AN: Well, that took a while.

To the anonymous reviewer who reviewed last chapter: Thank you so much. You have no idea how happy I was to receive a review that was that lovely. I sincerely hope you are still reading this - we're on the final stretch, now!

"Don't say that—"

"If I didn't, that would make me a liar. Like you. I hate you."

The exchange the two were having barely registered in Kevin's brain. In fact, it took a minute to realize what they were even talking about.

"Kari… I've never lied to you—"

"You said you'd come back! You didn't! That makes you a liar!" Kari's voice cracked painfully, and she let out a sob. Kevin stared at her still, watching a tear slide down her face. It was like he was watching a movie; neither Kari nor Kyle seemed to notice or care that he was there.

"I… You told me to go in the first place! I said I'd find a way to get you out of there, eventually! I never actually said I'd come back right away!" said Kyle. Kari looked disgusted.

She growled. "Is that so? If you were so focused on getting me out, why have you been taking it easy as 'Mr. Shade' for seven years?"

Kevin heard his brother's fists clench. "Being The Shade isn't easy! I became The Shade because of you! And you're obviously out of the lab, so something I said must have gotten through to Rowan and—"

Kari stomped her foot, sending an Earthquake through the ground. It knocked both brothers over, though she was only looking at Kyle. Walking past Kevin, she marched up to Kyle and leaned in close to his face.

"Are you actually so arrogant that you think you got me out of Rowan's lab?" she whispered. Her eyes were deadly; worse than Chuno's. "Said a speech, it was aired on TV, and Rowan, seeing it, had an epiphany and decided to let me go? Is that what you had in mind?"

Before Kyle could get up, she placed a heavy foot on his chest, keeping him down. "Well, let me tell you what really happened, dear. A little girl came by the lab one day, and saw me. She thought, 'Oh, look, it's another nice little girl I can go on a Pokémon journey with!'. I bit her hand, I glared, I did everything, but she decided I'd be perfect. So I went with her, and I beat a gym for her, and I was the perfect little starter.

"I was ready to forget about you, you know. I figured I'd try not to be depressed as hell, and at least enjoy being somewhat free. So imagine my surprise when the little girl decided to make a trade for a Chimchar, and that Chimchar happened to be calling himself 'Chump'?

"Can you really imagine what it would be like? To relive the first few weeks with you with your brother? It hurt so much; I just wanted to pretend he was you and live happily ever after. But I couldn't do that either, because he was incredibly stupid and a jerk to everyone. But I guess you're like that too, now. I hate you."

Kevin found the strength to turn around and look at the two of them. In his head, he found himself agreeing with Kari. But at the same time, he felt sorry for Kyle because he knew he really did care about her… At the very least, as much as he himself cared about Kari.

It surprised Kevin when he heard Kyle talking, quite calmly. "I'm sorry. It was stupid of me to assume." He frowned, deep in thought. "But… listen to me, okay? I care about you. I mean it."

Did he really think he could say that, and it would be enough?

Kari scoffed. "Like you mean that. I can't trust anything you say any more."

"I know you can't. But can you still listen to what I have to say?" One hundred and eighty degrees. On a dime. Kevin had no idea Kyle could be like this.

"Hmm," Kari said. She varied the pressure on his chest. "There you go again, two-face. You never seemed to be able to stay mad at me. You'd always redirect your anger… Oh, I know," she said, glancing behind her to look at Kevin. "At him, right? You probably exploded at him when he went over and saw you. And now, after this, you're going to do it again, because he obviously didn't tell you he knows me at all."

Kyle sighed. "Looks like you can still read people like a book," he noted, a hint of a laugh in his voice. "So if you'd please step off of me, I'd like to tell you some things."

Amazingly, Kari let him up after a moment of hesitation. Kyle took a deep breath, patting his chest. Oh, right, his injuries…

Kari glared. "So?"

"So," Kyle shot a glance to his brother. "How long have you known him?"

The Torterra sent a very weak Earthquake through the ground. "You're the one telling me things. Not the other way around."

"Well, I think I still deserve to know," said Kyle. He coughed.

"We can discuss that later. Now, you were saying?"

Kyle stood up, brushing dust off his sweater. "Right," he said. There was a pause. "Um… What exactly do you want me to say?"

