The next time they were let out, it was daytime again. There was also an enormous amount of flowers surrounding them, covering every square inch of land (and even some buildings) for at least a mile. Apparently, according to Lana, they were in Floaroma Town, wherever that was. Kevin's first impression was that it was actually pretty nice, but he had no idea how the flowers grew in the cold. As the group began walking out of town, the Turtwig a few feet in front of him slowed to meet his pace.

"What's up with you, Chump?" Kari said, smiling a little. He had no idea what was amusing her.

"It's just… how do all these plants grow when it's so cold?" It would be at this point that his little brother would sigh and say that he got hung up on the smallest of things, but he wasn't around… Which was probably a good thing, because he wasn't sure if he could handle his brother and Kari at the same time.

Kari did some sort of reptilian form of shrugging. "I don't know. It's not that cold."

Lana heard them and turned around, smiling. "They say it's because of some legend about a special Pokémon with a magical power to make everything grow if you gave it a blessing. I'm sure there's more to it, but that's all I know."

Styler, who was perched on her shoulder, tweeted cheerfully. "Oh, you mean Shaymin? I heard about her. Or him, sometimes. Different people tell the story differently. Shaymin's like the special legendary of nature, I think. If you meet them, you're supposed to be really lucky."

"Really?" Lana asked. "I'd love to meet a legendary!"

Kevin stared at them, following from a foot or so away. Legendaries? Please, like those existed. The way they talked was so childish, they probably both needed a wake up call from the real world. On the other hand, there was Kari, who on the other end of the spectrum had the most cynical view on life Kevin had ever seen.

…After a moment's thought, he realized that he didn't exactly have an idealist's view either, but he shrugged it off. What mattered right now was figuring out how he was going to get back home. That is, if he could. He was pretty sure that there was at least an ocean between him and his home continent. Maybe he should ask about that.

Suddenly remembering what he'd been thinking about while in his Pokéball, he bit his lip. Thinking before saying things would probably be his best bet here, and letting something slip might jeopardize… something. All right, then. The indirect route.

"Hey," he said. "Shouldn't we go to the Pokémon Center?"

Lana waved her hand lazily. "Already did. None of you were hurt, so I just rented a room. Um… you don't mind, do you?"

His expression faltering, Kevin shook his head. "Oh, no, that's fine."

Great. Telephones were out, for now, anyway. Unless he got himself seriously injured. Wait, could he do that? Kevin had so much battling experience that his brother rarely did much damage to him, but if he faced a water type and let it get a shot in…

He cringed. Being in pain never exactly sounded appealing, even at the best of times. But what else was he supposed to do, ask his "owner" if it was okay to go back? Well, gee, it wasn't like she'd asked him or anything.

He grumbled. Missed opportunity, right there. But whatever. He supposed he could play the waiting game. If patience meant that he could go without suspicion, then patience it was, no matter how agitating! The extra time might actually give him a clue as to where he was as a bonus. Grinning, Kevin cracked his knuckles. Things wouldn't be so bad after all.

Oblivious to his internal morale boosting, Kari stepped on his foot. He growled.

"Wake up, Chump. We're here." She gestured towards Lana.

"Where?" he questioned, observing the windmills that lined the shore of the river. From what he could tell, he was in a valley, and there was a power plant that was running off the wind.

"The Valley Windworks," said Lana. "There's supposed to be Buizel around here, so let's try to find one quickly."

Kevin crossed his arms. Didn't industrialization drive Pokémon away from their habitats? He sure as hell wouldn't want to live out in the open, with the constant creaking of the turbines intruding the peaceful sound of rushing water. It was bad enough with all the bug catchers setting up camp back home. Why anyone would bother living here was beyond him. He casually glanced around.

Lana and Styler were peering into the river behind the power plant. Right. Whatever a Buizel was, it was water type. Okay, that made a little more sense – living underwater would drown out the noise. Meanwhile, Kari was nowhere to be seen. Kevin briefly wondered if she'd run off before she stomped out of the bushes in front of him.

