(Paul's POV)

"Oh look, you've come back! It's been so long since we last saw each other! What's it been, 8 years?" "Maybe, but it hasn't been long enough. I'll give you a proposition, Jupiter; leave this place, or I will make you."

"Now isn't that just precious, the little guy thinks that he's able to stop me! What will you use, another Galvantula?" "No, I won't give you an easy fight. Froslass, standby for battle," I said, sending out my Ice/Ghost-type. "Alright, Froslass, use Hail," I commanded.

My Snow Land Pokémon flew into the sky, it's body glowing light blue. Clouds formed in the sky around it, raining down hail onto the battlefield. "Dragalge, Sludge Wave," Jupiter commanded back. The Mock Kelp Pokémon sent a wave of purple waste into the air. I knew that it wouldn't be able to hit my Froslass, and the thought made me smirk with pride.

"Froslass, Ice Beam," I told my Pokémon. Froslass sent a beam of ice from above the clouds to the Dragalge, causing it massive damage. I looked up to the clouds and put my two first fingers above my head, spinning them in a quick circle. Froslass knew what this meant, and moved behind the Dragalge under cover of hail. "Dragalge, use Hidden Power!" Jupiter's Dragalge sent a wave of energy back into the sky, still thinking Froslass was up there.

"Froslass, Clinging Blizzard." Froslass grabbed the Dragalge from the back, before using a powerful Blizzard attack. The Dragalge was rocked by the storm, and fell to the ground, fainted. "Dragalge, return," Jupiter yelled, putting her Poison/Dragon-type back in it's container. "Good work, Froslass, return," I told my Pokémon, sending her back into her Pokéball.

"Well, Jupiter, is that all you've got? Don't tell me you only brought that Dragalge!" Jupiter just stood there, mouth agape with shock and fear. "Oh my Arceus, this is precious! She only brought one Pokémon to fight," Barry laughed behind me.

Jupiter and her grunts quickly fled, their proverbial tails between their legs. "And that, is how you best serve revenge, Barry. Take note," I turned and told the blonde trainer behind me. "Dang it, Paul, that was supposed to be my battle! Why didn't you just stay out and-GAH," Barry yelled at me, before Dawn slapped him across the face.

"Dawn, what was that for?" "That, Barry, is your new tranquilizer. If you're being too rowdy, I give you an injection. So contain yourself," Dawn told him. "Oh look, the couple is working out their issues," I joked.

"Paul, isn't there some Starly that needs released? How about a Tangrowth for you to train? Not like you'll be able to beat Ash, anyways," Dawn told me back. I couldn't respond, while Barry threw a Rawst Berry at me. "Oh, very funny, Barry, a Rawst Berry for that sick burn."

I was sick of their company, so I sent Honchkrow back out and mounted him. "Honchkrow, back to Veilstone," I ordered, before we took off back for home. As we flew back, I began to think again. "I wonder where Jasmine was that whole ordeal. She couldn't be traumatized by the sight of Jupiter, right?"

(Barry's POV)

"Lucas and Jasmine are in Room 202," Dawn told me. "Well, c'mon, let's go!" We quickly returned our Pokémon and went into the Pokémon Center. We went up the stairs and knocked on the door of Room 202. Lucas answered the door, letting us in.

"Hey, you guys are back," Lucas greeted us. Dawn and I quickly walked into the room, setting our things against the wall. Jasmine was asleep on the bottom bunk of the rightmost bed, Rusty sleeping in a ball at her feet. "Seems like she's exhausted," Dawn spoke up. "Well, she did have to reface someone who, effectively, stole over a decade of her life from her," Lucas replied.

"Well, when you're right you're right, and to that I say this; dibs on the top bunk," I yelled, scrambling up the ladder to the left top bunk. "Dang it, Barry," Lucas replied, jumping onto the bed below me. Dawn just shook her head and climbed to the bed above Jasmine. "Hey, is it me, or does Jasmine look not too hot," I asked my friends. Jasmine was tossing a bit in her sleep, mumbling something.

"P-please, I'll...never d-do it...again, father...just d-don't...hurt me..." Jasmine cried out in her sleep. "Wait, 'father?' Did Jasmine's dad hurt her?" "How would we know, Barry? We don't know what she's been through," Lucas responded. Dawn just shook her head, before saying, "Guess we'll have to find out when she wakes up."

