A luxurious residential area, where each room housed someone with moderate authority, at minimum, squad leader level.
Just as he prepared to enter, Sieg was unsurprisingly stopped by guards. After all, this area wasn't accessible to ordinary Team Rocket grunts, so verification was naturally much stricter.
However, Sieg's squad leader identity allowed him entr quite easily. Several ordinary Team Rocket grunts lacked the courage to interrogate him.
After finding a room, Sieg slowly pushed the door open and entered. Instantly, several sharp gazes focused on him.
Sieg's face beneath the mask remained expressionless. Enduring these "colleagues'" scrutiny, he directly sat on the room's sofa.
The entire room contained two men and one woman, all at the same squad leader level as Sieg. The badges on their chests could verify this.
"May I ask, are you Black Sky?"
A slightly alluring voice spoke, the female squad leader.
"Black Sky" was the alias Sieg used when logging into Team Rocket's internal chat rooms. These people, before him, had all infiltrated the Hoenn region like him, tasked with investigating Team Aqua and Team Magma.
"Mhm."
Sieg gave a faint response and said nothing more.
The more one spoke, the greater the chance of error.
Therefore, speaking little and listening much was Sieg's primary principle when operating in the gray zone, naturally the same within Team Rocket.
The other two men's appearances were surprisingly identical. Sieg thought to himself: "Twins?"
Seeing Sieg's cold demeanor, the others didn't eagerly pursue conversation. After all, anyone who'd mixed their way to squad leader level in Team Rocket naturally wasn't ordinary.
Moreover, everyone currently executed the same mission, with equal positions.
"Everyone must have received the emergency transfer orders?" The female squad leader played with her wine-red hair, speaking first.
The three people in the room showed various expressions. Even Sieg was intrigued, wanting to see what this alluring woman had to say.
After all, displaying such seductive behavior in the dark underworld basically confirmed this woman was definitely a dangerous person.
Sieg also detected a specific fragrance from this woman. Perhaps others couldn't smell it, but as a breeder who regularly dealt with various medicinal herbs, Sieg could identify it.
Therefore, the woman's subtle scent couldn't escape him.
"That's right. We were all originally given missions to investigate Team Aqua and Team Magma. Now our tasks are suddenly canceled, urgently transferring us to Mauville City, there must be some major event happening."
One of the twin men spoke cautiously, speculating.
Hearing these words, Sieg also felt somewhat puzzled.
After all, in that original chat room, only the four of them had missions canceled, urgently transferred to Mauville City.
Everyone else still continued investigating Team Aqua and Team Magma.
The alluring woman seemed to realize something, her eyes flickering slightly as she spoke hesitantly: "I think I've discovered a common factor... we're all not from the Hoenn division but were urgently transferred from Kanto."
At these words, the three people, including Sieg, all brightened.
In a daze, they seemed to understand something.
They each surveyed each other's expressions, seemingly wanting to discern something, but unfortunately, all four were shrewd; at least their expressions showed no flaws.
The air was filled with a tense atmosphere.
"Everyone, regardless of circumstances, we're all strangers in an unfamiliar land here. So if we want to succeed, we must band together for mutual support." The alluring woman stood up, speaking first.
"I agree!"
"Indeed so!"
The twin brothers agreed one after another. After all, what the woman said indeed aligned with their mutual interests.
That these four could be specially transferred from Kanto to Hoenn naturally meant they all possessed special skills, at minimum, they were elites among squad leaders.
For instance, Sieg's previous identity had been a psychic.
So naturally they wouldn't be content remaining squad leaders forever. Wanting to climb higher was quite normal, yet in the Hoenn region, these four completely lacked foundations.
In this situation, only by helping each other could they smoothly pass through the initial adaptation period after just arriving.
The three present had all expressed their positions, so all gazes turned to Sieg, wanting to see what this extremely cold "Black Sky" who'd entered the room would say.
Sieg glanced faintly, saying: "Acceptable."
At these words, the tense atmosphere among everyone somewhat eased. After all, they were all strangers in a foreign land.
Thus, a simple alliance was formed.
Afterward, everyone briefly conversed, their words filled with various probes. Sieg detected that the woman was likely a Grass-type specialist trainer, and the fragrance emanating from her was most likely the pleasant scent from some Grass-type Pokémon.
The alluring woman, spending long periods with that Pokémon, inevitably became stained with its aura.
As for the twin men, Sieg didn't glean any useful information, only distinguishing who was the older brother and which the younger.
"Each one cunning as a fox."
Sieg remained in the room's corner, watching the three continuously probe with words.
Ultimately, this meeting ended rapidly in less than half an hour. Upon leaving, each left contact information.
Sieg also left one of his rarely-used numbers.
After leaving the room, Sieg didn't immediately depart Team Rocket headquarters. Instead, he wandered around. The entire base had four levels total, with the area decreasing toward the interior.
Sieg currently stood on the outer second level. The minimum rank accessing here was Team Rocket's official members, Team Rocket grunts. Outsiders couldn't enter.
The outer first level mostly housed some external contractors and trainers walking the gray path.
As for the interior third and fourth levels, Sieg couldn't access those. They required unit commander and battalion commander clearance respectively, appearing even more classified.
Sieg came to Team Rocket's internal resource market, a place where Team Rocket members conducted internal trades. Sieg came here to purchase some toxins.
"That Black Sludge from before has recovered considerably after these days of feeding, but the poison can become even more potent!"
Sieg had been busy with various matters recently, almost forgetting. Now remembering, he naturally wouldn't waste this opportunity.
After all, such poison might prove remarkably effective in certain situations.
Moreover, this was Team Rocket headquarters. Poison-type Pokémon and Poison-type materials were most abundant here.
Therefore, prices were much lower than market rates.
Sieg currently had around 4 million Pokédollars remaining, naturally including the first payment for the breeding plan commission from the Solance family.
He first purchased a bottle of Elite-level Weezing's toxic gas, then Arbok's venom, and finally a small bottle of Qwilfish poison.
"Only cost just under 400,000 total. Indeed quite cheap." Sieg's mood improved slightly.
With these materials, he could create poisons threatening Elite-level Pokémon.
After all, medicine and poison shared the same origins since ancient times.
Sieg could create various potions; poison was naturally no exception.
Or rather, poison itself was a branch of pharmaceutical arts.