The small clock on the bed stand rang at five in the morning. Motioned out through several beeps, then silenced.
Yawning, Jasmine flipped through the covers and went out of bed. The window near showed the outdoors shrouded in darkness, she turned on the lights. Clothes eventually spread out on the bed, straightened and warm from the recent ironing. Jasmine brushed her hair, smoothly pushing the bristles among her brown strands.
It took less than twenty minutes for her to dress and start the day in the kitchen. Her grandfather would come downstairs soon, she prepared breakfast in the meantime. Jasmine switched on the radio, listening to the news reports. She hummed a tune, reaching the fridge for a carton of eggs.
"Good Morning," Myron said, yawning. He stretched out his arms.
Jasmine cracked the egg's shell on the skillet. "Good Morning, Grandpa. I'm making eggs to go with the soybeans."
"Hmm, but I am in the mood for just an omelet instead," Her grandfather quipped.
"Oh… you should have woken up earlier to tell me that. I have everything set already."
Myron laughed. "All right, all right. I won't argue."
"Your morning paper is on the table."
"Thank you." He sat down to read the headlines. "Hm, you know… I wonder if we'll find out about the good samaritan who left those bags of food for your dratini last night. May they be blessed by the Rainbow-hued pokémon."
"Oh Grandpa," Jasmine said wryly. "I should finish this. I have to go to the lighthouse to feed Amphy and Dratini."
"Jasmine, I only wish to express my gratitude to them – oh my." His speech was neurotic after the short pause. Myron's face would writhe a perpetual frown.
"What is it?"
"I'm reading the columns, there's been an invasion of poison pokémon in Blackthorn City! This is horrible!" His eyes scanned through the headlines of the paper several times to review. They peered back up to Jasmine. "And you plan to visit Blackthorn today, right?"
"I do... ah! Coffee is ready."
"I'm not sure if you should go," Myron warned.
His granddaughter set a cup of coffee down on the table. "It might be hazardous. However, the Gym Leader of Blackthorn and the Champion regained control of the issue."
Jasmine was fixed on the news – internally wondering if she should follow with her plans. She felt obligated to pay her gratitude to Lance for the other day, but if a deadlock like this was happening… should she even go out of her own selfish needs? Along with the notion to learn more about the dragon type and visit Clair. Would it be feasible at the moment with the city under pressure? How much of a threat were the invasive poison types?
With so many internal questions jostling through her head, Jasmine would rethink.
Janina hustled through the Olivine streets with her bike, making her way to the Glitter Lighthouse. She looked in both directions and crossed. Peddling fast into the pier toward Olivine's famous attraction.
Once inside, she went up the elevator to the Light Room. The doors opened, and Jasmine gave the last of the algae into Dratini's mouth. It munched quickly, before jumping back into the small pool with a splash. Jasmine giggled upon the water landing on her dress. "Ah – you got me all wet!"
"Good Morning Miss Jasmine," Janina greeted.
"Hello Janina," said Jasmine. "How are you today?"
"I'm good. Um, I promise I won't get carried away next time!" This blurt out of Janina's words came from the lecture she received last night. Despite completing her task of picking up Dratini's food from Whitney, the tardiness and losing focus on the errand lead to a talk with her mentor.
"That's wonderful. I'm glad you're taking what I said into consideration."
"I am! Moving on… you have to go to Blackthorn City soon right? I'll take good care of the lighthouse just like you asked!"
"Oh… you… don't need to worry about that."
"Huh? Why?"
Jasmine revealed the reason, sighing. "I'm going to cancel the trip. The recent news made me reach that decision."
"You mean the invasive pokémon? But you were looking forward to it!"
"There's always next time. I was hoping to pay a visit to Clair since Fridays are her free days, but I know she is occupied with assisting her clan in helping those poor dragon pokémon affected and cleaning up. It would be rude of me to intrude. Besides…" Jasmine kneeled down to pat her dratini, hand reaching the water to coddle him. Dratini relaxed among his trainer's soft touch that he rubbed around her palm, content. "…I wouldn't want my little dratini to be caught in the mess."
"He's really liking you, Miss Jasmine!" Janina exclaimed. The dratini's health had improved tenfold. Thus elevating his attitude – he was more joyful. At the very least, that was one positive thing about her caring for him and following Lance's advice.
"Have you thought of a name for him?" asked Janina.
"I haven't. I should brainstorm some names…"
"Do my old eyes deceive me? Are you training dragon pokémon now?"
The gym leader and her apprentice moved their heads at the voice. An old man stood at the entrance of the Light Room, taking off his hat as a greeting. He dressed in formal attire and laughed heartfully at the bewilderment of the two. "It has been a while, Miss Jasmine!"
