[SU/DS] Spiritwater – Tides of Witchcraft

[Neo Emolga]

INTRO

This is a sequel to the S.S. Wishmaker: Tides of Witchcraft RP, but you are totally welcome to join in on this if you’re new and weren’t part of the first RP (although I can assure you it’s a very good read). New characters are totally welcome and don’t worry if there are references to the first RP. It’s totally understandable some characters may be out of the loop with what happened in it and the below summary will help you get up to speed with the most important details.

BACKGROUND AND RECAP FROM S.S. WISHMAKER RP

It’s been four years since the maiden voyage of the S.S. Wishmaker cruise ship and the first Pokémon High Seasons Tournament, the first full Pokémon tournament to take place on a ship. The tournament had started on the cruise ship with high expectations for the world-renown Diamond Ladies, Cassandra Silvers, Jarena Farrell, and Violet Radcliffe. They were expected to continue their long-running championship reign with Cassandra taking home the victory. However, an investigation into their unusual winning streak, spearheaded by Jon Drake and his wife Alyssa, supported by Jimmy Kendo and Avery Miller, revealed the Ladies had been utilizing Shadowcraft, an almost-forgotten witchcraft that the Diamond Ladies had used to cheat and gain an unfair advantage in battle the entire time their championship-dominating reign had gone on for.

After being pursued by undercover operatives and several mishaps resulting in the three Ladies being turned into Pokémon, their deceit had been found out and their dark secrets were revealed. After surrendering, Cassandra and the other two Ladies had confessed to their wrongdoing and vowed to cooperate with the League by refraining to perform additional witchcraft spells to cheat. To keep the integrity of the tournament intact, Cassandra had continued to participate under close scrutiny while coming clean with the following Pokémon battles, even when the general public was not aware of the Ladies using witchcraft before. Under normal circumstances, she just barely managed to win against Avery in the semifinals, but in the final match, she had lost against Jon Drake himself. With the allegations confirmed, it was the end of the Diamond Ladies and their Pokémon battling careers.

During the course of the investigation, however, there had been other developments. Former Champion Lance had attempted to murder Jarena and Violet and frame Jon for the attack, but was stopped and neutralized by Jon just moments before his attempted strike. However, though Jon had tried to keep public knowledge of Shadowcraft concealed to dissuade anyone from learning and practicing it, several of Lance’s compatriots, including an enigmatic entity named “Karma,” had leaked the discovery of the Ladies’ witchcraft to the media, and with it came a heavy price as it was revealed openly to the public. As a result, the public perception of the Ladies had completely deteriorated into negativity as their once-glamorous publicity took a nosedive. The situation had gotten so bad that to escape the harassment, death threats, and public disparagement, Cassandra, Jarena, and Violet had faked their own deaths and fled into the wilderness as Pokémon, intending to never return back to human civilization…

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It’s been four years since that maiden voyage of the S.S. Wishmaker. Since then, three additional Pokémon High Seas Tournaments have taken place on the cruise ship with the tournament occurring on an annual basis. And while these tournaments have generally gone smoothly, the first one and its controversies surrounding the Diamond Ladies became an urban legend, especially with the presence of Shadowcraft being revealed and conspiracy theories surrounding the Diamond Ladies.

That was until now…

After the conclusion of the 4th annual Pokémon High Seas Tournament, the S.S. Wishmaker had stopped off at Akala Island for a three-day stay at Heahea City before it would head back to Slateport City, Hoenn to conclude the cruise. Known for being a popular vacation and resort island in Alola, Akala was selected as a new way to conclude the cruise with some time for fun and relaxation after the conclusion of the tournament before everyone headed home.

At the same time, the annual Spiritwater Festival would be in full swing and the League felt the trainers and guests on the ship would enjoy the festivities after an intense and tough tournament. As in the past, Spiritwater was known throughout Alolan culture as when the nights are the longest. Certain customs like candles, lights, and fireworks to light up the night as well as dressing up in costume to ward away mischievous spirits and their black magic trace back to the old days. Certain food items like candy and spirit cake, made with honey, caramel, and brown sugar, also make an appearance. Overall, it is intended to be a fun, light-hearted festival and many Alolan natives and businesses get in on the festivities to the delight of Alola natives and tourists alike.

