Lance has left Ecruteak City and spends the entire morning getting to Olivine City. As he gets closer, he can hear the sound of the ocean gently stroking the beach. The ocean air carries a salty aroma that can be smelled from the edge of the city. Lance enters the city limits and sees a huge lighthouse standing tall by the sea.
Lance: Finally, I'm here.
Lance heads to the port to see if he can find the ship that will take him to Kanto. The young man gets to the port and it is completely deserted.
Lance: Well, that sucks.
He walks around the city and then realizes how hungry he is.
Lance: Oh, man, I haven't eaten since yesterday. Maybe I can find a restaurant or something.
Eventually, he comes to the Olivine Café. Lance walks inside and finds it filled with sailors. They're all eating loudly as Lance passes by them. He finds a seat by the counter and is greeted by a man.
Man: Hey there, son, what can I get for ya?
Lance: What kind of food do you have here?
Man: If you want to know, you can take a look at our menu.
The man hands Lance a menu. He takes a look at its contents and decides to get the soup.
Man: One soup comin' up.
As he waits for his food, a sailor takes a seat next to Lance.
Sailor: Hey, kid. This is a place for sailors, not children.
Lance: I'm not a child. I'm on a journey.
Sailor: A journey, huh? What brings you to Olivine?
Lance: I need to take the ship to Kanto, but its not here.
Sailor: Well, if you're looking for the S.S. Aqua, it only ferries on Sundays and Wednesdays, so it should be here tomorrow.
Lance: Tomorrow?
Looks like he has to spend the night here in Olivine. His food finally arrives and he takes his time eating. He pays his tab with the money his grandfather gave him and leaves the restaurant.
Lance: What am I going to do until tomorrow?
He thinks of ways to make the time go faster so he decides to check out the lighthouse he saw by the sea. He goes inside and sees a flight of stairs that lead up to the top floor. Lance climbs the tower and looks out over the sea. The view is breathtaking. He sees the majestic ocean in every direction and is awestruck by its beauty. Lance then hears footsteps coming up the stairs. He turns and sees a girl. She is his age, maybe a little younger. Her light brown hair is tied up into a peculiar style that looks like she has a pair of small wings coming out of her head. Her white dress flows with her movements.
Girl: Excuse, who are you?
The girl speaks so softly that Lance can barely hear her.
Lance: Oh, I'm sorry for coming in here unannounced. I just wanted to see the lighthouse. My name's Lance.
Girl: Well, hello, Lance. I'm Jasmine. It's okay if you want to see the lighthouse, I just wasn't expecting anyone to be up here.
Lance: What do you do here?
Jasmine: It's my job to make sure the lighthouse is on every night.
Lance: Really? How do you do it?
Jasmine: With my pokemon.
Jasmine releases a pokemon from one her pokeball. It's as tall as Lance. Its entire body is covered in yellow fur with a few black stripes on its ears, neck and tail.
Lance: Whoa, what is it?
Jasmine: It's my Ampharos, Amphy. Amphy illuminates the lighthouse with Flash.
Lance: That's cool.
Lance suddenly comes up with a way to pass the time.
Lance: Do you wanna battle?
The girl is caught off-guard by the question.
Jasmine: A battle? I don't know. I'm not much of a battler.
Lance: Well, the sun won't go down for a while, so Amphy doesn't have to go to work just yet.
Jasmine: I suppose. Okay, Lance, I accept your challenge. Let's go downstairs.
Both trainers exit the lighthouse and prepare to battle on the beach. The sun has already begun to set. Lance throws his pokeball first.
Lance: Go, Dragonair!
The blue dragon emerges from its ball. Jasmine then releases her pokemon.
Jasmine: Go!
As her ball opens, a giant pokemon appears, even longer than Dragonair. It looks like a giant snake with a body made entirely of boulders. Lance looks at the pokemon with a look of horror. This girl actually has such a giant pokemon?
Jasmine: Is something wrong?
Lance: Uh, no. I'm fine.
He can't stop staring at the pokemon. It's huge!
Jasmine: Well, here I come. Onix, use Tackle.
Her pokemon, Onix, lunges forward and rams its entire body into Dragonair. Jasmine may look like a frail girl, but she trains powerful pokemon.
Lance: Dragonair, Slam attack!
The dragon hits Onix with its tail, but hardly does anything. Onix has high defensive power.
Jasmine: Now use your Rock Throw.
The rock snake pokemon spits out boulders that fly toward Dragonair. Dragonair flies out of the way in time and waits for Lance to give it another command. Meanwhile, Lance tries to find a strategy to beat the rock pokemon. Since it has such high Defense, physical attacks won't do much good. He needs to hit it with a Special Attack, but what?
Jasmine: Tackle it again.
Jasmine constant barrage of attacks won't let Lance concentrate on a strategy. Onix tackles Dragonair and sends it flying into the water. Wait, water? That's it!
Lance: Dragonair, Surf!
The blue dragon rises to the surface of the water and summons a giant wave that washes over Onix. Being a rock/ground-type pokemon, Onix is easily beaten by a water-type attack. Jasmine calls back her pokemon sadly. Lance looks at her, almost feeling bad for beating her Onix.
Lance: Are you okay?
Jasmine: I'm fine, don't worry about me. Anyways, the sun is about to set, so I should head back into the lighthouse with Amphy.
The dragon trainer decides to find out why Jasmine looks so depressed.
Lance: Is it okay if I go in with you? I want to see the tower when it's lit.
Jasmine: Sure.
They climb to the top of the Lighthouse again and Ampharos uses Flash to illuminate the sea.
Lance: Wow. It's all so pretty from up here.
Jasmine: Yeah, it is. I come up here every night to see the ocean.
Lance: You're so lucky to live here. I grew up in a cave.
The girl lets out a small giggle. Maybe he should've phrased that better. He never can say the right things around girls.
Lance: What I meant to say is that I grew up where it was always dark. We never had anything light our home like this lighthouse.
They're both silent for a moment. He finally decides to ask what's on his mind.
Lance: Hey, can I ask you something?
Jasmine: What is it?
Lance: Well, after our battle, you looked kind of sad. What was wrong?
Jasmine: Well, it's just that I want to be a strong trainer, but I'm not very good.
Lance: What are you talking about? Your Onix was awesome. If we weren't battling by the ocean, you would've won for sure.
Jasmine: You really mean that?
Lance: Yup. You're pokemon are really strong. All you have to do is have more confidence in yourself and you'll be a great trainer in no time.
Jasmine: Thanks, Lance. That's really nice of you.
Jasmine sets up a small picnic blanket on the floor.
Lance: What are you doing?
Jasmine: Well, I stay here every night, so I bring my own dinner.
Lance: You stay here by yourself?
Jasmine: I'm not by myself. Amphy looks after me while I sleep.
Lance: Oh, right.
Jasmine: As long as you're here, would you like to have dinner with me?
Whoa, did she just ask him to have dinner with her? Maybe Lance's luck with the ladies is about to turn. (Don't worry, nothing rated PG-13)
Lance: Dinner? Okay, that's sounds good.
They eat together, talking about anything that comes to their minds and watching over the moonlit sea. Finally, they finish eating and sit next to each other, looking out the lighthouse. As it gets late, Jasmine falls asleep on Lance's shoulder. He smiles as he watches her sleep. He decides not to wake her and leans his head on hers and falls asleep, too. They spend the peaceful night together in the lighthouse while the sea plays its soft melody. For now, all the troubles of the world are washed away by the tide.
