Despite her reservations, things seemed to turn out fairly well. It was to such an extent that she could entertain the idea of sending Ralts and Mawile on more independent errands. She still felt a certain sense of unease at it, but it no longer gave her a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Are you certain nothing else happened?" She repeated the question she'd asked upon her reunion with the pair.

"Ma, wile." Mawile waved off her concern.

As far as reliable sources went, Mawile did not rank high.

"Uh," there was a metallic snap, and the punk girl who had been speaking was startled. She and her companion had been placed in the corner of the room they were occupying. "Nevermind." She rushed out quickly.

Tanya turned back to Mawile, seeing the wrench she had been playing with broken in two. Hmm, well, she did say not to speak unless questioned, so the Pokemon was really just enforcing her standing orders.

Besides, that's not who she wanted to hear from. Tanya looked to Ralts, who was sitting on a wooden workbench.

'Got candy,' she admitted.

Tanya let out a breath of relief, rewarding the Pokemon with a pat on the head.

"I would have preferred you two stay on task." She had better not have to prompt them to finish their lunch. With no longer having the cheap pawnshop, they'd have to start paying real money for food. "Nonetheless, good work, you two. You've exceeded my expectations."

It was not a difficult task given those expectations, but she needed to reinforce this type of responsible behavior.

'Mama,' Ralts, still preening on the praise, addressed her. 'Mimi created opportunity.'

That she strung so many words together told her a little of the weight Ralts assigned to that.

They rang true as well. As much as she griped at the time about it, Mimikyu had manufactured a situation that benefited them immensely.

She could almost see the parallel to herself. The key difference was that while she always had that end goal in mind, Mimikyu had probably just gotten lucky.

It was an important distinction, and she was sure her old brass would have agreed on that.

"Yes, good job as well, Mimikyu." He gave no signs of having heard her. "Thanks to you, we now have a base of operations in the city," she declared while taking in their latest acquisition.

Calling it an open floor plan would have been generous, as she suspected most of the furniture had been pawned off, and what remained looked like it could have been taken from street corners.

The floor was of solid concrete, with parts of it having rust stains or other marks of unknown origin.

There were two flimsy workbenches set up. They were mostly occupied by personal items. Brushes, deodorant, charging cables—just about anything you'd expect to be kept in a bathroom cabinet or nightstand dresser.

The one standout was a map of the city. It had a legend depicting the famous attractions of the city. She wasn't a tourist, and so that held little interest to her. However, she noted the red and black marks made by the punks, indicating they were not using it as a sightseeing guide.

Against the left wall was a set of lockers repurposed as closets. They looked to have been ripped straight out of a school and were not secured to anything.

The wall opposite was what functioned as the kitchen. They had a single working sink and mini fridge with a microwave on top. A shopping cart functioned as their pantry.

On the back wall was a door that led to a small storage area and functional bathroom. Before the door was the sleeping area with an old mattress that was currently sat on by the punks.

Tanya took a deep breath; the smell of old rubber lingered but was not overwhelming. She turned, looking at the entrance. The floor-to-ceiling windows had been covered by newspapers, preventing natural light from entering. They couldn't be opened anyway, so she'd have to resort to leaving the door propped open to air the place out.

The entire place would need cleaning in general. There were a smattering of tools and old parts carelessly thrown on the floor that had to be sorted or disposed of.

"This was a cyclist shop?" She directed to the punks. There was a faded sign above the entrance that indicated as such, but it had clearly been a long time since they serviced anything. "And you do own this, right? You're not just squatters?"

They claimed ownership when she'd asked earlier, which prompted her to praise the team.

Was it a good base? No, but it fit her purposes.

Running water, no smell of mold, decently spacious, and a surprisingly good location. In fact, when they'd walked in earlier, it looked to be one of the only boarded-up shops on the street.

"I own it free and clear," Faust replied, sitting straighter and puffing out his chest. "Some uncle I didn't know kicked it. Took the fancy suits a while to find out who was supposed to take it, and I only got the deed thing last year." He seemed oddly prideful for something he had nothing to do with. "They even tried to buy it off me, but I said no way. Total low balls, I know what I got here."

He slapped the dingy mattress, causing dust to rise from it.

In Tanya's opinion, both were probably true. She doubted Faust had any idea of the true price of real estate in the city, but whoever made the offer was also trying to take advantage of that fact and get the property at a bargain.

If taxes worked as expected, the boy would lose it soon enough.

The impending foreclosure was none of her concern; this was a temporary setup.

"I'm sure you do," Tanya said dismissively. "As I stated, we'll be staying here for a while. We'll try to stay out of each other's business."

The two punks shared a look, the girl shaking her head in opposition to the boy's nodding.

