"I am having a vacation, Cynthia. A VA-CA-TION. Do I need to spell it out for you? V,A,C,A,T,I,O,N. The first true vacation I have in five years and you are telling me that you are cancelling it without my opinion? There are THIRTEEN of us for crying out loud! Why am I always the one stuck with cleaning up criminal groups?! What are the League's forces for?! Stand there and look pretty?!"
Jasmine peered through the crack in between the wall and the door of the room, which he probably forgot to close properly before having this heated conversation over the phone with who she presumes is Cynthia.
"What do you mean they cannot handle it? I trained them myself for two goddamn years by burning my weekends!"
Jasmine watched silently as Volkner paced about angrily in the room. What is this about?
"Okay, listen. I am finally having a vacation with my girlfriend, a vacation that I should have gone on at least three years ago. I had completed the paperwork for the vacation to be approved at least five months ago. Flint is supposed to watch over my city while I'm gone, I told him that more than half a year ago. The city is able to survive an invasion even without me there. That was what I was helping the city to learn ever since I became a slave for the League. And now you are telling me I cannot even take a fucking vacation for once in five years?"
Volkner did a roll of his eyes after listening to what Cynthia said in reply.
"Oh, what are you gonna do? Fire me? I would love that. Put me into prison? Is there anyone capable of doing it that is not you? Are you even able to do it?" Volkner pulled the phone away from his year and placed his phone barely half a centimetre away from his mouth.
"I, am the only Thirteen Pillar of Sinnoh that hasn't take a goddamn fucking break for once in five years. Even the rare times I visited my girlfriend in Johto is due to business purposes for the League that lasted three days at the most. You want to take down whoever? Take it down yourself. If you want to send League forces after me to cart me home, be my guest. You can even come yourself. We both know Puddle can go up against your garchomp mano a mano. Your ground type doesn't scare me."
Volkner took a deep breath before he growled out his last sentence.
"Stop. Relying on me for everything. I'm not your wonder cure to everything. Even I have my limits."
And with that, the call was swiftly ended. His expression immediately changed when he looked up and saw her looking at him in concern.
"Uh… I can explain."
"I think I saw enough to understand what is going on." She said as her arms wrapped around his neck. "Thank you, Volk."
"No problems."
"But if it is serious enough for Cynthia to personally call you, then you should go back."
He scoffed.
"No, that is where I draw the line. I have given enough."
"And if lives were lost because you weren't there?"
He snorted.
"I trained the League's Elites for two years for every single weekend. I worked literally 24/7 without break for five years to ensure that Sunyshore would not collapse the moment I stepped out of it. They can handle themselves. If they can't, then it was a waste of time trying to shape the city into something that it can never be."
"It is your city, Volk. Your home."
"My home is with you. I don't care about the rest."
"Volk." Jasmine repeated his name to drive her point across with a slight frown on her face, even if his proclamation had made her a little happy.
His home is with her. That's what he said.
"Can we just enjoy our vacation?" He sighed in exasperation. "I just want us to have some quality time alone, is that so hard to ask for?"
"Just what is it that they are calling you for anyway?"
Volkner huffed.
"The usual. A big syndicate is having ambitious plans to set up their HQ in my city, or something like that. I didn't really bother to listen to the details. I just know that someone is needed to root them out. Guess who got called for the job?"
"Wiping them out isn't so hard, right?"
"Tracking is the problem. Tracking all of them down is a headache even with Jarvis and Myst helping. Sunyshore's terrain is just too troublesome to navigate with all the mountains around."
Jasmine's frown deepened.
"Lend Jarvis to me for a moment. Then we can settle this problem that is bothering you, which in turn is bothering me, and we can all get back to doing what we want to do."
Volkner raised an eyebrow.
"You have an idea?"
"Are you doubting me, Volkner Tide?" Jasmine asked by mimicking her boyfriend with her own raised eyebrow.
