Chapter 7: The Journey Takes a Zig Zag
Jazmine awoke groggily, rubbing her eyes with balled fists. She yawned. Looking around, it took her a moment to figure out where she was. Remembering, she slid her bare feet into her slippers, and pulled herself out of bed. The day before, she had hurried straight for the Pokémon Center upon reaching Rustburo, rented a room, and passed out on the bed. Sadly, she remembered what she had to do today. It was the day to return Pichu and head back to Littleroot…
Showered and dressed, she stepped out into the hall, Pichu in her arms and Surskit on her head, Taillow perched on her shoulder. Walking down the stairs leading to the lobby, a tear rolled down her cheek. Yesterday had been the best day of her life. Sure, it had had some down moments, but she had met some pretty cool people. And she was pretty good at the whole battling thing. But all things had to come to an end, no matter how good or bad.
Walking across the lobby, she stopped in front of the video phone, entering in a few digits for an operator. "Professor Maple, please," She said. A few moments later, and Professor Maple's face came up on the screen, her pink her flowing over her shoulders.
"Hello there! May I help with something?" She questioned.
"Um, yeah," Jazmine replied, her eyes watering up again. "I need to…return this to you. Pichu." Maple smiled.
"You must be Jazmine then?"
"Yeah, Jazmine, that's me." Jazmine gave a somewhat-fake smile. This woman was a bit on the 'goody-two-shoes' side, and Jazmine didn't like it. "Do I have to get her in a ball to send? Or can she just…go?" Professor Maple was about to answer, when a loud noise come crashing through the front door. Turning around, Jazmine saw Ninjalphabetti walk through the automatic glass doors and up to the counter, wood stilts as loud as ever. Giving his Pokémon to Nurse Joy, he spotted Jazmine. She sighed, bracing herself for-
"Hey Jazmine! How's that wimpy Surskit of yours? I didn't beat it up too much did I?" Jazmine glared at the window just above the short boy.
"Did you hit your head when you threw your littlie toddler tantrum?" She mocked.
"What are you lookin' at!?" Ninja sputtered stupidly, stepping forward.
"Not you! You're so short my vision goes right over you!" Jazmine responded. Grumbling, Ninja stalked away. Behind Jazmine, Professor Maple clapped.
"I see you've found a rival already! Have you fought him before?" Jazmine smiled, nodded, then plunged into a description of the battle, Surskit and Pichu turning the tables around, Pichu causing rain, throwing the yellow blanket, and winning the battle, Ninja running away steaming. Then she delved into the happenings afterwards, catching Taillow, leaving the forest and meeting Sam (who, at the name, Maple's eyes sparkled), and how the two had beaten the twins. "Wow! You've done a lot in one day. I bet if you kept that up, you could be a professional in no time!"
"Thanks!" Jazmine smiled. Maybe, Maple wasn't so bad after all?
"Jazmine, how would you like to keep Pichu? I could give you a ferry pass, and a trainer form. You would go around the region, fighting trainers and collecting badges. And of course, I'd give you a Pokedex to collect data for me. What do you say?" Before Jazmine could reply, her Pokedex beeped.
"Already here, Professor." It buzzed. Jazmine stood, her mouth open, staring first at her Pokedex, then at Pichu, then back at Maple.
"R…really?" Jazmine uttered, dumbfounded.
"Sure," Professor Maple smiled. Jazmine lunged for the screen and embraced the machine in a tight hug, forgetting Maple was in a totally different region.
"OH, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" She shrieked. Then, she scooped up Pichu and swung her around, Taillow flying off screeching, Surskit scurrying under a nearby loveseat. Cooling down, she looked back at Maple. "Hey…do you know anything about a guy named Jasper?" Jazmine remembered the conversation on the phone yesterday. It seemed so long ago, it was hard to believe that it had been just the day before.
"Jasper Otz you mean? Yeah, he was one of my trainers. He made it to the league, and…in one of the preliminary matches, he ran off the field. He had a special Ditto though; it could change into a Pokémon it wasn't battling. In the match Jasper ran away from, his Ditto transformed into a Shellder, and that seemed to give him an idea. He ran for it." Maple finished. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason. I was…just wondering." Jazmine muttered.
"Okay then! Well, if you want to know more, you can ask Sam. Anyways, I gotta go, so…take the things I've printed out, and ask Nurse Joy what to do with them! By the way, Jasper had no parents. Just a little side fact. Bye!" With that, Professor Maple was gone, the screen left blank. Jazmine squealed again, and turned her attention back to Pichu.
"Looks like we're back on the road! But… what now?" Pichu shrugged. Finding it safe, Surskit emerged from under the loveseat, and Taillow flew over from the corner. She hugged both of them. Suddenly, Nurse Joy loudly cleared her throat. Jazmine turned around.
