Welcome to Gaia! ::

I have to admit, I was rather surprised at myself, having changed into some other dude's clothes without much disgust in my thoughts. Still, the idea was valid when it came into my mind - we needed a way into the base that wouldn't elicit suspicion.

As my costume entered readiness, I gazed up and saw the female running off. Did the battle end that quickly? "Too bad, I was about to say you could slip into her clothes and join me. Guess I'm on my own," I told him, momentarily forgetting about his channeling abilities.

"Right, then," I said, making sure my hair was tucked into the uniform and as out of sight as possible before heading into the base, assuming Chorale was following me.

"Hey, Mark," the guy at the desk said when I walked in. I froze for a moment, not expecting to get caught so quickly, but something inside me calmed me down, albeit at the cost of making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end... yay for that.

"Hey," I grunted in as close to the voice of the grunt I was imitating as I could get. I tried to slip past without much talk, but the guy froze up when he saw Chorale following me.

"Uh, sit still. There's a ghost following you. Let me get my Houdour real quick," he said, reaching for a Pokeball.

"Oh, that thing?" I asked, looking at her. "Don't worry about it. Stole it from some nosy punk. ~/~ ball broke when I grabbed it, though. We got some supplies in the back I can recapture it with?

"Sure thing," the clerk said, clearly relieved that his 'friend' wasn't in peril. "So, where'd Melissa run off to?"

"Uh, lady troubles," I lied. "Probably that time of the month, if you know what I mean.

"Either that, or getting a pregnancy test," the clerk jeered. "Don't think I'd forget about that time I caught you two in the interrogation room!"

I sighed, both mentally at the crude comment and physically as though embarrassed. "You're never gonna let me live that down, huh?" I asked. "Later," I added, hoping to get away and back to work.

"Later, pal," the clerk laughed.

I walked about five feet before sighing raggedly. "Well, that was exhausting," I muttered under my breath, before wandering the halls in search of this 'interrogation room' the clerk mentioned.

It took some doing, partly due to dodging people and partly due to greeting others when I got caught, but eventually I came across what most fit the appearance of an interrogation room. Even better, I was mostly alone when I found it, and was able to slip in without being seen by other Flare grunts. I didn't bother leaving the door open for Chorale, knowing the Ghost-type could slip through the walls.

I walked about the room for a bit, looking for any folders or pieces of paper to read. However, the room felt eerily warm to me, as though a large group of people were just in the room. Had the diplomat already been talked to? Did they lead him away from the base as Odd and I battled those two grunts?

And how exactly did I know all this? Were these sensations a way for Chorale to relay information to me? Or something else? Weird.

"Yeah, I think I'm picking up on it, too," I said only loud enough for Odd to hear me whilst rubbing the back of my neck. Deciding that there wasn't any point in dwelling on it other than acknowledging the fact that the diplomat had been in this room, I started going through the papers and folders in the room, eventually coming across the picture of a kid in a black outfit with a big, red R on it.

"Look at this," I semi-whispered, shining the light on the paper. "Apparently the diplomat's eldest son joined Team Rocket recently. I'd say that certainly counts as dirt... so, that only leaves one question: what Team Flare wants so badly that they'd blackmail a Sinnoh ambassador."

'Yeah, hold on a sec," I told him, dropping that folder and picking up another. A wealth of information was stored there. Peace talks, negotiations, military movements, strategic locations...

"Son of a ~/~" I spat as my brain crunched the metaphorical numbers. "They're trying to conquer the world."

"Yeah, I figured you were too nice to be Mark," the clerk smirked, his voice causing me to quickly turn to face him and his friend, who was wearing what looked like a dress uniform - their leader? Someone in charge?

"I prefer considering it a strong desire for cooperation in military matters," the flashy guy spoke up. "I only wish for peace among the regions."

"The regions ARE at peace," I almost shouted, grabbing hold of my Ralts's Pokeball. "You're trying to start a war."

As soon as I released the Ralts, something odd happened. Light pink enveloped my vision for a moment, and when it faded, I realized I was a couple dozen yards away from the Team Flare base. Given that Odd was still transparent at the time, I'd hoped he and Chorale were able to get out safely. I decided to wait behind a bush, out of sight of Flare members for Odd to come to my location.

"Jeez!" I spat, startled by his sudden appearance. "Glad you made it out of there, but..." I trailed off, not expecting the surprise. "Nevermind."

I released my Ralts to check on it, but it had fainted. That was the first time it used Teleport, and it teleported not only itself, but me. Considering the distance it took us, I wasn't surprised that it was out of juice. Recalling it, I stood up and called GRAY to Claydolport us out of the region. Team Flare's suspicions would likely have heightened by that meeting, though we never introduced ourselves, so likely, they wouldn't know that Team Snagem was behind it.

~*~

MISSION COMPLETE!

Objective: Figure out what dirt Team Flare has on the ambassador to Sinnoh - check.
Figure out why Team Flare is blackmailing the Sinnoh ambassador and what they want with him - check.
Complete the mission without raising Team Flare's suspicions - kinda iffy on this one.