"No, uh, just curious."
"If you cannot track all of them down, then get them to come out by themselves. Just send them a false message. Telling them something that they cannot resist and they know is too good to be true, but will still come out anyway. Besides, I do want to learn how to take down criminal mobs better. I'm lucky that Olivine is very peaceful, but I might have to do something like that one day as Olivine's Gym Leader. You can teach me while you are at it."
There was a pregnant pause.
"Have I ever told you how sexy you looked when you said that? You just made my mind go Kaboom."
Jasmine gave her lover a smirk.
"You just did. Can I borrow your Ampharosite later? I haven't tried Mega Evolution with Amphy before."
"Jas, combining Amphy and Mega Evolution is a bad idea. You know how much Amphy loves his explosions. You know what explosions are, right? You know, kaboom?"
"I know what explosions are-"
"Then all the more reason that I super duper absolutely cannot lend you and Amphy-"
"Volk~ Just once! Please?"
She cannot help but giggle at the sight of the resigned expression on his face when he sighed. He can never seem to refuse a request from her.
"You and Amphy are definitely a recipe for disaster. I'm actually kind of glad you are not an Electric Specialist. You and Amphy alone can easily blow up half the town even if Amphy isn't much of a battler. I'm not even talking about Mega Evolution here."
"Thanks Volk." She quickly sealed the deal by giving him a quick peck of the cheek. There's no way he can back out now. "The other half of your reward will come later. I promise."
He raised an eyebrow at her for a few seconds before giving another sigh.
"I have a feeling I'm gonna regret this."
"Alright, Teams 1 to 8, standby! We are going in after two minutes!"
The newest rookie to the team sees this as the perfect time to address the unsaid question hanging in the air.
"Psst, why is it just us this time? What happened to…" The rookie did an air quote motion with his fingers. "...reinforcements from the Thirteen Pillars?"
"No clue." One of the operatives shrugged as a response to his comrade's question, keeping their voice lower than a whisper to avoid getting caught by their team leader. "Volkner is usually here to help. He is the best the League has to offer when it comes to dealing with this kind of shit."
"Heard he is on vacation." Another added. "Flint is taking care of Sunyshore until he comes back."
"And where is Flint?"
"I dunno. Probably busy with something else. Wrong place at the wrong time. Stuck in a traffic jam. Overslept. Take your pick. I just know that these guys sure chose the right time to be missing."
"Man, now I don't feel that safe without a Gym Leader around to help."
"Feel you, bro." One of the more senior operatives whispered out to the rookie. "You are new, right? Have you ever seen them in action before? The power they have? It is unreal, let me tell you. There's this one mission I was on that Volkner was assigned to help us. Volkner actually blew a hole through the mountain with his electric types. You know the cute little pachirisu he uses for gym challenges?"
There was a collective nod of heads, and the senior operative continue speaking.
"It took down dragons. Fucking dragons, I tell you. A pachirisu taking down dragons. His electivire reshaped the mountain peak over there."
Said mountain peak isn't that hard to spot given that a perfect sphere-shaped hole is fitted into it with the peak somehow still remaining. They can even see the clear blue sky through the hole from where they are, a good few kilometres away from said mountain. The unnatural formation is actually now a popular tourist attraction in Sunyshore for sightseeing given how perfectly shaped it is. If the image they are seeing is a 2D diagram, it is like having a perfectly shaped circle inside a triangle. Some of the locals even affectionately named the unique mountain peak as the 'Volkner's Peak'.
"Wow." The operative in question whistled out an expression of awe. "The fight must be quite a sight. Wish I could see it myself. Did it go, like, kaboom?"
"It went kaboom." His comrade answered with a nod, like he had just revealed the truth of the universe.
"Why are you idiots chatting?!" The operatives whispering behind jumped in fright as they were caught red-handed by their team leader. "Are you grandmas in your nineties gossiping in the market?! Get your asses back in gear! This is a mission! Let me catch you gossiping during missions one more bloody time, I will make you suffer the same fate as that mountain top and make you idiots go-"
KABOOM!
