Where was I? Why can't I remember anything?
Darkness stopped me from questioning anymore as I faded back into a sea of unconsciousness.
The next time I woke up it was to someone calling out to me, but who?
"Hey are you alright? Wake up, please." I finally found the strength to open up my eyes and look around to see a Pikachu in front of me. I nearing screamed as I jumped back and away from it. "Wait, I don't want to hurt you, I just wanted to know if you were alright. You were passed out here a little bit and I was wondering if you were ever going to wake up." I just stared at it amazed that I, a human, could understand this Pokémon.
"Wait, how can you talk?" I asked confused finally. It seemed just as confused and amazed as I was.
"Wait, you can understand me?!" I nodded once. "Wow, I've never met a human that could understand Pokémon before." I looked around at the world around me.
"I have to ask, but where am I?"
"This is the Kanto region, are you from another region?" The Pikachu asked.
"I don't know; I can't remember anything from a few minutes ago." I frowned at the lack of knowledge I had about the situation I was in.
"Stay here. I'll go and find my trainer." The Pikachu rushed off towards a nearby house. A few seconds later a man with red hair and matching red eyes came running out with a woman with brown hair and gray eyes.
"This is her." Pikachu said pointing at me.
"Pikachu, why did you bring us to this girl?" The woman asked confused. Pikachu sighed and looked at me.
"Could you explain to them for me?" He asked.
"Pikachu found me unconscious here. I don't remember anything about where I came from or who I was. All I know is that my name is Katherine. Please can you help me?" I asked. The two individuals looked at each other worried and then the man picked me up carefully as I winced in pain.
"She's hurt, look at her neck." I touched my neck lightly and heat flared up causing me to cry out in pain.
"We need to get her to a hospital and fast." They rushed towards the nearest town. Pikachu following close behind us. I shivered as the pain in my neck throbbed.
"Hang on, Katherine. We're almost to the hospital." When we got to the hospital finally Nurse Joy rushed over.
"What happened to this girl?" She asked shocked at my condition.
"We don't know, my Pikachu found her like this and led us to her. She doesn't remember anything about what happened other than the fact that her name is Katherine. Please Nurse Joy you have to help her." The woman pleaded.
"I'll do what I can." She said as a Chansey came over with a stretcher. I was set on it gently and then an oxygen mask came over my nose and mouth. I slowly closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
~
Some time passed before I woke up again, but when I did I didn't have nearly as much pain in my neck as before. I looked around gently to see that the Pikachu that had found me was curled up next to me in the bed. I reached my hand up and rubbed his head gently. His ears twitched and he finally opened his eyes to see me awake.
"You're awake!" I smiled and rubbed his head some more.
"Y-"My voice cut off before I could say yes.
"Don't try to talk, I overheard that your throat was severely burned and so it's going to take some time for you to be able to speak again, but I'm glad you're awake. I would have been sad if the first person who could understand me didn't make it." I nodded and that's when the door opened revealing the two people who had brought me here.
I sat up slowly and Pikachu climbed into my lap. I continued to stroke his fur as they sat down next to my bed.
"Pikachu seems to really like you, it's been so long since Pikachu has opened up to anyone." The woman said calmly smiling at me. I looked down to see Pikachu had fallen back asleep in my lap.
"We know you can't talk, but we were wondering if you wanted to stay with us. I mean you don't remember anything about your family right?" I slightly nodded. "So what do you say, you want to stay with us?" I looked between the two adults. I looked on the table to see a notepad and a pen. I lightly grabbed it and started to write on the pad. When I turned it around they both seemed surprised by what I had written.
"As our daughter? I mean do you want to be our daughter?" The man asked. I nodded. Then wrote on the pad once again. He read it out loud again. "I know nothing about my past, but for some reason I can understand your Pikachu and I seem to understand how Pokémon feel. I want to figure out my purpose in this world, so please allow me to understand what it means to have a family as well." They looked amazed at me as if they were seeing me for the first time all over again.
"Well then Katherine welcome to the family." I smiled brightly and that's when Pikachu woke up. Looked at me and I hugged him gently.
"Are you staying with us?" He asked. I nodded. And he rubbed his head against my cheek gently.
~
Two days had passed since they had discharged me from the hospital and I was prescribed some medicine to help my throat heal faster, but I was able to get some words out. Pikachu always played with me for hours even though I couldn't talk he was happy that I could understand him.
"So how are you feeling this morning?" Pikachu asked me as I headed downstairs.
"Better..." I managed to get out. It was true, my throat was feeling a lot better.
