"Yeah, you are! Hey, Slick, why haven't you been interviewed yet?"
Kevin frowned. How was he supposed to respond to that? "Um—"
"What side are you on?" said another customer. The other shoppers all turned to face him, all with inquisitive looks in their eyes. It was a lot like what happened in Canalave with Chuno, only this time, he was kind of cornered inside the store.
He bit his tongue. He needed to think quickly and say the right thing, lest anybody get the wrong idea. Unfortunately, he was never very good at that. Kyle was the one who had a way with words. Kevin struggled to come up with something as stares bore into him like never before.
"Well, I… I haven't been interviewed because nobody's asked, that's all!" That was true. Kevin grinned nervously. "Um, I've gotta go…"
He darted out the door. Upon touching snow he immediately somersaulted into a Flame Wheel and zoomed away as far as he could. The scene wasn't just reminiscent of his confrontation with Chuno, now that he thought about it.
When he was seven, he had the same sort of experience with a group of Taillow. They'd managed to surround him and corner him at a tree trunk… And the rest was all childish stuff. "Whose side are you on?" "Do you really want to mess with us?" Kevin remembered their voices well. He hadn't been beaten up or anything, since he overpowered them easily, but since then, he preferred not to be cornered.
Even so, tucking tail and running wasn't exactly the most valiant thing to do, either. But whatever. The public didn't need to know everything about him, just like how they didn't know everything about the Shade. Once the conflict was resolved, Kevin would be happy to fade into irrelevance and disappear. Fame wasn't his life goal.
…What was his life goal, anyway? He barely cared about that, either. He'd have plenty of time to figure everything out later. What mattered now was winning the league and beating the crap out of Shady.
Kevin stopped his fiery getaway in front of the Pokémon Center. It had only been half an hour or so, but the sky was already black. He'd challenge the gym leader tomorrow.
"Hey, hotshot. Who else is going to be battling today?" asked Kari, as per usual.
"I already told you. I'll sweep the gym, no problem," Kevin replied, grinning out of habit. Didn't they already have this conversation?
Kari said nothing, but her unimpressed glare said enough.
"Okay, fine! If, for some strange reason, I do need help through this battle, I'll send in Mist. Happy?" He took her silence as a yes and faced the gym doors with a sigh.
Kevin had debated whether to tell her about seeing his father on TV. In the end, he decided to hold off until they could have a civil conversation with one another again. By the way things were going, though, Kevin had a feeling that it would take a little while for that to happen.
So, with confidence, he strode into the gym. It was only the slightest bit warmer than outside, prompting Kari to growl in frustration. Lana followed in behind them, her coat zipped up to her neck.
Kevin glanced at the turtle behind him. "You sure you want to stay out?"
"I want to watch you eat your words, dear," Kari said mockingly. Kevin rolled his eyes.
Across the room, at the other side of the stadium, a young woman with dark, braided hair and a short skirt sat upon an icy chair. She was chewing bubblegum. When she saw Kevin and the others arrive, she smirked.
"Hi there! Candice was waiting for you to challenge her!" The woman slid off the chair and placed her hands on her hips. Kevin managed how she managed to stay warm, dressed like she was.
He nodded. "Right. Where is she?"
The woman stared at him for a moment before replying. "…Right here. I'm Candice."
Kevin blinked. "Oh. Then why— Uh, whatever. Let's just get this battle started," Who the heck referred to themselves in third person like that? Add that to wearing a skirt like that in this city, and Kevin was certain that this gym leader was another nut.
Candice nodded, taking a Pokéball from her waist and throwing it up in the air. "I like four on four knockout battles. Is that okay with you?"
"Sure," Kevin said. It wasn't like four ice types instead of three would make a difference, anyway. He stretched out his arms. He wasn't going to eat his words. Not until Spoink could fly. That is, if one didn't count bouncing through the air with their tails as flying… Ah, whatever. (He was sure saying that a lot…)
Candice grinned and tossed her first Pokéball, releasing a bipedal Pokémon with ebony fur and one magenta, feathery ear. Kevin narrowed his eyes. All right. This thing didn't look like an ice type, but if Candice was using it, it had to be.
"Slash!" yelled Candice. The Pokémon was quick; using her claws to skate on the ice. All right. He could do the speed thing, too.
Kevin waited for the ice type to get close enough (which wasn't too long) and responded with a Mach Punch to her gut, sending her flying into a mound of ice on the field. He waited for her to get up… But she didn't.
"…Sneasel?" asked Candice. She stepped towards her Pokémon. "Wow. You've got a strong arm, there," she said, addressing Kevin.
He felt a bit stunned. If anything, he didn't think he'd curb stomp ice types that easily. He grinned slyly and glanced back at Kari, who was staring at him bewildered.
"See?" he asked, chuckling. "I've got this in the bag."
Candice returned Sneasel to her Pokéball and fumbled for another one. "Okay then… Snover!"
Snover looked like a stubby, walking tree. Kevin snickered. Fantastic! This Pokémon had to be grass type, too, meaning fire would be perfect.
"Ice Shard!" commanded Candice. Snover created a small, yet razor sharp icicle and sent it flying towards him. Kevin ducked out of the way skilfully—
"GAAAHH! DON'T DODGE THAT!" shrieked Kari from behind him. He cringed and turned around.
