On the Road Again~ Jasmine

[JASMINE]

The Zebstrika's hooves hit the pavement in a melodic pattern. Jazmin was hardly asleep though. Every sense was tingling, every nerve screaming for her attention. Jasmine didn't want to call it fleeing. No. She would not call it that. She was merely... Well, there was no better word for it. Jasmine was fleeing. She had no choice. She, Olivine Gym Leader, was fleeing. But she had no choice.

Who knew that Mr. Thamus had been a Team Ultimatum agent? Certainly not Jasmine. No one in the small port city of Olivine knew anything about that. And that is how his roots spread, his grasp of power had grown until he finally made the decision. He was firing Jasmine. He was hiring someone eles. Who, Jasmine didn't know. Not that she cared. She had called a meeting with the townspeople and decided to evacuate the city. Ultimatum grunts had roamed through the streets for the past couple of months, comitting horrible acts of violence on the helpless innocents. And so Jasmine was moving them.

Jasmine was riding ahead of the company, riding to Ecruteak City. It was the closest city to Olivine and it had a league gym, Morty's gym to be exact. She had to get help, had to get housing for her people. People who all looked to her now. They couldn't have gone to Cianwood. No, they couldn't get the people who lived in Olivine to go across the water. Ecruteak was the only option.

If they ever got there. Jasmine was riding Balthasar's Zebstrika through the densely wooded route North of Olivine. Balthasar and Mary, her gym trainers, were riding behind her on Rapidashes. Of course they had to come along. They couldn't just let Jasmine go riding off alone, now could they.

Jasmine entered the wooded area, looking every which way for signs of wild Tauros and Miltank. But she wasn't looking for what happened next. Suddenly, a large Golbat appeared in front of the electric zebra Jasmine was riding on. Its eyes glowed with an erie light and the Zebstrika balked, throwing Jasmine to the ground.

Pokemon were appearing on all sides of the group and they could hear the yells of concealed people coming from the forest, ordering their pokemon to attack. Jasmine brought herself to her elbows and ducked as the Golbat swooped in front of her. She released all of her pokemon and the steel types looked around, confused. They surrounded the gym leader, protecting her from all sides. Still, none of them could fly. Skar was in the PC right now. And Jasmine really needed him.

"Golbat! Toxic, go!" A grunt yelled and the Goldbat swooped in from above. Steel, her Steelix tried to swat it away but it dodged the famous Iron Tail and landed right on Jasmine's shoulder. It bit into her shoulder, hard too. As soon as it came, it was gone. The Golbat tried to fly away but Kami the Pawniard leaped on it and wrestled it to the ground. Jasmine could barely keep her eyes open. She just vaguely remembered hitting the ground for the second time that night.

[MORTY]

[atrb=background,http://citrusmoon.typepad.com/photos/tiles/orient2.gif][atrb=width,400,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,padding: 10px; border-radius:0 150 0 0px;] Tonight was one of Morty’s favorite kinds of nights. The air was beginning to warm up with the arrival of spring, and the sky was clear of clouds, leaving every star in the sky in view. The Politoeds were croaking, the Hoothoots were hooting, and various bug types were chirping. It was a peaceful, perfect kind of night. Grabbing his scarf, though he was probably close to no longer needing it at this time of year, Morty headed out the front door of his house with Gengar looming behind him. Everyone in the city of Ecruteak had settled into their homes for the night. A few lights were on in houses, illuminating the streets in hand with the streetlamps. Morty and Gengar moved at a steady pace toward the entrance to the Bellchime Trail, planning on a visit to the historic Bell Tower. However, once they were on the trail surrounded by trees of a perpetual autumn, the night didn’t feel so perfect anymore like it should have. There was some sort of disturbance in the air. Gengar phased in front of Morty, blocking his path. “There’s something wrong, isn’t there?” Morty asked his companion, feeling a slight mixture of confusion and alarm. Gengar nodded. “Show me where,” Morty commanded. As Ecruteak’s gym leader, Morty felt obligated to keep an eye on the city and its outskirts to make sure everything was in order. And so, Gengar began leading them off the Bellchime Trail and onward towards Route 38, the route leading to Olivine City. The more they progressed, Morty could tell they were coming closer to whatever was causing the disturbance in the night. Finally, figures came into view up ahead. It was apparently some sort of raging Pokemon battle. Morty wondered if he should turn around and fetch some help, but it occurred to him it may be too late for help when he could hear human shouting amongst the roars of the Pokemon. People were getting hurt. “Gengar, we need to sneak over there,” Morty whispered, offering his hand to Gengar which was Gengar’s cue to grab it and make them both go invisible. After releasing his Dusknoir and Froslass from their pokeballs as well, the group invisibly started toward the struggling mob. As Morty recognized some of the humans as Team Ultimatum grunts, his heart skipped a beat. This was definitely serious. Now visible again, the three Ghost Pokemon quickly began attacking the Pokemon that belonged to Team Ultimatum, able to sense the difference between the good and the evil. The Team Ultimatum grunts saw nothing coming, and it was obvious they were now losing. They recalled their Pokemon and retreated into the deep woods. Meanwhile, Morty was busy trying to tend to the three people that were unconscious on the ground. He wasn’t sure of where they came from or why they were attacked, and—wait! Morty suddenly realized this was Jasmine and her gym trainers. Oh no. “Help me out here,” Morty said in distress to his Pokemon as he began recalling the Olivine natives’ hurt Pokemon, unlatching their Pokeballs from their trainer’s belts. Once all the Pokemon were recalled, Morty turned to Froslass. “Can you teleport us all back to Ecruteak?” he asked her, having no other plan. There was no way Drifblim could return them quickly enough. Froslass seemed a bit unsure of herself, but all at once, she successfully teleported the group to Ecruteak’s Pokecenter where they could get rest. Morty informed Nurse Jenny of what happened before heading home to get rest himself, and he returned early that morning to check on Jasmine and her friends in their room, hoping they would be able to tell him more. template coded by owl

