Welcome to Gaia! ::

As you know Team Flare operates openly in the Kalos region and has for some time now. We have evidence that Lysandre, the Prime Minister of Kalos, has direct ties to Team Flare and may even use them to push his own agenda. Recently Team Flare has been spotted in Aquacorde Town to recruit. Normally this isn't cause for alarm but we have reason to say otherwise.

Aquacorde is a small little town built along the riverside which is popular as an out of the way vacation and small time shopping town, or even a nice place to have dinner away from the bustle of the city. As such the Kalos government has frequently used an inn in Aquacorde Town to house diplomats from other countries, that is when they want it on the hush hush, which is often. Riverside Inn is the place, been there for hundreds of years right along the water, beautiful inn.

We have information that Team Flare has infiltrated the ranks of the employees at the inn and have bugged the inn to snoop in on conversations taking place between diplomats. Ordinarily we wouldn't be concerned about government affairs but we have reason to believe they are blackmailing the diplomats into doing their dirty work. A frequently visiting diplomat is the representative of the Sinnoh government, over the past few months he has been paying Kalos many visits, too many.

What I want you to do is find out what dirt they have on the Sinnoh diplomat and what they are using him for. I also want as much proof of their shady dealings as possible. I have my suspicions but I want verification. I don't care what you have to do, just don't get yourself caught or give Team Flare reason to be paranoid.

-Objective:
---Find out what dirt Flare has on the Sinnoh diplomat and discover what they are exploiting him for.

-Opposition:
---Flare grunts disguised in many ways if you get caught. They use "beautiful" and "regal" Pokemon as well as some random locals such as Litleo, Fletchling, Furfrou, Spritzee, Houndour, Karrablast, Shelmet, Ralts, and Flabebe. (In this mission.)
---Diplomat bodyguards, will use Sinnoh Pokemon.
---Any wild Pokemon in the area if you happen to stumble upon some.

-Pokemon:
---You may catch or snag one Pokemon, but not the diplomat's or his bodyguard's Pokemon. Don't need them mad at us.

-Rewards:
---5x Snag Coins or more.
---Varies from there.

~*~

"That took forever," Keiko whined after we passed two routes and a town to get to Aquacorde. I assumed she was used to riding everywhere on a Dodrio and failed to comment, wiping the sweat off my brow as we passed into the town proper.

"I hope we don't run into any of those Flare people," she added, her discomfort fading in her worry.

"Try not to talk about them, and we should be fine," I told her, noting mentally that not getting caught was a key component of this mission. "Let's just look for an inn for the night."

As we continued down the road, I almost didn't notice Keiko take a different direction. "What is it?"

"Don't you hear that?" she asked, before disappearing into an alleyway.

After following her, I could hear what she was going on about. More importantly, I could see the source.

"Hey, guys!" Keiko said excitedly.

I couldn't help but smirk. It's been a long time since I've seen those two.

"That's kind of a long story," I told Odd in response to his question.

"We're on a mission," Keiko told Lykas.

"Let's not talk about that out in the open," I told her. "Never know who's watching."

"Alright," I said, following Odd and Lykas to their room with Keiko by my side.

Once we were in the room, I made sure the door was closed shut before explaining. "Okay, I'll try to explain this as succinctly as possible. One of the inns in this town is frequently used by Kalos royalty to house diplomats from other regions. Sub suspects that the Kalos Prime Minister is in league with Team Flare, and wants Keiko and myself to dig up any dirt Team Flare has on the currently visiting diplomat from Sinnoh without letting Team Flare know we're on to them.

"You're getting good at saying a lot in one breath," Keiko observed, to my surprise. Though I only shrugged in response.

I sighed raggedly, wondering when I ever expected things to be easy. For all I knew, from our entrance to the town, Team Flare could be watching us right now.

"Well, at least we don't have to look for the place," Keiko offered, ever the optimist.

"We'd better go, then. Sorry for dragging you two into this," I said, not wanting to get Odd and Lykas involved if they didn't want to be. For all I knew, they came here on vacation. Some part of me expected them to be okay with helping us out, but I didn't want to assume.

Keiko looked at me somewhat longingly, as if she expected me to ask our friends for help.

"We could use their help," Keiko said. "Especially since we only have one freshly caught pokemon each."

"Alright, if you guys are up for it, we're not really in a position to deny you," I sighed, although I didn't have a problem with them joining up.

"First, we need to figure out where we can look for information without drawing attention to ourselves. We could try the diplomat himself, but I have no idea if he'd be receptive to our kind of help or not. Or, we could look around, but four people wandering around in a hotel like this would undoubtedly be suspicious."

Keiko giggled a bit at Lykas's comment, which earned her an odd look from me. "Sounds good, let's go with that for now." Knowing that some of the staff of this inn had been replaced with Flare grunts, part of me wanted to rip the inn inside out, but being 'surrounded' by Flare grunts made me nervous. Any plan that involved leaving the inn was a good one for now, as far as I was concerned.

The four snagems made their way into the city proper, careful to try to blend into the crowd. After some time wandering northward, my eyes caught on the image of a couple speaking in hushed tones sitting at a table near what could only have been a restaurant. The male... something about his clothes screamed 'outlander' in comparison to those around him chatting aimlessly among themselves. And the woman he was chatting with was practically emitting evil vibes.

I stopped to look at them, surprising Keiko into stopping next to me in the process. "Does that look like they guy you mentioned earlier, Odd?" I asked. Just then, two large males exited the restaurant and sat close to the couple. They didn't speak to anyone, but looked as though they were searching for someone or something to beat the crap out of.