Time Skip

“I told ya, I-” the wolf tried to balance himself, “I’m not good on boats. Why the hell did I agree to this… I don’t even have any motion sickness meds…”

They had indeed decided to board a boat after taking a small break in Jugkettle. It was near sunset at this point.  And just like Klonoa had vividly remembered, Guntz was not feeling well and was doing his absolute best to not get too seasick.

“That’s a shame,” Klonoa sighed.

“Shaaaame,” Sunny echoed.

Guntz rolled his eyes. Yep, this kid’s just like Klonoa, he thought.

The child had been drawing in her sketchbook and had shown what she drew to Klonoa: several different colored fish that the teenager could have sworn looked just like a few certain ones he had met before.

“I’m not sure if we’ll see any fish here or not,” he told her. “I don’t think I saw Karal or Pamela, and I know they've live around here before…”

“Pame’,” the little cabbit mumbled as she rubbed her eyes.

“We’ll be there before we know it, okay? We can talk more about them later-”

The wolf groaned. “It’s been at least thirty minutes. If you say that again, I swear to everything holy...”

As they had reached the Moon’s Ruins after finishing the boat trip from Jugkettle, Klonoa and Guntz had realized that the ruins were… well… going to be difficult to get through. Lots of phantom beasts were likely in the ruins themselves, and Klonoa had suddenly remembered that everything would echo in there.

“You’re really wanting to go through with this,” Guntz simply stated.

“Yyyyep. We went through here before, we can survive it one more time,” Klonoa answered. “Gotta do it for Lolo and Sunny’s brother.”

“Ah, the things you do for love.”

Yes, Klonoa was often teased by both Guntz and Breezegale’s local stonemason, Balue, about whether he liked Lolo when they were younger. Klonoa would always cheerfully respond with “yeah, we've been friends since I can remember!” or “uh-huh, we’re pals!” Not because it bothered him, but because he genuinely had no clue what they had meant at the time… that is, until the wolf had to bluntly explain what Balue had really meant at the time.

It truly was the case once he had realized. He actually did have romantic feelings for his childhood best friend, and she had also felt the same way about him.

He grinned at the mere thought of being able to see Lolo again. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Let’s get going.” And with that, Guntz ran into the pyramid’s entrance, with Klonoa, who had Sunny on his back again, following him shortly after.

And just as he had remembered, their footsteps did indeed echo. It was a bit darker than they had previously recalled, with little torches at the walls keeping the area lit.

Little Sunny must have realized that it was smarter to stay as silent as she could instead of panicking.

“Have you… been in these ruins before, kiddo?” the wolf quietly asked the child, who had nodded her head in response to the question.

“Wait, how? Why? ” The wolf was trying so hard not to shriek in surprise. “It’s dangerous here, y’know?”

Only one word would come out of her mouth: “Papa.”

Guntz could faintly remember the missions his late father had brought him on when he was little, so he could understand as to why she’d try to tag along with her own father. As long as she wasn’t endangered, it must have been fine.

“…I see. It was very brave of you to go with him, then.”

Despite knowing that it was okay to be afraid, Sunny didn’t want to admit that this place still scared her quite a bit. It was a bit too dark for her liking.

“Now, we just gotta be as quiet as we can and sneak out,” Guntz stated.

“Just don’t use me as bait again,” Klonoa sighed.

“Fine, fine…”

This would turn into a very long chat with the two of them throwing around insults at each other as they were searching for the exit, telling the four-year-old that they’d be out soon, and trying so hard not to have their arguments escalate into something more.

“You’re such a jerk sometimes, Guntz.”

“Heh. Just teasin’ my lil’ bro.”

“…Okay that’s slightly better than calling me a kiddo.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Too bad Pango’s not with us so we could get out the easier way.”

“Yeah, well, he’s not with us in the ruins…”

After what had seemed like forever after fighting quite a few phantom beasts and trying to make sure that Sunny wouldn’t melt down, they had made it to what looked like the middle, where there were several empty prison cells that Klonoa vividly remembered from a few years ago.

The aftereffects from the explosives Pango had used to help the prisoners escape were surprisingly still there. That would make the trip a little bit shorter, as they had hoped.

…or so they thought.

A few phantom beasts had appeared out of seemingly nowhere, frightening the heroes quite a bit.

Klonoa could only tell Guntz one thing. “ Run. ”

But as they had exited the ruins, that was when Sunny had started to wail. She was at her limit, and the sunset was way too much for her right now.

~*~

Skip was growing very anxious at this point. It was almost sundown again, and his sister still wasn‘t here. He’d actively cry out for her or his parents on occasion, hugging Sir Fluff (or even a reluctant Popka if Skip got the permission) for a bit of reassurance.

