good use of it and try it out this way too. Honestly this is the best plan I've got for now. Something to lure him out. Turning you both back into a Furrett and Buneary. Alyssa posing as Cassandra. Cassandra would just need to be either back as an Eevee or hidden for a short time. Would you okay being out in the open and at risk like that Alyssa? More importantly. Would Jon be okay with it?" Jimmy questioned her before asking the others.

"What do you think?"

[Neo Emolga]

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.”

[[Desolate Divine]]

Alyssa Drake
Safe House C
Affected RPers: @Neo Emolga @Chakramaster

Jimmy proposed a plan of using Rotom to track Karma whilst having the girls turned back into Pokemon, and Alyssa masquerading as Cassandra. Jarena was all for it, though Alyssa had a hunch that had something to do with Jarena's love of cute Pokemon.

When Cassandra asked her what she thought, she had to be honest about her concerns.

"Truth is, I think that its a start, but I don't think it'd be a good idea to run that plan as is." Alyssa explained, "Firstly, even though they are being pretty chill with you three, the Diamond Ladies are still technically detained by the League, even if you have a pretty long leash when supervised. If you guys do this, go track down and nail this guy, who we currently believe is an operative of the League, without someone like Steven or Cynthia okaying that, it could make your case worse..."

Steven had left at the same time as Jon and Cassandra earlier to discuss with Cynthia the changes in plans, so really it was the three Ladies, Jimmy, Sami and Alyssa.

"Like, even until now, you guys have been pretty squeaky clean since you have been caught right?" Alyssa asked, "Most of the bad stuff that has happened to people in the League since has been Jon, even if it was something about you three. I just think, you know, the League have shown they are willing to work with you three, and I doubt Steven would have a problem with this, but maybe chat with him, and see how he can help before doing something that could cause problems for the three of you later. "

"The other thing..." Alyssa said, before pointing to the security camera in the corner of the room, "You think that Karma is a league operative, using the surveillance system to watch you? Well as far as we know, there is probably another surveillance room, and they know your entire plan..."

"I am all for catching this guy, but if we are gonna do it, we gotta do it the right way, and be smarter about it." Alyssa explained, "First things first, we can find somewhere to talk where we aren't being listened in on, and arrange for Steven and Cynthia to join in..."


Jon Drake
Central Park -> Battling Stadium
Affected RPers: None

Jon left Cassandra at Safe House C, before making his way to Central Park. It had the best food on the ship, especially for breakfast, and figured that if Ethan wasn't eating breakfast, he was probably training so his match tonight with Avery wouldn't end in as much embarrassment.

It didn't take long to find Ethan sitting at a breakfast bar, staring at some pancakes and ice-cream.

"As if they don't serve alcohol before noon..." Ethan muttered to himself, as Jon approached from behind.

"Damn shame. Whiskey, Dry and Icecream go together well." Jon retorted, as he took a seat next to Ethan.

"Here to gloat?" Ethan asked, "Tell me how terrible of a trainer I am?"

"Here to apologize actually." Jon explained, "But not here. Too many people listening in. So how about you get that in a to-go container, and we talk somewhere more privately?"

"This had better not be more bulls**t." Ethan growled.


"None, truth is, what happened last night was the last thing I wanted to do, but I will explain later." Jon said, stepping out of his seat, "So you coming?"

Ethan looked at the breakfast in front of him, before quickly grabbing a spoon to scoff the ice-cream, and getting a container for the pancakes.

"What, the ice-cream would melt..." Ethan mumbled.

"Hey, no judgement here." Jon chuckled.

The pair made their way towards the battling stadium, getting the attention of the odd person who noticed them, however thankfully they weren't followed.

Once they were in the arena, which was closed to anyone not still competing, to allow practise for the evening, Jon began to speak.

"I owe you an explanation about last night." Jon said, "What happened with Jolteon was intentional, but I didn't do it to cheat you out of a win."

"I knew it." Ethan muttered, "Why else would you do it then?"

"Because I needed the crowd to hate me."

Ethan looked at Jon confused, before he continued.