And for a long time, the folklore behind the festival was merely enjoyed casually and not taken too seriously. Most of the locals of Alola didn’t truly believe in the spirits described in the old stories and felt it was just a fun festival that was good for local business and tourism. Spiritwater traditions are typically treated casually and the placement of “spirit precautions” is a very lax practice mainly done for fun and wasn’t quite performed as the folklore prescribed…

…and it ended up being a very big mistake…

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Ever since Agatha had been pressured to retire due to her age and the Elite Four had been reformed to consist of Will, Koga, Bruno, and Karen as the new Champion of the Indigo League with Lance’s detainment, Agatha was left spending her final days of life wasting away and had been promptly forgotten about ever since her retirement. She had moved to a small cottage in Heahea City on Akala Island, back in her homeland, and yet despite once being a prominent member of the Elite Four in the Indigo League, she was a nobody in Alola now.

She was also disgusted about how the old tradition of the Spiritwater Festival had been turned into what she felt was a bastardized and commercialized new version that was a mockery to the traditions and practices of old. But instead of tolerating it, she saw an opportunity to leverage it and take advantage of the public ignorance and foolishness.

Agatha herself, unknown to anyone else, was a highly experienced Shadowcraft witch in addition to being highly seasoned in her specialty of using ghost Pokémon. At first, she thought she was the only one left in the world that still practiced Shadowcraft in secret and at first thought the dark art would die with her. However, she had heard about the S.S. Wishmaker incident and how the Diamond Ladies were banned from the League and under public protest after it was discovered they used Shadowcraft to gain an advantage. But instead of condemning the Ladies like most people did, Agatha gave the Ladies credit, giving dark admiration for the way the three of them teamed up and used the witchcraft together to dominate many tournaments and subtly support their Pokémon. In a way, she felt the Ladies deserved their fame for their prowess in Shadowcraft and clever use of it as a loophole around standard League rules. However, she had seen how the general public, ignorant in its ways, had destroyed not only their careers, but ruined their lives as well, with everyone suspecting they were killed when it was found a cabin they were renting for a wilderness trip had been destroyed by an arsonist. Between this incident and what had become of the Spiritwater Festival, Agatha had felt it was beyond unacceptable and decided to do something about it.

Before the S.S. Wishmaker had arrived, Agatha had used her Shadowcraft to reach out to all and any Shadowcraft witches that lay in hiding in the world, beckoning them to join her in Akala where she would lay out her plans to all those that were willing to come and strengthen them in their dark studies of Shadowcraft. To keep it secret, her message came in the form of a mystic dream, undetected by anyone else except those who had knowledge of Shadowcraft and its dark mysticism.

No one knows exactly how many witches came to assist Agatha and learn from her, but in the days that followed, something very dark had transpired. Unknown to what was happening in the shadows, the S.S. Wishmaker had arrived on Akala with its guests ready to take part in the Spiritwater Festival with their various costumes and spending money… just 12 hours before Agatha and her new followers had incited a new darkness upon the island…

However, another voice once residing in the forgotten shadows had stepped out of hiding and revealed Agatha’s dark secrets and nefarious plans to Jon Drake and the League, serving as an informant against the dark witch Agatha herself. Having heard Agatha’s shadowy rallying cry to Akala, the Diamond Ladies had “come back from the dead” to bear the warning and help the League’s counter-operation to shut down whatever insidious plan Agatha had intended, lending their own Shadowcraft powers to undermine her vile intentions and protect the League’s operatives.

Thankfully, the message had been acted upon just in time, and the League was able to quickly gather their operatives into action and attempt to prepare and position their hidden operatives for whatever darkness Agatha has prepared. But right now, the League can only hope what they have assembled is enough…

CURRENT SITUATION

Wild ghost Pokémon now flock around Akala, unleashing mischief and ruckus on the locals, knocking over objects, pulling on hair, spooking Pokémon and their trainers half to death, creating disturbances in the night, and other forms of disruptive paranormal activity that has left everyone on edge. Even those trying to leave the island find new dark ocean currents pushing their boats back to the island shore. Trying to fly away from the island results running into shadowy wind currents instead, sending them back to the island. As a result, arriving on the island is easy. But now trying to leave it seems to be impossible and those on Akala realize they’ve been entrapped...

In the meantime, Agatha and her unknown number of witches are at work, and their true motives are a mystery with the formation of this new Shadowcraft Society that seeks to empower itself. As before when the Diamond Ladies used this forbidden witchcraft, spells and hexes could inflict feelings of vertigo, sleepiness, sickness, amnesia, or even turn their victims into bewildered Pokémon themselves. Similar incidents have been occurring now in Akala, and now the locals and tourists are learning there was actually legitimacy in the Spiritwater rituals and practices of long ago. However, so many decades of peace and quiet and lack of actual need to remember the precise rituals have now left the locals digging and scrambling through the records of older times to figure out what needs to be done to truly drive back the ghost Pokémon and make it less of a silly costume party.

