"Delaney Christa Caldwell, what in the actual hell is on your head? Please tell me that's a wig."

"It's great to see you too, Dax."

"Dax, watch yourself," Palmer warned as he walked in behind the wiry blonde boy.

"Thank you for coming, Palmer," Blake said from behind Delaney. "I appreciate your help in this matter."

"Anything for you and Delaney," Palmer stated simply. "Patrick wants to leave extremely early tomorrow to hopefully beat out a storm, so we need to be in Canalave by four. Is this alright with you?"

Delaney cringed, but Blake spoke before Delaney even had the chance. "Whatever is necessary."

Without opening her eyes, Delaney could imagine the room she was in. Bigger than the living room of some people's houses, it was adorned with various shades of pink, with a few accent pieces of turquoise thrown in for good measure. On one end of the room was a large closet that held outfits that were no longer worn and on the opposite end was a large shoe collection, also, for the most part, unworn. In the middle of the room, against the back wall, was a queen-sized bed where Delaney had crashed, long blonde hair strewn across down-filled pillows, crouched in the fetal position because despite the fact that her giant comforter was warm, the house was always an icebox and pretty much hugging herself was the only way she could fall asleep.

As she laid there, she became slowly became aware that this wasn't the case at all. She attempted to stretch one leg out, a leg that would've had plenty of room on her old queen-sized mattress, but it was hanging off the one that she was laying on. The blanket had been hastily thrown off in the middle of the night, the bedroom simply too hot to even consider using it. The pillows were flat, and the previous two mornings, when Delaney had seen brown hair resting by where her hand was laying on the pillow, she had screamed, forgetting that the hair was indeed her own.

Welcome to Nuvema.

Delaney was rather disappointed to be waking up, yet again, in the small room-while Delaney had dreaded going back to her father's after her time in Pastoria, it was infinitely better than being in Nuvema. Even her final days in Sinnoh, which were completely awkward and tense, not just between herself and her father, but with Dax, who had accompanied his father to 'see Delaney off', though all that had really gone on was some arguing, awkward silences and watching television with Palmer and Blake.

It also didn't help that she was certain bug-type pokemon were hanging out in the shadows, just waiting for her to let her guard down and then attack. Of course, her oshawott could always take them on, but they would still scare her half-to-death. There would definitely be tears. Definitely.

An irate Delaney climbed out of her bed, nearly stepping on Oshawott, who was sleeping on the side of her bed on top of a pile of old clothes (his choice, not Delaney's), in the process. She left the small room and entered the even smaller bathroom, where she barely even had room to turn around. She jumped a bit as she caught her sleep-rumpled reflection. The brown hair on top of her head would never cease to surprise her after being so blonde all of her life. After her daily morning battle, in which she debated with herself about actually having to wear the blue contacts or not, she reluctantly put them in, covering up her favorite feature.

She slipped out of the extremely large t-shirt she had slept in and threw on a pair of jean shorts and a white tank top. Lazily, she slipped her brunette locks into a high ponytail, not wanting to deal with having to style her hair for a bunch of people that frankly weren't worth it.

Christa White, as she was known here in Unova, well, she didn't look half bad… especially considering the day she had ahead of her.

And what did she have ahead of her? Not a damn thing.

Not that she had a ton to do in Sinnoh, considering she had spent months just hanging out in the Pastoria Pokemon Center, but at least that isolation was her own choice. What was there to even do in Nuvema? She had no desire to meet the resident professor of the town, partially because Lydia was pushing her daughter to, and she wasn't about to do something Lydia wanted her to do, and partially because she recognized the name from the strange letter and she wasn't at all eager to dig into the history of her oshawott. For all she knew, whoever had sent her the letter had stolen Oshawott from Professor Juniper and the professor would want her pokemon back upon seeing him. Seeing as how Oshawott was really all she had here in Nuvema, she didn't want to risk having to give him back, even though she had hardly spent any time with him at all.

Of course, the one time she had attempted going for a jog (inspired mainly by a drive to get out of that damn house), she had accidentally run into the middle of a pokemon battle between the only other people her own age that resided in the town. To make a long story short, Delaney was not eager to repeat the experience.