Like a deity had answered their earlier prayers to witness the impossible, the team watched in sheer disbelief as a nearby mountain top exploded with a huge surge of electricity. The entire team was sent skidding back from the force of the explosion even from how far they were. The din was so loud that they all have to cover their ears. The very earth itself trembled.
It is like Zekrom itself had descended.
"Ka-Kaboom?" One of the operatives whispered shakily, barely managing to stand from the fright of the power being thrown around.
A bestial roar was heard as a massive gyarados flew into the skies with many yellow streaks surrounding it. Flying right beside the mighty sea serpent is a humongous steelix of equal size.
"T-That's Volkner's gyarados, r-right? I-I thought Volkner wasn't free?"
"He wasn't free." Even their team leader was stumped as he let his team exchange murmurs among themselves. What the hell just happened?!
He threw that thought aside for the time being when he was being called for by the walkie he clipped onto his belt.
"Team Alpha, mission has been completed. Target location had already been destroyed. Team Charlie will be going in to apprehend the criminals. There's nothing else for you to do here, return to base."
"What? We didn't even do a thing! No offense, sir, but what in Arceus's name just-"
"Volkner happened. He decided to take a detour back before going on his vacation again and only told us about it after that display. Just don't question our good luck and return. Volkner was pissed that he had to come back. Very pissed. And when he's pissed, I'm pissed. You don't want to piss me off even more than it already is. Just don't ask any more questions and just return to base."
"I can tell, sir, from how he made the mountain top-"
"Kaboom. I know. Just get your men back. HQ over and out."
Well, HQ is right. In their line of work, just accept the good luck and move on.
"Hmm, that was surprisingly easy."
Jasmine hummed a happy tune as she and Volkner continued to fly back to their vacation spot with their pokemon's help. She passed the Ampharosite that she and Amphy had borrowed from Volkner back to him.
"Told you putting Amphy and Mega Evolution together is a bad idea. Where did he even get the love for explosions from?"
"I think he just spent too much time with Fluffy recently. But that was fun!"
"So now it's Fluffy's fault? You two nearly gave me a heart attack with that and now the whole of Sinnoh is going to think that I was the one who did that. And where do you want to go next for our date?"
"Can we explode another mountain top? That was fun! I was thinking if I can get Magny to-"
"Jas, no."
"...Please?" Jasmine asked as she clasped her hands together and put on the best pleading eyes she can manage.
"No. There are only so many mountains in Sinnoh big enough for us to explode. I just put them on the 'Protect-Sinnoh's-Mountains-From-Going-Kaboom-Thanks-To-Jasmine' list. They are now being officially protected by yours truly as of two seconds ago."
"But, kaboom!"
"Kaboom is not something I want to encourage, especially not when I know almost everyone from our team can achieve that with enough motivation because we are just that strong. A Mega-Evolved Puddle could probably reshape Mt Coronet if he ever felt like it. Arceus would be pissed if that happened, and if Arceus is pissed, then this time it is the entire world that will go kaboom."
The massive gyarados let out another excited roar as agreement, further emphasising Volkner's point.
"But it is kaboom!"
"Or." Volkner pulled her closer before leaning his face extremely close to her. "Instead of mountains, I can make your mind go kaboom. I'm collecting the other half of my reward now."
"V-Volk!"
She was silenced when his lips captured hers in a searing hot and passionate kiss.
"Did that made you mind go kaboom?" He teased her when that finally ended, much to her dismay.
She nodded mutely as her mind is still in a daze. When she finally regained her senses, she tiptoed and wrapped her arms around his neck like how she loves to.
"Jas?"
Her eyes twinkled with mischief before she plans to continue where they left off. But before that, she has to say the magic word for extra effect, right before she returned the favour and made his brain halt like he did to her.
