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Laventon had to clear his throat before speaking. Given Hisui's dry air, this wasn't necessarily an unusual occurrence, but the hoarseness (as well as the accompanying sore throat) should have worn off by now. As it was, all the throat-clearing gave off the impression that he thought he was dreadfully important and that everyone should listen up.
Indeed, Rei and all their Security Corps escorts looked at him like he was about to say something dreadfully important.
Laventon could only smile sheepishly. "Er. It's lovely weather, isn't it?"
Their escorts turned away, half of them looking relieved and the other half disappointed. Rei looked out to the horizon. "Yes, but I think I see stormclouds."
"Ah." Laventon swallowed, which stung. He wished he'd thought to bring along a vacuum flask for a tea break. "Well, perhaps they'll pass us by!"
"Maybe," Rei said with a shrug. "Or maybe the rain will bring out some new Pokémon to survey!"
"I suppose it might!" Laventon beamed, doing his best to suppress the quiet prickle of doubt. Neither he nor Rei were any good with their Poké Ball prototypes, and some Pokémon simply would not be soothed no matter how many berries or cakes were thrown their way. One way or another, they'd have to find a way to catch more Pokémon! But for now, field notes would have to suffice.
They separated in the Obsidian Fieldlands with plans to meet up around noon. Laventon went his merry way along the river, though by now he was beginning to sniffle.
All the usual suspects scampered in the fields before him: Shinx scuffling in the grass, Bidoof milling by the water, Starly hopping around at the bases of the trees.
Their calls rang out in the morning air, punctuated only by the chatter of the river and Laventon's increasing fits of sniffling.
As he walked, the sniffling gave way to a persistent burn. He kept walking automatically, until at last the burn climaxed and his breath hitched.
"Eh'tch!"
Something squeaked. Something other than Laventon, reeling post-sneeze.
Laventon stopped fumbling for his handkerchief and looked up slowly. The various Pokémon in the distance paid him no mind, not even the skittish Starly.
He lowered his head again, and the pressure in his sinuses responded with a violent prickle, demanding relief.
"AhT'CHH!"
Another squeak.
Laventon whipped his head up and caught a glimpse of pink, blurred into watercolor by his teary eyes. He blinked hard, urging the kaleidoscope of the world back into stationary shapes. Sniffling, he reached for his handkerchief again, but kept his gaze fixed on a nearby boulder. While he didn't have the field-honed senses of Cyllene or Kamado, it certainly seemed as though the sound had come from that direction. His fingers finally closed around the handkerchief in his breast pocket. He dabbed at his eyes, then blew his nose with an unpleasant drowning sensation.
A sliver of something pink appeared from behind the rock, and single black eye glittered.
Laventon lowered himself into a crouch. "Well, hello, there!"
The little shape squeaked and darted back behind the rock.
"It's quite alright!" Laventon said, lowering himself all the way to the dirt. "I won't hurt you. I want to study you!"
The little pink shape reappeared, casting him a dubious look with its one visible eye.
"Here," Laventon said, patting his coat. The sound of his voice didn't seem to disturb the Pokémon this time. From his lab coat pockets, he unearthed a honey cake and made an underhand roll toward the rock.
The little Pokémon chirped and flinched, disappearing and reappearing like they were playing peek-a-boo together.
Laventon dabbed at his nose with his handkerchief. It was starting to run in earnest now, which was quite inconvenient. If his suspicions were correct, this was rather a rare Pokémon! He couldn't risk scaring it away!
A tingle spread out from under the bridge of his nose. He did his best to ignore it, watching the Pokémon stare at the honey cake. "Come on, old boy, you'll like it! It's sweet."
With another chirp, the Pokémon waddled out from behind the rock. Just as Laventon had suspected: a Happiny! He beamed at it, but before he could speak, another sneeze tore through him: "Ah'tschh! Oh! Excuse me."
But it was too late. The Happiny squeaked in fear and darted back behind the rock with surprising dexterity given its body shape.
Laventon let out a congested, sticky breath, his throat stinging. But this was no time to be deterred by a mere cold! He blew his nose with a quiet hiss. "I didn't mean to startle you! Please, there's nothing to be afraid of."
He held still for a long moment, breathing shallowly through his mouth to keep from further irritating his poor inflamed sinuses. Most definitely a cold in the head.
The river burbled. A Bidoof dived in with a splash. Laventon held his breath.
Then, a quiet trill. The Happiny shuffled out warily, approaching the honey cake sideways.
"Yes," Laventon said softly, "that's it." His nose itched. He sniffed and pressed his handkerchief to his mouth so he could breathe through it, for all it might protect him from the dry air.
Moving with more confidence now, the Happiny picked up the honey cake and waddled toward him. With the Oval Stone in its pouch, moving was clearly difficult, but the Happiny kept at it.