Not that they were bad- okay, maybe they were. The boy, whose name Delaney couldn't remember (maybe he hadn't even told her), had looked as smug as his weird green lizard pokemon, with black hair even straighter than her own hitting his chin and a pair of glasses sitting on the brim of his nose. His clothing was flawlessly pressed, starched to utter perfection. He had ignored Delaney for the most part, choosing to focus on the battle ahead of him instead, and then becoming irritated when the girl he was battling lost all interest in the battle.

His opponent, who Delaney learned through her incessant chattering was actually his childhood best friend, had bright, glittering green eyes, blonde hair and from what Delaney could tell, the energy level of a pachirisu eating candy. Delaney couldn't help but be reminded of Dax as the girl (Bianca, she said her name was) yammered on in a chipper fashion, but not the Dax she had come to regard as her best friend- the Dax that she met in Eterna City who had talked for fifty minutes straight before letting Delaney even introduce herself. That was the Dax that had driven Delaney insane.

To Delaney's relief, the black-haired boy seemed equally irritated and after about fifteen minutes, told Bianca to stop talking and finish up their battle. Delaney couldn't help but notice that merely moments later, he unceremoniously trumped her and her little orange pig, which Delaney was assuming was a fire-type, making the win even more impressive... Though not as impressive as it would've been if his opponent hadn't been a girl who was distracted by a leaf falling in front of her.

When it came down to it, when Delaney's choices were to go jogging and risk running into the pair again or to stay in her room and talk to Oshawott like she was absolutely crazy, she preferred being shut up inside. Because after all, there was a third alternative, but she would rather willingly go sit down and let Bianca chat her ear off than have to stoop to that level.

Option #3: Talk to Lydia. Ew.

After all, what were they supposed to do? Bake cookies and chit chat about how Lydia had totally abandoned her only daughter to live in this little wasteland of a town? No thank you. Delaney had managed to escape much conversation with the woman so far, which she was extremely grateful for. Lydia had asked if she wanted to meet Professor Juniper, and she had said no. She had asked if Delaney had met any friends, and she had said no. She had asked if Delaney had gone exploring outside of the town yet, and she had said no.

Though to be honest, whatever was outside the town's limits couldn't be as bad as what was inside of them.

Delaney grumpily stalked from the small bathroom back to the small bedroom, where Oshawott had woken up and was in a chipper mood. He had jumped from the pile of clothes where he had made a makeshift bed to Delaney's small, uncomfortable bed and was bouncing up and down. At least he knew how to amuse himself here- actually, he had just been in better spirits since they had arrived in Unova, confirming that this was definitely his original home. His high spirits were definitely a far cry from Delaney's sour mood, though currently Oshawott was the only thing cheering her up even remotely.

He stopped bouncing when Delaney walked in the room, sitting on the bed with a happy little smile on his face, pretty much forcing the irate girl to smile back at him. She plopped on the bed next to her pokemon and sighed. There was no doubt that Oshawott wasn't exactly fond of her, but they had reached some sort of understanding since moving to Unova. They both realized it was entirely possible that Oshawott was going to be Delaney's only friend in Unova, whether Oshawott liked it or not. Delaney looked over at the small pokemon and chuckled a bit to herself. "You can go back to jumping on the bed if you want," she told him. "I really don't mind. There's not much you could do to make it more uncomfortable. Maybe if you break it, Lydia will break down and buy a new one." Which would be the highlight of her stay here, actually. Then it would be more than possible to actually stay in this room at all times. The Oshawott was more than happy to listen and resumed its bouncing, a grin breaking out on his face again.

