The Master General thought quickly what his first instinct was in regards to the Grands and the Gym Leaders. He shook his head as he compiled the thoughts into words. "We'll use the assignment of each Base to specific Gym Leaders in the opposite. Those Gym Leaders will be assigned to protect that base and the Grand and vice versa," he said.
	"As for a assault on Southern Island, we're going to need the Pokemon League's permission with that, which won't be difficult to obtain," he said and gestured to Tristan. "But I'll discuss that with Grand Watcher Clark when she arrives and we'll decide the best course of action with the resources we have," he said with a tone of defeat as he considered how spread thin they already were.

	Agent Hawley excused himself as Asuna and Tristan shared what they knew. Forrest struggled to keep up and considered leaving, himself, as he felt he had nothing to contribute to the two's theorizing. But he stayed while Shaq'ti worked to simplify their ramblings.

	"She told me," Asuna said with a shrug in response to Tristan asking how she knew it was Aries she had met. "Samantha intercepted some of her unprotected thoughts which led us to believe she was in league with Pisces. When I confronted her, she didn't bother to hide anything, which was rather unsettling," she said as she looked up diagonally as she recalled the memory.
	"Oh, well that's good," Asuna said as if unsure as to her own opinion of what Tristan shared about the Master General.
	"That's certainly a terrifying though," she said in response to Tristan's consipracy about Pisces' Gorebyss. "But since we can't confirm that, we'll have to continue forward with the understanding of the possibility that the Rangers are allied with Team Zodiac."
	She turned grim at his admission to trusting the Master General and Grand Conserve. "You really shouldn't trust Kline," she said and slowly shook her head. Her eyes were wide with a sense of warning. "Samantha's been tracking her since she's the only public figure that's had contact with Team Zodiac. Samantha hasn't seen them meet since the last time three years ago. It was a short meeting," she said and looked up to find the memory of the information she wasn't in charge of collecting. "In a cove off the coast of Lilycove. It was the afternoon," she added with a nod to herself. "Anyway," she started again with a quick shake of her head, "Samantha hasn't come back with anything significant that Kline's done or said so she could be trying to convince him to not go through with his plans, but that's too optimistic for me," she confessed with a sneer.
	Her brows raised at the "command" for the two of them to meet with the Grand Conserve. "I need to stay in Rustboro to keep an eye out potential Zodiac activity following the Wharf Raid," she said with a raised brown and turned to look at Forrest who was lost in thought and didn't notice. She turned back to Tristan and said, "But I'll get Samantha to meet up with you wherever you want to meet up. I think it'll be good for her to have a partner for once," she said and pulled a corner of her lip and widened her eyes.
	
	"She is waiting for you in her office per the Master General's request," Lieutenant Cornne replied back flatly. "I will inform her of your arrival."
	"At the Zephyr Base, then," Asuna said to herself.
	Lieutenant Cornne worked quickly to set the meeting and start communications with the other Elite Four members after he notified Grand Conserve Kline's secretary of Tristan's arrival. He was glad Tristan's first request was already fulfilled by the Master General himself and the third request was carried out as the default procedure for refugees. He brought up the security questions the Elite Four provided every four years to confirm their identities before telling them about the meeting. He knew better than to bother the Head Investigator for something as trivial as teleportation. There were plenty of Rangers tasked with Teleportation that he called upon to carry out the required transportation the Elite Four needed.
	She waited patiently for Tristan to ramble off the rest of his commands to this "Lucas." "That reminds me, I should go before someone realizes I shouldn't be here," she said with wide eyes and looked back and forth rapidly as if to search for hidden cameras or invisible people or Pokemon. "That said, you should really get to know who you work with and make sure your employees are familiar with their colleagues and establish better anti-infiltration measures," she said rather disappointed. "It was really easy to forge a badge and walk in like I had a purpose and not be bothered. Didn't even have to get a uniform," she added with a shrug. "Makes you think that any number of Zodiacs could be anywhere in the headquarters right now," she said and looked up and around. "I really should go before this place explodes," she added with a huff and wide eyes and quickly walked out of the office.

	It took a few long moments for Forrest to return to the present. Even with Shaq'ti's help, he was lagging behind in the conversation between the two. It was dizzying how quickly they talked to each other. He wondered if they even noticed since he swore Tristan never spoke that quickly to him. He shook his head and blinked rapidly when Tristan, through Shaq'ti, got his attention. "Uh, okay," he said with a quick stutter and a look of general confusion on his face.
	He recalled Shaq'ti into her Pokeball as she wasn't entirely comfortable teleporting herself, let alone someone else, while she mentally recovered from their operation. So Forrest rose from his seat he found in the other corner and walked toward Ether. Forrest stared directly at him as if he had to focus to be teleported by a Pokemon that wasn't Shaq'ti.
	
	It certainly felt different. He didn't expect that. He expected Teleportation to feel the same, but apparently it was as unique an experience as each Pokemon was unique. He looked up to see the burnt orange sky of the late afternoon with blue and purple streaks of clouds that brushed across its canvas. The salty air quickly hit their noses and it made Forrest hold his breath for a moment to adjust to the sudden change in air quality.
	Before them was a rather large building, four stories. It was a starkly different architectural style from the buildings immediately surrounding it. But it simply looked like a new office building amid old residential homes. The glass walls shone brightly - reflected the sun in the sky in the distance behind them. It was notably quiet here. The buzz of activity at the headquarters had become white noise. The silence of a seaside Ranger Base took a moment to get used to. There were two Rangers standing guard at the entrance. They seemed to immediately recognize Tristan and saluted and addressed him as they approached.
	"Investigator Aeros. Ensign Carney will show you to the Grand Conserve's office."
	As they were escorted to the Grand Conserve's office, there was no sign of Samantha until a newly familiar voice spoke clearly into his mind.
	"Hello, Mr. Aeros," she said with a tone of contempt. "Don't mind me, I'll just be watching and keeping invisible while we're in the base."
	It was unique to hear only her voice clearly instead of her Espeon's voice or just her own voice sounding distorted in some way. She didn't hide her appearance from Tristan or Forrest, and so could be seen walking behind them. Her own Espeon's jem glowed as it focused on maintaining a telepathic link between them. Her Bronzong floating just behind her. Its nearly-inaudible ring was able to bend the light around just the three of them so as to make it appear as if they weren't there to anyone else.