Just warning you, this IkariShipping story is probably going to be VERY different from the ones you're used to. First off, it's based off of the game, not the anime. No Ash or Brock, and don't give me crap about Shinji not being in the game. I'm the one writing it. Also, I'm using the Japanese names for Hikari (Dawn), Shinji (Paul), and Jun (Barry). Thirdly, Hikari is, well, different. She can see things. Like a psychic! Except she's pretty much tortured by her 'gift'. Now I'm done! I don't own Pokemon!
Chapter 1: Hikari Diamond, A Different Soul
Sometimes I wonder why I exist. Why I belong in this world. What I did to deserve a life like this. Ever since I could think, I've thought these things. I can never come up with an answer.
I've always been teased for what I am. I look like a normal girl, but I can see things. In my dreams, in visions. I don't trust people. I'm cautious. I say the strangest things and think the strangest things. Things a child should never think or say. I was put in therapy. I've had several therapists, never said a word to any of them. The very few words I did say were smart-alic comebacks and insults.
My parents are divorced. My father didn't want to put up with her, she, or it, as he called me. I can't remember a time when he used my real name. I haven't seen him in years. My mom pretends not to notice how different I am, and she's darn good at it. I am grateful for such a loving, happy mother.
I have one friend. He's sweet, crazy, and really doesn't notice how different I am. Maybe because he's different himself, but I think it's because he doesn't think much at all. But he's also the good different. I'm the bad different.
My name is Hikari Diamond. I am a different soul.
"Pokemon are by our sides, always. I hope you will understand the meaning of those words."
That was the comment left by Prof. Rowan, who has returned to Sinnoh from the Kanto region.
That concludes our special program, 'Let's Ask Professor Rowan!' Brought to you by Jubilife TV on Nationwide Net! See you next week, same time, same channel!
I switched off the informational program, I'm not sure why I even watched it, I knew all of that stuff anyways...
Sighing, I stood up from one of my bean-bags. I had several of them, each a different color. My room wasn't all that great, but it was pretty nice, if I do say so myself. My house is small, so my room is the attic. It has two windows, across from each other on the north and south walls. The ladder that folds up and goes down to the rest of our one story house is in the northeast corner, we all call it the 'hatch'. My bed is in the southeast corner, I have all kinds of different sheets, blankets, and pillows, a different theme for each set. At the moment it had on it my white polka dot set, white pillow case and blankets with large multi-colored polka dots. By the window on the south side of my room I basically had my own personal little garden. My computer and desk were in the northwest corner of my room, and right next to them was my television and Wii system. A rug lay in the center of my room, and like with my bedding, I had several different themed rugs. The one I was currently standing on was one of my favorites, the super soft and plush pure white rug. The bean bags lay in the middle of it. And finally, all over the walls, so many I almost didn't even remember what color the walls even are, hundreds of my personal writings, poems, drawings, pictures, and posters. I was constantly adding more stuff, and it was so personal and special to me that only two people besides myself have ever been allowed to see it. My mom and best friend.
Suddenly the hatch from downstairs burst open, a familiar blonde boy almost jumping up it and into my room, running right smack into me. Fortunately, I landed on my bean bags. Speak of the devil.
Rubbing my head, I complained to my childhood friend. "Jun, how many times have I told you. #1: Please knock before coming up here. We wouldn't want a repeat of the Unspeakable Day. #2: If you keep running into me like that, I'm going to have a seizure or something..." Not that I don't already have them, I silently added, thinking of my many horrible visions in which I would shake, sweat, and every once in awhile vomit.
"Yeah, yeah. Oh, Hikari! You just saw that TV program, right?! Course you did! Prof. Rowan sure is important, isn't he?" I stood up again, and nodded my head at my impatient friend, though of course he didn't notice. "That means he must have tons of Pokemon!"
"Jun, this isn't one of your crazy stunts and or schemes to get a Pokemon, is it? Last time I got sand in places where there should be no sand..."
"No, course not! This is nothing like those kiddy plans cause' this ones gonna' work! So, if we ask him nice enough, I'd bet he'd give us some Pokemon!" At least we shouldn't get hurt this time... I thought to myself. Suddenly Jun burst past me over to my laptop. I swear that kid is half Sharpedo how fast and short attention spanned he is. "Hey, did you get a new PC!?"
