"Good. That's a respectable fighting force already."
Looking at the ground Gyarados had made of the place, Vance nodded, satisfied.
Training this one was naturally not for the sake of the match with Vigoroth but to build strength; the month's appointment with Vigoroth was, as Vance saw it, no more than a bit of sparring for fun.
"Clunk, clunk—"
Two Poké Balls flew out and drew the two Ursaring in, and then he picked them up and put them away.
The system panel showed it too: Battle Points +32, +30.
These two Ursaring were on the strong side, so the points the system gave were higher.
Once that was tidied away and Gyarados's injuries seen to, man and Pokémon set off again to look for their next opponent.
A few hours later a dense mass of Water-type energy rose into the sky, and under the influence of that power a fine rain began to fall all around.
"Pitter-patter—"
In the drizzle, Gyarados was squared off against a Persian.
"Meeowr—"
The Persian held both forepaws out in front of it, its tail rising, yowling from its throat in a voice that grated on the ear.
All at once the Persian dissolved into an afterimage. It had moved, striking first, and when it appeared again it was already on top of Gyarados.
Its sharp claws glittered cold as they tore across Gyarados's body, ripping through scales and into flesh and sending blood spattering out.
"Rooar—"
Coils of water circled round and closed the two of them in, and by then it was too late for the Persian to withdraw. Gyarados smiled a savage smile, and with all that water around him to help, the current ran faster and faster and then froze in an instant, the great moving wall of water becoming a pillar of ice.
"Boom—"
The next moment the pillar of ice blew apart from within, and the Persian's body came flying out backwards, gravely hurt. It let out one mewl and then went still.
"There's another one. Careful."
Vance's warning came at his ear, and Gyarados turned his head, his eyes fixed on one direction.
A Pinsir had crept up over there and was watching hungrily from the side.
> **Name:** Pinsir (male)
> **Type:** Bug
> **Ability:** Mold Breaker
> **Aptitude:** Gym-class
> **Level:** 37
> **Moves:** Vice Grip, Focus Energy, Bind, Seismic Toss, Harden, Revenge, Brick Break, X-Scissor, Cut, Double Team, Protect, Thief, Focus Blast, Stone Edge
That was the Pinsir's data as the system panel displayed it — an energy level nine levels above Gyarados, whose own energy level had risen to 28 over these past days.
"Rooar—"
Gyarados attacked at once. The gap in energy level was a little wide, but he had just beaten the Persian and was in fine condition, and the pain of the wounds the Persian had left on him only roused his savagery further.
"So a real opponent has finally turned up. Now I can use everything I've got." Gyarados roared it out, his eyes beginning to redden, and used Outrage immediately, calling up every scrap of power inside him.
The black clouds overhead thickened and the rain came down harder.
Gyarados struck first, his tail sweeping down in a broad arc trailing water behind it.
The Pinsir blocked with both arms and held that Aqua Tail off, then beat the two wings on its back, shifted its position, and landed a Brick Break on Gyarados.
Gyarados turned the movement into a coil, meaning to trap the thing in his own body and follow it with a Crunch, but the Pinsir dodged out fast.
Gyarados went back to the same trick. The wall of water rolled up again and Whirlpool rose a second time.
The Pinsir realised its danger too and flew hard backwards, driving at the spinning water by brute force; it took two charges before it broke through the Whirlpool and came out the other side.
Gyarados narrowed his crimson eyes, and the rolling water turned abruptly to ice, spike after spike of it carried along on the spinning force to close off the Pinsir's line of retreat.
Several of them struck home one after another, catching the Pinsir's wings and bringing it down.
Gyarados's face lit up at the sight. Starlight gathered at his mouth, and the next moment Hyper Beam came blasting out, straight to its mark, precisely placed.
"Boom—"
Black smoke rose from the seat of the explosion. Gyarados stayed where he was for a few seconds to recover, and during those seconds the Pinsir came flying out of the smoke in a sorry state, its aura considerably diminished.
Seeing Gyarados with his eyes red and the look of a thing gone mad, the Pinsir lost its nerve and made to run.
Pokémon that live in the wild understand very well how dangerous their position is once they are badly hurt.
By now it no longer wanted to fight. This Gyarados, which had looked so much weaker than it, turned out to have that kind of power once it let go, and the Pinsir did not want to go on.
"Rooar—"
But Gyarados was not going to give it up so easily. He charged in again, and the two of them closed and fought on, locked together with nothing to choose between them.
Vance stood well back outside the fight, watching quietly and putting in a word of direction now and then.
"Boom, boom, boom—"
Move crashed into move with terrible force, and after a long and furious battle it finally resolved: Gyarados had won.
Yes — Gyarados had won. Nine levels up, and he had beaten this Pinsir here. Though after the win Gyarados was in a poor way himself, swaying on his feet.
"Heh heh. I won."
Gyarados forced a cheer out through the pain of his whole body, pulled at his wounds doing it, and bared his teeth in a wince.
*If I can take down an opponent like this, one little Vigoroth can be put in his place with one hand.* Gyarados thought it happily.
Vance had kept stressing that Vigoroth was a partner and not an enemy, but Gyarados still wanted to beat him and settle the question of who was first in the team.
He, Gyarados, held the place of Vance's foremost general, and it was not to be shaken.
Vance finished dressing Gyarados's wounds, fed him a great deal of food, found a place for him to rest and recover a while, and then returned him to his Poké Ball.
Gyarados was in no condition to fight any more that day, so Vance turned back towards the city and headed home.
He took out an off-road motorcycle, twisted the throttle, and tore through the forest at speed.
Psychic power could be used to cover ground, but it was too wasteful and it drained him. For ordinary travel with nothing going wrong, it was better to cover ground with equipment.
"Vrooom—"
The motorcycle ran straight on, and the wind of its passing set the trees and grass shaking on both sides.
Two heads came up out of a clump of bushes.
"Hey, that looks like a kid. Awfully young."
The shorter of the two men said it.
"That's a gift delivered to the door. Let's do it. There's nobody out here at all."
His companion beside him frowned slightly, apparently hesitating.
"Come on, what's to be afraid of? The two of us together could get away from an Elite-class Pokémon. Are we going to be scared of this? The wind blew that boy's face-cloth up just now and I saw him properly — he's a little brat. Probably just started out in the trade. Old hands like us, scared?"
Seeing his partner still turning it over, the man pressed him again.
Because of that partner's caution the two of them had not had a job in a long while, and now here was a target as good as this. How could they let it go?
"All right. We'll do it!"
That settled it. The man's eyes hardened and he decided to go through with this one.
"Heh heh. That's more like it."
Vance rode on, and his excellent handling kept the machine both fast and steady.
Then he frowned. Behind him came the sound of something tearing the air, and several attacks with it, and their target was him.
"Thud, thud, thud—"
A few Air Cutters slashed across the road ahead of him and brought him to a halt.
"Ha ha ha."
Two men with their faces hidden came out of the undergrowth at the side, walking towards him and laughing loudly.