"Electric? Huh. That's not going to be very good."
"So? What are you going to do about it, then?"
"I don't know…"
It was a long trek back to the southern part of the region, and not a very eventful one, either. Thankfully, going downhill from Snowpoint City was a far easier and more manageable task than the journey to the town. Once Kevin and Lana had gotten through Mount Coronet for a second time, Kevin had decided to discuss the next course of action with Kari while Lana walked up farther ahead.
Unfortunately, he was faced with the reality that the team had diminished down to five members, after Nini had decided to stay on Iron Island. He hadn't really thought about it until now, what with all the other things going through his head, but now that he had to, he was unsure what to do about it. Without a sixth member, he had less wiggle room for his battle options. Not that Nini ever battled. Still, having less than a full team didn't sit right with him.
"I guess the best thing to do is find a replacement, but it's already December and that doesn't leave us with a lot of time," He grimaced. "Unless a miracle happens, there's no way we'll get another team member and get them trained up by the time the league starts."
Kari frowned. "You don't know anyone who could help, I take it?"
"Are you kidding? If I did, we wouldn't be having this problem." Kevin huffed. "Maybe if my brother could battle, but I doubt he's gotten any better over the years. Not that having two of the same species on the team would ever be a good idea. He wouldn't bother coming all the way here to help me, anyway."
The Torterra's pace faltered slightly, but she caught up within no time. "…Are you sure about that?" she asked softly.
"Of course. He's a whiny brat who does nothing but sit around and eat apples all day. There's no way he'd muster up the initiative to train up for me, of all people," Kevin narrowed his eyes. "Honestly, he could probably learn a thing or two from being around you."
Kari stopped this time. Kevin stopped too, turning to face her. "What?"
She sighed heavily, took a deep breath, and looked him directly in the eye. "Have you ever tried looking at things in his perspective, Kevin?"
"His perspective's hardly different than mine—"
"Kevin, really! Imagine you were a frail little kid who had a bully of an older brother and was constantly being shunned as demon spawn by everyone else. Then imagine that brother leaving on a journey, and finding yourself left all alone. You really think he wouldn't want to help you? You may have been mean to him, but you were practically the only friend he had, aside from your mother." Kari's frown was angry, more akin to the first frowns Kevin had seen her with. He thought she was done with those.
Trying hard to suppress an eyeroll, Kevin looked away. "You must have misunderstood me, Kari. He only eats apples. Really, that's it. That's the only reason he's as weak as he is. Even attempting a journey all the way here would be suicidal, and he's not that stupid."
Kari looked at him exasperatedly. "He was twelve years old," she said.
"And so was I, when I left! But I knew I could actually hold my own in the wild, unlike him. Why are we talking about him, anyway? He can't battle, so it's not like I'm going to call him or anything." Kevin started to walk again, trudging away without looking at the turtle. What did she know? He was the one who grew up with the kid, not her.
He tried to figure out what to do for their final gym match. Kari was an obvious choice, along with himself, but his other options were a problem. He didn't know how many Pokémon the gym leader was going to use, so he had to be prepared. Three on three wouldn't be too bad, but four on four or higher could potentially go south. Arceus forbid a full battle without a full team…
Suddenly, seemingly from out of nowhere, a large orange Pokémon leaped in front of Kevin, chuckling. "Hello there!"
Kevin stared. Great. Chuno was back again. "What do you want?" he asked cautiously.
Chuno grinned. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. Is that who I think it is…?" The Naturalist leisurely walked by Kevin over to Kari. "Well, I'll be! That scar says it all. Miss Kari! I've heard a lot about you from your little 'dear'."
Kari turned crimson, but she looked more angry than embarrassed. "I have nothing to say to a monster like you—"
"Monster? Really, now. Shady should have figured I'd betray him from the start. I was only barely trying to hide it. Besides, I never did anything as bad as leaving my little sweetheart locked up and giving her false promises that I'd return, did I?" He licked his teeth.
Kari glared. "Just where the hell are you getting your information, anyway?"
Chuno smiled widely. "Chuu… I was waiting for you to ask that! Have you heard of the actress, Estelle Glacée? No? Well, she's part of the Shades, you see. Quite a talkative young girl. She managed to convince Shady one day to tell her about you, and I convinced her to tell me. Simple, really."
"Look, Chuno, can't you go and bother somebody else right now?" Kevin said, feeling the need to intervene. The Raichu merely giggled.
"Well, I suppose. But now that I know you've been hanging around with Miss Kari, I'm afraid I simply can't waste this opportunity." He gave Kevin an amicable grin. "What do you say to a temporary alliance?"
"Absolutely not!" growled Kari.
Kevin blinked. "What? Um, why?"
"You hate Shady. I hate Shady. Miss Kari still bears a childhood crush, but otherwise she seems to hate him, too. Why don't we all bring him down together, mm?" He placed a paw on Kari's head and started petting her, much to her disgust. "That'd make all our problems go away, wouldn't it?"
Kevin folded his arms. "You're insane. If you think you can get Kari and I to do your dirty work—"
He was cut off by Chuno's laughter. "Haha! Boy, you look just like baby Shady when you do that! Ah, seriously, though, I've got someone to do all my dirty work already. You'd be my conspirators, you see. Just like how they all killed Caesar, yes?"
"Who?" Kevin said. "Er, whatever. Look, no matter what you say, we're not working with you."
"And that's final," Kari added.
Chuno flicked his tail. "Oh, really? That's a shame. And I was going to offer to be the final member of your team, too!"
"W-what?!" Kevin said. Kari whipped her head around to glare at him. "What are you talking about?"