Laventon sniffled. Tingles spread out through his sinuses. "D-don't be fr—hhhhightened now," he said, lowering the handkerchief, his body hitching as though with a phantom sneeze. "Is that t-too— Ah— too big for you, old boy?" Violent pressure beneath the bridge of his nose, his whole body tensing with the need to release. But he couldn't! One more sneeze and the Happiny might never come back. "Want me to— to—" It was happening. Whether he liked it or not. He sat back and pulled at the collar of his lab coat, doing his best to draw it over his mouth and nose. Shaking and gasping, he ducked his head into the crisp cotton and did his best to hold it back. "Chf!"
The Happiny stopped and chirred, blinking as though in confusion.
Laventon couldn't stop. One stifled sneeze had clearly not been enough for his nose, unable to to clear itself of a never-ending irritant. Helplessly, he pushed his face deeper into the folds of his lab coat, trying and trying not to sneeze at full force. "Ixchf! Ihhtsch!" But it was no use. The stubborn tingle danced high along his sinuses, and all his stifled sneezes only teased his nose, which screamed for proper relief. Shuddering with the need to keep sneezing, he tried to breathe through his mouth to mitigate the urge, but his breaths came trembling and frantic, all the fine muscles in his face quivering. "EH'CHUH!"
If the Happiny made a noise, he didn't hear it, too caught up in the threat of aftershocks.
"At'sch! AhkSCHUH! Ah—ahhhht'TCHUH!" Laventon pressed his streaming face into the collar of his lab coat, his handkerchief forgotten somewhere by his knees. A fit of coughing overtook him next. His body ached with exertion.
Collecting himself with a massive sigh, he straightened and, finding a dry patch of his collar, wiped his streaming eyes. So much for surveying. He'd have to go back to the Heights camp empty-handed and hope Rei had had better luck.
Something nudged Laventon's leg.
He looked down. The Happiny looked back at him, nudging his thigh with the honey cake, which had gotten rather dirty on the journey over.
"Oh!" Laventon sniffled. Spotting his handkerchief under his knee, he took it to and stuffed it haphazardly in a pocket of his coat. Thankfully, the worst of his sneezing fit seemed to be over for the time being. "Shall I break that up for you?"
The Happiny shook itself in a way that seemed negative.
Laventon cocked his head. "You don't like honey cakes, is that it?"
The Happiny huffed and ran a few clumsy circles around him, which meant nothing.
"I'm afraid I don't understand." Laventon sighed at the reminder of how little he knew about Hisui's Pokémon, and his ribs ached as they expanded. Upon reflection, he was starting to feel a little shaky. He coughed into his sleeve, trying to clear the itch in his throat. The little Happiny jumped back. It would be a shame to lose the opportunity to study it...
Satisfied he wasn't going to make any more frightening noises, the Happiny started squeaking and jumping, bumping Laventon's pockets. Laventon stared at it. What could it want? Not food, certainly not his handkerchief... Well, it did look like a baby; maybe it wanted a toy.
He patted himself down, unearthing only a click pen. He offered it to the little Happiny, which took the pen and began to click it relentlessly.
"Wonderful!" Laventon said, nearly forgetting how run-down he felt. If only he'd brought his camera! Or a second pen... Now he had no means of recording the Happiny's behavior.
Bracing his palms in the dirt, he sat back to watch the little creature play with the pen. His sinuses gave way a little, letting him breathe through his nose, but only for a few seconds before the dry air brought back the terrible urge to sneeze. Then he had to breathe through his mouth again, which made him cough, and he had to do it quietly or else risk scaring off the Happiny. Field work was a lot more difficult when one was ill.
After a while, the little Happiny seemed to tire of the pen. It waddled back over to the Professor and set it down in the dirt. Laventon pocketed it. "Well! Did you enjoy yourself?"
The Happiny chirped and darted away from him. As Laventon watched, it hopped back, then darted away again, like it was trying to get him to follow.
The wind chilled the back of his neck, in the tiny gap between his hat and the collar of his coat. He scarcely noticed. He was making wonderful progress with this Happiny, even if he was sort of starting to regret getting out of bed. His abused sinuses throbbed, and it took quite an effort to get himself to his feet. A sneeze tried to sneak up on him as he did so, and it was all he could do to get his face in his arm. "Ixsht!"
The Happiny made a chastising noise and hopped in place.
"I'm coming," Laventon promised, and set off after it.
The wind picked up as they went, rustling the leaves of the trees and making the hem of Laventon's coat dance around his ankles. Soon, a steady battery of raindrops caught the wind and made dark spots on his sleeve. Laventon shuddered and buttoned his coat, casting a wary glance upward. The clouds Rei had pointed out were right above them now, and looked about ready to unleash.
