Juniper

Juniper was named after Professor Juniper in Unova because when her mother was traveling as a pokemon trainer the professor was an influential mentor to her. Juniper's mother had hoped that she would grow up to be as dedicated and passionate as the professor... but, unfortunately, since birth Juniper has been a timid crybaby. She grew up down the street from her neighbor Hop and they were always incredibly close, with Hop acting almost like her bodyguard at times. Sadly, when Hop turned 10 he immediately left for his pokemon journey and Juniper was just too scared to follow after him, much to the dismay of her parents who were both professional trainers until she had been born.

Six years later though, after some hefty pressuring from Hop who had just returned from a two-year-long journey through Kanto and the Orange Isles, Juniper finally decided that she would join him on his pokemon journey. Juniper had no aspirations of becoming a serious trainer though, so she was drawn to the shy Sobble who Professor Magnolia offered as one of the choices as a starter pokemon.

Juniper's journey was fraught with anxiety. Whenever she ran into a wild pokemon she would immediately panic and try to run away. If that didn't work though, she would do everything she could to catch the persistent thing to just get it away from her. As her team grew, a shocking development came about. When Juniper entered a serious battle against a trainer all of her shyness melted away and it was like she could almost become one with her pokemon. She was a devastating opponent and after she beat Nessa in an exhibition match in a Hulburry town event Nessa chose to endorse her and urged her to compete in the Galar Gym challenge.

At first, Hop was super proud of Juniper and he went around challenging the different gyms for the third time along with her. But then Bede comes into the picture and completely tares down Hop's confidence in a terrible defeat, even though Juniper had beaten him easily in a previous battle. This sends him on a soul-searcher journey and he leaves Juniper behind.

Finding herself alone, Juniper does her best to remain strong and surprisingly it's almost like as her pokemon evolves she evolves along with them, changing her hairstyle every time her confidence builds a bit. From pigtails, to braids, to a high ponytail, until finally loose and down. By the time she's completed the gym challenge and getting ready to face the final challenge against the gym leaders and other qualifiers to attempt to fight against the champion, she has gained enough confidence to acknowledge her feelings and confesses to Hop that she's always been in love with him.

Inteleon - Juniper's first pokemon ever. She names him Marcus and their journey mirrors each other strangely. They are both major worrywarts and crybabies at the beginning of their journey, but by the time Inteleon has fully evolved they have both developed the confidence to do well in the gym challenge. Marcus is fast and absolutely loves to line up the perfect shot, which he regularly practices on his fellow teammates, much to their annoyance. Juniper is constantly breaking up fights that Marcus starts, but even though he has a one-track mind, he is completely devoted to Juniper and listens to anything she says without question.

Coalossal - Juniper's first pokemon that she caught when in a panic. She and Marcus had been walking along minding their own business when a Rolycoly had popped out of the tall grass and start steamrolling straight for Marcus. Juniper had scooped up Marcus and taken off running, completely losing Hop as she tried her best to get away from the charging rock type. When it was obvious he wasn't going to leave her alone she and Marcus started throwing anything they could at it. Marcus with his water attacks and Juniper random rocks and branches she could get her hands on. Even after it was exhausted, the Rolycoly kept after them so Juniper eventually caught it. For the first few weeks, Juniper was still terrified of Rolycoly, but after a while, they started developing a tenuous friendship. After their first battle together Rolycoly was amazed at how well Juniper directed him during the battle and their bond became deeper and deeper the more confident that Juniper grew. She named him Rusty after they had gotten closer. When he became a fully evolved Coalossal he became strangely interested in Juniper's love life and was always pushing her towards the guys he wanted her to date, causing her no end of embarrassment.

