> **Name:** Golbat (female)
> **Type:** Flying, Poison
> **Ability:** Inner Focus
> **Aptitude:** Elite
> **Level:** 25 (Intermediate)
> **Moves:** Supersonic, Screech, Absorb, Astonish, Bite, Wing Attack, Confuse Ray, Gust, Quick Attack
The system panel showed the newcomer's data. A level 25 Pokémon.
"Skree-skree—"
The Golbat saw that the Zubat of the cave had vanished without a trace, and that there were marks of a fight where they lived. It let out several piercing cries and fixed hate-filled eyes on the human in front of it.
"A level 25 Golbat. So I've gone and poked their nest."
Vance murmured it, his face serious but not alarmed. With what he could do, even if he could not beat it, it could not hold him either.
This Golbat was a good deal stronger than the Raticate, but only that much.
"Skree—"
The Golbat came at him again, and as it cried, ripple after ripple of energy rose through the air. Supersonic.
"Bang, bang, bang—"
When the Supersonic had passed, the cave shook, cracks opened all over the walls, and small stones came rolling down.
Vance's figure vanished again, moving toward the mouth of the cave.
"Skree—"
Seeing the human about to run, the Golbat was not about to let it go. It beat its wings and gave chase. It meant to kill this human here.
Vance broke out of the dark cave and ran fast through the jungle, a black shape following behind.
"Bang—"
Vance fell back several steps, spun up into a tree and came to a stop on a thick branch.
"Skree—"
Its wings glowing, the Golbat appeared in front of him and brought a Wing Attack straight down at his face — and struck only air.
Vance had already Teleported behind it. He reached out with telekinesis, and huge stones and sharpened branches all flew at it together.
"Skree—"
The Golbat let out another Supersonic from its mouth and destroyed every incoming thing. It shook itself free of the force holding it, slipped clear of Vance and the iron bar at its back, and left his ambush swinging at nothing.
"Hah. There's something to this Golbat after all."
Vance said it once he had opened the distance again. The Golbat in front of him was battle-hardened and quick to react, but the trouble was that his own psychic power was still on the weak side. Handling it was asking too much of him.
"If psychic power won't do it, then I'll use technology."
Vance reached behind him into the spatial pack and drew out a rifle. A few sharp clicks and the weapon was set, its muzzle pointed at where the Golbat was.
Firearms may not do much against a higher-order Pokémon, but against the lower orders they do plenty.
Naturally Vance had practised with them as well, and he was very good, which was another part of what gave him confidence.
"Craaash—"
Several thickly leaved trees came down and the Golbat flew out of the dust, locking onto him again.
By then Vance had his weapon ready. Watching the Golbat come, a smile spread across his face.
"Golbat, times have changed."
"Rat-tat-tat—"
Vance raked it with several bursts, and while he fired he used his psychic power as well to get in the way of its flight.
"Skree—"
The Golbat cried out in pain. It had been hit in several places, and blood sprayed out in small bursts.
Seeing it, Vance stepped up his output. The rifle in his hands did not stop rattling, his mind split two ways at once, firing with one and attacking with his psychic power with the other.
Before long the Golbat was shot down.
"Heh. It's true what they say — past seven metres a gun is faster, and inside seven metres a gun is faster and more accurate. Add my psychic power on top of that and I'm not doing badly at all."
Vance said it with a laugh and walked over. The Golbat on the ground was still struggling, but it was spent, and there was none of its earlier force left.
"Magikarp, go. Give it a couple of slaps across the face."
Vance sent out the Magikarp and said it to him.
The Magikarp flopped forward and swung his tail, and with a few sharp slaps this level 25 Pokémon of Intermediate strength lost its ability to fight, hating every second of it.
It probably never imagined that what beat it would not be a Pokémon anywhere near its own strength, but a Magikarp, the sort of thing nobody looks at twice.
"Golbat defeated. 15 Battle Points awarded."
The system's chime sounded in his ear, and a Poké Ball tore through the air and drew the Golbat in.
Vance picked the ball up and glanced back. The Magikarp looked downcast. As his Trainer, and a psychic besides, he knew perfectly well what the Magikarp was thinking.
"Boss, am I dead weight? It's been this long and I still haven't evolved. Every fight, you're the one out in front."
The Magikarp blew bubbles in the water, his eyes wide and full of a knowing intelligence as he said it.
This Magikarp's eyes were not like an ordinary Magikarp's. There was life and understanding in them.
Magikarp cannot speak, of course. He passed the sense of what he wanted to say into Vance's mind through the link between them.
"Hahaha, you're not dead weight, my friend. Once you've evolved, I'll be the one leaning on you."
"You're certain to evolve. If you can't manage it with everything you've got going for you, who can? Have some faith, Magikarp. The attitude you want is, who else if not me?"
Over the mental link, Vance gave the Magikarp what comfort he could, putting some heart back into him.
The Magikarp looked at the Trainer in front of him, smiling that gentle smile, and his knowing eyes hardened with resolve. He had to evolve, and soon.
Once he had evolved he could help, instead of standing about like this. While he was thinking it, the power in the Magikarp's body began to churn, and a white light flickered faintly out of him.
"Evolve! I'm going to manage it! Who else if not me!"
"Oh? It's going to happen? That fast? My pep talk did some good after all. I'd better find somewhere rich in Water-type energy for this."
On the system's display, the Magikarp's level had come to 19, and his body was moving toward evolution.
Vance took the Magikarp with him at once, heading for somewhere with Water-type energy in plenty, and soon came to a river.
The Magikarp went in with a splash and drove into the water, and the Water-type energy around him began to gather in.
A Water-type Pokémon does better evolving in water. There is something to be gained from it, and Vance knew that much as common sense.
"Splash—"
The Magikarp leapt clear of the river, higher and higher each time, the white light around him growing thicker. But something still felt short of it. He had not evolved.
"Then let me lend you a hand. Magikarp, catch."
Vance took out the Rare Candy the system had given him as a reward and threw it to him.
> **Item:** Rare Candy
> **Effect:** A candy with a marvellous power in it. Raises any Pokémon below level 70 by one level.
The Magikarp understood at once and swallowed the Rare Candy Vance had thrown. The next moment the force around him surged up by a great stride, broke clean through the barrier, and his body gave off the light of evolution.
The Magikarp had begun to evolve!
Water-type energy came pouring in from all around and wrapped about the Magikarp at the centre of it, and out of the hazy ball of light came a powerful presence, one that carried the savage weight of the Gyarados line.
In the river, many of the weaker Pokémon sensed it and fled at once without daring to linger, and even the stronger ones would not come near, only watching from a distance with wary faces.
That saved Vance some trouble. He did not have to worry about them attacking and interfering with the evolution.
Inside the ball of light a shape was growing longer and longer, taking the form of a dragon, some seven metres tall.
"Rooaar—"
A roar full of menace rang out all around, the light drew in, and a Gyarados with a savage face was revealed.
"It worked."
Vance's heart lifted at the sight of the fully evolved Gyarados, and then he thought of something and the smile faded.
Just then, the Gyarados turned its eyes on him.