Having broken through to Advanced Psychic, Vance felt a great deal surer of himself; after all, his fighting strength now came to that of a Gym-class Pokémon.
And a Gym-class existence counts as an expert anywhere — and he was a human Psychic besides, which made him rarer still.
If Vance had wanted to, he could have found himself a city and founded a small family, or taken a post as a Gym Leader and become a power in a city of his own.
Whatever he chose to do, he had a certain security behind him now.
Vance did not let it go to his head, though. He settled down instead, went on raising his Pokémon, and let himself develop slowly as well.
Gym-class Psychics are rare, but they are not unheard of, and stronger ones exist too — particularly inside Team Rocket and the League, which with years of depth behind them must certainly have produced a good many experts, who simply keep out of sight in the ordinary way of things.
Vance remembered that Sabrina, the Gym Leader of the psychic Gym in Saffron City, was a Psychic of terrifying strength, able to turn a person into a rag doll; her power had reached an extremely deep level.
With the Shiftry dealt with, Vance took his Pokémon and went on searching through the mountains and forests.
On the Aerodactyl's back, hands clasped behind him, Vance looked down and felt for the presences below him as well, and a search that efficient soon turned up an opponent.
Another Elite-class Pokémon.
Vance stayed at the back with the Torchic again, watching quietly and taking no part, and let the Gyarados and the other two take the field.
With Vance behind them, the three of them had nothing to worry about and each went all out against this Elite-class opponent.
About half an hour later, at the cost of serious injury to the Gyarados and light injuries to the Vigoroth and the Aerodactyl, they brought the Elite-class opponent down.
Vance treated them, returned them to their Poké Balls to rest, and took the Torchic with him through the forest to find opponents for him.
A suitable opponent turned up quickly, and he sent the Torchic in.
The Torchic did well, too — more wins than losses, and the few losses came of Vance picking opponents who were too strong, of Intermediate strength, and putting a level 10 Torchic in against them.
The Torchic did himself credit as well: he lost, but he left the other side badly hurt, so the losses were not too heavy.
And so three days passed.
For those three days Vance ranged all over the place with his Pokémon, stopping to fight whenever a suitable Pokémon turned up, tempering them in battle.
With plentiful food and hard fighting, the progress the four of them made was visible to the eye.
The Torchic broke through to level 14 and mastered several new moves, the Vigoroth broke through to level 34, and the Aerodactyl gained a level and reached 36.
The Gyarados, meanwhile, was stuck at the threshold of Advanced strength — and close to breaking through it.
That day, in a broad, clear stream, the Gyarados lay in the water, his presence climbing higher and higher, the energy in the air around him drawn toward him by some force.
"Boom—"
Several columns of water burst up from the surface and the Gyarados came leaping out of the water, delight all over his face; from the presence coming off him, he had entered the ranks of Advanced strength. The breakthrough had succeeded.
> **Name:** Gyarados (male)
> **Ability:** Moxie
> **Aptitude:** Elite-Four-class
> **Level:** 31
> **Moves:** Bite, Tackle, Leer, Twister, Flail, Whirlpool, Ice Fang, Brine, Dragon Dance, Scary Face, Waterfall, Hyper Beam, Outrage, Water Pulse, Dragon Tail, Blizzard, Ice Beam, Rain Dance, Hydro Pump, Protect, Earthquake, Dragon Pulse
"The Gyarados has broken through to Advanced as well."
Vance said happily. With the Gyarados through to Advanced, his fighting strength would rise a great deal with it.
The Pokémon all had good aptitudes, and with an Advanced-class Breeder like him seeing to them, nutrition and fighting both attended to, it was hardly surprising that they gained strength this fast.
Given the aptitudes of the Vigoroth and the other two, it would have been strange if their progress had been slow under conditions like these.
At the same time, the Blood Axe Hunters were out searching everywhere for traces of the Aerodactyl; days of climbing over hills and ridges had left the men numb.
"Boss Z, why don't we give it up? It's been days and we still haven't found it. There's no hope for this Aerodactyl."
one of the band suggested; after so many days of running about with nothing to show for it, their spirit was nearly worn away.
Hunter Z stood quietly, looking at the Mightyena at his feet.
A Mightyena has a very keen nose, and his had helped him track down no small amount of quarry; he thought a great deal of the Mightyena.
But over these last days the Mightyena's performance had left something to be desired: at every spot where it reacted there had been no trace of the Aerodactyl.
"Whine—"
Perhaps feeling the change in its Trainer's mood, the Mightyena gave a low, aggrieved whine of its own.
It had plainly caught the Aerodactyl's scent — and yet when they arrived there was nothing, not a sign of it.
"It's all right, Mightyena. I don't mean to blame you. You've worked hard these last few days; I've seen it."
Hunter Z stroked the Mightyena's head and soothed it.
"Whine, whine—"
Comforted by its own Trainer, the Mightyena's spirits rose a great deal; that is the simple side of Pokémon.
Canine Pokémon are mostly loyal; once they take their Trainer for their master, they will not betray him.
"We'll rest here a while. If we still haven't found the Aerodactyl by the end of today, we pull out; no sense wasting any more time."
Hunter Z announced it loudly, telling the men to rest first and make one last day's search today. He was still not quite reconciled to it.
They had spent the whole month on this Aerodactyl business, and if they failed the job the Blood Axe Hunters would have taken a heavy loss.
It felt like a worse loss than the last few times they had risked going into a Pokémon reserve to take Pokémon.
At least those times they had caught something. This time they had not.
Both were equally against the law, and none of them cared about the law; all they cared about was whether there was money in it.
"Woof—"
After the men had rested a while, the Mightyena at their feet suddenly barked, its eyes fixed eagerly in one direction.
And it was not only that one; the other Mightyena in the party did the same.
That caught the band's attention.
"Have the Mightyena found something? Up, all of you, we're in business. Maybe the Aerodactyl is up ahead. Quickly — don't let it get away."
Hunter Z called them up and set off at a run.
"Damn you, if it's another miss you're not eating tonight."
one of them swore at the Mightyena at his feet as he ran.
"Whine, whine—"
The Mightyena at his feet answered with an aggrieved whimper, and ran faster.
The six of them ran on at speed, led by the Mightyena.
Elsewhere, the Aerodactyl and the other two had a Golem surrounded.
It was a level 42 Pokémon, and by now the three of them had it in a hopeless position.
"Roar, roar—"
The Golem had stopped blocking. The power in its body turned abruptly and terribly violent, points of light shining out through it, a dreadful presence slowly building, like a volcano about to erupt.
"That's the Golem's Explosion!"
Vance spotted it first, and told the three Pokémon at once.
"Kraboom—"
A tremendous explosion went up, and the raging power destroyed everything around it.