"Sounds good, we." He stopped abruptly and stole a glance behind her before continuing. "Stay as long as you like. But, uh, things might get rough soon, so do you think we could get our Pokemon back?"

It was an obvious attempt to present a false sense of urgency and prompt a hasty decision on her part. She was not fooled that easily.

"Make yourselves comfortable in the storeroom while I discuss with my team."

The girl looked to want to protest, but it died on her lips, and she had a forlorn expression before getting to her feet and leading the way.

Her partner looked to consider saying something as well before choosing to remain silent. Tanya watched them closely until the door shut.

"Ralts, do you think they'll get any ideas if I return their Pokémon?" Carrying around Pokémon that weren't hers for an extended period of time felt wrong.

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'No, weak.'

Hmm, she wasn't sure if she could trust that assessment.

"Maw, wile, maw," Mawile encouraged.

That made her even more skeptical.

But that same skepticism had just been proven to be unwarranted. So maybe she was being overly harsh?

"Keep an eye on them." Having a psychic did wonders for security. "I don't want to hear about them causing any trouble in the future."

Ralts gave her a reassuring nod of understanding.

"Thank you; now onto business. Mawile, pay attention." She snapped her fingers at the Pokemon, whose attention was beginning to drift. "And you," she pointed to Gabite, who had begun to arch her head toward them. "Stay in the corner. Or can you not spend fifteen minutes staring at a wall in silence?"

She'd dictated that as her punishment once they'd arrived.

"Bite, bite, the Pokemon grumbled in a low voice but remained still.

Tanya had chosen her words carefully. Implying the Pokemon could not complete such a simple task only spurned the dragon to prove her wrong.

With the dragon quieted down again, she eyed the map of the grunts. Her time in the city had been brief, but she did remember crossing one of the city's plazas. She didn't immediately recall the name, but after seeing the ones on the map, one stuck out to her.

Magenta Plaza.

It was one of five such locations in the city, arranged in a pentagram around their version of the Eiffel Tower.

And just north of there was an alley with that cafe.

"One of these," she pointed at all the alleys connecting to the plaza. "Has a Team Flare base. Given how poor their operational security has been shown to be, finding out which should be simple enough."

She imagined it would be as easy as walking around, spotting the most ridiculously dressed person, and following them.

Of course, while she was willing to enter the city, she was not about to press her luck by walking around so close to someplace she might be recognized.

That was simply asking for trouble.

Tanya chewed on her lip. She needed eyes on that cafe—consistent ones at that. Ideally, she'd be able to get someone to pose as a new customer. They would have to be someone disposable.

Her eyes drifted to the storage room.

No.

While they fit disposable to a T, they were not reliable enough for that type of job. Either one of them would be picked out in an instant, and they clearly didn't have the will to resist interrogation.

As of now, she was only keeping them around for what scraps of knowledge they might have. Poor criminals or not, they must have known some of the more seedy locations in the city. Places where she could pawn off some of her ill-gotten goods or hopefully barter for a proper firearm.

That was the extent to which she was willing to use them for. It wasn't that they had no other utility, but work would have to be done in order to bring it out. That was a level of investment she was not willing to take on herself.

She moved on, putting them out of her mind for now.

"Infiltrating the facility underneath will be the harder challenge."

Not even knowing the scope of it put a damper on her plans.

'Records?' Ralts questioned.

With the layout of the city, she was certain they kept those types of records. They may even be available to the public.

However, what criminal organization would file an illegal construction with the permit office?

'Eliminate.'

Ralts said simply. As much as Tanya shared the sentiment of wanting to eliminate the cult, she really needed to curb that violent streak.

'Possiblilites.'

It didn't take long for her to connect that with Ralts' previous message, and suddenly she felt her cheeks heating up a bit.

She coughed, clearing up her throat.

"Excellent point." This was becoming an all too common occurrence, and she brushed past the embarrassment. "We can use the records of sewage and adjacent buildings to show where they haven't built." Another thought occurred to her. "Power and water as well; they'll be drawing more of that as well. Unless they find ways to circumvent relying on the grid."

In this world of Pokemon, that was only too easy.

"We can start doing the leg work, but we'll work on the assumption that we are unable to breach the facility in a timely manner. Let's use our time wisely and prepare more for the future. Our latest encounter shows we still have work to do."

Aside from Carbink, they'd made it out relatively okay. But if a group of wild Pokemon was enough to injure them, then they were lacking quite a bit.

"To that end, it's about time we use some of these." She reached into the duffle bag, carefully retrieved the disks, and placed them on the counter. "Technical Machines," she explained in case any of them were unaware. "Unfortunately, these ones are only single use." He must have blown most of his capital on Gible to not spring for the multi-use variety. "From what I know, you simply hold them over your head, and the knowledge of a new move is downloaded to your brain."