Ribombee - Juniper had heard from Nessa when she defeated her in a battle that she could find an Eevee outside of Turffield in the dry grass, although they were fairly rare. Unfortunately, the dry grass outside of Turffield was infested with galarian Meowth which were known to attack anyone who approached. Juniper was constantly running away from the little hellions and her nerves were just about shot when she took shelter on top of a large boulder. On her perch she spotted a small, unassuming pokemon and she felt an instant connection to the tiny bug type. She caught Cutiefly without any trouble and when she found out it was a bug/fairy type she had to change her plan since she had originally wanted to evolve her Eevee into a Sylveon. She named her Cutiefly Felicia and she evolved really quickly into a Ribombee. Felicia was unusually competitive. She was constantly trying to buoy up Juniper and help her not be so afraid of the world. They developed almost a sisterly relationship and became very close.

Espeon - Not ten minutes after Juniper caught Cutiefly, an Eevee made her way out of the grass. Juniper was so relieved that she could leave the Meowth infested area that she jumped from her boulder and tackled the Eevee, squeezing her into a hug and rolling in the grass as she laughed with relief. Eevee was obviously shocked at the unexpected turn of events, but she also hated the Meowth and their aggressiveness so she happily agreed to join Juniper's pokemon team. Juniper named her Precious. Juniper and Precious spent countless hours researching about which eeveelution they should choose, but to both of their surprise one day after leaving the library where they had been looking up where to find the different evolutions stones Precious might need, she evolved under the afternoon sun into an Espeon. They were both shocked at the unexpected transformation but Juniper was delighted and Espeon became a rock star in battles.

Toxtricity (Low-key) - After defeating Kabu she heads out to make her way towards the Fighting Type gym. She was slowly getting more confident, but old habits die hard and when an overzealous Galarian Farfetch'd goes after her, Juniper takes off running, leaving Hop in her dust trail once again. She ducks into the Daycare along the way to escape the fighting type and slides to the floor, utterly exhausted. She is startled out of her self-loathing when a small pokemon comes over and taps her leg. A baby Toxel was the one that had approached her, and her heart instantly quieted at the sight of the adorable pokemon. The breeder who had hatched Toxel noticed her and Toxel and offered for Juniper to keep him. She immediately agreed and named the sweet pokemon Zeke. Every one of her teammates adored the young pokemon and treated him like their little brother. When Zeke evolved into Toxtricity though, everyone was shocked at how big he got. He was an incredibly chill pokemon who liked to go with the flow... that is... until he got into battle. Zeke was the quiet but intense type in battle and his attacks hit HARD. If Juniper was ever having a hard day and needed a cuddle though, Zeke would hold her and strum on his chest plates to create music and comfort her, especially during the time that Hop was avoiding her.

Lucario - Riolu was the last pokemon to join Juniper's official battle team. Before she went to face the rock type gym in Circhester she wanted to get one last pokemon to help her in case Marcus couldn't handle the full battle on his own. She spent weeks in the Wild Area, eventually making a full loop around the enormous area. A freak snow storm hit and as Juniper hurriedly got her camp set up she saw a strange sight. What looked like a make-shift tournament had started with a bunch of pokemon in the area and there was a Riolu that was completely decimating the ice types he was facing. Juniper and her pokemon all found themselves rooting for the little guy, but he was ultimately defeated by a flying type. The pokemon Riolu had defeated all went to gang up on the exhausted pokemon and Juniper and her pokemon entered the fray, beating everyone back easily as Juniper stood in the middle calling out instructions nearly simultaneously to all five of her pokemon. Riolu was in awe of Juniper's prowess in battle and agreed immediately when she offered to let him be on her team. Juniper named him Dwayne. Dwayne was a firecracker, and had an explosive temper, which often startled Juniper into her old crybaby habits. But her other pokemon wouldn't let Dwayne bully her and taught him some manner pretty quick. He grew incredibly attached to Juniper and evolved after only a few months of traveling. Whenever Rusty would push Juniper towards a potential boyfriend, Dwayne would immediately jump after her and bop the guy on the head, causing even more embarrassment for Juniper.