I had to keep running. I had no other choice. If I stopped even for an instant, they would kill me. I still hate they image of their blue bowl cuts and white uniforms with their orange 'G.' They locked me up for far too long, and now, I was making my escape. I could hear them coming close, their Houndoom's roars chilling my bones. I just kept running, knowing that I couldn't keep it up for long. But then, I saw a root, sticking out of the ground, the perfect height for me to jump up off of.

I jumped off the root, and up to the branches above. But I couldn't stop there. I jumped along these uneven branches. I was developing a steady rhythm. But, then they all leveled. These trees branches were those of Trevenant, I could tell by a white tree near the end of the path.

:Thanks for the help, guys,: I said to them using my mind. I had never known why I could do it, I had just always had the ability. It at least gave me the company of stray Bug-Types for all those years. As I was running along, I could hear more grunts ahead. They'd set up a road block. I thought it was okay, that I just needed to get over them, but straight path stopped. 'It's the end, they're going to catch me and kill me. But, at least I got this far,' I thought.

*Jasmine, we're here to help,* I heard a voice say. I turned my head quickly and see a swarm of Ariados following me, being led by a purple one. :Thank you, all of you. Now, go stop the road block!: *Alright, soldiers! No retreat, no surrender,* the Shiny Ariados said, as they descended the trees to stop the blockade. I heard the Ariados causing havoc below, so many of them that the Pokémon weren't sure who to hit.

When the path ended, I jumped down and rolled upon landing. It was supposed to cushion the blow, but it still hurt like hell. I could see a light in between the trees up ahead, a sign of my tantalizing freedom. "Jasmine, get back here," I heard my 'father' call.

I was too exhausted to speak, so I just turned around and gave him the bird while running backwards. I had never done it before, known why it was so bad, or what it meant, but seeing the look on his face was oh so priceless. His blue haired, stern face had a look of utmost disgust, and it made me laugh as hard as I could.

I turned back around and picked up my speed, rushing out of the forest and onto the road ahead. The sudden change in light hurt my eyes, but I didn't care. I was free, and nothing could stop me now. I ran down the ledges, my spirit taking wing as I jumped down. I had escaped, and could do what I wanted. I could train Pokémon, I could explore the world, I could find out about my past. I was my own person, and was no longer trapped by Team Galactic.

Only one problem, and that was who I was. I was an ex-prisoner, who had lived her entire life a captive. I had no money, no identity, hell, I had no education. I couldn't read, I couldn't write, I didn't know what the square root of whatever a million was. I had escaped, but at what price? I was on my own, and had no survival instinct beyond how to breath, how to eat, and that sharp things are bad.

I was now walking, my thoughts weighing me down. I stopped next to a river, tears coming into my eyes, so I just looked at my reflection. I had never truly known what I looked like, because prisoners of Team Galactic weren't allowed to look at mirrors. It was just one of the many rules we had put on us. I looked at my reflection, and saw my eyes, a deep shade of hot pink. My hair, I couldn't see, though. I wasn't sure why, but it was covered in a thick coat of dust. I tried rubbing it off, but it wouldn't budge.

I just sat there, staring at my reflection for what seemed like hours on end. I looked at my clothes, at the simple, gray dress, the only thing I had to wear. It reminded me of how empty my life was before, and how glad I was to leave it behind. I just needed a push in the right direction, and I didn't know where to get that. I just that there, crying into my legs, wishing that something would come to help me. I thought back to when I first escaped, and to that Pokémon.

I was doing dishes in the Galactic HQ, like always. I was almost done, when the door to the kitchen, which was usually locked to prevent my escape, creaked open. I caught a glimpse of a creature, one that was white and black, with hair of an auburn shade. I looked out the door to the creature, it's orange eyes piercing my being.

"Jasmine, I'm here to get you out. You need to come with me." I followed the Pokémon out of the building, until it got me outside the HQ. "Go, Jasmine, I'll hold them off." I nodded and ran towards the exit, marking the beginning of my escape. And I was still thinking about the creature.

