Hello and welcome, after a long time or waiting, to the next chapter of The Wizard of Unova!

*insert tumbleweeds here*

...The tumbleweeds came in early...

Anyways, I've got quite a few updates at the end of the chapter, so if you enjoyed my work then stay until the end. Which...now that I think about it, you'd probably end up doing since this story has me explaining my choice of names at the way bottom.

Before we begin, let's go to the reviews:

working idiot (Guest): To avoid spoiling who exactly, another member joins in this chapter. But I won't tell you who exactly or how (that would spoil it more than the little I did). But imagining that you at least know a little of the events for BW, the Munna is alright regardless (at least, I imagine it's the case no matter which version). Still, thanks for reviewing, and I hope you enjoy this next chapter. Also, sorry for the long lapse in updates to answer the review.

...And that's it for the reviews at the moment. What say we get going into the next arc of the story, shall we?

XXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 8: New Route, New Pals!

...

"What's the matter, Roland?" Yoshika asked me as we were standing outside a building, me staring at it. Well, two. One building was bigger than the other and had a red roof while the other one had a green roof.

"Hmm?" I replied as I shook my head. "Oh, it's nothing...though...how come they placed a Day Care right here after the first Gym on my path? Last I recalled, Kanto's was about south of Cerulean City."

"Ah. I think my mom said that ours was in a place called Solaceon Town."

"Huh...Sounds about right, I think?"I then looked around. "So...let's see if I can find any places to train around here."

"Um...how about there?" Yoshika pointed to my left, towards a playground area with some preschoolers. And possibly a teacher supervising or something.

"Them? I don't know...they look like they don't have Pokémon on them..."

"Well, let's at least go and ask if they've seen any places where you can find new teammates."

"That, or we can stick with your team name, but I doubt we'll get far with the four of us only," Nanami commented from inside her Poké Ball.

"Shut up, Nanami," I told her, albeit with a smile. While I didn't really like the fact that she had to point out the obvious, Nanami was right: I doubt my team would survive going through all eight Gyms and the Elite Four without two more teammates to back them up. To Yoshika, I added, "Alright, let's go see about those little kids..."

XXXXXXXXXX

A few minutes later, we walked away from the buildings. I chose to flop onto the ground chest first, something Nanami chose to copy.

"It couldn't be that bad..." Yoshika chose to say to me as we laid there.

"Maybe..." I replied. "But aren't those kids too young to be handling Pokémon?"

"Hmm? Oh, right...you were part of the whole "ten-year-old equals Trainer age" thing, right?"

"The what now?" I got onto my knees and looked up at her.

"TETA, I think the acronym was. The idea that Trainers should be at least ten years old to become one?"

"...Yoshika, I was around ten when I became a Trainer. The only reason why I waited until I was eighteen to go again was because it had been a while since I went into a League. That, and, well..."

"Oh. Right. But at least they said that there were some grass up ahead, so...hooray?"

"Yay..." I didn't say it very enthusiastically.

"Oh, come off it," Scamp berated me as he sat down to my left. "Ye didna even use anyone but Hermione, and ye don't see 'er complaining, do ya?"

"Hermione hasn't really spoken a word since we got her, Scamp," Nanami told him. "I'm not sure if she can even speak or not. Though whether or not she can do so is none of my concern. We're all partners here, right?"

"Miss Nanami is correct," Aidan added. "We've handled some rough things as of late, and I believe that it's all just the beginning of this journey Sir Roland is on." He then looked at Yoshika and hastily added, "And Miss Yoshika, sorry to forget, ma'am."

"It's alright," Yoshika told him. "I do wonder, though...do those two look like they're going to battle?" She pointed over to two little girls standing at the edge of the road, looking like they were waiting.

"Knowing my luck, they might be..." I only told her. Please tell me there are no elemental monkeys in their arsenal...

XXXXXXXXXX

Nevermind, they both had two Purrloin. Females.

