AN: Sorry for the horrible delay on this one. Blame the usual suspects (homework, Black and White, and animé). That, and writer's bock. So enjoy, finally.

Kyle's breathing was heavy; Kevin didn't know if it was from anger or something else. All he knew was that nothing pleasant was going to come of what was happening.

"Hello Shady," Chuno said happily. "And my boy, too! How nice to see you both together at last," He faked a pout. "Oh? Your sweetheart's not with you?"

"You know damn well she's not," Kyle said, his voice almost a whisper. "Cut the crap. What are you going to try and kill me with this time?"

"Well," said Chuno, "let's see. Attempt number three… I think I'll use whatever I can. At this point, I don't really mind."

Kevin glanced at his brother. "Hold on, attempt number three?"

Chuno grinned. "Oh yes! The first time, my assistant brought me a gun! However, he failed to inform me it had no bullets," Chuno shrugged. "Shady didn't even notice that one until I told him about it later, when I decided to use glass. That one almost went my way," It was like he was talking about a simple schoolyard game.

"So you're going to try in public, right here and now, with whatever you've got?" Kyle rasped. "What a shame. It sounds like you used up your imagination," Kyle was shaking again, and Kevin felt the air's temperature rise.

"Oh, no, no. I haven't gone dry, don't you worry. In fact, I cooked up something just for you. Would you like to hear it?" His pupils dilated.

Kyle spat out a flame. "Sure, why don't you share it with the class?"

Chuno cleared his throat dramatically.

"One day on a summer night, dear Shady had a scare,

He felt that something wasn't right; his comrades weren't there.

Cautiously he turned around, looking for a sign,

But not one face was to be found, except, of course, for mine.

The harshest insults were exchanged, some shouted with tears,

And although through a smile he feigned, he couldn't hide his fears.

I cornered Shady to a wall, I cursed his family's graves,

Sliced him with the glass so small as he tried to be brave.

I thought it had worked out for me, I thought I had him dead,

But to my anger and his glee, he turned us round and said:

'I promised her I wouldn't kill, now get out 'fore I do,'

…And would you like to know my response?"

He giggled.

Kyle stared at him.

"Hell, I'll kill her, too."

Kyle said nothing for a moment. All he did was stare at the Raichu, unmoving. Then, without warning, he shot an immense Flamethrower at Chuno.

The Raichu swiftly dodged, side stepping much like Kyle had in his fight with Kevin. "What's the matter? Didn't you like it? It was all about you," he said, his voice sleek.

"Why do you have to bring her into this? I don't care if you insult me, but—"

"That's precisely why I bring your precious turtle into this. Abominations like you deserve to suffer," The look he had from the league match had resurfaced, clouding his features with wrath.

"Damn it!" Kyle glared. "I'd like to know what your definition of an abomination is, because if I qualify and a psycho murderer who can't feel pain doesn't, something's definitely wrong."

Chuno chuckled darkly. "Easy. You have human blood in your veins. That's all it takes."

Kevin stepped up, growling. "Not this again. Don't you idiots ever have any other reasons?"

The Naturalist glanced at Kevin lazily. "Oh, boy… That's the only reason we need."

It was Kevin's turn to fire a Flamethrower.

"Well now," said Chuno as he jumped out of the way. "Two on one is hardly fair. Lizzie! Keep the boy preoccupied, will you?"

"Of course, sir," said a female voice.

Appearing out of seemingly nowhere, a Kecleon stepped out into the battle, aiming a Slash at Kevin. He stepped back, glaring, before he blinked.

"Wait… you're that lady who showed me The Shades' headquarters," he said.

The Kecleon looked at him. "What? Do you feel betrayed or something?" she asked.

Kevin grimaced. "As if you were that nice to begin with."

Chuno nodded. "You didn't think I'd just let you go off on your own, did you, boy? I had Lizzie tail you for a couple of days after I beat you," He grinned. "I learned some very interesting things from her, too!"

Kevin's breath got caught in his throat. Wait… since after their battle at the league…

"Don't you think she's a little old for you? Or do you forget you haven't aged for ten years?"

That damn rat.

"Stella!" yelled Kevin. "Don't just sit there, help us kill this worthless son of a—"

"Kevin!" shouted Kyle. "I don't know what he's going on about, but try to ignore it, okay? I'll deal with him, just get rid of his crony!"

Kevin blinked a few times before grinding his teeth and agreeing.

"Good! Stella, he's right, get up and do something, for Arceus's sake. Come on!"

Kevin shifted his attention to the Kecleon in front of him. All right, this was a Hoenn Pokémon. He'd seen them on the way to Lilycove. She was green… maybe a grass type? He'd see what a Flame Wheel would do.

He quickly spun into the attack and crashed into his opponent. Judging by the amount of reeling, she was most likely not weak to fire. Fantastic. Maybe a Mach Punch, then?

The Kecleon stretched, her green scales slowly fading to red. Kevin stared, confused. Um… Cool? Not that it made any sense. She smiled.