"When we caught the Diamond Ladies yesterday I made a deal with the League. I had a meeting with Cynthia, Steven and Lance, where I offered to take the fall for everything that happened here." Jon explained, "The plan was that the league were going to get me a Zoroark, and I'd use it in the fight with Cassandra. If she had have beaten Avery I would have let you win, but if she won, I would make sure to beat you so I could face her in the grand final, where this plan would work best."

"So that's why you cheated..." Ethan said.

"No, I could have won without doing that." Jon explained, "The plan was to have the Zoroark accidentally create an illusion of the girls turning each other into Pokemon. The official story would have been that witchcraft doesn't exist, it was only me using illusions to try and blackmail Cassandra into throwing the match, but I got caught."

"I did what I did so the crowd would already be suspicious of me. Same thing with what happened after the match. Give the crowd reason to hate Jon Drake, so that when they are given an alternative story to the girls using witchcraft, they would want to believe it." Jon said, "Everything I did was to cover up the existence of witchcraft, so we wouldn't have people trying to copy what they did. I wanted to tell you ahead of time what I was doing, but I didn't want to put the pressure on you to keep up that sort of act. If you actually hating me would give the crowd reason to believe I was the cheater in this tournament, then that was the best way to go about it."

Ethan was silent as the pieces fell into place. He wasn't an intentional victim, just the person who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Wait, what do you mean, you could have won without doing that?" Ethan asked, irritably, "Prove it."

Jon smirked in response to that comment.

"I intend on doing that tonight." Jon explained, "See, Cynthia and Steven were on board with the plan, but Lance wasn't and ended up doing some really shady s**t to try and get the truth out about the girls, even if it had the possibility to destroy competitive battling itself. Like, he is probably going to go to prison after this, shady s**t. His goons as well. They ruined the plan, and leaked information, and we have decided to cut our losses."

"Tonight I am facing Cassandra, and showing her exactly what it means to be a trainer without your friends cursing your opponent. She already is starting to understand, but I probably can't compete for a while after what happened last night, so if this will be my last for a while, I am giving her a battle she will never forget." Jon explained, "Here is the thing. Cassandra isn't taking home any prize money. I made the deal with the league to take the fall, and by doing so, I wouldn't be able to compete again, so I was going to get whatever prize money I would get, accounting for Cassandra receiving none, as well as fourth place. Because Cassandra is receiving none, even if she beats me tonight, I am walking out with the $500k first prize and the $100k fourth prize. If you beat Avery you will get the $300k second prize and if you don't the $200k third prize."

"As an apology of sorts for last night, I will give you the $100k fourth prize regardless. Nobody deserves what happened to you last night in this sort of tournament, and I only did it because at the time, it looked like I had to for things to not go to s**t later." Jon explained, "But watch my match tonight, and if after that, you truly think that the reason I won yesterday was that cheap trick, once this is over, I will battle you, and if you beat me in that, I will give you the difference in prize money, so you're not at a financial loss because of last night."

Ethan looked at Jon silently, as Jon put his hand forward.

"Do we have a deal?"

After a few moments, Ethan put his hand out, as they shook in agreement.

"Well for my sake, finish those pancakes and get training." Jon said, as he made his way out, "If you lose to Avery tonight but beat me, then I'll be out of pocket twice as much, and my wife will murder me..."

[Neo Emolga]

The Diamond Ladies
Safe House C
Affected RPers: @Desolate Divine @Chakramaster

Alyssa Drake to the rescue…

While Alyssa’s advice was acknowledged and appreciated by both Cassandra and Violet, it was a brutal buzzkill to Jarena who wanted to charge in right away like Clark Kent jumping out of a phone booth as Superman. Still, the reality of it was the Ladies weren’t even close to being off the hook in terms of the League. And Cassandra and Violet were still very well aware this entire sting operation was organized and deployed with the intention of doing a covert investigation, an investigation that had very divulging results on the three of them. Still, as the Ladies realized, being cooperative was making considerable strides in getting them out of the hole, though they still had work to do there and the truth was to many of these operatives, they wouldn’t ever have a totally pristine record. Forgiveness and understanding was the best they could ever hope to do.

“Aww, but…” Jarena pleaded after hearing Alyssa’s words of caution.

