Welcome to Gaia! ::

Aile walked up the road, Tatooine by her side, for the fourth time now since the festival concluded. She had to admit, the village was growing on her at this point. There was a calmness and quietness around the place that was refreshing, even after things quieted down for a while at HQ. The place reminded her a little bit of Pyrite, actually, but completely different at the same time; a small community disconnected from the greater world, but while Pyrite had its own chaos, Kitakami was quite calm, what happened at the Loyal Three Battle notwithstanding. Honestly, something she wasn’t completely used to, but it was nice. She’d have her SNAG turned off during these times starting with her second visit, using the time to instead bond and train with her Pokémon, particularly her Gible, Rancor. That wasn’t so much different than the time she spent at HQ training with her Pokemon, but she wasn’t really able to take AT out here, to start with, and there was always that nervous edge that something might hit the fan there. And then also helping Reno and Sol with their conspiracy boards… which she felt she wasn’t too much help on that end, but when things were relatively calm globally, there wasn’t too much information they could find. That, and there was only so much information they could get about Area Zero without someone sneaking in(again). Though, Sol had a section of a board now dedicated to where(or when) Aden might be. So, that was something.

Her visits to Kitakami were interesting. At first, some of the locals were thrown off by someone visiting during non festival times, even more so when she told them her reasoning. She played it off my being curious about it, and did her best to reassure the locals that she could probably handle it. She understood the risks, and she told them to try to get a hold of someone from Snagem if she didn’t return from the forest whenever she did go. Other than that, she did her best to stay out of their way, not be one of the tourists that was always in the way gawking. Her stay usually encompassed the day before the full moon to the day after the full moon, just to make sure she hadn’t somehow missed it. The first visit would be learning more about the village, its legends, and a little bit of training, watching the sky for a while in the evenings before figuring out food. The second visit would be taken up by exploring, and more appreciation of the area in general. The third visit, she would note more of the people warming up, as she tried to practice some of the actions she picked up from the locals, and attempted to help out at the apple orchard one day. She also explored the caves in the mountain as well, testing out her own tremor sense in addition to training Rancor.

This visit was a little different. She had arranged a bus ride again, like the first time the team arrived in Kitakami, so it was late when she arrived. This time, however, it was more to give herself some extra time to think. This would be the fourth full moon that passed since that… premonition, was the word? Average fortune telling would be something she once debunked before joining Snagem, so she hadn’t paid much attention to that sort of thing. But things hadn’t panned out for her finding this beast so far, and if this visit struck out as well, she couldn’t keep just waiting at HQ for the next one. No, after this visit, she was probably going to arrange herself a trip back to Paldea next, see if she couldn’t meet up with that Ussuri woman. At the very least, she could point her in the right direction for training. But at this point, she needed to move forward with her own training as well. Not that she wouldn’t keep coming, but it was probably going to be harder at that point. And that’s what she was trying to sort out on the bus ride.

Once they had arrived, she retrieved her bag and brought Tatooine out, making the walk up the road like they usually did when they flew. They would arrive at the Community Center, where she had been staying during her other visits, apologizing for being so late this time and going to the room she was directed to this time. After doing a little bit of a nighttime routine and getting the room rearranged slightly to her preference, she’d fall asleep on the cot. At least it wasn’t the hard floor.

In the morning, after waking up and taking a quick shower, Aile and Tati would head out of the Community Center, apple in hand or getting crunched in the dragon’s maw, walking around the village sort of aimlessly. Usually, she’d try to have a vague idea of what to do, but the brainstorming from yesterday kept her rather preoccupied, so she didn’t have anything planned out this time. Maybe go walk to the nearby river. She wasn’t sure how close her little Paldean Wooper had been to a river before, and this one was supposed to be calm? Maybe they could do that later. Breakfast, first, though. An apple was nice, but it wasn’t going to last terribly long, for either of them.

Aile would wave and greet all of the people she came across on her walk, stopping at Peachy’s to grab a few onigiri for herself and Tatooine. She’d eat one slowly as the pair walked out of civilization, walking to the riverside. She appreciated getting out early enough to not have to worry about any of the fishermen yet, not needing to concern herself with disturbing the fishing at this point. Finding herself a spot with a tree nearby, she would let the little Wooper out, while Tatooine found herself a good sunning spot. “Hey, Guss, you ready to explore a river?”

“Woop?” He looked around, blinking until he saw the river. The mudfish’s eyes glittered as he saw the calm river, rushing over to jump in the shallows. “Woop woo!” Aile couldn’t help but chuckle at his excitement, now wondering why she hadn’t tried doing this earlier. For now, at least, she’d let Guss enjoy his time, as she bit into another onigiri.

Aile would wave when the fishermen showed up, in her spot underneath the shade of the tree at this point. She kept an eye on the mudfish, but turned otherwise to give her attention to the one fisherman. “Hello! Yeah, in the evening. Right now, at least, I wanted to let my little Paldean Wooper out. I don’t know if he’s actually seen a calm river before now, so I wanted to let him check it out.” She’d turn her head back to Guss, still happy and splashing around with the Magikarp, though getting distracted with the Surskit skating by. “Afternoon’s up in the air, though. Maybe see if someone needs some help, or just explore some of the caves a bit more. How about you all? The same fishing for most of the day?”

