The two stood, centered in the grassy field, not daring to take their eyes off each other. Kevin smirked. He couldn't believe this kid. A little grass type issuing a sort-of-not-really battle invitation to a fire type? And if that wasn't enough, Chikoro thought he was going to win. How naïve.
The grass type smirked. "I know what you're thinking! I'm a stupid little kid for challenging you, right?"
"Pretty much," Kevin answered, a drawl inching its way into his voice. Well, there was nothing saying this battle couldn't be fun.
"Well then, prepare to taste the horrible, bitter flavour of eating your words!" shouted Chikoro enthusiastically.
Kevin couldn't help but laugh. "All right then, kid! Take a shot!"
He saw Chikoro grit his teeth. It was likely he hadn't yet thought of his first move. Kevin smirked. It reminded him of the few times his little brother actually tried to challenge him. Deciding to at least be nice, Kevin waited.
After a few moments, Chikoro decided on his attack. He swiftly shot a green ball of energy out of his mouth, taking Kevin by mild surprise. He'd seen that move once or twice on TV before… what was it, Energy Ball? Regardless of its name, it was a grass type move. Was the kid really that dumb?
Kevin stepped out of the way, allowing the attack to hit the battlefield behind him. He narrowed his eyes. Maybe he could give Chikoro a little credit. He was smart enough to go for a ranged attack and stay a safe distance from his opponent. But then, surely, he'd have to notice he was in range for a Flamethrower.
As soon as he saw his Energy Ball miss, Chikoro back stepped. Ha, so he was decent in theory. Kevin guessed that made sense for a Pokémon stuck in a lab his whole life. He smiled. Well, it couldn't hurt to see what else Chikoro could do.
Going for a Flame Wheel, Kevin somersaulted into a fireball and spun full speed ahead. Chikoro uttered a cry and did his best to dodge, doing rather well for something unexpected. Other than a graze, Kevin doubted he managed to hurt the kid that much. Interesting.
Kevin waited until he was a few feet away before stopping his Flame Wheel. He frowned; if Chikoro had the potential, then maybe he would be useful in the league…
Chikoro was frowning as well. Oh, screw it, Kevin needed to give him advice.
"Hey! Here's a tip!" Kevin called, grinning upon seeing Chikoro's furious face.
"I don't need any help!" he retorted.
Kevin shook his head. "I don't care, I'm telling you anyway. Try a physical attack if your range isn't working!"
"Why would I do that? You're just trying to trick me into getting closer so you can burn me to death!" To emphasize his point, Chikoro stepped back further.
"Not really," Kevin muttered. He glanced over to where Energy Ball had landed on the field. Sure enough, there wasn't much of an impact there to begin with. "I just don't think your range is that good."
The Chikorita was unimpressed. He flipped the leaf on his head, sending some tiny purple spores towards Kevin. Poison Powder, most likely. Kevin sighed and shot a Flamethrower, fizzling them before they could reach him.
"See? You're not good with that kind of stuff. Try something physical, come on." Normally, Kevin wouldn't be talking to his opponent like this, but it was a special case today… Or something.
Chikoro pouted. "What am I supposed to use? Tackle? Vine Whip?"
Kevin shrugged. "You know what you can do more than I do," he said.
For a few minutes, neither of them made a move. Kevin stood his ground; wanting to give Chikoro a chance to come up with something at the very least. The Chikorita had narrowed his eyes to dangerous slits, thinking hard. Kevin sighed. The kid had to come up with something.
A blink. Two blinks. The grass type's frown steadily changed into a grin. "Hey, Slickky, I think I've got something. You wanna see it?"
Kevin smiled in amusement. "Yep."
"Okay!" Chikoro nodded. "Um… It might not work, though," he added, frowning slightly.
"I'm waiting," Kevin said, resisting the urge to tap his foot.
Chikoro took a deep breath. "'Kay," he said. He opened his mouth and began charging an Energy Ball.
Kevin raised an eyebrow. Well, if that was the way Chikoro wanted to do things, then whatever. Energy Ball was probably one of his favourites. Kevin crossed his arms, awaiting Chikoro's attack.
With a quick flip of his head, Chikoro had enveloped himself in the Energy Ball and began to roll. Kevin widened his eyes. Was this… A grass type version of Flame Wheel? Er… Okay?
Chikoro's velocity wasn't very fast, but he still managed to propel himself enough to crash into Kevin's leg. Kevin smirked. "Interesting idea. You may want to try going faster," he said.
Chikoro frowned and stood up. "How? That hurt me more than it hurt you." He shook his head to clear it.
