Well, well. I'm quite surprised at myself - I admit I had difficulty figuring out what would happen. But I decided to let the characters tell me, and I think they came up with something pretty good. Philosophical, perhaps too much for some readers, but if you've stuck with me this long I'm sure you're used to my crazy monsters by now.

Here you are. Chapter Forty-One.

"What time is it now?"

"Half past ten."

"So why are we still here? We should be getting the hell away right now, thanks to you, Slick. What are we doing sitting around and waiting for that psycho to show up?"

Kyle was very, very mad, just as Kevin thought he'd be. It was hardly unexpected; hell, if Kyle had made a deal with Chuno, Kevin would be furious too. He was just really tired of pissing his brother off. He did enough of that back when they were kids.

It didn't help that Kari had suddenly become incredibly moody and didn't want to speak to either one of them for an indefinite amount of time. Kyle probably blamed him for that, too. So now they were in Lana's kitchen, having an argument, while the rest of the house's occupants quietly decided against interfering. There was no doubt in Kevin's mind that if they did, Kyle would be even angrier.

His brother had already gone and raided the refrigerator, took out the large bottle of apple juice there, and downed its entire contents in the space of five minutes, after all.

"Look," Kevin tried saying, though it was unlikely anything would get through. "I made a deal. We break the deal, and he's going to be mad. And we've taken him before, haven't we? Just the other day? I didn't even get a scratch from that."

Kyle laughed, his tone making it clear that Kevin was walking on thin ice. "You call that taking him? Kevin, that fight was only a few minutes long because the police showed up. A regular fight with him is at least an hour or two longer than that."

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "How can anyone fight for that long?"

His brother frowned and began to twirl the glass he used for his apple juice on the small kitchen table. "Well… A good chunk of it is dodging around. But he's very good at keeping up and chasing you. Basically, he likes playing with his food." He stopped the glass.

"I see," said Kevin.

"Great. So let's go, then, okay?" Oy vey, who was the hasty one now?

Kevin shook his head. "I'm not running away from this."

Kyle snorted. "Oh, so you're being a hero now? I'm not kidding, Kev. He'll kill you."

He knew that. "Kyle, can I ask you something?"

"Mm?" said Kyle, eyes half closed. Okay, now he was just being a jerk.

"How do you usually battle Chuno?" Kevin didn't get to see much of what was happening on his brother's end of the fight…

"What do you mean?" Kyle asked. "The same way I battle everyone else, of course. What other way would I use?"

For a moment, Kevin stared, dumbstruck. No way… that was a joke, right? Kyle had to have some sort of other strategy, he was The Shade! The famous, amazing Monferno who some seemed to fear, et cetera et cetera. Even Chikoro would know that his answer was stupid…

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Kyle snapped.

Oh, Arceus. He was serious. "Kyle… that is the most naïve thing I've ever heard you say!" Kevin found himself saying. How was this possible? The other Shades surely would have taught him how to battle properly, right?

Kyle glared. "What? How is that naïve? I beat you by battling the same way I always do, didn't I?"

"That was a fluke!" Kevin said, banging his fist on the table. "And this proves it! Chicky was right when he said you rely on speed too much, that's the only thing you do!"

He folded his arms. "That's not true—"

"Thunder Wave," Kevin said.

"Huh?"

"That's what he uses first. Thunder Wave. To cut your speed." Kevin's eyes were intent; the gears in his mind turning faster than usual. Oh, it was all so simple!

Kyle's eyes narrowed. "Yes, he usually tries that, but I learned how to dodge it, so—"

"Shock Wave," Kevin cut in, "because it never misses. And Aerial Ace can't counter it, unlike how it can counter itself. Right?"

Kyle said nothing.

"I'm right. He chases you down with a move that will always hit, and then, when you're all tired and worn out, that's when he tries to kill you. It's the simplest strategy in the book, but it seems to work on you better than anything else. That's it. Arceus, you are so bad at battling!" Kevin laughed a little in spite of himself. He hardly believed it.

The Shade harboured a glare that appeared intense enough to burn something just by looking at it. "Oh? If I'm so bad at battling, then what's your idea of a good strategy?"

