Chapter Five (Jasmine's POV)

Sally and I began walking at first light. We could have easily taken both Charcoal and Avian there like how the rest of our family took off on flying Pokémon to different cities in Kanto. We thought though, what's the fun in that? Besides, David was still hanging around fixing up the stall back in Celadon so by the time we got to Viridian, he should be done and flying down there on his Fearow. We also hadn't caught up in awhile which meant this was a great time to just walk and talk.

"So," Sally started. "Where did you run off to yesterday?" At this time the sun was just barely rising over the horizon and it was soon time to release my little pack of Eevees for their morning exercise.

"Went to cycling road, no biggie." I felt a bit nervous and conflicted about whether I should tell her about Acel. It wasn't anything, but I can already feel a 'love at first sight' thing happening, and it wasn't good. "You?"

"Got called up about a rampaging Charmeleon that just happened to be trying to help out his owner. Had to fly down there on Charcoal."

"Oh, where to?"

"Just Cerulean." Oh crap. I hope she didn't see me. "Visited Carlos too. Remember? The old man that runs the bike shop? I saw he took a picture with a stunning lady that looked exactly like you." Oh man... "Oh wait, it was you." She eyed me viciously and smirked. "So what were you doing all the way down in Cerulean with a guy?"

"Hahhaa.." I chucked nervously. "Well I bumped into him when I was coming out of Cycling Road, he offered to get me a bike so I went along with it."

"Dude, he could've been a freaking pedo for all you knew."

"Well I guess I was lucky he wasn't?" We were then occupied by a few wild Pokémon jumping out at us, but we both decided to run away since we didn't want to hurt them and because we were too lazy to. Actually, mostly because we were too lazy. When we managed to get out of the tall grass, we could finally talk again. "Okay I'm sorry Sal-"

"-are you two going out?"

"What?"

"Did he ask you out yesterday?"

"No, why?"

"His dad thinks you're going out. Imagine how disappointed he'll be when he finds out you two aren't." She roared with laughter. This was not the reaction I expected. I expected something along the lines of… a lecture.

"Well, he registered my Pokénav number…" Sally jumped up and down in delight. Okay, this is really weird.

"I know he's a good guy Jasmine. You don't need to feel so insecure about it. I knew him since he was seven because Carlos was like a father figure to me when I first started my journey. He comes from a great family, and obviously as you can tell he has to be a pretty hard working guy to get where he is now. I'm also pretty sure that you know hi-"

"-I didn't even say that I liked him yet!" I suddenly blurted, embarrassed. Sally stopped walking and looked at me. I tried to avoid eye contact with her.

"Well, you sound like you do."

"Sal, I met him a day ago. We hung out. Exchanged numbers. Be realistic here, I don't even know what he's like. He could be like this for every girl for all I know."

"Hmmm, true." At this point I was determined to change the topic.

"I told him you're going to verse the Elite Four soon. He says he's going to whoop your ass."

"We'll see about that. I know all his Pokémon, whereas he doesn't know any of mine."

"I can tell him." I grinned cheekily.

"You wouldn't."

"Okay you got me." I sighed, giving up. She knows me just too well. "A lot of people have asked me about what I'm going to do now since I'm 'champion'." I sighed.

"What are you going to do? I remember when people asked me that last year…" She chuckled. "I just said, I'm going to cane some more ass." I laughed. That's so Sally. Always determined to be stronger. Whereas… I wasn't interested in that so much.

"I'm thinking… of opening up a Pokémon Contest Training School. Thoughts?" I stared blankly at the sky.

"Sounds cool." She said. "Can you teach though?"

"That's a good question…"

By lunchtime we arrived at Saffron City. Sally and I were both starved from walking for so long, and my Pokémon were so bored they went back into their Pokéballs… to do whatever they do in there. Saffron City is always a bustling place, with heaps of people in heaps of big office buildings. One renowned business building would have to be Silph Co. I don't know what on earth they do in there, but to my understanding there should be something pretty darn good because a gang of baddies infiltrated it a few months ago. All of it has passed now, and a number of my friends have concluded it's safe to go back here.

Sabrina, the gym leader here was beaten by Sally only two months ago after she just got back from her trip. Sally enjoyed having rallies of winnings, so instead of going on a Pokémon journey to beat them all as her Pokémon grew, she just trained her Pokémon and then beat them all in one go. Not to mention she's trained a few more Pokémon before her six that she keeps with her now. The other reason why Sally took so long was because she's a lazy walker. She hates walking. Today was an exception.

Sally and I, who both really could not be stuffed walking anymore after doing so for about four hours, decided we should stay in Saffron for the day. We planned to stay at the Pokémon center here overnight and then leave again early the next morning. Plus, it'd give us time to look around the place since we haven't been here since all the ruckus happened with those bad guys. I seriously need to find out what they were called again.

