"Serperior, do you want to battle?" Carl asked, turning to Serperior first. She responded with an expression that said very clearly she was only here to keep him company while he ran errands. Carl sighed and looked over at Flutter Mane instead.
"Fu! (Then leave it to me!)" Flutter Mane was still in a good mood from her ice cream, and Carl quietly said a small prayer for Nemona's Pokémon.
Most of the time, Flutter Mane acted like nothing more than an oversized, clingy Misdreavus. But when she got serious, she was the one Pokémon on Carl's team capable of challenging Urshifu for the top spot. Once Flutter Mane went into battle mode, she had a way of showing opponents exactly what it meant to face a Paradox Pokémon.
The battle that followed could be summed up in a few words: in they went, down they went.
It ended faster than Arven had expected. He watched Flutter Mane dismantle Nemona's six Pokémon one by one like it was nothing, and his jaw nearly hit the floor.
"Does that mean Carl's already at Elite Four level?" Arven muttered to himself, running the numbers. "If he is... would he be strong enough to go with me into that place?"
He shook his head, forcing the thought out. No. That's my problem. I'm not dragging him into it.
Arven was still doing that when Carl glanced over at him, then turned his attention back to the battle court. On the far side, Nemona was crouching down, cradling her Fidough, who had crumpled after being hit by Flutter Mane's Disarming Voice.
Carl let out a quiet sigh. "Should've brought Urshifu."
As Carl's starter Pokémon, Urshifu was probably the most experienced at what you might call "instructional battles." In team sparring, Urshifu always knew exactly how much to hold back -- enough to leave the opponent standing, never enough to embarrass them the way Flutter Mane just had.
Though now that he thought about it -- had Urshifu developed that habit on his own without Carl noticing? That was actually kind of impressive.
Before Arven could finish psyching himself up to go console the loser, Nemona sprang to her feet. Her eyes were bright and completely undimmed. She looked straight at Carl: "I knew it! You really are as strong as I thought!"
Arven put his foot back down. Right, sorry. I guess I'm the only one who can't relate to you geniuses.
"Please stop calling me 'big bro'!" Carl was screaming internally, though on the outside he maintained a perfectly composed adult expression. "Ahem. Nemona -- just call me Carl. Or 'Carl' like Arven does is fine too."
"Got it, Carl." Nemona adjusted immediately without missing a beat. Carl felt genuinely relieved for a second, then followed up: "Don't you want to get your Pokémon healed? Flutter Mane was holding back, but if you leave them too long without treatment, they might end up with some lingering damage."
"Going now!" Nemona was up and off before she'd finished the sentence, Fidough tucked under one arm as she jogged toward the Pokémon Center.
Arven watched her go, then looked back at Carl with an oddly focused expression. "Wait -- she's actually slow? Like, physically?"
"Why are you asking me?" Carl pointed at himself. "Today's my first day in Paldea."
"...Fair point." Arven scratched his head. Something felt off about his brain today. Maybe it was all the sandwiches -- he'd been living on them for days.
The small detour broke the ice between them. With the awkward tension gone, Arven relaxed enough to nod down at Mabosstiff, who was lying at his feet. "This is Mabosstiff. He's been with me since he was a Maschiff, ever since I was little."
He trailed off. Something crossed his face briefly.
It didn't take a lot of reading between the lines. Arven was a genuinely easy person to read -- whatever he was feeling usually showed up on his face without much delay.
"Sounds like he means a lot to you." Carl reached over and gave Arven a casual ruffle on the head with one hand. "Before you make any big decisions, think about what Mabosstiff would want. If you ever end up doing something dangerous, he's going to put himself in front of you. You know that, right?"
"You don't want Mabosstiff getting hurt on your behalf, do you?"
The moment the words landed, Arven felt his chest tighten. Mabosstiff getting hurt because of him -- the thought alone was enough.
Carl watched the look on Arven's face and quietly noted it. He'd said what needed to be said. If Arven still walked into Area Zero with Mabosstiff after this, there wasn't much more Carl could do.
"Thanks, Carl." Arven looked up, and his voice was steadier than Carl expected. "I'm going to remember that."
Carl let it rest and changed the subject. "Come on. I need to use the Pokémon Center's PC transfer system to bring over the Pokémon I left back in Sinnoh."
"PC transfer?" Arven repeated, the phrase slightly foreign to him. He understood what it meant from context, but... "Wait, you don't have a Rotom Phone?"
As far as Arven was concerned, a Rotom Phone was basically standard equipment for any trainer. Who still used the old PC system?
Carl paused. The Rotom Phone was already out?
Looking back, he'd spent most of his journey either deep in the wilderness training with his Pokémon or making quick supply runs in the nearest town. He knew the Rotom Phone was a thing in Scarlet and Violet, but he hadn't actually kept up with what was available out in the real world.
So the old-timer was him all along. Carl's expression twitched slightly. "I'll be straight with you -- I've spent most of my time training outdoors with my Pokémon. I knew the Rotom Phone existed as a concept, but I genuinely had no idea it was already on the market."
"...What?" Arven's brain stalled out. You knew it existed as a concept but didn't know it was out? Also -- what kind of person spent most of their time training outdoors in the wilderness? Was Carl another one like Nemona?
"Don't worry about the details. The point is, I don't currently have one." Carl paused, then thought of a certain chatty appliance back at the farmhouse. "Arven -- if I wanted to get a Rotom Phone, can I supply my own Rotom?"
Arven went quiet for a moment. Supply your own Rotom? Each new thing Carl said made him seem more and more like someone operating on a completely different level -- from every possible angle.
He was just about to give some polite non-answer along the lines of "Ha, I'd think that's not normally how it works," when a voice came from directly behind both of them.
"You can, actually."
Nemona. Neither of them had heard her coming.
Arven: "..."