Spinning my head back to its place, I cracked my neck and saw that my crustacean friend was right, as before me lay a cav—… I mean, his house. A pair of big Corphish guarded the entrance, pretending to be perfectly serious and professional, but I could hear them playing 'I spy' before they noticed us and straightened up.
They were both members of The 24 Claws, so it didn't surprise me at all that they had their guard down. I mean, on this beach, the only ones who could stand up to my dear students were the strongest Tentacool, and good luck finding them out of the water. As much as I hated those pests, I could at least respect that, as long as you didn't mess with them and stray into their territory, they wouldn't mess with you.
Not that that would change my opinion of them, anyway…
"Welcome back, big brother, Sandy," the crustacean on the right greeted with a smile. "Welcome too, stranger who I'm going to assume is a good person since is sitting on Sandy's shoulder."
"Hi to you too," I greeted back, rolling my eyes. Maybe I wasn't being a good influence on my students, as I could detect his sarcasm from miles away…
Nah, that was probably Cap's fault.
"Hello. Did something happen while I was out?" Mr. Krabs asked, causing the two guards to show a slight grimace that was somewhere between exasperation and amusement.
"Nothing really serious," said the one who hadn't spoken yet.
"A trio of Krabby got too motivated and thought it would be a fantastic idea to free everyone and run away," the other added, in a laughing tone. "Unfortunately for them, they didn't count on Pincitas knocking them out with a single blow before they could do anything, giving them the scolding of their lives as soon as they woke up."
"Actually, I think he's still at it," the one on the left coordinated. "He's been at it for over an hour now, haha. I'm starting to feel a little sorry for them."
"Wow, I have to see that."
Without waiting for anyone, I flashed a smile and sped through the cave entrance, leaving only a cloud of dust behind me. To my misfortune, I still hadn't fully adjusted to my new speed, causing me to miscalculate and nearly crash into a wall.
Activating Calm Mind for half a second, time around me slows down, allowing me to react at the last moment, but the fox using me as a coat rack didn't share my luck. The sudden sprint seemed to catch him by surprise, as he was launched from my shoulder as soon as I stopped and collided with the cave wall, right next to where the photograph of the Unovan Zorua and the young sailor had been.
Ouch, that had to hurt.
"Are you okay there, buddy?" I asked, somewhat embarrassed.
"Couldn't you at least have warned me?" he replied, more annoyed than anything, shaking his head to clear the stars that were surely roaming around his vision. "What was the point of…"
In one of those jolts, his eyes fell on the photo and he froze as if he had seen a ghost, which I would have found quite ironic if it weren't for the aura of absolute sadness he was beginning to emanate.
Crouching down, I started to think of some way to try to comfort him when I heard him murmur, "How… how did this get here?"
"I found it inside a bottle buried in the sand, kid, near the shipwrecked ship in Kingler's territory," Mr. Krabs replied, nearly stopping my shovel-shaped heart as he emerged from nowhere. "I would have liked to explore that place more, but it gave me a very bad feeling and Yezalel sealed the whole place with a barrier anyway. I had to settle for just what was outside and the things scattered around it. What a pity."
"Wait, a shipwreck? Why am I hearing about this now?" I interrupted, also taking the opportunity to lighten the mood a bit.
"Never asked. Where do you think I got all this?" he shrugged, pointing with his claw at all the things in the chamber, specifically focusing on the damn anchor. "Besides, like I said, the ship is very creepy, it's sealed behind a barrier and it's in Kingler territory, three good reasons to keep you from getting close…"
"Buuuut…" I poked a little.
"…But asking for Kingler's permission is no longer relevant, I don't think the barrier is a problem anymore too and, after yesterday's battle, I'm confident you can handle any sticky situation you might encounter on that cursed ship," the lobster conceded, nodding at me.
Taking a pause to glance at our little friend, I was glad to see that our usual comings and goings were starting to cheer him up a little, so I decided to continue a little further.
"I guess I'll have to ask Yezalel if I can get through her barrier, it doesn't seem like a bad adventure," I thought aloud. "The rewards look good, too. Maybe I can even find a lifeboat in good condition, or more importantly; some clothes. I'm starting to get tired of walking around with my ass in the air, to be honest."
"Does being naked make you feel uncomfortable?" the fox asked in a much higher-pitched tone than usual, slightly looking away from the photo. "That's weird."
"Not really," Mr. Krabs said for me. "Here where you see her, Sandy was once human."
That seemed to shake him completely, as he tore his gaze away from that old image and focused his sight on my face instantly, evaluating me with renewed attention. His eyes still showed a trace of sorrow, sadness repressed for years surfacing again, but I could see that this haze cleared for a moment to give way to curiosity.
"I see… So, you were shipwrecked too?" he asked with apparent indifference, but there was a glimmer of hope in his words.
