A/N: I am very, VERY, sorry that it took me this long to update. As you may have noticed I also have a new story going on at the moment…
Because of how depressed I've been for the majority of the time since I'd been recruited, I've kind of lost my will to write. When I got the idea for that other story I became really excited to write about it and was really motivated to get it going. Since writing is a big hobby of mine, I grabbed the opportunity right away. Being able to write something is helping me a lot, and my focus is on that other story now…
I am not abandoning this story. On the contrary, I still want to finish it. This is by far my longest, most followed and most reviewed story so far. And it's still far from over. I will most likely be writing both stories simultaneously, with the focus probably being on the other story for the time being… You could say, since this fanfic is more than twice as long as the two previous I've written and completed before, that I'm kind of not used to constantly writing the same thing for such a long period of time. Maybe I need a break.
Again, I'm sorry that this fanfic is being delayed, but I really need things to look forward to whenever I come home and writing is one of those things. Therefore, I will write what I feel like writing. Like I said this story is not being abandoned, but I do apologize in advance for any further delays that will take place.
Jake eventually ended up sitting on the grass beneath the shade of a tree outside of Jasmine's Gym. Still a little dizzy, he found himself unable to remember even making his way outside and settling down where he currently was to begin with. The last thing he did remember was telling the others that he wanted to go outside preceded by his conversation with the Shadow Triad, and boy what a conversation that had been.
He had absolutely no idea as to how Ghetsis's former henchmen knew all that stuff about him. Sure, by investigating hard enough one could find basic information about pretty much anyone, but the things the Shadow Triad knew… Those were things he hasn't said to anybody before. There was no possible way they could have found out all of that and yet somehow they had. The fire-type trainer didn't know how they'd done it, but it's not like finding out was going to make any difference. What he did know as a result of that was that the three were much more cunning and dangerous that he had originally thought they were.
Realizing that his forehead was still covered in sweat, Jake let out a sigh and then took off his jacket, placing it down next to him before resting his chin against his palms and simply staring out into the street. He snapped back into reality a few moments later when he felt Flareon's tongue gently brush against his elbow. The Eeveelution in question and Charmeleon were still looking at him with concerned expressions.
"Don't worry about me." said the fire-type trainer, but his fake smile betrayed his confidence. He petted Flareon on the head before deciding that he might as well take the opportunity to feed his pokémon. After filling a few plates with pokémon food, he released all of them out of their pokéballs so that they would be able to eat.
For a while he simply sat there without moving and watched all of his pokémon eat, ignoring the occasional glance Charmeleon and Flareon shot in his direction every now and then. It occurred to him at some point that lunch time had already passed, but he wasn't even hungry. Scanning the grass in front of him for a moment, Jake raised an eyebrow when he realized something didn't seem right. The sight in front of him appeared to be lacking a certain shiny Dratini, who was nowhere to be seen.
With how busy Jake had been pondering what had happened inside the Olivine Gym, Dratini wandering off without him noticing wasn't too unlikely of a possibility. Fortunately enough, the fire-type trainer saw Ninetales's tails twitch in a rather funny way before Dratini's head suddenly appeared from within the bundle of fur. Apparently he had decided to take a nap between them or something else of the sort. Much to Jake's surprise, Ninetales was calmly eating from her plate, undisturbed by the little dragon-type's antics. It was almost fascinating how the Fox Pokémon, who could be quite cranky when it came to her personal space, didn't mind having the young dragon acting so clingy every now and then and yet couldn't stand it when Flareon did as much as walk in her direction. Poor, unprofitable Flareon.
In fact all of his pokémon seemed to act a little differently towards Dratini. They were more patient towards him and didn't play as roughly with him as they sometime played with each other. Well, all of them except for Charmeleon. Her dislike of the dragon-type didn't look like it was ever going to go away. Some things never changed, it seemed.