The Ice Shard had hit Kari in the face, giving her a tiny, bleeding cut above her good eye. Kari was breathing quickly, a panicked expression clouding her face. "DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN! IF THAT HAD GOTTEN IN MY EYE—"
"Okay! All right! I'm sorry, I won't dodge them!" Kevin said hurriedly, hoping to calm her down. Candice was wide eyed, a hand placed to her mouth. Lana had a similar expression, even backing away from her starter.
Kari looked angry enough to breathe fire. "Keep your word or I'll kill you," she said, the anger practically oozing out of her words.
Focusing back on the battle, Kevin couldn't help but shudder. Ice Shard was a deadly move, even for a fire type like him. If one got in his own eye, well… From what he'd seen, being half blind wasn't pretty.
Candice seemed to have the same idea, because Snover's next move was Razor Leaf instead. It was hardly better, but at least Kevin was used to it. Kevin spun into a Flame Wheel and slammed into Snover, yet again sending one of Candice's Pokémon flying in another one hit knock out.
He didn't dare glance back at Kari again. She was most likely going to stay a vicious dragon for the whole day, and he didn't want to set her off. Instead, he kept his eyes in front of him, where Candice was selecting her next Pokémon with a frown.
"It's always the same," she muttered. "Abomasnow! Let's go!"
Abomasnow was just a larger version of Snover, by the looks of it. Well then, all Kevin needed was to use a bigger flame. Flamethrower it was.
Candice gritted her teeth. "Grasswhistle!" she shouted. Kevin narrowed his eyes. It was a rule, it seemed, for the grass type to have as many sleep-inducing moves as possible. Well, there was no way he was falling asleep.
Kevin fired a Flamethrower at the tall, snowy Pokémon, burning away the whistle she had fashioned out of one of her leaves. Despite the power of the move, Abomasnow clung on to consciousness, irritating Kevin. It'd be so much easier if she just fainted.
He decided to finish off with Flame Wheel. Drawing closer to Abomasnow, he was about to hit her when Candice called out, "Wood Hammer!"
Abomasnow brought her arm down on him, slamming him into the icy ground. Though the wood part of Wood Hammer didn't hurt much, the hammer part certainly did. He stood up, his back protesting madly against it. Damn it.
The attack was apparently too much for Abomasnow to bear, however, as she fainted shortly after. It took Kevin a second to realize what had just happened.
"A suicide tactic, huh?" he mused, rubbing his back. "Nice idea. I'm afraid I'm still kicking, though."
Candice shook her head. "Yeah, I expected that," She held her last Pokéball in her hand and sighed.
"What do you mean?" Kevin asked, his eyes narrowing.
The woman raised her eyebrows. "Every kid who starts with Chimchar ends up doing the same thing. They take out everyone in a hit or two, and it's so depressing. It took a while, but I figured out a neat strategy," Candice spun the Pokéball on her finger. "Candice can use a Pokémon that isn't ice type! And then she can make an amazing comeback!"
She hurled the Pokéball to the ground, releasing a Medicham. Kevin felt his jaw drop.
"That's false advertising," he muttered. Candice laughed.
"There's nothing in the rules that says I can't train a Pokémon that isn't my specialty!" she said, grinning. "Let's go! Force Palm!"
Kevin tried darting out of the way, but his back prevented him from being fast enough. A power-infused palm connected with his jaw, sending pain through his teeth. Arceus, this wasn't right.
A Medicham. A Medicham, of all things. She probably chose Medicham so she could use Psychic and destroy part fighting types like him. But if that was the case, why had she used Force Palm? To keep him weary?
He fired a Flamethrower, only to be countered with Detect. He grunted. Fine. If she was going to use surprises, he could be cheap, too.
He Flame Wheeled over to Medicham, jumping over another Force Palm. As he descended, he used Aerial Ace, slashing her head. Without hesitation, upon landing he went in for another consecutive slash, aiming at her stomach. He finished with a close range Flamethrower.
Medicham couldn't take that many hits in a row and collapsed. Kevin sighed, exhausted. That was it. He won, all by himself.
He looked at Kari, expecting her to be furious. To his delight, she appeared to be only mildly annoyed. "You're a lucky little prick, you know that?" she said. Kevin grinned.
Candice sighed. "Well… I can't say that hasn't happened before either! But usually I can at least knock out one of their Pokémon," she grumbled. "Well, it's all right. That's what I get for training ice types."
Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Um… Can I ask you something?"
"What?"
"Why didn't you use Psychic?" he questioned. "I mean…"
To his surprise, Candice burst out laughing. "Medicham doesn't know Psychic!"
"Uh… Why the hell not?" Kevin asked. What kind of self-respecting psychic type didn't know Psychic…?
Candice threw her hands up in the air. "That was the whole point of training Medicham! But the league guys were all like, 'No, that's too hard for the challengers!' and they forbid us from using it! But how else am I supposed to beat all those Infernape? They're so dumb! Guh, I'd better stop whining or I'll start sounding like Volkner used to…" She dug around in her pocket before taking out a blue and silver badge. "There you go. The Icicle Badge. Take good care of it, all right?"
And that was that. They'd now acquired seven of the eight badges needed. Just a little more to go, and they'd be confronting the Shade.
Finally.