Chapter 2:

Shared Pain

Noelle held Ralts close in his arms as they stood together, surrounded by town members, staring at the 6-foot-deep hole in the ground. Noelle was donning an all-black suit, which put a damper on his usually colorful attire choices. Noelle could feel Ralts quiver ever so slightly as they lowered the casket into the ground. He burrowed his head into Noelle's chest and looked away from the grave.

Gardenia approached Noelle and put her arm around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry Noelle…" she whispered.

"It's okay, Gardenia. We all have to go someday. I just wish she didn't have to so soon," he replied solemnly.

She gave him a squeeze before walking back to where she had been standing during the service. Noelle stood in the same spot as everyone seemed to leave around him. He barely noticed the funeral slowly emptying as he stared at the lid of the box that held the only person he had truly loved in his life. He took his mother's parting present out from his pocket and rolled it in between his fingers. He ran his finger over the scratched initials of his mother and then his father's. "A.A. & D.A." the ball read. A tear dripped onto the ball and rolled slowly off onto the grass below.

Noelle squeezed the ball in his hand, while cradling Ralts with his other arm, who was now sound asleep. He returned the ball to his pocket and looked back up around him. Nobody was around, except for a single man carelessly slinging dirt on top of his mother's casket. He reached into his other pocket and pulled out a single black dahlia that he had bought from in town earlier in the day. He dropped the flower directly on top of the casket before the dirt had covered it completely, turned around, and began to walk back to his house.

As he opened the door, the house was eerily quiet. He was used to the silence of his dwelling at this point, but this time it was different. There was no warmth radiating from his mother's room as it normally had. Just ice-cold silence. He knew there was nothing here for him any longer. He walked up the stairs, and entered the room across the hall from his, and set Ralts down in his small bed he had been using for years. He rustled a little bit, but then returned to a deep sleep. Noelle pet his head a couple times before returning to his own room. He took his suit off and hung it up in his closet. He changed into his usual bright attire and shook his neatly done hair back to it's normal standing. He began to pack clothes away into his bag that he would take with him into town.

Noelle did not know what he was doing. Tears began to swell in his eyes as he just threw random clothes into his bag. He could feel himself getting increasingly flustered until finally his bag just fell out of his hands, and he collapsed onto the floor crying. "I don't know what I am doing mom. I don't want to leave. I can't." Just then he felt a small hand lay on his back.

"Ralts?" Ralts spoke softly as Noelle looked at him over his shoulder. Ralts was holding the pokéball his mother had given him. Ralts was holding it out towards Noelle.

Noelle took the ball from Ralts and pressed the center button, expanding the ball into its active form. Ralts jumped up onto Noelle's lap and slapped his tiny hand against the pokéball. Upon doing this, Ralts was turned into a red light and absorbed into the ball. The ball immediately clicked and was locked shut. Noelle stared at the ball for another 30 seconds or so, before Ralts once again emerged from the ball, this time with an excited expression and smile on his face. "Ralts! Ralts, Ralts!" he exclaimed with a small giggle.

Noelle nodded his head and gave Ralts a small caress. He stood back up and finished packing his bag. Once finished, he hoisted Ralts onto his shoulder, locked the door to his house behind him, and began his bike ride down to Eterna City.

Once he had arrived in Eterna City, he opened the door to the pokémon gym and saw Gardenia tending to flowers with her Turtwig. "Hey, Noelle!" she yelled from across the gym.

"Gardenia, I have a favor to ask."

"After today, I'm not sure there is much you could ask of me that I couldn't do for you."

"I would like you to look after my house for me while I am gone. My mother… she wanted me to go on my very own adventure after she was gone, and I think I am going to do that. I know she would want me to, and it would make her very proud to know that I was out doing it."

"Noelle… I would love to do that for you. If you are going on your own adventure, I expect you back here to challenge me for my gym badge soon! Take these with you if you are going out now. You will need them."

Gardenia passed over a handful of different berries and pokéballs into Noelle's hands. He looked up at her and gave her a nod of approval before turning around and running towards the entrance. "Raaaaaalts!" Ralts shouted over Noelle's shoulder while waving farewell to Gardenia.