As was absolutely typical of Dratini, he soon decided that he was in fact hungry and, out of all the plates in the area, once again decided to crawl over to the one Charmeleon was eating from. Jake facepalmed with a sigh and was about to get up and prevent Dratini from making the same mistake he's made countless of times. He stayed where he was, however, and looked on with surprise as Quilava picked Dratini up by the scruff of the neck before walking back over to the plate he was sharing with Dewott. The badger-like pokemon was certainly getting along quite well with the water-type, and it was quite amusing to see the two of them make sure that Dratini ate from their plate instead of wondering over to Charmeleon's again. It kind of looked like the dragon-type was their adopted offspring or something.
"Well what do you know…" he said quietly to himself with a chuckle, scratching the back of his head, "I'm such an idiot sometimes…" He looked at all of his pokémon. "What in the world was I thinking? I'm not alone."
The fire-type trainer continued to sit on the grass for a few more moments as he looked out into the street until he heard somebody walking up to him. "Jake?"
Recognizing Jasmine's concerned voice in an instant, he grabbed his jacket and rose to his feet, putting the red piece of clothing back on with one swift movement. "That would be me." he said, turning around with a smile.
"I just, uh…" The Olivine Gym Leader looked down at the ground, rubbing the back of her head. "You didn't look too good back inside the gym…" she continued, looking at him after a few seconds, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Oh, absolutely." That would have been a complete lie had Jasmine arrived about 30 seconds sooner, but it wasn't anymore. "You see, I just talked to myself about me and the three of us worked things out."
Jasmine oddly stared at him for a moment, obviously finding that statement weird. "Are you sure?" she asked eventually, repeating herself.
"Definitely." He looked in the direction of her gym, raising an eyebrow as he noticed the doors have been knocked down. How come he hadn't seen that while running outside just a few minutes ago? "Knowing Jacob and Melanie, they're probably still inside arguing about who should battle you first."
"Yes, they are…" said Jasmine quietly, "But I wanted to make sure you're alright…"
"Your concern is very much appreciated." replied Jake with a genuine smile. He looked over his shoulder noticing that his pokémon had already eaten their fill. "You wouldn't want to keep them alone in there for too long." He chuckled, looking back at her. "They might strangle each other."
"Goodness…"
"I was joking. Come on, guys," he said, looking at all of his pokémon once more, "lunch is over."
Somehow, during Jake's and Jasmine's absence, Melanie had somehow been decided upon to be the one to battle Jasmine first. Jake was about to ask Jacob why, seeing how the last thing his friend enjoyed was letting Melanie get ahead of him, but the look on Jacob's face suggested that he didn't want to talk about it. So without any delays, she and Jasmine each took a spot on the opposite sides of the Gym's battlefield. "We will each use three pokémon." said the Gym Leader quietly. If it weren't for the fact that her voice echoed throughout the area, the others would have probably not heard her. "Um, if you're okay with that…"
"Sure!" exclaimed Melanie with a smile. She and Jasmine were like complete opposites to one another in terms of personality. The brunette had that confident look about her, causing Jacob to roll his eyes. That was just the type of attitude that always got her to make mistakes and yet there she was, going after her 8th Gym Badge just like he was. Some things just didn't have a reasonable explanation, it seemed.
"So, er, if you're ready-" said Jasmine after a short silence, only to be cut short almost immediately by her challenger.
"I was born ready!" the brunette leaped into the air once, looking more than excited to start the battle. She was already holding a pokéball in her hand, having obviously already decided which pokémon to use first. "Charizard, let's go!" The pokéball was tossed into the air and, in a matter of seconds, Melanie's fully evolved starter pokémon materialized above the battlefield. "Hooray!" The dragon-like fire-type hovered above in the air, a determined expression on his face. There was no doubt that he was aware of who they were up against.