"Kaboom."
She never did get to try and explode another mountain top, but their vacation went smoothly without a hitch after that day. They got bored touring Sinnoh after a while, so they decided to head back to Olivine. Volkner was insistent on going back to Olivine before their vacation ended, saying that he should visit her parents at least once now that they are officially together.
It was sweet and thoughtful of him.
He had met them even before they got together, and her parents are happy for the both of them when she brought him back. They approve of him, much to her relief. Their vacation is coming to an end soon and they are spending the last few days of it in her hometown. The sun is shining brightly today and since both of them have no desire to venture anywhere too far out, they both decided to give their pokemon a good scrub because it has been a long time since any of them had done so for their pokemon friends.
Which leads them back to where they are now, a secluded area on Olivine's beach far away from the public eye.
"Alright, Glowy. Spray some water."
Steely gurgled in delight as both of them used a broom scrub to wash the soap off Steely's metal body while Glowy provided a steady stream of pressurised water. They had all gave each of their pokemon friends a bath. Steely is the last one left due to her large size. There wasn't a point in helping to give Puddle a bath since he swims in the sea almost all the time, but that didn't stop the both of them from helping the massive gyarados to scrub its gigantic body, scrubbing out any algae that had grown in between his scales.
The rest of their pokemon are now either resting on the beach or drying themselves. Prime had taken possession of an electric fan and is now using it to blow everyone dry or to cool off the heat they face from the blazing sun. Despite the soreness in her arms and the sweat dripping off her forehead, Jasmine can't help but smile. This is a nice change of pace in her life. She likes it when they both indulge in the one thing that they are both passionate about, taking care of pokemon.
Steely lay contently at where she is on the beach as the two trainers did their work, and it wasn't long before they are done rinsing off the soap on her huge metal body. Prime did a happy shriek as he left the electric fan he is in and possess a microwave they brought along. The both of them took a few steps back as Prime used the flames in his Heat Rotom mode to dry Steely off in the blink of an eye. Despite being a steel type, Steely wasn't the least bit bothered by the flames. For a steelix as powerful as her, it takes more than just normal flames for her to even feel anything from it.
"Guys, we need some extra hands over here!"
Jasmine gave a few claps of her hands to gather some of her steel types around her. Lucy brought along a huge metal tin of wax. It is a special type of wax that trainers will usually use to help their steel types maintain the pristine condition of their metal armour. She had already applied it to the rest of her steel types, Steely is the last one left. Steely's body is just too big for her and Volkner to do it alone. They will need some help.
A few of Volkner's pokemon had also enthusiastically volunteered themselves for the job. Scrat dived his little body into the wax tin, coating his body entirely with the substance. Volkner wasn't very pleased by Scrat's action considering that he had just helped scrub Scrat clean earlier.
"Scrat! How many times have I told you about getting yourself dirty right after I bathed you? I told you to use the cloth! Not your body!"
A wax covered Scrat gave a few squeaks of reply the moment he emerged from the tin.
"What do you mean I never told you that before?"
Scrat gave a little whine.
"What do you mean having a small brain means having a way smaller memory? You sure as hell don't forget where you keep your berries- GET BACK HERE! I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!"
Scrat simply ignored Volkner as he scampered off onto Steely's body, curled itself up, and proceed to use a Rollout. He is having fun as he rolled his wax covered self to and fro across Steely in his attempt to help wax the large metal serpent. At least Scrat is creative about it.
Volkner seemingly being able to converse with his electric types is nothing new to her. There are weirder things that she had seen in this world. There are people capable of using psychic powers like Sabrina, so although Volkner having the ability to converse with electric types had surprised her when she first learnt of it, she accepted it soon enough. In fact, she is a little envious that he can understand his pokemon to a certain extent.