"Yeah, about a month ago Jun..." He didn't hear me as he had already began talking again.
"Oh, right! Professor Rowan! We're going to see Prof. Rowan and get ourselves some Pokemon." He stated, grabbing my arm and proceeding to drag me towards the hatch.
"Jun, wait!"
"What now Hikari?! We've got no time to waste!" Sighing, I replied.
"Can't I at least get ready? I'm not even wearing my hat right now!" Now it was his turn to sigh, and very dramatically I might add.
"FIIIIINE! I'll be waiting outside. If you're late, I'm fining you 10 million dollars!" Jun practically flew out of my room and downstairs.
"Sure you will..." I mumbled to myself. I was wearing my mini dress with a white tank underneath, though because it was winter I was wearing my warm dark reddish pink leggings/tights under it. I grabbed my extra long red coat and buttoned up the pink, well, buttons. Throwing on my pink boots, I grabbed my white beanie hat with the pink Pokeball symbol on it. Ever since I'd gotten it when I was seven, I'd worn that hat whenever I left the house. I quickly checked myself in the mirror, admiring the pink barrettes in my blue hair that matched my outfit, then headed downstairs.
"Hey mom!"
"Oh, Hikari! Jun already left, but boy was he in a hurry!"
"Isn't he always?" I quick kissed her on the cheek, heading for the door and grabbing my white scarf off of the hook full of other winter items.
"Don't go too far dear, you don't want to get attacked by any wild Pokemon!" I rolled my eyes, why did she have to remind me that I didn't have my own Pokemon every single time I left the house?
"Course not, mom." I opened the door, and immediately the early February air hit me like a ton of bricks, but I forced myself through it. At least it's not snowing, I reminded myself, heading out into my freezing hometown of Twinleaf. Yeah, maybe where you come from it's nice and warm and springy in February. But I live in Sinnoh. It's always cold here.
Looking around I saw that Jun wasn't here, he was either at his house or already at the entrance to Route 201. I made my way through the small town. If I was normal I would've said hi to our neighbors and the townspeople, but they all thought that something was wrong with me. The people that were out looked at me funny, and pretended not to see me. I used to be horribly bullied too, but I said some pretty violent and insane stuff to the kids doing it, and they left me alone for the most part after that.
Just down the dirt road from my house was Jun's place, so I walked up to his door and was about to enter but was knocked onto my butt for the second time that day. But this time I landed in a bunch of freezing snow.
"Hikari! What are you doing in the snow?" I gave him that look that you have when your good friend asks a really dumb question, then stood up wiping snow off of my butt.
"Thanks Jun, I've always wanted a freezing wet butt."
"Whatever! I'm going to see Professor Rowan! Come on!" He started dragging me towards Route 201, but stopped suddenly so that I almost fell again. "Crap, I forgot it!" Jun then ran back into his house. I ever so slightly giggled at my best friends antics. Someone across the street had watched the whole thing, and had one of the most confused looks on their face. I opened the door and walked into Jun's house, we basically lived in each other's homes so there was no need to knock.
"Hello Hikari." Jun's mother greeted me. She was the only other person besides my mom and Jun who didn't think I was weird.
"Hi Mary!" Her last name was Kuntz, different from Jun's because like me his parents were divorced. At least his dad visited him sometimes though.
I ran upstairs, Jun's house was bigger than mine, two stories. I have to admit, I am a little bit jealous. I mean, my mom was one of the most famous coordinators in the world, yet we had a small one story house. Probably because my dad took all of our money...
I made my way down the upstairs hallway and fully pushed open the door that led to Jun's room, which was already open a few inches.
"I need to take my bag, and this, my journal, oh, and that too!"
"Jun?" He looked up from his dresser from which he was throwing countless items into his bag.
"Oh hey Hikari!" He grinned at me and threw on his messenger bag. "Come on!" He grabbed my arm again, and dragged me out his house and towards Route 201. "Can you believe it? We're finally going to get Pokemon!" We laughed together, running as fast as we could out of town.
Now on Route 201, we were going farther than either of us ever have on our own. We could no longer see Twinleaf, and could hear the rustling of leaves and cries of far off Pokemon.
"You know Jun, maybe it's not such a great idea coming out here without any Pokemon of our own."
"Oh come on Hikari! What's life if you spend it on the safe side? Trust me! Sandgem Town isn't too far off! Just a mile or two! Let's go!" Without warning Jun started running as fast as he could, but only got a couple feet before a terrifying bellowing stopped us both in our tracks.
"HOOLD IT!" We both began frantically looking around, searching for the source of the yell. Then an old man that I immediately recognized from television came stomping towards us. Ohhh crap. No Pokemon for us.
"You two don't have any Pokemon?" He began inspecting us I guess you could say, looking for Pokemon.
"Uh, no sir." I nervously answered. This guy was just as scary in real life as he was on TV...
"Then what is the meaning of coming out here?!" Everyone was deathly quiet for a moment. I felt even colder than I already was in the Professor's upset presence. "No one?" Suddenly Jun poked me with his elbow, and then greatly failed at whispering to me.
"Hey Hikari, isn't that Professor Rowan? What do you think he's doing here?" The hand between us and the Professor did little to prevent our 'private' conversation from being heard. Both Rowan and I sweatdropped (obviously).
The Professor then turned around and began talking to himself. And they say I'm weird...
"They tried to come to Sandgem on their own because they wanted Pokemon... Hmm, what to do?" Jun had begun sneaking up behind Rowan, I didn't know why, and frankly I didn't care. I was waving my hands around trying to get him to stop. It did not work.
"This is your conscience speaking." Jun whispered into his ear, if you could call it whispering... We sweatdropped. Again. "Give those kids some Pokemon. They deserve them more than anyone!" After a minute the Professor didn't say anything.
"I'll just say it louder." Jun wondered out loud. "THIS IS YOUR- mph!" The old man had placed his hand over the blonde's mouth.
"You know, I'm not sure if it's right for me to put you on that path..."
"NO!" Jun screamed in his face.
"So, you two truly love Pokemon, do you?" Said the Professor, ignoring Jun.
"Yeah I do! Hikari?" They both stared at me. Jun knew what the answer was, and I did too. Ever since I was a little girl, Pokemon were the only ones who didn't care I was different, always listened to me, comforted me, and always understood me, when no person did. I nodded my head and answered.
"Forever and always." I replied, face set and determined. The Professor nodded as well.
"I will ask again, you two truly love Pokemon, correct?" That bugged me, so before Jun could reply himself, I spoke up.
"Of course we do! Didn't you just hear Jun?! I don't care if Arceus himself came down and told me to hate Pokemon, I would always care for and about them!" My childhood friend and the well known Pokemon professor both stared at me, surprised I guess. "What are guys looking at!?" I crossed my arms, and looked away, but there was nothing I could do to hind the tinge of red in my face...
"Hmm, a pair of reckless children who foolishly leave the safety of town without Pokemon of their own. It worries me what people like that would do with Pokemon of their own."
"Well, we... uh... Forget about me then!" We both looked at Jun. "I mean, it was me who dragged Hikari out here!"
"Really?" I couldn't believe he was doing this. Jun rarely acted this way. I stared at him in disbelief.
"Jun don't do this." I whispered to him, grabbing the sleeve of his orange and white coat.
"How big of you young man. Very well then! I will entrust you two with Pokemon!" Yeah, I was surprised. Extremely. My jaw dropped, but of course Jun was bouncing all over the place at this point.
"All right! Can you believe this Hikari!? We're finally getting Pokemon!" Suddenly Jun embraced Professor Rowan. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"
"Um, well, you're welcome, Jun right?" He vigorously nodded his head. Jun finally released the Professor and Rowan then looked at me, obviously expecting something.
"Um.." My face got all red, and I looked down at the ground. "Thank you sir!" He smiled at us and nodded his head.
"However of course, you must promise me that you will never recklessly endanger yourselves like that again!" Jun and I nodded our heads. "Now then, where?"
"Professor!" I heard a boy's voice, coming from the opposite direction, where Lake Verity was. "Professor Rowan! You left your briefcase at the lake!"
He was around Jun and my age of thirteen. He was wearing a red cloth cap with a blue Pokeball symbol on it. He was also wearing a long sleeve red shirt underneath an unzipped blue jacket with a white scarf. His pants were black and he was wearing some grey sneakers. He set down the briefcase.
"Is something the matter here?"
"Ah, there it is! Lucas, what would I do without you! I was just about to entrust these two with their own Pokemon!"
"Pardon!?" It was easy to tell that this guy, Lucas I suppose, was probably a super organized workaholic nerd. Not that that's bad, that's just the kind of person he was. "Sir, you know how hard those Pokemon are to replace! Are you sure about giving them away?"
"Hm! We exist side by side with Pokemon Lucas! There comes a time when people should meet Pokemon. There is a world that should be explored together. For them, today is that time. The place, right here!" The Professor pointed his finger to the sky, while Jun cheered him on. "Now go on you two! Open the briefcase and pick out a Pokemon!"
"Alright! I can't believe this! I'm so happy that I can't even keep a straight face!" That much was true, Jun was smiling so hard that his mouth was twitching. "Okay Hikari, I'll let you choose first, being that I am the bigger man here." I found it funny that Jun was acting so high and mighty, it was cute. Not in that 'I like him' kind of cute, like the younger sibling kind of cute.
"Thanks Jun!" I smiled then crouched down, careful not to let any part of me touch the frozen ground. I unlatched the briefcase which easily popped open to reveal three Pokeballs that were freely bouncing around the red inside of the briefcase. I released all three Pokemon for us to see.
I knew what all three were, Piplup, Chimchar, and Turtwig. They all seemed lively, and all were adorable.
"Hmm. Professor, I can't decide which one to take."
"Come on Hikari! I wanna get my Pokemon already!" Jun whined at me.
"Well, why don't you both take a Pokemon home for now then, see what it's personality is, then decide." I looked up from the three joyful Pokemon.
"Really?"
"Of course!"
"Okay then, I'll take home Piplup for now!" Piplup made a cheerful noise and held up it's flippers telling me it wanted to be held. I picked him up and was surprised at how cold Piplup's body was, but then again he is a water type.
"Then for now I'll take Turtwig!" Jun grinned at the grass type and Turtwig smiled back. I had a feeling though that they wouldn't be the best pair. Turtwig didn't have anywhere near the energy level of Jun.
Chimchar was returned to his Pokeball, and Professor Rowan began yet another speech.
"Remember, these Pokemon are still unfamiliar with the world. In that regard, they're much like you. As fellow newcomers to the world, I hope you'll do well together. If you have any trouble come and see me at my lab in Sandgem Town. And now we'll be on our way!" The Professor began speedily heading towards Sandgem Town. Lucas clumsily picked up the briefcase which opened again so he had to put the Pokeball back in and shut it once more.
"Professor, wait for me! See you later you guys!" Lucas ran after the Professor.
"You know Hikari, Professor Rowan is actually really nice. On TV he seems so stern and scary. Sooo Hikari, we might not be keeping these Pokemon, but since we've both got them... I challenge you to a Pokemon battle!"
"Hmm," I looked down at Piplup and decided that for once, Jun was right. "Okay!"
"Alright, let's get started!" Piplup jumped down from my arms and Turtwig made his way in front of Jun. "I'll let you move first Hikari!" I nodded and remembered the moves that the three starter Pokemon of Sinnoh had.
"Okay Piplup, use Pound!"The clumsy Pokemon's fin glew and it hit Turtwig spot on.
"Turtwig don't let that little penguin bring you down! Use tackle!"
"Dodge it!" Piplup just barely made it away from Turtwig, then I ordered him to use Pound again which hit. Turtwig fainted.
"Turtwig!" Jun ran over to the small grass type Pokemon, returning it to it's Pokeball. "Great, we just lost our first Pokemon battle!" Jun pouted for a minute but then stretched out his back and returned to his normal self. "Whew, I'm beat! I'm sure Turtwig is too... See ya later Hikari!" And with that Jun left back to Twinleaf town.
Piplup looked full of pride after winning his first battle.
"You did great Piplup!" I complimented him before returning him to his Pokeball in a flash of red. I stretched my arms up before walking back to our hometown myself. "What a day! I can't wait to hit the hay tonight!"