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  1. #41
    Cheers and good times! Neo Emolga's Avatar
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    Cassandra Silvers
    Heahea City, Urgent Care Center
    Affected RPers: @Desolate Divine


    Understandably so, Abbee had made it clear she didn’t want to leave the storage room until Cassandra had made sure the coast was relatively clear. Victini had been her only link to the outside, and without a psychic Pokémon to give her that insight, she would have been going out blind, which was deadly in this scenario.

    “He’s covering us from a distance,” Cassandra explained to Abbee. “Follow me and we’ll try to make it back to someplace safe.”

    Cassandra’s first thought was to possibly board and find refuge on the Wishmaker cruise ship. They were going to have to make use of its infirmary eventually, but they definitely needed to get the operatives to regroup on this.

    For now, she headed back to where she had left Jarena, although in the distance, he had seen Dylan fighting the witches with his Metagross. He was taking a risky move, but on the other hand, he was having them focus on him rather than Jarena.

    For now, she decided to head back to where Jarena was. All she could do now was hope Violet had been able to find what she needed to undo Jarena’s curse…



    Violet Radcliffe
    Outside of Heahea City
    Affected RPers: @Shruikan


    Violet hadn’t realized the white Vulpix was in fact Luneth, but then on the other hand, it had been four years since she saw her the first time that way. With everything that had happened, history had become a blur to her. But where her memory was slightly triggered as an ambiguous moment of deja vu, it was due in part that the last Alolan Vulpix she had seen since this one was in fact also Luneth, back on the S.S. Wishmaker. Starglade and the surrounding area never had seen the likes of one before.

    As she headed away from the conflict between Giratina and Rayquaza, she needed to pry as much information as she could out of this other witch. But she knew she needed to do it carefully if she wanted to avoid suspicion.

    “Why are you not taking anything?” Violet asked the other witch, feigning a look of irritation. “Do you realize how valuable this all is? At least take what you can carry, these kinds of reagents are hard to come by.”

    “We have plenty already,” the other witch scoffed. “Trying to haul all of this back to the Megamart is only going to slow us down and it’s a least a few miles of walking from here to there. I guarantee you’re not going to make the whole trip carrying all that with you without having to take a break, and we have no time for that.”

    “I’ll manage because I know it’s only a matter of time until we run out,” Violet replied, trying to act like one of Agatha’s own. “These kinds of attacks are costly and this does nothing for us but serves as an expensive show of power. They’ll just keep throwing numbers at this problem until we have nothing left to fight with.”

    The other witch looked at her curiously. They had broken off a fair distance away from the commotion around Heahea City and were now safe and away from any of the other witches.

    “You don’t have much faith in Agatha’s plan, do you?” the other witch asked her.

    “No, I don’t, and coming here was a mistake,” Violet replied with feigned frustration, hoping she could play this correctly as she remembered Agatha’s dream message. “This isn’t about us, it’s solely about her. This should have been an opportunity to grow and enhance our skills and instead all we’re doing is harassing tourists and locals.”

    “They were undoing our work here,” the other witch reminded her. “We have defectors among us, that’s the only explanation. Don’t you remember our orders? The whole purpose of this attack was to find them and figure out who they are. Remember, we need them alive.”

    Already, this conversation had clued Violet in on several interesting developments, but now she was really curious as to what exactly Agatha was planning for them…

  2. #42
    I came in like a wrecking ball... [Desolate Divine]'s Avatar
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    Abbee Strauss, Dylan Squier and Jon Drake
    Outside Heahea Hospital
    Affected RPers: @Neo Emolga


    As Abbee and Cassandra fled the hospital, avoiding getting in the crossfire of what Abbee now knew to be a battle between Giratina and Rayquaza, with witches and their Pokemon wreaking havoc among the civilians there, they saw in the distance Dylan, a few meters behind his Metagross who was levitating sheets of metal from the trashed building, using them both as offensive weapons, and shields to protect from stray spells. Meanwhile, amidst the chaos, a black shadow was materializing before disappearing, launching various attacks, and leaving in it's wake numerous sleeping witches and Pokemon. Darkrai...

    As Abbee reached Dylan, before anything could be said, the sound of a motorbike became louder, as Jon arrived. He took off his helmet, before saying over the noise of the engine, "Where the f**k did Rayquaza come from?!" before giving Cassandra a sly wink.

    With Rayquaza keeping Giratina occupied, Dylan's two Pokemon were doing an admirable job of holding off the attackers, however were losing ground. He hoped however with Jon's arrival that maybe they could turn the tides of this battle.

    Jon tossed a trio of Pokeballs, containing Jolteon, Latios and Nidoking.

    As Nidoking used Earth Power to cause pillars of stone to erupt from the ground, acting as cover, Jolteon remained at the same distance as Metagross, supporting with electrical attacks. Jon gave Latios however a more specific instruction...

    "Find which of the witches seem to be scared." Jon explained to Latios, "I would be surprised if all of them were without fear, and let Darkrai know to target those ones. Hopefully the sight of it coming for them will be enough to scare them off."

    As Latios turned invisible, and flew into the fray, Jon turned to Abbee, Cassandra and Jarena.

    "Get her somewhere safe!" Jon said, gesturing to Jarena, "We can hold them off for a while, maybe even scare them away, but it will do no good for you to stay here! Abbee, protect them!"

    Abbee nodded, before tugging on Cassandra's sleeve.

    "Come on, we need to find somewhere safe for you to treat this, even if just for now..." Abbee said to Cassandra.
    Last edited by [Desolate Divine]; 05-26-2021 at 10:05 AM.

  3. #43
    Cheers and good times! Neo Emolga's Avatar
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    AGATHA
    Heahea City
    Affected RPers: @Desolate Divine


    The Agatha that the League was now trying to hunt down would never be recognized. The truth was under normal circumstances, that Agatha would have been long dead simply from failing internal organs due to old age.

    Instead, a charismatic, 22-year-old with long well-conditioned black hair and an attractive figure walked down the streets in a prideful strut while wearing her witch cloak, not even with the hood up. She had been a living testament to the kind of raw power that Shadowcraft had, with her agelessness being just one among many.

    She had arrived in time to see the mayhem, and it brought a smile to her face as witches and ghost Pokémon had driven the locals and tourists back to their homes and guest rooms, now even more entrapped on an island they couldn’t escape from neither by air or by sea.

    She had also seen Rayquaza fighting her own Giratina. The two Pokémon were violently clashing, both of them having taken a serious beating, but Agatha’s arrival had sealed Rayquaza’s fate. After opening a vial of Arcanine blood and smearing it on her hands, she had used the dark reagent to stasis-lock Rayquaza into place, frozen in animation as Giratina had struck the snake-like dragon several times with a Dragon Claw attack. When the spell ended, Rayquaza had collapsed onto the ground with a heavy thud like a bag of potatoes.

    For a brief moment, Giratina was a bit irked, suddenly realizing the battle had been tampered with.

    “Girrr-rraaaa!” (“I had him under my control, Agatha! You didn’t need to interfere!”) the ghost dragon legendary roared, desiring to achieve victory on her own.

    “Your disheveled appearance tells me otherwise,” Agatha replied, not even making contact with Giratina. “We’re not here for honor, may I remind you.”

    Giratina sighed with a “humph,” understanding that while what she said was true, it would have been more fulfilling to snag a victory on her own without a helping hand. Still, when it came down to it, they didn’t care about the details as long as they got what they wanted when they wanted.

    Meanwhile, Agatha had seen the urgent care center had taken significant damage and while it wasn’t completely destroyed, it was rendered unusable. However, the area had been completely vacated and most of the civilians had fled. Only those that were hexed and severely cursed remained, some as statues of varying material, others completely transformed into helpless states, and the remainder were effectively dead as their bodies had been destroyed in one way or another.

    “So who was behind this witchcraft hospital?” Agatha asked Igor, one of the other witches that had arrived earlier. “Tell me you found them.”

    “We don’t know,” the older male witch replied, sighing hard. “They’re not one of our own.”

    “Of course they’re not one of our own!” Agatha shouted back at Igor, irked by the pointless and obvious response. “The whole point of this attack was to destroy this hospital of theirs and eradicate whoever was behind it. But enough of the games, I want everyone back at the stronghold. Make yourself useful and tell everyone to leave this pile of rot and head home.”

    “Hmhm,” Igor replied, preparing to send the word out. “As you wish.”

    To Agatha, while she was content that the urgent care center had been ravaged, she didn’t want to show her satisfaction and let the other Shadowcraft witches feel fulfilled by only accomplishing half the objectives. She knew very well there were other witches out there undoing the affliction work and while she wanted them eliminated, also, it wasn’t as direly important as getting the urgent care purged out. But for now, she was convinced the opposing witches were long-gone from the premises, simply due to them being outnumbered and outpowered

    One of Agatha’s other witches, a young female named Willow with light-brown hair, had approached Agatha with her report. Besides her was a Mismagius wearing an impish smile.