"Excuse me, little fellow, but I don't suppose there's any chance we're almost there?" he asked the Happiny, which had taken to weaving figure eights around his legs from time to time. It took a lot of effort not to get tripped up, and his mental processes were feeling foggier by the moment as his cold took proper hold of his body. He stifled a string of coughs behind his closed lips, watching the Happinly carefully.
It squealed in apparent delight and waddled over to the base of a tree with surprising speed. After a few moments of digging in the roots, it made a triumphant noise and produced another Oval Stone.
The rain picked up with an audible patter, landing hard on Laventon's shoulders. "Oh, dear!"
But the Happiny paid it no mind, nudging the stone closer to his feet.
"A gift?" Laventon asked, dreading the moment he would have to stoop to pick it up.
The Happiny trilled, placing one of its little feet on the stone.
Laventon stared for a moment, thoughts coming muddy and slow. "Oh!" he said at last. "A trade, yes." He got his pen out again and crouched, rather than subject his streaming nose to the pressure of bending over. Not that crouching felt much better. His back ached around the ribs and all the way up to the shoulders, and his hand shook a little as he held out the pain. Raindrops landed on the exposed sliver of skin at the back of his neck, and now more of his lab coat was wet than dry. It would start to soak in soon. He really should head back. He'd have to wrap this up.
Fortunately, he seemed to have gotten it right. The Happiny took the pen and began clicking it happily, leaving Laventon to pocket the stone and face the ordeal of rising again. He had to brace both his hands on his knees to do it, and the change in angle resulted in the immediate exposure of his face to the rain shower. "Ah'TSCHUH! Uh— Do excuse me." He blew his nose into his handkerchief, but the Happiny seemed to have at last gotten used to his intermittent explosions. It tucked the pen into its pouch, waddling circles around Laventon's feet. Laventon smiled down at it, though it made his nose run with renewed vigor. "Snf! Well, old boy, I suppose this— Ah, is g-g— Huh— Hhhch'TSHUH! Oh, blast!" Between the rain and his streaming nose, his handkerchief was just about soaked through. "AK'SHUH!" The rain was really coming down now, blurring everything not already blurred by Laventon's watery eyes. He dabbed at his nose with his wet handkerchief. "Goodbye, little fellow," he said, and turned on his heel.
It was altogether a more abrupt exit than he usually like to make, but by this point, he was feeling so poorly that thoughts of research were rapidly being supplanted by thoughts of his bed.
In fact, he was so consumed with the misery of the rain and his burning nose and stinging thoat, that he didn't notice the Happiny underfoot until he tripped over it. He stumbled, landing hard on his knees in the wet dirt. The Happiny trilled in alarm and began running between each knee as though to check them for injury.
Laventon bent forward and coughed. Rainwater gathered at the back of his neck and trickled down the back of his shirt, maming him shiver. "I- I'm alright, old boy. Just lost my—" A few more coughs. "My balance." He hauled himself to his feet and spread his arms demonstrably, regretting it when the breeze pushed against his exposed core. By now, his lab coat was so saturated that the rainwater was soaking through to his shirt.
The Happiny gave a few hops and then set off for the Heights camp with uncanny certainty.
With only a brief pause to wipe the water off his face, Laventon trudged along after it.
—
The persistent rainfall muted everything except for the sound of Laventon's coughing and sniffling as he and the Happiny approached the Heights camp. In fact, everything was so blurry that the guards didn't even notice him until— "AKH'TSCHUH!"
"Professor!" Rei popped out of one of the tents and ran up to him, not seeming to notice the Happiny underfoot. "You're okay!"
Laventon sniffled wetly. "Of c-course, dear boy! Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well..." Rei tugged at his collar, doubtless thinking of all the lab mishaps he had walked in on. "The rain. I thought maybe something had happened—"
"Eh'TSCH!"
"I guess something did happen. You're soaked!"
"Never— Snf!— mind it. Look who decided to join me." Laventon gestured at the Happiny, now hiding behind his leg, then had to bring up a hand to rub his eyes. The Heights camp wasn't their final destination, but his body was starting to falter with the reflex of seeing it. A warm bed, a fire that might be coaxed up. It sounded divine.
Rei knelt to examine the Happiny, and the professor stumbled a few steps away to cough, or tried to. The Happiny kept a tight hold of his trouser leg, and he nearly lost his balance again.
"You don't sound good," Rei said, standing with an embarrassing lack of effort given all that Laventon had been struggling. "Why don't we go back so you can dry off?"
"We're soaked too, you know!" one of the Security Corps chimed in.
Rei turned to look at them with a sheepish laugh. "So we can all dry off, then! I just think the Professor needs it most."
To that, Laventon only had one thing to say: "AH'TSCHUH!"
—
By the time they reached headquarters, Laventon was sure his coughing and sneezing must have gotten on everyone's nerves. And if not that, then the frightened crying of the Happiny, who seemed determined to be brave but not stoic in the face of so many strangers.
