Besides these ordinary missions there was one other category that earned contribution points, and in no small numbers.
Only those missions were hard and dangerous, and their targets were wanted men of the most vicious kind: criminals, members of dark organisations and the like.
Not one of them was an easy mark. Anyone who was would not be listed here in the first place.
Vance ran his eye down it and went through it roughly, and found that nearly half the missions on it concerned Team Rocket people. Their Branch Chief, Bram, was up there, and several Division Commanders as well; his own superior Sylas had not been exposed and was not listed.
And as a Squad Leader he himself was not well enough known, and had nothing showy to his name, so he was not on it either.
"Just as well. Better to keep your head down."
Vance was satisfied with that. Having gone through the whole board, he skipped straight past the wanted list and looked at some of the everyday missions.
He soon found one for collecting materials, which meant going out into the wild: a batch of medicinal herbs, similar in appearance to ordinary weeds and not easy to find.
But besides the Poké Dollars, this mission carried 10 contribution points.
"I'm going out into the wild anyway. I can pick them while I'm there."
Vance smiled faintly, took out his Pokédex and handed it to the staff member registering the missions.
"I'll take this one. Register it for me, if you would."
"Certainly."
The staff member was a good-looking girl, and there was a flicker of surprise in her eyes when Vance produced a Pokédex; then she handled it for him very politely.
"There you are, sir. You have successfully taken this mission. I wish you a smooth journey."
The girl at the desk handed the Pokédex back, courteous, and added a kind word.
"Mm. Thank you."
Vance smiled and took the Pokédex back.
He looked over a few more and, finding nothing else suitable, left.
By the time he came out of the Pokémon Center it was gone four in the afternoon, which was rather late; in a few hours it would be dark, and if he set out now he would be spending the night in the wild.
Vance thought about it and decided it could wait until tomorrow. A comfortable night's rest first, since after that he might be out in the wild for a good many days — those herbs would not be easy to find.
With nothing else to do he went along to the shop, and found that it was Emery there today and not Ambrose.
"Vance."
Seeing Vance come in, Emery stopped his tapping, got up and greeted him.
"What's got you free enough to come by today?"
"Just back from the Pokémon Center. I've taken a collection mission and I'll do it tomorrow, so I thought I'd sit here for a bit."
"A mission? Why do you have to do missions now?"
Hearing about it, Emery asked, not understanding.
"That means going into how Chief Delaney worked it. Everyone paid up, but some of them went straight to full status and some are on probation and need a thousand contribution points to be confirmed. Presumably they didn't hand over enough."
"That son of a bitch!"
Emery swore. He had not thought well of them before; now he thought worse.
"Vance, why don't we just pull out? Anywhere else would do, and we wouldn't have to swallow this sort of thing."
"No need for now. The Division Commander has given me a mission too — he wants me working my way into the League. So from here on it'll probably be you and Ambrose doing the running. If you think it isn't working, shut it down and do something else."
"Right. The Division Commander gave the two of us orders as well, to support you properly."
"Is that so. That's just as well, then."
Hearing it, Vance nodded and said nothing more.
Arranged that way, their squad was still intact.
"Tomorrow Ambrose and I will go and camp out at the Pokémon Center too, pick up some missions. It'd be a help to you."
Thinking about Vance having to work at getting confirmed, Emery added it.
"Fine, but only take missions that are within what you two can do. I'm in no hurry about the confirmation."
"All right."
............
Deep in dense forest, a fierce battle had just ended; several patches of black smoke had still not cleared from the edge of the clearing.
"Torchic—"
Torchic stood with a foot on each of two Rattata, head raised a little. After a hard fight, he had finally brought the pair of them down.
Two against one, too, and he had won. Now he stood with his head high, waiting for Vance's praise.
Sure enough, once the battle was over, the praise came.
"Torchic—"
Only then did Torchic nod, satisfied, and hop aside, giving the two Rattata up and indicating that Vance could take them into Poké Balls.
But what Vance did next made no sense to him. He did not take the two Rattata in at all; instead he started walking off.
"Torchic, Torchic—"
Torchic called out anxiously, and gestured at the two Rattata by his feet.
He remembered perfectly well what Vance had said before: out in the wild you could catch Pokémon and then turn them into money.
"Hmm. These two Rattata don't look worth much. A Poké Ball alone costs a thousand." Vance hesitated, feeling it did not add up, but seeing the urgency in Torchic's eyes he took out the balls after all and put the two Rattata away.
Earn a little less, then. It was worth it to keep Torchic happy, and it would have been unkind not to take in "the fruits of his labour". The child was still small and wanted encouragement.
On previous trips out Gyarados and Vigoroth had dealt with a few Raticate and Rattata and the like along the way, and none of them had gone into Poké Balls; they had simply been left where they fell.
"I never use up all my Poké Balls on a trip out anyway. It doesn't matter."
Vance said it to himself, and then called Torchic along.
"Torchic—"
Seeing the fruits of his labour taken in, Torchic was thoroughly pleased, and followed after him hopping and skipping.
"Torchic—"
Torchic kept a very convincing watch all around him, the very picture of vigilance. Vance had mentioned that too: stay alert out in the wild.
Torchic remembered it, naturally. His two big brothers were not out here, so guarding the Trainer fell to him, to Torchic.
"Heh—"
Vance smiled slightly and did not disturb Torchic at his work.
Because this was the reason for bringing them out into the wild in the first place. Training was necessary, certainly, but battles in the field were no less so.
"Torchic, Torchic—"
Torchic looked left and looked right, running back and forth, thoroughly interested. It was his first time in the wild and everything was new.
Man and Pokémon walked on through the forest, and before long they met opponents again: Beedrill, which are known as the bullies of the forest.
"Two Beedrill. One at Level 10 and one at 12. Do you want to try them, Torchic? If not, we'll go around."
"Torch— can those two be sold for money?"
Torchic turned his head and asked.
"They can. For more money than those Rattata just now, in fact."
"Torchic—"
At that, Torchic's eyes lit up and he charged straight in.
Two Beedrill, was it? Since when had he, Torchic, been afraid of anything? Get to it, get to it!
Those two Beedrill would only be stepping stones to his own strength, with a little money earned on the side.