“Jarena, Alyssa’s got a damn good point,” Violet told her, feeling she was being pretty childish and naïve about this. “You’re missing the whole purpose of this plan just for the sake of going Buneary again, which is not a priority right now. Like she said, this needs to be discussed in a secure location and we need to assess if becoming Pokémon really has any necessary efficacy to it in the first place. If Cynthia and Steven don’t give the plan clearance, then it’s a dead stick.”

“Keep in mind, Jarena,” Cassandra reminded her friend, trying to keep a sympathetic but realistic smile, “that less than 24 hours ago, we were running amuck getting into trouble and putting the whole ship on high alert. There’s a very good chance that while the plan has potential and they may go ahead with it if Steven and Cynthia give it clearance, they may not want us directly involved in it simply because of what happened just yesterday and the purpose of this whole investigation in the first place. As… much as I hate to admit it, we’re still on a leash as Alyssa said. Let’s not get careless and start running around wild on the last day of the cruise and after we’ve been trying to get on good terms with everyone again.”

It was enough to wipe the smile off of Jarena’s face, but she nodded and understood.

“Eh, yeah, alright I guess,” Jarena sighed and shrugged in disappointment. “I just figured it wouldn’t hurt to try.”

“It’s… not impossible…” Violet sighed knowing that there was still a slight chance if she could put in a convincing argument for it, though she was honestly and secretly hoping they would decline as she felt playing ‘Secret Agent Pokémon’ was silly. “But, it’s likely that it will be considered an internal affairs only matter and the League wouldn’t want external parties involved. But even so, I still need to consult with Steven and Cynthia about transferring the sixty million to the League’s account, and there may be no time to handle that tonight. There’s government forms that need to be filled out for transfers that large, and if we don’t do it right, there’s penalties involved. There’s also a process involved to liquidate my portfolio assets to get that money, and I might need to call my attorney to ensure everything is in alignment, get the forms reviewed and signed, and then notarized. That’s a whole process in itself and could take a few hours, so you’d have to count me out even if this gets the ok.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get that…” Jarena sighed, nodding to show she understood, but not looking too thrilled. “Well poops, what can you do?”

Still, Jarena did remind herself that there was that month-long retreat that Cassandra had promised after they had gotten off the ship. She was at least looking forward to that, but in terms of Jimmy’s plan, if Cassandra and Violet couldn’t take part because they had to do other things in the meantime, it wouldn’t be nearly as fun to her.

She looked back to Jimmy and Jirachi, a bit glum.

“Well…” Jarena sighed, shrugging. “…kinda looking doubtful we’ll be in your party, but good luck, have fun, and let us know if you find anything! I’m kind of wondering if it really is Nathan. Let me know when you figure it out!”

In the meantime, Cassandra was looking at her phone, seeing that “Karma” had texted her five more times, giving her links to newly-posted news articles about the information they had leaked that was further wrecking their reputation. She could tell just from the article title words in the links that it was not something she wanted to read.

“At this rate I’m wondering if they’ll still let you be a greeter at the Celadon Department store!
Although now it doesn’t seem like your face will be the first thing customers want to see!
Maybe they can get you to wear one of those dumb mascot costumes?”

Cassandra could tell, this “Karma” was very full of themselves and likely thought they were hilarious when to her, these lame comments weren’t even worth an eyeroll. Still, she had decided against texting back any further replies. And she had no intentions to after this… not unless Jimmy's plan got the green light and they needed to her to keep feeding them reactions to get them more engaged in sending messages that might give them away once Rotom started tracing the source...

[Chakramaster]

Jimmy Kendo
Safe House C
Affected RP'ers: @Neo Emolga @Desolate Divine @Noblejanobii

Alyssa mentioned that it may not be such a good idea without approval of Cynthia and Steven. Much more so that they could have been watched and the whole plan turned to ruins. That they'd need to be in a more secure location before anything else is discussed.

"Aww" Jirachi said looking really defeated with teary eyes. "But I wanna have fun tooooo"

Jimmy cut in. "Well while that's true. My good buddy here Jirachi can easily fix that. Hey Jirachi!" Jimmy called to Jirachi.

Slightly sniffling Jirachi floats over to Jimmy. "Jimmy! Is it time to play yet? That idea you had sounded so fun!" Still looking defeated. Jirachi looked like he really wanted to take part.