Though Agatha and her followers had attempted to remain as an anonymous and enigmatic threat, the Diamond Ladies have revealed their presence and the Shadowcraft that is bringing Agatha’s new dark alliance together. Now, like with the first S.S. Wishmaker incident, the League has sent highly experienced, undercover operatives disguising themselves as locals, tourists, party-goers, and employees to conduct a closer investigation, prioritizing those that had some involvement with the first S.S. Wishmaker investigation incident and have some experience dealing with Shadowcraft witches. The objective is to get to the root of the problem and figure out where Agatha and her followers are on Akala Island and how to put an end to their Shadowcraft practices that are now creeping around the island and inciting fear and anxiety. The precise details are still ambiguous and Agatha’s true motives are still unknown, but as time goes on, things continue to become more worrisome as the days seemingly grow daker.

NOTES AND MAPS

You can visit and use any of the locations on Akala Island (and you’re free to make up sub-locations in any of these places even if they don’t technically exist in the Su/Mo games). Alongside the S.S. Wishmaker cruise ship, the S.S. Anne also happens to be docked at Heihei City in time for the festival, and your character can board either ship. But both of them are stuck at Heihei City until something is done about the current problem.

As with the first RP, your character may be subject to hexes, spells, and transformations as they go up against Agatha and her enigmatic alliances of witches. And while the Diamond Ladies (controlled by me) have the power to undo the afflictions, the resources and spell reagents to do so are in limited supply.

Akala Island Map

S.S. Wishmaker Map (Replace Amber Theater with a Pokémon Battling Arena)

S.S. Anne Map (Again, it’s easier for me to just use existing maps for these ;P)

RULES

• The usual PXR rules and Role Play rules apply. You knew that!
• Be kind, be gentle, and please be respectful. We’re all friends here. :3
• Content is meant to be PG-13, no over the top blood and guts. Heck, I don’t even think anyone will die in this RP either. But you may not come out the same way you came in…
• Try to refrain from sexual themes, vulgar language (a few mild obscenities are ok), and other not-nice stuff like racism. Use of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco is okay.
• No crazy god-modding with your character or their Pokémon. Just note that I can be loose on those rules with what the three Diamond Ladies have and can do to you and your Pokémon. But if you come up with a very clever ruse or strategy to use against them, I’ll let you have your way, too. ;)
• Please don’t bunny (control) other people’s characters unless you have their permission. That just means don’t have them do something the person controlling them didn’t have them do.
• Please use a header at the each of your posts that has your character’s name (handy if you’re making multiple characters) and their location on the ship (there’s also a potential of the RP going into Castelia City depending on how things go).

SIGN UP

Name: (First and last, super simple!)
Age: (In years)
Gender: (Male/Female/Other)
Role: (Either Operative or Civilian. Operative means you were hired by the League to find out what’s going on in Akala while civilian means you’re either a local or a tourist caught up in the mix).
Appearance:

Physical: (Your character’s physical appearance in terms of things like skin tone, hair color, eye color, body build, and things of that nature)
Attire: (What your character normally wears on a typical average day)
Costume (Optional): (The Spiritwater Festival involves dressing up in costume (very much like Halloween), though it’s not an absolute necessity. If your character is attending the festival with a costume, simply detail it here. :3)

Personality: (How your character behaves and their overall emotional intelligence. Their reaction and personal reflection to what’s going on can also be added here)
History: (Your character’s past, their trainer career, and how they came to be at Akala Island).
Pokémon Team: (You can have a team of six Pokémon for your character, though only one of them may be a legendary (you can be considered elite after all!). As an optional addition, feel free to mention their personalities and any distinguishing features (scars, accessories, hair styles, etc…) these Pokémon may have)
Other: (Anything else you’d like to add that the other sections didn’t cover!)

THE CAST

Jon Drake – Played by Desolate Divine
Abbee Strauss – Played by Desolate Divine
Dylan Squire – Played by Desolate Divine
Ruford McDonough – Played by HorusMyDude
Ozona Reverie – Played by SlickSlack
Cassandra Silvers - Played by Neo Emolga
Jarena Farrell - Played by Neo Emolga
Violet Radcliffe - Played by Neo Emolga
Jimmy Kendo – Played by Chakramaster
Alisaie – Played by Chakramaster
Luneth Tarot – Played by Shruikan
Glimmer “Tarot” – Played by Shruikan
Avery Miller - Played by Noblejanobii
Abital Ecke - Played by Noblejanobii
Brianna Levine – Played by Desolate Divine