Kevin blinked. What the hell was he doing here?
"S'matter? I told you not to stop… Ah, whatever," said Chuno, grinning.
Regaining his composure, Kevin shook his head and addressed the Raichu. "Um, do you need something? 'Cause I'm kinda in the middle of—"
"Yes! I do need something!" Chuno interrupted, his grin turning into a frown. "Why would I be here if I didn't? Anyway, boy, I really need to know; whose side are you on?"
He blinked again. The crowd that was watching the battle still stood there, intrigued by the Naturalist's conversation with him – not that they could understand him, of course, seeing as he talked in Pokémon. Kevin raised an eyebrow, glancing quickly back at Lana, Henry, and his opponent before answering.
"I… I don't think I'm on a side or whatever—"
"You have to be," Chuno persisted, "so whose is it? Shady's or mine?"
When Kevin didn't answer immediately, Chuno sighed and started to rant. "Look here, boy. I'm not the only one wondering. The media wants to know, the public wants to know, and I'm sure Shady wants to know too. They're saying you hate Shady but you're striving for exactly what he wants, which makes no sense. So if you'd please clarify…?"
"What? I'm not striving for anything! And even if I was, I sure as hell wouldn't want a world like the one he wants!" Kevin growled.
"Then why are you going around battling gyms like you're a trainer?" Chuno sighed.
"What's wrong with doing that?" Kevin asked.
Chuno was about to reply, but he hesitated and started to squint in Kevin's direction. "Wait a minute, boy, do you even know who the Shade is?"
Kevin narrowed his eyes. "Yes," he said.
"Hmm," Chuno muttered. "Okay, then. If you're telling the truth, this little one should be a cinch for you." He smiled devilishly before reciting it in a singsong tune, in perfect human.
"Of shattered glass and horrid wounds,
Shady was not alone,
It took him quite many a moon,
To heal his broken bones.
His companion, by his side,
On every night so starry,
She vowed she would become his bride,
The turtle they called…"
"K-kari?" Kevin stuttered. What the hell…?
Chuno looked genuinely surprised. "Huh… For your sake, I hope that wasn't just a lucky guess."
He stared at Kevin for a moment before turning and bounding off to whence he came. Kevin stood there, blankly. His brain was having a difficult time taking in the poem Chuno had said. Bride?!
"Hey, Slick!" called Henry. Kevin turned, the blank look still on his face. "We'll finish this some other time," he said. Henry then returned his Infernape to his Pokéball and walked away. The crowd, sensing the commotion was over, started to disperse.
Kevin got the feeling that he needed to talk to Kari again.
Canalave Gym was a change of pace from the other gyms he'd seen. This one was built with an astoundingly high ceiling, complete with lifts that took the rider up to the very top where the leader's arena lay. Kevin shuddered as he looked up; he didn't want to know what would happen to somebody who accidentally fell off up there.
The gym was steel type, which meant that out of the whole team, Kevin was the only one who could do decent damage. True, Nini knew a fighting type move, Jump Kick, but she missed a lot and that made her crash painfully into her surrounding area. Due to that, Kevin had no choice but to recruit Cheri and Mist on the gym team, them being the only ones who did at least neutral damage with their main attacking types.
The ride to the top of the gym was less than perilous, thankfully. However, the looming figure of the gym leader made Kevin nervous. He was practically made of muscle. Kevin speculated that he must've been the kind of weirdo who trained with his Pokémon.
He quickly recalled the thought when he realized that he was being a hypocrite. The leader laughed heartily, smiling at them with a grin that would rival Chuno's if not for the fact that his incisors weren't as enormous and pointy.
"Hello there! Welcome to the Canalave Gym. I'm Byron," the man said. Kevin nodded in recognition.
"Right, I'm, uh, Slick," he said. Okay, this guy had to be nine feet tall.
He smiled cheerily. "So I've heard! Is a standard three-knockout match all right with you?"
"Yeah, that's fine," Kevin replied. With everything on his mind lately, he didn't know how well the match would go, but it was steel type… Even if the others failed, he could save them from a loss, right?
Byron sent out… something. To be honest, it didn't look like it was alive to Kevin. He supposed the flat, circular, dark blue piece of floating metal reminded him of a Beldum, except not. The Pokémon, who looked genderless, did not blink or make a sound.
He glanced at Cheri behind him, sending her a look telling her that she'd be first. She nodded nervously, standing up straighter than she usually did. Kevin turned back to the opponent, who stared blankly at him.
As the fight began, a sudden thought struck him. He'd gotten used to all the other Pokémon speaking human, but he'd never actually found out how. And now, seeing this silent Pokémon (Byron called it Bronzor), Kevin wondered how widespread human was as a language.
Chuno didn't speak it, but Kevin had gotten the impression that it was his choice not to. Everyone else he'd met spoke it, too, but they were mostly all young Pokémon who would've caught on while it was new, whenever that was. But was it possible that some Pokémon just couldn't? That no matter what, communicating with them outside of their own language was impossible?