How do I know? Well, Scamp tried hitting on one before the battle started (he later claimed that he was trying to break the ice. Must be related to all the Purrloin in the area I found him or something because I don't recall him hitting on any of the other Purrloin I found while training). That was before he did a Sand Attack in an attempt to miss and failed that.

Which resulted in him getting sand in his eyes from one of them doing the same to him.

"Why is that even a technique?" Scamp asked to no one in particular as we moved on, having taken a quick breather at the school via sitting on my right shoulder. "I think I still have sand in me eyes..."

"You can always go back in the Poké Ball, Scamp," I told him. "Not forcing you in or keeping you out, you know."

"Hey, Roland!" I heard Cheren's voice call out.

Blinking, we all stopped and looked behind as we saw Cheren running towards me.

"Uh...what's up, Cheren?" I asked, confused.

"You beat the Gym back in Striaton City, right?" the boy in blue asked me in return.

"Yeah. Why?"

"We both have the Trio Badge, so let's see who's stronger between us!"

"...Right now?"

"Of course. Snake, let's go."

"Okay...Scamp, you're up, I guess."

XXXXXXXXXX

After a bit (I was originally going to have Scamp try to handle his team, but...two Leers and a Growth from Snake was not a good thing to be on the receiving end of, so I had to use Aidan to take him out. As for Sid, he must have picked some notes about Sand Attack because I brought Scamp back in and could only get one of my own in before having to go back to Aidan), I won our battle.

"Hmm...we have the same amount of badges, so we should have been equals in this, but..." Cheren told me. "Then again you've cleared one League and was its Champion before, so it might be no surprise. Though I would have thought you'd be a bit more...rusty still."

"Eh, I learn quickly," I told him. "Fair warning: if you haven't already, beware those preschoolers. They have monkeys."

"The elemental monkeys? Wouldn't doubt it. This is Unova, you know. Not Kanto, right?"

"...Yeah. Still-"

"Out of the way!" we suddenly heard a voice call out.

"Huh?" Yoshika, who had sat back to watch our battle, asked in return. She looked behind us. "There are some people running this way..."

Cheren and I looked and barely moved to avoid being trampled by two Team Plasma grunts running off with...a bag?

...

Okay, I'm confused...

Are they petty thieves, a sinister criminal empire, or a legitimate organization wanting to free Pokémon? So far, I can't tell which one it's supposed to be!

"What was that about?" Cheren asked me as we watched the people run by us.

"If I had to take a guess, I'd say that'd be trouble," I told him as I looked in the other direction. "And based on the fact that Bianca is running our way with a girl next to her...kinda makes me wanna reconsider this whole 'Trainer' gig and just go for 'Ranger' or 'Freelance hero' or something..."

"Wait, Bianca?!" Cheren looked where I was looking and sure enough was shocked. "Why are you running?"

"Hey!" Bianca said as she and the girl managed to get to us. "Where were those people headed?"

"Um...that way," I told her, hitching my thumb in the direction I had saw them go as I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Bianca stomped a foot on the ground and gave off what I could only imagine as being her best attempt at being irritated (given her personality, this was a bit difficult). "Seriously?! They run so fast!"

...Now that I think about it, Bianca, your choice of clothes doesn't scream "mobility". Then again, I don't wear dresses or things like that considering I'm a guy. Though I think I have heard of something called a kilt. Not sure where I'd find one, though...

"What happened?" Yoshika asked.

"Right," Bianca replied. "Well...I had gotten out from visiting Fennel when I saw Team Plasma talking to this girl right here in front of the Pokémon Center. I saw them take her bag and run off and tried stopping them, but...well, they run fast..."

"Alright, that might not be too bad..." I told her. "Though..." I looked at the newcomer. She seemed to have dirty blond hair done in a braid and was wearing a red T-shirt that said "Born and Raised in Kanto" along with some denim blue skinny jeans. On her right wrist was a black bracelet that seemed to have some sort of stone or something. "Was there anything important in there? If it was just personal supplies, then I think we can restock you or something..." Now that I think about it...I think she was...erm...what's the word?