    “Their witches were disguised as doctors,” Willow told Agatha, letting her in on the details. “That’s why we didn’t identify them at first as they fled alongside the other medical staff. We initially thought they would attempt to defend the urgent care, but instead they had fled the area. There’s rumors that a few of them were hexed, but we’re not sure if we got all of them.”

    “Forget about them for now, Willow,” Agatha replied. “After today, these people won’t even think of emerging from their homes and rooms. Let them rot, it will simply buy us more time.”

    Afterword, Agatha had signaled to Giratina to follow with a simple wave hand gesture, leaving Rayquaza’s beaten and bruised body on the ground. Agatha had no interest in killing Rayquaza, all she needed was for the snake-like dragon to know his place and understand he had no power here.

    And by Igor’s word and Agatha’s command, the Shadowcraft Society had headed back up north, leaving within the shadows the same way they had arrived…



    Triad (The Diamond Ladies)
    Tide Song Hotel, Akala
    Affected RPers: @Desolate Divine @Shruikan


    After Violet had spotted Cassandra heading back, she had decided to part ways with the other witch, having gotten what she needed out of them. When they had let their guard down, Violet had turned them into a Blitzle and wiped their memories before flushing them with sleepiness. Effectively, they wouldn’t remember the last conversation they had and most likely wouldn’t even remember the attack.

    Once the three of them had united, Jon had used his Nidoking, Jolteon, and Latios to defend their position, but it wasn’t long until the witches and their ghost Pokémon companions had withdrawn away from the attack.

    “Get her somewhere safe!” Jon told Cassandra, referring to Jarena’s condition. “We can hold them off for a while, maybe even scare them away, but it will do no good for you to stay here! Abbee, protect them!”

    “Come on, we need to find somewhere safe for you to treat this, even if just for now…” Abbee side to her.

    Though it seemed the commotion was slightly dying down, it was still far too early to make any assumptions about it being over.

    “Yeah… let’s go,” Jarena replied, getting up on her ‘feet,’ “Tide Song Hotel… it’s not too far, right?”

    “The lobby should be safe,” Violet replied, helping Jarena up. “But we’d better go now.”

    After nodding, they had cut across through the back of town and headed to the large hotel. As expected, there was no one outside as everyone had taken up shelter from the attack. And with the way things had gone down, it seemed like that was not about to change.

    From the looks of things, Cassandra could easily say this year’s Spiritwater Festival was more than canceled. It was a total dismal failure. In the meantime, as they walked, Cassandra and Violet had taken off and stashed way their cloaks, thinking they might need them later if they wanted to try and infiltrate the ranks of the enemies.

    Once they had made it through the double sliding doors of the front entrance, they had seen others were taking refuge in here as well. Many guests and locals had retreated to the hotel lobby, some of them trying to deal with curses of their own, but thankfully, these cases were mild and hadn’t rendered them completely helpless.

    They had gathered around an unclaimed bench and café table that was originally intended to be for a Jirachibucks Coffee, but it had been closed since the attack had taken place.

    “I recovered some of the reagents from the urgent care,” Violet told Cassandra. “I also got our books back. It should be everything we need to restore her, but…”

    “Yeah, I know,” Cassandra nodded. “Something we need to do first.”

    “Ohhh man, I think I know what you’re talking about,” Jarena replied with a grimace, having had enough experience with this herself. “This thing’s still trying to turn me into a flower, and you only delayed it, which means… you gotta let it finish its job before you undo it, don’t you?”

    Cassandra nodded with a frown, and then sighed after.

    “Yeah, there’s no stopping it until the hex completes,” Cassandra confirmed. “Once it fully transforms you, we can start trying to dispel it, but trying to do it before that just resets the hex only to have it begin again.”

    “Ugh, just like a fire that keeps burning until there’s nothing left to eat up…” Jarena sighed, looking over all the leaves and flower petals that were covering her body.

    “That’s… an accurate way to put it…” Cassandra replied. “Might be better if you just close your eyes instead of watching it happen…”

    Jarena then stood up and moved away from anything that might get “caught” in the mess. Closing her eyes, she then looked down.

    “If this doesn’t work, just… please plant me somewhere nice and cozy,” Jarena muttered, keeping her eyes closed. “Maybe a spot that will get plenty of sunshine once this is all over, you know? That’s be cool but yeah, it’s been awesome hanging out with you two. We had some good times. Wish you guys the best… just in case this is goodbye…”

    “Jarena…” Cassandra muttered sympathetically.

    Violet didn’t want to mention this would be extremely difficult for her and Cassandra to do alone and there certainly was possibility it may be too much for them. Wanting to show Jarena she was at least somewhat optimistic, Violet had readied a beach towel to wrap Jarena’s body if and when the transformation back to her human self was successful. Meanwhile, Violet braced herself for what was going to be an exhausting battle against this floral curse.

    “Ready?” Cassandra asked, preparing to pull the suppression off of the floral curse’s development.

    Jarena simply nodded.

    With that, Cassandra had removed the suppressing effect Violet and herself had laid upon the curse, and it seemed it was all too eager to begin taking over the rest of Jarena’s body. Her arms had become like branches, and her hands had transformed into buds that quickly blossomed into lily flowers. Before long, the flowers surrounding her neck had become bigger, and eventually, all that was left was her face, which was quickly melded into the stem that had once been the rest of her body. Before them now stood a nearly six-foot tall flowering plant with flowers that were far bigger and more vibrant than anything that would normally occur in nature.

    Within less than a minute, it was impossible to tell she had once been a human…

    Violet had laid out all the necessary reagents they were going to need for this transformation back. Once Cassandra had confirmed the curse had run its course and finished its dark and dirty work, she prepared everything they would need for a Nox Purge spell.

    “We’ve never done this just with two of us…” Cassandra told Violet, taking a deep breath. “I hope we don’t walk out of here looking for a shovel…”

    “You know how to do this,” Violet reminded her. “Only think about doing it and forget about the possibility of not doing it.”

    Gathering all of her focus, she prepared and had drawn out all of her energy for the Nox Purge.

    “Ein estos calataki corest-tol…” Cassandra and Violet chanted in unison, reciting the spell’s incantation. “Ero-sta shi dy-danivan…”

    Holding the Star Piece in her hands, Violet allowed it to burn and be consumed as fuel for the incantation. She would only get this one shot, and trying to cheat the spell with a second Star Piece would only overload the spell and could potentially kill all of three of them in the process.

    Quickly, both of them felt the exhausting strain of the spell, but as Jarena’s body had begun to glow and begin the restoration process, they both fought on, pushing to forcefully purge out the floral curse and use Jarena’s soul as a catalyst and as a conduit to restore her to her true form.

    The strain nearly resulted in both Cassandra and Violet suffocating, fighting to keep the spell strong because if they broke down and stopped, it would all be for nothing. But working together, they had managed to fight through it all the way to the end… but just barely…

    It had gotten to the point where Jarena had to quickly wrap herself with the towel, as both Cassandra and Violet had collapsed just a second after the spell had been fulfilled… and Jarena was restored back to normal.

    “Holy crap, you guys did it!” Jarena exclaimed at first, but suddenly became very alarmed at their condition. “Are… are you alright!?”

    Both of them were on the floor, wheezing and gasping for breath as their energy, oxygen, and vigor had been completely tapped out dry. But Cassandra nodded, unable to speak quite yet, but wanted to show she’d at least not faint and pass out.

    After three minutes of lying down on the tiled floor of the hotel lobby, trying to catch their breath, Cassandra and Violet were able to sit up again, still woozy and tired, but at least able to breathe normally.

    “And that’s why we need to stick together…” Cassandra muttered, finally able to speak again…

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  5. #44
    I came in like a wrecking ball... [Desolate Divine]'s Avatar
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    Brianna Levine, Jon Drake and Dylan Squier
    Heahea City
    Affected RPers: Any operatives. If they wish to be present in the meeting Jon is discussing, have them be approached by Steven or Cynthia about it.


    Brianna walked towards the site of the attack, where Dylan stood, returning his Pokemon to their Pokeballs, and a man she hadn't met before, but recognized was talking. Agatha had left, taking Giratina with her, as Jon made his way towards Rayqauza, with a standard Pokeball. Seeing her approach, Jon said to Dylan, though seemingly to justify what he was doing, "Rayquaza is hurt, and I am not going to be able to get it the help it needs if I don't catch it."

    Hearing Jon's lie, Dylan turned, his eyes widening when he recognized the woman coming towards them.

    "How did you know they were going to do this?" Dylan asked irritably, "And why did you wait until it was nearly too late to tell me? People died here, when we really needed more time to empty the building before all of this."

    "What's going on?" Jon asked, before looking around to make sure nobody was coming to throw their own Pokeball at the frozen Rayquaza, before walking closer, "Dylan, who is this..."

    "Brianna Levine." Dylan muttered, "I was looking into her, and she approached me. Told me that she isn't with them, and that she left that curse so we would be onto the fact Agatha is doing the same thing to spy on us. Then she warned me this was about to happen..."

