I do not own Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity.
Chapter 3
Normally being in Post Town always put a smile on Ludwig's face. Even when the Bittercold was being formed, this was a very cheery place. Right now though, The Sea Otter pokemon didn't feel much like smiling. He had a friend to find. Ludwig scanned the area keeping an eye out for any shade of green that wasn't the grass or the shrubs.
Post Town was buzzing with activity as usual. Lillipup and Swadloon were near Inn playing Tag with Herdier keeping an eye on them, making sure things didn't get out of hand. Patrat was buying a TM from Kecleon's shop. Ludwig wondered what move the Scout Pokemon was planning on learning. Duckett and Rufflet were in the middle of a conversation near Rampardos' Box Buster shop. Mincinno was cleaning the counter of her gift shop with her furry tail, humming a merry tune to herself. Ramapardos couldn't seem to stop staring. It definitely seemed like any other day to these Pokemon. Ludwig found himself feeling ever so slightly jealous, but he wasn't going to let that bother him. He had a friend to find.
"Hey, Ludwig, everything okay? I mean...you seem a little lost."
Ludwig turned to the voice next to him to see Hydreigon whom had apparently just came down the hill. He seemed a little confused.
"Aren't you normally doing requests around now?"
Ludwig smiled awkwardly.
"Errr...something came up." Then Ludwig remembered what that "something" was and dashed over to the Dragon Type. "Hey Hydreigon, you haven't seen Jade anywhere have you?"
"Hmmm? No not today" said Hydreigon, looking even more confused than before. "Why'd you ask?"
Ludwig groaned slightly. He had hoped Hydreigon at least would've seen something. He was almost as close to Jade as the Sea Otter Pokemon was. Hydreigon suddenly looked saddened.
"You two...didn't have a fight did ya?" he asked plaintively.
Ludwig stared at his feet blushing with shame.
"S...sort of. I mean...have you noticed Jade's...mood lately."
Hydreigon looked thoughtful.
"Now that you mention it, he did seem abit...under the weather since he came back. Makes me wonder if he wanted to come back at all, and only said yes to make you happy."
Hydreigon then suddenly got a panicked look on his face.
"Oh, I'm sorry! That was insensitive wasn't it?! I'm sorry Ludwig I wasn't thinking!"
Ludwig panicked for a second himself but then calmed down.
"It's fine Hydreigon. Besides, that can't be it. If it was he would've used his power to go back to the human world by now, but he hasn't yet."
Hydreigon seemed really surprised by this.
"Really?! Not even once?!"
Ludwig shook his head sadly.
"Nope, I certainly haven't seen him use it anyway. Hey Hydreigon, I've been wondering, you...you don't think Jade's...errm problem will bring the Bittercold back do you? I've been kinda worried about that for a little while now."
The voice of Life gave Ludwig a warm smile.
"I wouldn't worry Ludwig. If the Bittercold could be recreated from just one pokemon's negativity then this world would already have succumbed to it."
Ludwig let out a sigh of relief. That was a load off him mind. Now if he could just find Jade, apologise and hopefully, finally get to the root of the problem, he won't have any worries left to worry about.
"Okay, thanks Hydreigon. I better get back to finding Jade now. Nice talking to you."
"You too." said Hydreigon. "I'll keep an eye out for him too if you like."
Ludwig eagerly nodded.
"Yeah, that would be a great help thanks."
After saying their goodbyes, Ludwig went further into Post Town. His eyes darted about in search of his best friend.
"Hmmm...Oh maybe the Inn."
Ludwig rushed to the Inn, nearly running into Dwebble. After a quick exchange of "Sorry" and "No problem" went inside. The Inn wasn't particularly busy today. Trubbish was sitting at one of the wooden tables eating a plate full of apples. Keldeo was sitting next to him looking somewhat amused.
"Hey Keldeo!" Ludwig called to the Colt Pokemon.
Keldeo looked over to him and smiled.
"Hey Ludwig! How's it going?" Keldeo then looked puzzled. "Where's Jade? Aren't you always together?"
Ludwig sighed.
"I was hoping you'd know"
Keldeo shrugged sadly
"Sorry."
"It's fine, don't worry." assured Ludwig as he headed for the counter.
"Hey Swanna, have you seen Jade?"
Swanna shook her head sorrowfully.
"No, not recently, sorry."
Ludwig let out another sigh.
"Well, thanks anyway."
After waving goodbye to Keldeo and Trubbish, Ludwig left the Inn, he was started to get frustrated.
"Ohhh, come on Jade where are you?!" he moaned loudly.