"Warden Baoba! What brings you here?"
"Oh, I figured I pay a visit to one of my favorite places in Johto!" The Safari Warden exclaimed. "All while assisting in moving new pokémon into my reserve!"
"New pokémon?"
"Poison types that invaded Blackthorn recently. Most of them have been rounded up during the crisis. I was requested by the Blackthorn Clan if I could take the pokémon into the Safari Zone. I suppose the marshland reserve will be bigger than before!"
Jasmine blinked in surprise. "You're offering assistance to the Blackthorn crisis?"
Baoba nodded. "Well, where else could they go? The grimer and muk can't reside in cities, the pollution in Kanto is bad as is. I wouldn't like Johto to suffer the same fate. My reserves are perfect for situations such as these."
"I see. You're doing such a kind act, Warden Baoba."
"Sweet as ever, Miss Jasmine. Thank you. Yet enough of this old man's tale… did you catch that dratini?"
Jasmine went on to explain the story of her trade, ending it with a possible visit to Blackthorn City.
"Well I'll be," Baoba said. "It's so nice for the Champion to have given assistance with Dratini. And you are thinking of visiting Blackthorn following his advice?"
"I was… until of the recent news," Jasmine replied wistfully.
"Ah, well if it helps… Blackthorn is in much better shape. It's mostly Dragon's Den that has been affected, the rest of the city should be fine. Why not make a visit? Even if Clair is busy, you can always seek assistance from other dragon trainers in the area."
"I suppose. I just think going to her directly would be much easier."
"No doubt having her as help would be more useful. But, it doesn't hurt to familiarize yourself with Blackthorn City more to get your foot at the door. It'll make things easier the next time you visit and perhaps then… make a meeting with Clair. You'll have knowledge then instead of going blind!"
Jasmine sensed the Warden was urging her to pay a visit. He was set on his beliefs and spoke them clearly with wisdom. Much like many elders of the region. His friendly demeanor was also inviting, luring her to possibly change her mind.
"Your dratini is starting to get accustomed to the changes you made in his diet," he added. "If it's becoming healthier and happier, then you don't need to see Miss Clair right away. Give yourself some credit and take what you already know about raising pokémon. Especially after what Champion Lance advised you to do."
"No, you're right…" Jasmine glanced at Dratini. The serpent dragon gazed back with his giant eyes. "I might be worried that… I might regress back to square one. Maybe that is why I feel so desperate to meet with Clair right away. Things may have picked up, but I want to make sure I am better prepared. Things could transition more smoothly for Dratini if I gain more knowledge…"
"Your caring nature brings you to work hard, but I sense you have doubts. If I may suggest, you should visit today. Not simply to have a better understanding of the dragon type, but to boost your confidence! Do you not like traveling?"
"She does!" Janina piped up. "Miss Jasmine even visited the Sinnoh region a few times for contests!"
"Janina!" Jasmine cried on her interference, her apprentice quieted down. Her mentor was flustered, leading Janina to scratch the back of her head. "Oops… I was just trying to help!"
Warden Baoba laughed. "So you are an adventurous one! Then why not visit Blackthorn today? Do you have gym matches Miss Jasmine, or?"
"Not today, in fact… I did free up this day to visit Blackthorn…"
"Then take this free day and run with it! You may learn many new things! When I was your age I sure did!"
"Yeah, Miss Jasmine! If Blackthorn City is better, then it doesn't hurt to travel there a bit!" Janina cried out.
There was a brief pause until Jasmine made her decision. In a way, Baoba was right. If what he said was true regarding Blackthorn's improvement, and that this day was free specifically for the trip… then what was there to lose? "Oh, all right. I wouldn't want this day to go to waste. It would also help Dratini to explore a bit too."
"Just beware that it may rain over there later today, or so I heard," Baoba said. "Bring an umbrella!"
Jasmine thanked the Warden for his advice.
Blackthorn was a completely different world from Olivine.
Locked in the mountains… very faintly could be seen the peak of Mt. Silver in the horizon. Blackthorn was closed inland and far from the beautiful shores Olivine was near. Jasmine had landed shortly in the area. Her skarmory was returned after being her transportation for the trip. Myron was hesitant to care for the lighthouse with Janina, but Jasmine insisted she would go. The persuasion by Baoba was too strong for her to not reconsider.