"You just wanted me to let you up," Kari said, rather disgruntled. "Let's start with the basics, okay? When did you evolve?"

"About five minutes after I left," answered Kyle.

"Mmhmm. And you couldn't have come back then and gotten me out right then, right? I mean, sure, you would've still been skinny as hell, but as a fighting type surely you'd be strong enough?" the Torterra asked, an overall air of disappointment hanging above her.

It was at that point that Kevin suddenly realized something. "Wait a minute… what was the escape plan that ended up actually working? I mean, partially, at least."

The casually arguing couple looked at him in surprise. "Didn't I mention it…?" asked Kari, shutting her eyes in a way that indicated she was straining to remember.

Kyle frowned. "It… It was a pretty stupid plan. The second worst."

"You have the nerve to say that after it got you out? I thought it was a decent plan, actually, if it hadn't been for your last second 'insurance'. What was I thinking, letting you do that?" Kari retaliated.

Kevin laughed nervously. "What was it?"

Kyle shrugged. "Um… I set fire to Rowan's desk, and while everyone was concerned with that, Kari and I tried to make our way out under the floorboards," he muttered.

Kevin blinked. "Really?"

"Meanwhile if you hadn't set the desk on fire, the assistant wouldn't have gone into the starter room to get everyone out and notice we were missing. And then the fire from the desk wouldn't have burned through the floor, falling through and blocking me from the exit. But you got out, so it's all good, right?"

"Kari," said Kyle, exasperation seeping into his voice.

"Dear, I can't see your actions as justified no matter how I look at it!" she shouted, shaking her head.

"And I can't see how that plan possibly worked, no matter how I think about it," Kevin said, though he seemed to have lost their attention once again as they continued bickering.

Kyle folded his arms. "Then why did you tell me to go in the first place, Kari?"

Kari scoffed. "It's what you say when you're in a situation like that! You weren't supposed to listen to me!"

"Oh, really?" asked Kyle. "Because any other time I didn't listen to you, you'd yell at me. So then, at that moment, I was supposed to know you wanted me to not listen to you?"

"Yes! You were supposed to either get both of us out, or neither of us!" Kari said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well I'm sorry if I wasn't noble enough," Kyle spat bitterly. "This isn't some fairy tale, you know."

"I'm fully aware of that," Kari said, her breath sharp. "It seems we're just too different."

"Guess so," Kyle said. He frowned. "Kevin, I think it's best if we leave her alone."

Surprised, Kevin said, "Huh? But—"

"Come on," Kyle grabbed his brother by the arm, pulling him inside the small house and leaving the turtle behind.

Inside, quite a few members of Lana's team were staring at Kyle. Kevin frowned; no doubt they'd heard some of the shouting from inside. Kyle ignored them, proceeding out the front door and only stopping at the edge of the front yard.

He let go of Kevin's arm and sighed. "Well. I think that could have gone better."

"Are you kidding?" Kevin asked, scoffing, although he didn't really find it that funny. "I thought that went brilliantly considering everything you said."

Kyle glared. "What?"

"Kyle, she gets more pissed at me for being an idiot! She didn't even cry! You, on the other hand, were a complete ass and you know it," Kevin narrowed his eyes.

Glancing off to the side, The Shade replied, "Kari doesn't cry—"

"Maybe not in front of you," Kevin said darkly.

That seemed to catch Kyle off guard. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "When did you meet her?"

Kevin crossed his arms. "October twenty-second," he replied.

"Hmm," Kyle muttered. After a moment, he spoke again. "You two don't seem like the type that would get along, especially in only a few months."

Kevin shrugged. "I hated Kari at first. But then we decided it would be… beneficial if we sucked it up and worked together. And, um…" Kevin blinked. When exactly had Kari become his friend? He thought back… probably just before Iron Island. But that was a bit personal. "Well, we battled together for a few days, and then after that we were just kind of friends."

"And what exactly were you working together on?" Kyle asked. His tone wasn't all that friendly.

"Getting to the Battle Frontier," Kevin answered.

Kyle's hands ignited. "And she never once mentioned, you know, that I was The Shade? You obviously knew about Rowan's lab and everything. She didn't think to mention at all that she was stuck there with me?"

"She thought I knew it was you…" Kevin muttered. "At least, for a while. She wanted me to figure it out on my own."