"Oh? You haven't seen this before? That changes things," she said. She then held out her hands, forming a small, glowing orb between them. "Here you go, hon. Have fun."

She shot the ball towards Kevin, hitting him in the chest. Oddly, it didn't hurt at all; another glowing orb appeared and returned to her. She grinned, her scales reverting to green again.

"What was that?" Kevin asked. The closest thing he'd seen to that move was… er, nothing. He'd seen glowing blobs that did damage, but nothing like that.

"You'll see," she said, uncurling her tail and curling it back up again.

Well, okay. Kevin went straight into a Mach Punch, wondering if she'd just weakened his attack power or something. However, it was a solid (and super effective looking) hit. Kevin eyed her steadily.

She turned around as the stripe on her stomach began to glow in various colours. Then, the Kecleon opened her mouth, shooting out a beam of the same multicoloured energy. That was… Psybeam, most likely. Crap.

Despite his efforts to dodge in time, Kevin was hit by the psychic move. He retaliated by going into another Mach Punch, hitting the Kecleon swiftly in the jaw. Only this time, it didn't seem to be as effective.

Kevin stepped back, weary. Great. And he still didn't know what the mystery move could be. He braced himself for another Psybeam.

The Kecleon smirked and disappeared. Oh, excellent, she could go invisible, too? Just what he needed. She caught Kevin off guard by suddenly reappearing behind him and slashing him. Faint Attack.

Wait… Faint Attack wasn't supposed to hurt that much, he was a fighting type. "Tch," he muttered before going for a Flamethrower. She was playing him well with whatever strategy she was using, and Kevin didn't like it.

The Kecleon took the Flamethrower, and then closed in once again for what looked like Brick Break. Kevin countered with Aerial Ace, attempting to soften the strangely painful blow once more…

Hold on. Every attack felt like she had a type advantage. But how was that possible? Unless that move somehow did something…

"Did you figure it out?" asked the Kecleon, smiling. "I used Skill Swap to give you my ability. Of course, you can't change colour like I can, but the effects are still the same."

"Change colour?" Kevin muttered. Well, whatever was going on, whatever ability she had was making each of her hits against him hurt. And, apparently, making his hits against her weaker. He'd never heard of an ability like that before.

Well, fine. He'd just have to be relentless and try not to let up on attacking. He flipped into a Flame Wheel again, this time putting as much power into it as he could. The ability's effects were nerfing his blows, but so long as he hit enough, it'd still work out, right?

It seemed to work better than Flamethrower, though that wasn't saying much. Wasting no time, he immediately followed up with a Mach Punch, which was just as good as the first hit. So… he was back to normal? Maybe?

The Kecleon countered with another Psybeam, despite the punch. And, once again, it felt super effective. Throwing another punch, he was confused when it was suddenly weaker again. If he was back to normal—

"Ah!" Kevin said, finally realizing what was going on. "You're changing my type… every time you hit me, right?"

"That's right. Am I wearing you down?" The Kecleon smirked.

"Yeah, yeah," Kevin muttered. "Hey, Kyle!" he yelled to his right.

"I can't really talk right now!" His brother replied angrily, narrowly avoiding a pounce from Chuno.

Kevin aimed a Flame Wheel at the Raichu, knocking him away for a moment. "Let's switch!"

Kyle blinked. "What? Why?"

"You can dodge stuff, making her ability useless," Kevin said, gesturing to the Kecleon who was eyeing him in amusement. "And, uh," he muttered, "I'm sort of pissed with Chuno. Sound fair?"

The Shade shrugged. "If you insist. Stella, back him up, okay?"

The Glaceon, who had previously been half-helping and half standing back in shock nodded before trotting up beside them. 'Y-yes, boss."

Kyle glared at her. "I didn't let you join just so you could get cold feet and run away, all right?" He didn't seem to notice the pun he made as he hurried over to the left to take on the Kecleon.

Stella bit her lip. Kevin would have said something to her if a painful electric shock didn't suddenly hit him.

"Switch out, switch in. Switch in, switch out. Either way, Shady's still dead," Chuno mused. He was poised on all fours, his tail swishing. "But I wonder, should I kill you too? Yes… yes, that would hurt Miss Kari and end your sorry hybrid race. Ha ha! I'll kill you both with one stone!"

Kevin grimaced. Damn. He'd thought Chuno would ease up if he wasn't attacking Kyle… but it was only getting worse.

Chuno began to charge up electricity, but then faltered. "Oh dear, what have we now?"

"Police! Don't move!"

Kevin glanced over his shoulder to see several officers in uniform. Several had their hands at their weapons, waiting. He groaned. Just perfect.

Chuno looked utterly revolted. "This is none of your concern, officer!"

"This is a no-battle zone! You all are under arrest—"

The Raichu sent his charged energy straight at the talking policeman. "Yeah, yeah, piss off," he said as the man fell to the ground in pain.

