Jasmine

"The Steel-Clad Defense Girl"
Jasmine
Species	Human
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Green
Base	Olivine City
Voiced by	Kimberly Woods (2020)
Debut	Pokémon: Gold/Silver Versions

Jasmine is one of the Gym Leaders of the Johto region who originally appeared as an opponent in the second generation games of the Pokémon series, Pokémon Gold, Silver and Pokémon Crystal Versions, as well as the remakes: HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions. She is also known for making an appearance in the fourth generation. She specializes in Steel-type Pokémon.

Background

Jasmine was the gym leader of the Olivine City gym. She was known for being a very compassionate trainer while also being very shy. She originally specialized in Rock-types, but she eventually switched to Steel-types upon their discovery.

Generation II

Within Gold, Silver, Crystal, HeartGold and SoulSilver, Jasmine was at first preoccupied by the sickness of the Ampharos that powered Olivine's lighthouse. So she stayed in the top of the lighthouse and cared for the Ampharos until Ethan/Lyra was able to bring her medicine from Cianwood City. With this, she was able to heal the Ampharos, which would only take medicine from her. Once this matter was settled, Jasmine returned to her gym, where Ethan/Lyra defeated her in battle. She admitted that the challenger was the better trainer in both skill and kindness, giving them the Mineralbadge and TM23: Iron Tail.

In HeartGold and SoulSilver, she later offered to trade her Steelix, named Rusty, for any of the player's Pokémon. Jasmine also ate at the Olivine Diner every afternoon (between the hours of 1 and 2 PM), where Ethan/Lyra could exchange Pokégear numbers with her. Afterwards, she could be found there every day between 12 and 1 PM, and they could take a picture together. Calling her on Wednesdays (between the hours of 10AM and 8PM) would cause her to travel to Saffron City's Fighting Dojo for a rematch. Jasmine was also a potential participant in the Pokéthlon, taking part in the Supreme Cup of the Stamina Course.

She would also appear by Celadon City's fountain on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, where she was talking with Erika. Erika told her about Whitney's claims that she was too plain and should look more fancy, and Jasmine said she was planning to compete in a Sinnoh Contest to try and be more vibrant, although she could not be more vibrant. Erika encouraged her to go and find something especially gorgeous to wear. She went as far as to suggest wearing something similar to Clair's outfit, but Jasmine said that would be too embarrassing, which caused Erika to make a note of Jasmine considering Clair embarrassing, while Jasmine protested that this was not what she meant.

Generation IV

Jasmine later visited Sunyshore City in Sinnoh in the fourth generation games (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl), as its lighthouse reminded her of her hometown . After the player won the final badge from Volkner, Jasmine congratulated the player by giving them HM07: Waterfall (TM99 in Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl), which was needed to access Sinnoh's Pokémon League. Afterwards, Jasmine could contend with the player as a Coordinator in the Super Contests.

Generation VII

She reappeared in Black and White 2 as one of the competitors in the Pokémon World Tournament held at Unova. She took part in the Johto Leaders, World Leaders and Type Expert Tournaments, as well as in the special download tournament "Gathered! Gym Leader!".

Pokémon Roster

In Gold, Silver and Crystal as well as HeartGold and SoulSilver, she has the following Pokémon:

• Magnemite (2)
• Steelix

In Diamond and Pearl she only uses her Steelix for contests, which is nicknamed Rusty (which, oddly enough, is the same name as the Steelix she trades to Gold in HeartGold/SoulSilver).

In HeartGold and SoulSilver, she uses the following Pokémon in rematches:

• Metagross
• Magnezone
• Skarmory
• Bronzong
• Empoleon
• Steelix

For the Pokéthlon, she uses Steelix, Magnemite and Magneton.

In Black 2 and White 2, her roster for tournament fights could contain Steelix, Magnezone, Forretress, Skarmory, Metagross and Mawile (in the Johto Leaders Tournament) or Lucario (in the World Leaders and Type Expert Tournaments). For "Gathered! Gym Leader!", she uses Steelix, Klinklang, Ferrothorn and Excadrill.

In Other Pokémon Games

Jasmine appears in Pokémon Stadium 2 as the sixth opponent in the Gym Leader's Castle. She fights with a Steelix, Corsola, Magneton, Mantine, Skarmory and Forretress in R1, and with Blastoise, Rapidash, Slowbro, Steelix, Stantler and Scizor in R2. She also appears as the fifth opponent in Pokémon Puzzle Challenge, using a Steelix as her Pokémon.

Pokémon Masters EX

In Pokémon Masters EX, Jasmine and her Steelix appeared as a playable sync pair that could be recruited at random through the game's Sync Pair Scout feature. Her Steelix could Mega Evolve into Mega Steelix when using a sync move in battle. There were also variants of Jasmine that were made available only during limited time periods: one of her wearing a special costume (which seemed to be based on the jūnihitoe, a traditional formal court dress for Japanese noble women) that was paired with Celesteela, which was made available through the Sync Pair Scout for limited time periods starting in November 2020, and the other being a Holiday 2022 variant that was paired with an Ampharos (which was also capable of Mega Evolving) and was first made available in December 2022. Her partner Ampharos was said to be one that she trained from a Mareep for the lighthouse keeper, and it was meant to act as Amphy's successor. Jasmine was also shown using a pair of Magnemite.

In the Main Story, Jasmine made a small appearance during the Johto chapter of the Villain Arc, in which she worked with Falkner and Professor Bellis in seeking out Dynamaxed Pokémon. Jasmine's special costume variant was established for the Poké War Games event, in which she was paired with Guzma as the leaders of one of the two teams, with both of them wielding Ultra Beasts in battle. Jasmine was shown to have difficulty moving around in her special costume and received help from Grimsley. Jasmine also made an appearance in the Neo Champion Event "Leaders of a New Era", in which she helped Serena to train for the Neo Champion tournament. She was also featured in the "Shine a Gentle Light" Story Event with her holiday attire. She was concerned about the state of her Ampharos, so Whitney suggested throwing a party to cheer it up and convinced Jasmine to reluctantly join her in wearing 'flashy outfits' (which were their holiday outfits). Jasmine overworked herself preparing for the party, while Whitney secretly put together a special medicine that helped the Ampharos to shine better than ever. Jasmine fainted from her exhaustion, but Ampharo's light was able to guide her through the darkness and back to consciousness. She was left feeling that Whitney's warmth helped to brighten the whole city.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• Jasmine initially appeared in two separate episodes of the Pokémon anime's Hoenn-based series. The first one depicted her ordeal with the sick Ampharos, while the second episode showed her battle with Ash when he returned to Olivine after delivering the medicine. Jasmine was portrayed as more confident and aggressive in the anime. She made a return appearance in an episode of the Diamond & Pearl series, where she helped a trainer named Kenny prepare for the Sinnoh Grand Festival. She challenged Flint to a battle and lost. Ultimately, she decided that it was time for her return to training at the Olivine Gym.
• Jasmine appeared in several chapters of the Pokémon Adventures manga. During the Gold/Silver arc, she was first shown to be trapped in the Tin Tower with her Ampharos by an earthquake until Gold and Silver arrived to help her, although ultimately her Ampharos carried her off, and she was left thinking that the two boys might have just been a hallucination. During the gym leader's competition, she battled Brock. She had disguised her Steelix, due to fearing that it looked too horrifying. After her Steelix was unveiled, it was able to overpower his Onix and secure her victory. She later made a brief appearance at a Pokémon Contest in the Diamond/Pearl arc, and she was mentioned as having left for Sinnoh to master Pokémon Contests in the HeartGold/SoulSilver arc.

Trivia

• Jasmine is named after a sweet-smelling flower, though her name may also be a play on the word 'mine' or 'mineral'. Her Japanese name is Mikan, named after a Japanese word for citrus fruits.
• Unlike other gym leaders, she has no other trainers present in her gym.
• Jasmine (or a character closely resembling her) can be seen in the audience during the contests in Pokémon: Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald Versions.