...No, seriously, what's the word I want? Her chest was...eh...

"Hmm?" the girl started, blinking her blue eyes. "Oh. Well...I had some personal things...some Potions...my sleeping bag...a Full Heal...erm, my clothes...some Poffins..."

"Is there a bowling ball in there somewhere?" Nanami asked me.

Hell if I know. Would it matter? I'm still working on the word I'd use for her physique.

"...an Antidote or two...I don't remember how much I actually had, I'd have to look again..." the girl continued as she was still naming off things in her bag. "My Pokémon..."

Wait a second!

"Your Pokémon?" I asked.

The girl nodded in agreement and replied with, "Yeah. I'm pretty sure I had them in there. One of the side pockets, located on the rounded faces."

"I think I understand why they took it. This better not be a theme for them, snatching girls' bags and things..." I added that last part under my breath.

"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" Cheren asked Bianca. To the girl, he added, "We'll be right back, miss." He then ran off after the Team Plasma grunts.

"Hey, Cheren! Wait!" I made to follow him before the girl said something.

"I wanna come with you, please," she told me. "I want to make sure my friends are alright..."

I nodded my head. If those guys manage to...liberate her Pokémon then I'm not getting any sleep for a long time. Besides, stealing from people is just plain wrong right now.

...Then again, I have heard people letting others rummage through their trash for items, so...

...

Not sure where I'd fall right now...

"Yoshika, stay with Bianca," I told my travel companion. "If anybody else tries pulling the stunt with her, I want you there to help repel them."

"Hai!" Yoshika said.

"Miss? Let's go get your team back." I ran after Cheren, the girl following suit.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I am Blitzle, hear me roar!" A random Blitzle called out as we ran though some grass to grab a quick item. It had a feminine voice.

"No time!" I shouted as I tossed a Poké Ball at it. It appeared to have done the job before the Blitzle broke free.

"Ha! You can't contain me! I am invinci-"

I tossed another Poké Ball at her. "Shut up and get in your ball!" This time, she got caught. "No time to waste! I'm a man on a mission!" I then grabbed the item and continued on my path. "For now, your name is Mai. I'll introduce you to the others later on when we stop running!"

We soon reached Cheren, who was standing outside a cave entrance.

"Alright, Roland," he told me as we stopped next to him. "I've managed to track them to in here." He then looked behind me and noted the girl whose Pokémon had been taken. "Why'd you bring her here?"

"I didn't have much say," I told him. "Besides, she has as much right to make sure her team is safe as we do going after the thieves."

"...You make a fair point for some reason. Alright, but she needs to stay back."

"I will," the girl replied. "Just...please get my Pokémon back."

"Understood. Let's go in, Roland."

We stepped inside and saw the grunts...looking through her bag? It appeared to be a duffle bag of sorts, so...

Also, while entering the cave, I managed to find a Roggenrola and catch it, naming it Briquet.

...My names. Sue me...

"I swear, I don't understand why women need this many things in here..." one of them said in a male voice.

"I'm still trying to figure out the bowling ball," his companion, also male, added. "Seriously, who carries one of those around here?"

...

"Well, I guess that answered my question," Nanami told me.

...Really? That's a gag?

"Hey!" Cheren called out.

"Hmm?" one of the males asked as they looked at the three of us. "Oh, brats. I guess you're here to get this bag back, huh?"

"Please be careful with that!" the girl called out in worry. "My friends are in there!"

"Huh? Your friends? Oh, I see. You left your Pokémon in here? Well, that does make our job easier knowing that we at least got them...but still, all those clothes are not helping..."

"Why are you even going through her things anyways?" I asked them. "You know that's not exactly cool, right?"

"You three decided to come into a cave," the man's partner added. "That is cool. Literally."

"Shut up over there!" his partner scolded him. "Anyways, I doubt you two will be able to bring out your team's full potential. Now, cower in fear as we take your team from you." He sent out a Patrat.

