An ashen faced Sir Higglesworth took slow, lumbering steps down the stairs, the wrenching feeling of guilt gnawing away at his insides.
"Whatever happened?" He mumbled to no one. "Oh Lady Holly, if only you had told – hm?"
The soft carpeting of the hallway floor had suddenly changed to a sticky, messy one. Sir Higglesworth looked down and found a perfectly stubborn patch of syrup seeping under the doorway.
"Oh dear… what have those two done…" He sighed, wobbling on one foot to minimise the mess. "N-now is not the time to worry. I must keep our family together! Lady Holly would be displeased if I just let things fall apart."
He edged the kitchen door opened and hopped through, before immediately snorting in disgust as the acrid stench of smoke invaded his nostrils. "Wh-what has happened here?"
"About time, Higgle!" Socks squeaked, her face black with smoke – along with the chef's hat she'd acquired from somewhere – but her eyes shining with achievement. "Remember when I said you shouldn't trust me with fire? Well these are only burned so there!"
Sir Higglesworth groaned heavily. 'Only' burned wasn't quite the phrase. In the few minutes it took him to get downstairs, the sink had been piled high with dirty dishes, an enormous bottle of syrup had been spilled over the floor, and both Sparky and Socks were sitting on stools to avoid it. To their credit though, they had managed to cook a stack of pancakes, which were also drowned in syrup and swaying dangerously.
"Didn't we do awesome?!" Sparky giggled, also wearing a chef's hat. She casually threw the spatula she was holding, which landed in the mess of syrup on the floor with a damp slap.
Sir Higglesworth sighed once more. "Y-yes, good job girls. Now shall we move to the kitchen?"
"Err…" Socks said. "I dunno if you've noticed, but the floor's all syrupy, Higgle."
His grimace stretched wider. "Yes, Socks. I had noticed."
"How could he miss it, Socks? It's everywhere!" Sparky laughed, provoking a tiny moan from the Furret.
Yet more distractions. How lovely. Sparky was practically glowing when he pried the stack of pancakes from her and splashed across the syrupy floor into the kitchen, but all of this was hardly necessary. A distraction from reality, maybe, but sooner or later he was going to have to burst that happy bubble.
How long would they last before someone got suspicious? An hour? A few hours? A couple of days?
They said ignorance was bliss, Sir Higglesworth mused to himself. Reality was certainly torturous enough to have him believe it. Was the rest of their time together going to be naught but lies?
The plate hit the table with a dull clatter. After opening a window to clear out some of the smoke, he fell into the nearest seat as Socks balled herself up into an adjacent seat, and Sparky scampered up a stack of books to reach hers.
"Heyyy, why're you in Trainer's seat, Higgle?" Socks' head tilted sideways. "What if she gets hungry for these amazing pancakes we made?"
"…r-right!" Higgle stammered, shuffling around to the other side of the table. "Sorry Socks, I was just… rather distracted. I-I shall get those pancakes served now."
The pancakes were easily shared out into four piles, for the girls' sakes. Floating pancakes wasn't much, but it was something he could still do at least. How dull his powers had grown over the years. He was a laughingstock. He couldn't he have known? What manner of Psychic-type was he, to fail at basic telepathy? To not even know when his beloved trainer needed him most?
He was a disgrace of a Pokémon. If he couldn't protect his trainer, then what use was he? It was all just so-
"Hey Higgle, gonna eat those?"
The angry mist thinned out, and Socks' wide eyes blurred into his vision. Her eyes were wide and hopeful.
It was them. It had to be. He'd failed Lady Holly, but absolutely could not fail Socks and Sparky, no matter the cost. They were all he had.
Higgle summoned up a response, "…oh. Y-you can have them, Socks. I am not that hungry today."
"Awesome, thanks again Higgle! You're a star!"
All but one of his pancakes were swiped away, removed from his static line of vision. But of course, a fresh batch of guilt surged through his system at the sight of Holly's empty seat, with her pancakes just sitting innocently in front of it.
