AGATHA
Thrifty Megamart, Akala
Affected RPers: N/A

Nicodemus had looked dourly upon the aftermath of what had become his apprentice, Boris. Standing beside him was Agatha, still in her artificially youthful state, looking at least three generations younger than Nicodemus when in truth, she should have been dead from natural causes by now. But she too, had looked upon the bloody remains of Boris, barely even noticing the dead Morpeko lying dead in a sickly pool of his own blood.

“Fool boy…” Nicodemus spat at Boris’s remains. “You useless, rotting pile of-”

“Why did you let him draw the blood?” Agatha scowled, interrupting him. “That incompetent buffoon you call an apprentice couldn’t complete a simple task without getting himself killed and now let that Latias get away! We need her blood for the spell! This was crucial, it shouldn’t have been done by this bumbling idiot!”

“We don’t need the blood, Agatha,” Nicodemus replied, hissing through his crooked teeth. “The spell can be completed without it. It will just take longer.”

“I want it done as soon as possible!” Agatha demanded. “If anything happens to the Netherclysm spell because of this delay, I’m holding you personally responsible.”

Nicodemus gritted his gnarled and crooked teeth and growled a bit, irritated that his proposed solution to helping Agatha complete the spell faster was now being used against him like a liability when he could have remained silent to keep himself off the hook. However, he remained quiet, knowing challenging her would have been unwise and fatal.

“Willow… where is she now?” Nicodemus asked Agatha, looking past his shoulders with his shifty eyes. “The Latias specimen may have returned to her. Once I have one of the initiates clean up this fool boy’s molding carcass, I will perform the bloodletting myself. And this time, it will not fail.”

“And why do you think I know where she is?” Agatha asked him, growing impatient. “Ask one of the sentries. I have enough to do and I can’t keep watch on every witch on these premises all by myself.”

“Fine,” Nicodemus snarled. “We’ll find her and get her back here. And in the meantime, I will assign some of my underlings to hunt down the brother. We already know who he belongs to. Jon Drake is just but a normal man, but we will end him if we need to.”

“Do whatever you must,” Agatha told him in a dark tone of voice. “I want results, not excuses.”

She then turned around and left as Nicodemus looked angrily upon Boris’s remains, still lying splattered about the tiled floor while his blood-stained skeletal remains lay in a misshapen pile.

“Damn you…” Nicodemus barked at the corpse, lashing his pitted tongue like a whip. “Now look at what you’ve done, you stupid, stupid boy.”

It was then that Aaron had entered the apothecary, having heard the news about Boris being found dead, but curious to see the aftermath for himself. After walking into the pungent apothecary, he saw for himself what had become of Boris, and his immediate reaction was to snicker.

“Good riddance,” Aaron chuckled with a dark smile. “He got what’s coming to him.”

“And you think you could do better?” Nicodemus asked him, looking dubious at Aaron.

“I overheard your conversation with Agatha,” Aaron told him, smiling impishly. “I can get that Latios while you focus on that Latias.”

“Fine,” Nicodemus replied. “If you’re confident you can…”

“Not so fast,” Aaron replied quickly. “I have my own demands. I help you, you help me. Besides, if you do me this favor, I should have an easier time getting that Latios for you on a silver platter. Win-win, right?”

Nicodemus’s eyes narrowed in scorn, but he decided to see what the bargaining table was going to involve.

“What is it that you want?” Nicodemus asked, looking into Aaron’s eyes.

Aaron had pulled out his Shadowcraft Kammo tome and had casually and quickly flipped through the pages. Once he found the exact page he was looking for, he put it down on the old table, and pointed to the Endkath spell on the 372th page. Nicodemus looked at it, skimmed over the details, and his brow furrowed, looking back at him as though he had become an abomination.

“You’re mad,” Nicodemus insisted with a hiss.

“You want Latios’s blood or not?” Aaron asked, unfazed by Nicodemus’s commentary and opinions. “Endkath’s reagents are hell to come by, but I know you have them somewhere in this pisshole. Ever since I laid eyes on this spell, I’ve wanted it more than anything, but it was always the goddamn reagents that held me back from using it.”

Nicodemus thought over it for a minute. Winning over Agatha’s favor with the blood of Latios and Latias would empower him to a higher role when the advent of Netherclsym had come and Agatha’s power would become godlike. But now, Agatha felt it was as if he had a debt to pay for presenting this opportunity before her, but failing to actually deliver on it. And if it meant letting Aaron have the Endkath spell he so craved… well, Agatha did say he had the authority to do whatever he must, costs and consequences be damned.

“Fine,” Nicodemus replied with a hiss. “But you bear the consequences of that spell alone. That’s one that can’t ever be undone and will change your life forever, boy.”

“I know that,” Aaron replied, wondering why Nicodemus bothered to warn him when he felt he knew more about that spell than he did. “I want the spell, not a lecture. The sooner, the better.”

“Then you shall have it,” Nicodemus replied, still feeling he was a fool to make such a dark payment. “And all that comes with it…”


Willow
Royal Avenue Pokémon Center, Akala
Affected RPers: @Desolate Divine (Brianna)

Brianna had stepped out from the shadows of the trees, smiling. Willow didn’t recognize her, but she knew if she had wanted to strike her down, she would have done so already. Besides, even if she was one of Agatha’s witches, there was nothing that tied her to Boris’s death…

…at least not yet.

“Trouble in paradise? Brianna asked. “I can tell a deserter when I see one…”

Willow was silent, hoping no one else was listening, or it would be the death of her. She could feel Latias close by, but right now, she decided to give Brianna the benefit of the doubt. Mainly because if she wanted to end her, she would have done the dark deed from the shadows when the opportunity was there for her. It was clear there was another motive at hand.

“Don’t worry,” Brianna said. “I’m not with Agatha, or the League. That being said, I do think that if someone wants to leave that hovel that she has you all holed up in, they should be able to, and when I saw a ghost following you figured I’d help out. Though you seem to have sorted that out on your own…”

“They’re not who I thought they were,” Willow replied. “They have something… ungodly going on in there. I thought this would be an opportunity to learn more from the experts, but what they really wanted were servants to do their dirty work.”

Brianna had prepared to leave, but Willow still had questions for her. But, given Brianna’s sly-as-a-fox demeanor, she had a feeling a great many of those would go unanswered.

“If you want to stand a chance at surviving after leaving, have a chat to Jon Drake with the League,” Brianna proposed. “He seems to have a fondness for strays…”

The name sounded familiar to Willow at first, but it took her a moment to recall where she had heard it before. But then she remembered… the first Pokémon High Seas Tournament winner, the one who exposed the Diamond Ladies’ schemes, and the founder of the elite Eon Academy.

Now she remembered…

“Otherwise I hope you like the idea of this place being your grave…” Brianna warned her.

“I have no intention of-”

But before she could finish, Brianna dashed back into the shadows, seemingly leaving no trace of herself behind, as if an illusion the entire time. It was as if she had skipped into the wind and became one with the breeze and the shadows, leaving no clue she had been there. Had it been any later of an hour, Willow might have thought she nodded off into a daydream and imagined the whole thing.

Jon Drake… that reminds me… doesn’t he…?

He’s my brother’s trainer, Willow.

Willow almost gasped, looking up into the sky, but still noticing that Latias was invisible and no where to be seen. Besides, the night sky was getting darker, and she was running out of time. She didn’t think she could make it to Heahea before she would need to stop for the night. But with there being limited shelter along Route 6…

Do you know where he is? Are you able to connect with him?

We can make it there if you ride on my back. But let’s both go invisible. They’ll never see us that way!

Invisibility spells were not cheap, requiring crushed diamond dust as one of the reagents, but in this case, Willow felt it was worth the cost to strengthen her chances of escape. She didn’t know Brianna, but she did know Agatha, and that alone convinced her to take Brianna’s warning seriously.

Willow had taken the small, nearly-empty vial of diamond dust, and cast an invisibility spell upon herself, using up the last of the reagent. Soon, not even her shadow could be seen as she had become cloaked like Latias herself, as if she was never there. Once the spell was completed, Latias gently approached her, and Willow reached out with her hands, feeling for Latias’s neck as she couldn’t see it. Once she lightly touched it, she mounted herself on her back, and the two of them flew toward the Eon Squad Villa as Latias traced her brother’s presence.


Willow
Outside Eon Squad Villa, Akala
Affected RPers: @Desolate Divine (Jon/Latios, kind of)

Once they had arrived, Willow had dismounted, and waited a short while for the invisibility spell to fade. She knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to sneak up on Jon while invisible, and while she only knew limited pieces of Jon’s past and reputation, she felt he couldn’t be worse than Agatha.

Besides, she had to tell someone about Netherclysm. Something about it had to be done before Agatha would become the queen god of a much darker, morbid world after the weak and elderly had been purged, and only those chosen to survive would be reformed into whatever this society of witches saw fit.

Meanwhile, Latias had turned to look at the Eon Squad HQ, and for just a moment, she saw her brother, Latios, make himself visible before entering the building. It had seemed he had something else on his mind and had not seen her, but even just catching a glimpse of Latios filled her heart with joy. Even with dark skies looming overhead and shadows creeping around them as the daylight faded, she was elated to see him again, alive, well, and looking so much stronger than the last time she saw him. She was happy he had found a trainer that helped him find his potential, and gave him a safe and happy home, even to the point of naming the whole villa after their species. It was proof Jon truly cared for him and realized he was a very special Pokémon.

My god, it’s been so long! Look at this place!

But something happened when she looked into his aura, expecting it to be bright, vibrant yellow. Something had suddenly made him uneasy, causing it to go blue. Latias had then looked out to the field, detecting the auras on the other people out there. She could only faintly make them out due to the distance, but there was unease and anger among them as well. When she realized this, she had withdrawn a bit, realizing something abnormal must have transpired recently.

“Isn’t that…?” Willow whispered, having seen Latios for just a moment as well.

Something’s up… I’m not sure what, but it might be best if we wait for a moment. There’s tensions among these people. One of them is especially angry…

Willow wasn’t sure what exactly was the reason for it, but she assumed it was due to Agatha’s recent attack and felt anyone on the receiving end of such a devastating and merciless assault like that would be emotionally wrecked. She hadn’t been part of the attacking group herself, but she had heard from the others that they had done significant damage and “made a good example” of the tourists, locals, and League operatives. Those words had not settled well with her, and not knowing the specifics was a concern. She had a suspicion they had done something cruel and horrible to them, and what she and Latias were looking at now had to be the emotional aftermath of such a terrible attack.

“Came at a bad time, didn’t we…?” Willow asked, sighing that it would complicate things.

Seems so. As much as I would love nothing more than to see my brother again…

“We’ll come back in the morning, that’s all,” Willow comforted her with a smile, rubbing her neck gently to ease her anxiety. “It’s getting late anyway and I’ve got some thinking to do.”

Willow knew if she was going to explain the details of Netherclysm to Jon and his followers, she needed no distractions or interruptions and she needed a clear and level head. After narrowly escaping the watchful gaze of Agatha’s followers, she felt it might be best to come back when the turmoil settled and everyone had a good night’s sleep to clear their minds out of the emotions.

Willow then headed toward Heahea City, knowing it would be easy to find a hotel to spend the night at. Once she had time to rest and figure out how she was going to explain what the League was up against, she would be back and give them the details…

…the intel that would make them aware just how dire the situation truly was…