Kevin shook his head to clear his drifting thoughts away. What was with him lately? He used to be able to concentrate on battling no problem. He glared inwardly at himself and started to actually command the improvising Cheri.
"Spark," he said, regretting it. Hadn't she just learned something that wasn't physical the other day? That would've been more effective against the ever-so-defensive steel type. Damn it, he was battling…
Cheri obeyed without hesitation, slamming into Bronzor and sending a wave of electricity through its… body? Face? Whatever. Kevin took the opportunity to shout out a new command.
"Discharge," he said, remembering the move's name after a moment's thought. Cheri was quick; her body was still crackling with the remnants of Spark, but she managed to use that to her advantage and discharge extra electricity. Kevin smirked. That was nice; maybe she wasn't that useless after all.
Byron laughed. "Not bad, not bad," he said. "Right then. Confuse Ray, Bronzor!"
Kevin frowned. "You confuse him first," he said quickly to Cheri, who made a face.
"Excusé-moi? Non! Je ne s'embrasse pas… Non!" She glared at him. "Je refuse!"
"Wh— Oh, come on! Don't argue with me now!" Kevin said indignantly, but it was too late. Bronzor, with a well-aimed Confuse Ray to the back of Cheri's head, succeeded.
Byron raised an eyebrow, but he said nothing to Kevin. "Extrasensory."
He grimaced as Cheri was hit with a mental attack. She cried out, hitting herself too. Great. Just great. He didn't know exactly what she had complained about previously, but he had a feeling that her own confusion move, Sweet Kiss, was not one she liked to use on emotionless Beldum-lookalikes.
"Snap out of it and Discharge," Kevin tried, his frown getting bigger. Okay, okay, he wouldn't use Sweet Kiss on that thing either, given the choice. He was glad he didn't have such a ridiculous move.
Cheri, under the influence of Confuse Ray, sent her attack flying towards Lana, who shrieked and ducked just in time to dodge. Kevin groaned. "Damn it…"
The battle did not get better. Cheri fainted soon after, Bronzor almost free of damage. Mist was able to finish him off, thankfully, and she did decently against the nigh monstrous Steelix who was next. Unfortunately, the Steelix had created a Sandstorm, which took its toll the longer it went on – on both Mist and Kevin himself.
Kevin sighed while Lana recalled Mist. Byron was undoubtedly saving his best for last, but he still had a shot. Aside from a bunch of rocks and sand pelting him, Kevin was still fresh out of the Pokémon Center. He cracked his knuckles and walked into the arena.
"So it's your turn now, eh?" mused Byron, grinning. "Give me your best shot, kid."
Kevin said nothing, instead trying to get his brain into battle mode. Steelix was defensive – almost unmatched. But while it was difficult to physically harm one, ranged moves worked quite well in comparison. Indeed, that was the reason he'd told Mist to use the usually less effective Water Gun rather than Aqua Jet.
Kevin licked his teeth. That wasn't a problem; his Flamethrower was bound to do decent damage. Without a second thought, he sent a stream of flames towards the Steelix. His foe notably winced, to which Kevin grinned. What was there to worry about? Everything was in the bag.
He ran towards the massive steel snake to get him with a higher-powered close range shot, which ended up doing enough to knock Kevin's opponent out. He smirked. Yeah, he was back into it now. Bring it on!
Byron was still smiling. "I love defense!" he shouted for no real reason before throwing his last Pokéball.
Emerging from the white light was something else Kevin had never laid eyes on before. He looked reptilian, but more dinosaur-like than Kari was and certainly not grass type. His head appeared to be a large, gray and yellow shield with eyes and a mouth more than anything. Well, okay. Byron obviously loved defense, so he'd just use Flamethrower on this thing, too.
"Iron Defense!" yelled Byron. He appeared to be getting exhilarated now that he was down to his last, and Kevin didn't blame him. The dino-shield's face shined metallic for a few seconds, then it faded away. It reminded Kevin of the hundreds of helpless Silcoon and Cascoon he had fried back home.
He smirked. He fired another Flamethrower directly at him, expecting it to do a lot. Surprisingly, the Pokémon merely absorbed it head on and shrugged it off, barely hurt.
…Huh.
He frowned. Byron told his Pokémon, Bastiodon, to keep using Iron Defense for a while, so he had to think quickly. High special defense, high regular defense… What would hurt this guy?
Maybe if he got a burn on him somehow. Yeah, he'd have to try to do that and whittle him down. That was how you took on tanks, right? Tanks had to be taken out slowly but surely, not all in one go like other Pokémon. Right…
As the sandstorm started to subside, Kevin got an idea. Fire Spin lingered afterwards, didn't it? Maybe it could potentially cause a burn, at least, it'd be more likely to. Plus, even if it didn't, it sort of acted like a light burn, right? Okay, Fire Spin.
The swirl of flames he spat out circled Bastiodon, though like before, he seemed unbothered. Kevin narrowed his eyes; he had to be relentless here.
Attack after attack, Kevin kept throwing flames at his opponent. Bastiodon rarely did anything other than glow metallic, though once Byron asked him to use Rest. Kevin realized what he was trying to do – Tire him out, make him so frustrated that he couldn't attack. But he wouldn't give in to that.