Volkner had no idea how he came to have this ability too. According to him, this part of his peculiarity only extends to electric types. He doesn't understand a single word his electric types said to him, only somehow able to somewhat understand the message that they are trying to convey to him on an instinctual level. It was what made him decide to be an Electric Specialist instead of a Generalist not long after he first started out to be a trainer. It was partly why he had non-electric types like Myst, Puddle, North, and Tec, since he only decided to travel the road of an Electric Specialist after he got them.
The rest of them all took a piece of cloth and coated it with some of those wax. Half an hour later, Steely's hide became so shiny that the reflection of the sun rays actually hurt their eyes if they stared directly at it.
Another application of heat from Prime finished Steely's spa treatment for today. Steely rose to her full height and visually inspects her now shining bright body. Jasmine is happy that her long-time friend is pleased at the result and laughed when Steely lowered her huge head and gently nudged each of them in a gesture of thanks.
Meanwhile, Volkner had gotten his hands on the hyperactive Scrat, grabbing the struggling pachirisu by the back of his neck and letting Glowy spray a pressurised stream of water to wash the wax off while he scrubs Scrat's body again. Volkner grumbled something about 'disobedient pachirisus' under his breath the whole time. Scrat had his revenge when he purposely shook his body and sprayed droplets of water everywhere, getting everyone near him drenched.
"That's it, you little prankster. Get back here!"
Scrat let out a little squeak before jumping onto Jasmine's shoulders to seek refuge from Volkner's wrath. Volkner's eyes narrowed at the behaviour of the resident prankster on his team.
"You went too far this time, Scrat." Jasmine said in amusement as she held onto Scrat and passed him into Volkner's waiting hands (or evil clutches in Scrat's eyes). Scrat had a shocked look of betrayal on his cute little face and whined when Volkner pulled on his little ear and began to give the mischievous rodent a good tongue lashing. None of their pokemon were sympathetic to Scrat's plight, choosing to openly laugh at him instead.
"Can't believe our vacation is ending soon." Jasmine said wistfully as she stretched her arms to reduce the soreness she is feeling. "Who knows when our next vacation will be?"
"Two years."
"Huh?" Jasmine asked perplexedly as Volkner hugged her from behind and rest his head on her shoulders.
"Two years. I promise you that after two years, we wouldn't need to keep up with this long-distance relationship anymore. I will move to Johto and then we can see each other every day."
"The Sinnoh League won't relinquish their hold on you readily, Volk." Jasmine frowned a little at the thought of it. She doesn't like the somewhat authoritarian way they control Volkner, but she knows that there are not many options to refuse a direct order from your own Regional League and Government.
She had given a lot of thought to Volkner's predicament when he had just become a Gym Leader. No matter how she thought about it, Volkner could have refused the responsibility thrown at him five years ago if he stood his ground, but for some reason he didn't. He had never shared with her the reason for it too and she never asked. If he wanted her to know, he would have told her a long time ago. If he never told her, then there must be a good reason. She trusts him, so she will not pry.
Most likely, the Sinnoh League must have threatened or blackmailed him into accepting the position of Sunyshore's Gym Leader. With what, she has no clue.
"I think it is time for me to fight for my own rights. I am after all, only human. I cannot do everything. The League needs me because of my unique strengths to solve their problems. Once their problems are solved, there wouldn't be a need to keep me around anymore. Two years, Jas. I know it is a lot to ask from you since you have waited for me for so long, but I promise you two years is all I need to pass on the position of Gym Leader onto someone else."
"Would that unlucky person be someone that goes by the name of Riley?" She teased as she looked up to see his face.
"Touché." He responded with a wry grin. "What gave it away?"
"The fact that we had known each other for seven years?" She responded cheekily.
"If seven years ago somebody told me that I would find the love of my life somewhere far, far away in Johto, I would have called them crazy and throw them into the sea. But I'm glad I decided to travel to Olivine."
"I'm glad I had the courage to challenge you to a battle."
