"H-hey! Uh, Lana!" Kevin shouted to the girl. Upon hearing her name being called, she turned around in surprise toward the unrecognized voice and spotted him. Her eyes lit up.

"Slickky!" she shouted, running towards him. She had Mist the Buizel in her arms for some reason. "There you are! We went looking for you but we couldn't find you. I'm glad you're all right!"

Kevin blinked in confusion. "Slickky? The heck?"

Mist explained curtly. "It's apparently a habit of hers to do that. Be glad that you aren't 'Stylie'."

"Ah… 'kay. Um, look, I only left to cool off, I didn't mean to—"

"Yeah, we figured as much, but Kari stomped off too, so we had to look for the both of you, and we only found her, so…" Lana shook her head. "She's still really angry at you, though."

Kevin folded his arms. Something told him that Kari was likely to hold her grudge against him forever unless he apologized. He really, really hated doing that, but it was necessary to get the information he needed, right? Desperate times called for desperate measures, so with a glance at Lana, he spoke.

"Do you… Uh, do you think I could talk to her in private?" Why did this sound so stupid?

It was Lana's turn to blink in confusion. "Well… I guess." She fumbled with her Pokéball belt before tossing Kari's Pokéball to the ground, releasing her in a flash of white light. The Turtwig took one look at Kevin and glared.

"Oh, you're back. Are you supposed to be a sight for sore eyes?" Normally, Kevin would mock her unintended pun, but as hasty as he was, he'd rather get this over with. Dragging her several feet away and ignoring her surprisingly vulgar protests, he glared back.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"Oh, are you now? Did Lana tell you to say that?" Kari's disgusted tone was getting really annoying.

"No. Look, I get what you said before. About everything being obvious and everything. You… I guess you had it rough with the Shades in the past, right?" Kari looked genuinely surprised at his deduction. She glanced around, kicking the grass a bit before replying.

"Rough? He used me. Led me on to believe that he'd help me. And then what did he do? After… After everything I'd done for him…" Kari suppressed a sniffle. "I'm half blind and forced to take part in a stupid sport I can't stand. Sure, I could run, or demand to be released, but where would that get me? I can't live in the wild; I'm a starter that was specially bred to be domestic! That shady little… liar absolutely ruined my life while I made his perfect, and he has the nerve to wear that sweater too? It's much more than rough, Kevin, it's hell."

Kevin said nothing. He didn't know what to say; although his experience with life was far from perfect, Kari's sounded much, much more tragic than his could ever hope to be.

She cried for a minute, then got a hold of herself and looked up to him again. "I apologize for being rude to you, Kevin. It's just that… The fact that he was looking for you is the reason I met him. Well, that, and the two of you are so similar."

"What?" Kevin didn't really enjoy being compared to a sadistic torturer, thank you very much.

She smiled half-heartedly. "'How can you help me get out of this crazy place?' He said the exact same thing to me when I met him."

Frowning, he crossed his arms again. "So he didn't like Sinnoh either?"

A chuckle. "He promised to take me back to Hoenn with him at one point. Wanted me to taste apples instead of that kibble stuff we were fed."

"You don't say." Kari was kinda getting creepy again. Did she just imply that "Mr. Shade" wanted to take her out on a date or something? The fact that she mentioned apples made him picture his little brother going out with her, which was wrong on so many levels. "Um, Kari, can I ask you something?"

"Hm?" she answered, seemingly lost in thought. Eww…

"Uh… how'd you know my name? Like, my full name and everything?" She raised an eyebrow.

"He said it at some point in passing. It wasn't that hard to remember, what with the last name and all," She scrunched up her face in thought. "It was something like… oh yeah. 'When I get out of here, I am seriously going to kill Kevin Nicholas Holly if it's the last thing I do.'" She smiled.

Yeesh, maybe the sadism rubbed off on her. "Heh… Can I ask you something else?"

"Go ahead," she said in an uncharacteristically sweet tone. Somehow, that was even worse than her disgusted one.

"Where's the Shades' headquarters? Or home base, or whatever it's called." Kevin was determined to see Mr. Shade in person now, even though he didn't really know why. Maybe he just didn't want to go down without a fight. Or maybe his hero complex was kicking in now that he realized that Mr. Shade was cruel enough to make a reptile fall for him and then basically gave her the finger once she'd served her purpose. Whatever the reason, Kevin wasn't going to let him win.

Kari sighed. "I think it's up in the Battle Frontier. After all, that's the most tropical place in Sinnoh," She narrowed her eyes. "I heard that strong trainers are given ferry tickets to go there, but it's pretty much invitation only."