"And of course we weren't gonna just go off and do the plan without first getting Cynthia and Steven here in on it. But first. Jirachi. I wish we were in the safest and most secure place on the ship. Anyone that views the footage of this current room or saw it just watched themselves My Little Ponyta on repeat and didn't see or hear a word of what we spoke about. Only we know of anything about this and the new secure room as well as Steven and Cynthia. This way the plan could still work. Just don't do this until I say so in a few moments." Jimmy instructed to Jirachi.

"Count on me!" Jirachi takes a Superman pose while floating. Smirking as it knows it can make it so.

"You see the thing is. We really don't have a game plan. The longer we stick around here doing nothing. The better chance for this Karma to get the upper hand. We don't need another fiasco like yesterday. Right now we have the chance to have and keep the upper hand. It'll only work if we keep the element of surprise. They might expect the the ladies here to use more witchcraft. Well, Jirachi isn't witchcraft. He specializes in...well wishcraft."

Jirachi bits in, "yeah! And I'm damn good at it!" Jirachi shouts with a cheer.

Jimmy looks to Jirachi. "Hey, watch your language! I agree he's really good at it. And right now he's only going to grant wishes if he plays it through me first. Jirachi you're psychic too right? Be sure I not only verbally say so, but I also say so in mind. Otherwise someone could force me to say it aloud. We don't need that happening either. If you get into trouble. Use your power to teleport right to me or Pikachu." Jimmy thinks ahead and giving instructions on what to do in case any issues arise later.

"You see this plan here might not be much, but it's the most we've got. Hell I could wish for whoever is posing as this 'Karma' to be right here in front of us here and now. Then I think we'd run into issues. Cause more than one person might be in this world. Plus I don't wanna exhaust Jirachi too much right now. We may need his help. For now, we need to take this opportunity. I'll make my first wish through Jirachi as I instructed a moment ago and we will be fine." Jimmy let's out a quick loud sigh.

"I'll be sure to go over the idea in more detail once together with Cynthia and Steven. Like you said. We have to be smart about this, but think for just a moment. To be smart you have to think outside the box. We have options outside the realm of our current reality here and available to us. If you went by the book. That'd be along the lines of what someone may think. So if you think outside the box. New potentials arose and you reach a peak where anything is possible. Not a limit set in bounds. The possibilities are endless. I'd rather not leave destruction around the ship either. Jirachi could...help there anyway. I'm sure he wants the ship fixed since it's based around him."

"Oh yeah! I wanna fix the ship! Please please pleeeeeaae!" Jirachi says like a child begging to it's parents. "I wanna fix a picture of me that broke. It was so amazing! It has a hole in it still though."

"Not right now Jirachi. We may still need your powers. The more power you exhaust. You'll fall asleep quicker. I trust you okay buddy, but we need to focus. Then it'll be time to play and have the fun you've been craving. Soon enough." Jimmy ensures his star shaped friend.

"Aww fiiiine." Jirachi says. "But you have to promise!"

"I promise. Pinky swear." He holds out his little finger. Jirachi questions it and Jimmy just tells him to hold out his smallest finger. Jirachi follows him and holds out the smallest finger on his hands. They both shake pinkies.

"There. Now it's an official promise". Jimmy tells Jirachi.

Now. How about that discussion. Jirachi. Go ahead and get us to that safest location on the ship. Remember to wipe the footage from this room from records. Oh and get Cynthia and Steven there too. And Avery who you met earlier too. Just...warn them telepathically first please. I know I'm never gonna hear the end of it, but we need them there as well. Everyone ready. Jirachi. Give a countdown for when you're gonna teleport us there."

"Okay". Jirachi floats above the room. "Everyone in this room will come with us. In 3....2....1! Aaaand we're goooooooone!" Jirachi uses his power to teleport everyone here into the safest and most secure place on the ship. Slightly disoriented at first. Jimmy catches his bearings. Jirachi still hadn't appeared. Probably warning Cynthia and Steven both. A moment later appearing in the room with them. Alongside with Cynthia and Steven both. Avery following right after with Jirachi floating back beside Jimmy afterward. Looking happy he finally gets to use his power.