A sudden twinge forced him to blink and look away. How long had he just been staring? His eyes were starting to hurt from it. This wasn't good; he was unravelling already. For the good of the girls, he had to stay strong.
"M-make sure that you do not touch Lady Holly's breakfast, okay girls?" He stammered, dismounting his seat with a flourish. "Like you said Socks, she may become… hungry."
"Sure thing, Higgle!" She beamed at him, mouth bulging with pancakes. Socks' smile slowly eroded as she watched Higgle slowly walk through the kitchen, not even caring about the syrup on the floor anymore.
That was weird. He was so mad about it earlier.
"H-hey, is it just me, or is Higgle acting kinda weird today?" She said to Sparky.
"Iunno?" Sparky shrugged, swallowing down her weight in pancakes. "I guess he's just shocked about Miss Holly flying, maybe?"
"Huh. Must've been a big surprise then," Socks glanced over to the sole uneaten pancakes. "I mean, he didn't touch his food, and he loves pancakes."
"He loves Miss Holly's pancakes." Sparky raised a knowing finger.
"That's true…" Socks mumbled. "Trainer's pancakes are the best in the world, huh?"
"Mm-hmm!"
"A-and she's gonna be so proud of us when she sees that we made breakfast on our own! I mean sure, we made some mess, got the place a little smoky, but the food's great and we only set the house on fire once!"
"Not to mention me getting the stove started by myself!"
"Yeah, that was amazing Sparky! Where'd you learn that?!"
"You know those clicky sounds it normally makes before the fire starts? That's electricity! A-and I make electricity, so I just put two and two together, y'know?!"
"Yeah, you sure taught that silly stove!"
"Yeah, 'cause I'm awesome, huh?"
"…"
Suddenly the conversation wasn't fun anymore. Sparky just wanted her to say nice things about her instead of conversationy things, and where was the fun in that?
"Aw c'mon, say it!" Sparky pleaded. "We'd still be hungry if it wasn't for me!"
"But if I do you'll spend like the next week screaming about it!" Socks cried. "A-and Trainer doesn't like it when you're loud!"
"B-but she'd be so proud of m…us!" Sparky got up from her book ladder and walked across the table to her. "You said it yourself!"
"Then go make her say it!" Socks huffed. "I-I don't wanna break any rules!"
"Say it."
"…nu!"
"Say it."
"Nooo…!"
"Say it!" Sparky jabbed Socks in the waist with a spark of electricity.
"Yow…!" Socks flailed in protest. "Don't do that, Sparky! Wait a minute… did you do that earlier too?!"
"Maybe I did…" Sparky smirked. "And I might do it again if you don't say it!"
"Ohh… that's super not fair, Sparky!"
"I'm listening…" The little Emolga cupped a hand to her ear.
Socks just groaned. Sparky was being mean and it wasn't fair, but she didn't have much of a choice.
"…you're awesome."
It was best to just get it out of the way. At least then she'd stop being mean.
"Yeaaaahh, I'm awesome!" Sparky cried, whooshing past Socks and charging around the kitchen, "Woohoo!"
Sparky's shouting was extra loud today, so Socks got up and left the kitchen as quickly as she could. Maybe it was time to go see what Higgle was up to. Sparky was going to be busy shouting about herself for a while anyway, and the house was boring when she was on her own.
Socks mumbled to herself, noodling away across the floors and peering around corners to find Higgle. He wasn't in the TV room or the hallway, and definitely wasn't in the kitchen because it was still covered in syrup and she saw him leave it. So that just left upstairs.
Luckily she didn't have to search for too long, because Higgle was sat at the top of the stairs. He was squashed up against the top wall and looking at a letter, but he wasn't reading it because his eyes weren't moving and because he couldn't read human.
"Huh. Higgle's zoned out again?" She frowned. "Weird."
She wobbled her way up the stairs, landing softly on the carpet and squashing herself next to him.
"Hey there, Higgle."
Even with her nuzzling her head into his shoulder, it took him a weirdly long time to say anything.