    "And how did you know?" Jon asked, staring the young woman down, "If you aren't with them, how did you know what we were doing here, and that they were going to attack?"

    "I have my methods, which I will keep to myself for now..." Brianna said to Jon, rolling her eyes slightly, "Whilst I don't empathise with Agatha, and think the geriatric hag should have had the decency to die decades ago, I don't particularly want to jump into bed with the league like you have..."

    "In that case, then we have ways of getting that information..." Jon growled, before stepping towards her, "People died here because you waited too long to let us know."

    "And less died because I warned Dylan who was able to provide backup..." Brianna sneered, before raising a hand, and contorting the fingers on it, as a white streak of light twisted around them, "And I have ways of making sure I keep my secrets..."

    Jon stopped in his tracks, understanding the threat Brianna was making.

    "I am not your enemy, Mr. Drake. I'm not your friend either, but the last thing I want is Agatha to do as she pleases, uncontested, so you're lucky that I might feel generous enough to offer my own services and intel, only when I feel like it." Brianna explained, "Make an enemy of me, and you will be fighting a war on two fronts. Or simply stay out of my way, and I will throw you some scraps when I think you deserve it."

    Brianna looked over at the petrified Rayquaza, before speaking again...

    "And as a sign of good will to that statement..." Brianna said, before clenching her first, as the white light grew and brightened, and she launched it towards Rayquaza, who instantly began to move, and roar.

    "Where is the desecrator?!" Rayqauza was shouting through the roar. Realizing that Rayquaza still thought it was in battle, Jon lobbed a standard Pokeball at it, almost thankful for the fact it was weakened by the battle with Giratina. There wasn't a better time. If anyone asked Jon why he captured it, he would have both the reason of posessing another Legendary Pokemon, as well as the desire to get it healed by a Pokemon Center to fall back on, and enough time had passed that him capturing it wouldn't be indicitive of the deceit he, Steven and Cassandra had partaken in nearly four years earlier.

    Jon was silent. Whilst he was thankful for Rayquaza recovering, he also didn't trust completely that Brianna hadn't done another hybrid curse, turning Rayquaza into a glorified camera. He would have Cassandra give it a look over when things had died down. Dylan was the first to speak up.

    "How come you didn't need to use some sort of incantation?" Dylan asked, curious, having not seen that before.

    "Sound is just air pulsing at certain frequencies. If an incantation were necessary, couldn't a spell be accidentally triggered, or why doesn't a recording of the incantation trigger it?" Brianna asked, almost mockingly, "The only thing really needed is a focused thought, however that presents a risk as thoughts are hard to control. If I told you not to think about that girl who was with you at Memorial Hill, your first thought is to think about her. The words act as means of focus. You can tell that to your friends..., if you think it can help them."

    "In terms of making sure this doesn't end with such a cheap shot again..." Brianna said, gesturing to where Rayquaza had laid before, petrified by Agatha's magic, "Tell your friends to open their Zeketh tomes to pages 216 and 384. They might find something helpful there..."

    Brianna turned to leave, as Jon spoke up.

    "What do you stand to gain here?" Jon asked, "If you were here for reasons that weren't selfish, you would have told Dylan about the attack earlier, and not let these people die. So you obviously have something to gain from all of this..."

    "Right now, does it matter?" Brianna asked, not even turning around, "At the end of the day, the only reason more people didn't die is because I warned Dylan, and Agatha got what she wanted. If I had have said nothing, and Agatha had wanted to do more, it would have been much worse. My motives don't matter because without me, you're powerless. You can either accept the help I want to offer without asking questions, and stand a fighting chance, or you can refuse it, because you don't know what I stand to gain, and get wiped out when Agatha decides keeping you all alive is more trouble than it's worth."

    Brianna left, as Jon felt a presence in his head.

    "Should I tail her?" Latios asked.

    "Don't. As much as I hate it, she has a point, and she seems to know more than she lets on about everything." Jon replied with his thoughts, "I really don't trust her, but right now we have bigger problems, and if leaving her alone helps us solve them, we will cross that bridge when the time arises..."

    Jon checked his watch, seeing it was nearing 3pm, before calling Abbee.

    "You alright?" he asked, as Abbee answered the phone.

    "Yeah, we're doing okay, a bit shaken up." Abbee said, intentionally not using names, "Our flowery friend is back to normal, but it took a bit out of the other two."

    "Glad to hear you're okay." Jon said, "But unfortunately there won't be much time to recover. We have information, and need to discuss it. Stay with Triad, and help them do what they want or feel like they need to do. If they're gonna help people with curses, help them. If they want to sleep, because of how exhusted they are from fixing the floral issue, then watch their backs. But at 6pm, I will be breifing Eon Squad on what we have learnt, and want you to bring them with you back to base. There will be other operatives so they may want to be incognito. Understand?"

    "Completely."

    "Also, can you let them know to look at Zeketh Tome, Pages 216 and 384, when they can." Jon explained, "I have word that it could give us a fighting chance against Agatha and Giratina, next time she rears her head..."

    Jon ended the call, before contacting Steven over message.

    "Eon Squad has intel, that could be beneficial. We will be meeting at Eon Squad HQ tonight at 6pm. You and Cynthia should be there, and bring any operatives you trust."

    A few minutes later Jon got a response.

    "Acknowledged. Will be at HQ at 6."

    Abbee Strauss
    Tide Song Hotel
    Affected RPers: @Neo Emolga


    Abbee ended the phone call, before addressing the Diamond Ladies, who were still recovering from the effort of restoring Jarena.

    "Jon has assigned me to help you three however I can this afternoon, even if it's just watching your back. But at 6pm, there is a meeting at Eon Squad HQ, to figure out next steps, that he wants you three at. Though other operatives may be there, so you might need disguises." Abbee explained, "He also said that there might be something helpful on pages 216 and 384 of Zeketh?"

    "Also," Abbee said, turning to Cassandra specifically, "If you do run into Victini, can you let him know I really want to talk to him? Before we left, he asked my blessing to partner with you for this job, and I presumed he did, because he left and didn't come back, however I only realized he wasn't with you when we spoke this afternoon. That's why I was at the hospital this afternoon. I figured if you told him no, he might be trying to be some sort of guardian angel to you without you knowing instead..."

    "I'm not mad or anything." Abbee said solemnly, "I just wish he had have been honest with me..."
    Last edited by [Desolate Divine]; 05-26-2021 at 10:02 AM.

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  7. #45
    The Queen of Shaymin
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    Avery Miller & Abital Ecke
    Outside the Tide Song Hotel => Tide Song Hotel Lobby
    Affected RP'ers: Maybe @Desolate Divine and @Neo Emolga


    As Avery and Abital quietly discussed what to do, they watched a Rayquaza clash with the Giratina that attacked the Urgent Care Center in the distance. There was no going back there, they supposed. This left them with the options of either fleeing towards Paniola Town or back to the ships.

    "It's probably safer for us to head more in-land," Abital signed to Avery. Avery looked back towards the ship reluctantly. They hated to leave it behind but Abital had a point. They started to sign a response when they spotted something flying towards them. It didn't take them but two shakes of a Yamper's tail to realize what it was: A Witch.

    Having spotted the two stragglers, the male witch dived towards them, preparing a hex. As he began to say the incantation, Avery shouted, "Meir, Thunderbolt let's go!" Despite not being his trainer, the Raichu followed the command without hesitation. Electricity crackled across his cheeks before a large Thunderbolt arched through the air. The witch quickly dove out of the way before launching the incomplete hex, hitting Avery square in the chest. Meir launched another powerful Thunderbolt at the witch, missing again, but it was enough to make the witch retreat for the time being.

    Avery slid off Daybreak's back and collapsed on the ground, groaning in pain. They had experienced the effects of Shadowcraft before, they remembered it well from their time on the Wishmaker several years prior, but something about this was different. They weren't sure if it was because the hex was incomplete or perhaps it was just one of the intent side effects, but either way their body felt like it was on fire.

    Abital quickly rushed to their spouse's side, grabbing their hand and squeezing it. "Are you okay?" he signed quickly as he examined Avery's body.

    "Yeah," Avery grunted, "I think so." They quickly covered their mouth as a wave of nausea hit them. "No, never mind, definitely not." They retched to the side, only coughing up bile given they didn't have much of anything on their stomach at the moment. They gasped for air as their stomach continued to twist and turn. This felt so much worse than the hex they had been afflicted with several years prior. Was this what Abital had been feeling the last few days with that other hex?

    After a moment, Avery felt all their strength get sapped away as their body grew hotter and hotter. Abital was currently holding them up, trying to keep Avery's eyes open as panic began to set in. They weren't sure what Avery had been afflicted with but it couldn't be good given how their spouse was reacting to it. As they continued to lightly shake Avery, they happened to glance down at their partner's legs and froze. Had... that been there a minute ago?

