Disclaimer: I do not own American Dragon: Jake Long, or Tales of Symphonia.
Note: The disscussion about ToS, and Zelos, is based on spoilers and character actions in the game. For those of you who actually have the game and haven't even gotten to the Tower of Salvation yet, please be warned.
!Chapter 4!
After school was over, the trio of Jake, Spud and Trixie decided to go over to Trixie's house to play some video-games.
They decided on Tales of Symphonia(A/N: I know they like to play sports games, but just this once...), in which Jake chose Lloyd, Trix was Sheena and Spud was Zelos. "Has anyone noticed how weird Zelos is?" Spud asked, while in the middle of a battle.
"Not really, I mean, he's the replacement for the traitor!" Jake playfully growled out, much in the character of pretending to be Lloyd.
"No, no, I see what Spud means, Jake," Trixie said, "He's been acting all weird, that and the fact that he's a magic swordsman, I mean, he's the only one, probably, besides Kratos, right? So then--No no!" Trixie cried, Sheena was down in the game and she waited for someone to come around to heal her, so she continued her speech, "Something's gotta be up with him. It's just not right to be so powerful, and handsome, and he's just a goofball. I mean, they never makes characters like that in other games, right?" She started to play again, as her character had been healed and she almost didn't notice.
Spud took a second to glance back at Jake and grin a little, which prompted Jake to answer, "Why not? Sometimes characters are just as they are, no back story or anything, he might just be comic relief."
"Or Trix might be right and we've been reading him wrong." Spud interjected, dang, this monster was getting on his nerves!
Just then, Spud's controlled sparkled, but he was lucky Trixie wasn't looking in his direction, although he did catch Jake's attention with that. The game stopped, and the monster disappeared, changing to the reward screen, leaving the others to stop and pause, "I didn't hit it, did you?" Trixie asked no one in particular.
"Uhm, I think I did?" Said Spud, but more like asked. "That was weird."
"Maybe it was a glitch?" Jake said, quick to cover up the use of Spud's apparent magic.
"Maybe...Hey, look, I gotta jet, see ya' later?" The wizard asked, standing up and putting his controller down.
He got two distracted 'See you's' and he was gone, but just before he left, he heard Trixie's grandmother call down from upstairs and ask if Trixie or her friends wanted anything to eat, the answer was a distracted no. Spud smiled, grabbing his skateboard and gear at the door, and left.
!o!O!o!O!o!O!o!
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap...thump, thump, thump, THUMP!
The constant sound went slowly through Jake's room, he woke up, feeling a bit disoriented, just in time to hear the last loud thump of the side of someone's closed fist hit his window, loudly. Jake was afraid the glass would break.
"I'm coming, I'm coming..." Jake mumbled, rubbing his eyes, trying to wake up a little, wondering what sort of magical creature could need his help in the middle of the night, and in the pouring rain, no less!
Jake slid open his window, just as thunder rocked the house and lightening followed shortly after, illuminating Spud's wet face and teary eyes. "Spud?" Jake asked cautiously.
"Can I come in?" Spud asked, eerily calm.
"Uhm, sure." Jake said, stepping out of the way, as Spud climbed in all the way and that's when Jake got a good look at him. His clothes were soaked but obviously there were burn marks here and there, and parts of his clothes were ripped, he was missing his cap, too. And those were definitely tears mixed in with the rain covering his body. "What happened, Spud?" He asked, softly.
Spud closed his eyes, as if pained, but continued in his calm voice, "My family is dead."
Jake stopped whatever movements he had going, but after a minute his burning lungs reminded him to breath, "Dead? B-but...a-a-are you sure? They can't be dead, Spud!" Jake argued, not wanting to believe it, and he'd never even met any them before.
"They're dead, Jake. They were all over at my house and then...something happened and a fire exploded out of nowhere, and the house caught the flames. It happened too quick for anyone to do anything." The wizard said, walking over to Jake's bed and sitting down on it, making that spot very wet in the process, and put his head in his hands, a muffled sob escaping, "What'm I gonna do?" He asked, weakly and muffled.
Jake was wide-eyed, all of Spud's family, gone just like that? Jake mutely made his way to Spud's side and put an arm around his shoulders, not knowing what else to do. "Spud...You...don't have any family anymore..." Jake started, realizing something, "We need to talk to Gramps..." But seeing Spud turn into the small hold Jake had on him, he just gripped a little tighter, "Tomorrow."
!o!O!o!O!o!O!o!
Author's note: I'm evil, aren't I? Well, anyway, sorry if this was completely off track from what you guys thought was gonna happen, but I think I have an idea for the next chapter and it should come together soon. Don't kill me, please?