Sleigh normally got to walk along, as most of the others were too slow or too uncomfortable in the tropic weather. Today was different, whilst scheduled to patrol to prep the big islands pokemon and people for the trial taker influx, instead they were semi escorting the apparent boss of the white cloth people. Because of how slow that person was currently, relying partially a fancy stick, everyone got to be out. Evgryt was making sure there was a cold zone for cooling down in, some were acclimating to the heat more quickly than others. Wisp seemed to be determined to spend this trip next to Fursry, which made sense since it was the plan for her to become a Frosslass, learning from a spectral being should increase her effectiveness as a ghost.
According to Creig, the lady leader was named Lusamine and the young spawn she brought with her was named Lilly. Sleigh was not used to having people look up at her like that one could. It was a little funny how she saw Will and Wisp shivering and wanted to warm them up. Lilly also thought Shrift was cuddly, Shrift only allowed a little time, before wiggling away and dodging any attempt to grab herself. When Lilly got super excited at the sight of Evgryt, her minder, a wigglytuff partner to Lusamine picked her up. Sleigh couldn't help but snicker a bit at the struggling girl, which caught the girls attention and causing her to get all pouty. The adult humans finally intervened, Creig picking Lilly up, so Lusamine could talk to her daughter face to face.
When Lilly was put back down, they actually started to get to business, heading first for the Joy places in the city. Both Lusamine and Lilly near jumped out of their skins when they noticed Fursry flickered from place to place, it wasn't quite as funny as when Crazy Joys' ghosts did what Creig called cartoon physics. On the other hand, sometimes the basement was filled with ghosts trying to learn, stuff being thrown about was stuff thrown about, not ghost type energy, spectral energy also proved wildly different, it was more like the source all type energies derived from. A couple of ghosts brought by tourists who were plant type learned Fursrys' ability to teleport through flora, especially trees, Creig once joked that the trees' are watching with a sinister laugh, Sleigh still got shivers and a streak of paranoia.
While walking to the first location Sleigh checked out the Aether who would be their patrol partner for the next few weeks. A native Alolan, she was lightly tanned, her eyes were a natural deep honey color, and scraggly curled lilac hair that went to her shoulders. She was very fit, apparently being an official "scout" in Aether, Sleigh saw a mix of power and agility in her muscles, and looking straight, her eyes would look at creigs chin. When standing a person step away looking up, Sleigh could see at least half and up to three fourths of her face, depending on head tilt, it was generally three fourths. A couple people asked her to touch her elbows together, she had to flex a bit to get them to touch, being a natural hunter Sleigh noticed the askers became very interested in Aethers' chest protrusions, out of the corner of her eye she also caught her trainer drift over Aethers' flexing muscles with a similar look. Sleigh had been wondering if he had those urges, she went over and elbow nudged her trainer who was showing self-discipline.
They didn't stay long after getting to the Joy place, moving on after a few questions and answers. While walking to the second one Evegryt and Lilly spotted a candy shop and started salivating, Evgryt was immune to cavities, Lilly was not, the little fairy sucked it up. Their similarity made Sleigh think of her own similarity to her trainer, they both liked using their brains, there was a pain of jealousy that Toboggan had been around for the lessons Creig had given. To access the recordings Sleigh would have to learn to read and write human language, Shrift was smart enough to be her partner, but didn't care to put her mind to anything not directly related to battle, part of it was how young she still was though, there was a chance she would pay enough attention to figure out that learning language would let her look up more battles and read tactics reference books. Coming up on the second Joy place just reminded Sleigh of the limited time she had to do any learning.
They decided to lunch at the third Joy place, an unexpected boon of having a trainer, he could just buy eggs for Sleigh to eat, there was also pokefood and berries to make sure that all nutrition was addressed. Toboggan and Shrift were carnivorous, eating bugs or meatballs respectively, while Will and Wisp seemed to prefer people trail rations, along with pokefood and berries of course, Creig made sure they got a variety of flavors. Their trainer also a diverse range of foods, other than seafood, sometimes he shared a bit after checking dietary yeses and nos'. Evgryt and Fursry had no need to actually eat, though Evgryt enjoyed eating sweets, and Fursry could eat spirit energy.