    "What's wrong?" Avery whispered, noticing the look of shock on Abital's face. Abital looked back at Avery before making the sign for "horse." Avery furrowed their eyebrows. "Horse?" they asked in confusion. They followed Abital's gaze down to their legs and felt their soul about leave their body when they realized the lower half of their body had been replaced with the lower half of a horse. "Oh great," Avery said with a groan. They looked at Abital again and added, "Guess this makes the honeymoon a bit awkward, huh?"

    Abital glared at Avery and began to sign angrily, fussing at their spouse for cracking jokes at a time like this. "This is serious! We don't know if this is the extent of the hex's powers! What if you start growing tentacles next or something?"

    Avery chuckled and held up their hands. "Okay okay, sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood a bit. I promise it's not that bad." They looked down at their lower half again, moving each of their hooves as they did. "Based on the hooves and tail, my guess is the hex was supposed to turn me into the Pokemon I was dressed as, but given it wasn't completed, it only half changed me." Not the worst Pokemon to be half transformed into, they supposed. Keldeo was supposedly a legendary Pokemon after all. Still, what was with these witches and turning Avery into water types? Granted, it had only happened twice, but the odds of that couldn't be very high.

    "What do you want to do now?" Abital signed, noticing that by now the fight had died down. There was a brief moment of peace, which would be the opportune time to flee if not for the fact that Avery was both not feeling great AND half Keldeo.

    Avery sighed as they looked around. They weren't sure how far they could walk, but they couldn't stay in the open like this. "Let's head into the hotel for now. Once I feel a bit less dizzy we can head to Paniola Ranch." They paused then added, "Maybe then I can horse around a bit."

    Abital leveled a hard glare at Avery, trying to hide the small smile cracking at his lips from Avery's pun. Even in times like this, puns were the ranger's greatest weakness. They stood up and released the Mudsdale from their control, prompting the horse to gallop towards the aforementioned ranch. Abital then helped Avery to their feet, the coordinator needing help as they got used to their new sense of balance on four legs instead of two. Using Daybreak as the other balancing block, the small group moved inside the Tidesong Hotel and collapsed in the lobby, taking a bit of a breather.
    / / / / / / / /
    Avatar by Soggymint
    Double Agents with Suicune's Fire

  8. #46
    Cheers and good times! Neo Emolga's Avatar
    Senior Administrator

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    AGATHA
    Thrifty Megamart, Akala
    Affected RPers: N/A


    Unknown to Alola law enforcement, recently Agatha had the once-abandoned Thrifty Megamart reorganized and cleaned up, but away from prying eyes. Anything that could not be made useful was destroyed or removed, leaving anything else that could serve as food supplies or as reagents. At the same time, Agatha had commissioned Nicodemus as the quartermaster. He was a shrewd old man, slightly possessive and unhinged, but nonetheless effective at doing his job and excellent at punishing others who didn’t do theirs.

    Once Agatha and her followers had returned, they were greeted by the various ghost Pokémon guards that were always lurking in the shadows. To Agatha, it felt like home, at least for now. For her, this was all just a temporary setup, like a camping trip.

    “We lost a few out there,” Willow reported to Agatha, looking dour that they had taken losses and causalities. “Six missing and at least three confirmed dead.”

    “Versus how many of theirs?” Agatha countered with her own question, smirking devilishly. “Willow, time is on our side, not on theirs. Their stupid festival is ruined, their citizens and tourists are now far too afraid to come out as the streets are littered with our victims. And their witchcraft hospital is ruined. The only chance they had at stopping us has been completely eradicated.”

    From behind a store shelfing unit that was now being used as a kind of “reagent library,” a Gourgeist had emerged, looking fondly at Agatha. Agatha had kneeled down before the pumpkin-like Pokémon, stroking her long pink hair.

    “And exactly where did that Rayquaza come from?” Willow asked, never thinking she would actually see it one day. “Agatha, I don’t think this is the end. This festival of theirs may be ruined, but they’re going to regroup and try again.”

    “I never said they wouldn’t,” Agatha chortled as she stood up to allow the Gourgeist go back to playing with the other ghost Pokémon. “Of course they will. I would be disappointed if they gave up. I always enjoy seeing one’s escalation of commitment drive them to ruination. What matters most is we keep them on the defensive, and if we keep them overwhelmed, afraid, and demoralized, it should be very easy.”

    Willow had fallen silent. While she admired Agatha’s confidence, she still wanted to be cautious. Something wasn’t right, and the fact they now knew there were Shadowcraft witches working against them made it clear not everyone was in on Agatha’s plan.

    “Who do you suppose are the traitors?” Willow asked. “The ones that heard your call but decided to work against you and the rest of us?”

    “Understand this, Willow,” Agatha smirked. “Our power grows daily, while theirs weakens. While they tend to the weak and pathetic, we grow in strength. All we need is three days. Three days and we become the new gods. The way it should be, with humans controlling more power and force than even legendary Pokémon could obtain. Their obedience to us will never be questioned.”

    Willow had nodded. It was what brought her here, what caused her to become a witch. Despite having some control over Pokémon, the truth was, most Pokémon could outright slaughter their trainer and many humans with the power and might they had. Humans, frail, weak, and vulnerable without their weapons and technology… they would be no match for their own Pokémon if they ever turned on them. But unlike weapons or devices, this felt like true, innate power.

    But with the power of Shadowcraft harnessed by them, talented and highly skilled witches could potentially bring even the legendaries to their knees, bowing in servitude.

    After all, Agatha always felt Pokémon should serve their human masters loyally. But in order to hold that and command that, Agatha had to obtain power overwhelming and make it abundantly clear that humans, specifically the Shadowcraft Society, were to be respected as gods above gods…

    But for now, they needed time. And such a thing could be bought for as long as her enemies cowered in fear, questioned their morale and goals, and remained ignorant of the truth…



    Triad (The Diamond Ladies)
    Tide Song Hotel, Akala
    Affected RPers: @Desolate Divine @Shruikan @Chakramaster


    Through Abbee, Jon had informed Cassandra, Jarena, and Violet that there was to be a meeting among Jon’s Eon Squad at 6pm, along with any other trustworthy operatives. But she had also mentioned the Ladies were going to need disguises, and with the recent events that had just transpired, scrubs were now out.

    “The on-call room was crushed,” Violet told Cassandra and Jarena, still wrapped in her beach towel. “Our clothing is now buried under heaps of concrete. Not worth digging out at this point.”

    “Uh, yeah… though what about our costumes?” Jarena asked, thinking that might still be a viable option. “We left them by the supply closet. Did those survive?”

    “You sure you still want to wear those?” Violet asked. “This festival’s gone totally to hell.”

    “Well, what else am I going to wear?” Jarena asked, shrugging with a silly smile as she kept herself tightly wrapped with her beach towel. “Although we really should talk to Jirachi about getting that place fixed up.”

    Cassandra wasn’t so sure, but on the other hand, if Jirachi could do it, it would prove they could still make a recovery. Still, as Cassandra knew, Jarena had to put on something, and if her Beautifly costume was the only thing she had available, they’d have to go for it.

    After a quick trip to and back, Cassandra and Violet had managed to retrieve their butterfly Pokémon costumes. Until they could find Jimmy and Jirachi and request a reconstruction of the urgent care center, they needed to stick with these for now.

    After using the hotel bathroom to get changed, Cassandra had emerged in her Butterfree costume as Jarena came out in her Beautifly costume and Violet came out in her Vivillon costume.

    “Hey, sure beats wearing scrubs, eh?” Jarena asked Cassandra and Violet, flapping her large colorful wings playfully with her hands. “Was getting sick of wearing those!”

    “This wasn’t at the top of my list, but it’s not at the bottom either…” Violet replied, still feeling a bit silly and awkward.

    By now, it had given Cassandra and Violet enough time to recover since the last Nox Purge spell. Being able to do it with Jarena’s help now would make the process less of an absolute taxing experience, but there was still significant strain for the three of them regardless.

    Once they had made it back, Cassandra had taken out the Zeketh tome that Abbee mentioned earlier, recalling that she needed to review “something helpful” on pages 216 and 384. While Jarena and Violet looked on, she had reviewed what Jon had been referencing.

    “Expavescimus Charm…” Cassandra read the words on page 214. “Looks like it redirects spells at the attacker…”

    “Ah yeah, in the past we just skipped that one,” Jarena recalled. “Yeah, never thought we’d be on the receiving end of spells when we first saw this. Needs some dust from a broken mirror and some mashed up feathers from some unevolved flying type Pokémon. That shouldn’t be too hard.”

    “There’s Wingull feathers all around the beach,” Violet recalled. “Those will definitely suffice. Mirrors should be common as well.”

    Cassandra nodding, knowing this kind of charm would not be at all hard to prepare. She had yet to cast it before, but it didn’t look complicated and the reagents were easy. Not only could they use this to protect themselves, but they could also use it to protect their frontline attackers and civilians. It would force Agatha’s followers to think twice about what they were hitting their adversaries with if they kept finding themselves on the receiving end of this magic.