"That's good, Flint had to leave this morning for the Sinnoh region." He explained.
"Sinnoh?"
"Yeah the Sinnoh region is where Flint actually lives. He's a member of the Elite Four there." I was stunned. My new father was a member of the Elite Four in the Sinnoh region?!
"Katherine, are you awake?" My mother called out.
"Yes." I said as loud as my throat would allow me to. She walked into the room and Pikachu jumped into my arms.
"You two are going to play again aren't you?" I looked at Pikachu and he nodded slightly.
"I guess so."
"Well be careful and be home before it gets dark. You know I don't like when you stay out late." I smiled and nodded giving her a quick hug before heading outside with Pikachu.
"So Pikachu." He looked at me.
"Yes?"
"Are you my mom's starter?" I struggled to get out.
"That's right. We met when she was ten and we began our journey together. She's a top coordinator in Sinnoh, but when she was ready to settle down she came back home. So how old are you Katherine? Or do you not know?"
I thought about it for a few minutes and then something surfaced.
"My birthday is tomorrow..." Pikachu froze and then jumped around happily.
"You remember your birthday, but how old are you?"
"I'll be 10."
"You'll be able to become a trainer. Are you going to?" I nodded and then we rushed back to the house. Once we were inside my mother turned shocked we were back so soon.
"Why are you two back so soon?"
"I can become a trainer tomorrow. My tenth birthday is tomorrow." I said excitedly.
"You remembered that?" I nodded sharply and she smiled lightly.
"I knew one day you'd want to become a trainer, but I didn't think it would be this soon. Come on, let's go into town and get you prepared for the journey." Pikachu smiled brightly at me and we all headed into town.
"Mary, is this your little girl?" Someone called out and I turned to see an old man with a boy around the same age as me.
"Why yes this is, she's turning ten tomorrow and she wants a Pokémon." That's when I saw an Umbreon standing there behind his leg. I bent down and looked at it lightly.
It barked at me.
"Get away from me, human!" I fell on to my butt.
"Please forgive Umbreon, its trainer abandoned it outside of my lab." The man said.
"Hey old man, give me back my Umbreon." I turned and saw a boy who looked maybe 12 coming towards us. I could see Umbreon was scared of the trainer. I jumped up and stepped in front of the Umbreon.
"Hey what do you think you're doing pip-squeak?"
"I won't let you hurt Umbreon anymore, you're a cold-heartless trainer who doesn't deserve to have a Pokémon like this by your side. If it were up to me you wouldn't have any Pokémon at all." He shoved me to the ground and Pikachu jumped out of my mom's arms and used Thundershock on him.
"Why you little rat!" The boy said and that's when Umbreon stepped around from behind me.
"Umbreon don't go with him. All he'll do is hurt you." I pleaded and that's when a Shadow Ball went and blasted the boy away from us.
"You stay away from her!" She called using Telepathy.
"Umbreon..."I muttered and as the boy was running away I stared at this elegant creature. "Why did you help me? You didn't like me a few seconds ago." She looked away into the distance before running off into the forest on the outskirts of town.
"Umbreon!" Professor Oak called out after her.
"I'll go find Umbreon." I stated, standing up and looking at Pikachu.
"I'm with you." He said and followed me into the forest quickly. I could tell it was going to be dark soon so I had to find Umbreon fast.
"Umbreon!" I called out, but got nothing in response. "Please all I want is to bring you back to Professor Oak, he's worried about you." I sighed and looked around worried because I think I had become lost myself.
"Maybe we should go back and try again in the morning?" Pikachu said looking around worried as well.
"Maybe you're right... It's getting too dark to see where were going though and I'm worried we'll only get more lost if we continue going forward." I muttered and continued to look around for some sign that would lead us out of the forest, but there was nothing besides the trees all around us.
"You have no idea where we are do you?" Pikachu asked.
"I don't, I have completely lost my bearings and it's scaring me. I normally am good at finding my way out of places like this no matter how dark it is." Pikachu jumped up into my arms as the bushes nearby rustled. "Who's there!?" I called out not afraid.
"So you followed me into the forest didn't you?" I looked closer at the darkness ahead and saw Umbreon standing there, her red eyes glowing brightly in the darkness.
"Umbreon, please. Professor Oak is worried about you there has to be some reason you saved me from getting hurt by your former trainer. I don't want you to ever have to be afraid of humans again for what one stupid trainer did to you. Not all humans are like that, I can promise you that." Umbreon smirked.
"So you're different than the other species of your kind. You don't need Telepathy to understand Pokémon. That's interesting, so you're an outcast in your kind as well." I looked down at my feet and dropped to my knees.