I wasn't sure if you planned for this RP to stay within the battle or not, but I got writer's block in the middle of this so I kinda moved it to um... Ecruteak's pokecenter I guess? Ughaslkfjas I'm scared I went too fast or something. Forgive me. T^T

[JASMINE]

{Don't apologize! I was hoping you would do something like that!}

Jasmine groaned in her sleep. She was having a painful nightmare, a nightmare that caused her to toss and turn on the hospital bed that she was lying in. The girl woke with a start and her eyes flew open. Blinded by the sudden light, she shut them quickly. After a couple of seconds of blinking away the pain, she was finally able to keep her eyes open long enough to look around the Pokemon Center room.

What had happened? Jasmine vaguely remembered something happening on the road to Ecruteak. It hit her like a freight train. The ambush, the Golbat, the Toxic. Jasmine felt her shoulder tentatively. There was white gauze wrapped tightly around the bite wound but still, the smallest pressure of her finger sent laces of pain through the infected area. Jasmine winced and looked around.

Everything was clean and sparkly, like a normal hospital. To her left and right were both Balthasar and Mary, both were extremely unconcious. The gym leader sat up and peered around only to notice that she wasn't alone. "Oh my!" She yelped as she noticed Morty's presence. "Morty! You scared me! Where are we?"

[MORTY]

[atrb=background,http://citrusmoon.typepad.com/photos/tiles/orient2.gif][atrb=width,400,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,padding: 10px; border-radius:0 150 0 0px;] Morty sat in a small chair at a far side of the Pokemon Center room, beside a window, and gazed outside. He had been here for a couple of hours now and had watched the sunrise. Unfortunately, when he arrived, the trio he saved the night before were still unconcious. However, he decided to give himself a break for the day and closed his gym so he could patiently wait for at least one of them to wake up. He had to know what was going on. Suddenly, Morty heard the sound of shuffling sheets in one of the beds. He turned away from the window to see that Jasmine was waking up. He watched her intently for a moment, resisting the urge to rush over and question her right away. But it wasn’t long before she noticed him sitting there. “Oh, I apologize for scaring you...,” Morty said to the fellow gym leader, “You’re in Ecruteak’s Pokemon Center.” He proceeded to scoot his chair up to the side of Jasmine’s bed. “Do you feel all right?” he asked, hoping that wasn’t a stupid question. “You and your friends took quite a beating last night from some Team Ultimatum grunts...” template coded by owl

[JASMINE]

Jasmine looked at Morty, seeing the worry and confusion in his eyes. Well, she could imagine that it was quite a strange scene, finding a fellow gym leader and her trainers unconcious on the route next to your city. Jasmine didn't even know what she would do in that kind of situation.