"I can already imagine our future, Jas. I don't know how many kids we will have, but we will probably have a son or two. And one day he will approach me and ask: "Dad, how do you woo a girl you like?" And I will say, "Son, first, you challenge the girl of your dreams to a pokemon battle. Then you will need to score an overwhelming victory, crush her dreams, take her money and demand for her phone number. That's how I met your mother." And he will ask, "Really?" And I will give a serious nod and hope that this is the exact same way that he will meet his other half and hopefully it becomes a family tradition."
"You are a bad influence." Jasmine shook her head in mock disapproval while trying not to laugh at the incredulity of his words. "Did you know that I cried myself to sleep that night?"
"I remembered you told me that during our trip to Kanto. Do I feel bad about it? Yeah. Did I regret it? Nope."
"If we ever have a daughter, I'm going to tell her to never find a boyfriend like her father. I'm going to make sure she will be a pokemon trainer so strong that she is unbeatable. That way, no boys can defeat her in a battle and crush her dreams just like you did mine."
"Aww, Jas. Now you break my heart. Shhh, did you hear that? The sound of glass breaking? That was the sound of my heart breaking into a million pieces."
She tried very hard not to laugh at that and failed spectacularly.
"Anyway, there will be a huge festival in Ecruteak two days from now. There will be fireworks, and I heard Morty saying that this year's ones are really pretty." Jasmine changed the topic of their discussion as they both sat down under the shade of a large tree on the beach and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Watch it with me?"
He nodded as he pulled her closer to him. She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around him and took in his scent. It will be months, or maybe even years before they can be in each other's embrace again. Whenever they are both free again. If only they were both born in the same region and not tasked with such a heavy burden, they wouldn't need to be separated across the vast ocean for such lengthy periods of time.
"I will wait for you, no matter how long it takes." She whispered her promise to him as she snuggled closer to him, not wanting their time together to end. It is only during her time alone with him that she can be simply Jasmine Terbium, not The Iron Wall of Olivine. She did not regret becoming a Gym Leader, but she does miss the simple life.
"I won't make you wait too long. I promise."
Pokemon and trainer list:
Volkner Tide: Gym Leader of Sunyshore, Electric Specialist
Titles, Accolades and Achievements: Tie for First Place with Flint in the 521st Lily of the Valley Conference, Sinnoh's strongest Electric Specialist, Thirteen Pillar of Sinnoh, The Sun of Sunyshore, The Yellow Flash
Main team:
1. Electivire (Franky), male
2. Luxray (Simba), male
3. Jolteon (Jo), female
4. Magnezone (ISpy), genderless
5. Gallade (Myst), male
6. Rhyperior (Tec), male
7. Probopass (North), female
8. Gyarados (Puddle), male
Pokemon used for Gym challenges
9. Raichu (Squeaky), female
10. Pachirisu (Scrat), male
11. Heliolisk (Bask), male
12. Ampharos (Fluffy), female
13. Vikavolt (Vik), female
14. Eelektross (Whirr), male
15. Lanturn (Glowy), female
Pokemon used for Sunyshore's security
16. Rotom (Prime), genderless
17. Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless
Jasmine Terbium: The Gym Leader of Olivine, Steel Specialist
Titles, Accolades and Achievement: Johto's Strongest Steel Specialist, Thirteen Pillar of Johto, The Iron Wall of Olivine
Pokemon Team:
1. Ampharos (Amphy), male
2. Steelix (Steely), female
3. Magnezone (Magny), genderless
4. Skarmory (Skia), female
5. Forretress (Forest), male
6. Metagross (Mety), genderless
7. Empoleon (Emy), male
8. Bronzong (Bronzy), genderless
9. Mawile (Molly), female
10. Lucario (Lucy), female
11. Excadrill (Drilly), male
12. Ferrothorn (Thorny), male
13. Klinklang (Clang), genderless
14. Bastiodon (Bobby), male