    She then turned to page 384, noticing a luxum patibatur curse, one that would cause the victim to hemorrhage energy. It would require them to get some human blood, ginger, and paint thinners, but it wasn’t impossible. But it would require them to hunt down those materials specifically. Meanwhile, the second spell was a simul spell that needed ashes of burnt paper that prior to their incineration, needed to have two overlapping handprints in red ink. Then Cassandra realized this was exactly how the hybrid spell was created. It was easy to overlook at first when she originally sought direct affliction spells, but some creativity made her realize the power of this spell itself.

    “So essentially you could hybrid this Expavescimus Charm and Luxum Patibatur curse and not only does it make the caster’s curse bounce off, but it also drains them for attempting it.” Cassandra confirmed.

    “Dang, that’s… next level stuff…” Jarena replied. “Someone did their homework.”

    “Jon obviously has some plans with this,” Violet replied. “I don’t know who informed him of this, but if we try this, we’re going to need to get those reagents ready. Most of them should be easy, but it’s going to need a shopping run.”

    Cassandra nodded, knowing it might be something they would need help with…

    “Also,” Abbee told Cassandra, “If you do run into Victini, can you let him know I really want to talk to him? Before we left, he asked my blessing to partner with you for this job, and I presumed he did, because he left and didn't come back, however I only realized he wasn't with you when we spoke this afternoon. That's why I was at the hospital this afternoon. I figured if you told him no, he might be trying to be some sort of guardian angel to you without you knowing instead. I’m not mad or anything. I just wish he had been honest with me…”

    “It’s complicated…” Cassandra sighed, still feeling very tired from the Nox Purge spell. “Understand that he just wants to help and he wants to keep everyone happy. It’s hard given the situation we’re in and how we left things off four years ago. Abbee, you know how ugly things got. Nothing we tried made amends.”

    <At least not yet!>

    The three of them had looked around, quite sure Victini was hiding somewhere, but they could not see him.

    <You know what I think? I think it’s time to quit pretending you’re dead! Things are much nicer when you know you’re aliiiiiveee!>

    “Victini…” Cassandra muttered, not sure where he was telepathically talking to them from. “We do that and there’s going to be speculation everywhere about the three of us. We can’t afford that when we need everyone’s help.”

    And that was when Vicitini had revealed himself, proving he was much closer than they thought, hiding in one of the potted plants next to them. He emerged with a smile on his face, happy to see his old friend again, this time up close.

    “Vic-ti-ti…” (“Cass, it was four years ago.”) Victini nudged her playfully. “Vict-ti-ti-ni…” (“That was the old you. The new and improved you is out there fighting the good fight, curing these afflictions, and being an awesome life-safer to these innocent folks! You think someone who you save from being a stone statue is still going to think badly over you for stupid stuff four years ago? Nah, I think not!”)

    “I really don’t know…” Cassandra replied, looking away.

    “Vic-ti!” (“I dare you to try it!”) Victini playfully teased. “Vic-tini-ni!” (“Show those people the new you! If it doesn’t work, then hey, go hide as Pokémon again for a while. But I betcha you won’t need to do that. Come on, be brave! Be yourself! The real you!”)

    Cassandra thought it over, not sure about what she would really gain out of it, but she had to admit trying to hide this way wasn’t working too well. And it wasn’t so much as bravery as much as it was wondering was it really true that time could heal wounds. Coming clean with honesty after cheating was one thing and it didn’t do what they were hoping it would. But saving lives and giving people new hope in a desperate time like this was something else entirely.

    However, before Cassandra could answer, someone else had entered the Tide Song hotel lobby. They had turned to look at who it was and Cassandra could swear she saw Avery with another male. And Jarena had recognized him as the one she cured earlier, relieving him of his fever.

    There was just one major difference about Avery now. All three of them saw Avery’s lower half was that of a Keldeo, making Avery look like a half-human, half-horse centaur.

    “Whoa, is that… geez, what happened to Avery?” Jarena asked with a look of surprise on her face.

    “Looks like the kind of thing that happened to you…” Cassandra muttered, recognizing it as yet another curse. “Something feels off with it, though. It’s… incomplete.”

    “Oh boy, yeah, we know what that means…” Jarena sighed, looking away and recalling what had happened to her just a few minutes ago. “Man, we’ve got our work cut out for us. How many people and Pokémon out there do you think we need to cure?”

    “Too many,” Violet replied, knowing that number had to be in the dozens, if not hundreds.

    She knew it would take weeks and weeks of heavy stamina-draining spells to restore everyone to normal, and that was even if no one else was afflicted during that time. But for now, they decided to try and do what they could.

    They could help Avery for now, but in terms of everyone else, they were going to need help. For that, Cassandra had pulled out her phone, and decided to send Jimmy a message.

    Hey Jimmy.

    It’s Cass. Not sure if you heard, but the Heahea City urgent care center was nearly destroyed by Giratina in Agatha’s attack and a lot of the materials we need got buried or destroyed in there. If your Jirachi friend can pull it off, we need some of that wish power help right now. See if Jirachi can reconstruct the urgent care, because not only do all these witchcraft victims need a place to get better, but so do the people with regular ailments. Otherwise we may need to use the infirmary on the Wishmaker and that’s only got a fraction of the space that we need.

    We’re at the Tide Song Hotel right now. There’s also another thing we might need Jirachi’s help with, but one thing at a time. We’ll fill you in on the detes later.

    Hope to talk to you soon.
    ~Cass


    With that taken care of, Cassandra, Jarena, Violet, and Victini had approached Avery, who had fallen due to being unable to walk very well on their four horse-like legs. Cassandra felt the three of them showing up in these silly butterfly Pokémon costumes might make it difficult for them to be taken seriously, but she quickly decided to throw that thought away. There were still plenty of others that were wearing costumes simply because they weren’t ever expecting this to happen this afternoon.

    “Hey there, Avery,” Cassandra greeted them. “We saw you walk in and we figured you might need some help with those extra legs you now have…”

    “Long time no see…” Violet told them.

    “Yeah, about this curse…” Jarena smiled sheepishly to Avery, knowing how this kind of incomplete affliction worked. “I think you probably already guessed it’s an incomplete spell you got hit with and you were only half-transformed. We can dispel it, but that only works if we let the curse complete. Otherwise it’s kinda like using a mixing bowl to bake a cake when it’s already got half of an unfinished pancake batter in there and you’re not allowed to let food go to waste.”

    Cassandra had to admit, Jarena had a knack for coming up with fitting analogies.

    “Yeah, it’s like that…” Cassandra informed Avery. “I think this transformation was trying to turn you into a Keldeo, but whoever was casting it was using a direct contact spell instead of a hex implant, and they got interrupted halfway through. We can restore you, but it means we need to complete the Keldeo transformation, and then we can work on getting you back to your normal human self.”

    “Victini-ni!” (“It’s painless, we promise!”) Victini told Avery optimistically with a smile. “Vic-tini…” (“But it may feel really weird for a second…”)

    “If you’re ready now, we can handle this however you want,” Cassandra offered. “But if you need time to think it over or just mentally prepare yourself, just let us know. Anytime you’re ready, really.”

  9. #47
    "I was stupid... So stupid"
    Shruikan's Avatar
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    Luneth Tarot
    Tide Song Hotel
    Affected RP'ers: @Neo Emolga


    At least her plan seemed to be working. The two witches she was following were talking openly, already revealing that they were going to the Megamart, and the reason behind the attack.

    At the latter bit of info Luneth’s stomach twisted. So the reason they’d attacked was because of the hospital itself. Not much chance of setting it back up again until it was all over. And if they were this angry at people using Shadowcraft against them, what would happen if they found out about her or Glimmer?

    There was a crash followed by another roar. Head whipping round, Luneth saw that Giratina had won against it’s enemy. So even another legendary wasn’t enough to stop them… How could they possibly stop these witches?

    Trying not to think like that, she turned her gaze away from the hospital ruins, just in time to see that one of the witches attacking the other with a barrage of spells, leaving only a sleeping Blitzle in their place.
    What had happened? Luneth was ready to run if they turned on her next, but thankfully the witch seemed only interested in her former companion. Had this been punishment for spilling all that info earlier? Still, she hadn’t targeted Luneth yet, so she could still tail her a bit longer.

    It was when she met up with another witch that Luneth realised what had happened. The witch she had been tailing was one of Triad, and had seemingly thought of the same plan as she had.
    In most situations Luneth would have been annoyed that she risked her life for nothing, but as it was she was just glad that Triad had survived. Or at least two of them…

    It took her a moment to recognise that the half flower person being helped along by one of the witches (Cassandra?) was Jarena. Luneth cried out is dismay at how bad a condition she was in.

    She spent the short journey in silence, not wanting to disturb Triad, while there was no one else in the are could speak pokemon to explain to.

    They headed for the Tide Song Hotel. Luneth briefly thought about picking back up her clothes and pokemon, but Agatha’s witches might still be on the prowl, and a bunch of pokemon would be more likely to be overlooked that a trainer would.