"Everyone okay?" Jimmy asked

[Noblejanobii]

Avery Miller (They/Them)
Central Park Shaymin Café
Affected RP'ers: @Neo Emolga @Desolate Divine @Chakramaster

Avery scrolled through some of the articles that were continuing to be released on the Diamond Ladies. Most of the focus was on them and the league's leaks surrounding them, which made sense. This was a huge conspiracy being unveiled that completely destroyed any credibility the trio had as battlers. Still it didn't take long for Avery to find a few articles mentioning them as well. Some were just brief mentions of the close battle from the previous night with speculations that this was the first battle that Cassandra had ever done without witchcraft, which was correct.

Others, however, were not as kind. Some of the more conspiracy based ones like Ninetales News and Real Unova's Voice were claiming that Avery was also a witch due to their friendly gesture towards Cassandra the night before and their gender identity. Avery couldn't help but roll their eyes. Seriously? "I'm being accused of witchcraft over a peace sign. Imagine that," they mumbled. Avery clicked off the news after that and began to play a game on their phone as they finished their coffee. That was enough news for the moment. Now they just wanted to relax and-

"Mx. Avery?" Avery looked up and spotted the waitress from before, Pumpkin, standing next to them. "Sorry to interrupt, I just wanted to give you a heads up that there's a few more reporters outside. Chicory is doing his best to keep them busy but I figured you didn't want to be swarmed while you were eating so um..." She shuffled her feet for a moment before holding out a coffee cup and a grab bag. "I-I made you another mocha latte and croissant for the go, o-on the house."

Avery smiled and stood up. They took the coffee cup and bag from Pumpkin. "Thank you. It's much appreciated. Tell the other staff to keep up the great work. I look forward to coming back more before the cruise ends."

Pumpkin's face lit up at that response. "Of course!" She bowed a little before practically skipping off.

Avery began to collect their things to sneak off from the reporters. Slipping their bag over their shoulders, they double checked they had everything, but just before they could start to leave, a telepathic voice echoed in their head. "It's time to play!! Let's goooooo!!"

"Wh-What?" Avery said aloud in confusion. And then suddenly they weren't in the café anymore, but somewhere else entirely. And Jimmy was here, along with Cynthia, Steven, and a few others. "Uhh... good morning," Avery said awkwardly, still clutching their breakfast in hand. "Was there a meeting of the minds going on that I wasn't informed of?"

[Neo Emolga]

The Diamond Ladies
Safe House
Affected RPers: @Desolate Divine @Chakramaster @Noblejanobii

At first, Cassandra and Violet thought the plan might have been sunk and a done deal with what Alyssa said, but it seemed Jirachi was quite persistent, and Jimmy’s idea had definitely seized his interest. Despite the mythical Pokémon’s optimism and playful eagerness and Jarena’s energetic passion to join in on it, Cassandra and Violet could only shrug it off and opt out due to what they felt were bigger priorities. And Cassandra thought the Champions wouldn’t give it the green light either due to what they did just yesterday.

Then, when they weren’t expecting it, Jimmy had requested Jirachi to teleport them, along with Steven and Cynthia, to the safest and most concealed place on the entire ship, where they couldn’t possibly be heard or seen by anyone, especially “Karma”.

“Okay,” Jirachi cheered. “Everyone in this room will come with us. In 3....2....1! Aaaand we're goooooooone!”

Before Cassandra and Violet could even object or say anything in response, suddenly there was a moment of disorientation…

---

Safe House LZ

After awakening, they found themselves back where they started this morning, in the LZ Safe House where they had spent last night. Except this time, Jimmy, Jirachi, Sami, Alyssa, Avery, Steven, and Cynthia were there as well. It was actually a bit of a tight fit, but it was the most secure room.

“Whoa, wait, how did we…” Jarena asked, looking around. “Hey, isn’t this our room from last night?”

“Safest location on the ship…” Cassandra recalled, remembering Jimmy’s request.

Still, for Cassandra, it made sense. This Safe House LZ room was reinforced with security plating and built to withstand blast damage while there were no video cameras or microphones either. It was made for VIPs and that kind of surveillance was only provided at the VIP’s discretion. Since it was not being used before they were escorted here, it was never activated.