"Um...Mai, let's go." I sent out my newly-acquired Blitzle before recalling that Patrat can use Bide, hastily switching in for Briquet.

It took a while given I tried playing defensively, but I managed to beat the Patrat, which seemed to shock my opponent.

"How can we be on the losing side if we have right with us?" he asked me.

"Maybe you ought to work on getting more than right on your end," I quipped.

"Good work, Roland," Cheren congratulated me.

"Please give me my bag and friends back now..." the girl pleaded again.

"Not so fast!" a new voice called out. Two more male Plasma grunts appeared from behind the first two. "How troublesome you are becoming."

"How nice to hear that coming from a group that seems to resort to petty crime to get their way," I told her as I recalled Briquet.

"Not only have you failed to understand, but you've actually gotten in our way as well. There are two of us and two of you able to fight, so we will use our combined might to show you whose side is in the wrong!"

"So there were more of them..." Cheren said to himself.

"Hey, we can handle this," I told him. "This girl's depending on us to get her friends back, and I for one am not going to disappoint."

"How admirable. Now lose!" The two of them sent out Patrats of their own.

Once more, I sent Mai out and forgot about it, so I had to pull her back.

And it took some time seeing as Briquet got hit by a lucky shot and took a critical hit, but after some healing and nearly watching Snake go down we managed to beat them as well.

"We want Pokémon liberation from foolish people, so if we must take them by force then we shall do so!" one of our opponents complained. "They are weak under Trainers!"

I sighed and said, "You might want to reconsider it if that's your business model..."

"If that's what you people think, then I can't help you," Cheren told him. "At least give us her Pokémon back."

"And what, lose the chance for a reward? I think, after my comrades find them, we could give them over and get a reward of some-"

Suddenly, we all watched as a rock whizzed right by his head, making us all stop in our tracks as we looked at what had thrown it.

"Give me...my friends back..." the girl said as a white glow surrounded her body. She seemed to be in a pose that indicated that she had thrown something with all her might.

We all stood there as we took in what had happened.

"Um...nice aim?" Nanami said uncertainly.

"Uh, yeah," I added hastily. "Good throw."

"W...W..." the man said as what had happened seemed to sink in. "WITCH!" He legged it immediately.

"Hey, where are you going?!" one of his comrades called out as all but one followed suit.

"You keep the bag," the straggler said to us. "Just...don't let her throw any more rocks, please." He then followed his friends.

"...Well, that was..." Cheren started as he processed what had happened.

"To die for? Nearly losing a head? Nearly blew the head off the competition?" I tried finishing his thoughts.

Cheren stared at me. "Really? Why are you doing jokes about being beheaded?"

"Dunno, just...thought it'd calm everyone down." I then gestured to the girl's bag. "Look, they left the bag. That's some progress right there."

"Still...Pokémon being weak under Trainers? That's absurd, right?"

I watched as the girl went to her bag and worked on getting things back in order. "Well, the way I see it, we each bring something to the table. For Pokémon, they get companionship and the chance to become more than what they would have been if they had stayed in the wild. For us, it's about the same. We get companions, but...we also learn more about the world through them." I then looked at Cheren. "I mean, if it wasn't for you, Bianca, and Professor Juniper...I may have never gotten another chance to be a Trainer once more, so...thanks."

"Oh, come on, it's nothing. After all, it's not every day an ex-Champion appears in your town and moves right next door."

I smiled. "Yeah..."

"Still...Witch? That seems as weird as that N guy calling you a Wizard..."

...Cheren, I'm still trying to work on that. "At this point, I'm not worried about it. Still, I'll make that a question for him to answer if I ever see him again." What's Yoshika's question for him anyways? I dunno...

"Anyways, it'll do us no good sitting in here. Let's get out of here and back to Bianca and Yoshika."

I nodded in return. "You took the words right out of my mouth."