Chuno smiled. "I had a feeling Miss Kari would refuse, so I had to come up with something good. Lucky for me, you started talking about how you needed another teammate," His smile grew. "As you know, I was one of the Shades once. I had to handle all the dealings with the wild Pokémon, so I'm pretty good at battling. Personally, I think I'd make a great addition!"
Kevin blinked. Chuno was actually being serious. And… as much as Kevin hated to admit it, from the looks of things, the Raichu looked to be a formidable opponent. He would be valuable to have on their side.
"You're not seriously considering this, are you?!" Kari shouted, stomping the ground and creating a small earthquake that knocked Kevin back to earth. He frowned and looked up at the sky.
"Well…" He narrowed his eyes before snapping his head back forward again. "No. We already have an electric type and adding another one to the team, regardless of how strong you are, would only give us a disadvantage. I'm not stupid enough to make a team where half of the members are weak to a type as common as ground!"
Kevin turned around quickly and started to walk down the road again. "Come on. We've got stuff to do," he said to Kari. Yeesh. He dodged a bullet there.
Confused, Kari happily left Chuno and trotted up behind him. "Y-yeah, you're right," she agreed.
When Chuno was out of earshot, Kari stepped on Kevin's tail. Cringing, he turned around. "What?"
"Half the team is good against ground, too, aren't we?" she asked, her eyebrow raised. "Mist and I can handle them, and Styler's immune…"
Kevin didn't answer right away, instead continuing to walk again. "…Yeah, well, he doesn't need to know that."
Her eyes widened for a split second before she broke into a warm smile. "Mm. I see."
The pair walked the rest of the way in silence. Kevin figured some things were better left unsaid.
Kevin never really expected to find an answer to the teammate problems, at least, not one that wasn't Chuno. But as they reached the Sunyshore Pokémon Center, he was pleasantly surprised. Lana noticed a poster on the wall and called him over to see it.
"It's a starter giveaway, see? Any trainer with two or more badges can call Professor Elm and get a Pokémon all the way from Johto!"
Kevin eyed the poster. He wasn't that familiar with Johto, but he recognized the Pokémon in the middle. "Sounds pretty lucky. We should sign up." He frowned a little. Starters weren't exactly the most experienced Pokémon, but with some luck, Kevin figured they might get an older one like Kari.
The Sinnoh starter wandered over to them. "Oh? Which one are we picking?" she asked, setting her gaze upon the poster as well.
"Cyndaquil," Kevin said.
"Uh… is that a good idea, though? I mean, that'd make half the team weak to ground, too—"
"And water would make us half-weak to electric, and another grass would make half of us weak to ice. Either way, we'll have a team like that, but at least we have a decent amount of counters for ground or rock types. Fire's our best bet." He grinned. "Plus, since I'm fire type, it'll be easier for me to train them. Sounds like the best choice to me."
Kari raised an eyebrow. "Well. Type advantages are hard wired into your brain, I guess. All right, that's fine with me." She smiled.
Kevin returned it and then turned to Lana. "Right. So what do you have to do to get 'em?"
"The poster says to just call… You probably have to go use a phone with a transfer machine. Uh, I'll go get it, then." She then ran off towards the other end of the lobby.
Kari smiled. "Thank goodness she's feeling happy. She's been upset the past little while," she said.
"So I noticed." Kevin scoffed. "Then again… I guess I kind of took over all the Pokémon training." He crossed his arms. It wasn't like Lana outright called him out on it, though, so he'd assumed she didn't have too much of a problem with it.
"Yeah, you kind of did. And you're not half bad at it, you know. He could learn a thing or two from you," Kari said.
Kevin frowned. "The Shade's powerful enough as-is. And I doubt he'd ever accept training from me, of all people." Whatever. When he eventually got to confront the Shade, Kevin would definitely teach him a thing or two… with Aerial Ace, that is.
He noticed Kari biting her lip. "What?" he asked.
She sighed. She'd been doing that a lot lately. "I… I really think I should tell you something, Kevin."
Her tone of voice made him feel uneasy. She was using the same tone she had used when they were walking in Iron Island, and she was telling him about the escape accident.
"That was when I told him I loved him."
His eyes widened suddenly. Nononononononono—
"Kevin?" she asked. He quickly snapped back to reality and laughed a little.
"Heh… Uh, Kari, whatever it is, um, it can wait, can't it? I mean, I'm busy going over strategies and stuff, so, um," damn it, "you can tell me later, right?"
She narrowed her eyes. "It's pretty important, and I'd rather you know now," she pressed.
"Look, it's just… I've got a lot on my mind right now, you know? I think it'd be better if you waited until after the gym when my head's clear, okay?" Arceus, she was twenty-four years old. Not to mention aturtle.
Kari was about to say something, but she stopped, a confused expression clouding her face. "Whoa, wait, do you know what I'm trying to tell you? But you can't," she said.
Kevin grimaced. "I think I have a pretty good idea. So you don't need to say anything, 'kay?"
She shook her head. "What the heck do you think I'm talking about, Kevin?" she asked, clearly perplexed. Kevin opened his mouth, but no words came out.
He was relieved when Lana came back, holding a Pokéball. "Hey, I got it!"
Quickly, he tried to regain his composure. "Oh, really? That's great! Uh, let's see!" Anything, anything, to get him out of answering Kari's question. Anything.
Lana nodded and fumbled with the button, enlarging the Pokéball before releasing the Pokémon inside. In a flash of white light, a small, cute-looking starter appeared.
Except it wasn't a Cyndaquil. It was a girly little grass type.
Arceus-freaking-damn.