“Uhh... good morning," Avery greeted the others, still eating a breackfast that they hadn’t finished yet. "Was there a meeting of the minds going on that I wasn't informed of?

“Where exactly…?” Steven asked, looking around and realizing he was besides Cynthia now, who also looked skeptical about the situation. “What’s going on here?”

“Oh, hey everyone!” Jarena greeted them with a smile. “Glad you’re here! See, Jimmy came up with a brilliant plan. But we had to discuss it in secret.”

She then went over the details, explaining the plan to find “Karma” and how it would involve Jimmy and the Diamond Ladies to become Pokémon as the distraction while Rotom would try to track “Karma” through the radio while Alyssa would disguise herself as Cassandra.

“I take it this ‘Karma’ was involved in the press leak?” Cynthia asked, not at all sure about this plan.

“Yeah, they’re one of Lance’s goons!” Jarena exclaimed. “Lance has a bunch of goons, actually, still trying to do his dirty work. It’s pretty bad, they’ve got surveillance on the entire ship! Probably would be a great idea to stop them before things get rough!”

“There’s… a concern Lance’s attempt to murder us and frame Jon may get another similar attempt before the ship docks tonight,” Cassandra explained to Steven and Cynthia. “I mean, I understand it would be a good idea to do something, but I just don’t think this is the right plan…”

“Of course it’s the right plan!” Jarena nudged Cassandra, teasing her. “Lance and his goons betrayed the League! And we need to help the League get to the bottom of this! We gotta prove we’re not the bad guys! But we need to trick ‘Karma’ and Lance’s other goons, and we can do that by having someone else pretend they’re us while we catch them off guard as Pokémon!”

“Look, Jarena,” Violet tried to be honest with her. “This is all…

Violet could see Jarena was truly trying her hardest to make this plan happen, which she honestly believe was due to her wanting to get some action as a cute Pokémon, but instead she just sighed and was suddenly interrupted by a phone call and had to step away.

“Given the situation, I think you’re right that it would be best if you three would stay off camera and out of public scrutiny,” Cynthia agreed in part. “But given what happened yesterday with you three… let’s just say it’s still very fresh in our memory.”

“Come on, please, give us a chance to help!” Jarena pleaded. “We can’t help if we just keep hunkering down like this. Lance tried to commit murder! His toadies may try it now! And if they don’t try to murder us, they may go after you, too!”

The possibility of that threat did make Cynthia and Steven do a double take for a moment. They had seen Lance do something unspeakable they never thought he would do. But with Jarena mentioning that they might be a potential target now, suddenly, it seemed quite plausible given Lance’s sudden barbaric actions and his reaction to how they went against him and sided with Jon.

There was now a bigger concern…

While Jarena had been trying to make her case, Violet had gotten a phone call. She recognized the number and voice as being Hank Benton, her attorney. But it seemed strange that he would be calling her at this time, and at first it was making her wonder if something dire had happened and now she needed legal council.

“Hello, Mrs. Radcliffe, just wanted to confirm everything went smoothly with your financial advisor Rebecca Jager,” Hank told her. “Your balance transfer request for sixty million to the Pokémon League has been completed and the transfer was successful.”

“Wait… was this…?” Violet asked before suddenly Jirachi approached her.

“That’s right, I took care of all the pesky legal paperwork for you!” Jirachi smiled to Violet. “The debt is goooone, now you’re all free to help Jimmy with his plan!! Ha, ha, isn’t it great!?”

Wonderful…

“Uh… thanks… I guess,” Violet replied, really a bit taken back that Jirachi had actually completed government legal forms with her signature and she wasn’t even aware of it.

“Always happy to help a friend!” Jirachi smiled, striking a happy and whimsical pose.

Meanwhile, Jarena knew she had to convince Steven and Cynthia to let her do this, even though Cassandra and Violet were still on the skeptical side of the situation. She just had to find the right words. She wished she could find the right words…

“Look, if we don’t try to stop them, who will?” Jarena asked Steven and Cynthia. “Lance and his goons are trying to destroy lives, our lives, and you two might be next! And I imagine Jon as well! Time is running out, and we need to act fast! So if no one has a better plan, we need to go with this one right now. I know what we did yesterday was bad, but we’re trying to help now. You would appreciate us helping you, right? Let us help you to make up for that and nail this while there’s still a chance!”