We ended up deciding that it was best that we split up for now. She wanted to go see Sabrina and give her salutations whereas I wanted to figure out what I wanted to do with myself after I got back home in Viridian. After departing, I walked around the city for quite some time before I noticed a familiar building. 'The Pokémon Fan Club' was written on a sign outside of it. It was relatively smaller than all the other tall buildings around the city but I remember distinctly this was of importance to someone close to me…

Trying to ponder on who this person of importance was with my absolutely crap memory; I pushed open the door with a small creak. What unveiled inside was stunning- no words could describe it. I remember being in here once or twice before but this was only briefly and it was probably a couple years back. Way back before I even started contest battling, I assumed.

A chandelier hung from the high ceiling which cascaded downward into the center of the room. Lights gleamed all around it, creating beautiful shadows on the pale walls surrounding it. In awe, I took a step into the room before a lady who looked maybe a year or two older than me gleefully took my hand and led me in.

"Welcome to the Pokémon fan club!" She greeted, her eyes gleaming at me. "Are you new here?"

"I think I came here a few years ago…" I murmured as she flittered down to a computer near the entrance of building.

"Your name, please miss."

"Jasmine Kouch." As the lady tapped away at the keyboard, I decided to look around the room once more. I could not believe how amazing this place looked. It was probably fully refurnished since the last time I was here.

"We have a match, Miss Jasmine. The last time you checked in here was two years ago with your younger brother, Ryan." She looked around for a little bit. "Oh, in fact Ryan's here right now. He's quite the regular, comes here at least three times a week." Her words blurred out of my mind as I walked towards the young, scrawny boy she pointed towards.

I only saw my brother two days ago back at the Grand Festival but we didn't get to talk much. He was pretty much only there for moral support and not long after the festival concluded, he scurried off to god knows where and bam, I've found him.

"Hey bro." I lightly fist bumped his shoulder as he turned around and smiled.

"Hey sis. Been awhile." He stood up and was still slightly shorter than me. My brother was not incredibly tall, and he's blamed dad for that all his thirteen years of living.

"Dude, it's been two days." I cheekily replied.

"Long enough." He said, shrugging. "What brings you here?"

"Got bored. Saw this place and I guess I sort of remembered you bringing me here back when you were eleven. So this is your hangout?"

"Sure is. My Ditto enjoys memorizing how to transform into the different Pokémon that come in here. Plus, the people know me as a regular. You know I'm Vice President here now?"

"Oh wow. My little brother's all grown up!" I laughed. "Not really, you're still a baby in my eyes." He poked me in retort.

"I found a good paying job too. A proper one." I smiled approvingly at my brother. He was only a teenager but he was never great at battling or contests so he decided that he would go out and just work. He aspired to design something like the Pokémon Navigator like the company in Rustburo City in Hoenn someday, but he currently doesn't even have the funds to travel there since even flying Pokémon cannot fly across different regions. I guess he's working in Saffron now because it's one of the more technological based cities in the entire Kanto region.

"Wow. That's good. What is it?"

"I can't really tell you because the stuff's top secret and all. But the uniform is cool and if nothing goes wrong, the boss seems to really like me."

"Duh, don't all bosses like people who don't do anything wrong?" I stated matter-of-factly.

"True… but I feel like my boss and I… we have this connection? I don't know. You get what I mean?" Totally. I completely understand what you're half-saying. Not. "I think that if I keep up the good work, he might give me a pay rise!" He squealed excitedly. "At this rate, if I work there for one more year on top of being able to levy up being Vice President here getting the excess funds from outsider donations, I should be able to live in Hoenn!"

Ryan is such a great kid with big dreams. Most of them seemed unrealistic, but when it comes down to the crunch he can work hard for what he wants. I bid him goodbye about half an hour later, after catching up with life. I hardly get to see him anymore because of our difference in lives and yet… I still don't know what to do with mine.

Walking around a little bit more, Eve was finally released from her ball and she could take a stretch and walk about. She enjoyed my company, even when Vin wasn't around. Those two usually like to just walk around together when they were at romantic locations such as parks or beaches or just… whenever I'm not around. Suddenly, I felt a vibration near my right pocket of my grey shorts as I pulled out my Pokénav. Acel. I flipped up the screen and clicked the 'talk' button.

"Hello?"

"Hey Jasmine. What's up?" He sounded like he was in the air, since so much wind was flapping against the speaker that it was hard to hear him.

"Nothing much I guess. Walking around Saffron, you?"

"Can I come?"

"Sure, why not. Got nothing to do anyway." I shrugged. I didn't exactly fancy Saffron as much as I thought I'd like to I guess. It wasn't very entertaining.

"Awesome. I'll meet you outside the Pokémon center in five." I heard him shout to who I assumed would be Dragonite. "I'll see you soon. Bye!"

"Bye!" I clutched the Pokénav and slid it back into my pocket. Acel was so easy to talk to about things and even though I only met him yesterday, it's felt like years already.

I arrived at the Pokémon center not too long afterwards dawdling my way through the streets. I sat on the bench outside of it because Acel wasn't there yet and just as I was thinking that, his Dragonite plopped down almost right in front of me as Acel got off.