Drawing their weapons, the backup aimed at Chuno. He scoffed.

"Hey Shady," he spat, turning his gaze to Kyle, who had halted his battle with the Kecleon a few feet away. "Two months ago I was able to hunt for my dinner here without any qualms. And now I can't have a friendly little battle with you? See, equality hinders us! This is why you should convert to naturalism." Uh… what?

Kyle rolled his eyes. "That's your story, huh? Fine. Two months ago, I had no problems walking to the coffee shop to meet up with my subordinate. And now, you suddenly spring a battle on us, out of nowhere? That's very rude." …Double what.

The police looked at Kevin, who started sweating. "Wha— what?"

Stella sighed, patting Kevin on the shoulder. "There there, Mr. Slick. You're new to all this, aren't you? Mr. Shade and Mr. Chuno have been at this for a while; a punch here, a shock there, you know. You'll get used to it in time," Oookay.

Chuno stood up, brushing off his knees. "Yes, that's all. A simple test of skills from one celebrity to another. If you insist, officer, we will hold our future meetings outside downtown," He turned around and started to leave. "Lizzie, let's go!"

The Kecleon followed without a word. Kevin stared.

'We should be going too, I think," said Kyle. He turned to the police. "Sorry for the misunderstanding," He then ushered Kevin and Stella into the forest before any of the cops could say a word.

….What.

"What was that?" Kevin asked.

Kyle glanced up from the couch. He shrugged. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"What?"

"It means," he said, adjusting his position, "that the police hate me more than that rat does, believe it or not. And I don't want to be arrested."

They had all managed to get back to The Shades' headquarters without any problems. All the way, Kyle had looked absolutely murderous, though he seemed to have calmed down.

Stella piped up, "It all started last time the boss kicked me out," she sighed. Kevin figured since she had come back, too, Kyle wasn't firing her.

"What all started?" Kevin asked, feeling like he was missing something.

"See, last year, Chuno attacked him out in public like that at one of the publicity events. He didn't say it was a murder attempt or anything, but…" She shook her head, continuing. "Well, the police showed up, charging the both of them with crimes against humanity or something like that."

"So the rat tries to get out of it by pretending it's all a game, and since I didn't want to go to jail either I sort of went with it and said it was part of some stunt," Kyle said, bitterly. "And now the media thinks we're friendly rivals or something stupid like that. So I figured the best way to avoid getting shot was to do the same thing."

Kevin frowned. "And you're okay with that?"

"Do I look okay with it? I just didn't want to have to deal with the police. You wouldn't either," He ran his fingers through his hair.

"Pfft," Kevin heard a chuckle from behind the couch. Looking behind, Chikoro was lying there. "This Chuno sounds like quite the handyman," he said.

"Uh… what?" Kevin asked.

"Oh, come on. You're both just tools to him. Sounds to me like the ball's in his court," the Chikorita said smoothly.

Kevin narrowed his eyes. "You know, if you have nothing useful to say, just shut up."

Chikoro got up, smirking. "As a matter of fact, I do have something useful to say," He trotted over to the front of the room. "Want to hear it?"

Kevin raised an eyebrow. Kyle sighed. "Oh, why not?"

Chikoro grinned. "Okay, then. First off, actress lady, plan a speech or something."

"Huh?" said Stella. "What for?"

"First, we take a leaf out of Chuno's book and manipulate the media. Once that's done, Shade here is going to take a vacation to Twinleaf Town," the Chikorita stated.

"Twinleaf?" Kyle asked. "Isn't that some town in the sticks? Why there?"

"That's where all Slickky's allies are," Chikoro said. "From there, we'll lure Chuno out. Like a party, or something, he wouldn't miss that. And that is where we make our move," he finished.

Kyle glared. "Make our move, huh? I don't kill, kid," he said darkly.

"Fine then. If you won't, I will," he said, his nose upturned.

The Shade growled. "Do you know how serious this is?"

"Yeah, I think I do! This guy has been torturing you two and won't stop! What, you want to lock him up? Catch him in a Pokéball? Whatever you do, it has to be permanent, or he's gonna drive you both insane!" Chikoro sighed. "And… Slickky's my trainer. I kind of feel obligated to help."

As he shrunk down into his leaf, Chikoro seemed a little embarrassed. Kevin shook his head. "You are one messed up kid," he muttered.

"Not as messed up as you," he retorted. He nodded to Stella. "So! Let's get this set up!"

He marched off down the hallway, the ice type at his heels. The two brothers stared at his retreating back for a moment.

Finally, Kyle spoke. "How exactly did you meet this kid?"

Kevin scoffed. "He was supposed to be a Cyndaquil," Kyle glanced, curious. "It's a long story…" he said.

Well. Chikoro wasn't going to let them out of it, was he? Kevin would have to make do. That seemed to be all he was doing recently. But if all went well… maybe he'd finally get to go back home and relax.

That day couldn't come any sooner.

Chikoro is far too smart to be a nine-year-old, isn't he? D: