Time Skip

Sunny had actually proved herself to be a bit of a handful for Klonoa and his grandpa. While she didn’t try to poke around in unfamiliar spots in the house or cause mischief when they were busy preparing dinner, she ended up crying a lot, especially if she couldn’t properly communicate what she needed.

They also quickly figured out that, like Klonoa, she hated tomatoes. Though she didn’t scream or cry when trying to point it out like they feared she would. It was more of an angry huff, a typical response from a four-year-old.

“Hey, it’s possible,” was all Klonoa would say as he tried to find an apple for her, which she was satisfied with.

After they had finished eating, the child had explored Klonoa’s room a bit, and was particularly interested with a ceramic cup on the wooden desk that had many colored pencils inside it. So of course, she immediately raced to the desk for those, climbing onto the chair and reaching for them… that is, until Klonoa stopped her by swiftly grabbing her and taking her off of the chair. The cup tipped over, causing the colored pencils to scatter all over the desk.

“Ah-! Sunny, you need to be careful next time! You don’t just take someone else’s things!” Klonoa scolded.

Sunny got the message immediately, but she was now shivering in fear and trying not to cry.

Oh no, that was too harsh for her, wasn’t it, Klonoa realized.

The poor kid was afraid of the dark and couldn’t stop crying once it was her bedtime, even with her beloved rabbit plushie in hand. Klonoa had offered to stay with her until she fell asleep. And that was when he discovered that he was apparently good at singing lullabies. Sunny had slowly but surely fallen asleep on the small couch as he sang to her.

After she had fallen asleep, Klonoa had gone upstairs to get himself ready for the night, when he heard someone spoke up:

“This child really is a strange one.”

Klonoa turned to see his grandpa, who was already upstairs and seemed to be prepared for the night.

“Strange?” Klonoa questioned. “What do you mean?”

“Nobody’s seen her in Breezegale before. We would have known her by now if she were.”

“Grandpa, I know it’s strange. I thought it’d be best to bring her here tonight since it was getting dark and-”

“You did the right thing, Klonoa. It’s just… really strange that she doesn’t speak.”

“Lolo was the same when we were little! I mean, she didn’t cry as loud as Sunny did, but she didn’t talk very much either,” Klonoa retorted.

“But still, I’d be careful around her. Who knows where she came from.”

There was a brief moment of silence, and the teenager could have sworn he heard the child whine once more.

“Good night.”

“G’night, grandpa…”

Klonoa stealthily went into his room, but his mind wouldn’t stop wandering off.

“Where even is she from?” he quietly asked himself as he headed over to his desk. He organized his colored pencils, which Sunny had tried to get ahold of earlier, and put them into the skinny orange ceramic cup they belonged in.

“I don’t think she came from Garlen or those other baddies. I can tell that she’s too good of a kid to be raised by one of them.”

He’d gotten his pajamas on and headed over to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

“She’s not a relative from what I know. But it’s slightly weird how she also hates tomatoes and likes apples like I do…”

Finally, he had quietly gotten a glass of water and had gotten himself into bed, noticing a small, round blue plush with a happy expression on its face, something he had ever since he was a baby, was next to his pillow as usual. He grabbed the plush and hugged it, hoping that it’d help a little bit.

“…I wonder if I’ll figure it out by the time I wake up, huh, Huepow…”

He had fallen asleep for the night. His dreams, unfortunately, did not seem to provide any answers. Only mysteries that not even Huepow, who had travelled with him in tonight’s dream, could provide the answer to.

~*~

The morning came much quicker than Klonoa had anticipated. He had awoken to see that Sunny had been waiting at the entrance of his bedroom for him.

“…Morning,” he groggily said as he got out of bed, hastily hiding Huepow under his pillow and making sure it was well-hidden from the four-year-old’s sight.

“Mo’h,” she tried to echo.

She really was making an effort to attempt speaking, even if it was difficult for her. He wondered if she had somehow heard what his grandpa had said last night, and felt a bit bad for her.

“Hey, don’t pressure yourself if talking’s hard, okay?” Klonoa said. “I don’t mind if you use drawings.”

Sunny smiled at the response as she headed back downstairs. 

After quickly getting dressed and heading downstairs, Klonoa had noticed he’d gotten a few messages in the mail. The one he noticed right away was from Lolo, with a dark blue gel pen used for the writing on the envelope.

He opened it in an instant. Lolo’s letters were something he had always looked forward to, even if the two of them just wrote about the simple things that happened in their daily lives. Telephone calls could get expensive, so the two had settled on writing letters whenever the priestess was at the temple.

