An Aqua-Monica.
Twizzler had done her best to explain it to them on their way to the restaurant Cream's brother worked at, he really needed to ask what the name was at some point. The beautiful blue instrument that he was holding in his hands was apparently an incredibly valuable relic. Twizzler and Cream were quietly discussing what to do with it in a nearby booth of the mostly empty restaurant.
It was just the three of them, and Chip who had let them all in, waiting for Luna to bring back Tika. Their "client" had given them free reign with whatever they had found but Twizzler at least had thought this little instrument was a big enough deal that she should be informed.
Haru was shocked out of his thoughts when Chip slid a tray onto the table in front of him. "Try this." The Eevee pushed the tray, and the small piece of bread on it, closer. He gingerly picked up the bread and took a bite. It was just a little sweet, it tasted wonderful really. Chip nodded to him and scooted into the booth.
"Thanks for letting us in here so late." Haru spoke up after a bit of munching on the bread.
"Eh, no big deal, Marle says I can have the run of the place when it's not being used." Chip leaned back comfortably. "As long as I don't trash the place and clean up afterwards, besides you looked hungry."
Chip wasn't quite wrong, he had been really hungry after leaving the ruins they'd been exploring. Which was why he was so eagerly devouring the bread that he'd been given.
"So you don't snore right?" Haru was completely thrown off by the Eevee's question. "It's not a deal breaker but I wanna know what I'm getting into." Chip said, laughing at the absolutely pole-axed expression on Haru's face.
"I…. Cream didn't say anything…. so… i assume not?" Chip's laughter grew stronger and he thumped the Buizel on the shoulder.
"Good to hear buddy." It seemed like Chip was about to say something else before he was interrupted by the door opening. Luna was standing in the doorway with another Eevee, Tika. The pair seemed to practically skip into the room.
"So a little puppy tells me you all found something incredibly interesting." Tika says jumping onto the table causing Chip to wince. "Show me the mysterious treas-" the Eevee paused as she caught sight of the Aqua-Monica. "Sweet Shaymin sunrise!"
Cream sighed at the Eevee's antics. "So you can see why we wanted to get you involved."
"Yup, think this falls under exceeds expectations. So what are you gonna do with it?" Tika's question seemed to pull everyone up short. Tika looked around at the shocked faces staring at her. "Oh…. you wanted my advice. Ok let me look at it." Tika leaned forward scoping the instrument out of Haru's paws and into her own, there was a short moment where Haru thought he saw the Eevee shiver as she began examining the instrument.
"There's a temple to Kyoygre in town right?" Twizzler nodded in confirmation. "My advice, take it there and give it to them." Tika began to rifle through the bag that Haru had seen the day before on the Riolu that had been with her and pulled out a sack of Poké and tossed it onto the table. "Or i could give it to my daughter, eh it's yours to do with as you will. Speaking of yours to do with, here, your payment for a job well done i'd say."
"I can take it to the temple when we're done here, not like Kari will shut the door on me." Twizzler spoke up, taking the Aqua-monica from Tika and tossing the bag of Poké to Cream.
"In addition, I know you're all planning to leave the island soo, I was wondering if you'd be willing to put that off for..oh say a week?"
"We…. can?" Cream said looking to everyone else who nodded in confirmation.
The Eevee's grin threatened to swallow her face which was beginning to become a worrisome occurrence in Haru's opinion. "Good, because a find like this deserves a great reward, so me and Gabu are gonna train you."
The rest of the conversation went by in kind of a blur for Haru while Cream, Twizzler and Tika worked out all the details. Apparently they'd meet Tika and her Riolu companion for the next week on the same beach he'd been camping out at. So at least he knew where it was.
Chip cooked them all dinner and Haru tried his hardest not to notice the sickly sweet concoction that resembled sprinkles with a little bread in it on Twizzlers plate, he failed.
Before Haru had even realized everyone had left the restaurant and went their separate ways, the Buizel following Cream and Chip to their home. The home was an interesting sight, a half dozen round brick huts arranged in a semi circle around a firepit and a larger hut.
A trio of Eevee were sitting around the firepit while a small fire burned within. One of the Eevee let out a huff upon seeing Cream and stalked off to one of the stone huts and shutting the door behind them.
"Wafe-" One of the other Eevee's began "And he's gone." All the Eevee could do was sigh before turning to the group. "Sorry Cream, think Wafer is mad at you again."
"He'll get over it soon, probably." Said the other Eevee yawning widely.
"Hopefully, Haru, this is my brother Macaroon and my sister Rosette." Cream indicated the yawning Eevee and then the apologetic one.
"Have a seat around the fire, we're just waiting for it to burn out." Rosette said, patting the ground beside her. Haru and the others didn't hesitate to sit beside the fire. Haru watched the fire quietly as the siblings chatted away about their day. There was something almost comforting to Haru about watching the embers of a fire smolder, like he'd done it countless times. He hardly even noticed as he drifted off to sleep.
Haru didn't remember being back in the ruins, not that he remembered a whole lot to begin with, he didn't remember waking up either for that matter. Before he could adjust to the old ruin the whole room seemed to twist and shift to something resembling Chip's restaurant albeit mostly empty.
Mostly empty because sitting at one of the tables, idly kicking its legs, was something that looked like a bird pokemon, though not one Haru could recognise. The Pokemon was covered in purple and black feathers with a long smiling yellow beak.
"Hi!" The bird practically shouted and waved excitedly at the Buizel, Inviting him over to the table.
Haru didn't even realize he was sitting down until he was across from the bird. "Uh, Hi?"
"So this is all probably really confusing for you, which is good cause this is all really confusing for me too." The bird said cheerily. "So I'm...huh, can't remember my name so it probably wasn't important, but I was in that tomb you explored earlier today." The room around them changed back to the ruin though with the table they were sitting at in it, before shifting back.
"You can't remember your name?" Haru asked, causing the bird to shrug.
"Yeah, I think we have that in common actually, a bit empty in here." The bird looked sad for a moment before quickly perking up. "I do remember the rules for checkers though, do you want to play?" As the bird asked, a checkerboard appeared on the table between them. "Oh, oh that's what you can call me Checkers!"
"I…. sure, ok." Haru agreed. The board was set up in no time and after Checkers explained the rules to Haru the pair began to play while they talked.
"So, you were in the ruins when we went in there?" Haru asked.
"Hmmm, oh yup, I was... attached feels like the right word, to that funny blue instrument, then you picked it up and I was attached to you." Checkers said while moving a piece.
"Are you a ghost then?"
"Not really."
The game continued in Checkers' favor, whatever the bird was, they were really good at checkers. Haru was rather confused by what was happening, but he was actually having a good time. "Is this gonna become a regular thing?" Haru asked, he didn't think he'd actually mind that so much but having someone else in his head could get awkward.
"No, at least not anytime soon, I'm not strong enough for that." Checkers said, taking Haru's last piece. "Oh, I win." Checkers smiled brightly, preening at his victory.
Haru didn't really feel that bad about losing, it'd actually been a lot of fun. He'd have to see about getting his own checkers set. Before he could say anything the room around them started to fade and become translucent.
"Oh phooey, you're starting to wake up." Checkers said frowning. "Well, I'll be around, hope you have a nice day." Checkers waves as he fades away.