Most of the sky was covered in clouds, with bits of light seeping through – Jasmine remembered she packed an umbrella in her bag. Walking into the entrance from the dirt road into Blackthorn, she stopped to observe the city itself. Much smaller than Olivine, along with it being closely knit. Many of the buildings were connected, with little space in between – particularly, the residencies. Many homes with steeply thatched roofs that would protect them from the heaps of snow during winter. The Ice Path was nearby, and winter was prime for its cold influence to reach the city. Yet in the midst of late summer, it was dry.
Jasmine released her dratini from the pokéball, white light brought out the baby pokémon looking around – curious about his surroundings.
The Gym Leader picked up Dratini. "We're going to go on a little adventure, Dratini. Just stay close to me, all right?"
Dratini gazed at her for a few seconds before mirroring a smile of its own with a small cry. Jasmine walked in, now in Blackthorn City.
The streets held various merchants and dragon tamers about, young and old. Some glancing at her as she appeared foreign in their eyes. Jasmine was self-conscious, not fond of being watched but continued on. She reached an intersection where she heard the roar of a salamence. It flew passed her with its trainer, causing a short burst of wind. Her dress flapped, and she clutched dratini while he jumped. Several other dragon tamers followed with dragons of their own - an altaria, a noivern - she could identify those.
Jasmine met with a passerby. She asked for directions to the Blackthorn Gym.
"It's closed," the passerby said. "There's no point in heading out there. Uh, you some sort of tourist?"
"Ah, I am from Olivine City… I just wanted to speak to Leader Clair."
"Well again, the place is closed. Not sure if you heard the recent news but Blackthorn is in pretty bad shape right now. Good thing we have Lance helping us out, otherwise we would be screwed."
"No, I know… well, thank you anyway."
She briskly walked away, head down over the interaction. Dratini looked up at her sullen face. "How embarrassing…"
"Pardon me, Miss!" cried an elderly voice. "I need to head to the gym – ah!"
Kaburagi tripped on a rock and fell onto the sidewalk, with groceries rolling down the concrete. Jasmine ran to him while he muttered.
"Ah! You all right, Sir?"
"Oh..." Kaburagi whined, sitting up. His eyes widened. "Ah! The food!" The old adviser scrambled to pick it all up, with Jasmine helping in return.
"Just when I was speeding like an arrow, the fruit slipped out like a banana peel!" His odd pun had Jasmine inquiring about such humor, but didn't ask directly. Instead, she focused on picking up the food.
With the last being given to him, Kaburagi thanked her and placed it in the bag. "My apologies young lady, I should be more careful next time."
"No, it's okay. It's my pleasure," said Jasmine. "I'm happy to help. I'm glad everything is in one piece."
"You're quite kind! Hmm, you don't seem to be from here." Kaburagi inspected her appearance. "Are you here for a visit?"
"Ah, yes… I am."
There was a short pause, Kaburagi's eyes motioned the dratini in Jasmine's arms. "Oh, what a beautiful pokémon you have!"
"Thank you... I just got this little one recently."
"Is that so? How wonderful! The dratini line is fantastic and one of the most majestic of dragons! Of course, I speak as I've seen its potential reached to great heights."
"So I heard. It's quite popular here, isn't it?"
Kaburagi chuckled. "I only speak from experience. Now then, for helping this old man out – I'd like to return the favor! Is there a specific place you'd like to visit?"
"You mustn't – "
"Nonsense! I'd be happy to help! Just say the word, I am quite knowledgeable of Blackthorn City. Being a long-time resident, of course!"
Jasmine was tempted to take the offer, seeing this as a chance. It would certainly beat looking like a clueless outsider. "Um, Blackthorn Gym?"
Kaburagi cracked a smile. "You've come to the right person! Tell me, what is your name, Miss?"
It was near noon, and due to the hard efforts of the people of Blackthorn – the waters were being purified. Nonetheless, in this glint of hope remained something grim. Many of the inhabitants of Dragon's Den, the dragon pokémon, were still ill from the toxins. The Blackthorn Clan declared to move any injured or infected dragons to be healed to the inward depths of the den – the Dragon Holy Land.
Clair had decided to take time off from the gym to help. She couldn't stop even if her grandfather told her she could return to the gym. She still wished to contribute. Not only to prove to the Elder of her capability of being a leader like Lance, but she cared greatly for the dragon pokémon affected by the crisis. Despite the rivalry with her cousin, Clair's love for dragons was as equal, if not – greater.
She applied ointment on the belly of a vibrava – covered with a small burn, it flinched before she settled it down. "Shh, there there… just patching you up and you'll be all better soon, all right?"
Lance heard whining, he garnered his attention at Clair. Her vibrava started to flinch again… twitching violently from her grasp. "Woah, easy now!" She cried, bringing back it down to rest on the blanket. "I'm not trying to hurt you!"