And because she didn’t want him to also get lost, Lolo was there to try to comfort him. She’d even presented the letter she had gotten a little earlier in the day to the four-year-old and read it clearly to him. Popka, who had been lying down on Lolo’s bed, was rather relieved to hear this information.

“S-So she’s okay..?” Skip tearfully asked.

“Of course. I know Klonoa will take good care of her.”

“Okay…" the child tried his very best to "Can we get apples for them?”

“Did you want one, too?”

“Yeah. Dinner time. But I want apples, too.”

“Well, whatta we waitin’ for!” Popka suddenly exclaimed, jumping up. “Let’s get some grub!”

“Yeah! Food!!” Skip cheered. “Uh, what else is there besides apples?”

“Well, it’s usually laid out like a buffet, so there’s a lot of things… Are you okay with something like soup?”

“Ooh, soup’s really yummy. But no carrots in it, please.”

As the group headed to the temple’s dining hall, Lolo was looking out to see if anyone familiar was around…

Someone had indeed been waiting for them: a red-haired, dark-skinned woman wearing a sky pirate uniform was standing near the entrance to the dining hall. “Hey, I can’t stay too long, but I made it.”

It took Lolo a bit to recognize her due to the different clothing, but…

“Leo?!” Lolo ran up to the sky pirate in excitement. “It’s been a few years! It’s good to-”

“Auntie Leo!” Skip suddenly shrieked as he ran up to the sky pirate, hugging her leg.

Both the priestess and sky pirate turned to the child.

“Auntie Leo?” Both Lolo and Leorina were very confused.

“…I mean, she reminds me of my auntie…” he sounded a bit worried.

Popka side-eyed the four-year-old. “Are you sure she ain’t just remindin’ ya, kid?”

The child hesitated for a moment before finally answering, “…I’m sure.”

A little monochrome cat puppet, Tat, floated into the room, confused by the sight.

“Myaaa? Can you explain what’s going on?” she asked, her one eye widening in surprise.

“Eh, it’s already difficult to,” the little dog creature responded. “I just want food.”

“Oh that’s right! Soup!” Skip suddenly squeaked as he let go of Leorina and grabbed Popka’s arm. He then ran to Tat and forcibly grabbed her arm as well. “C’mon! Food!”

And with that, Skip, Popka, and Tat were now rushing into the dining hall to see what food would await them. Lolo and Leorina had followed them shortly after.

“Wait… you’re a Sky Pirate now?” Lolo asked.

“Yep. But I promised myself that I’ll only steal from those who are bad,” Leorina smirked. “It’s my own policy.”

The priestess was speechless, trying to figure out how to respond. Did she mean bad as in actual villains, or bad as in people she had a grudge on or personally didn’t like..? Lolo thought that it was best not to ask her at the moment.

Several priestesses had commented on how cute Skip was as he was trying to grab some food and they even tried to help him if Popka and Tat were preoccupied.

“He almost called me ‘mama’ several times,” the priestess had suddenly realized.

“Now, Lolo, how is it even possible for him to be your kid? ” Leorina asked, making sure not to be too loud.

Lolo thought it over for a moment. “…I just thought that his mother looked like me, and that’s why he called me that.”

“You’ve been looking after him since he came here, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“That checks out, then.”

The two of them tried to laugh it off as they headed to a table. Leorina was motioning for Skip, Popka, and Tat to join them.

“…but you are my mama,” Skip quietly said to himself as they headed over.

The four-year-old looked down at the soup he had gotten and grimaced, taking out an orange vegetable. “Ew. There’s carrots in this…”

~*~

“We should be close now. It was a very tiring trip, but we’re almost there.”

“You’re damn right, it was tiring.”

“She can’t help it if she cries, Guntz.” The cabbit sighed, turning back to the child he carried on his back. “She’s asleep now, at least.”

“Oh, I fuckin’ know that she can’t help it,” the wolf whispered, just so Klonoa wouldn’t comment at him again. “Just wish she didn’t rely on crying so much.”

Klonoa didn’t want to admit it out loud, but he did wish it was a bit easier for Sunny to at least say something if she couldn’t reach for her sketchbook.

It was definitely night time now, as it was quite dark out and there were many stars out tonight. The area was now more grassy as they were heading closer to the Sky Temple.

“So. You got a plan for where we’re staying tonight?” Guntz suddenly asked.

“I’m pretty sure there’s an inn nearby.” Klonoa replied. “It’s best if we go there.”

“Great. I’ll get a room for myself, and you can stay with the pipsqueak—”

There was a long, drawn-out howl that could be heard from a distance. A young wolf’s to be exact, which very much alarmed Guntz.