"I'm fine, just some Golbat bit me with... Toxic? Maybe, I don't really remember. But it's Balthasar and Mary I'm worried about, I didn't see what happened to them. But they seem alright." Her eyes opened wider as if she suddenly remembered something. "Morty, it was terrible! We have to get back to Olivine! Mr. Thamus, he fired me! He's hurting the people in my town!" Jasmine tried to get out of the hospital bed but ended up just falling on the floor. Still, the girl used the bed to support herself and forced her legs to work. She walked over to where Morty sat, "Look, I know that this is rather unexpected, but I need your help. Please, will you come with me back to Olivine?"

[MORTY]

[atrb=background,http://citrusmoon.typepad.com/photos/tiles/orient2.gif][atrb=width,400,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,padding: 10px; border-radius:0 150 0 0px;] Morty sat silently for a moment. He blinked a couple of times with bewilderment, trying to comprehend Jasmine’s words. He was so overwhelmed by her news that he hardly paid much attention to the fact that she had fallen out of her bed. He stood up to help her, but before he could do anything, she was already on her feet. Morty tilted his head down at Jasmine, who was now standing in front of him. “I—But what—Well... I...,” Morty sputtered. He paused briefly in order to let his decision catch up with him. “Of course I will,” he said determinedly. “But do you think it’s okay for you to leave here so soon? You still seem a bit weak...,” Morty said, placing a hand on Jasmine’s shoulder. He was concerned about her. Actually he was concerned about, well, everything. What if Ecruteak was next in line for the same fate as Olivine? What would become of Johto, what would become of the rest of the world? He had gotten the memo that Team Ultimatum was stirring about, but he wasn’t too concerned until now. template coded by owl

[JASMINE]

Jasmine looked at Morty, gratitude in her eyes. "Thank you," she whispered, then looked towards the door. "I would wait for Balthasar and Mary but... They've already been through so much, it would unfair for me to ask them to come back with me."

The former gym leader slid Morty's hand from her shoulder and turned around, ready to go. "I'm a bit shaky, but otherwise I'm perfectly-" She fell flat on her face once again on her third step. "Uggghhh!" She said, standing up and wincing. "What did they give me in here? Steel types are supposed to be immune to poison!" She joked, realizing that it sounded kind of lame. Jasmine shrugged this off and continued to walk towards the exit, stopping briefly to pull her Skarmory's pokeball out of the PC. Carrying only five pokeballs had been a bad idea and so she decided to grab Skar on her way out of the center.

"You coming Morty?" Jasmine asked as she opened the door and breathed in the fresh air of early morning.

{Feel free to have anything happen on the route. They could be ambushed by Team Ultimatum again, they could be barred access from Olivine, whatever you want}

[MORTY]

[atrb=background,http://citrusmoon.typepad.com/photos/tiles/orient2.gif][atrb=width,400,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,padding: 10px; border-radius:0 150 0 0px;] Morty watched as Jasmine fell once again, and once again he was late to help her up. Though she was wincing, she seemed all right, and Morty chuckled lightly at her Steel type joke. It was... cute. He still wasn’t sure if she should leave the Pokemon Center yet, but by now he was well aware that Jasmine was determined to head out. Putting himself in her shoes, Morty knew he would be acting the same way in this situation. “Yes, yes, I’m coming,” Morty answered, still slightly reluctant to believe he should be getting himself into this. But what’s done is done; he had already told Jasmine he would help her. He then approached the door and paused, motioning for Jasmine to go on outside. “Ladies first,” he said with a small smirk. It was a breezy spring morning, and as he stepped out from the Pokemon Center Morty adjusted his scarf and headband. “Now, are you sure you’re all right?” Morty asked Jasmine one last time. He wasn’t about to let Jasmine pass out or get herself hurt even moreso on their way to Olivine. template coded by owl

[JASMINE]

Jasmine smiled at Morty's gentleman-like grace. It certainly was becoming. The girl stepped out into the lovely spring day, the sun hitting her skin and warming her immediately. The girl grinned at the fine morning; it was still to early for the streets to be crowded.

Jasmine walked down the path leading to Route 38. She got to the entrance gate and paused, turning around to face Morty again. "Don't worry about me, I'm perfectly fine!" Jasmine twisted back around and was about to go through the double glass doors of the gate when someone pushed through first. Actually, it was more like ten somebodies.

Jasmine took a step back, recognizing the grinning face in front of her immediately. "Mr. Thamus?" She asked, stunned. Jasmine backed up next to her fellow gym leader and stood in awe as ten Team Ultimatum grunts fanned out behind him.

"Are these the gym leaders you were looking for, sir?" One of the men to Thamus's left asked.

"Why, yes, they are. You know what to do gentlemen." At the words of their commander, the grunts circled around Morty and Jasmine.