"Hey there Jas. Mind if I call you that?"

"Everyone calls me that, of course I don't mind." I walked up to his Dragonite and patted his head as he smiled and rubbed his head against my palm. Acel returned him into his Pokéball as we saw people start to form a crowd around us.

"Y-y-you're Acel!" One stammered, pointing. Didn't his parents teach him that it was rude to point? "You're a part of the Elite Four!" Everyone crowded in towards us trying to get an autograph from Acel.

"Sorry guys. No autographs or photos or anything today. I'm just hanging with a friend, if that's okay with you guys. Even I need my holidays once in awhile." As if everyone suddenly understood, the whole crowd dispersed and resumed their everyday activities. Facing me, Acel shoved his hands in his pockets and grinned. "So, where to?"

Since the last time I saw him- which was pretty much yesterday, Acel had spent the night with his father down in Cerulean catching up. He said he had around two days until he had to return back to the league and since he had nothing to do he thought he'd meet up with me.

"Hey… since you said I was meant to give them back to you the next time we saw each other…" Acel took out the egg case and gestured me to have it back. I pushed it back to him and shook my head.

"I didn't actually anticipate that we would meet up the next day! So keep it for longer, yeah?" Understanding, he carefully lowered the egg case back into his bag.

"So how's my dear little Quiver?" He smiled. I took out Quiver's Pokéball and sent him out. Scared, he started to flare up and then upon seeing me, he calmed down a little bit. I picked him up and held him out to Acel.

"Seems okay. He's still really shy though." Acel took him into his arms and Quiver began to snuggle into them, soon later, he began to gently fall asleep.

"Better than when he was with me." He chuckled as I returned Quiver back into his Pokéball.

Acel and I had been walking and talking for almost an hour now, and it was almost four in the afternoon. Soon, loud bells and whistles started playing to the familiar sound of Officer Jenny's siren.

"Clear the road! There's been a break-in!" She yelled. Everyone surrounding the area immediately felt scared, so they walked off following Officer Jenny's instructions. A little boy appeared in the distance in a fetal position, tears streaming down his face.

"M-my Pokémon…" He sobbed, rubbing his eyes with his fists.

"What happened?" Officer Jenny sympathized. Just as soon as she said it, a pair of masked men in purple and black ran out of a nearby building carrying a net full of Pokéballs.

"Go Jolt!" I screamed, throwing out my Jolteon. He shook his head and took a stance. "Thunder Wave!" Jolt ran up to the men and sent shock waves down them, which brought them to their knees.

"I… can't move…" One of them whimpered as he attempted multiple times to stand up and make his escape. The other one fought with his paralysis and reached for his belt, successfully pulling out a Pokéball and throwing it out. Officer Jenny stood up and called for her Growlithe to come forward. A Ditto appeared out of the bad guy's Pokéball, but it was a much larger version of one.

"Transform!" Dittos usually mimic their opponents Pokémon, but this Ditto changed right in front of our eyes… into a Poliwhirl. "Water gun!" The guy screamed as his Ditto- now a Poliwhirl ran up to Officer Jenny's Growlithe and began spraying water everywhere.

"Dodge!" Officer Jenny called as her Growlithe barely managed to avoid the shot of water. "Take Down Growlithe!" Growlithe ran at Ditto with great speed, but missed with a simple sway of its body. "Darn it!" Officer Jenny cussed.

"Ditto, use hydro pump." Ditto, using its new body blasted two large cannons of water out and hit Growlithe right on the face. Growlithe got blasted back right into Officer Jenny's arms, fainting. The man smirked, still in his paralyzed state on the ground.

I stepped forward with Jolt, while Acel tried to hold me back. "Let me handle this." He whispered into my ear. I shook my head.

"Jolt's already out. He wants some fun." Acel sighed at my stubbornness and allowed me to proceed. "Thunderbolt!" Out of nowhere, Jolt ran out, surprising the Ditto and hit him smack on the stomach. As if refusing to lose, the Ditto transformed once again, but now into a Golem. Damn, always transforming into your opponents weakness now aren't you?

"Ditto… self destruct." The Ditto rolled into the middle of the streets and began to brighten. Oh crap. I thought.

"Run Jolt!" I screamed, as he began bolting towards my direction. Everyone began running away, scurrying off to safety. The Ditto self destructed, with rock pavement flying into every direction and smog filled the air, which made it hard to see. After it cleared, both the two bad guys had disappeared and the Ditto was also missing. All there was left was a large ditch, which marked the location where Ditto had self-destructed. "Dammit." I hissed under my breath.

I couldn't help but keep thinking of what I could've done to prevent those bad guys from escaping that night, but Acel assured me that it was unavoidable. He said that at least no one was injured, we would be able to find them soon enough. Sally returned back to the Pokémon Center having missed the entire ruckus probably at Sabrina's. When she arrived, I was standing on the balcony of our room with Acel just chatting about the day.

TBC :)