Jasmine (EntityTopic, 9)

From Compile Worlds

Jasmine is probably the most awesome Gym leader ever. She is innocent, sexy, trains Steel type Pokémon, and is the only member of her gym. She is mainly awesome because of her appearance, but also because her personality doesn't allow her to be cocky and arrogant to you before you battle her. Jasmine is also epically awesome because she is the only trainer in her gym, and as such, you don't have to deal with other trainers bullshit, just get straight to her.

Jasmine also has a high prestige rating because her defeat to Ash Ketchum wasn't some total epic or leopard failure. She also is the only gym leader besides Brock and Misty to care for a Pokémon other than the type she raises for gym battles, in her case, an Ampharos.

Random cameos in other Pokémon games

Jasmine has also appeared in various other Pokémon games. In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald, she appears randomly in the crowd during a contest. In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, she had even more cameos. Her first one was to appear to give you a TM/HM, similar to Professor Oak who also has a cameo in the same game for the same purpose. However, Jasmine also appears in the contests held at Hearthome city, where she comes with a Steelix. Her continued cameos make a vague allusion to a Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal remake, or suggest that Sinnoh is also connected to Johto and Kanto somehow.

Thankfully, HeartGold and SoulSilver have been confirmed. As such, Jasmine is expected to come back and not only reprise her role as the Olivine Gym Leader, but also probably make numerous story-related cameos ala Cynthia and Fantina. As before, she is expected to be the best gym leader, sine they will not likely change Morty's lineup to include a pure Ghost type Misdreavus.

The one thing that anybody could hold against Jasmine was Nintendo's stupid decision to give her a Mantine in Pokémon Stadium 2. This, combined with 'cheap' tactics, destroyed any players hoping to use a Fire Pokémon based team to get through the Gym leader Castle.