Seeing a fully evolved Charmander on the battlefield obviously made Jake even more intrigued than he already was. He briefly looked at his Charmeleon, who did her best to ignore the fake 'when are you going to evolve' look he was shooting in her direction, before turning his attention back to the upcoming match. "Right, then." said Jasmine with a soft sigh, taking out a pokéball herself. "If that's your choice then my first pokémon will be Magnezone."
The Gym Leader calmly clicked the small white button on the front of the pokéball she was holding, causing the dual steel / electric type pokémon to appear before her. "Eeep!" For a moment Melanie seemed nervous, but she soon giggled. "Alright! A bigger challenge for us!" Both trainers had a type advantage against their opponent. Charziard's fire was going to be super effective due to Magnezone being a steel-type, but his secondary flying-type was going to give Magnezone's electric attack an edge as well. This was definitely going to be an interesting battle to watch. If there was one good thing about letting Melanie go up against Jasmine before him, it was the fact that Jacob would be able to observe her fighting style as well as what moves some of her pokémon knew. That was going to allow him to plan out his battling style more efficiently.
"This should be interesting." said Jacob with a grin as he watched. However, when Jake took a brief glance in Jasmine's direction, he suddenly got the feeling that something was wrong. Was she nervous about going up against a fire-type pokémon like Melanie's Charizard? No, that couldn't possibly be it. After all, as a steel-type Gym Leader, she must have faced many fire-types in the past. But if that wasn't the case then what else could possibly be amiss?
The fire-type trainer's suspicion that Jasmine wasn't paying attention was confirmed when Melanie took the liberty of making the first move. She ordered her Charizard to use Fire Blast, obviously with the intention of dealing a massive amount of damage with a move that would be super effective. The light of the flames reflected on the floor and walls of the hall, which were either made of or covered in pure steel, making it impossible not to notice. This was why Jake raised an eyebrow in confusion when Jasmine continued to stare at the ground, seemingly completely unaware of the blazing attack that was making its way in her pokémon's direction.
"Jasmine?" asked Jake all of a sudden.
Jacob also seemed to notice that something wasn't quite right as he too looked at the Gym Leader. Charizard's attack continued to make its way towards Magnezone, who appeared to be nervously waiting for his trainer's order. The steel-type was obviously not sure of what to do. Did his trainer want it to dodge it or did she want him to try and block it? Why wasn't she saying anything?
"Jasmine!"
Jasmine gasped and raised her gaze from the ground just in time to see Charizard's Fire Blast score a direct hit on her Magnezone. Despite how powerful of an attack Fire Blast was, the dual steel / electric type managed to hold on thanks to his Sturdy ability. Melanie's noticeable satisfaction disappeared completely when her opponent left her spot at the other side of the battlefield and ran over to her pokémon. "Oh, Magnezone, I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!" Then, much to the further confusion of both the brunette and her friends, she said "I… I'm sorry, Melanie… I just can't…"
"W-what do you mean?" asked Melanie, not sure as to what to make of the situation.
"I can't do this right now, I… I forfeit the match…" The other three trainers' mouths opened widely in shock as she said this. Jasmine returned her pokémon into its pokéball before slowly making her way over to her challenger. She looked quite upset to say the least. "Here, um, this is the Mineral Badge… Take it. I quitted the battle which counts as if I lost."
Melanie stared down at the shiny badge with a dumbstruck look on her face. "I can't accept it, Jasmine." she said, looking more worried about why the steel-type trainer was so agitated rather than about the fact that their match had been interrupted like that. "I have to earn my badges. Otherwise, what's the point?"
"Right, er… Excuse me…" Returning the badge to one of the pocket of her dress, Jasmine held Magnezone's pokéball close to her chest before running off and leaving the others alone in the gym.
"What's wrong with her?" asked Jacob with a confused look on his face as Jake walked past him, heading towards the hallway Jasmine had taken off into.
"Beats me." he said, a slight frown on his face. It would be a lie to say that seeing her so upset didn't make him upset as well. "But I'm going to find out." He returned Charmeleon and Flareon into their pokéballs, much to his friends' confusion (seeing how he rarely did that with Charmeleon).
