Chapter 38: Sunburned

"Okay, Dugtrio, this should help," Chimecho said as she unscrewed the jar of Rawst Berry cream.

Normally this time of day would find Chimecho in the Mess Hall, preparing dinner, but Wigglytuff had decided that cooking sounded "super-fun" and he wanted to try his own hand at it tonight.

"Besides! Friendly-friend Chimecho deserves a break!" he reasoned.

Of course, this meant that Chatot now had to hover over Wigglytuff and act as damage control, since the last time the Guildmaster had held a spoon in his hand it had resulted in the explosion of Croagunk's precious Swap Cauldron (which, incidentally, had yet to be fixed, despite Croagunk's weeks of near-ceaseless effort).

But even with the break from cooking, Chimecho still found herself busy fulfilling one of her other common roles: nurse.

Dugtrio gave a small sigh of relief as he felt the coolness of the cream, but his blissful moment was interrupted by Loudred's snickering.

"It is not funny!" Dugtrio said heatedly, the frustrated scowl on his face falling into a wince when his sharp turn towards Loudred irritated his sensitive skin.

"Oh, it's PRETTY funny from where I'M standing!" Loudred managed through a belly laugh.

"H-hey, hey! From over here, too!" Corphish agreed through his own snickers.

Dugtrio grumbled unintelligibly as he took stock of the room's reactions to his misery. Loudred, Corphish, Croagunk, and, surprisingly, Sunflora seemed to find the situation amusing (the jerks), Chimecho was neutral (although that could have been because she was busy smearing medicine on his back), Bidoof seemed mildly sympathetic, and his son seemed highly annoyed. Team Rainbow hadn't returned from their jobs yet, but it was approaching their usual time, so he would probably get to see their reactions in three… two…

"Hi everyone! Today's missions went great! We—what the-?! What happened to you Dugtrio?!" Paula demanded in shock as she and Laura (whose eyes were wide with surprise) finally arrived and were met with the unexpected sight of Dugtrio, whose skin, instead of being its usual earthy tone, was as red as an Apple.

"Don't worry; it's just a sunburn," Chimecho assured them.

"A s-sunburn?" Paula repeated incredulously as she continued to stare.

"Yes. My father decided that it would be a good idea to sit out on Sharpedo Bluff to stare at the ocean all day. In direct sunlight. With no protection," Diglett explained, shooting another annoyed glare at his father.

Dugtrio rolled his eyes. "Ah, my son," he sighed in exasperation, "one of these days you will learn about the majesty and splendor contained within the sea…"

"'Majesty' and 'splendor?'" Diglett repeated. "Dad, it's just water. If you haven't forgotten, Ground-types like us are weak to water."

"You must look past its vicious exterior to see the beauty within," Dugtrio pressed.

"You're so stubborn!" Diglett mumbled. "Honestly, no one is as fascinated with the ocean as you!"

"That is not true!" Dugtiro denied, feeling flustered. "Laura understands exactly how I feel!"

Everyone blinked in surprise and turned to Laura, whose brow had creased in confusion at Dugtrio's claim. When she felt everyone's gaze fall on her she blushed and looked down at her feet.

"HUH?" Loudred asked, turning back towards Dugtrio. "How do you figure THAT?"

The Ground-type nodded sagely (suppressing another wince at the flare of pain resulting from the movement) and addressed Laura directly, "You need not be ashamed, Laura. I have seen you many a time atop the bluff, gazing wistfully across the sea."

"Hm…" Paula hummed, tapping her chin and looking at Laura thoughtfully. "Now that you mention it, Dugtrio… Laura, I have seen you concentrating intently on the ocean when we go to the Beach together."

"Meh heh heh…" Croagunk chuckled, causing Laura to squirm under his gaze. "So, we've got another member of Dugtrio's 'Ocean Cult?'"

Laura squirmed some more. "I'm not…" she trailed off, sighing, before trying again, "I just really like the beach, okay? It… it feels like home."

Corphish cocked his head at the confession. "Hey, hey! Really? But… you're a Grass-type. Wouldn't a forest or prairie feel more comfortable to you?" he asked curiously.

Laura shrugged. "Forests are nice, but… I like beaches better," she answered honestly.

Croagunk smirked again. "Meh heh heh… So we do have another member of the cult!" he teased, causing Laura to shoot him a weak glare.

Dugtrio looked triumphantly at his son, but Diglett just rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine! So someone else likes the ocean too! But unlike you, Dad, Laura won't get burned if she stays out in the sun all day!"

"Actually, that's not true," Sunflora interjected.

Diglett turned to her in surprise. "But… don't Grass-types just soak up all the sunlight to use it for…" he frowned, trying to remember the term, before turning back to his father and asking, "what did you call it, Dad? Photo-something?"