XXXXXXXX

After getting out of the cave, we returned to Bianca and Yoshika, at which point the girl gave me some Heal Balls. Bianca offered to take the girl back to the Pokémon Center, but I chose to do it instead.

After all, I did need to buy some more supplies after all the hits we took.

Anyways, Yoshika and I were sitting inside the room we had checked in for the night (by the time we got involved in the events recently, it had been a few hours), getting a break.

"So you're Mai, right?" Nanami asked the Blitzle.

"Sure am!" Mai replied. "I'm a rather strong Blitzle. What about you?"

"Nanami. I'm this guy's Starter. And those guys over there are Scamp, Hermione, and Aidan."

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Mai," Aidan greeted.

"Super," Scamp simply said.

Hermione simply nodded as she was busy staring at Briquet.

"Well, hopefully you guys are going to be able to keep up." Mai told them.

"Well...you and Briquet do need some work first..." I told her.

"What? But I'm already strong!" She looked upset.

"Well...apparently, your defenses leave things to the imagination or something like that. Besides, I'm sure you'll get strong enough to handle anything not Ground-typed."

"Speaking of Briquet," Nanami pointed out. "Apparently...whatever its gender is, it's silent."

"Hmm?" I looked at Briquet. "Well, I don't see a mouth, do you?"

"Fair point. So it's a party of four talkers versus a party of two silent-types?"

Hermione looked over at the Oshawott as if to glare at her.

"Anyways..." I said. "Let's just get some sleep."

"Still surprised that there was a room for us still," Yoshika told me as she was sitting with Yusu in her lap and Neptune busy munching on a Poffin we had bought for our Pokémon to eat.

"Hey, as long as we don't have to sleep outside," Neptune told her. "Not to complain, but I like having a roof right now, dood."

"I wouldn't mind camping," I replied. "I don't have a tent, though..."

"Excuse me?" a voice asked.

Looking at the doorway, we saw the same girl from before, this time escorted by Nurse Joy (or, at least, one named that. I forget who the original Nurse Joy is).

"Do you two mind if this young lady comes in here?" Nurse Joy asked us. "She wanted to stay for the night, but we're all out of room. Said something about not wanting to chance another theft."

Well...does sound about right...

"Do you mind, Yoshika?" I asked my companion.

"Not really," she replied cheerfully. "It'd be fun to have another girl to talk to. No offense, Roland."

"Hey..." I said it weakly.

"Thanks..." the girl told us a little shyly as she stepped inside. "Um...I'm sorry, but...I didn't really expect to be seeing you two again so soon."

"We don't bite, though Hermione knows it." The girl gave off a quick squeak. "Hey, it's alright. She won't actually use it! I think she knows better unless I order her to!"

"Don't we have little room left for another person?" Nanami asked me.

"Sorry for having to intrude, but...I didn't want to sleep outside for the night," the girl told us. "I hope you don't mind it too much."

"Well, it might be a bit small, but there's still some room..."

"Thanks...miss?"

Nanami looked at the girl with a stare. "...Let me guess: Witch?"

"Witch?" Yoshika asked.

"Oh, right, you weren't there..." I told her. "Well, in a nutshell, she's got a really good aim with a rock. An extremely good aim."

"Oh, I'm sorry," the girl said quickly. "I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I? My name's Lynette, but...you can call me Lynne if you want."

"Lynne, huh? I'm Roland. This young lady over here is Yoshika."

"Hello!" Yoshika greeted cheerfully.

"Um...nice to meet you two," Lynette replied.

"...Are you okay, Lynne?" Well, she seemed to ease into the nickname quickly.

"Sorry, but...I'm not much of a people person..."

Yoshika raised an eyebrow. "Shy?"

"A little..."

"Some of us get like that," I told her. "Anyways, what kind of magic was that?"

"Well...it's a bit hard to explain, but..." Lynette looked to be trying to think of a way to say what it was. "I guess I'd best describe it as 'bullet stabilization'. That's what my mum told me, at least."