"You're not using any muscle power, that's why. You can't just somersault and expect to go flying." Kevin crouched, shifting himself into a position akin to one a runner would take before running a race. "Look, you've gotta use your arms— Oh."
"Yeah. Not going to happen," muttered Chikoro, looking quite displeased.
Kevin frowned. "There has to be a way to get around that," he said, standing up again.
"A way to get around that? Seriously? What, you think I can somehow magically grow arms or something?" He glared to the side. "Okay, I get it already. I can't battle well. Just send me back."
"Huh? But if you can come up with something like that…" Kevin turned around. "Hey, Kari! Have you been watching?"
The Torterra nodded. She seemed to be trying to hold back a smile with little success. "Yes, I have!"
"Great. So, uh, can you think of anything?" Kevin asked. He figured that if he couldn't think of something, Kari would know of some specific thing a grass type could do or something along the lines of that.
Kari trotted up to the two of them, smirking. "Look at you. It barely took you two minutes to forget everything and start training this kid." She turned to Chikoro. "As for the question, isn't it obvious?"
Kevin growled. "It's never obvious when you think it is, Kari," he said, his tail flicking.
She did her equivalent of a shrug, which was merely rolling her head, and smirked. "All right, all right. Let me give you a hint, Chikoro. When you need to pick something up, what do you do?"
"I use Vine Whip," he said. "Oh!"
"Exactly. You see? Problem solved. Though I wish Slickky here could spell things out for himself for once." The rare smirk reverted back to the disappointed frown usually adorning her face.
Kevin raised an eyebrow. "You really think I can spell if I can't read?"
Kari shook her head. "You're hopeless, you know that?" she muttered before walking back to where she originally stood as a spectator.
He pursed his lips. He knew she wasn't asking if he could literally spell, but still. Wouldn't it just be easier for her to not riddle everything with subtle clues everywhere? Arceus.
"You can't read?" questioned Chikoro, incredulous.
Kevin blinked, arriving back to reality. "Eh? Oh, well… It doesn't matter. Come on, let's test this move of yours, okay?"
Kevin had to give Chikoro a lot of credit. He didn't realize the kid actually knew what he was talking about when he said he could battle (though Kevin was still convinced he'd perform excellently in a contest). It was also obvious the kid had also spent some time watching talented battlers like he himself had.
Still, an unevolved, basic staged Pokémon without much experience wasn't exactly a good choice for the League. And that was why they were grinding like hell.
Sure, Kevin figured he was going to force everyone to train like mad no matter what, but Chikoro had to do triple the fighting to even think about catching up to the rest of the team. Needless to say, he wasn't very happy about it.
"Can't you just buy an experience share for me?" he panted, slumping over to rest after taking out his bazillionth wild Pokémon.
Kevin frowned. "I don't know what that is, but no. There's no substitute for pure, ruthless grinding, and that's the way I like it," he said, doing a fist pump.
Chikoro narrowed his eyes. "Right. Because grinding is so much fun," he seethed.
"It's training here or going back to Johto," Kevin said.
"Fine," muttered Chikoro.
And so it went on. Before Kevin knew it, a week went by, and they had gotten their final gym badge. All in all, the journey across Sinnoh was coming to a close… and it couldn't come any sooner.
Some spare change and several ferry tickets later, the team was on a boat towards the island where the League was being held. They had thankfully caught the last ferry before the obligatory Christmas break, a date which Kevin had nearly forgotten about. It wasn't like he had really celebrated the day before, but it was weird to think that this would be the first holiday without his mom or little brother around.
So he stood, against the guardrail overlooking the frigid ocean. He sighed. What was the point of putting the League on an island, anyway? Hoenn did it too, but a third of the region was ocean, so they had an excuse. Sinnoh didn't.
"Kevin," said a familiar voice. He turned around.
"What do you want, Kari?" he asked the Torterra, knowing the answer.
She rolled her eyes. "What do you think? You've had plenty of time to think about it. Have you figured it all out yet?"
Kevin turned back towards the sea. "I haven't been thinking about it at all, actually. I've been busy preparing for the League. And quite frankly, I'm too tired to think about the Shade now."
Kari sighed. "How long are you going to keep avoiding this?"
Kevin didn't answer. The turtle went on.
"You do know there's something wrong with what you've deduced, right? And that I know the answer? Give me one reason I shouldn't tell you the truth right now." He felt her glaring at his back.
He shook his head. "I don't need any distractions right now. We're going to the League. I need to concentrate on that. Or do you want us to fail and not rank high enough to get to the Battle Frontier? That's how it works, isn't it?"
"There are other ways to get there," Kari said immediately, as if she'd predicted his answer. "Styler could fly there. I bet if we tried, we could get tickets anyway, since you've become sort of famous."