“Head on to the inn, I’ll check what the hell’s exactly going on,” Guntz quickly suggested as he ran off to the direction of the sound.

“W-Wait! What about your money for-”

But it was too late. Guntz had already left Klonoa’s sight.

The cabbit sighed. “Ah, well. I’m sure he’s got the money for his own room anyways. C’mon, Sunny, we’d better hurry.” 

The wolf kept running through the grassy terrain, trying to see where the howling was coming from. He stopped when he saw a red-furred wolf child sitting on a biggish rock, literally howling at the moon. They looked almost like a miniature version of Guntz, only with shorter hair and no tufts of fur around their neck. Their oversized yellow jacket made them less menacing, funnily enough.

“Hey, who are- Who are you?! Are you alright?!”

The child had stopped howling and then turned to Guntz, their two long zig-zag shaped bangs swooshing across their face. Their purplish-blue eyes widened, and they finally spoke:

“Who’re you , and why do you look like Pops? ”

That very question hit Guntz like a ton of bricks. He was certain that he had no siblings, so why was this kid asking if he looked like their dad? His father had been murdered long ago, but he wasn’t sure if he should be saying that to a child as young as this one.

“Kid, I… I have no idea what the hell you mean,” he stated bluntly.

They didn’t seem alarmed by his response. In fact, they seemed a bit more relieved, if anything. “Nonononono, you look like my pops. I’m not saying you are my pops. You look too young,” they responded.

Guntz sighed in relief. “Okay. First off, who are you, and what’re you doing here?”

The child finally smiled and jumped off the rock, turning to the older wolf. “The name’s Topaz!” They put their fist onto their chest. “Seven years old, and I’m a lot according to my parents. Unofficial but kiiinda official jewel of the family. I’m here to help find my cousins and bring them back to their parents.”

He decided to try to play along a little bit. “A rescue mission, huh? Sounds risky.”

“Yep, and I certainly could use somewhere to stay for the night!”

Ah, shit, that was the catch, Guntz thought.

“Fine. I’m staying in an inn tonight, it’s not too far from here.”

“Ooh! Can I stay with you?” Topaz was very ecstatic about this information.

“I was gonna let you know that yes, you can, squirt. I have money for a room. You’d get your own place to sleep and everything.”

“Does it have breakfast included? Or do we have to go somewhere else for breakfast?”

“I have no idea.”

“Okay then, let’s go.” They leapt up from where they were sitting and were ready to follow the older wolf. “Lead the way, uh… wait, what even is your name?”

“Guntz, the Golden Death.”

“Okay. Guntz. Easy to remember. Lead the way, Mr. Guntz!!”

The wolf was honestly trying so hard not to cringe at the use of “Mr.” with his name. He had decided to fess up just so that the kid wouldn’t keep calling him that.

“…Just Guntz will do."

“Alright. I’ll be careful next time!”

Despite being quite the rowdy kid, they were rather polite about that.

And with that, they headed off to the nearby inn. The child brought up several things such as their favorite games, little adventures they went on with their friends and cousins, wanting to see their parents again since the kid hadn't spent very much time with them in general...

Just like Guntz had said, there were indeed two beds in the room, with one for Topaz to sleep in. The other thing Topaz had immediately noticed was a small television set, a nightstand with a lamp on it, and several more things. The child rushed in, ecstatic to see everything in the room and checked every nook and cranny of it, asking many questions as they did so.

“Hey do the lights have different brightness levels? You think the lil’ TV gets any good channels? What kinda stuff is the bed made out of? Okay it’s comfy. Does the toilet flush by itself?”

He partially regretted taking this kid in for the night. Guntz knew that they had nowhere to stay, but he wished that they weren’t this chatty about things.

“Okaaaay I think that’s enough for now, squirt. It’s pretty late.”

Topaz, who had skidded to a complete stop near the beds, turned to Guntz immediately and sighed, climbing onto the bed they had already claimed to be theirs. “Fiiine. I’ll sleep."

And that would have been the end of that… that is, until Topaz threw a pillow at Guntz and successfully hit the back of him, laughing hysterically.

Guntz then took the pillow that was thrown at him and threw it back at the red-furred wolf child, and it landed smack dab in their face and forced them into lying down on the bed. The child removed said pillow from their face, still giggling a bit.

“Seriously, Topaz, there’s other people here trying to sleep too, y’know.”

“Ohhh. I think I get it. One of my cousins hates it when we’re loud. But all she can do is cry since she can’t talk too much yet, so I gotta be careful.”

“Yeah, exactly. Glad you get it. Let’s get some shut-eye for now, alright?”

“Alrighty. G’night, squirt.”

“Night.”

And with that, the lights were turned off for the night, and shortly after, they were asleep.