(Jasmine's POV)

I ran out of the Team Galactic HQ, Paul far ahead of me. I tried running after him, but was dragged to the ground by a grunt. "Now, now, we don't want you getting away, now do we," he rhetorically asked. I desperately tried to scratch and hit myself out of the grunt's grasp, but found myself unable to get out of his hold. He dragged me back inside, back to Saturn and Jupiter.

The next few minutes were a blur of pain and crying. When I next woke up, I was back in my cell, wet blood running down my legs. There were two large cuts on the backs of my thighs, and I couldn't move. It was at this point that I noticed I was younger, not as tall as I was before. I just sat there, the blood slowly drying, as my consciousness faded.

I woke up back in the Pokémon Center room in the middle of the night. Lucas and Barry were sleeping on the bunks opposite me, and I assumed Dawn was above me. I quickly ran my hands to the backs of my thighs, only to find them perfectly unscathed. I slowly leaned forward, and saw Rusty, curled in a ball, sleeping at my feet. I took a sigh of relief, before laying back down and falling back to sleep.

I woke up again, a cold sweat running down my face. I had another nightmare, the same one as before. I looked at the time, my breathing heavy. "3:45, that's an hour since last time. Why am I having these nightmares? I'm away from Team Galactic, I don't have to be their slave, so why am I still terrified of them," I asked myself.

"Jasmine, you okay," Lucas groaned across the room. "Your ramblings are awfully loud." "Oh, sorry, it's just, I'm having nightmares of past experiences with Team Galactic. I don't know if I can sleep anymore." "Hmm, I thought you were, we could hear you muttering something in your sleep."

"I was muttering in my sleep? What was I saying?" "You were saying something along the lines of, 'don't hurt me father, I'll never do it again.' Though, that was paraphrased, but it's still around the same message. It was pretty chilling to hear."

:Jasper, you there,: I sighed to my inner voice, who only responded with silence. Suddenly, my eyes began burning with pain. "Ow, ow ow ow ow ow ow ow! Why do my eyes hurt so much? Did Barry shine a flashlight in my eyes while I was asleep?"

"Wait, Jasmine, I think I know why." Lucas got out of his bed and came over to me. "Jasmine, you still have those color contacts in. You should take them out before you go to bed next time. Here, let's get those out," he told me, reaching out his hand and smiling.

I took his hand and got out of bed, careful not to wake Rusty. Clutching my eyes, I had Lucas lead me to the bathroom. "Here, I think that your eyes are dried out. Take the contacts out and I can give you some eyedrops." I nodded to him, before quickly removing the green color contacts from my eyes.

As I put the contacts into their case, Lucas handed me a bottle of eyedrops. I quickly a few drops in my eyes, quickly blinking them in. *Hey, what are you guys doing? It's really late,* Rusty butted in. I turned to the door and saw the small Electric-Type Pokémon staring at us, confused. I just smiled and pulled the Shinx into a hug.

:Lucas was just helping me get the contacts out of my eyes.: *Really? It didn't look like that.* :I promise, that's what it was.: I carried Rusty back to the bed, while Lucas turned off the lights in the bathroom.

I climbed back into bed, clutching my Pokémon close to me. Lucas climbed back into his bed, smiling over to me. "Thanks for the help, Lucas." "No problem, Jasmine. Don't go having nightmares now." *Wait, you're having nightmares?*

:Yeah, I'm having nightmares, Rusty. I don't know if I can sleep.: *I've had times like that, where I felt that I couldn't sleep because I had nightmares, but I just had to push through it. But you're a very optimistic person, and I know that you can overpower your nightmares with happy thoughts.* Rusty's words made me smile, and I pulled him closer.

:Thank you, Rusty. I'll try that out.: *You're welcome.* I snuggled close to the Flash Pokémon, closing my eyes and drifting into sleep. But not before thinking of how much I care about my friends and Pokémon.

I slept quite well that night, and woke up feeling refreshed. Lucas was still in bed when I woke up, while Barry was in the bathroom and Dawn was putting her shoes on. I looked at my bed to see Rusty, curled in a ball and snoring away. Stifling a giggle, I sat up on my bed, moving my blanket off of me. "Hey, you're finally awake," Dawn called to me.

"Yeah, I had a pretty nice sleep," I smiled. "Well, that's good. You may have to wait a bit to get dressed, Barry's taking longer in the bathroom than usual." "Well, I can wait," I responded, scratching Rusty behind the ears. The Flash Pokémon shifted in his sleep a bit, but still stayed asleep.

"Aww, I never knew how cute Rusty was asleep," Dawn cooed. Just then, Barry came out of the bathroom. "Alright, anyone who needs it, you can use it. Oh, hey Jasmine!" I waved back to him, before grabbing my clothes and going into the bathroom.

