Cinccino’s house turned out to be very close to where they had visited Meowstic. It was clustered among a bunch of other townhouses, and looked totally unremarkable from the outside. He led them to the front door and unlocked it, leading them inside. “I wasn’t expecting guests today, so I apologize if it’s untidy.”
The living room that he led them into was stuffed with vibrant things. Red curtains, green houseplants, red and orange cushions around a long, low table, and various colorful draperies decorated the room. Shaun felt like he had stepped into some sort of Art Deco exhibit.
“Have a seat around the table,” Cinccino said, halfway into another room. “We can talk things out there over some tea.”
Sneasel sniffed as if she wasn’t too fond of the notion of tea, but they all obligingly sat down around the table. Shaun watched himself as he sat down on a cushion and stared at the table, still feeling like his brain was detached.
“Okay, what happened back there?” Sneasel had calmed down somewhat on the walk, but she was still obviously confused and angry.
“Huh?” The question was hard for him to parse. “Oh. I dunno.” He watched himself shrug from the ceiling. “Something snapped in my head. Knocked him out.”
Buizel was watching Shaun with a worried expression. “You good?” he asked again.
Shaun nodded slowly. His head felt too spacey and he didn’t understand the question.
Cinccino whisked back into the room with a tray of mugs. “Sorry for the wait, I hadn’t been expecting guests.” He put the tray down onto the table and placed a steaming mug in front of everyone. Sneasel politely set it aside and kept looking at Shaun. Buizel experimentally sipped it and flinched, and also set it aside.
“Okay, so what were you three doing at Meowstic’s in the first place?” Cinccino asked. He has his own questions, Shaun thought from the ceiling.
“The Shinx happens to have amnesia, or something, so we went there to see if Meowstic could fix it,” Sneasel said. “It didn’t seem to work.” She stared pointedly at Shaun, expecting a response.
Buizel spoke up. “She had the suspicion that Shau- Shinx stole the Time Gear, which is why we went in the first place.”
“How in the world do you all know about the Time Gear missing?” asked Cinccino in bewilderment. “I can understand Sneasel, but you two?”
“Sneasel told me, and Shhhhinx learnt through proxy.” Shaun noted with amusement that Buizel was having a hard time trying not to use his name.
“Hm.” Cinccino sipped his own tea, seemingly accustomed to the temperature or the taste. “I was hoping that info hadn’t gotten out to the general public yet.”
Sneasel waved him off. “It hasn’t.” She was still staring at Shaun. “Only told these two because they were the best leads I had at the time.”
Buizel had been surveying the room with professional interest. “Who are you, anyway?” he asked Cinccino. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.”
“I’m Cinccino,” he responded, taking another sip of his tea. “I help run things in town. I’m apparently pretty good at it, too.”
“Huh.” Buizel returned to looking around the room. “Not sure what I was expecting, but you have a very nice house.”
Cinccino beamed. “Why, thank you! I’ve worked hard on making sure that it’s nice to live in.” He brushed away a speck of dust that landed on the table. “And clean. Always clean.” He turned to Shaun. “What about you? You’ve been awfully quiet.”
Shaun watched himself shrug again, raising one shoulder and letting it fall. Buizel returned to worrying about him immediately. “That’s the problem, he’s not usually this quiet. I think he got hurt, somehow.”
“There’s a reason I made Oran Tea,” Cinccino said. He nudged Shaun a little. “Come on, a little taste won’t hurt.”
Shaun watched himself automatically try to pick up the mug with his paws before remembering that he had lost his hands. He bent down and licked the tea like a cat.
Shaun snapped awake as he choked on the tea. It was really, really hot. The little bit that he could taste before his tastebuds were boiled alive was very sweet, with an herbal aftertaste of yellow. “Ack! Hot! Really really hot! Ow!”
Cinccino winced. “Ah, sorry. I forgot that you children might want something slightly less-“
“Sscalding?” Shaun supplied. “Boiling? Sstraight from the ssurface of the ssun?” The tip of his tongue was still numb from the burn and provided his outburst with an endearing lisp.
Buizel and Cinccino laughed, and even Sneasel couldn’t resist cracking a smile. “Okay, now you’re good,” Buizel said. “Was worried about you for a minute, there.”
“Haha. Yeah. My head was a bit spacey. Sorry about that,” Shaun said as he blew on his tea in a futile attempt to cool it off. His brain threatened to space out again if he didn’t focus for too long. “Some kind of psychic backlash from earlier, I think.”
“Meowstic is fantastically powerful,and he tends to forget that other Pokemon have more fragile brains,” Cinccino said. “Still, even that was… unusual.”
“Yeah, and he still hasn’t told us what happened,” Sneasel broke in.
“Mostly ‘cause I’m not sure myself,” admitted Shaun. “But I’ll try.”
He described sitting there and letting his mind wander to his memory of waking up on the beach. After that, his memory got a lot more patchy and he struggled to accurately describe what happened.
“Finally, I had the idea to just leap at the stupid thing,” Shaun recalled. “I got really far and saw a pinprick of golden light before…” he trailed off.
“Go on.” Cinccino was listening with professional interest.
“Something dragged me back.” Shaun shuddered at the thought. “I don’t know what it was, but it did not want me reaching that light. And then something snapped and I… woke up? And Meowstic fell over.”
The three Pokemon shared a very worried look. “Is your head alright?” Cinccino asked. “If something ‘snapped’, you probably have lingering psychic damage.”
Shaun was about to say no, he was fine, but he remembered watching himself from the ceiling. “Um, I don’t know. I still feel a bit out of it.”
“Hang on.” Cinccino went into what Shaun assumed was the kitchen and returned holding a pink berry. “Here, try eating this.”
Shaun vaguely thought it looked like some kind of pepper. He took it and started to chew it before gagging. “Ugh! Poison!”
“No, it’s just really bitter,” Cinccino said with amusement. “Wash it down with some tea if you have to.”
Shaun took his advice like a drowning man taking a life preserver. He swallowed the berry, resisting the urge to gag, and gulped down the (now sickeningly) sweet tea. After the whole ordeal, he had to admit he felt much better. “I don’t feel like my brain is loose anymore,” he said.
Cinccino nodded as he sat back down. “The fact that something doesn’t want you regaining your memories is worrying,” he said, continuing the conversation from earlier.
“Yeah, but who and why?” Sneasel challenged. “For all we know, it could be Arceus himself blocking up his memory.”
This began a spirited discussion between the other three Pokemon about who would possibly want Shaun’s memories blocked. Names like “Dialga” and “Giratina” were thrown around, leaving Shaun feeling even more lost than he already was.
“I personally don’t believe that Dialga or Palkia have the capacity to do that,” Cinccino was saying. “For all we know, it could be Darkrai.”
Buizel shuddered. “Not a fan of that particular idea,” he remarked. “Even just the idea of him gave me nightmares when I was younger.”
Sneasel smirked. “Didn’t know you were afraid of the literal incarnation of nightmares.”
“I dunno, that seems pretty reasonable to me,” Shaun said, finally breaking his silence. “I mean, that description alone is enough to get my imagination going.”
They were interrupted by a knock at the door, which startled everyone but Cinccino. “Another visitor?” he said, surprised. “I hope I have enough tea to keep up.” He stood up and walked over to the door, where he opened it and talked to the person outside.
“…Wasn’t expecting…! …Come in for…?” Snatches of conversation drifted back to the table, ending with Cinccino letting someone into the house.
It was Ampharos.
He looked around, looking entirely unsurprised that they were all there. “Hello, Shaun, Buizel,” he nodded to each of them in turn. “Sneasel.”
“Oh, hi, Dad,” Buizel managed in a stunned tone. “Wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
“Me neither,” he lied. “May I have some tea, Cinccino?”
“Already on it,” Cinccino called from the kitchen. “I’ll be back in a second.”
Ampharos took the cushion between Sneasel and Buizel and rested his arms on the table. An awkward silence filled the room as they waited for Cinccino to finish making the tea.
Cinccino whisked back in, carrying a new steaming mug for Ampharos. It seemed like he had also taken the opportunity to refill his own mug as well. “So, what brings you to my home?” he asked Ampharos after getting comfortable in his own cushion.
Ampharos sipped the tea as if he was used to the extreme temperature. “Business.”
“Ah.” Cinccino scanned the room’s occupants. “Do I need to send the children out, or…?”
Ampharos shook his head. “No, they can hear it. I’m of the mind that children shouldn’t be kept out of their parent’s affairs, because they usually end up finding out anyway.”
Cinccino cocked his head. “Point.”
“I think we’re all aware of yesterday being entirely too short, correct?” he started without preamble.
“Ah, yes, the sixteen hour day.” Cinccino nodded grimly as Shaun and Buizel exchanged wide-eyed looks. “Hard to keep people from noticing when all the clocks are now 8 hours off.”
“I just got wind of a new development.” Ampharos sipped his tea again. “It’s localized to the island.”
“Really!” Cinccino leaned forward in interest. “So we’re ahead by 8 hours from the rest of the world?”
“Not quite.” Ampharos shook his head. “Time here may be unstable, but it’s still bound to the entire rest of the world. Time has slowed down here somewhat as the rest of the world is trying to catch up.”
“Fascinating.” Cinccino took a long sip of his tea as he thought. “It’s all very terrible, of course, but it’s still very, very interesting to observe.”
“Certainly.” Ampharos sipped his tea in solidarity. “Interesting times, these. My brother would probably be losing his mind with worry if he knew about it.”
“Brother?” Buizel finally spoke up. “You have a brother?”
Ampharos looked at Buizel in surprise. “Have I really never told you about him?”
Buizel shook his head. “No, this is the first I’ve heard of any kind of sibling.”
Ampharos chuckled. “I suppose it makes sense. We weren’t always on the best of terms when we were children, so I suppose that led to less contact over the years.” His eyes faded into recollection. “We both wanted to become explorers, but for different reasons. He wanted to chart the entire world whilst I wanted to help as many Pokemon as possible. As it happens with two ‘mons with extremely similar goals, we fought a lot.” He sipped his tea again and gazed into it thoughtfully. “I think the last time I heard of him, he was looking into starting a branch of the Exploration Society in Lively Town.”
Buizel blinked. “Wow, that’s far from here.”
Ampharos started to nod and then paused. “Well, it’s actually not too slow if you go by Lapras. They seem to be getting faster nowadays.”
During this conversation, Shaun had watched Sneasel discreetly slip outside out of the corner of his eye. He waited until a particularly enthralling topic came up before quietly standing up and doing the same.
The faint bustle of the rest of the town filled his ears as he gingerly stepped outside. The sky was full of giant clouds, threatening to rain sooner rather than later. She was standing on the stone steps that lead into the house, looking at the sky with her arms folded. She was so still that Shaun thought she had fallen asleep. Guiltily, he turned to go back inside.
“Wait.” Sneasel’s voice stopped him. He turned around to see her still staring at the sky. “You wanted to talk about something.”
“Ah. Um, why were you so concerned about what happened to Meowstic?” He wanted to add that he thought he was an ass, but decided against it.
She took her time answering. “He… My parents died when I was six.” Her voice barely remained even. “He took me in, begrudgingly at first. But he was always nice. First out of pity, then out of something else.” She paused. “He may not seem like it, but he cares deeply about other people. The whole Time Gear ordeal has been really hard on him for that exact reason.”
“Oh.” Shaun didn’t know how to respond. “That’s… I’m sorry.”
Sneasel snorted. “Not sure why you’re apologizing. You haven’t done anything other than show up here.”
“Well, to be honest, I just thought he was a jerk,” Shaun said frankly.
He was almost certain that Sneasel was going to knock the ever-living daylights out of him. The thought certainly seemed to cross her mind as one of her arms twitched, but she shook her head. “He isn’t.” She finally looked down at Shaun with a faint woebegone expression. “And then you show up and basically sucker punch him.”
Shaun felt his tail lashing. “Neither of us were expecting that, though.”
“That’s what worries me.” She turned to the sky again. “Something about you just feels off.”
Shaun was tempted to say that it was because he was a human, and that he didn’t belong in this land of fairytale creatures who could conjure water and electricity for fun and profit, but he couldn’t. It just didn’t feel right.
Sneasel, sensing his inner turmoil, sighed. “We all have secrets, I suppose. Here certainly isn’t the place to share them,” she added as a Pokemon passed by on the street below.
“Yeah.” Shaun felt a gentle breeze on his fur, driving home the fact that he was no longer human. Part of himself was shocked to find that he didn’t completely hate it here. It felt so much more peaceful than anything he could remember feeling.
Sneasel perked up, seemingly hearing something that Shaun couldn’t. “I have to go.” She turned to Shaun and squatted down, putting a friendly claw on his shoulder. “Look, keep yourself safe, alright?” She had an almost pleading look on her face. “I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen soon.”
With that, she stood up and ran off. Shaun was astonished by how quick she moved. It was like watching a shark made of knives slicing through the water effortlessly.
Shaun stood there for a moment after she had disappeared from view. He sighed and turned to go back inside, Sneasel’s warning echoing in his heart.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at Cinccino’s house, discussing various topics. Shaun slipped back in during a particularly interesting conversation about the effects of berries, and no one seemed the wiser until Ampharos caught his eye and winked. So much for that, Shaun thought wistfully.
The clock struck 4, causing everyone to look up. “Already?” Cinccino said with surprise. “It felt way shorter than that.”
“Time flies when you aren’t paying attention to it,” Ampharos remarked. He stood up and stretched. “We should probably be going now. There’s lots to do before work tonight.”
Buizel and Shaun automatically got up too. Buizel stretched as well. “Man, I feel like I’ve been sitting down forever.” He looked around in sudden surprise. “Hey, where’s Sneasel?”
“She had to leave,” Ampharos said. “She’s a busy ‘mon, you know.”
Cinccino gathered all of the mugs, empty or otherwise. “It was nice getting to chat, though. I haven’t really gotten to just sit and chat with anyone recently, given the whole fiasco with the Time Gears and whatnot.”
Ampharos nodded. “Understandable.” He meandered his way towards the door.
Shaun and Buizel followed him out onto the street, where the sun was already threatening to set. Shaun blinked at it as they exited the house. “Man, the sun sure is setting early.”
“Winter,” Ampharos replied succinctly. Shaun mouthed a silent “O” and didn’t say anything else.
No one said anything on the way back to the lighthouse. They were all tired from having talked too much and relieved to have an excuse not to talk at all. They were even more relieved when they spotted the lighthouse from the bottom of the hill.
“You know, I never asked,” said Shaun, glancing up at the sky. How odd, there’s a bright red star there. “How do you know Cinccino?”
Ampharos shrugged in reply. “He helps with supplying the lighthouse with materials for repairs.” Shaun felt that something else went unsaid, but he didn’t push the issue. They were all tired.
Stepping into the house, Shaun immediately flopped onto the couch. “I’m famished.”
“Well, you’re gonna have to eat at the table,” Buizel said. “No meals on the couch. Hard rule.”
Shaun made a wordless groan of complaint before forcing himself to get off of the couch. “Can I sleep on the couch tonight? It would work decently well as a bed.”