After a while he decided that ranged attacks weren't working and that he should go for something physical, regardless of how many times Bastiodon had now shined. Brick Break after Brick Break to the face, back, legs, nothing was working.
With a growl, Kevin opted for a new tactic once again. True, he hadn't tried the new move yet, but he hadn't really used Fire Spin before either and it worked fine. It was worth another shot, nothing else was doing a thing.
So, Kevin used a move he recognized as Close Combat, one of the most impressive attacks he'd seen his grandmother use in the old Pokémon League tapes. Once again, it did almost nothing to Bastiodon, most likely because Iron Defense totally negated every punch and kick he threw. Arceus, if he didn't get this over with soon, he'd knock himself out.
Byron was grinning triumphantly. "Catch him," he said.
What? What the hell was he—
Bastiodon bit down on Kevin's tail, and hard. He couldn't help but utter a cry, it hurt like nothing he'd ever felt before. Bastiodon didn't let go, instead crunching down even harder. Damn it.
"Go for it!" said Byron, still grinning. Kevin could barely see what else was happening, but he did see some rocks lift up mysteriously from the ground, kind of like Iffy's Stone Edge…
Oh wait. They were glowing? That was Ancient Power.
Kevin swore as he was pelted by rocks. Today was not his day.
When he was finally able to have conscious thought again, he was back in his Pokéball. Near panicking, he wriggled around, trying to find the self-release mechanism and get out.
Lana was startled as he emerged, but quickly recovered. She regarded him with a sad smile. "Hey," she said.
"We lost," Kevin said. He winced. His tail still hurt excruciatingly.
"Oh, um, here," Lana said, handing him a bandage. "Nurse Joy said that you should put that on your tail."
Kevin turned his head to look at it and grimaced. Bastiodon had bit through the skin in most places, and there was a lot of dried blood around the wound. He twitched his tail and sent a shock of pain through his nervous system. Kevin hastily took the bandage and attempted to tie it.
"Thanks," he muttered, before walking over to a nearby tree and sitting down. Before long, Kari had appeared from around the other side.
"Gym leaders can get away with doing that?" she asked, eying the parts of his tail he hadn't tied yet. Kevin scoffed.
"It was a good gambit, though. The whole team is good," he said sourly, finishing the knot. Kari said nothing, instead opting to sit down beside him.
After a pause, Kevin added, "We're not strong enough. We need to train more—"
"We've already trained non-stop for a week, Kevin."
He faced Kari, who was glaring at him. "We're all tired. What we need is to take a break, all right? We have a month and a half until the league, I think we can afford to take a couple days off."
Kevin frowned. "That doesn't change the fact that I was beaten by a steel type. We've been getting by with quick thinking and strategizing, but our skills, er, lack of them have caught up to us," he said. Kari turned away. Seeing as the conversation wasn't going anywhere, Kevin thought that he might as well try and ask her about what had happened before the match.
"Hey, um, Chuno showed up today," he said, trying to sound absentminded.
"And? What did he want?" asked Kari with boredom. Kevin sighed. He was bad at wording things, but he supposed that Kari could take it bluntly.
"Oh, nothing important," Kevin drawled. "He did say some sort of poem thing about the Shade though… And, uh, about you."
Kari raised an eyebrow. "Me?" she asked, clearly perplexed.
"Yeah, um, something like… 'She vowed she would become his bride, the turtle they called Kari'…" he trailed off as Kari's eyes widened in surprise.
"What?" Her voice was low, almost a whisper. She turned her head to the ground. "Why would he tell him— What?"
Sensing an opportunity, Kevin continued. "He mentioned something about glass and injuries and stuff too. Kari, what was he talking about?" Kari was still wide eyed, breathing softly.
A moment passed, then she closed her eyes and spoke in a harsh, but quiet tone. "One of our early escape plans, maybe the third one or so… It involved breaking a window. It— It didn't work."
Kevin heard the shudder in her voice. Before he could say anything, she went on.
"M-my eye… He nearly died… Why would he tell someone like Chuno about that?!" Kari's shaking voice became almost hysterical; it made Kevin jump. She attempted to take a deep breath, but failed.
"Kari… Hey, calm down—"
"How can I calm down?! If Chuno knows, the whole world knows! We promised— He promised me that he'd never tell anyone about it! He's not even decent enough to keep that a secret now?! Dear…"
She'd broken down into sobs now. Kevin awkwardly sat beside her, offering no words or actions of comfort. He had a feeling that Kari would reject them all, anyway. It went on for at least ten minutes, her tears finally dying down after a while.
Kevin gulped down the sourness in his throat. He had to do something. He felt guiltier with each passing second. He attempted to place his hand on her head, awkwardly patting it while she let out the occasional sob.
Slowly, she looked at him, teary eyed. "I still don't understand," she said, her voice still wavering, "how you think you're so different, and yet you're both the same."
At that point, Kevin realized that he was out of place. Kari didn't really need him right now.
No, the one she needed was the real Dear.