Noelle situated himself on his bike. "Okay… so we should head to Jubilife City first. They have a lot of stores there that I could use to stock up for the adventures ahead. How's that sounds buddy?" Noelle asked with a smile.

"Ralts!" Ralts replied with a huge smile across his face.

Noelle exited the city through the west exit and came across some trees that slowly got thicker leading into Eterna Forest. He had played in Eterna Forest as a kid, so he knew his way around and through it. Him and Gardenia used to play in front of the Old Chateau, but he could never get Gardenia to come inside with him, although she swore it was not because of fear. He walked up to the front gate of the Old Chateau and peered in through the windows. He could see no movement and no light inside the building. He figured if he did not have Gardenia with him to keep him from going inside, why not?

He slowly opened the creaky door into the Old Chateau and heard some resident pokémon rustle away from him with fear. He looked around at the old furnishings in the mansion, and they were stunningly beautiful. As he began to walk towards a staircase he saw in front of him, he heard a loud 'BANG' from behind him near the door.

"AHHHHH!" he screamed as he hid behind the staircase. He peered through the bars on the guard rail to notice that a painting had fallen from the wall, most likely from him opening the door. "Phew, I thought I was a goner there for a second," he said. Ralts rolled his eyes behind his hair and giggled.

Noelle began up the stairs and entered the room whose door lay at the peak. As he opened the door, it creaked ever so slightly, making the creaking run throughout the entire quiet mansion. He saw a broken-down bed and glass on the ground from the broken window in the room. He stopped moving and heard an ever so slight whimper from the corner of the room where the bed was located. He moved towards the bed and got down on his knee to look at where the noise was coming from. As his eyes matched ground level, he saw a small phantump quivering under the broken bed, with a look of pure terror in his eyes. "Hey… I'm not going to hurt you buddy. You can come out." Noelle spoke softly to the Phantump.

The small stump did not move from his spot. Suddenly, Ralts jumped from Noelle's shoulder and slowly crawled under the bed towards the Phantump. He winced with fear, but stayed put, much to Noelle's surprise. Noelle could hear little voices coming from under the bed. Eventually, Ralts emerged, holding one of Phantump's ghostly hands and leading him out to Noelle. "Hey buddy, where is your mommy?" Noelle said to the small baby. Phantump looked at Noelle and pointed to the other corner of the room with small tears swelling in his eyes.

Noelle looked to where the small stump was pointing, and in the corner of the room was a log that was propped up against the corner of the room, quite obviously devoid of any consciousness. Noelle examined the scene with his eyes for a minute or so, before looking back at the young child. "You lost your mommy?" he asked. The small ghost shook his head yes. "Hey, listen, I lost my mommy too just a little while ago. I know what it feels like, I know how scared you are."

Upon hearing this, tears began to overflow in Phantump's eyes, and he leaped into Noelle's arms and began crying into his sweatshirt. "Hey… do you have a daddy here somewhere?" Phantump shook his head no to Noelle. "How about you come with Ralts and me, and I will be your daddy from here on out?"

The Phantump glanced over at his mother's remains, then back at Noelle. Noelle pulled another black dahlia out of the same pocket he produced one from earlier. "Here, why don't you go give this to her."

Phantump hesitantly grabbed the flower out of Noelle's palm and floated over by where his mother's remains lay. He placed the flower in one of the openings of the log and hugged a part he could fit his small arms around. He floated back over to Noelle and grabbed one of his hands with his own ghostly one. With this, Noelle took his leave from the mansion with Ralts on his shoulder and his new friend in hand.

Once back out in the forest, Noelle sat down on the ground and looked to Phantump. "Phantump, you can travel outside with me as much as you want, but I also need you to have a home away from home. If you could go in this pokéball, it will be yours from here on out, and you can choose to be outside with me, or if you need a break, you can go into your ball. How does that sound?" Phantump looked at Noelle with concern for a second, but eventually nodded his head yes. "Great! We are going to have a great time together!" Noelle said as he tapped the regular red pokéball on Phantump's head. Phantump disappeared into the ball in a bright red light as Noelle heard it click shut. Phantump remerged and grabbed Noelle's hand once again. He tucked Phantump's empty ball into his bag and the trio continued their journey towards Jubilife City.