They followed him and got out of the gym just in time to see him jump onto Ponyta's back and take off, obviously thinking that finding Jasmine would be much easier with the fire-type pokémon's speed. "You know," said Jacob, rolling his eyes as the fire-type trainer disappeared around some random corner down the street, "the way he just takes off is starting to get really old."
Surprisingly enough, it didn't take the fire-type trainer too long to find the girl he was looking for. It was rather strange, but Ponyta seemed to know where to go. The fire-type pokémon and his trainer found Jasmine on a hill on the outskirts of Olivine City. She was just standing there and staring out in the direction of the ocean, clearly deep in her own thoughts while her Steelix was lying down on the hill, head on the summit next to the steel-type Gym Leader and tail at the bottom.
Jake had Ponyta came to a halt by the bottom of the hill, at which point he got off of Ponyta's back and stroked the horse-like pokemon's head and fiery mane. "Thanks, buddy. Could you wait here for a moment?" Ponyta seemed a little weary of Jasmine's Steelix who, while having not moved an inch, was most likely aware of their presence, but he nodded his head in approval despite his reluctance. "Don't worry about Steelix." True, the steel-type hasn't met him before, but Jake doubted that he would end up getting attacked by the pokémon. It's not like he was a Team Plasma grunt or something.
Still just as determined as he'd originally been about getting to the bottom of this little mystery regarding the mood of his crush, the teenager began to make his way up the hill, trying to think of what could have possibly upset her so greatly that she had not only forfeited the match against Melanie but had also paid no attention to it to begin with. He obviously didn't know for sure, but he had a hunch as to what was on her mind. Surely enough, Steelix was eying him with noticeable curiosity.
"Jasmine?"
Jasmine, who'd obviously been so caught up in her own little world that she'd failed to hear him walk up to her, let out a small gasp of surprise and turned to look at him, sighing in relief when she saw that it was somebody she recognized. It was almost as if she'd expected someone else to show up.
"Oh, J-Jake, it's just you…" she said softly, confirming his suspicion that she had expected to see another face. "Um… What are you doing here?"
"Funny you should say that." said Jake with a small smile. "I was just about to ask you the same thing." He continued looking at her curiously as she stared down at the ground while scratching the back of her head. "You kind of took off just like that. What's wrong?"
"N-nothing's wrong…" she said, her voice sounding rather forced. "Everything's fine."
"Jasmine, please." replied the fire-type trainer with a slight frown. She looked up at him with an uneasy expression on her face. "I've kept my past a secret from my best friend for 6 years. I know what somebody looks like when something is wrong because I do it myself all the time. I'll respect it if you don't wish to talk to me about it, but you don't have to pretend as if you're okay when you clearly aren't." A long silence followed. Jake sighed. "Jasmine?"
He most certainly did not expect her to lose her composure altogether and burst into tears. For what seemed like forever the fire-type just stood there, not knowing what to do. He most certainly hadn't meant to make her cry; his intentions were good at the end of the day, and he was already greatly regretting what he was doing. Even if he truly knew what it was like to get something off his chest, seeing Jasmine in such a distress made him wish he hasn't gone after her to begin with.
"Jasmine? Jasmine, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you..." Her Steelix looked just as upset, though it didn't seem as if the pokémon was angry at Jake for maybe saying something out of line.
Jake was about to once again apologize and leave, even if the Gym Leader's reaction showed that something was bothering her greatly, when Jasmine suddenly managed to stutter a reply. "I-I just can't..."
The fire-type trainer, having barely managed to hear Jasmine because of her weeping, took a few steps closer to her. "What do you mean?" he asked, obviously confused.
Jasmine turned to fully face him, looking at him with teary eyes that almost made his heart break. "I can't take this anymore! I-I've had enough! I'm resigning!"
A/N: I don't know when the next chapter will be out. I once again apologize in advance.