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They also got first look at Aethers' pokemon. One was a vibrava, the other a frillish, who could use their unique traits to help in exploration and rescue. They were both shy as well, looking to hid as best as they could, rather than interact the way her own group did. Then again, they tended to interact with those outside the group, rather than in, as they all had their own interests, training was the primary thing they did together. It was hard to say what Toboggan liked to do, he mostly served as a spar partner for Shrift, that battle junkie. Her own were the aforementioned learning, and pranks and jokes. Will liked toughness training, while Wisp hung out with the ghosts trying to learn from Fursry. Evgryt had things for lawyer type word games, interior design (she liked things that were actually comfortable, and so was the bane of "professionals"), and coloring/pictures. Creigs hobby seemed to be books, if Sleigh could read she'd know what type. All in all they were an eclectic group.
After lunch they were out into the country, to talk to the few farmers they could get to today. This close to town there wasn't much worry about threats, but Sleigh was on lookout duty never the less. Aethers' pokemon were also aiding in said effort, usually there would be shifts, but with the morning being in the city and Lusamine and Lilly here, extra security wasn't too exhausting and was needed. It was good they did, Sleigh caught a venomous snake that belonged in the jungle, some bird pokemon carried it back to its natural habitat. Lilly also eventually needed to be carried, her young body not quite ready for an all day hike, The able bodied adults took turns carrying her. Patrol was a little lonely as a scout, despite not getting too far separated in terms of actual distance, the lack of easy communication made one feel isolated.
When they actually got close enough to the first farm and regrouped a bit Sleigh heard Creig mention about how instead of basic chores, the trial takers would be helping bring in the harvest. Sleigh inferred this meant collecting all the edible plants being grown, not that Sleigh could identify them yet, not much other than trees grew on the mountains. A farmer, apparently, heard Creig and came out to join the conversation, which was similar to the ones had with the Joys', with agreement about the harvest. They managed to visit four more farmers before Lusamine called an end to things. Sleigh thought she had a general idea about how farms worked now.
An Aether truck came and picked everyone up, driving them back into the city. Creig had to put everyone in their pokeballs, being in there felt a bit weird, like being asleep and aware at the same time. A nice surprise was that Lusamine took them all to dinner on her dime, Creig warned that they should only order as much as they thought they could eat, and not get starstruck by being capable of ordering it all, nobody tried politely refusing because the place they were brought to was too costly on their personal wallets. Sleigh was mostly interested in her own food, but got the gist of the conversation between Creig and Lusamine, which was similar to what he had occasionally with the people in suits, or the people he called mentors. The end part had some talks about advanced information, something referred to as theoretics and a different implication of hardware.
The ferry back had a radio communicating news, with Rosa, Nate and the school kids in the trials, Creig hung out nearby, listening while doing small things, like brushing Shrifts fur. They heard that Jenny had made it to the new Kahuna already, though she hadn't won yet, though it sounded like she would do some training and re-try. A few of those not interested much in battle seemed to be hitting their limits on the trail, whereas those who wanted battle and had the talent were melting the battlers. The whole team was feeling it a bit that they couldn't get a few more battles to get better, especially Shrift, though on the other side they weren't being pounded into the dust over and over. It also seemed that by latter mid week people would be past Crazy Joy, Herself, Will, and Wisp had a bit of a reaction when the opponent used surf, and maybe looking over the side of the ferry was avoided, but that one was on another level.
Getting home meant practice time, though field setting wasn't advanced enough to pull off as of yet, and the rest was tempering their physique, dexterity and instincts. Training while weary from the day really challenged their focus, since it was hard to want to put in the effort and you ended up being blindsided by something your own brain refused to be aware of, Sleigh could feel a difference in how sharp they were when active. All of it made going to bed really nice, Toboggan seemed to enjoy being carried upstairs, if they didn't sleep in their balls, Will and Wisp liked to sleep in Evgryts tower, it was naturally cooler there. Sleigh herself liked sleeping under the bed, it was like a hollow, while Toboggan slept in a footlocker tilted on its side, and Shrift joined whoever in the bedroom she felt like that day. Things were definitely better than living in a cave, displaced or not.