Dear Klonoa,

I hope you’re doing well. Things have gotten really interesting since yesterday afternoon! A little boy who looks a lot like you had shown up at the Sky Temple. He claims that he isn’t lost, but that his twin sister is the lost one. He says his name is Skip, and his sister’s name is Sunny.

“Wahee?!” Klonoa exclaimed loudly.

He looked back to Sunny, who was now climbing onto a chair at the table as his grandpa was telling her to be patient, and then back to the letter.

He says she doesn’t talk very much and to approach her very carefully. She gets overwhelmed if you’re too loud around her. I have a feeling that I know what he might be describing, but I’d rather discuss that in person.

Popka, Skip, and I will most likely be searching around the Sky Temple for Sunny by the time you get this. If you’re able to help, we’d very much appreciate it!

Also, Skip does remind me a bit of you when we were little. He has a very wild imagination and plays pretend like you did way back then!

See you soon, and best of luck!!

With love,

Lolo 

The teenager was very surprised to see the details of this situation. Once he realized that yes, breakfast was ready to be served and that there was an omelette on a plate there for him, he put the letter back into its envelope, went right to the table, and got right to eating.

“Grandpa, Sunny and I will be heading out after we eat,” he suddenly announced in between bites.

“Hm? Why’s that?” This suddenly piqued the elder’s interest.

“Lolo said that someone had come to the temple claiming that Sunny was lost.”

Both Grandpa’s and Sunny’s eyes were now on Klonoa.

“Sunny, do you know someone called Skip?”

The four-year-old’s eyes widened and she slammed her hands, along with the little baby-sized fork she was eating with that Klonoa had likely used many years ago, down onto the table. “ Nii?!! ” she yelled out.

This surprised both Klonoa and Grandpa. They didn’t realize she could be this loud when she got excited.

Klonoa took a brief moment to put two and two together: Skip was who Sunny called “Nii”.

“Yes, Nii,” he responded more quietly. “I know you’re excited, but try to be a little quieter next time, okay?”

Sunny whined a bit before nodding her head and finishing her scrambled eggs.

After they had eaten, Klonoa had hastily gotten ready and made sure Sunny was all set. Making sure she had her little backpack with her stuff in it was very important.

He also very quickly wrote a small note to send to Lolo:

Hey, Lolo!

Yes, Sunny’s with me. She surprisingly warmed up to me very quickly. She got really excited when I mentioned Skip. Be sure to let him know once you get this so he doesn’t get too worried. I’m sorry that this is so brief, but we’re heading out as I write this. We’ll see you soon!

Love,

Klonoa

As he put the note into an envelope he had already written the address and receiver of the note onto in advance, he noticed that his shoes were shined and everything he needed, his Wind Ring included, was packed in his own small bag.

“Thanks, Grandpa.” He was truly thankful.

And of course, he couldn’t forget to put on his signature blue hat with its golden emblem.

 

~*~

Klonoa had decided that his first stop on the journey to the Sky Temple was with Chipple. Not only for Sunny to take a small break, but for him to ask Chipple about a few things. However, Sunny ended up clinging to Klonoa once she had realized that Chipple’s younger brothers were too much for her.

While Chipple wasn’t confident with most things, one of the things he was sure that he could handle was watching over his brothers. This was truly his time to shine if Klonoa needed a bit of advice for once.

“Chipple, please, I am seriously wondering how she coined the nickname ‘Nii’ for her brother.”

“It’s another term of endearment for older brothers! My own lil’ brothers call me Nii-chan sometimes!” Chipple answered.

And with that, the cabbit put two and two together again .

“How could I be this dense with that,” Klonoa murmured to himself.

“Dontcha worry, big bro! You might not have heard it used a lot.”

“That is a good point… Oh, yeah, uh… is it bad if she’s not really speaking? I mean she’s said even less than Lolo did when we were little.”

“I don’t think so? Does she try anything else instead of talking?”

“She actually draws pictures to communicate most of the time from what I’ve seen.”

“Then that’s how she talks for now!” Chipple decided. “She’ll probably get it sometime when she’s older. Some of my brothers had a hard time talking at first, too.”

Hearing that made Klonoa feel a bit better about this.

“See, Sunny? I told you it’s alright if you can’t speak much.”

Sunny only gripped a bit tighter onto Klonoa’s hand in response. The sketchbook was a bit hard for her to get to right now.

“We might have to get going… I think she’s overwhelmed. But I really do appreciate this.”

“It’s fine! Was nice meeting you, tiny sunshine!” Chipple said. “Good luck with finding Skip, you both!”

“Thanks, Chip! See you again soon!“

The two exchanged goodbyes as Klonoa left with Sunny. Now was the two hour-long walk to Jugkettle. Two hours if they didn’t run into any monsters. Oh boy .