"Uh, something like that," I replied with a grimace, sitting down as I realized this was going to be a long one. "It might sound a bit fanciful, but the truth is one day I just appeared on the beach… only about a kilometer or two up in the air. That's what killed me."
"Excuse me, what?" The adorable fox tilted his head, his locks emitting question marks.
"Yeah, yeah. That was a weird day," I began, smiling slightly at his confusion. "I was at home, ready to go to sleep. Everything seemed normal, just another day, until suddenly, an iridescent ring opened beneath my feet, and there I was; falling headfirst toward this island."
"That sounds… incredibly traumatic, to be honest. Do you need help, Sandy?" he asked. His usual deep tone had returned, but I could detect a trace of genuine empathy behind it.
"Of course I need help~," I replied, holding back the urge to cuddle him to death. "I highly doubt I'll be able get on a plane again in my remaining life, and it's too obvious that I need professional help. The part of my soul related to my identity is literally in pieces. It's worrying~."
"You don't seem too worried," he said, raising an eyebrow.
"That's because I'm not, not really," I snorted, leaning a little closer to his ear. Mr. Krabs had left at some point, leaving us alone, but the gesture was more symbolic than practical anyway. "Between you and me, my 'previous' life was pretty dull and boring. Deep down, I'm glad this happened to me."
"You… are you glad you died?"
"Just a little," I clarified, calming his somewhat indignant gaze. "Of course, if I could, I'd change the method completely, but I don't regret being here."
"And aren't you afraid of what you've become? Weren't you afraid of going through all that hell? Of losing everything and everyone you knew?"
"Oh boy, I was completely terrified," I said, catching the subtle trembling in his paws. "The first week was an absolute disaster, you know? I think you are as aware as I am of how it feels to die, and in retrospect, I admit I didn't take it very well. I hid it well, of course, masking the dread with a false layer of positivity and sarcasm, hoping it would miraculously go away, but yeah, it wasn't the best thing I could have done.
"There wasn't much else I could do too; crying all day and complaining about my situation wouldn't have helped either. At the end of the day, I was still alone on the beach where I'd died, with only my own corpse for company."
"That must have been tough…" muttered the fox.
"It was shit~," I hummed, happy to be able to vent a little to someone who understood my situation perfectly. "The third and fourth days were the worst, as the sky decided to spit on me once again and piss in my face, in a much less metaphorical way than I'd have liked. I like rain in itself, don't get me wrong, but not when it can melt me like a wax candle thrown into a bonfire. Let me tell you it's not a pleasant experience. 0/10. I was pretty sure I was going to die again…"
"Everything you've said so far sounds like a particularly cruel purgatory to me. I don't understand what's so good about it; even mine was a bit lighter!" he finally exclaimed, making me smile softly.
"A little bit, no? At least the bad times didn't last too long, and all this has allowed me to meet Mr. Krabs, all his siblings, Cap, Pale Feathers, Yezalel, and you too," I finished, touching with my index finger his nose. "It's also really fun to be a Pokemon. You already were one before you died, so maybe it's not that much of a novelty, but as an ex-human, it feels like unlocking amazing powers I never even dreamed of having. It's impressive, and kind of terrifying to be honest, but you can only be afraid of what you don't understand, you know?"
"I guess you're right…"
After that, we sat in comfortable silence for a while.
He focused his eyes on the photograph again; an immortalized memory from a distant past, surely. Nonetheless, his gaze had changed. He no longer looked at it with sadness and pain, but with melancholy and acceptance. An acceptance that time will not turn back, that those memories will remain just like that: memories.
Moreover, shining in his eyes was the sudden understanding that, in this life, there is only one truly effective way to deal with loss, and that is to accept it. You don't get over it; you can't get over it. Not really. One can only hope to accept that some loved ones are no longer here and move on. Maybe for them, maybe for you, the reason doesn't matter.
The only important thing is to keep moving.
"Ha, that's kind of funny," the fox snorted, smiling for the first time since he'd entered the cave, and maybe doing so in a completely sincere way for the first time in a long time. "I think you were trying to cheer me up, but in the end, you just talked about yourself."
"What can I say? I'm not very good at motivational talks."
"I slightly disagree," he murmured, tucking his precious image into the fur on his neck. "Thanks, Sandy."
"You're welcome, little one," I smiled, stroking his head.
"Please, call me Howdy."
"Howdy?" I paused my caresses for a second, testing the name.
"Yeah. That's short for Howdyni, the name my trainer gave me before… well, you know."
"I see…" I nodded, feeling the little one's head begin to tremble beneath my palm. "Shh, calm down, calm down. When you're ready, you can tell me anything you want. I've shared my burden with you; it's only fair that you do the same with me, right?"
He didn't give an answer, just nodded and allowed himself that brief moment of vulnerability. When silence falls and emotions speak, words are unnecessary, and in times like these, they hindered more than they helped. We both knew each other's misery, one because it had heard it and the other because it had intuited it, and that was enough.
We may or may not have shed a few tears. You'll never know.