Buizel looked up in surprise from where he had been staring at the pile of untranslated tomes woefully. “You don’t want to sleep in my bed?”
Shaun rolled his eyes. “It’s your bed. Besides, being on the second floor gave me the heebie-jeebies whenever I looked out the window.”
“Fine with me.” Buizel walked over and poked his head into the kitchen, where Ampharos had vanished as soon as they had arrived. “Hey mom! Is dinner ready yet?”
“Five minutes,” came the response.
Shaun nearly groaned again. “I’ve barely had any food at all today.”
“Surely you had breakfast?” Buizel flopped down onto the couch with an air of exhaustion, which Shaun mimicked.
“Yeah, but it was fairly light because I was still sick at the time.”
“You and your immediate wellness,” Buizel huffed. “I was so sure I had made you sick by pushing you too hard and then you get well while I’m at school. It’s not fair.”
Shaun chuckled. “Bold of you to assume I’m in control of any of that.”
Buizel was silent for a moment. “You know what? Yeah, I am gonna assume that you’re in control of it, and got well just to spite me.”
“Pfft. Alright, man.” Shaun suddenly remembered himself passing out on that very couch the night before. “Say, did you carry me to bed last night?”
Buizel’s face flushed a little. “Well… yeah. Least I could do, after that talk you gave me.”
Shaun stared into the fire crackling in the fireplace, turning over the day’s events in his mind. “Today was weird.”
“Tell me about it.” Buizel slumped a little into the cushion. “You seem to have got the worst of it, though.”
“Yeah.” The fire danced and spun embers up into the air, where they faded away into small flakes of ash.
He wasn’t sure how long he spent staring at the fire. It seemed like just a few seconds before his ears picked up Floatzel calling from the kitchen, “Boys, dinner’s ready!”
The boys appeared at the table with alarming alacrity. The dinner seemed to be some kind of roasted fruit platter that made Shaun’s mouth water just looking at it.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to use a stool, Shaun,” Floatzel apologized. “Be careful not to fall off.”
“Oh, that’s fine,” Shaun assured her. He was too hungry to complain about seating arrangements.
Afterwards, Shaun declared that that was the best food he had ever eaten. These sentiments were echoed by Buizel and Ampharos, which visibly pleased Floatzel. “This is a new recipe, so I’m glad it’s such a hit,” she said.
“Yeah.” Shaun suddenly felt the weight of the entire day crash into him like a falling tree. “‘m gonna go lie down.” He unsteadily tottered to the couch, where he climbed onto it and fell asleep at once.
Buizel mirrored this behavior, though he didn’t totter unsteadily like Shaun had. Floatzel watched them both go before turning to Ampharos. “I hope you don’t also plan on going to bed.”
Ampharos chuckled. “No, but I might need something to keep me awake around midnight. Talking to somemon for hours doesn’t come cheap.”
Floatzel nodded and looked into the living room, where Shaun’s snoring prevailed. “I hope he’s alright. He’s sounded really tired ever since you got back.”
“Long day,” Ampharos said. “Intentionally or not, they’re doing a circuit of the entire council, and it worries me.”
“How many have they met?” Floatzel asked with curiosity.
“At least two, not counting me,” he replied. “Most likely more than that, though.” He got up from out of his chair and stretched, looking out the window at the rapidly setting sun. “Well, better start my shift.”
“Good night, Amphy,” Floatzel called as he left the kitchen to enter the lantern room. As she turned back around, she thought she saw something flick past the window.
She casually walked over to it and looked out, but nothing stirred save for the grass below.
Floatzel bit her lower lip. She couldn’t be sure she had seen anything, but it still worried her.
“It’s probably nothing,” she told herself as she started cleaning dishes and putting them away. “It’s probably nothing.”
Outside, something prowled around the lighthouse in the steadily deepening darkness before vanishing into it entirely. A ray of the sun flashed vibrant green, signifying the end of the day and the beginning of the night.
And then it began to rain.