"Hey, hotshot. I need to ask you something," she said bluntly. He glared at her.

"What?"

"Your real name. What is it?" she said, squinting at him.

He turned his head. "Not a chance. Now kindly screw off."

"Well excuse me for trying to figure out why 'Chump' rings a bell," Kari scoffed. Then she huffed off back into the bushes.

Kevin raised an eyebrow. He'd never met a Turtwig before in his life, and it wasn't like he was famous or anything. Chump wasn't exactly your common John Smith, either. He shrugged, blamed it on whatever psychological obsession Kari apparently had on him, and went back to work.

"Hey! Guys! We found one!" screeched Styler, fluttering a few feet into the air. Yawning, Kevin leisurely strolled over to the battle scene, where the bird was fighting an orange otter-like creature. Kevin tilted his head.

"That's a Buizel?" he asked, smirking. "Heh, I was looking for something blue."

Lana, who was scrambling for a Pokéball, looked at him anxiously. "Just make sure it doesn't get away!"

Kari waddled over, eyeing their current foe. "Another young one? You have a knack for catching kids."

"Please get ready! Styler's about to faint!" pleaded Lana. Kari nodded, taking on an amateurish stance. Kevin stared up at the darkening sky and sighed.

He heard a small sound. Some sort of pink, sluggish thing was staring at him from behind a windmill. It yelled again. A battle challenge.

…Hell yes.

It had been a long time since any wild Pokémon had seriously wanted to battle him. The Magikarp he'd beaten the other day didn't count. No, he hadn't had a proper fight since his time in Hoenn, which mostly consisted of battles with grass and bug Pokémon who always lost to him. He had no real measure of what his current skill level was (although he was pretty confident), so why not test it out now? It might even be fun.

He dashed into a Flame Wheel, slightly singing the grass as he went. Oh yeah, baby. Time to rock and roll.

The pink thing countered the head on collision with a water type move, greatly reducing the damage. Tch. He'd gotten his wish after all. Turning on the spot as quickly as he could manage, Kevin sliced the slug's back with a Scratch. He wailed for a moment and then swung his neck around for a Mud Bomb, which exploded on impact with Kevin's arm before he could dodge. Wincing, he glared. The thing was practically a baby, and his type advantage was doing that much?

Apparently Lana noticed that he was missing, since she stormed over to yell at him. He didn't pay attention to what she said, instead concentrating on the monster slug that was launching a continued assault of Mud Bombs. Annoyed, Kevin punched it.

…And it worked. The baby slug fell over, defeated. Kevin chuckled.

"Chump! You can't just go off and pick fights like that! That Shellos is only a little baby," Lana scolded, crouching down to the slug and examining it. "Poor thing."

He laughed. "He was the one who wanted a fight, not me."

She huffed. "Well anyway, while you were beating up innocent babies, I caught the Buizel. Her name's Mist."

Lana threw up the Pokéball and the Buizel appeared, gingerly licking a cut on her paw. She smiled shyly. "Hello."

"Yo. I'm Ch—" Kevin was cut off by a glow emitting from his own body. "Whoa, wait a second. It's about time."

The first thing he noticed was the tail. Hoo boy, that was a weird feeling. But it happened so quickly, and the rest of him was squishing and stretching like malleable clay so much that soon enough his senses became overwhelmed. It was like being in a Pokéball in a way – for a few seconds, it was as if his body wasn't there, and he was floating around in space. Only this was bright white instead of pitch black.

The glow stayed for a few more seconds before fading, and in found himself about two feet taller with some actual muscle to him. He grinned, looking over his own body.

"Niiice. I look… Uh, there's a word for it, I'm sure."

Mist the Buizel blinked. "Slick?"

Kevin pondered the thought for a moment. "Slick? Not the direction I was going, but yeah, slick fits. Slick…"

Furrowing his brow, he went over it in his head. Slick was a pretty nice word. Better than "chump", anyway. As far as replacement nicknames went, it wasn't bad.

"Right then. I'm Slick. Thanks for the idea, Mist."

Lana just stared.