Kari was still upset in the morning, and there wasn't much Kevin could do about it. He'd never tried to comfort anyone before, and seeing as he wasn't any help the night before, he felt that he should let her have her space.
Instead, today he was going to form a new training plan. He'd asked Lana if there were any particular spots people went to for toughening up, and she'd replied that she'd heard of some island that was popular for that purpose. After expressing interest in going there, Lana quickly looked up the name of the island on her phone for him. He didn't know why her phone knew the island's name, but whatever.
They called it Iron Island. According to Lana's phone, it had been an old mine for many generations. When the iron ore ran out, the place was abandoned, and wild Pokémon had taken up residence. Somebody went there for a visit and discovered it was a great training spot, so ever since, trainers had been using the island when they needed to boost their strength.
The team appeared to be a bit weary when Kevin announced their next destination, but none of them outright opposed it. He was thankful for that. The last thing he wanted was everyone to hate him for working them so hard.
Since it was an island, the team had to take a boat. The ferry offering the service had a policy that so long as a Pokémon was outside his or her Pokéball, an additional ticket would need to be purchased (thanks Mr. Shade), so Kevin reluctantly went inside his again. It wasn't like he was in storage and not aging or anything. Kari had convinced him about that. But now that he knew what had happened, the black void of nothing that was the Pokéball felt cold and empty.
In the darkness, Kevin found himself remembering what Kari had said to him. Not the part about him and the Shade being almost the same, that was nothing new, but about her encounter with a broken window. She hadn't been clear about what happened at all, and despite her getting all upset over remembering it, he couldn't help but be curious about the details.
She said the Shade almost died. That was interesting. Whatever had happened, it left Kari with a useless left eye, so he wondered what the Shade had suffered. Maybe he was half blind too? Or perhaps he'd sustained completely different injuries… In that case, though, why would that supermarket clerk mistake Kevin for the Shade way back whenever? Surely she'd have seen that he was perfectly fine. Save the new scar on his tail, of course.
Kevin was released from his Pokéball. Lana was tossing everyone else's respective Pokéballs to the ground, letting them out too. "Okay Slickky," she said, "what exactly are we doing?"
"Um…" Kevin said. He hadn't really devised a plan, what with his thoughts on Kari. Shaking his head, he turned around and surveyed the area to buy some time. "Let's see what Pokémon live here first, then split up into groups."
Iron Island was basically a giant cave. That meant that Graveler and their ilk were a sure thing, and thus Cheri and Styler were going to have difficulties inside. Conversely, Kari and Mist would have a field day. Kevin supposed that he and Nini could use their fighting type moves to get by. All right, then, simple.
"Lana, you stay with Cheri and Styler outside." He glanced at the water. "Try battling the fish. Mist and Nini, you two work as a team inside the cave, and I'll work with Kari."
"You just can't get enough of me, can you, Chump?" said Kari. He crossed his arms.
"Shut up," said Kevin. He had no idea why she'd suddenly reverted back to calling him Chump, though he supposed that it was better than dear. He motioned for her to follow him inside.
The cave was dark, light enough that even without the flame on Kevin's tail, he'd be able to see properly. It was also very mazelike inside, however. Kevin had a feeling that he'd get lost easily if he weren't careful.
"Where to?" Kari asked him. He shrugged.
"I don't know. Anywhere without Golbat…" He bit his lip when he realized that he'd forgotten they were both weak to flying Pokémon.
"So you did just want me on your team. All right, Kevin, what do you want to know?" She smiled at him.
Kevin blinked. True, he did have stuff to ask her about. Maybe he'd teamed up with her subconsciously or something. He started walking deeper into the cave. "Well, you weren't that clear on— on what actually happened with the window," he said.
Surprisingly, Kari didn't have much of a reaction. "I figured it was something like that. I guess when I spilled my heart out to you last night, I didn't actually spill that much."
"Er…" Nonchalant Kari was a pretty abrupt mood change from bawling Kari.
"It was like this: we'd been trying escape plan after escape plan for about a year, but none of them worked. We finally considered using a window, which I thought was too risky before. I was right." She looked away distantly before continuing. "He tried superheating the glass to melt it, but Rowan was coming back, so he tried punching it to speed up the process. And then his arm went right through. He tried pulling it out, but then the upper half of the windowpane shattered. He was surprised, lost his balance, and fell down on some jagged pieces still left in the bottom of the frame. One of the shattered pieces landed on my eye. That's what happened."
Kevin said nothing.
"It was horrible. I thought he was dead. He was in the hospital for two weeks without waking up. I—" Kari shuddered and gritted her teeth. "That was when I told him I loved him. And to know that Chuno knows that now is so infuriating… So you see, Kevin, that's why I snapped."
Kevin nodded slowly. "Okay. I'm sorry," he said.
"What? What are you sorry for?" Kari asked, her head snapping up in confusion.
He shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't know. It just seems that I'm getting too involved with your personal life, and, uh, I really don't think that I should've asked about any of that, and—"
"Whoa. Slow down, Kevin," Kari squinted at him. "Are you actually trying to not be a brash and arrogant jerk face?"