"Photosynthesis," Sunflora nodded. "That's true, but it's not as though we use all of the sunlight that hits us. If Laura or I were to stand out on the bluff or Beach all day without any protection… we'd probably get burned even worse than Dugtrio is now!" She shuddered. "Eek! Oh my gosh, it hurts just to think about it!"

The non-Grass-types looked surprised. They looked back towards Laura for confirmation, but she just shrugged; she had thought that was common knowledge. Chimecho, meanwhile, finally finished slathering Dugtrio with the cream and looked him over thoughtfully. "Speaking of painful…" she began, "you'll probably be in too much pain for a while to do your regular job." As she cleaned the medicine off of her hands, she addressed Diglett, saying, "Diglett, I think that you'll have to take over."

Diglett shot his father a look. "That means someone will have to take my job," he growled in annoyance. Then he glanced towards Paula and Laura and hesitantly began, "Um…Team Rainbow…?"

"Don't worry, Diglett. We've got it covered," Paula assured.

"UGH! That means I'LL have to work with you two NOVICES again…" Loudred grumbled.

"'Novices?'" Paula spluttered in indignation. "Hey! We've done a perfect job nearly every time we've done Sentry Duty!"

"EXACTLY!" Loudred exclaimed. "NEARLY every time! If DIGLETT were doing it, it would ALWAYS be perfect!"

"Need I remind you that he couldn't identify Laura when she first showed up?"

Loudred rolled his eyes and waved a hand. "That doesn't COUNT. Laura's footprints are WEIRD."

Paula scowled on behalf of her friend. "Oh yeah?" she demanded. "How so?"

"When SHE walks—"

"How she walks doesn't matter! When she stands, like on the grate, she does it the same way as every other treecko!"

"Yeah, but it's not just about the footprint ITSELF! You have to take the APPROACH into account!"

"Now you're just making excuses!"

"Oh YEAH?"

"Yeah!"

The argument would have continued longer had Chatot not come back into the room and declared that dinner was ready, with and assurance that Wigglytuff's cooking wouldn't accidentally kill them.

…And then he caught sight of Dugtrio's new "look" and spent a moment gawking at it before chastising him for being irresponsible, a bad influence on his son, and causing an inconvenience to the guild while he healed.

"You weren't sunburned," Paula noted once she and Laura had gotten settled in their own room later that evening.

Laura, who had just closed her eyes in preparation for sleep, reopened them and looked over to her friend in slight confusion. "Hm?" she asked.

"When I found you on the beach," Paula clarified, "you weren't sunburned."

Laura just frowned, not getting why Paula was bringing it up.

"It's just… Sunflora said that you would get a sunburn if you stayed out on the beach all day. So… why didn't you have one?"

Laura blinked again before her eyes widened and she sat up. "I… I don't know," she admitted.

"Maybe… Maybe you weren't actually out there that long?" Paula guessed, trying to make sense of it herself. "I mean… we still don't know how you got there, so…"

Laura frowned. "No… I think… I can faintly remember opening my eyes a few times," Laura admitted. "And… I think I saw color at one point. Like… like a sunrise."

"So then how did you avoid a burn?" Paula asked in confusion. "I found you in the evening, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky that day!"

Laura frowned. "…But it was dark," she murmured.

Paula looked at her. "Huh?"

"I remember… aside from the sunrise, it was always dark when I opened my eyes," Laura said, crossing her arms and shaking her head, trying to relive the small headache that was blossoming. "It was as if… as if a shadow was covering me. And I heard… I heard humming…"

"Humming?" Paula repeated.

"Yes," Laura confirmed with a faint smile. "It sounded like a lullaby…"

"…That's weird," Paula murmured with a frown. "So… what? You think that someone just sat with you all day, protected you from the sun, hummed a lullaby for you, and then… abandoned you? Who would do something like that?"

Laura shrugged; she didn't know either. But then she blushed sheepishly. "I might have just imagined the humming," she admitted. "And… I might be wrong about seeing a sunrise; it could have been a sunset, assuming that I actually saw anything at all."

Paula looked thoughtful. "Yeah… that makes more sense," she agreed. "I mean… no offense, Laura, but since we know how bad your memory is, your perception of time was probably off."

Laura nodded. She wasn't offended; Paula spoke the truth.

"And if it was nearing sunset," Paula continued, "then you probably did just use the remaining daylight for photo… whatever Sunflora said."

"Photosynthesis."

"Yeah, that."

The two sat in silence for a few moments, pondering the mystery, before Paula shrugged and decided that it wasn't that important. "Well, in any case… at least you didn't get sunburned!"