I came out of the bathroom with a new set of clothes. A red T-shirt, almost the same color as my hair, and blue jeans, along with the green color contacts. Lucas quickly went into the bathroom as soon as I left, while I put my shoes on. Once Lucas came out of the bathroom, we went downstairs and began planning our day. We had decided to stay in Jubilife one more day, before starting out towards Oreburgh City tomorrow, where the first Gym in Sinnoh was.

"So, let's meet at the Pokémon Center at 6:00. Is that alright," Barry asked. "That sounds good," Lucas replied. "Well, what are we waiting for? We're burning daylight," Dawn excitedly said.

"Let's get going then," I said, hopping off my chair. "Wait, I think I left Rusty in the room. Have we checked out yet?" "No, I can help get him, if you want," Dawn suggested. "Sure, let's go!"

As we walked into the room, we saw Rusty, still sound asleep on the bed. I grabbed his Great Ball out of my bag and returned him, the Flash Pokémon being sucked into the capsule in a red light. "Hey, Jasmine, there's something I wanted to ask," Dawn told me. "Yes, Dawn, what is it?"

"Well, Jasmine, today, I was wondering if we could hang out. Get to know each other better, you know?" "Yeah, I think that would be good. Seems like it would be fun!" "Well, there are only so many hours in a day, we need to get going!"

((2 Hours Later))

"Alright, Rusty, use Wild Charge," I told my Pokémon. Rusty charged at Dawn's Piplup, enveloping himself in electricity. He leapt at Dawn's Piplup, slamming it with the attack. Dawn's Piplup fell down, fainted, while Rusty jumped back to my side. "Good job, Piplup, return," Dawn said, returning her Pokémon.

Rusty turned to me, smiling, before stumbling a bit. *Ow, ow, ow,* he quickly said. :Rusty, what's wrong? Are you hurt?: *Jasmine, my burn is getting worse, and I don't know if I can walk.*

"Dawn, we need to get Rusty to the Pokémon Center! He needs his burn healed!" "C'mon, we don't have time to lose," Dawn called, running back into Jubilife City. I ran off of Route 203 and back into Jubilife City, carrying Rusty in my arms. *Oh, it hurts, Jasmine, it hurts,* my Shinx moaned.

:It'll be okay, Rusty. We're going to get your burn healed, and you'll be back to normal. And you'll always be my Pokémon.: Rusty was crying at this point, so I hurried as fast as I could to the Pokemon Center.

"Hello, welcome to the Pokemon..." Nurse Joy greeted me. "Ma'am, my Pokemon has a Houndoom burn on his right front leg. He needs it healed," I interrupted, setting Rusty on the counter. She moved the fur on his leg to look at the burn under it. "Hmm...this burn isn't fresh, we'll have to remove it with an operation."

Rusty began trembling, prompting me to pet him on the head. :It'll be alright. They'll take good care of you, and when they're finished, your burn will be gone. You'll be able to run again.: Rusty looked at me, his mouth agape, before nodding.

"He's ready as he'll ever be," I told Nurse Joy. Nurse Joy nodded, picking Rusty up as if he was a small child. "The operation should take around 4 hours. We'll do the best we can," she told me, before taking Rusty to an operating room. "I hope Rusty will be okay," Dawn said, coming up to me and putting her hand on my shoulder.

Nurse Joy came back out, resuming her position behind the counter. "I'm sorry, but we need an ID before we can operate," she explained. I panicked on the inside, knowing that I had nothing of the sort. Dawn took a card out of her bag and handed it to the pink-haired nurse. "Wait, this isn't her ID."

"The Shinx is mine, I leant it to her to see if they'd get along alright. I'm sorry for the confusion," Dawn told Nurse Joy. Nurse Joy nodded, giving the card back to Dawn. "Thank you, we'll begin right away," she said, going back down the hall. I gave Dawn a look, as she dragged me out of the Pokémon Center.

"Why did you lie to that nurse, Dawn?" "Because, Jasmine, they wouldn't help Rusty if I didn't. They needed a Trainer ID." "A Trainer ID? I don't think I have one."

"That's the key. We still need to get you one. You'll need one if you're going to be a Trainer." I nodded, though I was nervous. I hadn't had my picture taken for many years, and was worried it wouldn't look good.

Nevertheless, I wanted the ID. Dawn took me to the place where I got mine. I quickly took out my color contacts, and within 30 minutes, I had my Trainer ID. I was officially a Trainer. And I was so excited, though I knew I couldn't show it.

