A Pokemon Fanfic

1: The Troublesome Past; A Promising Future
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F O U R  Y E A R S  A G O...
All she wanted to do was become an Elite. Battling the best of the best, and being the most well-known trainer in the whole universe. But that dream fell short on her tenth birthday, when she had come down with a disease that made her too ill to even get out of bed. She was highly disappointed. Her short brown hair was a mess, and her eyes were bloodshot from her lack of sleep the previous night. And she didn't have any energy left in her.
"I don't know, Professor." Her mother was speaking to Professor Light, who not only was a Pokémon Researcher, but also the town's doctor for both humans and pokémon alike. "I know she should start her journey…but I just can't figure out what it is she's gotten."
"I see, I see…that is quite the problem, isn't it? I'll take a look at her then, alright Martha?" With that the girl's door opened, and a man in his mid-forties entered. "Now, you're Miss Juliet Rivers?" He asked.
"Yes." Juliet managed to croak. "Doc…tor Light…what's wrong with me?" Her throat hurt just trying to speak. "Can…you get…me well again?"
"We'll see, Miss Juliet, we'll see. Now, open your mouth and say "Aah", good, good. Oh my…" Reaching into his bag, Professor Light took out a small flashlight, and shined it into Juliet's mouth. "My, my." He said taking a pad and pen, then writing something down. He then took his stethoscope and told her to take deep breaths. Juliet flinched with every breath she had taken. "Dear me…now let's check your heart, and take your blood pressure, shall we?" While the doctor examined her, he wrote down her symptoms onto the pad he held in his arms. Juliet was frightened, but remained calm and awaiting the Professor's hypnosis on her health.
"Juliet, dear, how long have you had this for?"
"Um…" Juliet whispered, not wanting to speak louder than she should, "since my tenth birthday almost three weeks ago."
"Oh dear…that long?" Professor Light became worried. "You wait here, I'm going to speak with your mother, okay?" Juliet nodded her head, understanding. He herded Martha outside her daughter's room. From her bed, Juliet heard their conversation.
"I'm very sorry, Martha, but it seems to me your daughter has gotten a very rare disease. I'm surprised she's made it this long."
"What do you mean?" Her mother sounded fearful. Juliet was curious too. She listened in, being careful not to miss anything. "Professor?"
"It's origin is unknown, but some say that it was created by a legendary pokémon, from one particular region. Roen, otherwise known as the lost region."
"Professor, you can't mean that my only child has…no…she can't have that!" Martha became hysterical, when she figured what Professor Light was trying to say.
"I'm afraid so. It's dreadful. The Plague." Juliet remembered studying about that a while ago…yes, it was a disease so bad, no one survived it and lived to tell the tale. In fact, no one lived within three days of getting it. How did she survive this long? This was one of the biggest mysteries that no one would ever figure out.
O N E  Y E A R  L A T E R...
Juliet ran as fast as she could. Her lungs started burning, and her insides felt as though they would burst from all her running. But if she stopped now, she would never accomplish her dreams.
"Juliet! Juliet! Please get back here!" Her father called her. "Martha, hurry, she's almost to the border!" The border was an invention created by Professor Light almost twenty years ago. It was something that only the pokédex could open. So long as she had it, she could come and go as she pleased. Everyone else would be trapped in her small village of Pinetown. A couple more meters…three…two…half…she heard the pokédex beep, signaling that the gate was opened, and she was free to leave. She made it.
Juliet looked back, seeing her parents behind the barrier that had once separated herself from the rest of the world. They couldn't leave. She had. Juliet had equipped herself with six pokéballs, and a new version pokédex, with all the pokémon information she could ever need. This was the last memory she had before officially leaving on her long journey…
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Juliet woke up from her dream. It had been three years since she left home. Her chest was burning, and knew instantly that her disease was starting to act up again. She was used to this by now. She sighed, and pulled her legs close to her.
"I'm sorry…" She began sobbing, "I'm so sorry…mom…dad…and you too Professor Light…" She looked up to the sky, and took several deep breaths. "First things first, I need to take my meds…" She reached into her red scarf, which she had tied around her waist, and took out a small prescription bottle. It wouldn't cure her of her illness, but it would nullify the symptoms of the Plague. She was almost out of it. Her black one-sleeve tank-top was nearly stained with grass from where she slept. "Damn…" She breathed. "This was my cousin's too."
Since the day she started her journeys, Juliet had found little or no luck in catching any pokémon. Because of this, she also had no way of fulfilling her dream to become the best of the best. An Elite Trainer of all the regions of the world. She looked at her wrist, with a small broken pokéball clipped onto a small band. It belonged to the only pokémon she had, once upon a time. She had saved it back when it was a charmander, but had sadly never fully recovered. Three days after becoming a charmeleon, it had suffered until its final moments. Juliet swore that she would never get so close to a pokémon like that ever again. She started crying.
"Flame…I'm sorry…I wish…I wish I could've saved you." She said to the empty pokéball. "I'm so, so, sorry." It had been a whole year since the young pokémon had passed on. It's injuries were severe, and even when it had evolved, there was nothing the Nurse Joy at that city back then could've done.
"Why are you crying?" Juliet looked up, but saw no one there. "Who's Flame?" the same voice asked. Juliet searched for the owner of the voice. "If you're looking for me, try up here in this tree." Juliet looked up and saw a pikachu. Its long ears perked up, and its red cheeks were red as the apples surrounding it. It had a lush yellow fur coat, with the usual two thick brown stripes on its back, and the patch of brown surrounding the base if its lightning-shaped tail.
"I don't suppose you're the one who spoke to me, right?" Juliet asked it. She didn't expect an answer from it.
"Well, I am the only pikachu here, aren't I?" Juliet jumped up and held back a scream. A talking pikachu? Pokémon weren't supposed to speak, period! Much less a pikachu. "What? Never heard a pikachu speak the human tongue before? That's such a pity." Juliet quickly pulled out her pokédex, and pointed at the pikachu in the tree.
"Pikachu:," the electronic voice began to explain; "The electric-mouse pokémon. Pikachu can use electric attacks to which the electricity is stored within its electric pouches in its cheeks. It is the evolved form of pichu, and the pre-evolved form of raichu. Pikachu are known to dwell in forests."
"What that device there doesn't know is that I can't evolve." The pikachu retorted. "I want nothing more than to become a raichu, but even with the thunderstone, I can't evolve from my pikachu state." The pikachu jumped down, and landed on Juliet's shoulder. "Hey, it's pretty comfortable here." Now that it was closer, Juliet could tell it was female. Male pikachu had darker cheeks, this one's was lighter. Then again, the voice was a dead giveaway.
"You can't evolve, even with a thunderstone?" The pikachu shook her head no. "How'd you learn to talk like a human?" Juliet probed. She was becoming quite curious.
"Where do we come from? Where do we go? Like I should know. I've been speaking since I was just a tiny pichu. Even my family doesn't know why I'm able to speak like I can. But it makes getting along with humans much easier."
"You're family? You have a family?"
"Do I have a? If we pokémon didn't have families, how would we come to be? You're an idiot of a trainer if you didn't know that."
"I'm sorry." Juliet sighed. "Oh, I'm Juliet. Juliet Rivers." She held out her hand. The pikachu smiled, and used both her paws to shake it.
"Nice to meet you, Juliet. I'm…well, like the device said, I'm a pikachu. No name, no nothing."
"You're aura…it's got a sparkling personality. And you're attitude certainly matches it too."
"You can sense auras?" Juliet nodded. "You're like a lucario!"
"I guess so. Maybe in my past life, Sparkle." Juliet looked down to the pikachu, who seemed shocked.
"Y-you just called me "Sparkle"…no one…not even my parents called me that."
"Why not? I tend to name pokémon I get attached--" Juliet stopped herself in mid-sentence. "No…I can't get attached…I'm so sorry!" Juliet got up and ran away.
"Hey! Wait up! Juliet!" The pikachu chased after her, "Juliet! Juliet! Oh, come on! Thunderbolt!" Before Juliet could get away, a bolt of lightning had blocked her path. She fell back, and turned back to the small pikachu behind her. "I told you to wait, didn't I? What's all this about not wanting to get attached to me?"
"I don't want to get close to a pokémon like I have done with Flame. When he died…I felt as if it was all my fault for being too weak. Because I couldn't protect him." Juliet began to sob. "I…haven't been able to even catch a pokémon since that day."
"That's it, isn't it? You're afraid to get close. Because you lost your starter pokémon."
"I never had a starter pokémon." Juliet sighed. "See, my parents don't know if I'm still alive or not, and neither does the professor. I haven't been home for three years now."
"You never went back? So how did you get that first pokémon?" The pikachu asked.
"Simple. I saved it from a pack of mightyena, who were attacking it. I guess Flame might've wandered into their territory…and the mightyena figured it was their job to protect it from intruders. I…well, I can only wish I had gotten there sooner…last year, three days after Flame evolved, the poor thing…died from its injuries."
"So…that's why your too afraid to get close to pokémon. I can understand that. But that was the past, Juliet. This is now. Look, I can't evolve into a raichu, no matter what I do. But I'm not complaining. I won't dwell on the past, and neither should you. I'll become stronger…as I am. As this runt of a pikachu. I want to become stronger. And so should you." Juliet thought it through. It was right.
"Sparkle. Will you become my partner? I want to be stronger. I want to be an elite trainer. I want to prove to the world, to my parents and professor Light, that I can accomplish my dreams, despite the disease I ended up with when I was ten. Will you help me?" Juliet looked down the pokémon, who stood before her.
"Well, well, I'm surprised. Juliet, you now have the eyes of a true pokémon trainer. Let's grow stronger together. But on one condition. Let me travel by your side. Capture me in that pokéball, then let me out. I don't like being isolated from the world."
"Alright." Juliet took a pokéball from her scarf, and clicked the small button to make it larger. Kneeling down, she tapped the pokéball gently onto Sparkle's head. In a red flash Sparkle was taken into it. It started to beep, before finally stopping. "Sparkle, I choose you!" She said, throwing the ball in to the air. Sparkle emerged from it, and shook its fur.
"Congrats, kiddo. You've caught yourself a talking pikachu. Let's go on adventures and become the best of friends. And together, grow stronger than any other pokémon and trainer out there!"