"…hunh? Who? What?!"
"Are you okay, dude?" She eyed him worriedly. "You've been acting weird all morning. Like, I spilled all that syrup earlier and you didn't even yell. What's wrong?"
"I-it's nothing Socks, really." Higgle looked away from her. "I'm just…"
"Distracted?" Socks mewled.
"Y-yes. Nothing to worry about though, however I thank you for your concerns. H-how is Sparky doing?"
"She's… awesome," Socks grimaced. "But we're talking about you now Higgle. Wanna tell me what's up?"
"I am fine, Socks. Seriously. Please st-"
"But you're not fine, Higgle." Socks said, with more strength in her voice. Higgle's eyes narrowed at her.
"I… I'm not so smart, I know that." Socks rubbed her paws together. "But you know what else I know? I know you, Higgle. And I know that I know you, because we've been together forever, so I know that I know when you're not being you, s-so c'mon, what's wrong with you today?"
Higgle's eyes bounced all over the place and his skin went clammy, like when you randomly get icky at night-time. He sighed and said. "It's these letters that were delivered for Lady Holly. I am having trouble transcribing the text."
"Uh huh…?" Socks nodded. "A-and what does that mean?"
"Read, Socks. I am trying to read them." Higgle said more simply, with words that actual people said. "I understand that there is an abundance of red writing on these letters, and I can perceive that red writing is ominous, but I cannot for the life of me…"
Higgle's lips continued moving, but the words just got longer and more complicated, and it just started to sound like the TV when there weren't any channels on it, and before long her brain was starting to hurt.
"Agh…" She winced. "W-why is reading these letters so important Higgle? Can't you just get Trainer to do it?"
"Because they contain information, Socks." Higgle said flatly. "If I am able to decipher them, it may provide me with reasons."
"…reasons?"
"Yes, reasons."
"What kinda reasons?"
"Reasons as to why…" the letters in Higgle's hands were shaking. "W-why…"
But then Higgle let out a loud, noisy sob, and his head crashed forwards into his knees. Her best friend was whimpering next to her, and all she could do was stare. She'd known Higgle for years, and he never ever got upset, even when sad stuff happened. But then tears started dripping onto the carpet, so something must've been really wrong.
Socks' mouth tightened. Did she give Higgle space or comfort right now? She always seemed to pick the wrong one…
"…this had something to do with Trainer, doesn't it?" Socks dared, the clues forming in her mind like a block puzzle. She wrapped her long, skinny body around Higgle. "I mean… you normally just let Trainer read her mail, so it's gotta be something big, right?"
Higgle looked up, his face stricken. He didn't look like he was about to cry any more but somehow Socks felt worse at the sight of him.
"…yes."
"Can I… see Trainer?" She let out a tentative mumble. "I'd really really like to see her…"
"…alright," Higgle sighed. Lips thin, he stood up straight again and offered Socks a hand up. "You deserve that much."
"Thank you, Higgle." Socks nuzzled against him again. "She's just through here, right?"
"…yes."
"A-and I can see her? No more hand slapping and stuff?"
"N-no more."
Socks put a paw against the door. It felt cold to the touch, creaking gently. She glanced back and saw that Higgle's eyes were gleaming. Whatever was going on here, it was behind this door.
"I-I don't like this," Socks mumbled. "Like, why're you so scared, Higgle? It's just Trainer… right?"
"You shall find out soon enough, Socks." Higgle didn't look her in the eye. "But just remember one thing for me, okay?"
"B-but I remember lots of things, Higgle?"
"But especially this, okay?"
"S-sure thing, Higgle."
Higgle gulped. His arms started trembling. This was getting scary.
"Remember that we are a family, okay Socks? N-no matter what."
"Th-that's a silly thing to say, Higgle!" Socks' voice cracked. "Why wouldn't we be a family? I mean, we're all under this roof and we love each other lots and we have fun together, a-and-"
Socks stumbled backwards and edged the door open.
And she saw.