"Kraboom—"
The men carrying out the search stopped short, called out their Pokémon and stood carefully on guard.
A Combusken stood in front of Vance as well, in case of any further attack.
"Brelooom—"
Out of where the sound had come from, Idris walked out together with a Breloom, and the Breloom had the owner from before hanging from one hand.
"Chief, what happened?"
One of the men called out.
"Secure them all. Anyone who resists — alive or dead, it makes no difference!"
Idris roared it, and the men stopped being polite about it. They laid hands on everyone and took the whole lot down, shop staff, managers and all.
"This is an injustice! We haven't done anything!"
"That's right, haven't you got the wrong people?"
"It's an injustice!"
The men who had been taken shouted that they had been wronged.
"Wronged or not, that will be clear enough once we've investigated. For now you're required to come back with us and cooperate with our inquiry."
Idris said it coldly, then had the shop sealed up and the people loaded into the vehicles and taken to the police station to await examination.
"There's certainly something wrong with that owner. Question him back at the station and we should get a good deal out of him."
Idris narrowed his eyes and guessed at it.
Just now, going into that room, he would have been in trouble if not for the Breloom. He had never expected that the owner with the smile all over his face would suddenly turn on him, or that several Pokémon would be lying in ambush in the room.
After that Vance rode in the police car as well and came with the others to the station, where he joined Idris and the rest in interrogating the people taken that day.
"So there you are. When you carry out this kind of arrest in future, you must go at it carefully. Take what happened to me today as a good example."
Inside the interrogation room, Idris shared it with Vance and the others.
"Good men and bad men aren't something you can tell just by looking at the surface. You have to keep sorting them out. Never mind that a man looks upright and carries himself like justice itself — he may well turn out to be a Team Rocket mole, you can't be sure."
Idris went on, passing on his own experience to them.
"You especially, Vance."
"Me?"
Called out by name without warning, Vance wondered what was coming.
"You're the youngest of us, so mind you remember it. You may only have been brought over temporarily, but you carry a Pokédex, you're a Trainer recognised by the League, and Gym Leader Erika thinks highly of you. On matters like this, you want to remember what I'm telling you."
Idris said it earnestly.
"Oh. Right. I'll remember."
Vance answered, wanting a little to laugh. He was the Team Rocket mole the man was talking about, and discussing Team Rocket moles with a Team Rocket mole was frankly absurd.
When his name had come up like that he had wondered what was the matter; he had not expected it to be this.
Straight after that, Idris put the people taken that day to the question to get information out of them, with Vance and the others watching from the side.
"The Black Shark Gang? Headquarters in Vermilion City? Write that down. Collate it and send it up."
Idris gave the order and had his assistant put the material in order.
Under questioning it emerged that the owner who had attacked him was no member of Team Rocket at all, but of the Black Shark Gang, active around Vermilion City, which made large profits smuggling supplies and selling rare Pokémon.
The Black Shark Gang was an organisation of the same kind as the Black Dragon Gang that had once been active in the western district of Celadon City — only stronger than the Black Dragon Gang, and larger.
The Black Dragon Gang, though, was history now, wiped out by Vance; otherwise this severe crackdown would have caught them up in it too.
One man questioned, then the next, and on it went, the information drawn out of them one mouth at a time.
The methods of interrogation were not limited to hard torture; there were Pokémon to assist as well, and everyone who had been taken told the truth.
"Ha ha, a good haul today, several valuable things out of it. That's enough for now. There's an operation tomorrow that will need everyone's cooperation — all of you, on time tomorrow."
That evening Idris said it to them all.
After a few pleasantries the men went their separate ways.
Once they had scattered, Vance went back to the shop. Ambrose and Emery knew how hard the searching had been these last few days, and had stayed put inside the shop rather than wander about.
"How was it, Boss? Anything turn up?"
Ambrose asked it the moment he was through the door.
"A good many people taken, a few Team Rocket among them, though nobody of any rank — long-term moles inside Celadon City."
Vance took a drink of water and answered.
"That was terrifying. With everything drawn up like that today I thought we'd been found out, all those men and Pokémon as well." Ambrose said it with the fright still on him, and then started laughing.
"You're the one who can do it, Boss. A few days and you're inside their unit, and their chief gives you face on top of it — the whole day went by easily. Maybe you were just born for this line of work, the way you carry it off so naturally."
"This round, mind — if a man could investigate himself and still turn something up, that really would be a wonder."
Vance laughed as well, and said, "It's luck, really. I never thought I'd be put to work alongside this Idris. Nothing in this world stays where you put it."
"That's right, speaking of which." Ambrose came alive and roared with laughter. "The one leading today — isn't that the one we fought that day? Ha ha ha, and now you've got into his unit, Boss, and he gives you face as well. Ha ha, I'll die laughing."
"So do they have anything planned next? We could make our arrangements early." Emery put in from the side.
"What comes after, I don't know either. Sit tight for now. I don't think there's anything for us to worry about — nobody else is going to bother with us; they couldn't even if they wanted to."
Vance said it flatly. As things stood, keeping himself safe was as much as anyone could ask for. If running were an option he would have run long ago; instead he had been called up and turned into one of the men striking at his own organisation. What a business it was.
The next day Vance came early to the station to muster, and again it was Idris leading the unit.
That day there was no combing through the city; they went outside it instead, joined up with several other parties, and set off together.
"Now that we're here there's no harm in telling you. According to information from an informant, there is a Team Rocket base on the eastern side of Celadon City, and our assignment today is to take part in rooting that base out." As he said it, a look of hatred came over Idris's face.
"In a while, be careful. I came off badly out there myself not long ago — chased for miles by some mysterious character, and very nearly finished. Team Rocket are all of them vicious to the bone and greedy past satisfying. Damn it, if I get my hands on one this time, hmph."
In the ranks, Vance wore an odd expression as he listened to Idris curse.
That "vicious to the bone", "greedy past satisfying" man he was talking about was standing in his own unit, and he had already laid eyes on him more than once.