Ludwig started to consider the possibilities. He knew Jade couldn't be on the hill as Hydreigon just came from there, and he had said he hadn't seen him. Ludwig had never know Hydreigon to lie so he crossed that off the list. Jade wasn't in the Inn as Keldeo and Trubbish would've seen him. Well Keldeo would've at least. Trubbish appeared to be so preoccupied with his food that he didn't seem to notice Ludwig at all. Ludwig wouldn't be surprised if he had missed Jade.
"Yikes! What in the world?!"
The cry startled Ludwig out of his train of thought. He turned towards the bridge next to the Inn.
"It came from over there." Ludwig said to himself and with that he dashed across the bridge. He saw an Archen standing near the stand reserved for travelling salesmon. He figured Archen must've been one of them, and he was obviously quite surprised by something. It didn't take long for Ludwig to see why. Right there in the stand was a snake-like grass type pokemon looking awfully guilty.
"Jade! There you are!" cried an overly relieved Ludwig. He could hardly believe it. Had Jade really tried hiding behind that stand?
Both pokemon turned towards Ludwig. Archen seemed slightly confused and annoyed. Jade...just looked annoyed.
"You know this kid?" asked Archen.
"Yeah urm sorry...won't happen again." said Ludwig sheepishly.
"I sure hope not." said Archen with a slight huff. "Darn near gave me a heart attack he did."
Jade climbed over the stand, muttered an apology of his own to Archen then began making his way up the steps next to it. He didn't get far, Ludwig ran up to him and grabbed his arm.
"Wait! Don't go!" he pleaded.
"Leave...me...alone." Jade said in a cold and somewhat broken voice, not even looking his way.
"Jade, I'm sorry that I upset you!" said Ludwig doing his best to ignore his friend's previous statement. "But...you know I'm only doing this because I care about you right?"
Jade still wouldn't turn around.
"I don't need you caring about me!"
Ludwig was shocked by this. Where in the world did this come from.
"Jade...you don't mean that!"
"Yes I do!" shouted Jade his voice cracking. "I...I don't need anyone caring about me! They're...They're just gonna go away eventually anyway."
Ludwig had, had enough. He rushed in front of his friend and held his face in his paws to make Jade look at him.
"Now you listen to me!" he growled with a glare. "If you think I'm actually gonna abandon you, then you are DEAD wrong. You can throw insults left and right! You can mope about for the rest of your life. You can even hit me again, but nothing, I repeat, NOTHING will make me walk out on you! You hear me?! So stop trying to make me and just LET ME HELP YOU!"
Jade looked shocked by Ludwig's outburst. Ludwig even shocked himself, but he kept hold of his best friend. His eyes not leaving his for even a second.
"Errr...okay, you guys have some issues I see." said Archen. "I'll just leave just leave you to it then. I can always open up later." Archen then crossed the bridge leaving the two pokemon alone. Ludwig was inwardly grateful.
"I...I..." Jade stammered, looking as if he was trying to find a way to escape.
"Jade you're scaring me!" yelled Ludwig, not even bothering to hold back the tears anymore. "You've been miserable since you came back here! Don't you want to be here?! Is that it?!"
"N...no it's not that!" cried Jade.
"Then what is it?! Ludwig cried back. "You're not acting like the Jade I know, and it's scaring me! I'm...I'm scared...that...you'll become like Gurdurr and Virizion were before they met us! I don't want you to become like that Jade! You should know better than that! I don't know what's bothering you but surely it can't be so bad that you'll just shut everyone out!"
At that Jade's eyes narrowed into a scowl he gave Ludwig massive push causing the water type to fall backwards onto his backside.
"You...you have no idea how...how...I..." Jade stuttered coldly, but then he suddenly fell to his knees shaking violently and was suddenly breathing heavily.
"Jade! Are you okay?!" cried Ludwig, alarmed by this sudden change in demeanour. He rushed over to his friend's side and saw something that shocked him. Jade had tears in his eyes! Ludwig could scarcely believe what he was seeing. Jade never cried. At least not as far as he was aware. Okay, maybe he cried a little when he returned here but that was hardly surprising since they never thought they would see each other again. Ludwig sighed he took Jade's hand and pulled him to his feet.
"Come on." he said gently. "Let's go to the Inn, we'll talk there."
Ludwig put an arm around Jade and pulled him along, thankful that his friend was no longer putting up any resistance. He was at the Inn's entrance when he saw Keldeo again.
"Oh, hey you found him huh? That's good." said a beaming Keldeo but then his smile faded after he saw the state the Snivy was in.
"Is...is everything okay?" he asked, his voice filled with concern.
"Keldeo, can you tell the others that we'll be staying at the Inn tonight? We...need to talk."
Keldeo gave Ludwig a small nod.
"S...sure, but...what's going on?"