Rei, dripping wet and shivering, stopped in the lobby of the Galaxy building, motioning him away from the curious eyes of the various team members milling about. "Are you sure you don't want to go to bed? I'm sure your report can wait."
Somewhere around Laventon's ankles, the Happiny trilled. He looked down to give it a reassuring smile and immediately regretted it as the room tilted and dropped away, and his nose began to run. "Snnnf! Dno, that's quite alright, by dear boy." Laventon reached his unsteady hand into his wet pocket for his equally wet handkerchief and dabbed at his nose with it. "I wadt to idtroduce our— Eht'sch!— our dnew friend to the Captaidn." At least that way, someone in charge would know why a strange Pokémon was running about. Who knew what Kamado would do if nobody could account for the Happiny running loose in their safe haven.
"Alright." Rei nodded, still looking uncertain. "It d-does seem to be attached to you. It's just..." He looked at Laventon helplessly.
Laventon sniffled. He must have looked a mess, all bedraggled from the rain and rheumy with a head cold; red eyes, red nose. "I kndow, Rei. But it's just a c-cold." He hoped, anyway. He was shivering badly by this point, but so was Rei, and the puddles they had made on the floorboards had joined into one massive expanse of water. It stood to reason that he wasn't feverish. "Shall we?"
Rei nodded.
Despite his assurances, Laventon had to drag his body the few steps to Cyllene's office. His head pounded with pressure from his sinuses, which tingled nonstop with the urge to sneeze. All his sniffling only made it worse, though not quite bad enough to tip him over the edge into a real fit. If he swallowed hard, he could keep from coughing, which seemed polite given the circumstances. So he followed Rei into Cyllene's quarters and tried his best to look less haggard than he felt.
Cyllene looked up at the sound of their footsteps, and her eyes widened. "You might have waited until you had dried off!" she said, taking in their soaked clothes and Laventon's mud-streaked trousers.
"We're alright!" Rei said, with a sideways look at Laventon, as though to ensure he hadn't told a lie.
Laventon wanted to agree, but the pulsing in his ears was getting rather distracting. Black fuzz was starting to swarm the edges of his vision. "And we— Ih'txt! Ich'chxt!— wadnted to idntroduce you..." He trailed off, squeezing his eyes shut, suddenly regretting everything.
"Professor?" Rei said faintly.
Cyllene's chair scraped the floorboards. "Maybe you had better sit down, Professor Laventon. You look dreadful."
"In a... moment..." he agreed. Sitting down sounded absolutely delightful, but the Happiny... where had it gone? "There's just a— a small matter." The room tilted gently, first one direction, then the other.
"Professor!" Rei said again, more urgently.
"Professor Laventon, sit down! That's an order!"
An order? He blinked, still scanning for a hint of pink amongst all the black dots obscuring his vision. Cyllene's chair seemed awfully far away. Maybe he could... Maybe...
—
Laventon was chilled to the bone. And bareheaded, which was probably the cause of the chill. Wooloo wool was the finest insulator in Galar! He hoped he hadn't lost his hat. It would be difficult to replace here... Here in...
His eyes flew open, but his attempt to sit up only ended in a twitch and an ache all up and down his back. It was going to take more effort than that
Something under the covers moved, interrupting Laventon's attempts to piece together what had happened. His head hurt, and he felt dreadfully stuffed-up. Field research, Cyllene's office... Ah. He'd fainted.
The old familiar sting spread through his nose. He watched the shape under the covers while his chest trembled, all the fine muscles of his nose twitching in anticipation. "Ah'TSCHUH!"
A squeal. More movement under the covers. The Happiny popped itself out and crawled right onto Laventon's lap, stroking his cheek in what must have been a mimicry of someone else's ministrations.
Sure enough, a voice sounded. "Professor?" Peselle peeked around the curtains, her face brightening. "Wondeful! How are you feeling?"
"Er..." Spying a veritable stack of handkerchiefs on the table next to him, Laventon took one and pressed it to his face. Someone had been kind enough to stack up enough pillows behind him that the contents of his sinuses didn't pool painfully in the caverns of his skull. "Rather like I've got a bad cold in my head."
Pesselle nodded. "Not feverish at all?"
"I don't think so," he said from behind his handkerchief.
"Good. Rei asked me to get him as soon as you woke up. Is that alright with you?"
Laventon nodded, letting out a breath that burned against his chapped lips. Poor Rei! Laventon owed him an apology; the lad must have gotten quite a fright. "Thank you, Pesselle."
She nodded and disappeared behind the curtain again, leaving Laventon alone with a Happiny that seemed all at once rather sleepy. It gave a little trill and turned a few clumsy circles in the blankets bunched up over his legs, then curled up and closed its eyes.
Laventon smiled and rested a hand on its back. At least today hadn't been a total loss.