She was so focused on Oshawott and her idea of the small pokemon breaking her bed so that she could get a new one that she almost didn't notice when a crimson pokemon crawled out from under the bed slowly, it's large yellow eyes narrowed, angry that something was disturbing it's sleep by jumping on the bed. "Didn't I promise you a nickname, Oshawott?" Delaney said, blissfully unaware of what was about to go down. "I think I told you that at some point, right? And I guess every good trainer gives their pokemon a nickname. How about... Oshy? No, you might evolve one day and if your new name doesn't have 'osh' in there somewhere, it's going to sound pretty stupid. This nicknaming thing is harder than I remember." She paused, stuck in her thoughts for a moment. She racked her brain for possible names. "Water names are so cliché," she thought out loud. "How about... Perry?" A random name, but nonetheless, it kind of worked for the small Pokemon, and it wasn't dependent on the name Oshawott or its type, which was good for Delaney considering she knew nothing about the oshawott evolution line, nor if it gained a type upon evolution or any of that weird stuff. "I like Perry, do you like Perry?" she asked Oshawott. It hopped off her pillow and flew through the air... And off the bed. Perry landed with a crunch and Delaney hopped off her bed quickly, worried that the Oshawott had somehow hurt itself.

Perry was fine, but what it had landed on was not. The magenta bug was pissed, even more pissed than it had been and ready to attack. Delaney screamed. Her fear of bug pokemon in this room had been realized and the fact that she knew it (she knew it!)did not make this any better. It opened its mouth, showing off its fangs. "Oh crap," Delaney muttered. This was worse than she had imagined. "Um, Perry, I don't know what attacks you have or anything, but anything can tackle, right? Yeah, most first-stage Pokemon get tackle or scratch, but it doesn't look like you have claws, so we'll go with tackle. You just have to kind of slam into something? Do that." The unruffled oshawott looked back at his trainer, confused to her obvious anxiety, but nonetheless followed her orders, slamming it's small blue body into the bug, who, though mostly uninjured, seemed slightly offended that the water-type would dare attack it.

Delaney's bedroom door flung open, revealing a tall, thin woman with brown hair and blue eyes almost identical to the color contacts Delaney had picked out in a salmon colored t-shirt and jeans with an alarmed look on her face, which went away almost immediately upon a quick analysis of the situation. "Vinny, that's where you've been hiding!" she said with a sigh, shuffling across the room and grabbing the small bug, which had become quite docile since her entry into the room. "What have I told you about hiding out in the bedrooms?" Lydia scolded gently, placing a kiss upon his disgusting little head. Delaney looked at her incredulously.

"That's yours?" she asked, a lot more shrilly than she had originally intended. "You have a bug pokemon?" Not that Lydia had been high on Delaney's good list anyways, but she had definitely lost cool points for this one.

"Somebody left him with Professor Juniper a couple years ago, and when her lab started to get too full, she tried to send him back but he wouldn't take it. He told her to just give it away. Neither Cheren nor Bianca wanted it, so she asked if I did. It was a bit lonely here by myself so I figured I might as well. I haven't been able to find him for a few days. I was worried that a pidove or a woobat may have gotten him, but I guess he's been hiding out in here," Lydia explained, gently stroking the magenta bug like it was some sort of glameow or something.

If Delaney were in a better mood, the fact that Lydia had taken in an unwanted pokemon may have made her at least respect her a little bit more. Unfortunately for Lydia, Delaney was already grumpy and she didn't like bug pokemon very much (and of the ones she did like, scary little red ones that hid under her bed were not among them). "Please try to keep it out of here," she muttered and with that, she flopped back down on the uncomfortable twin mattress, ready to spend another day avoiding Lydia, as well as the rest of the citizens of Nuvema Town.

"Is that an oshawott?" Lydia asked, an air of puzzlement unmistakable in her voice. "I didn't realize they had them in Sinnoh."

Of course they didn't. Delaney knew that, and Lydia knew that. This was all Lydia just trying to get Delaney to open up, and Delaney could see that without even having to look at her. "He's from Unova, you know there are no oshawott in Sinnoh," she said, sitting up and looking at the woman. "I got him from a friend." Well, she hoped it was a friend. "His name is Perry."

To Delaney's absolute shock and irritation, Perry hobbled over to Lydia and looked up at her with a big smile. Did the oshawott just like everybody better than his own trainer or something? Delaney was the only one so far not to get a smile upon introduction. "Hello there Perry," Lydia said to the small water-type pokemon with a smile. "I didn't realize you were staying here too. I'm Delaney's mother, Lydia."

"In theory," Delaney muttered under her breath, quickly growing more and more irate. The words didn't escape Lydia's ears and she frowned, taking a step back as if Delaney was about to hit her. "I guess Vinny and I will be downstairs," she said, offering the teenager a small smile. "Do you feel like having lunch? You haven't had much to eat since you've been here."