"I'll explain later." said Ludwig sadly.
Keldeo hesitated for a few seconds but then slowly headed for Paradise.
With that Ludwig led Jade, who's tear-stained eyes stayed locked with the ground into the Inn he booked one of the rooms and told Swanna not to not let anyone disturb them, unless it was an emergency. Their room was a decent size. There were three straw beds, a few flowers of varying colours and a couple of windows. The room smelt fresh, Swanna had obviously done some spring-cleaning in here. Ludwig sat Jade on one of the beds and sat next to him.
"Jade, I can see that it's hard but...we really need to talk about this. You know that right."
Jade only gave a shudder in response. His breathing escalated slightly.
"It's okay, take your time." assured Ludwig taking Jade's hand and squeezing it.
It was several minutes before Jade calmed down enough to speak. He took a few shaky breaths then looked up staring at the wall.
"I...I don't know where to start."
"How about...why you haven't been back to the human world yet?" suggested Ludwig. "Won't your family be worried about you?"
"No, they won't" said Jade in an emotionless tone.
Ludwig stared at Jade in confusion.
"Wh...what do you mean? Didn't your family like you."
Jade gave another shudder.
"It's...not that, they loved me like any other family member loved one another. Well...at least my little...s...sister did."
"Your little sister?" asked Ludwig listening intently, glad that Jade was finally spilling the beans, slowly but surely. Jade nodded.
"Yeah, I didn't really have many friends. I was often bullied for one reason or another. Any friends I did have eventually turned on me. My dad walked out on us shortly after my sister, Ruby was born, I hadn't heard a word from him since. That was around 10 years ago now."
Jade shuddered again and let a few more tears fall.
"My mum had to have two jobs just to support us. So I didn't see her often. We even had to move into a smaller house. I had to share a room with Ruby. Not that I minded or anything. I loved my sister. She…..was really all that I had. She was the only one who ever accepted me. We teased each other a lot, but hey, that's what siblings do. But still, We were there for each other. I would always sit with her if she was scared at night. I'd help her with her homework if she was stuck, and protect her if I saw anyone bullying her. If she was upset I'd make her laugh. If she was lonely I'd hold her hand and say: "I'm here" I missed her terribly when I was here. I didn't say anything because I didn't think anyone would understand."
"That's just stupid Jade!" cried Ludwig. "We're friends you can talk to us about anything!"
Jade sighed sadly.
"I wish it was that easy...anyway, while I was heartbroken to leave you all when the time came, I was also excited to see Ruby again."
Jade managed a small smile.
"I remember...telling myself that I was gonna give her the most gigantic big brother hug the world has ever seen. For some reason when I got back to the human world I was at the local park. I didn't think it was a big deal, I knew my way home from there anyway. So what if are reunion was delayed by about 10 minutes? So I walked home thinking a...about how I could surprise Ruby, but...w...when...when..."
Jade had begun trembling violently. Ludwig squeezed his hand in encouragement. Looking at his friend sadly. Jade gave a small sob before finally continuing.
"M...my house wasn't...th...there. It was...n...nothing but charred remains!"
Ludwig's eyes widened.
"W...wha?"
"After Hydreigon brought me to the pokemon world my house caught fire. The police said they didn't know how it was started, but...my mum...my...l...l...little sister...they...they didn't..."
Jade suddenly just broke down into a fit of heavy sobs. Ludwig realised what must've happened. He stared at his best friend in disbelief. He had no idea that Jade could've held something this painful inside him, and here he was actually worried about a family that didn't even live to worry about him.
"Jade...I...I...I'm so sorry." he whispered letting a few tears of his own fall. "If...if I had realised it was this bad..."
Ludwig was interrupted when Jade practically tackled him in a hug bawling into his blue fur. Ludwig was a taken back at first but soon returned the hug.
"There, there Jade." said Ludwig gently rubbing his friend's back. "Just...let it all out."
"I want my sister!" wailed Jade, his sobs getting heavier.
"I...I know." said Ludwig holding back a sob. Ludwig just sat there holding his best friend close to him, not caring that his fur was getting wet from the tears. He's a water type he was used to being wet. Jade just sobbed for several minutes. Ludwig wished he could tell Jade that it would be okay, but he knew that it wouldn't feel like it to him right now. So he just hoped that his presence was comfort enough.
"I...I shouldn't be here." whimpered Jade finally.
Ludwig pulled Jade out of the embrace and looked into his eyes.
"What in the name of Arceus do you mean by that?!"
"The fire s...started that very same night...I...was sent here. If...if that hadn't happened...I would've perished along with my mum and Ruby. I...I SHOULD'VE DIED TOO!"