"What was that thing? It looked like a Pokémon of some sort, but it spoke to me normally. It's energy also felt familiar, like I had known the thing before." I continued to ask questions about the creature for several more minutes.However, I couldn't do it for long.

Those Team Galactic grunts were back, and were chasing me again. I quickly got up and ran, and I ran as fast as I could. I didn't stop, I couldn't stop, not for anything. I just ran and ran, for as long as I could, anywhere I could. Eventually, I tripped, and when I did, the grunts were immediately on my back, one pointing a gun to the back of my head. "Well, I must commend you, no one has ever gotten out of Eterna Forest when getting chased by us. Using that swarm of Ariados was quite clever indeed. Unfortunately, you run ends here, Jasmine. Goodbye, girl." I couldn't do anything, so I just sat there, closed my eyes, and embraced the end.

I heard the sound of something metal hitting the ground. I opened my eyes and turned around, greeted by the sight of a boy, maybe a few years older then me, with his foot planted firmly on the first grunt's face. He quickly did a jumping turn, swinging his fist into the other grunt's head, sending him sprawling to the ground. "Both of you, stay away from her! Stay away from everyone," he yelled, before taking my hand and running towards the nearby city.

"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe. They won't ever hurt you again. What's your name," he asked, his short, black hair blowing as we ran. "I-I'm J-Jasmine." "Well, Jasmine, I'm Dan. Nice to meet you." We were now in a small town, with large fields of colorful flowers surrounding it, and I was amazed by the sight. I had mostly known the same, drab shade of gray for most of my life, and it was the only color I could remember.

Dan clearly noticed my odd behavior. "So, how long were you trapped? You look like this is the first time you've visited Floaroma Town." "W-well, it-it is. I-I've been there f-for as long as I c-c-can re-remember," I stammered out, embarrassed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I had no idea you were there for that long. You look like you could use a cleaning. Your hair and skin is covered in dust." "Y-yes, t-that would be n-nice. T-thank you." He had directed me to a house and lead me inside.

"Well, Jasmine, this is my house. Feel free tonmake yourself at home." He first showed me a small room, one that I recognized as a bathroom. He showed me to a box with a frosted glass door and a silver thing above it. "Jasmine, this is a shower. You turn the knob to the left to turn the water on. Keep it to the right for cold water, in the middle for warm water, and to the left for hot water. Now, the hot water is really hot, so be careful," he told me. "O-okay, I will." I got into the shower and turned the water on, soaking my dress.

I could hear the sound of Dan hitting his face even over the splashing water. "Jasmine, you need to take your clothes off" "Oh, okay. I-I-I'm sorry." I began to open the door. "Jasmine, wait. Take your dress off behind the door. I don't want to see you naked." "A-alright then, sorry," I said, closing the door and removing my dress. I put it on the shower door, where Dan took it and put it somewhere. I stood there, letting the water run down me, when I saw a white bottle with a word written on it. "Dan, what is this," I asked, holding the bottle above the door.

"Wow, they really did have you for most your life. That's shampoo, and it's for your hair. Just put some in your hand, rub your hands together, move your hands through your hair, rinse the shampoo out, and then do it again once more. It should clean your hair, getting all the dust off of it. Oh, and don't get it in your eyes, or it will hurt." "Okay, thanks," I said, doing what he told me to. I put the shampoo in my hand, rubbed it between my hands, and ran my frothy hands through my hair.

When I rinsed my hair, I felt all the dust coating my hair wash out. I did the cycle of shampoo again, before noticing a weird net-like object next to another bottle. I recognized the word AXE on the bottle, as I had seen it when someone was using a tool to cut wood. The bottle didn't look like an axe to me, so I asked Dan again. "Hey, Dan, what's this," I asked, holding the two objects above the door.

"Those are a scrubber and body wash. You put the body wash on the scrubber and wash yourself with the scrubber. Did Team Galactic ever make you do dishes?" "Yeah, they did. I'm quite good at it." "Well, just imagine that you're a giant plate, and the scrubber is the brush. Just wash all around yourself, especially the spots between your arms and chest, and between your legs. And just in case, check behind your ears, you'd be surprised what you can find back there." "Thank you," I said to him, before quickly running my fingers behind my ears, only to find nothing there.