Kevin grinned, shaking his head. "Earthquake. That's all we need."

Looking incredulous, Kyle said, "I doubt something as predictable as that will work at all."

"Well, obviously we have to do it in a way that will surprise him," said Kevin, waving a hand. "But I know first hand that one of Kari's Earthquakes knocks him out in one hit. So if we distract him for a while, and get an opening for her—"

"Absolutely not," Kyle said sternly. "You are not involving Kari in this."

"She's already involved in this whether you like it or not," said Kevin. "And for your information, Chuno wants to kill her as much as he wants to kill you. Whether she fights with us or sits quietly doesn't change a thing about that."

The sweater-clad Monferno groaned. "You're starting to sound exactly like her," he remarked.

Pfft. Not really. Kevin just had a better argument this time around. After years and years of being an idiot, he'd finally gained some sense… or so he thought. He didn't really know (not that he knew much as of recent), but it almost felt natural to come up with this battle plan.

Maybe he'd just gone and grown up.

Kevin sighed, and looked his brother in the eye. "I know you're in love with her. And I know you don't want to see her get hurt. Especially not by Chuno."

Kyle blinked.

"But you know… she's not helpless. Quite the opposite, actually. I think Kari is the strongest person I've ever met." He grinned. "She can open her own windows now."

Dropping his gaze, Kyle turned his line of sight to the glass on the table. "…So you're saying she doesn't need me?"

"No. I'm saying there's no need for this whole overprotective thing you're doing. She's not a baby. Hell, she's older than the both of us." Kevin got up. "I think we both need to remember that," he said.

He then left the kitchen, feeling pretty strange. Then again, that was all he was feeling lately. Strange.

Hopefully strange was a good thing, for once.

It was quarter past eleven. Nobody was sleeping.

Kevin was currently lounging around in an armchair in the living room. He had been thinking intently about the battle to come when Lana, of all people, gave a small cough and snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned to her in surprise; he couldn't remember the last time they'd exchanged words. Snowpoint City, maybe? Yeesh.

Staring at the girl in the pink heart shirt, he frowned. "Um… yeah?"

"My… my mom wants to know when you'll be out of our house," she said, her voice seemingly afraid of him. That was weird, she'd been pretty comfortable before. Maybe she was worried he'd be angry or something.

After his thoughts processed her actual question instead of her behaviour, he replied, "Uh, dunno. Soon-ish? Kyle won't want to stay for long, at least." He blinked.

Lana tapped her feet on the ground in a fidgety manner. "Is Kari going with you?"

Um. Kevin wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Maybe. I'd have to ask her."

Sighing, the girl slumped down into another chair and turned to face the wall. "I bet she'll say yes. And I can't do anything about it, can I?"

Whoa, where did this come from? Kevin thought Lana got the fact that there was some pretty serious personal business going on and she shouldn't be interfering. And yet, here she was, being all dramatic about Kari leaving with him. Why the heck did she care, anyway?

She frowned. "I can tell by the look on your face that you think I'm being a dumb human trainer. Well, I think I have a right to be upset, okay?"

Kevin frowned as well. "And why's that?" he asked, his liking for the trainer slipping.

"All I wanted was to be a Pokémon trainer! And then I had to go and trade for you," she said bitterly. Oh, wow. Now that was just feeding the flames.

"I'm sorry, do you really despise me for some reason? I apologize for being such a misfortune for you—"

"You ruined everything!" she shouted. "You told me I sucked at battles, and told me the 'right' way to do it. Then you go and take the entire team out for training and leave me behind, 'cause you're the better trainer or whatever! And then, when it was time for a gym, you didn't let me do a thing! The leaders gave the badges to you, not me!"

He narrowed his eyes. "Because we needed to get to the Pokémon League as soon as possible—"

"You needed to get to the Pokémon League! Those were my Pokémon!" Lana cried, tears falling down her face. "Don't you understand? You pretty much stole my starter, there's no way she'll go on a journey with me now, and then she made me lose my Buneary. And Chikoro thinks you're his trainer! I hate you!"

Lana was crying hard, her face was red and her eyes were puffy. Clearly, she had held this in for a long time, and only now let it out. And Kevin was feeling like a really big jerk. Every single thing she was saying was true.

Sniffing, Lana glared at him. "I'm leaving tomorrow. I'm going to Kanto," she said. "And I'm taking the three Pokémon I have left with me. Maybe I'll be able to actually win my badges this time. When I wake up, I don't want to see you, your brother, or her ever again, you hear me?"

Kevin couldn't manage to choke out any words, so instead he did the only thing he could: nod. Lana got up with a huff, turned around, and stomped upstairs, presumably to her bedroom, her black hair swishing behind her. She didn't once look back.

Kevin did not feel very good after that.

Eleven fifty.

Chikoro peered out the living room window, his breath fogging up the glass a little but not impeding his vision. "He's not here yet."

Kevin was getting a little antsy. Kari still refused to talk to him, which gave him very little time to share the nearly nonexistent attack strategy he was planning for Chuno with her. Kyle was being a jerk too, and was probably still in the kitchen staring at his stupid cup. The only one who bothered to help him was Chikoro, and the kid wasn't exactly the greatest at it. All he did was inform him every two seconds about the status outside.

The Chikorita turned his head to face Kevin. "What if he gets cold feet?"

"If he doesn't show, you mean?" Kevin asked, absentmindedly. He was pacing sporadically, stopping every few seconds to fidget in some other way. He was kind of getting sick of himself, too.

"No, I mean what if the snow freezes his toes. Of course I mean that," said Chikoro, narrowing his eyes and turning back to his self-appointed lookout duties.

"I doubt that'll happen. He's the one who picked the time, after all. I'll bet he's counting the seconds," Kevin himself was looking at the clock more often than ever, and only ten minutes – well, probably nine now – was not enough at all.

Chikoro sighed. "What do you think he's going to do to you guys?"

Kevin had no answer for that.

"…Did you think any of this through at all?"

"Just shut up," snapped Kevin, stopping his pacing for good. He held his head in his hand, trying to reduce the headache that had just materialized from the millions of possibilities. Chuno could do anything, anything, and the rat probably knew it too. It was his last chance, or so he claimed, so he'd most likely go all out. Kevin pictured everything from a single knife in Chuno's paw to him riding in a tank, decked out with turrets and stuff.

…Which was an incredibly funny image, but Kevin couldn't bring himself to laugh right now.

"I'm just trying to get a sense of what's going to happen," Chikoro said. He flipped his leaf to the other side of his face. "But it sounds to me like this is going to be another talking battle. And I'm sorry to tell you, Slickky, but you can't talk very well."

Kevin grunted. "I know, I know, I'm bad at that. But we're not going to do that, Chicky. I already talked with him about all that stuff. Doing it again would be pointless repetition."

"But are you really going to fight him?" Chikoro asked.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Kevin said.

Chikoro slumped. "Because it seems stupid to end this all with a fight. You've always been talking and talking, heck, you've only battled him for two minutes before. Wouldn't make more sense to sit down and debate about everything?"

The kid could just come up with the weirdest stuff to say at the weirdest of times, in Kevin's opinion. "Why do you think that will work, Chikoro?"

"I bet you a hundred bucks," said the Chikorita, "that your brother never asked Chuno to discuss their difference of opinions."

"Because he's a psycho?" said Kevin. "Kyle's hardly a good speaker, either. It may seem like it at first, but the reality is that he's basing arguments on a freakin' picture book and Chuno is pretty damn smart. Besides, Chuno is the one who initiated this war between him and Kyle, and if he felt it was better to attempt to kill him than to talk, I really doubt talking will work. It hasn't worked the last few times, at any rate."

Chikoro frowned. "So you're going to kill him first," He didn't even make it sound like a question.

"Are you not the one who suggested we do that?" This was unbelievable. "Chikoro, he insulted your family, harassed Kari and I, and after all this… are you defending him?"

"No!" shouted Chikoro. "I get that he's an asshole and a crazy lunatic and murderous and everything! But Slickky, you guys are too! All I can see is a bunch of crazy people tearing at each others' throats and I really want to be on your side, because I know you're probably really good people – but you're just insane!"

Kevin stared at him. "Wha—"

"You're in love with a reptile that is ten years older than you, your dad turned into a human, you are part human, your brother wears clothes… look me in the eye and tell me that all that can be true and you aren't crazy." Chikoro's eyes were wide, and he looked borderline insane himself.

Deciding to grant the Chikorita his wish, as he was perfectly fine thank you very much, Kevin bore his eyes into the nine-year-old's and said, quite clearly, "All of that is true, and I am not crazy."

Chikoro shook his head. "And that's the saddest part. You don't even realize it."

"Shut up, kid," said Kyle. Kevin turned to the small hallway in which his brother stood. He was leaning on the wall, apparently fatigued since he looked nearly asleep. "Everyone can hear you."

The Chikorita, suddenly embarrassed, let out a cry of surprise. "Uh— sorry?"

Kyle shook his head. "Just let me talk to my brother. All right?"

Though he didn't look thrilled with the idea, Chikoro quickly left, scurrying out of the living room as fast as he could. A tired Kyle took his place at the window, but instead of looking out of it, he faced Kevin instead.

Wasting no time, Kyle rested his chin on his hand and frowned. "The kid said you loved Kari."

Oh for the love of— of all the things Kyle had to talk about right at that moment, it just had to be that, didn't it? Kevin couldn't believe everyone today. They were all bringing up these inane things in conversation that could do well to wait until tomorrow or the next day or whenever they could spare a few minutes. But no. Now was the absolute most important time to take a second and discuss everything Kevin did, and of course everyone had to bring up everything they didn't like, and—

"You said it was true," Kyle said.

…Wait. When did he say— oh. Well.

"Without any hesitation, too. Huh."

Damn it.

"I guess we have more in common than I thought," said Kyle.

Damn it to high heaven.

"…Aren't you going to say anything?"

"No."

"Wow. That's just too funny—"

There was a sudden, loud scream, cutting Kyle off and causing both brothers to jump from surprise. Thinking quickly, Kevin looked at the clock.

But of course. It was twelve o' one.

Kevin ran to the backyard, expecting to see Chuno there holding Kari at gunpoint or something warranting a scream. Kyle followed two steps behind, almost shoving Kevin just to get there quicker. But when they slammed open the screen door and saw nothing but an empty-handed rat, they couldn't help but feel like Kari was overreacting, if only a little. Chuno didn't even have his cloak and hat.

"Oh, great. You just had to sneak around through the back, didn't you?" snarled Kevin, getting an increasing urge to pound the living daylights out of the Naturalist.

Chuno shrugged. "I knocked."

"You did not!" said Kevin.

"It's not my fault you couldn't hear it over the little brat's whining. Weren't you checking the time, anyway?" The rat's voice had gone back to its whimsical tone, though Kevin had a feeling it wouldn't stay like that for very long.

Kyle pushed his way in front of Kevin and lit his fists on fire. "So what's it gonna be this time? Have you got another gun? Maybe that Machoke friend of yours?"

Chuno smiled. "Nope."

Kari, who had so far been backed up cautiously, took an assertive tone as well. "Then what the hell are you going to do?"

Deviously, the rat kicked the dirt, as if he were bored. "Mm. I've thought about that for a while. It was pretty hard, coming up with something. This is supposed to be my last stand, right? So I have to go out with a bang. It's not any fun if I don't.

"You two – Shady and Miss Kari, that is – I wanted to make you suffer as much as possible. So I thought and I thought, but nothing I could think of seemed good enough. They all seemed anticlimactic, you could say. It wouldn't do me justice if I merely shot you, or had Jacques rip you apart. I tried those things in the past, they didn't work, and they wouldn't have been personal enough, I guess. At least not for my tastes.

"They didn't have rhyme or reason. See, I think death makes its impact most when it's ironic, and the poor soul is hoist by his own petard. And that's what I want; something that will last, and make everyone who witnesses it to say, 'Oh, that's what ended up killing him'.

"So then I thought of what exactly is most important to the two of you, and I think in the end, it's probably each other, and not your political opinions. I've seen you both, and how you've been acting, and it really amazes me that after all this time and all this pain, you both still feel that way. That's truly incredible, especially considering the circumstances.

"And then I realized that no matter what I do or how hard I try… I can't cause you two any more pain than that which you've inflicted upon yourselves. I will never even come close to tearing you up physically the way you've already been torn emotionally. I will never, ever break you down the way you're destroying yourselves.

"So what am I going to do?" Chuno snickered, then sat down on the ground, his tail swaying playfully. "I am going to sit here, defenseless, and I am going to let you kill me."

Nobody moved a muscle. Kevin doubted anyone could. It was just such a… drastic decision that Chuno came to, and even if he explained, it hardly made any sense. What, so he couldn't come up with any ideas, and just gave up? That couldn't be it… there had to be more to it…

"There once were Pokémon that became very close to humans," Chuno recited, in human, his tail still swaying. "There once were humans and Pokémon that ate together at the same table. It was a time when there existed no differences to distinguish the two. I think I finally understand what that means."

Kevin had no idea what was going on.

"Pokémon and humans are quite alike, in many ways. Most have similar thought processes, roughly equal intelligence, and neither creature has ever wanted to be the other. But then, a human and a Monferno fell in love, and they decided to have children. And, unknowingly, they created a tragic species that would never truly belong on either side."

Chuno nodded. "One of them was your father, who wanted nothing more than to be human. Now, I'm going to take a wild guess and say the other one – your uncle or whatever, he wanted to be a Pokémon. They grew up, and your father decided to make a machine that would make him what he wanted to be.

"But then I suppose he happened to meet your mother, whoever she may be, and fell in love with her. And he gave up his own ambitions for her, and then they had kids, and they ended up making a species even more tragic than the first.

"You brothers are so close. If it weren't for the odd instincts and Miss Kari, I think you'd be regular Pokémon. But you're not. You grew up in a way that twisted you and turned you into these people that hold on to a single ideal, and in turn you ended up twisting me. Look what I've become. I used to be a little boy who couldn't feel it when he bled, and now I'm a monster. I barely even deserve my name."

Chuno laughed. "Have I not become a human in doing this? The very creature I never wanted to stoop to? I command a team, I don their clothes, I speak their language, to hell with naturalism; I'm just another Pokémon trainer. Why have you not killed me yet?"

There was silence. Kevin took a glance at his brother. Kyle's hands were no longer burning, but dropped to his sides. He had a blank look on his face, and Kevin felt he probably shared his expression. Kari appeared to be disturbingly intrigued, like she wanted to say something but found it all just too bizarre to even begin to comprehend.

"I have a feeling," whispered Chuno, still smiling, "that you can't. One of you is barely an adult who has given up the chance already in the past once before – and the other is just a boy. You don't have the willpower to do it. Not without staining your conscience. Can the same be said for Miss Kari?"

It was now that Kari finally found her voice. "What?"

Chuno focused his gaze on her. "Do you have the will to commit justifiable homicide, right here, tonight? …No. You can't do it either. Oh lord. I may never pay for what I've done."

Cackling madly, Chuno sat there. Kevin, nor Kyle, nor Kari did a thing. Because for once, Chuno was right. None of them could do it. No matter how hard they tried.

Then, quite suddenly, in the space of a second, a small purple and white sphere fell down from the sky and hit Chuno on the head. Before the Raichu could comprehend what was happening, he was transformed into red light and sucked into the interior of the ball. The ball wiggled violently.

Kevin stared at it.

It wiggled again. Then a third time. And after that, there was a click, and then nothing.

Chuno was caught.

The Master Ball sat there, in his place, completely still. Slowly, Kevin looked up, trying to find the source of where it came from. He looked to the house, and his mouth opened at what he saw.

He expected, if anyone, his father. Because that would make the most sense. But his father was not watching them in Lana's house's upper story window. Instead, it was a pouting, little brat, no more than the age of nine. Chikoro the Chikorita had thrown the Master Ball.

And that was just too much to believe.