"No," Delaney responded, lying back down again. Without any further words, Lydia walked out the door and headed back downstairs, the devil bug in her arms. The brunette girl stayed completely still on her bed, her thoughts wandering to every subject imaginable. Eventually, she felt herself drifting away to sleep (despite the fact that she had only been awake for about a half hour) but as soon as she had almost successfully drifted back to sleep, she heard the front door loudly shut, stirring her from her state of (almost) sleep.

"Sorry to bug you, Ms. White." The blonde girl from a couple days before, Bianca, was the one speaking and Delaney panicked a bit, knowing that Lydia was probably going to come up and introduce her to the two without realizing that Delaney had already met them. "Professor Juniper told us that you may have a spare map or two from your traveling days, and we were wondering if we could borrow them."

"I actually have three," Delaney could hear Lydia say with a chuckle in her voice. "You tell people that you're about to leave on a journey and they all assume you're going to get lost in the wilderness, so you end up getting more maps than you'll ever need. I used to have more, but the rest were either lost or ruined." She paused. "Are you two finally leaving for your journeys?"

"Yes!" squealed Bianca. "Me and Tepig are finally going to go out into the world! I've been trying to convince my dad to let me go for weeks, but since tepig is getting a bit stronger, he's finally stopped saying no… Well, more like my mom has finally stopped him from saying no."

"Tepig and I," somebody corrected her. The boy from the battle, obviously, the one with the green lizard thing. "Not me and Tepig, Tepig and I."

"Cheren, stop being so boring," Bianca said lightly. "Who cares about grammar right now? This is one of the most important days of our lives!"

Lydia chuckled. "I wish I could talk Christa into going with you two. She's been so bored here."

"Is that the new girl? I thought you two looked alike!" Bianca chirped. "We met her the other day. She's very quiet."

"I didn't realize she was a trainer," the boy (who Delaney was now assuming was Cheren) cut in before Lydia could answer. "She didn't have any pokemon with her when we saw her."

"She only has an oshawott right now," Lydia answered. "But she's a good trainer. I know she would like traveling in Unova if only I could convince her to go. She did some traveling when she lived with her dad, but for some reason, she refuses to go now."

"Maybe she could come with us!" Bianca said excitedly. Without even seeing her, Delaney could practically see the wheels turning in her head... And Lydia's. Oh please, Arceus, no. Enough of her choices lately had been made for her. The last thing she needed was for Lydia to decide that Bianca's idea was the best she had ever heard.

"That's hardly a good idea, Bianca," Cheren said. Despite the fact that she agreed with him (seriously, what a horrible idea), Delaney was slightly offended at his tone. What gave him the right to not like her? He had completely ignored her the one time they had met. "She seemed to like to be alone."

"Well Cheren, maybe if we became her friends, she would like people more. It must be lonely to be in a new town where you don't know anybody," Bianca argued, as if she really wanted Delaney to accompany them.

"I think Christa needs to do things at her own pace," Lydia jumped in. "Maybe one day she'll be ready to leave, but I don't think she can handle it right now. She needs to get used to Unova first."

"I don't think she can handle it?" How dare she?

Delaney was fuming. "I don't think she can handle it?" She could handle defeating Team Galactic, facing the Elite Four of Sinnoh and being forced to move to a wasteland of a town with a mother that you could hardly consider a mother, but she couldn't handle a damn pokemon journey? Way to prove that you know nothing about your own daughter, Lydia.

Despite the fact that stomping downstairs would just prove that she had been eavesdropping, which was pretty rude, that was exactly what Delaney did after putting Perry into a pokeball and grabbing her old pink bag from her days of traveling in Sinnoh, which had been half-mindedly thrown into one of her few boxes (Dax had packed it, she was guessing). With her prized sneakers on her feet, Delaney looked the part of a trainer again, even if she didn't feel it.

Lydia, Cheren and Bianca all did a double-take as Delaney came barreling down the stairs with a look of rage across her face. Her destination was the door.

Seriously, how dare she?