I poured the body wash on the scrubber, and started to wash myself, starting with my arms, then my armpits, then my chest and stomach area, then my legs, then my feet, before washing in between my legs. I slowly turned the water off, shivering as it went to the right. "Note to self: turn shower knob fast," I thought in my head. "So, you done, Jasmine?", Dan asked. "Y-yes! What do I do now?" "Hang on, I'll get you a towel and some clothes for you." He quickly set a green thing on the shower door.

"W-what's this?" "It's a towel, Jasmine. You use it to dry yourself off, to get the water off of you. When you're done drying off, wrap it around you. It should cover your chest, starting above your...you know." "Yeah, I know," I said, grinning uncontrollably. I took the green towel and rubbed it all over me, knocking the water off. I then dried my hair, before wrapping the towel around my chest, covering my "melons", as I had heard some of the grunts call them.

I also saw that there was a white towel still on the door. "Dan? Why are there two towels?" "The other one is for your hair if you want it. You can wrap it around your head to dry your hair, or you can just leave it and I'll put it back." "That's alright, I'll leave it alone." "Alright then, no problem!" I stepped out of the shower, looking the mirror, wanting to see what my hair looked like. I straightened it out before looking at the mirror, only to realize that it was all fogged up. I wiped the fog off the mirror and looked at myself.

I saw that my long hair, once gray from dust, was now a bright red, like a Shiny Trevenant's leaves. "Wow, so this is what my hair looks like. A pure, blood red." "Hey, you ready, Jasmine? I have your clothes ready," Dan told me. "Y-yes, I'm ready. You can come in." He peeked his head out from behind the doorway. "Well, I trust you found everything alright. Come on, let's get you dressed."

He took my hand and showed me to a small room nearby with a bed that had clothes on it. "Here, I'll close the door, just slip those clothes on and come back out." "O-okay, I will." He shut the door, and I removed the towel. I looked at the clothes.

They were an black shirt, a pair of denim jeans, some white socks, and sneakers. It felt weird to not wear a dress to me, but I wanted to fit in, so I accepted it. I slipped the shirt over my head, put the jeans on, and pulled the socks over my feet, before getting the shoes on.

Luckily, they didn't need to be tied, because that would have taken me forever to learn. I moved my hair out from behind the shirt, letting it fall over my back, and took a hair brush that I found and started brushing my hair, running the brush through my bright red locks. There were a few moments where the brush would get snagged in my hair, but other then that, I quite enjoyed doing it. After brushing my hair, I came out of the room, and walked over to Dan.

"So, how do I look?", I asked eagerly. "You look great, Jasmine. You look absolutely stunning," he said. "Also, I think we should get you a haircut." "But why? I like my hair! Why would you cut it off?" "Jasmine, I don't mean all of it, just some of it. Besides, your hair goes down to below your waist."

I looked at my back and saw that he was right; my hair went down to my knees. He couldn't blame me; we weren't allowed to cut our own hair as prisoners, or each other's. Our captors were supposed to cut it for us, but those grunts never gave a crap about us anyways. They only cared if we were able to walk and breath.

"Huh, I guess you're right. Well, where shall we go?" "Well, there's a place nearby I could take you, if you wanna go." "Sure, why not? Let's go!"

~~O~~O~~O~~O~~

Word Count: 2600 Words

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Well, hello there, and welcome to one of your timewasters for the summer!
I will be trying some new things with this story. For one, the word count for each chapter will be put at the end, as seen above.
Second, I will try doing one of these sort of author's notes at the end of each chapter. I wonder how it will go.
And finally, I will be making this story along with another one! Both of these stories will be irregularly updated, meaning that unlike my other two chapter based stories, this and the other one will be updated whenever I have the time.
I hope you enjoy this story, and until next time, Happy Reading!