Kevin frowned. "Well… Yeah, I guess."
Kari stopped in her tracks and stared at him. "Please don't," she said.
"What? You want me to be mean?" Kevin said in confusion. Arceus, if this was what all girls were like—
"I don't want you to try and be him, okay? Because despite your similarities, you're different. Very different. And I need to remember that," She narrowed her eyes at nothing in particular.
He blinked. "I'm not trying to be like him," Kevin said indignantly. It was true, he wasn't. And right now, he was going to avoid this subject by as large of a margin as possible, because it was quickly leading into something he did not wish to talk about. "Do you see any Graveler?"
"No, I don't," she said breezily. "Have you been paying any attention to where we've been going, by any chance?"
"No," Kevin said. Oh, damn it.
"Oh, this is wonderful. I'm getting flashbacks of Eterna Forest," Kari said, smiling. Kevin was, too; she was being creepy again.
"We were never lost in Eterna," he said, scanning the area grumpily. If this was such a great training spot, where was everybody?
She chuckled. "We weren't friends in Eterna, either. Funny, it seems so long ago, but it hasn't been that long, has it?"
Kevin squinted. He thought he saw something move up on a ledge, but his poor vision wasn't doing him any justice. "Hey, Kari, did you see that?" He pointed at the ledge for emphasis.
"That blue thing?" she asked. "Hm, I don't know what that is." The smudge of blue Kevin could barely make out quickly disappeared from view.
"So it's not a Golbat?" he asked. She nodded.
"Looked more like a… Well, like a bipedal mammal, at any rate. Want me to Razor Leaf it?" Kari turned her head to him.
"If you can reach it, go ahead," said Kevin. He grinned. Finally, some training.
Kari took on a battle stance and shot two leaves from the bushes on her back towards the place the blue smudge used to be. Kevin couldn't tell if she hit it or not, but she didn't seem to think so. She fired another pair of sharp leaves almost immediately.
Kevin saw the blue smudge leap up, arcing its jump towards them. It landed two feet in front of them, quite angry looking.
"A Lucario? I didn't think you'd live in a cave," Kevin said to the Pokémon. Now that he could see him, it was easy to identify the canine Pokémon.
The Lucario put his hands on his hips. "What do you tourists want?" he asked, rather annoyed.
"A way out would be nice," said Kari, "if you don't mind."
"And a battle, please," Kevin quickly added.
The Lucario frowned. "I can show you to the exit, but I'm afraid that I can't battle you. I only battle when somebody is injured and needs my help to get out and receive medical attention." He paused, eyeing them. "Besides, two against one is hardly fair."
Kevin's shoulders drooped. "Is there anyone else in this cave that will battle me?"
The Lucario blinked. "There's a sign at the front directing you to the main chamber, where most trainers usually go. Didn't you see it?"
Kevin opened his mouth a little and then closed it. He narrowed his eyes at Kari. "Well, Kari, didn't you?"
"Obviously if I did, we'd be there. Let's just go," she said. The Lucario nodded and lead the two through the cave, back up to the top level.
"Well, here we are. As you can see, many of the wild Pokémon will battle you if the regular trainers aren't satisfactory. Do you need anything else?" The Lucario smiled helpfully. Kevin wondered if he ever got tired of being so nice on the job.
"No thank you," said Kari. The Lucario turned to leave.
"Hello, Kari and Slickky!" called Mist. She and Nini walked up to them. "Where have you two been? I thought you would have come here first."
Kari scoffed. "Mm. Hotshot got us lost," she said. Kevin snorted.
"You're the one who didn't see the sign!" he said indignantly before noticing Nini staring blankly into space. "Yo. Nini. What are you looking at?"
Instead of answering, she meandered over to the Lucario guide, ignoring everything else. Kevin and the two girls stared after her, none of them having a clue as to what was going on. Nini tapped the Lucario's arm, and he turned around.
"Yes? Can I help you, miss?" he said, squatting down to meet her eye level. She continued to stare at him for a few moments, then, without any warning, she grabbed his face and kissed him.
Kevin's jaw dropped. Kari raised an eyebrow. Mist muttered "Oh my…". The Lucario stared at the Buneary in front of him, wide eyed. Then, Nini started to evolve.
She grew much taller, and her ears got much bigger. Her overall body shape became more humanlike as she reached the Lucario's height. As the glow faded away, Nini, newly evolved, hugged the Lucario and smiled contently.
"I've found you," she breathed. "You're the one I've been looking for."
The Lucario blinked. "D-do I even know you…?" He was blushing furiously; Kevin didn't blame him, that girl was hot.
"No," she replied, snuggling closer. "What's your name?"
"…Lucaru," he muttered.
"I love you, Lucaru." She sighed dreamily.
Kevin found the scene more and more ridiculous to watch. He gabbed Kari by one of her bushes and dragged her further into the cave, shaking his head in the process. Mist followed them after a moment's hesitation.
Today was so weird.