Thankfully, the child was alright with being carried on his back when she got tired of walking. She’d eventually fallen asleep, and Klonoa noticed that she was quietly and contently purring.

He’d pass by several trees, one of those being where he had found the Radiant Flower for Lolo a few years back. That flower meant so much to him. Not just him, but to Lolo and a few of his friends, too. The legends surrounding it were true.

Since it was nearing autumn, no flowers were in bloom right now. It would have been nice to show the Radiant Flower or something similar to Sunny.

“So, it’s not too long until we get there,” he quietly mused to himself. “I bet you’re excited to see your brother, huh.”

“…Papa…” Sunny mumbled in her sleep.

So she really does miss her parents, too, huh, he thought.

“Well, well. What do we have here.”

Klonoa’s eyes widened as he recognized who the voice belonged to. He turned to the left to see a very familiar black-and-golden furred wolf leaning back on one of the many trees that were present.

“Guntz!!” the cabbit shrieked in surprise. “What’re you doing here?!”

The wolf looked rather… surprised? “…Who are you?” he asked as he began to walk toward Klonoa.

“Huh?! Guntz, we’ve known each other for almost three years now.”

“No, I know who you are, squirt.”

“Don’t call me squirt!! I’ll be seventeen in a few months!!” he laughed. Yep, they truly did tease each other like siblings would. Heck, he actually considered Guntz to be his big brother at this rate.

“I’m still a few years older than you. And I meant the little kid,” Guntz gestured toward Sunny, who was now wide awake.

“…That’s Sunny. Her brother’s apparently with Lolo, and I gotta help reunite them…”

“Ah. That’s why you have her with you. I thought for a minute that she was your little sister or something...”

He took another look at the little cabbit, who was looking directly at Guntz and not saying a word. She looked rather content.

“...she’s not even freakin’ out or anything. Is this kid alright?” Normally, most kids around her age would be a bit afraid of him.

“Yeah, she just doesn’t talk very much.”

Sunny tilted her head slightly in confusion. She wondered what Guntz meant by freaking out..? He seemed fine to her.

“Anyways, we’re headed to Jugkettle so we can get to the temple quicker by boat.”

“Eh, I’ll come with. It’ll kill some time, and there’s not too much to do in a rural area like this.”

“Great!” Klonoa smiled. “Then let’s get going and-”

…only the cabbit frowned when he remembered one little detail. “…Wait, you get seasick. You’re sure that you can handle being on a boat?”

“I’ll… figure out some way,” the wolf assured. “I mean, it really sucks, but-”

Mooooooo!!!

Quite a few brightly-colored Moos had surrounded the three of them. There were ten of them at least and they had taken Klonoa and Guntz by surprise.

“Ah, crap,” Klonoa murmured. While he did bring the Wind Ring just in case, he did not plan for any monster encounters, especially since it had seemed like the ones that Joka had summoned years ago were supposedly gone. “Phantom Beasts here, now of all times?!”

“ Shit ,” Guntz snarled as he got out his two matching guns.

“Hey, not in front of her,” Klonoa told him as he put Sunny down and aimed his Wind Ring at a Moo.

“Speak for yourself .” He now aimed his guns at another Moo.

The next few minutes consisted of the two heroes swiftly dodging the Moos and attacking them with their respective weapons as Sunny quietly watched, unsure of what to do. She had yelped every time Guntz had fired his twin guns at the Moos.  Not so much as due to the action itself (though she really did feel bad for the Moos, who usually wouldn’t hurt anyone unless provoked), but due to the loud sound the guns had made.

Once the Moos were all eliminated, Klonoa couldn’t help but notice the child shivering in fear, making the humming sound he had heard her make before and trying to cover her ears.

“Yer sure she’s okay??” the wolf questioned.

“I, uh… one more thing… I think Sunny’s hearing is really sensitive.”

“Like yers? Didn’t you say that too much sound could make you-”

“No, I mean really sensitive. I think that’s why she wears those headphones most of the time. If she didn’t have them on, the noise from our weapons would be way too much for her.”

Guntz was actually surprised by this. “Well goddamn .”

“Language,” Klonoa sternly reminded Guntz as he motioned for Sunny to climb back onto his back. “You alright, Sunny?”

“Mmmn…” Sunny whined a little as she climbed onto Klonoa’s back.

“Hey, Klo.”

“Hm?” The cabbit turned to Guntz.

The wolf seemed a bit hesitant. “…If, for whatever reason, you need me to help with carrying her later, I can try,” the wolf offered. “Had to do the same with you before.”

Klonoa looked toward him and smiled warmly. “…Thanks, Guntz."

And with that, they began to quietly chat as they headed to Jugkettle.