Kevin made a face. "Kinda cowardly, isn't it?"

Bitterly, she nodded. "It's also stupid. If anyone can manage to catch him again now, it'd be one of those strong trainers. Hiding from Professor Rowan… No wonder it was my escape plan that got him out."

"Huh? He was a starter with you?" Kevin asked.

The Turtwig nodded redundantly. "…Yeah, that's how we met," Kari turned to look at Lana and Mist, who were absent-mindedly chatting. "Well anyway, does this mean you're going to work with me now?"

"Yeah, I guess," Kevin replied.

"Good, because you're easily the strongest member of Lana's team. If we're going to get to the Battle Frontier anytime soon, then that means we'll have to toughen up enough to get a ticket." Her eyes narrowed with determination, much like Kevin's had.

"So, you want me to help you get stronger?" He leaned to the side, weighing his thoughts. "I'm not an expert—"

"But you're the best we've got, Kevin. You're all we've got. Please, I'll find a way to repay you!" Kari looked like she was in some desperate times, too.

"All right, all right! Just… Don't call me Kevin. The last thing I want is for the Shades to find me." She grinned sheepishly, an expression that clashed horribly with Kevin's brain. The turtle of sorrows should not be able to grin like that.

For the most part, Kevin was satisfied with his and Kari's conversation. There were still a few things that addled him (she seriously fell in love with him gross gross gross), but he'd gained sufficient knowledge about the Shade and his past. The new problem of getting to the Battle Frontier was moderately easy to solve, provided that some serious grinding was going to take place. Hey, there was a show on TV about someone getting to the league in a week, and they had two months. No sweat, right?

The initial shock of friendly Kari had mostly worn off too; although the way she was treating him in particular was still unnerving. Kevin figured that Kari still admired her old "friend" to the point that his and Kevin's apparent similarities were screwing up her brain's judgement. (He could have sworn she'd almost called him "dear". What.)

The two had proposed their training idea to Lana, who happily agreed. Although Kevin's preferred method was getting everyone up to league strength and then sweeping through the remaining gyms in a couple weeks, they'd eventually agreed on the less tiring option: Heading over to the third gym (which apparently wasn't in Hearthome or the city they were in now), training up a bit, and taking the gyms one step at a time.

It became clear to Kevin once they'd started training that nobody really knew how to battle properly. Kari was defensive by nature, but at the same time wasn't; she couldn't take physical attacks well at all despite being able to pop into her shell at any given time. Styler was all right, but he definitely lacked the experience that Kevin had, and being a flying type he had a lot of disadvantages. Mist was well-rounded but didn't have the best attacks. As for Nini and Cheri… they just kind of sucked.

He concluded that if they were going to get any better, they'd have to evolve. Other than Nini declaring that it was impossible without her true love and Kari's oh-that's-great-uh-no-thanks-buddy face, the team seemed to be okay with it. Personally, Kevin didn't want to evolve again out of fear of ending up as uncanny as his father was – something both he and his little brother had mutually agreed on while growing up.

Although he'd also heard stories of league-winners using all sorts of unevolved Pokémon, those teams were made with years and years of training, and there was no way there was time for that. He pulled Kari aside again for a moment to try and convince her of his point.

"Have you ever seen a Grotle? They're horrible looking, and this is coming from someone who doesn't bat an eye about looks otherwise," Kari seethed, quite offended by even the suggestion of evolving.

"You just feel that way because you've been a Turtwig so long. What about your final evolution?" Kevin retaliated.

"And never run again? No thank you. And don't be a hypocrite, Kevin, I know you're not going to be an Infernape even if someone pointed a gun to your head." This surprised him.

"You get that all from your shady friend?" he accused.

"More or less. My point still stands." She huffed.

He sighed angrily. "Yeah, but I evolved at least once. Plus, my grandma beat a league as a Monferno." He paused before continuing. "You know, evolving again for me may actually hinder me, judging by my dad's evolution…"

"Fine. I'll evolve, but only because there's a chance my eye may be healed in the process. Y'know, new cells and all that." There was a moment of silence. "Though I really doubt it. You'd better pay me for this, you know." She glared.

He laughed. "How about I take you to Hoenn and give you some apples?" She scoffed.

"I'll pass on that," she replied.

Funny how Kevin had somehow made his first non-family friend with someone who he first decided was his worst enemy. Still, friend wasn't really the right word. Maybe a comrade or an acquaintance.

Even then, though, it still felt like she thought he was an entirely different person than he really was. He wondered what sort of façade the Shade had to put on to make someone like Kari like him… and remember him fondly even after everything he'd done.