"Christa, what are you doing?" Lydia asked, puzzled.

She spun around. "I'm going on a pokemon journey," she said defiantly. "Even though you don't think I'm capable of it. You obviously know nothing about me." Cheren and Bianca definitely didn't, so both were staring at her like she had gone absolutely mad. She moved her gaze to Cheren. "And I didn't want to travel with you guys anyways."

She stomped past them and swung the door open and before she knew it, she was running across the center of the town, passing houses of people she didn't know or care about, passing what was obviously Professor Juniper's lab (which she also cared nothing about) and then suddenly she was out on route 1. She still didn't have a pokedex, and she knew nothing about the pokemon of Unova. She didn't have a map or a clue where she was going. She had some money, and some supplies, but not enough to last a terribly long time. She hadn't grabbed another set of clothes in her haste. All she had was herself and Perry, and enough supplies to keep them safe for at least a couple days.

And then it hit her. Despite all of her protests of the last six months, despite the fact that she wasn't particularly keen on battling anymore and despite the fact that she really didn't want to be in Unova, she was traveling once again.

"Fuck, I don't want to do this," she muttered to herself, but after letting her anger get the best of her and making a scene like some immature novice, she couldn't just go back. And if she did that, she ran the risk of Cheren and Bianca getting ahead of her and that was not an option. "Damn."

What other choice did she have? She headed to the north, hoping to Arceus that she wouldn't get lost in the wilderness and that she would make it to a town by the evening. She really didn't want to have to camp, and she didn't bring any camping supplies anyways. "Here we go," she said under her breath and with great hesitation, she took her first step into the grass.

Fact: Unova nights are nothing like Sinnoh nights.

Back in the days of before Team Galactic had been a threat, Delaney Caldwell had simply been a trainer, a naive fifteen year old girl with wide violet eyes and long platinum blonde hair, eagerly challenging gyms with a mischievous chimchar and a competitive shinx who sulked when he lost a battle. She had cried when she got her first badge out of sheer excitement. She had also cried the first time she had been forced to camp outside, because most parts of Sinnoh were pretty cold at night and she hadn't known how to set up a tent. Even after she had learned to wear layers at night, she hadn't gotten into the idea and eventually she began flying back home most nights, considering how close many cities in Sinnoh were. Besides, Marvel loved journeys and he was excited to go out flying for a couple hours each day.

Right about now, Delaney was missing the old days, mainly because she wouldn't have minded flying back to her father's house in Sinnoh on her togekiss right about now. After getting lost twice (which, considering how small of a route connected Nuvema and Accumula, was a bit impressive), an exhausted sixteen year old brunette with twigs in her hair from her (mis)adventures of the day rolled into Accumula Town a little bit before sunset. A peaceful small town, it was certainly strange for its size, with most of its citizens sporting what looked like medieval knight costumes, completely with shields marked with a turquoise P.

Meh, maybe it was a festival of some sort.

Delaney's first destination was, naturally, the Pokemon Center. She was surprised to note many differences from the centers of Sinnoh, most notably the fact that their Pokemon Centers and Poke Marts were combined to make one super building for trainers. It also looked like it had more space for lodging, which Delaney was happy to see, as she could remember a couple instances in Sinnoh where there had been no rooms available and she had been forced to stay in one of the local motels or hotels, which didn't cater to teenage trainers like the Pokemon Centers did, many of the inhabitants being more than a little sketchy. At this rate though, Delaney would have been grateful for one of those motels though. No camping equipment meant that staying outside would have been an absolute nightmare.

Forcing a smile on her face, Delaney greeted the nurse on duty and asked for a room for the night. "Of course!" said the chipper nurse with a smile. "Can I see your trainer registration? Or do you need to fill that out?"

Naturally she had one, but presenting her trainer card with a clear picture of notorious blonde-haired trainer Delaney Caldwell was probably not a good idea in this situation. Instead Delaney shook her head and said, "I don't have one yet. Today's the first day of my journey," with an oddly-high pitched voice. Despite the fact that she was nearly seventeen, she definitely sounded like she was twelve.

"Well congratulations, sweetie!" The blonde nurse handed her a clipboard with a couple of forms on it. "Can I see your pokemon to heal it while you fill that out?"

"Oh, yes, please!" Delaney said, reaching in her pink shoulder bag for Perry's pokéball. He didn't really need to be healed, seeing as how Delaney hadn't used him to battle, well, ever, but it couldn't hurt to let the nurse take him. She handed the ball over and took a seat in the lobby with her clipboard.

Name. Well, that was easy enough... for most people. With a small grimace, Delaney filled in the name Christa White. Her middle name and her mother's maiden name. It was her Unova moniker, which she hated, but she had to get used to.

Age and birth date. 16, as of February 3rd. She had turned sixteen soon after collecting her third badge in Sinnoh. She had celebrated with Dax. She hadn't intended to, but after the nurse-on-duty in the Pokemon Center had wished her a happy birthday after checking her trainer card, the excitable blonde boy had insisted that the two go binge on desserts and talk. That was the night that Delaney had realized that he was thankfully a lot less annoying than she had originally thought.

She would be seventeen in less than six months. Funny how things had changed.

Pokemon. Back when she had been training to fight Team Galactic, this section on her card had been pretty impressive. Blitzkrieg, her infernape and her closest pokemon companion, the little fireball that had dominated most opponents through a combination of strength and creativity to overcome his weaknesses- he had always had the first spot in her line-up. Samuel had been the first pokemon she had caught, a competitive shinx who had become a major perfectionist upon evolving into a luxray. Hazel, her matronly pink gastrodon, had become a force to reckon with by the end of Delaney's journey. There was the uncharacteristically fierce clefable, Serena, and the jolly abomasnow, Grover… and there was Marvel, who had once been a curious egg who had evolved into a togekiss that loved to fly the skies of Sinnoh.

Delaney felt a lump forming in her throat. Did she ever miss them. Now, instead of writing in their names, she only wrote one. Oshawott. Male. Nickname: Perry.

She left trainer classification blank. She wasn't quite sure what kind of trainer she was anymore. And with that, she got up from her seat and returned to the counter, where the nurse was waiting with Perry, who was quite confused as to where they were and what they were doing there. Delaney couldn't explain it very well, as they were both questions she only knew bits of each answer to. As the nurse went to create a trainer card for her, Delaney and Perry took a seat in the lobby again, and the brunette watched the trainers coming in and out of the Pokemon Center with fascination. The idea that Cheren or Bianca were more likely than not to make an appearance by the end of the night stuck in her mind as well, something she hoped wouldn't happen.

"Christa?" a pleasant soprano voice rang out. Delaney looked from trainer to trainer for a couple of moments before she remembered that Christa was indeed her. She hopped up from her seat, Perry following suit, and walked back to the counter again, where the chipper nurse was standing with a small laminated square in her hand. "Here's your trainer card. And you said you needed a room for the night, correct? Let me go grab you a room key from the back."

The small grin that spread upon Delaney's face upon getting that small laminated square from the nurse was really quite stupid, considering this journey was a sham compared to her previous travels in Sinnoh. However, it made the idea that Christa wouldn't be going back to Nuvema Town a solid one and that was enough to make this moment at least a little awesome. She glanced down at Perry with a grin on her face. The oshawott was still a little confused, but he would figure everything out soon enough.

The nurse returned a moment later with a brass key on a blue wristband in her right hand. She passed it on to Delaney. "Room 201!" she informed her. "It's on the next level. Our cafeteria on this level is open until nine, and there are a few restaurants in town that you can visit as well. If you have any more questions, please let me know. Otherwise, have a nice night!" Another trainer entered the Pokemon Center then, a girl with bright green hair who nudged Delaney hard, getting the girl out of her way in order to catch the nurse's attention. "Hi, can I help you?"

Delaney took that as her cue to leave. "What do you think, Perry?" she asked the Oshawott as they walked away from the counter. "Should we head to the cafeteria here or find one of the restaurants around town?"

"Wott!" Perry proclaimed and began toddling towards the automatic doors of the Pokemon Center.

Delaney chuckled. "I guess we're going to go exploring then!" And with that, the two headed out the doors. Delaney's eyes scanned the small town, looking for anything resembling a restaurant. Instead of a place to get food though, Delaney's eyes found a giant gathering in the center of the town. The curious brunette picked up her oshawott so that he wouldn't be trampled in the crowd and headed to where what seemed like the bulk majority of the town was standing.

The members of the crowd weren't wearing the silly medieval costumes that the people she had seen upon entering town had been wearing, so Delaney assumed that they had changed out of their outfits. Maybe this place wasn't totally backwards after all.

The people in front of them were still dressed like rejects of a renaissance fair, though, and the one taking center stage was wearing what looked like a blanket (an odd blanket at that, with two giant eyeballs on it) with sleeves and an eyepiece. His long mint-green hair cascaded down his back in waves and a smirk resided on his face. He was one of the oddest looking men Delaney had ever seen.

Ooh, maybe these were street performers.

That was the most logical answer, or at least to Delaney. In the summertime, the streets of Hearthrome had been full of them. Jugglers, contortionists, palm readers, dancers... Of course, it was September now, and summer merriment had long since died down, but seeing as how Unova was quite a bit warmer than Sinnoh had been, it was entirely possible to still participate in fun activities outside. Maybe it was some sort of autumn festival?

The man in the blanket stood regally in front of the crowd and cleared his throat. Almost immediately, the chattering of the crowd ceased, all eyes on the odd man. Perry climbed on to Delaney's shoulders. Even the oshawott desired a better look at what was going on. "My name is Ghetsis," he began. Ghetsis? What kind of name was that? It made sense, though- the man was definitely too odd to rock a moniker like Steve, or George. "I am here representing Team Plasma."

Oh no.

Team Plasma could just be a clever name for a traveling theater troupe, right? Right? That was what Delaney was trying to convince herself at least. The bizarrely dressed man paid no attention to the sickened girl in the crowd, instead reveling in the spotlight. "Today, ladies and gentleman, I'd like to talk to you about pokemon liberation."

"What?" she heard somebody ask sharply.

"What is this freak talking about?" asked another, deeper voice. Delaney glanced around the crowd, trying to gauge their reactions. She caught the eye of a boy with the long tea-green hair and piercing green eyes that, for some reason, unnerved her. She looked away, her gaze returning to the man on stage.

"I'm sure most of you believe that we humans and Pokemon are partners that have come to live together because we want and need each other. However..." He paused for dramatic emphasis. "Is that really the truth? Have you ever considered that we humans only assume this is the truth?"

A small girl in the crowd looked defiantly around her. "It is the truth. I love my Pup. We're partners," she said to anyone that would listen to her. Ghetsis heard her and chuckled.

"Pokemon are subject to the selfish commands of trainers. They get pushed around when they are our 'partners' at work," he said, addressing the child directly. Delaney thought of Marvel with a pang in her chest. He had certainly gotten 'pushed around' as being a part of her team. "Can anybody say with confidence there is no truth to what I'm saying?"

The entire crowd was silent.

The smirk on his face grew. "Now ladies and gentlemen, pokemon are different from humans. They are living beings that contain unknown potential. They are living beings from whom we humans have a lot to learn. Tell me, what is our responsibility toward these wonderful beings called pokemon?"

In truth, his speech was not bad. The idea that pokemon were pushed around too hard was not a new one. It was a truth that all trainers had to embrace at some point, but they could choose not to battle. Pokemon trained, they fought, they desired to become stronger because they wanted to. It was a trainer's responsibility to tap into that potential the best they could. It was also a trainer's responsibility to nurture, care for and ultimately respect their pokemon like they would a human being. Or at least that was what Delaney thought, but this wasn't her speech.

"We must liberate the pokemon!" he declared in a booming voice. "Then, and only then, will humans and pokemon be truly equals! Everyone, I end my words here today by imploring you to consider the relationship between people and pokemon... and the correct way to proceed. We sincerely appreciate your attention."

"We should release our pokemon?" a panicked young boy cried out. "But I just got my cottonee yesterday!"

"No," a man, presumably his father, said absentmindedly. "Just another band of weirdos who haven't been hit by reality yet."

"Do you think he's right?" a middle-aged woman asked the people surrounding her. Nobody answered her; the group was beginning to disperse and head back to their homes. Only Delaney, still trying to process what had just happened, and the green-haired boy whom she had seen in the crowd, remained standing there before long.

