ilex

Juliana has been many people. Leaf. Lyra. May. Dawn. Hilda. Serena. Selene. Gloria. And now Juliana. 

Today was the start of Juliana’s ninth first journey. Today she would receive her ninth first pokemon. She wishes she held more than apprehension. 

Juliana is tired of hoping. At first it was fine. She was a normal girl named Leaf. She was a normal girl, starting her journey in Kanto on her 10th birthday. She got a pidgey as her starter, and set out. She was happy with her pokemon, her life, her choices. She managed to get through every gym. She was one step away from champion, and then was forced to uproot her life because Team Rocket didn’t like that she’d disrupted their plans, and Mewtwo was a neutral party, not a helping one. 

Witness protection. A whole new life. A new name. A new start. It ripped out her heart to leave her pokemon and her family behind, especially pidgeot - her partner who had been there for her through everything. But, she couldn’t drag them down with her. So, she moved on. 

She was a normal girl named Lyra. She had an eevee as a partner. She set out. She defeated the gyms, she travelled across the country, and she was ready to finally accept the title she had left behind. And then team Rocket came back. They came back, looking for revenge, and looking to scrape footholds out of her carefully rebuilt foundation. She fled back home, only once. She met Red. She saw the life she would have if she continued as herself.

This one hurt even more. A second new life. A second new name. A second new start. Espeon was her best friend, the one she relied on for everything, because she just couldn’t take anyone else down with her. Espeon was the only one she confined in, and now she was leaving again. Lyra died, her heart staying behind with Espeon and her team. 

May set out on her first journey a month later. She tried so hard to shut them out, so that what happened with Espeon and Pidgeot never happened again, but her damned treecko wouldn’t give up. Sceptile was her partner, one who saw her through everything that region threw at her.

This time, it wasn’t team Rocket. It was an entirely new team. One that had no ties to her or her past, and yet somehow, she managed to be the only one in the position to stop them. Somehow she did. She still bears the scars from Rayquaza’s wrath, and knows that Sceptile does too. 

Again. Restart. Her name was Dawn, and her starter was a starly. Starly was a normal/flying type, and from the corner of her eye, all Dawn could see were brown and tan feathers. Plasma were a new threat. They weren’t the first to tamper with legendaries, but Dialga and Palkia were so much more than Groudon and Kyogre had been. An unstoppable threat on another level besides physical. If it weren’t for the lake guardians, there would have been no way she would have survived. 

(This was when she learned why it all seemed to happen to her. This is where she learned that being a legendary’s favourite wasn’t as appealing as it sounded. 

This was when she learned that Arceus was real, and that It was an absolute bastard.)

But she did survive (she always did and she always will), and the scattered remnants of Plasma were after her again. 

Restart. Her name was Hilda. Her starter was a venipede. Her travelling companions didn’t understand why she was so scared of pidove, and yet refused to attack any on the routes. 

Restart. Her name was Serena, and her starter was a froakie. Kalos was somehow worse, because she wasn’t just an adversary, she was a target, and her bond with Greninja was different from the others she had experienced before.

Restart. Her name was Selene and her starter was a Grubbin. 

Restart. Her name was Gloria and her starter was a Rookidee.