"Clair, your grasp on the vibrava is too rough." Lance sat down at her level to fix the problem. "Let me help."
"Oh no, this is my job!" Clair protested. She would not bring herself to be bested by her cousin. "I can handle this."
Her cousin's eyes narrowed at the wailing pokémon, indicating she wasn't handling it right. "Look, you need to loosen your grasp a bit. You're being too tight, just relax your fingers."
Clair unfastened her grip, the vibrava almost let loose but Lance brought her hand to cramp it. "There. It's not too tight but not too loose. You can continue what you were doing."
"This one must not like being handled." Clair finished up tending to the frightened vibrava's wounds.
"Every pokemon is different," Lance chuckled. "Just be more careful, wouldn't want this guy to feel... unsettled." He brought one hand to caress the vibrava's wings, soothing its fears. "It's all right, we're here to help." The vibrava's breathing relaxed and closed its eyes - settling down. Lance continued to place gentle pats, out of his own care for dragons.
"Master Lance," a voice greeted.
"What is it Kaburagi?" Lance turned to his advisor.
"I am very sorry to interrupt – but Sir Looker wishes to see you. It's urgent."
"Where is he?"
"Near the entrance of Dragon's Den. Shall I escort him here?"
"No, I'll go see him. Thank you." Lance headed out. Clair sneered as Kaburagi advanced near her.
"Must be some G-Men or Interpol business," She muttered.
"Well you know Master Lance, he is always involved with such affairs," said Kaburagi. "For someone so young as him to take on daunting tasks, while being Champion of the Pokémon League! It must be exhausting! Yet, the people of Blackthorn City and the clan will always appreciate what he has accomplished. He is becoming much like his grandfather."
"You're telling me." She should be used to the praise Lance received here, but she was always annoyed.
"And you as well Miss Clair, you have done wonderful achievements yourself!"
Clair blushed, realizing the compliment she just got. What rarity! She snorted, smirking. Felt her ego inflating. "Of course I have. After all, I will become the greatest Dragon Master in all of Blackthorn!"
"Speaking of achievements, your success as a dragon tamer has brought someone to require your assistance."
"Oh? Who?"
"Her name is Jasmine. She is from Olivine City."
"Jasmine? You mean… the Olivine Gym Leader?"
"Oh, she's a gym leader? I did not know! She does not look like one…"
"What did she look like?"
Kaburagi gave a description. The part where he mentioned brown hair with orange bauble like hair accessories was enough for Clair to realize that it was the shy gym leader of Olivine.
"She's here in Blackthorn?" Clair asked in disbelief.
"Yes, I met her on the way back," Kaburagi explained. "She helped me after I tripped on the groceries that I had to return the favor! I learned she wanted to see you regarding help with dragon pokémon. Unfortunately, I told her you were busy and to come back another time. She understood that. However, I showed her the gym before she left! She was quite impressed by its design!"
"Help with dragon pokémon? But she's a steel type trainer…"
"Interestingly, she was with a dratini! That could be why she came here for your assistance."
"A… dratini?" Clair felt dumbfounded, the lack of clarity in this situation made her draw many questions. Questions she wanted answers to.
"I'll give her a call once I finish patching up a few more pokémon," she said.
"You're in Blackthorn City?! Did you find Clair?" Whitney asked through the speakers of Jasmine's Pokégear.
"Unfortunately she is busy today," Jasmine replied, inside Blackthorn's Pokémon Center. She shifted her feet as her dratini started to rub around her ankles. "I'll just explore around and come back another time."
"That Warden Baoba sure knows how to convince people, he should be a salesman."
"Well it wasn't just his recommendation, it was out of my own volition."
"You did plan this day to go there, guess he didn't want you to let it go to waste! Just take care and have fun all right? Do all the research you can get, maybe talk with some locals, and remember be cool! They won't bite."
"I'm not that shy…"
"Yeah, but you did chicken out a few times with the contests in Sinnoh."
"Not all of them!" Jasmine cried out, face turning pink.
Whitney snickered. "Still need to boost up the confidence, just a bit. But get to training that dratini! I'm sure once you do, you'll knock contests out of the park!"
"Thank you, Whitney…"
"By the way, have you tried contests in the Hoenn region? Those have some nice ones, you should try visiting there sometime too."
"I should. I only remember visiting there once with you and Pryce for a contest…"
"Well, maybe we should travel there together again some time - gotta go. Would chat more but I got a gym match in two minutes."
"All right, thank you for checking up on me. Talk to you later."