"That...does make sense, I think..."

"To be honest, all I've really used it for is just throwing things, particularly Poké Balls." She then smiled a little proudly. "I can actually catch Pokémon who try to run away from me rather easily since I can aim so well. I caught thirty Taurus one time in Kanto's Safari Zone."

"Thirty?" What would she have done with thirty?

"Yeah. Though..." Lynette blushed a bit in embarrassment. "I didn't really mean to do that...I just found Taurus rather easily..."

"At least you had that sort of luck. I tried catching a Chansey there once." I held up a single digit on my right hand. "Once."

"What happened?"

"...It took me ten days' worth of trips, perhaps a lot of cash, and a good amount of walker's miles before I found one, and it ran away from me." I chuckled nervously. "I gave up on catching it afterwards."

"Oh. That sounds bad..."

I smiled a tiny bit. "Oh, it's not too bad. After all, I'm here. Just one disappointment in my life, nothing to linger over."

"I see." To Yoshika, she added, "What about you, Yoshika?"

"Mine's healing," Yoshika told her.

"Healing?"

"Yep! Been in my family line, so I'm proud to have gotten it."

I laid down on my sleeping bag and closed my eyes, the voices of my companion and our new roommate chattering away.

I want to rest and be ready to train some more.

XXXXXXXXXX

...And that's the end of the current chapter.

Just as a heads-up, I'm currently trying to get back into the swing of writing and updating. This is the first start to see how well this goes for scheduling.

So in review, this was the last chapter I had prepared before the long hiatus. Here's some details I should discuss found in this chapter:

1) The Pokémon Day Care: Is it just me, or is there not really a consistent pattern of when you find the Day Care? In Gen 1, it was south of Cerulean. In Gen 4, it was in Solaceon Town. In Gen 5, it's right after the first gym. And Gen 6 has it on Route 7. I haven't figured out a theme for this since it seems a bit...random to me for placement. If any reader knows one, or has a theory on it, please let me know. It's just a detail I thought of.

2) TETA: If I recall right, this is supposed to be the target demographic for Pokémon (though in reality I think we all know where the average player demographic for the games lie...it's where I'm thinking, right?), but it's a bit...odd seeing preschoolers (who should be around five) having Pokémon of their own. I'm hoping they're five years old...if not, then I hate to say it, but they are rather impressive midgets...small people...whichever term you want to use. Please don't accuse me of being something that ends in "-ist" (at least, something along the vein of "sexist" or "ableist", the latter of which I think I could be accused of being for that comment. Though if you accuse me of being a scientist, then we can talk. Unless it's now a problem: politics is weird sometimes).

3) The contents of Lynette/Lynne's bag: Do I need to say where the idea for it came from? At least, the bowling ball?

4) Lynette's "Bullet Stabilization": This is a rather interesting variation of her magic, since at her age she wouldn't be able to hold a gun (I hope; I think gun laws vary by country, and I feel like that could be the same between regions in the Pokémon world). To explain it a bit: Lynette is able to encase a small object (right now) in magic before launching it at a target with a throw. She's still retaining her sniper status, so there's that.

5) The thirty Taurus: Anime reference, if you're not sure where it's from. That's what I hear Ash did (I seriously have to go back and watch the Pokémon anime from the beginning sometime). Other than that, the detail might just be worth a thousand Whose Line points, tough there might be something later on.

And I think that's it for the notes. If there's anything I need to address, I'll probably do it in the next chapter. But for now...

Thanks for reading through to this point. Please read and respond, you know the drill: it helps give me a sense of what I did right and wrong.

Anyways, thanks for reading, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter as we begin the second arc of this Nuzlocke.


Pokémon Names (Mai and Briquet)

Mai: Name is based on Mai Valentine from "Yu-Gi-Oh!" I originally wanted to name her Joey (as a male), but since she's a girl...

Briquet: Based off "coal briquets"...sue me, I couldn't think of any other names at the moment.