It was a frightening and exciting prospect. Had she been more of a risk-taker, she may have attempted to use them on herself. But using something created for Pokemon on a human sounded like a good way to fry her brain and become a vegetable.

Her hand hovered on a brown disk, and she hesitated for a moment before pushing it toward Mawile.

"I'm trusting you to use this wisely." Stone Edge was not a move to be given out lightly. It had its drawbacks, but in terms of raw power, it was difficult to beat. "I don't want you testing it without my supervision."

Mawile grabbed it eagerly, a grin on both her mouths. She had almost touched it to her forehead when she paused, frozen. The grins widened, and she placed it back on the table.

"Maw, ile," the Pokemon decided with conviction in her voice.

Tanya knew they got along, but to give up the move for Carbink was a degree of camaraderie she didn't think the Pokemon possessed.

As well-intentioned as that was…

"Carbink lacks the offensive potential to properly use it. Despite the synergy with his typing, you will bring out more of the moves potential."

It was well known that a fire type move used by a fire type Pokemon produced better results than say a ground type using them. Carbink desperately needed a stronger method of attack, but she didn't want to waste such a powerful commodity.

"Maw," the Pokemon intoned, looking at Tanya as if she were mentally defiecint in some way. Mawile pointed a finger gun at her, miming the firing of it. "Mawile."

The action was familiar, and Tanya connected the dots.

"You want to have Carbink use Stone Edge to compliment your-" Tanya stopped herself, searching for an appropriate word. "Your combination attack."

"Ile," the Pokemon corrected.

She did not forget the name Fairy Cannon; she just didn't want to promote its use.

Tanya mulled the proposition. Naming aside, it was a devastating attack, and she liked the idea of having such an ace up her sleeve.

"Fine," she said, setting the disk aside. "He can have that. I trust you'll have no issues taking this next one."

Compared to Stone Edge, Thunder Fang felt underwhelming. She had considered selling or trading it, but she'd rather use it now and not be caught in a situation where it would have been beneficial later.

"Mawil."

This time their were no interruptions, and the Pokemon held it up to her head. The disk glowed for a moment before dimming again.

Confirmation of its success came swiftly, with the Pokemon opening a maw crackling with electricity.

"Put it away," she ordered swiftly. "And stay away from electrical equipment when you use that."

The next one went to Ralts.

"I want you to learn Rest, but only if you will be able to teach the rest of the team it as well. Do you think you can do that?"

A feeling of strong denial was communicated to her, and Ralts pointed at herself.

'Hard worker.'

It was times like these that she remembered how young the Pokemon was.

"Names are a form of marketing. Some might even say they are the highest form of it." In her first world, there were certain products whose names were so powerful they were worth billions on their own. To a lesser extent, it was present in her second world as well. As much as she loathed the name, her Pixie Battalion had become known as the tip of the Empire's spear, often used in the vanguard of any major operation. "Don't let a name prevent you from taking full advantage of an opportunity."

Her reminiscing made her miss having a full battalion of soldiers at her command. With them at her back, dealing with Team Flare would have been child's play.

"Ra, alts!" She enthusiastically replied for all to hear.

Strangely, she made no moves towards the disk, and Tanya had to remind her of it. With the move learned, she was left with a Protect and Earthquake.

She would sell them both and teach Ralts the former move herself. Along with these and the spent Fire Blast, there were a few other damaged ones she had in her possession. She would have to see if they had any salvage value.

With that squared away, she continued.

"Let's wait until Carbink recovers before moving for those herbs. We can spend the next couple of days getting to know the city and finding a place nearby to train." She would not let city life make them complacent. Looking at the map again, something caught her eye. "A city this size must have an active battler scene." Mawile suddenly seemed laser-focused, and she was quick to temper her expectations. "I'm not saying we should participate." She didn't rule it out either. If there was low-hanging fruit, she'd be happy to pick it. "But we should observe skilled trainers. We may have to contend against them in the future."

Per the article, that Skarmory belonged to an Ace. With her current status, it was not implausible that such trainers may try to take matters into their own hands and attempt to apprehend her.

Tanya was very keen on understanding what level of threat they presented and if anything could be learned from observing them. Her schooling had been rigorous under Xerosic and his lackeys, but they were scientists, not professional battlers.

In short, it was about time she got a better handle on this Pokemon thing.

"Get those two out here and put them to work." They could help clean up. "I want this entire area brought to my standard."

She would not live in pigsty if she could help it.

'Understood,' Ralts saluted her for some reason. 'Leave it to me, Mama.'

That dwarfed even what she said to Mimikyu earlier. It seemed the Pokemon was starting to truly come into her own.