"A flight across the ocean to a destination you've never been to before is all kinds of risky," muttered Kevin. "And I want to be in this tournament. Ever since I was little, I've wanted to. This is my only chance, Kari."
She scoffed. "Only chance? There will be plenty of other opportunities, Kevin! The June competition, for instance? Anyway, that's not even the point. You still need to know the truth, whether you want to or not."
"Kari—"
"Kevin, the Shade is—"
"What're you yelling about?" Chikoro wandered up to them, once again, interrupting Kari at the exact same moment.
"Damn it! Chikoro, we are in the middle of something important—"
"You said that last time. What's so important, anyway? Is it like, private or something?" Kevin took the time to turn around, silently thankful that Chikoro was stalling. It wasn't like Kevin couldn't figure out the "answer" if he took the time to think about it.
Kari growled. "Yes! It's very private! That's why you need to go away so we can talk!"
The Chikorita pouted. "What, is it like some super secret Slickky versus the Shade battle? Come on, guys! I'm part of your team now, I won't tell anyone else!"
"No! It's not anything like that! Now please just go away, Chikoro. I'm not trying to be mean!" To emphasize her point, Kari quickly put on a more sympathetic expression. "You see, when you get older, Chikoro, you'll understand."
Chikoro raised an eyebrow. "What? Um… What?" The Chikorita turned to Kevin for an answer. "Are you really talking about something that private?"
"Yes," said Kari. "So you see, that's why you need to leave."
Kevin folded his arms. "Er, no, actually, he doesn't have to leave," he said quickly, suddenly getting an idea. "Since he guessed right and all, that is."
The nine-year-old's face lit up. "Whoa! So you're really going to battle the Shade? That'll be so epic!"
"Uh, yeah, I guess. That's a weird way to put it, but whatever." Yeesh, it wasn't like he was going to battle a legendary Pokémon or something. Then again, it was probably just slang.
"So, what's your plan? Have you seen him battle on TV? He's okay, but I think you're better, 'cause he relies on his speed way too much and if you can cripple him somehow he'll probably be a piece of cake, I mean—"
Kevin laughed. "I don't really have a plan, but… Go on." Well, Kari wasn't going to know the Shade's battle techniques, so Chikoro was all he had.
Chikoro nodded emphatically. "'Kay. See, he stays far away a lot, I think, 'cause he never seems to want to get too hurt. Or maybe he just doesn't want his sweater to get dirty, I don't know."
"He wears a sweater?" Kevin asked in confusion.
"I told you that already, you moron," piped up an irritated Kari.
Kevin thought back. If she had mentioned anything about a sweater, he sure as hell didn't remember anything about it. "Um, why, though?"
"Why are you asking me? You're his nephew, aren't you?" Chikoro said, smirking.
Kari cleared her throat. Kevin faced her, waiting for her to say something, but she didn't. Instead, she winked her left eye rather aggressively. Oh, wait…
If the Shade had gotten fatally wounded, there were probably noticeable scars wherever he was injured. A sweater would attract a lot of attention and an air of mystery, but that was nothing compared to the attention he'd get from ugly, gruesome scars. Keeping that sweater as undamaged as possible would continue to hide everything underneath. All right then.
"Er, right, I just remembered why. Never mind." Wanting to change subjects so Chikoro couldn't press him about it, Kevin added, "So he's trying to keep himself safe from attacks, right?"
Chikoro nodded. "Yeah. He tends to go for Flamethrowers, even if they're not very good against whoever he's battling." Chikoro thought for a moment. "I bet if you could get him with a move he can't dodge no matter where he is, the fight will be yours, Slickky."
Kevin frowned. "He can't be that easy. He must have a strategy for opponents who go close range. I mean, otherwise… Unless he's got cronies to help him out or something."
"The other Shades? Maybe, but everything I've seen on TV had him battling alone." Chikoro shook his head. "Even then… Slickky, I don't think he's as powerful as you think he is. The Shade's just built up this reputation that he's really strong, but he's not."
Sighing, Kevin considered Chikoro's suggestion. Maybe he was right… If Uncle Mono could just intimidate everyone by leering at them instead of actually proving he was a force to be reckoned with, then he'd probably do that.
"Okay, but are you sure?" Kevin asked.
"Positive! The guy's a stick. Hit him before he can hit you and you're good!" Chikoro assured.
Kevin nodded redundantly. "Okay then. I guess I'll just Aerial Ace his ass back to Mount Chimney and be on my merry way," he said half-sarcastically.
Kari scoffed. "Suit yourself."
He sighed. He was almost done. All he needed to do was get through it.