Forrest only hummed a few times as Tristan rambled on and eventually tuned him out. It was overwhelming to think about. He was somewhat relieved that he wasn't the only one struggling with their current reality, though.
	Ether tried to help organize his thoughts if he could. Since he was more capable of detached and objective thought than his trainer, he hoped he'd help get his trainer out of his tendency to spiral into convoluted conspiracies rather than considering the more obvious answers.
	"[i]The Rangers were tracking Jonton for 2 years. And I don't think Jonton would have killed them if he didn't find out they were secret agents. They were probably found out and killed. And the information in their database might be vague cliff notes of what they actually learned. But they were successful in tracking him. 2 years of constant surveillance and tracking is a long time. The Ranger's succeeded on their 13th spy, who was almost killed. That could also explain the lack of knowledge - they were trying to survive long enough to naturally learn anything of importance without being found out. I'm not surprised the Rangers found him before Lady Fairfax considering all the work they put into it. The Master General even admitted to having had Jonton in custody a couple years ago. I don't think he had any more safehouses. Being tracked for 2 years straight with a constant string of spies surveilling him, they would have definitely learned about any others.[/i]"
	"[i]Perhaps he knew he couldn't run, or wasn't able to flee when we got in there. Perhaps his plan included being captured or Pisces told him to let himself get captured. Which makes me believe Jonton is certainly a pawn to Pisces. Like you suggested, I think he was meant to test some things - the structural integrity and security of Mauville's energy system.[/i]"
	"[i]There are many underground organizations, many of which we don't know about and will never know about. This Pisces could very well be part of a larger group, especially with a name that suggests at least 11 other individuals or groups.[/i]"
	"[i]It was suggested that the Fairfax's closed down the Wharf a long time ago. Maybe Marilda knew where he was the whole time and was trying to protect him, in her own twisted way. Or, just know where he was so she could do damage control when he would, inevitably, drag their name through the mud.[/i]"
	"[i]I have a feeling Ms. Shade isn't in league with Jonton or Pisces. Remember, Asuna mentioned that she and Samantha and you were 'on the same team.' And Asuna didn't seem to care at all that they 'failed' the mission given to them by Lady Fairfax and it sounded like she wasn't going to tell Ms. Shade that Lady Fairfax wanted to talk with her. And though I none of us could read her mind at the time, I believe she was telling the truth.[/i]"
	"[i]Asuna is likely skilled in stealth. And it's easier for someone to play off innocence when they clearly aren't a trainer. And Samantha could have been doing any number of other things. If Ms. Shade is a contractor, I'm sure she has other things to focus on especially if she has a team to work with. Given that Samantha's Pokemon were quite strong, I wouldn't be surprised if they have mental links to each other to alert them when one of them is in danger, like what we all do. But, yeah, I think Samantha is - damaged. She didn't seem - right - to me.[/i]"

	It was growing more taxing for Ether to play referee with Tristan's mind and play communications hub with everyone else. But he was surprised when Veritas told him that they reached the safehouse. Nothing had attacked them. There were no signs of security. Veritas could physically see the cabin in the distance and she didn't feel anyone or anything walking around or on guard. Shaq'ti interrupted them with the feeling that she wanted to take the time to plan their entrance before heading in right away, which the others thought was obvious but didn't say anything.
	Oracle and Antligon were told to remain high in the sky and to keep contact with Ether as they figured out their next steps. Forrest took his shirt out of his pocket to wipe his face. He then found a rock to sit on and started to get something out of his rucksack. His skin was a little more red than usual, but his dark tan made it difficult to see in the shade. He took out a waterskin - a waterskin? He was really used to "roughing" it, it seemed. But he offered some water to Tristan before he realized, "oh, you have a Starmie, right?"
	Forrest took out some travel food - nut mix and jerkey and granola - to refuel from their hike. Between rather ill-mannered chews he said, "Shaq'ti can make one of us invisible, but she has to go really slow and she can't mask sound."
	Physical invisibility was impossible. But Shaq'ti shared that this was how she "masked" Forrest from being harassed by fans if he wanted to not engage. She performed the same kind of scan as she had been but would only focus on beings from which to hide from. And she would affect their individual minds - their ocular center - to not visually register her and one other person. This was, indeed, a highly complex feat for any psychic Pokemon. It now made more sense why her scanning abilities were so 'vague' to the point of being underdeveloped.
	"So she can take you inside so you can get a physical look around and even take things that you can carry. Ether could stay out here with us and keep in touch with you and we could move in when you need it. Or we could make a distraction if you can't get past something. What do you think?"
	Instead of conspiring with Tristan, he was clearly more focused on how to go about executing this mission. It was relatively impressive how sophisticated his idea was, considering how blunt he was at the Wharf.