"A crock of shit," muttered an old man to her left, slowly wandering away.

There was something not right about this.

The look in that man's eyes. She had seen the same look in the eyes of another, and only one other- Cyrus. Not that he had been downright hostile or acted crazy like the leader of Team Galactic had, but what he was doing, it had an edge of manipulation to it. Delaney seriously doubted that his motives were as pure as simply releasing pokemon so they wouldn't get hurt.

"Your pokemon says interesting things." Delaney was surprised out of her thoughts by the other trainer that had stayed behind. Now that the crowd was gone, Delaney took a closer look at him. He was tall and gangly, one of the tallest people she had seen(but then again, as a short person, she was a bit impartial when it came to tall people). Fading brown corduroy pants covered his long legs (Delaney had never before been so jealous of a guy's legs) and a white button-down shirt dressed his upper body. Unlike the man on stage, Ghetsis, this boy's hair wasn't down (though it was the same odd shade of mint green)- it was thrown messily into a ponytail. A black and white hat adorned his head, and an odd geometric necklace topped off the outfit.

In all honesty, she hadn't even realized she wasn't alone. She had even forgotten that her confused oshawott was resting on her shoulders. "Pardon?" she asked, confused. Was he talking about Perry? He thought Perry had said something to him? How silly- Perry hadn't cried out even remotely. He was just as silent as his trainer.

The boy's face fell. "Oh, you can't hear it either," he stated. "How sad. My name is N."

N? What kind of name was that? That wasn't a name, it was a letter. Maybe it was like how some boys with J names just called themselves Jay. It was probably short for something like Nathan or... some other N name. "I'm D...efinitely not hearing what you're hearing," she said quickly, catching herself before she introduced herself as Delaney. Delaney Caldwell wasn't supposed to be in Unova- as far as anybody in Sinnoh (or anybody else for that matter) knew, she was still privately training. "I'm Christa," she told him with a small smile. She attempted to meet his gaze, but found it too unnerving. His green eyes were oddly piercing.

"You're a trainer," he said almost accusingly, shifting his attention to Perry on her shoulders. "I'm a trainer, too, but I can't help wondering... Are pokemon really happy that way?"

"So you believe what that guy was saying," Delaney interpreted. "If you think pokemon would be better liberated, why do you have them?"

"I catch them to make friends with them," N stated, the tone of his voice raising ever so slightly. Great, Delaney had offended the first person she had conversed with in the region of Unova. "You don't think that pokemon liberation is a good idea?"

"I don't know, but I don't think I should be taking advice from a guy wearing a blanket," Delaney joked. When N didn't laugh, she felt a blush creeping into her cheeks. So she had offended him, and now he probably thought she was stupid. Her track record for making friends in this place was just stupendous.

Instead of looking angry though, N looked thoughtful. "Christa, did you say it was?" The brunette merely nodded, wondering if he was going to yell at her. "I'd like to hear your Pokemon's voice again." Well, he was polite, if nothing else. And with that, he pulled a Poke Ball off of his belt and enlarged it.

Oh, he wanted to battle.

Author's Note: My apologies on the delay for chapter 3- originally I had another chapter written and each time I came back to it, I liked it less, so I decided to drop it and just get Delaney to Unova already. I know there's a lot going on in this chapter (from the original, it's basically chapter 4 and about half of chapter 5) but since I'll be adding and taking away things from the original, hopefully it will be balancing out.

I am officially out of school and I've been working on this like a mad (wo)man, so rest assured that chapter 4 won't take nearly as long- in fact, 4 and 5 are already in the hands of my absolutely wonderful and amazing beta, so you'll get an update fairly soon. My aim is to update on Tuesdays, though the next one will probably be Thursday, since I'm so late updating this week.

So many millions of thank yous to all of you who take the time to read this, and especially to those of you who take the time to provide any sort of feedback for me. I am forever trying to make this story the best it can be, so all notes and comments are welcome. :) And always, a huge thanks to my beta and friend, Noteleks, without whom, I would be spinning my wheels constantly.

See you all next week!