((A Few Hours Later))

After practicing with Mr. Berry, an alarm on Dawn's Pokétch rang, telling her that Rusty was done. We quickly went to the Pokémon Center. "Nurse Joy, how's he doing," Dawn asked. "He's just fine, and while that burn was quite nasty, we removed it. He's currently being tested on physical strength, if he can walk or run yet."

I was secretly ecstatic. I was so happy for Rusty. "Can we see him," Dawn asked. "Here, let me check," the nurse said, walking to the room Rusty was in. While she was gone, I jumped up and down in excitement, stopping when she came back.

"Your Shinx is just fine. You brought him here just in time. He's currently relearning how to run, and making good progress. He should be ready in a few minutes." Nurse Joy then walked back, as Dawn and I took a seat.

A few minutes passed and Nurse Joy came back out with Rusty at her side. As soon as Rusty saw me, he dashed at me, a smile on his face. I crouched down, my arms spread out, catching him when he jumped into my chest. *Jasmine...it's gone! My burn is gone!*

:And you can run again! This is great!: *But, I'm still unique, right?* :Of course, Rusty, I know that there's no other Pokémon like you. You'll always be my Pokémon. You're my partner, and I wouldn't rather have any other than you.:

"I see he certainly likes you," Nurse Joy said, smiling. I stood up, holding Rusty in my arms. "Yeah, he sure does," I said, smiling back. "Thank you so much." "You're very welcome."

I looked at the time on my Pokétch. "Oh, it's 5:59. Lucas and Barry should be back soon." Just then, Lucas and Barry came in. "Speak of Giratina, perfect timing, you two," Dawn said. We walked over to greet them.

"Well, how has Rusty been? He looks to be in good spirits," Lucas said, smiling. "We got his burn healed! He can run again," I said. "Awesome, that's great," Barry said.

"Well, should we go do something? I think that we should get moving again tomorrow, before a certain team comes back," Dawn said. "Yeah, but, I had a question for you, Dawn," Barry said, moving a bit closer to her.

Dawn looked a bit confused, before she saw the red tint spreading across Barry's cheeks. "Dawn, I...was, wondering if...you'd want to...go on a date with me?" I was more confused, wondering what he was saying and why he looked like that. I looked at Dawn, to see that a similar color was spreading across her face. "Oh wow...yeah, of course," she said, taking Barry's hand.

Lucas had a look that said he knew it would happen. "We'll be back by 10:00," Barry promised Lucas, as he and Dawn left the Pokémon Center. "What in the..." I asked Lucas. "Yeah, I thought you would be confused by that. Let's go to the room, I'll explain there."

We went back to the room, and I sat on my bunk, setting Rusty down next to me. The Flash Pokémon felt around the spot, before sitting down, looking at Lucas. "So, what's a 'date?' And why did Dawn and Barry look like that," I asked him. Lucas sat down on his bed, as he explained.

"Well, a date is when two people, most likely a boy and a girl, or a man and a woman, go out and have fun together. They can get dinner, they can see a movie, they can train Pokémon...if that's what they like." "Oh, so it's like what Dawn and I did?" "In a way, yes, but when two people go on a date, it means they wanna be more than friends. They wanna be boyfriend and girlfriend...or even husband and wife."

"Oh..." I said, putting the pieces together. "Well, we've got the room to ourselves for a few hours. You wanna watch a movie, or...anything?" "Hmm...let's watch TV." Lucas nodded, picking up the remote and turning the TV on.

We watched TV for a few hours, before Dawn and Barry came back. They walked into the room blushing and holding each other's hands. "Well, you two seem like you had a good time," Lucas said, smiling. I smiled, laying down on my bed. Rusty fell asleep at the foot of the bed.

Dawn and Barry climbed into their bunks. "So, you guys ready to go to Oreburgh tomorrow," Dawn asked. "Yeah, I am. I'll beat the gym in no time!" "You better, Jasmine, or I'm fining you 1,000,000 Pokédollars!" "Night guys," Lucas said, as we all closed our eyes.

Even still, my mind as racing. "I wonder how long Barry wanted to ask Dawn on a date. Will someone ever ask me? And if so, who?" I didn't have any answers, so I resided to sleeping, as fatigue took me over.

---O---O---O---

Word Count: 3536 Words

Well, that took way too long to make! So sorry for any of you who read this. How ironic that I made like 2 chapters during summer.

Well, that's all I got! Until next time, Happy Reading!