"Excuse me, Jazmine it was? Oh, well, that boy. He's your friend I believe? He left one of his Pokémon here. Would you mind taking it to him? I need to manage the center; he said he was heading north to train… Oh! Coffee break, thanks dear!" Jazmine blinked as Nurse Joy walked back into her office.
"That little…." Jazmine muttered, walking over to the counter and grabbing the Pokeball. "Well, authority rules. Let's go team." Jazmine left the center, and headed north, looking left and right at the hustle and bustle of the city. The buildings were tall, and people hurried about. Some snippets of signs caught her eye, such as 'Devon' or 'school'. Once she saw someone staring up at a wide building, the word 'gym' on its sign. After several minutes, Jazmine reached the edge of the city, leading to Route 116. "Why am I even doing this!?" She wondered aloud.
"Oh, you again, Jazmine?" A high-pitched voice drolled. "Funny seeing you here. Actually, I'm surprised you could make it all the way from the center!" Jazmine spun around and glared hard into Ninjalphabetti's face.
"Okay, seriously, what is your problem with me!? You walked up to me in the forest all arrogant, and you expect me to just…ignore it!? Then, when I THRASH you, you run off crying like a two-year-old! Then you run into me and start mouthing off about how you BEAT UP MY POKEMON, when, in reality, I beat YOURS to a PULP! Then I have the unfortunate experience of running into you again, and you act like you are superior to me!? WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM NINJALPHABETTI!? And seriously, who in their RIGHT MIND would name their child THAT!? If you think it's cool, or you're cool, or anything you DO is cool, it's not, because you are a LOSER!" Jazmine wiped sweat of her forehead and spit of her cheek, her finger drilled into his chest. He dropped his stilts, and sat down on the ground, sniffling.
"Okay. You win, Jazmine. I was a jerk to you. And… that isn't my real name. My parents named me Ziggy…just like all of their other pets. See, my parents, they were kind of busy. They worked at a huge business branch of Silph, the part that worked on Pokémon eggs. They were experimenting all of the time, they liked to use Zigzagoons, and each one they named Ziggy. So when I came around…you get it, right? They named me the same thing. I was just another nothing, an experiment, and my only friends were my Zigzagoons. My parents thought nothing of me. And I desperately wanted to prove them wrong. I grabbed some of my pals, my Ziggy friends, and I ran for it…but not without a bam. I...I… Jazmine, please, promise you won't tell anyone this!" Jazmine nodded. "I blew up their house. And then I ran. I don't know if they're still alive or not, but I just ran for it, not looking back. I came to Hoenn, and I vowed to prove them wrong. I would beat the gym leaders; I would be the champion of Hoenn…"
"Wow," Jazmine said, dumbstruck. What else was she was going to say? She almost gave him back his Pokémon. She almost said she was sorry, almost offered him a hand in training. Almost. But then, Ziggy said,
"Now, I'm going to go challenge Roxanne. You can too, if you want. I mean, come with me. But if you challenge, I doubt you'd get far. I never really understood why some leaders were girls…" Jazmine was furious. IN a flash, she slapped Ziggy across the face, and walked past him, onto Route 116. Walking onto a dock, not worrying about her fear of boards, she flung her feet over the edge, sitting on the wooden planks, hands over her face. She sobbed. She didn't know why she was getting all worked up over him. But for some reason, she was. Suddenly, a girl's voice spoke behind her.
"Oh what's wrong? Are you upset?" The girl asked. Jazmine stood up, wiping the tears away from her face. The girl had wavy, long, blond hair and a brown messenger bag slung over her shoulder. She was wearing a blue shirt with short-sleeves, and short, white shorts.
"No, I'm fine…" Jazmine mumbled. Taking Ziggy's Pokeball out of her basket, she threw it in the air, the tiny raccoon Pokémon bursting out of it. The girl gasped.
"I want a Zigzagoon! Where'd you get it? Are you willing to…. I'm Paula by the way… Are you willing to trade it for my Corsola?"
"Uhhh…sure?" Jazmine said. "I'll take anything really!"
"Here, you'll find this useful." Paula shoved a Pokeball into Jazmine's hands. "That's a Corsola, a Water and Rock type. It does well at the Rustburo gym. I wanna be a breeder, so I have no use for her! Anyways, I gotta go. Bye!" Paula ran off. Jazmine smiled. What a good deal! She'd gotten rid of that annoying Paula girl, received something that could help against the gym leader, and shipped off one of Ziggy's playmates.
Later, sitting oh her bed Pokémon Center, Jazmine was playing with her new Corsola, which she had named Shelly. She'd also named her others too. Pichu was now Pyu, Surskit Queen, and Taillow was now TaiTai. She figured that getting called Pichu all the time would get boring, especially since there was about 500 other Pichus in the world. Sighing, she curled up under the covers, and drifted off to sleep, her Pokémon around her.