Aile sighed as she heard about Peachy’s grandkids heading off to one of the bigger cities in Kanto. If she had to guess, probably Saffron, Celadon, or Vermillion, just off the top of her head. It could just be her unique perspective, but there was something about a small town like this that had its charm. Maybe the chaos that being a part of this team attracted, maybe the fact that she was born in a big city, or a combination of the two, but there was something about just being able to get away from everything and just focus on the small day to day things, and letting the major events of the world pass you by for a change. And very little drama happening in the village as well was also a plus, something Pyrite didn’t get any points on. Either way, it was kind of sad that they wanted to move on. She couldn’t exactly blame them, as she wanted to get out of her parents’ shadows when she was younger, too. …She probably could have made better choices to get out of them, however.


Nothing to be done for that, though, and she and her Pokemon had no qualms about helping out. “Sounds good, I’ll probably go do that. Just wanted to get this little guy out for a while, though.” waiting for a moment where Guss was looking at her, she’d wave the brown Wooper back over, the little guy waving his tail before skipping back over to his trainer. “I think we’ll let you all get to it, though, maybe not disturb the Pokemon too much more. Good fishing, guys.” Giving a wave, she’d nod to Guss and head over to Tatooine, who was curled up in a circle asleep with her tail scales over her nose. Gently shaking her shoulder, she’d wake up the Flygon, who yawned and stretched out similar to a feline Pokemon before standing up. As soon as they were all ready, the three of them went back toward town, with Aile sorting out the other Pokemon that might be helping them. Dagobah and Sarlaac should be good enough, alongside Tatooine. Rancor, the Gible, was still small, and might bite some of the products otherwise, and Kuat, her Steelix, was just too big. And Guss, it was rather obvious why he wouldn't really be able to help.

Aile would wave back to Peachy as she walked up, giving a small chuckle, specifically at the sign. She didn't give the store much attention during the festival, as she was busy with the Crystal Pool most of that day, but a 'not for sale' sign was rather memorable, so she had to assume some Snagem or one of the students might have been persistent on buying it during the festival. She could think of one family within Snagem that might have done that, but that brought up more questions for her. Chiefly, why in Arceus' name would anyone in their sane mind raise their child within the chaos that can be Snagem? Seriously, with some of the insane events she's been a part of, why would you want to raise a child in a place where you would be more likely to take part in them? Your child could lose one or both parents, not including the dangers of what might happen in case any enemies might actually figure out the location of the headquarters, just... Just why? Especially that young, just why? Children and Snagem really shouldn't mix, unless there was absolutely no choice.

Shaking the train of thoughts out of her head, she'd walk up and greet the elderly man. "Good morning Peachy! It is so nice out, yes! I haven't been to the forest yet this time, but nothing showed up last month. So, we'll see tonight." She chuckled again and gave a pat to little Guss, going ahead and picking up the brown Wooper with her left arm so he could see everything on the counter. "How about you? How has your day been going?" Guss' eyes were drawn over to the purplish pink Pecha plush, sniffing as he caught onto the sweet scent of it. "No, Guss," she quietly told him, tapping his forehead with a fingernail. "We can see about getting you something sweet a little bit later. But that one's off limits." The Wooper's crossbones gills drooped slightly when he was told no, but perked up again when he was told he could have a treat later. A simple little guy liking simple things.

“Ah, Saffron. Silph Co. is located there, if I remember right.” She nodded, taking the pecha mochi. “Thank you! Here, Guss.” Aile would open the package and hand a mochi to Wooper, who would eat it happily. “Would it be helpful for you if we helped you with your deliveries? We’ve got some time before the evening, and Tatooine or Dagobah and I wouldn’t have any issues helping you out.”

“Woop woop!” Guss hopped while Tatooine turned around when she heard her name, only paying attention to the conversation from that point.

“Gyon?”

“You might be helping with something, Tati.”

The Flygon would think for a moment before shrugging. “Fly gon.” She wasn’t too opposed to it.

Aile nodded, turning back to Peachy. “If a Flygon wouldn’t work, I also have an Ursaluna that could help as well. Would that be alright with you?”

Aile nodded, recaling Guss before starting in with securing the boxes, getting them in a two by four set up. “Honestly, it’s not a problem, I don’t mind helping out. You all have been good to me whenever I’ve visited, I don’t mind paying you guys back.” Making sure the packages were organized in a certain way, with the western neighborhood areas first and closer to the top, she would make sure the final knot was secured while she explained. “Plus, it’s nice to be able to step back and slow down, and help out with something like this. The amount of chaos and conflict I’ve been in recently… Let’s just say that I’m glad that we got the invitation to come here for the festival. This place has been good for me, too.” With a smile, she’d whistle for Tati, the Flygon popping over a moment later and taking the boxes. Checking the addresses of the top couple of boxes one last time, the woman would wave to Peachy again. “Well, we’ll go get these delivered for you. Thank you for the mochi for Guss!” The pair would begin to walk off, heading for the first address on the boxes.

The ones in town would be a breeze for her to find, and the ones for the rice farmers wouldn’t be really hard, either. Once they got to the final box, though, Aile would frown. “Well… Hopefully this mountain hermit won’t be too hard to find. Let’s take to the skies, Tati!” Hopping on the dragon’s back, the pair would take flight and head towards the mountain. Hopefully this hermit’s place wasn’t too hard to find.