A considerable part of Team Rocket had begun the way Vance had: with nowhere left to turn, they had chosen to join, and afterwards they were the ones who had grown and survived under layer upon layer of cruel selection and trials inside Team Rocket.
The moment they walked off Trial Island it meant there was no turning back for them. Anyone who came out of Team Rocket carried the Team Rocket brand on him for the rest of his life.
"Kill them! Cut down the League's lackeys!"
"Ha ha ha, I'll take the lot of you with me!"
Several men with madness in their faces would not surrender even with their Pokémon dead, and kept charging forward, some with guns in their hands and some with bombs, doing whatever harm they could to the League's side.
Still roaring with laughter, they were caught by a Pokémon's move and died horribly where they stood.
"There's a hidden passage over there! Team Rocket are getting away! After them, quickly!"
In the confusion someone shouted out the new discovery.
"You lot get over there, don't let them escape."
One of the unit leaders gave the order at once, pointing at random to a portion of the men at the rear, Vance among them as it happened; so, mixed in with the party, he went to where the hidden passage was to cut off the fleeing Team Rocket.
"Damn it, there's no peace to be had. I'd barely got here and the base is hit. Unbelievable."
Rufus cursed under his breath, mixed in with the confusion of the battlefield, picking his direction to break out.
There were a dozen or so with him, all running different ways, with the League's side in pursuit behind them.
"Unbelievable. These League dogs, are their noses that sharp? Out barely a moment and already spotted. Unbelievable."
"Woof—"
The Mightyena beside him threw down a Pokémon that blocked their way, then struck again and left it badly hurt, covering his Trainer's escape.
"Quick, Mightyena, let's get moving."
"Woof—"
The Mightyena came along behind, man and Pokémon running hard through the woods, and behind them Vance and the others were in pursuit.
"Where do you think you're going! Pelipper, Water Pulse — bring him to a stop."
Up in the sky a Pelipper appeared, and a Water Pulse came smashing down with the fleeing Rufus for its target.
"Mightyena, Dark Pulse."
Seeing that he could not get clear of it, Rufus gave the order.
"Woof—"
The Mightyena gathered a Dark Pulse and sent it up to meet it. The two pulses met in mid-air, and then the Dark Pulse, wanting for power, was broken open by the Water Pulse, which came smashing straight down.
"Pelipper, Air Cutter."
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—"
The Pelipper swept out blade after blade of Air Cutter again, all of them going downward, and Rufus could only dodge them in undignified fashion.
The Pelipper in the sky was a full level 35, and his Mightyena only 29; in exchange after exchange he came off worse.
"Damn it."
Rufus swore aloud, and had to turn off into the dense sea of forest and use the ground to get himself out of the Pelipper's sight.
With the branches and green leaves to help him, the Pelipper above could not find him for the time being. It tried to cut into the forest to search, but tree after tree and branch after branch got in its way, and it could make nothing of its advantage in the air.
A man of some thirty-odd years came up beneath the Pelipper, and seeing that Rufus had gone into the sea of trees a contemptuous look came over his face. He recalled the Pelipper and sent out a Shedinja of Intermediate strength.
"Escape out of my hands? A pretty thought. This one's a minor chief; taking him is worth a good deal more than an ordinary member."
The man said it with a laugh, and went on into the forest with the Shedinja to continue the pursuit.
Being the stronger of the two, he had nothing to fear. If he could take the man and draw information out of him, there would be no end of advantages in it for him.
With Lance of the Elite Four watching over it, there was no fear of the reward being pocketed by someone else or paid out short.
The great trees here grew thick with branches and leaves, threaded through one another so that the sunlight could not get in, and between the thickets it was dark and damp.
"Boom—"
In that silent place a huge rumbling roar went up without warning, and firelight shot into the sky.
"Damn it, so it didn't blow you to pieces after all. Your Pokémon are all hurt, though. Heh, no wonder they sell for so much — the thing's worth it, it's only too dear. I haven't many on me, or I'd have blown you apart for certain."
Rufus climbed up out of a heap of dead leaves and looked at his pursuer with a cold smile on his face.
"Hmph."
The man spat out a mouthful of bloody water, called out the rest of his Pokémon and came forward with them.
Rufus was not afraid now either, and called out his own Pokémon to meet him.
A moment ago he had used the ground and the man's contempt for him to badly injure both his Pelipper and his Shedinja, so he had nothing to fear now.
Since becoming a Squad Leader he had not slackened for a moment; whenever he had time he trained his Pokémon, making full use of the supplies Team Rocket issued.
Training Pokémon and keeping his squad in hand had been his main work these last few months.
He had not expected the League's attack to come so suddenly. He had barely been transferred here before he had to take an assault like this; his squad had scattered and he had to run himself.
He comforted himself with that as well: this was a trial, he had to hold out under it, and once through it he would be stronger.
"Bang, bang, bang—"
The two men and their Pokémon fought a struggle to the death in that out-of-the-way place.
Rufus showed the side of himself that was not afraid to die: he struck viciously, and would trade wound for wound without a second thought.
"Whoooosh—"
A streak of blade-light went across, and his opponent's blood spattered onto Rufus's face.
"Heh heh. This one goes to me."
"Thump—"
His opponent's body fell limply.
The battle between the Pokémon had come to its end as well, and only the Mightyena had anything left in reserve.
"Sorry about it. Every day of work I've put in was for a moment like this. You weren't wronged in losing."
Rufus said it with a wretched smile, gathered up the belongings of both men, and made to leave at a limp. It was still not safe here.
He turned, and saw someone ahead of him watching him with interest, which gave him a start; in the poor light he made out the vest of a League man on him, and his heart beat faster still.
*I can't die! I still have things I mean to do, and a great many goals to fight for. I can't die.*
At that moment Rufus's will to live reached its peak.
"Not bad at all, Rufus. So you had it in you to kill this man."
Vance said it with a chuckle, arms folded across his chest, with no sign of meaning to do anything.
"Hm?? You know me?? Who are you?"
Hearing the other man call out his name, Rufus demanded it loudly.
Vance's face had been altered as well, and for the moment he could not place him.
"You, who are usually so very handy with your mouth — so you have this side to you too."
The voice was hoarse, and naturally not his own.
"Who are you? Do we know each other?"
Rufus felt more and more that the man across from him knew him, knew even some of his habits.
"It doesn't matter. That's enough. Go on, get out."
Vance stepped out of the way. He had never much wanted to help the League take people, and had been fishing in muddy water the whole time; running into Rufus here besides, the man the Vigoroth had knocked about a few times back then, stirred something in him.
"Give me your name, at least. If there's a chance one day......"
"Go or don't go. If you don't go, I'll act."
Vance raised one hand, and although there was no Pokémon at his side, Rufus still felt an enormous sense of danger.
He made up his mind on the spot and pulled back at once.
*From the way he spoke, he knows something about me, and he let me go, so he must be one of the organisation's. Among my colleagues only a few of us were transferred here temporarily; if it wasn't one of them, then it's someone who knew me during the trials, and with that kind of strength — could it be......*
Rufus seemed to have it; a figure rose up in his mind.
*Could it be Cerise? It does seem like her. She is the only one who gives you that sense of danger in the lift of a hand or the set of a foot. It must be her.*
Rufus guessed at it.
Vance, however, knew nothing of it, and would not have cared if he had.
At that moment Vance had hold of two unlucky wretches and was making his way back to join the unit.