One-click and the call ended, Jasmine put away her Pokégear into her bag and picked up Dratini. "Now where should we head to first, Dratini? Maybe there is a nice place to eat somewhere…"
Lance made his exit at the foot of Dragon's Den. He saw the light out of the tunnel and noticed a man standing with his trench coat. Looker waved upon the champion's arrival. "Ah, just the Champion I wanted to see."
Lance crossed his arms. "Got any new information?" He was hoping this meeting would be an update to yesterday.
"Good news and bad news, which do you want to hear first?"
"Start with the good."
"Well, the good news, no other places in Johto are polluted. It appears to be mostly an isolated issue in Blackthorn City."
"And the bad?"
"According to some interviews and blending in with locals yesterday night..." Looker pulled out another file. "...I made some eerie finds."
Lance took hold of the folder and scanned the documents. "Do you remember the souvenir shop that's located in Mahogany Town?" Looker asked.
"Near the Pokémon Gym? Yes."
"Knowing what occurred there a while ago, we discovered the underground Team Rocket facility might be up and running again," Looker said grimly. "We don't know the cause yet, but it could be related to what happened to Dragon's Den as I found traces of toxins near the back of the store. Taking samples, they were a match to the same toxins muk and grimer have. I got reports from locals of seeing people dressed in black appearing in and out at night."
Lance's eyes darkened, hoping that wasn't the case. But his faith was low, it wouldn't be surprising if remnants of that evil organization still lingered. Just a few months back that they tried to bring back their powerful and ruthless head and former Gym Leader of Viridian City, Giovanni, to lead the organization back to its terrorist ways. Yet he never appeared, making all their efforts fruitless. Even if powerful executives made a comeback, he did not.
So came the incident with the red gyarados at the Lake of Rage, and radio waves emitting from Goldenrod's radio tower from the hijacking. With him and Lyra infiltrating the facility in secret. The abuse and exploitation of electric pokémon such as the electrode made Lance boil with rage along with the forceful evolutions. The abuse of pokémon would simply never fly under his wing. Now it was potentially being used again? For what purpose this time? How could the shopkeeper even allow or be blind to what was underground her business? Especially in what happened the last time?
"Next, I went to visit Celadon City in Kanto – where there is supposedly an abundance of poison pokémon," Looker continued. "I learned the population of muk and grimer have decreased there. I took samples from the toxins in Celadon and they matched with the toxins found in Mahogany Town. That means there is a correlation here, the poison pokémon must have migrated from Kanto to Johto."
"I see," said Lance.
"How is unknown at the moment. I made a visit to the shop in Mahogany for investigation but it is closed today. Tomorrow I would like to make a thorough search of the place. We're not sure what exactly is going on down there but there will be a search warrant. In the meantime, we should continue to stay vigilant. Although, I wonder if you will make a comeback as the so-called 'vigilante' you're rumored to be."
The detective laughed. "I'm sure you heard of the Radio Tower incident a few months ago. Along with the rumored vigilantism, you once commanded Dragonite to perform hyper beam on a man. I know it's just typical gossip you would find in the tabloids!"
Lance said nothing.
"In my profession, it's everyone's business to see justice done. But in the tale of the strange vigilante, his execution of justice isn't exactly heroic. After the Radio Tower event, I went to Mahogany Town for some inspection. I learned from the locals that prior to arrests, the Rocket Grunts in the facility weren't in good shape," said Looker, pacing around. "Some were beaten up - and I don't just mean their pokémon. Others were scared - as if they were told to keep quiet. The residents claimed they had never seen such terror in their eyes. They kept speaking in shaky voices, about a man who hid in the shadows with a giant pokémon. Police did not take them seriously and were all taken away. The vigilante has not been seen since, it almost seems like he's some sort of urban legend. If it's true, I suppose he must believe when the law fails, you become the law itself. I wouldn't want to get on his bad side. However, I don't understand why some claimed it could be you. Or so one grunt said, but how can we trust criminals? You don't appear as someone who would go to such lengths as that, you seem like a lawful man."
More dead silence from the Dragon Master.
"You have nothing to say? I suppose you must be tired of constant scandal regarding your character. Ah well, it strikes as an old wives' tale. I suppose we'll never know - all that matters is that Team Rocket tried to bring back Giovanni by using horrible means. Well, that's all I have to update on," Looker finished. "Let me know if you hear anything similar. Now if you excuse me Champion, I have to head to the Sinnoh region for another ongoing case. Don't hesitate to consult with me if you have any questions. You have my number!"
The detective departed the den, Lance clutched the file in his hands.
Tonight, he would do another secret infiltration.