"To tell you the truth, I don't know who I really am. I was saved by Pikachu, his trainer and her husband. The woman you saw me with today is my foster mother, because I had nowhere else to go. But I understand how it feels to be abandoned by someone you thought you could trust, it's the feeling I get every time I think of my real family. Also..." I trailed off and pulled my collar down so Umbreon could see the burns on my throat.
"What happened to you?" She asked concerned this time.
"I wish I knew, I woke up and my throat was so torn up that it took days for me to recover a voice to use. But every time I think about it, I have a feeling this mark has something to do with my family. Or at least that's the feeling I get when I look at it or touch it." I let my collar go and watched as Umbreon came out of the darkness and sat down in front of me.
"You want to know why I saved you." She said as Pikachu curled up in my arms. I nodded once. 'I saw something in you that I had seen in my trainer when we had first started training together. He wasn't always so cruel and heartless. I lost one battle against another Umbreon and he threw me away like I was nothing. So I shut my heart to humans and vowed to never trust another human again. But for some reason, I have chosen to trust you. And it sickens me." I looked at her and saw the sadness in her eyes as she spoke of the trainer she once knew.
'Umbreon, I have to ask one thing of you. I want you to come and travel with me, as my first Pokémon." She looked at me stunned and backed away a little.
"No, I refuse to trust humans again!" She hissed.
"Please, I promise you I'm different. What do I have to gain from hurting you? I'm a human with no memory of her past and has nothing to go back to aside from a family that took me in out of pity." Pikachu was asleep at this point. Umbreon looked at me and sighed.
"Very well. I shall accompany you, but if you so much as step in the wrong direction that's it. I'm gone." I nodded.
"I promise I won't betray that trust." I looked around and Umbreon chuckled.
"You're lost aren't you?" I giggled nervously.
"Just a little."
"Come." I followed the yellow glow of Umbreon's body as we headed out of the forest and back into town.
"Where is Professor Oak's lab?" I asked and she signaled with her head toward a building on the hill nearby. 'I'm sure my mom is there worrying about me, so let's go and cure their anxiousness." We walked up the hill and when we finally were at the door Pikachu was awake and looking around confused that we were no longer in the forest.
I rang the bell and in seconds the door was opened and my mother was hugging me.
"You had me so worried. Didn't I tell you not to go out at night?" I laughed slightly.
"I'm okay really. But it's all thanks to Umbreon that we got out of the forest alright." Pikachu jumped out of my arms and on to my mother's shoulder.
"Well if that's so then thank you, Umbreon." Umbreon nodded and headed into the lab where Professor Oak and Gary were.
"Why you found Umbreon. That's wonderful." I smiled at him and then I felt the weight of today come off my shoulders. I yawned and stretched my arms.
"So since it's almost midnight, would you like to choose your first Pokémon now, Katherine?" Professor Oak asked.
"I already have." I looked at Umbreon.
"Wait, you want Umbreon as your first?" Gary asked amazed.
"Yes, why wouldn't I? Umbreon really has something that completely different than any other Pokémon I've seen." My mom smiled.
"Well you two certainly do make a good match. Umbreon you take care of her alright?" Umbreon looked at me and I smiled.
"You have given me your word that not all humans are bad. I shall hold you to that promise. Katherine, I will work with you as your partner, but make no mistake I still have my guard up." Umbreon said to me.
"That's fine with me." I bent down and rubbed Umbreon's head lightly. She seemed startled by this gesture but soon warmed up to the idea of it and leaned into it.
"Well then here. A pokedex and five pokeballs." Professor Oak said holding out those objects to me.
"Wow, thank you so much." I looked at my mom and she was holding out an outfit I had never seen before.
"Here this is a going away present. I'm glad I was able to finish it in time." I let her put it in my hands and I couldn't help letting a few tears fall from my eyes.
"Thank you so much, this means so much to me. I never thought I would ever get to have something to call mine." She hugged me and I let the warmth and love she felt for me flooded over me in a ray of sunshine.
"Go try it on, I want to see!" She said shoving me towards the bathroom. I went inside and quickly changed. Once I was finished I came out and she was smiled brightly. "It's perfect!" I nodded and Umbreon I could see was smiling lightly at my mother.
"I love it. I'm ready to go on my journey. But first I think I need some sleep, what about you Umbreon?" She nodded lightly and curled up into a ball on the floor.
I went over and picked her up gently.
"We're going to be the very best." I whispered and walked out of the lab with my mother as we headed back home to rest before the day of my journey began.