Steven and Cynthia looked to each other, not quite sure how to balance the pros and cons of letting Jimmy and the Diamond Ladies do this kind of undercover operation, but as Jarena said, some plan of action was better than no plan. At the current moment, Steven and Cynthia didn’t have too many other ideas, never expecting Lance’s betrayal or seeing his followers now operating under his dark command and not their own. But if they decided to do nothing assuming Lance’s followers were not going to carry his dark plans, their misjudgment could cost lives, including their own, if they had a contingency backup plan ready to go in the event Lance was incapacitated.

Cynthia felt it just wasn’t worth risking not doing anything about it and being fatally wrong later, even if the plan was unusual and involved unorthodox mission parameters.

“For lack of having any other ideas right now but understanding there is urgency to this, I’ll allow it,” Cynthia replied to Jarena. “Jimmy Kendo and Sami Culver are to be your escort at all times, so remain with them. I’ll feel better about this as long as you three aren’t going off on your own unless they deem it’s truly necessary. As for you, Jimmy, you decide who else you need for this mission and what you want them to do. I’m leaving it in your hands.”

“If you’re really going to do this…” Steven stated, still feeling like becoming Pokémon for a mission like this was a bit oddball, “…I’m going to need you to find some kind of ledger or record that has all the names of the operatives that Lance hired and well as their network and clearance codes. Because the situation’s been compromised and we now have Lance’s operatives working against our own operatives and against our directives, I’m going to need to revoke their access rights and take their communication offline until we can screen each one of them and confirm they weren’t involved or detain them if we can confirm they were. We’re going to have to investigate all of them in a post mission debrief to see who was involved as an accessory to Lance’s actions. But for now, if you think this is the best way to stay under the radar and get us that information and anything else that you believe is mission critical. This isn’t the way I would ever do things, but… let’s just hope it works.”

“Oh, it will,” Jarena smiled. “We’ll also try to see who they’ve been leaking information to, and if there’s possibly another attack in the works that you and Cynthia aren’t aware about! We’re not going to let them continue the nasty plans that Lance started!”

“Well… good luck,” Steven replied to her, still not entirely sure if this was the right thing to do, but still hoping it wouldn’t turn out to be a mistake.

Meanwhile, Cassandra and Violet looked at each other, quite surprised Jarena actually pulled it off and managed to convince them to go ahead with the plan. Though they had a feeling the lack of anyone having any other ideas was a major part. That and they couldn’t help but take a suspicious look at Jirachi, thinking he may have influenced the decision. But there was no true way of telling…

“Looks like I’m officially assigned to this escapade,” Sami muttered, rolling her eyes. “Boy, I think this is the strangest cruise anyone has ever been on.”

“Hey, better than a boring cruise!” Jarena laughed. “But come on, this is important! Lives could be at stake! Maybe the whole League is in jeopardy now…”

Violet just sighed, taking a glance at Jarena and then at Jirachi, who both looked to be really enjoying all this. She had to admit, Jimmy and the both of them saw an opportunity and went to town with it. She actually had to admire how resourceful they were at weaving the whole rationale behind it, basically scrounging up any possible scrap of reasoning they could.

“Guess we’re really doing this again…” Violet shrugged, still surprised she was drawing a blank on alternative viable options when usually she was able to piece together at least something.

“I can almost feel the fur again already,” Cassandra nodded at Violet’s comment, wincing but almost laughing at the absurdity of it all.

“Ooh, that’s good, I’ll take that as a sign you’re all set to go!” Jarena smiled before looking to Jirachi. “Hey, any time you’re ready, Jirachi!”

“Pretty sure two runs at being a cute, mousey chinchilla Pokémon weren’t in my contract, but, well, here we are…” Sami muttered cynically, seeing as how she had been given official instruction to be an escort in these unusual circumstances. “Beginning to wonder why I even brought cosmetics along.”

Now, it was all down to Jimmy and Jirachi to decide exactly how they wanted to get this set up and who to bring along…