"More like she wanted to piss me off," The Shade said, staring at the fire that enveloped his hands. "Why the hell didn't she go to the Battle Frontier with you? I mean… wouldn't she…?"

"Yeah, she wanted to," answered Kevin quickly, though he wasn't sure exactly why he felt the need to. "She got sick, though. Still is. She was doing a pretty good job of hiding it, though."

Kyle grimaced, though his hands ceased to burn. "…Oh?"

"Um… yeah. She's got this thing called Pokérus," Kevin said.

Kyle looked at his feet. "I suppose she only shared that with you, too?"

"I…"

"Whatever. I'm going to go talk to her again," Kyle said, stalking off. When he got to the front door, he turned around, pointing. "And don't follow me!"

Kevin wasn't planning to. Considering how he'd been practically ignored the first go around, he didn't feel particularly inclined to watch part two of The Shade and Kari arguing forever. He sighed, leaning on a little white picket fence post.

He thought back to everything Kari had said to him about The Shade. She had told him they were incredibly alike. And at first, Kevin couldn't see what she was talking about. But the more he thought about it, the more sense it seemed to make. And… it was kind of creeping him out a little.

He had never really taken the time to get to know his brother at all during their childhood years. To Kevin, Kyle was just a stick-legged nuisance whose only reason for existing was to make life harder for his older brother. Yet, Kevin felt that given a chance, he and his brother could have become close… much like his father and his uncle had been, really.

After all, they both came from the same family and dealt with the same issues. They were close in age and what one lacked, the other had – Kyle had eyesight and reading ability, whereas Kevin was more physically inclined. Why he'd decided to bully his brother instead, Kevin had no idea.

And now, leaning on the fence line, Kevin was feeling guilty. Things could have gone so much differently, had he just refrained from being a jerk and helped his brother get through life together. But then, Kevin likely wouldn't have left, meaning neither of them would ever meet Kari, and meeting Kari was the one thing that had made Kevin not a jerk, in his opinion, at least, so—

"You look like you just did something bad," said a voice. Kevin turned, surprised. Chikoro. Of course.

"I didn't hear you come out," said Kevin. That was true; he'd been so deep in thought that he hadn't even noticed the door open.

Chikoro snickered. "So? What's with the guilty face? You can't possibly think that the mini-explosion in the backyard is your fault, can you?"

Kevin glanced behind him to the backyard, where faint, yet furious shouts were audible. "It's my fault he met her, at the very least," he muttered.

"Yeah, but you didn't give him the crazy genes, your dad did," the grass type chirped. "Seriously, all this and they can't even have kids. At least you've got a bit of sense, right?"

"…Right," muttered Kevin.

Chikoro smiled for another split second before instantly changing it to an expression that looked more offended than anything. "Right?"

Kevin said nothing, his frown becoming deeper with every passing second.

"Aw, hell!" Chikoro blurted.

"That's what I said," Kevin replied, rubbing one of his temples.

The Chikorita shook his head. "But you— You can't have kids," Chikoro stressed.

"It's not like I think she's pretty or anything!" Kevin said angrily. "Because I don't! At all! It's just… she gets inside my head, you know? And whenever I think back, to before… I don't know, it's like I'm this horribly shallow person with an ego the size of Hoenn, but I'm different now…"

Chikoro retained his horrified expression. "But that— That doesn't mean— Why can't you just be friends? That sounds like friendship! Platonic friendship!"

"Well…"

The Chikorita stomped the ground. "No! Relationships don't form because of stuff like that! They form by awkwardly timed falls, and seeing one another in compromising positions!"

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Chicky… you need your head examined," he said.

Chikoro growled. "This makes no sense!"

"Chikoro, how old are you again?" Kevin asked.

"I'm nine," he replied, pouting.

"Right… it's hard to remember sometimes," Kevin cracked a smile. "Anyway, you can be pretty smart about some things, but I think you should wait until you're a bit older before talking about relationships."

The Chikorita stood defeated. "Fine. I still don't get why you can't just be friends," he said.

"Oh please. I doubt we'll even get close to… getting closer," Kevin finished.

"You sound like such a dork," said Chikoro.

"Shut up."

"No, no, go on, I'm interested."

Bobbling ears, dark brown eyes, and a Cheshire grin filled with large teeth. How could Kevin have not seen it coming?

Chuno the Naturalist was here at last.