    Once at the hotel, Luneth jumped onto a sofa and breathed deeply. She was out of danger temporarily at least. Now she had time to think properly, without looking over her shoulder every moment.

    She couldn’t go out and pick up her Pokemon, or spell reagents. So for now she was stuck as a Vulpix, though honestly that was more of a plus than a downside.
    If she could borrow another agents comm, she could call up hers and tell them where she was, but Triad were indisposed, and she didn’t know any other agents who could speak pokemon aside from Avery and the guy with Jirachi, neither of which were here right now.

    She was stuck here, powerless to do anything, and unable to even communicate with the few people who could.
    She hunched herself up and rocked back and forth, trying not to panic.

    It’ll all be fine, she told herself. Everyone will be fine. The curses will be lifted and everyone will go back to normal. Everyone will make it out of this alive. Her pokemon were safe, the witches wouldn’t find them. And if they did, they’d ignore them.
    Everyone would be fine. Everything will turn out ok in the end.
    If she kept telling herself this, maybe she’d believe it.



    Glimmer
    Route 8
    Affected RP'ers: N/A


    Glimmer grumpily marched back to the motel. She spent all day following up on a lead on a potential Shadowcraft witch, only to find out that it was just some festival goers cosplaying.

    As Steven filled her in on the situation however, her annoyance changed to worry. While she had been chasing red herrings, Agatha had struck home base. Heahea had been overrun by Shadowcraft witches, and now Glimmer had been requested to attend a meeting about some intel.
    She was slightly surprised that Steven trusted her enough to invite her. Maybe he just needed as many witches on his side as possible? She didn’t think too much on it though, distracted by everything else she head learned.
    As soon as the call ended, Glimmer dialed on Luneth’s number. After a few moments, she heard the high pitched voice of Flan. That was not a good sign. Luneth must not be carrying her comm with her.

    “What’s going on back there? I heard about the attack on the med center. Is everyone alright?”

    Glimmers heart sank as she heard the reply. “Luneth left after some of the witches a while ago, but hasn’t come back yet.”

    “I might be in the area soon, if she gets back call me, otherwise I’ll come pick you up.”

    She cut off the call. She hoped Luneth hadn’t done anything stupid, but there was nothing she could do for her right now. Now she needed to get to the meeting site. If Steven had called her specifically, then it must be important.

    Normally she could just fly there in a breeze, but the haze of Shadowcraft seemed to be interfering with the sunlight enough to block her Sky Form even in the day. Plus, her spiritwater costume was too much to carry in that form, and silly as it was she didn’t want to have to abandon it just yet.

    So, she’d need to travel on land. She’d never learned to drive, why would a Shaymin need to operate a motor vehicle after all, so even if she “borrowed” a vehicle, it wouldn’t do her much good, and the other operatives she’d come here with were still on duty here, so she couldn’t get a lift back from them either. Roseli or Circuit would have come in helpful right now. Well, assuming Roseli would deign to carry her anyway.

    She really hoped that there was a cab service willing to take her near Heahea. She wasn’t looking forward to the prospect of having to hike halfway across Akala on foot…

  10. #48
    P i k a c h u Chakramaster's Avatar
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    Alisaie Kendo
    Heahea City -> Akala, Tide Song Hotel (Outside)
    Affected RP'ers: NA


    Alisaie managed to keep her distance. Following the Triad as they made their way. Knowing they had got away, but couldn't help feeling something was off about them.

    Managing to stay hidden and away from trouble. She noticed they split off for a short time. Having had a plan of sorts of their own. One of the ladies having started to succumb to a sort of transformation spell from all these villains attacking the city. Though she know trouble could brew at any moment. She didn't really want to make her way back to this place, but what choice did she have?

    Alisaie took her time and wait where she know she would be safer. She tasked her Hoopa to use it's rings to keep a sort of camera system on each point of the building. Giving them sight to when and where they leave along with which direction. Some time passed and they say them making a break for it.

    She saw the direction they started heading.

    "Looks like they are heading toward the Tide Song Hotel. Guess we should fancy our way there as well." She said as Hoopa called it's rings back. Opening one again to leave a path right for the hotel. She knows she'd beat them there, but this would also confirm her suspicion if they really were heading there or not.

    Not long later the group arrived as Alisaie thought. Still keeping her distance and hidden as much as possible. She kept an eye on the hotel. Trying to keep herself hidden for now.

    Time passed and she noticed someone else going in. Someone she thought looked familiar.

    "huh...could that be?"




    Jimmy Kendo
    Heahea City -> Tide Song Hotel
    Affected RP'ers: @Neo Emolga @Desolate Divine @Shruikan


    "ugh, another?" Jimmy muttered as he noticed another group of the witches along the street. Picking off anyone who so happened to be caught outside.

    "Anything we can do about these, Jirachi?" Jimmy whispered. Keeping his voice down around the corner from these witches in hopes they didn't hear or notice him.

    "No. These have some of the higher level protection. Taking them out would put me in too weak of a state to keep things running well here." Jirachi spoke to Jimmy and his team telepathically.

    "I hate leaving things undone. Just keep this location on the list. We wanna repair everything we can once this situation is resolved."

    "Yoooooou got it boss!" Jirachi cheered as Jimmy's phone vibrate to signal he got a message. He made his way deeper into cover. Making sure the coast was clear before checking his phone.

    "It's Cassandra...what's going on? Hopefully nothing too troublesome."

    "Hey Jimmy.

    It’s Cass. Not sure if you heard, but the Heahea City urgent care center was nearly destroyed by Giratina in Agatha’s attack and a lot of the materials we need got buried or destroyed in there. If your Jirachi friend can pull it off, we need some of that wish power help right now. See if Jirachi can reconstruct the urgent care, because not only do all these witchcraft victims need a place to get better, but so do the people with regular ailments. Otherwise we may need to use the infirmary on the Wishmaker and that’s only got a fraction of the space that we need.

    We’re at the Tide Song Hotel right now. There’s also another thing we might need Jirachi’s help with, but one thing at a time. We’ll fill you in on the detes later.

    Hope to talk to you soon.
    ~Cass


    "Well nothing too bad it seems...for now at least. So they're at the Tide Song Hotel. Let's make our way there. We can officially hand over a few items to them for protection I meant to give them earlier. Thanks again for these Jirachi. I'll be sure everyone gets one." Jimmy said with a smirk as he thanked Jirachi. Making his way carefully as possible to the hotel.

    "So we're going to see all our friends? Yay! It's been so long! Let me know when I can come play again. Ha ha ha!" Jirachi laughed.

    Jimmy chuckled, "Heh, very funny. Don't worry. You'll get your fun soon enough too my friend." Jimmy said.

    After some time. Jimmy had made it to the hotel.

    "So this is the place. Hopefully won't be too hard to find." I'll guide you Jimmy. Their energy is enough to give them away." Jirachi told him. Pikachu jumped off from Jimmy's shoulder. Walking alongside him now as they enter the hotel. It wasn't long before they found the ladies and other operatives in the hotel.

    "What in the world happened here?" Jimmy said. Recognizing Avery and seeing their current condition.

    "Seems things around here have gotten a little more serious. I got your text, but lets take care of some issues here first. Then we can talk more on current situations. After that, I'll get Jirachi in contact with you and we can see what can be done about the Urgent Care Center. I'm sure Jirachi can use his powers to even hide it like our base. Without his power no one will have any direct access to it. It's....a plan he came up with. I'll go more into it soon, but let's take care of these issues. Let me know if I can help somehow." Jimmy told them.

    Jimmy glanced around. Taking in just how dire things were as everyone was gathered here. "Man, I wish we could do more....but I feel powerless..."

    "sorry Jimmy. You know I can't grant wishes like that. Be more direct!" Jirachi joked while chuckling.

    "haha, very funny." Jimmy said as his Pikachu ran up beside him. Ready to help and be part of any discussion needing to be made.

    The time is upon us...


    . Pika Pair with the yellow bundle of fluff Chibi Altaria..


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  12. #49
    I came in like a wrecking ball... [Desolate Divine]'s Avatar
    Senior Moderator

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    Melbourne Australia
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    Abbee Strauss
    Tide Song Hotel
    Affected RPers: @Neo Emolga @Noblejanobii


    Abbee was relieved when she hears Victini's voice in her head, however minutes past, as Victini only spoke to Cassandra, and didn't even acknowledge that she was there. To anybody watching, Abbee may as well have been a complete stranger. She felt her heart sink into her chest, as the Pokemon she considered a partner for the last three years, her best friend, didn't even look at her, only even revealing himself to try and make Cassandra feel better, nothing to do with her being worried that he had not been honest with her, and not made contact, or that she was worried about him.

    It wasn't jealousy. She understood Victini had a long history with Cassandra, and had given her blessing when he asked to team up with her again for this mission, especially given how dangerous it could be and how she only had new and most likely inexperienced Pokemon. It was more the fact that Victini had been with her just as long, and now that Cassandra is around, she may as well not even be there. As if she only meant something to him when the person he actually wanted to be there couldn't be around, and now that Cassandra was, Abbee was just a blurred afterthought.

    Feeling worse by the second, she was almost glad when someone she didn't recognize but the Diamond Ladies had, showed up with a nasty looking curse, taking their attention.

    When she was certain she wasn't seen, Abbee made her way towards the bathroom doors by the nearby wall, entering the ladies bathroom, and standing by the sink, in front of the mirror.

    The thing that scared her most wasn't if Victini wanted to stay with Cassandra after this. She was aware when she gave her blessing just how likely that was. It was the nagging thought that this encounter had proven so far, that when that happened, Victini would go, and forget about her...

    She started to cry as she hunched over the sink...

    Dylan Squier and Jon Drake.
    Heahea Hospital Attack Site
    Affected RPers: None


    The force that attacked didn't leave unscathed themselves. Though more civilians were harmed or killed than them, they had arrested four, that Dylan had put to sleep, with two currently being pursued, and three dead, one killed by a stray hex, and two by Dylan's Metagross during the scuffle.

    Jon searched the bodies, trying to find any sort of clue, however there was none. Only odd ingredients that he presumed they used for their spells. Whilst he did this, Dylan spoke with the police who wanted a statement. Whilst law enforcement were aware of his role with the League, Eon Squads policy on intel still stood, and Dylan told them he was on his way to rendezvous with Abbee when he saw what was going on, and didn't mention anything about Brianna. The police left him, as he looked over the scene.

    As Jon searched the last of the corpses, he heard Latios' voice in his head, the Eon Pokemon still hidden, observing to cover their backs.

    "Jon..." Latios said, before sharing his vision, showing the different emotions he saw in the people around him including himself. He was confused, and a lot of people were scared or angry, but one person was emanating stronger than anyone else. Dylan, emanating panic.

    Jon looked over and saw Dylan staring at the corpses that were killed by his Metagross. One had a caved in head, the other with an inch wide gash from her neck down to her torso, from a sheet of metal that Metagross had been manipulating.

    "Dylan..." Jon said, as he got up and walked towards him. He was pale, and unresponsive. "Dylan!"

    Dylan looked over at Jon, making eye contact but not saying anything.

    "Dylan, you did the right thing..." Jon said, walking past and grabbing him by the shoulder to try and turn him around.

    "They had families. Or friends. Someone who cared about them..." Dylan said quietly, "Someone who has lost someone today. Darkrai put the others to sleep, and maybe they will change their ways. But I didn't give them the chance. How is that right?"

    "Brianna was half right with what she said. More people didn't die, not because she warned you, but because you took action. You did something difficult, and now more people will be able to go home again than otherwise." Jon explained, "I agree, life is important, and we don't have the right to decide who gets to live and who gets to die. But if someone thinks they have that right, and the only way to stop them harming others is to end their life, that is completely on them. Not you. That is the result of their decision..."

    Dylan remained silent, as he turned to look back at the corpses with Jon quickly stopping him.

    "Abbee was in there, and had no clue when it was safe to try and escape. She got out because Cassandra cleared a path, and Cassandra cleared a path because you got their attention and covered her back." Jon said, "If nothing else, you did what was needed to get Abbee out safely..."

    Whilst Dylan understood what Jon was saying it didn't alleviate his conscience. Trying to change the subject, he spoke up.

    "What now?" Dylan asked, "You mentioned a meeting this evening?"

    "I'm not 100% sure yet, but if what Brianna told us is actually helpful, I think we need to go on the offensive." Jon explained, "Find where these rats are hidden, and burn it to the ground..."

    "You want me to see if I can figure out where that is?"

    "No." Jon said, "You were right to look into Brianna, and it has left us with more questions. If nothing else, we need to figure out what playing into her hands means for us long term, whether or not she is a threat or a stuck up pain in the a**... Do you have any leads?"

    "I have some bills she used to buy supplies." Dylan explained, "If they're legit, then I might be able to trace their path back to an account. It's a long shot, but if we can even just trace her movements the last few days it might reveal something, even if this doesn't give us the details we hope."

    "Then follow that through but keep the fact you are investigating her a secret." Jon explained, "She is right, we wouldn't have done as well as we did today without her warning, and assuming there isn't anything nefarious hidden in what she did to Rayquaza, I can't deny she is helping us, so we don't want to antagonize her. But we won't be stupid about it either."

    "I'll see you back at HQ." Jon said, before firing up the bike, and putting on his helmet. Dylan nodded as he began trying to figure out next steps. He still had a few hours before the meeting and wanted more than a potential dead lead with these bank notes...
    Last edited by [Desolate Divine]; 05-26-2021 at 10:01 AM.

  13. #50
    Cheers and good times! Neo Emolga's Avatar
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    AGATHA
    Manager Office, Thrifty Megamart, Akala
    Affected RPers: N/A


    On a table in what used to be a back office for the Thrifty Megamart, Agatha, Willow, and a gaunt, older witch by the name of Gail had been looking over an open Shadowcraft tome, one by the name of Anexeth, the last of its kind. Meanwhile, various other reagents, chemicals, and ingredients were scattered about the workbench. Meanwhile, hovering over the Anexeth tome, a dark, vortex-like anomaly constantly swirled around and around like a shadowy, floating whirlpool slowly gaining strength and power over time.

    “How are things progressing?” Willow asked, hoping for some positive answers.

    “Enlighten me as to what these things are exactly,” Gail had asked Willow and Agatha, putting her hands on her hips in frustration. “Keeping in the dark does us no good.”

    “I’ll tell you,” Agatha replied as she took a sip of tea from a cup she kept nearby. “But I don’t want a word of this reaching outside or there’s going to be hell to pay. I’m sure you already know Steven and Cynthia are on this island attempting to end our insurrection and put an end to this incantation.”

    “But they don’t even know what it is,” Willow shrugged, thinking the League wasn’t a severe threat and even had their own inner conflicts.

    “These ignorant buffoons can still disrupt the Netherlink even if they don’t know anything about it,” Agatha replied with a scowl. “The last thing I want is for them to charge in here like a stampede of unhinged Tauros and destroy this arrangement. It’s taken me seven years to gather all these reagents and gather all this together at precisely the right time. We have only one chance at this.”

    Gail had sighed, confident that the League was doomed to fail, but still, she could understand why Agatha would be severely irate if seven years of her hard work was destroyed in only five minutes by an oblivious mob. But the way Gail had seen it, chances were unlikely they’d be able to make it around the traps that had been laid and the hundreds of ghost Pokémon they had as defenders.

    “So what exactly is this Netherlink?” Gail asked, wondering what this spell was really about. “You’ve been safeguarding the truth about this from most of us.”

    “I’m sure you’ve heard the expression ‘knowledge is power,’ correct?” Agatha asked her as she emptied a vial of Serviper venom into the swirling vortex to nurture its progress. “What lies buried in the nether is knowledge. Millennia of knowledge. You see, when a creature dies, be it human or Pokémon, their knowledge is not lost, but gathered into the nether. Imagine, if you will, all of that knowledge could be yours.”

    “You would know… almost everything…” Gail replied, taken back a bit at how much the collective experience of the deceased would amount to.

    “And it goes beyond even that,” Agatha replied. “Not just the knowledge of the dead, but also their abilities, their characteristics, their strengths. You see, what the dead once had would no longer be lost. It would be ours to use again.”

    “It aligns with Spiritwater,” Willow informed Gail. “The dead are the most restless during this time, and it’s why we’ve been able to seal a pact with these ghost Pokémon.”

    But it still confused Gail. She knew Agatha was a very talented ghost Pokémon trainer, but she didn’t see what benefit any of these ghost Pokémon got out of it.

    “So what’s in it for them?” Gail asked.

    “You see, sometimes the answer to a complicated problem is a simple solution,” Agatha replied, monitoring the progress of the vortex and its growth. “They want Alola. Many of these ghost Pokémon are mischievous and restless, but they were also very bored prior to our arrival. Risk of getting captured by trainers make the premise of torturing the locals and the tourists unappealing, but now, they have us to help them not only dismiss that fear of capture, but to also enjoy ravaging the locals. And now you know why they are so amused at our work.”

    “I shudder to think this is all for their entertainment…” Gail muttered, avoiding eye contact.

    “I despite the weak, Gail,” Agatha replied, almost sounding like a growl. “Our feeling is mutual, so it doesn’t even feel like there’s a price to pay. We need this power to reform this world. No longer will we have the ignorant, the weak, the gullible, or the foolish among us, festering like parasites. Those who can survive the Netherclysm would be deemed worthy enough to serve, while those who don’t, let them become the dust, the rock, the foliage, or the ashes they were doomed to become, however the Netherclysm decides. And what scraps of knowledge or experience they have, it will become ours to be put to better use.”

    Gail nodded, now understanding the Netherclysm would be the most powerful spell they would unleash, intending to envelop the entire world with it. It would essentially kill many that would be unable to endure its dark magic, and many of the survivors would be rendered into monstrous abominations. But she wasn’t concerned about the monsters that would be created, as many of them would have short lifespans due to their grotesque and twisted mutations not suited to adapt to nature. But the strong, charismatic, intelligent, and the worthy would survive, likely rendered into new creatures of power and splendor that could prove their worth and strength. Ultimately, it would be up to them to decide and judge who among the survivors was worth retaining in this new, refurbished world they would create from the slough of ignorance and weakness as Agatha and her Shadowcraft Society would instill themselves as the new gods, judges of what was to be and what would not.

    “Good,” Gail nodded, now wearing a dark smirk. “I look forward to it…”

    “Three days…” Agatha smiled, looking into the swirling vortex with her now youthful, energic eyes. “It will all be so… beautiful…”



    Triad (The Diamond Ladies)
    Tide Song Hotel, Akala
    Affected RPers: @Desolate Divine @Shruikan @Chakramaster @Noblejanobii


    Out of the corner of Cassandra’s eye, she had noticed a snow-white Alolan Vulpix entered into the hotel, before jumping onto a sofa to take a moment to rest and get away from the chaos that was happening just outside. As Cassandra couldn’t help but take a glance at her, Victini had perched himself on her shoulder, very reminiscent of old times.

    “Vic-tini-ni!” (“Ah, you noticed her, too!”) Victini smiled, nudging Cassandra’s shoulder. “Victini-ni!” (“Take a guess, you’ve met her before! Come on, guess!”)

    “I… uh, I don’t know,” Cassandra shrugged, trying to recall the last time she saw an Alolan Vulpix. “I don’t recall seeing one at Starglade, but we got plenty of visitors there and it… became a blur after a while.”

    “Vic-ti!” (“It’s Luneth, silly!”) Victini nudged her again. “Vic-ti-tini!” (“She was with you during Jirachi’s… playtime, remember?”)

    “Oh geez…” Cassandra replied, suddenly remembering. “Come on, give me a break here, that was four years ago and… quite a bit happened that day.”

    Still, it got Cassandra wondering what Luneth was doing here, and why she was an Alolan Vulpix again. For a minute, Cassandra was wondering if, like the three of them at one point, Luneth had decided to just live out her life as a Pokémon, detached from human commitments and endeavors. But with her being here now in this hotel, it got her thinking maybe that wasn’t the case after all.

    “Vic-tini…” (“There’s something you should know about her…”) Victini playfully whispered in Cassandra’s ear. “Victi-nini…” (“She took a liking to your witchcraft back on the Wishmaker. Let’s just say you inspired her to follow in your footsteps. See, you still have fans after all!”)

    To say the least, Cassandra was surprised, but she had recalled how Luneth seemed curious and interested about it before. While Cassandra had felt it was a mistake at first and warned her not to go this route, things had changed. It got her wondering… maybe she could lend her powers to help in some way.

    Softly, Cassandra had approached the white Vulpix, not sure if she should reveal the fact she knew who she was, but she decided it would be pointless to keep it hidden.

    “Luneth…” Cassandra softly spoke to the Alolan Vulpix. “It’s me, Cassandra, but… don’t mind the Butterfree costume. Listen, I may not know all the details as to why you’re here, but… I’ve been told you learned a few tricks since the last time you met us. Truth is, the three of us would seriously welcome help in getting these witchcraft victims healed and restored. The three of us trying to handle it all on our own is nearly killing us.”

    “Amen to that,” Violet muttered. “No way in hell am I doing another Nox Purge with only two people.”

    “Sure don’t blame you on that one…” Jarena casually agreed.

    And then, the sliding hotel doors opened, and the three of them quickly turned to see Jimmy and Jirachi had arrived. Cassandra had let out a sigh of relief, thankful that nothing had happened to either of them and that it appeared Jimmy had gotten her message and her request for help.

    “What in the world happened here?” Jimmy asked, looking at Avery’s centaur-like state.

    “It’s a mess, Avery’s just one victim among many…” Cassandra sighed. “What you’re looking at is a half-transformation. Right now, Avery is only halfway transformed into a Keldeo, likely the result of a witch that was interrupted in the middle of casting and not able to fully complete the spell. But yeah, look around, there’s dozens of other cases we need to fix. It’s going to take us weeks unless we find another solution.”

    “Seems things around here have gotten a little more serious,” Jimmy replied. “I got your text, but let’s take care of some issues here first. Then we can talk more on current situations. After that, I'll get Jirachi in contact with you and we can see what can be done about the Urgent Care Center. I'm sure Jirachi can use his powers to even hide it like our base. Without his power no one will have any direct access to it. It's....a plan he came up with. I'll go more into it soon, but let's take care of these issues. Let me know if I can help somehow.

    “Thanks, this is already a major help,” Cassandra replied. “But like you said, while it would be awesome if Jirachi could reconstruct the urgent care center, we need some way to protect it and defend it from it getting destroyed like that again. I mean, knowing Jirachi, I think the sky’s the limit, but we need to get creative about how we handle it, because the witches we’re dealing with are diabolically clever as well. We need… ideas.”

    “Man, I wish we could do more…” Jimmy muttered, glancing around at all the people and Pokémon that were using the hotel lobby as a shelter, too afraid to step outside now. “…but I feel powerless.”

    “Sorry Jimmy,” Jirachi tried to comfort him with some humor. “You know I can’t grant wishes like that. Be more direct!”

    “Ha ha, very funny,” Jimmy replied as his Pikachu ran up beside him.

    “Dude, we need all the help we can get!” Jarena exclaimed cheerfully with optimism. “Like Cass said, we need to get creative. Wild. Unpredictable. Just let your imagination get freakin’ nuts and make it something these witches won’t ever see coming! Nothing is crazy or naďve, we can find a way to do it!”

    “Oh boy, here we go…” Violet muttered, rolling her eyes.

    “Vi-ti!” (“Oh come on, it’ll be fun!”) Victini told her with a quirky smile, brushing off her irritation. “Victini-nini!” (“You know you enjoyed it last time! Don’t deny it! I know I saw smile on that Furret face of yours!”)

    “And here I am in this ridiculous Vivillon costume…” Violet shrugged. “I swear, the things I go through…”

    While Cassandra could understand Violet might not be too keen on weaponizing Jirachi’s imaginative “playtime” like creations, she could see it being an effective counter to the supernatural forces that Agatha’s witches were wielding. It was worth a shot, and she knew she needed something to strike back with that Agatha would not understand. In this case, keeping Agatha’s witches away from Heahea City and away from the Urgent Care was something they desperately needed to avoid any more incidents. In this case, the best offense would be the best defense.

    “It’s true, we need everyone and anything they can think of,” Cassandra replied. “We can cure a few people, especially the ones that have been left completely stricken and helpless, but the rest of us… we may need to fight back… cursed or not cursed, however we can. Expect anything and refuse to be afraid of it. They want us cowering in the corner.”

    “Victi!” (“We need to find one of those witches and make them talk!”) Victini exclaimed. “Vic-ti-ni-ni!” (“We got to know where they’re hiding! It may seem harsh, but… I think we should go with cruel and unusual punishment. Like a hex pińata! Dump boogers on their head, cover them with glitter glue and rainbow feathers, or… I know! Turn them into an ice cream sundae snowman with all kinds of fun and crazy toppings! Hey, chocolate, anyone!?”

    “What a crew…” Violet replied, shaking her head as she didn’t know whether to laugh or sigh.

    Cassandra had just shrugged, but after taking a look around, she realized something. Abbee was suddenly missing. With the arrival of Luneth, Jimmy, and Jirachi, she had lost track of her and didn’t realize she left.

    “Did… anyone see Abbee leave just now?” Cassandra asked, looking around the lobby to see if she was around.

    “I uh…” Jarena replied, suddenly realizing it too. “…yeah, where did she run off to?”

    But then, Victini looked a bit pale, and then felt a bit guilty inside. He had hopped off Cassandra’s shoulder and onto the ground, looking toward the bathroom doors.

    “Vic-ti…” (“Eh, I think she took things the wrong way…”) Victini muttered. “Vic-tini” (“I made a mistake, got a little caught up in our sudden Wishmaker Family Reunion here. Don’t tell her I said this, but I think she took it personally when I rushed over to you and wanted to catch up on old times and… well, so much happened at once that I missed saying hi to her too.”)

    “I guess this two trainers thing isn’t working out…” Cassandra muttered, looking toward the bathroom door, figuring Abbee was inside having a breakdown. “Problem is… I don’t know what to do about this between me and her. I can’t say I even know her all that well…”

    “Vict-ti…” (“Yeah, I don’t think this is working…”) Victini replied with a bit of a frown. “Vic-tini-ni…” (“Can’t have your cake and eat it, too. Maybe… when she comes out and feels ready to talk again, we need to have a chat…”

    The way Cassandra saw it, she thought the only way this could get resolved was have Victini himself decide and make the ultimate decision as to who would be his trainer and companion. But right now, it felt too much like her and Abbee were like divorced parents that were sharing custody of a kid, rather than as a shared companion.

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