"Shut up!" shouted Ludwig, giving Jade a shake. "Don't you DARE say things like that! There's no way you could've known what was gonna happen! And I doubt Hydreigon could've know either."
"I wasn't there to protect my sister." whimpered Jade. "She must've been so scared, and I wasn't there to comfort her, to hold her hand and tell her everything would be okay.
"Don't beat yourself up about it Jade." said Ludwig sadly. "It wasn't your fault."
"How do you know?!" yelled Jade. "What if it was me?! What if I was careless and left the oven on or something?! It...it would've been my fault that..."
"Jade listen to me." said Ludwig firmly, not bothering to ask what an oven was. "It was NOT your fault! It was a tragic accident, you couldn't have prevented it! Especially not from here!"
"B...but what...if..." sobbed Jade.
"No more what if's!" cried Ludwig. "They'll only make you feel worse."
"There's no way I can feel worse than I do now." whispered Jade. "My family's gone. I have no one left."
"No one left?!" shouted Ludwig. "Who do you think is sitting right beside you, huh?!"
Jade gave Ludwig a shocked look.
"I'm your best friend Jade." said Ludwig. "I'll always be right beside you, no matter what! I can't claim to know exactly how you feel, but...don't forget I have no family either. You're the lucky one Jade, you at least got to know your family. You have fond memories of them. Me? I...I can't even recall my parents faces." Ludwig looked at the floor letting his tears fall once more. "I was so young...and...my parents...they...they just left and never came back. To this day I don't know what happened. Whether they died, or just...just simply abandoned me. I wish I knew...so...I could finally lay this nagging feeling to rest."
Ludwig sobbed quietly, his shoulders heaving slightly. He felt rather embarrassed right now. Here he was trying to help Jade and now he was a right mess himself. He felt a couple of arms pull him in for a hug. Ludwig gratefully accepted it.
"I'm sorry Ludwig." said Jade sadly. "Here I am whining about my woes, and you had just as bad as me. Maybe worse. I can't believe how selfish I was being. I'm so sorry."
"It's fine." muttered Ludwig. "I think you should be allowed to be selfish in times like this."
Jade and Ludwig parted after a few minutes. Jade's eyes were bloodshot from all the crying. He took a few shaky breaths before speaking again.
"I...I'm sorry I hit you earlier, Ludwig. Are you okay?"
Ludwig smiled.
"No biggie. I...kinda asked for it. Emolga seemed to think so anyway."
"Not true." said Jade. "You were only trying to help. I was just being stubborn."
"Heh, can't argue with you there." joked Ludwig. "Are you hungry? I'm sure the Signora will whip us something for us."
"Not really." sighed Jade looking at his feet. He looked rather sleepy.
"Hey Jade, I'm curious. Though you don't have to answer this if it's too painful. Where did you stay after...erm...that? We didn't bring you back for about four months."
Jade looked up taking another shaky breath.
"I've told you everything else. So I might as well answer. The police couldn't get a hold of my dad. There was literally no way to contact him. It's like he vanished into thin air. Like I said he just up and left us one day, just like that. I can't really remember how it happened because I was only four at the time. I can barely remember what he looked like, so I guess that kinda puts me in the same boat as you Ludwig. Anyway, all I know is, One day he was there and the next he was gone. No contact number, no address, no nothing. My mum said he left with a...well I won't say it in her words as they weren't...erm let's say...friendly. He left with some lady. Since they couldn't find him I was sent to the local children's home. They were nice and all, but...I...I just wanted it to be all just some bad dream...and...I'd soon wake up in our house."
Jade started sobbing again prompting Ludwig to pull him in for another hug.
"But...I knew that it wasn't, I had to...face the fact that Mum and Ruby were gone...and...they weren't coming back."
Ludwig started rocking his friend as he went back in a full-blown sob. He sighed sadly This was so hard to comprehend. He couldn't imagine how in the world Jade the pokemon/human who was always all smiles could've had such a depressing past. With only his sister to help him through his day-to-day life. How in the world could his own father abandon him like this? Sure his mum sounded alright but it seemed that Jade never found an opportunity to get closer to her. Which made this all the more sad because now he'll never get the chance. Ludwig knew that losing his sister was what hurt Jade the most since they always had each other's backs.
After about 15 minutes, Ludwig noticed that Jade's sobbing had slowed into steady breathing. He looked down to notice that his best friend had fallen asleep. Ludwig smiled, he looked out the window and sure enough, the sun was starting to go down. Had they really been up here all day?! Ludwig carefully laid Jade onto the bed then went to lay on the one next to it. He just stared at the ceiling for a few moments before the days events finally caught up with him and he fell into a peaceful slumber.
