"Researcher Dr. Renn, this power the giant Moon Stone gives off drives the Clefairy to evolve. Would it do other Pokémon any good as well?"
Somebody put the question to Dr. Renn over dinner that evening.
A good many heard it and turned to look, wanting to know what he would say.
"It certainly would." Dr. Renn pushed his glasses up and went on, "That power doesn't only drive evolution. To a certain degree it can raise a Pokémon's aptitude as well."
"What! It can raise aptitude!"
Somebody exclaimed it aloud.
"Yes, it can raise aptitude somewhat. But you may only go in once the Clefairy have evolved, and then take what remains of the power by whatever means you have. Consider that the perquisite of this assignment — I hope you'll all make the most of it. Team Rocket are after this energy too, which is exactly where their interest and ours come into conflict."
Dr. Renn laid stress on it, and took the chance to make the rules plain.
Thirty-two Trainers were there at the League's invitation, and hearing about the perquisite, they felt their trip had not been wasted; at the same time a wariness of Team Rocket rose in them.
"Team Leader Ives, we'll be troubling you over the next few days as well."
Dr. Renn said it to the middle-aged man sitting beside him.
"That's my job."
The man nodded and answered.
When the meal was over they all went their separate ways.
The Mt. Moon assignment was not a complicated one: come and add weight to the numbers, step in and help if Team Rocket attacked, and if they did not, there was nothing to do.
Dr. Renn had just promised publicly that once the Clefairy had evolved, whatever power was left over was theirs to take. That power drove evolution and raised aptitude, so the perquisite looked reasonable enough.
Except that with so many people there, and so many Pokémon between them — more than there were Clefairy on the mountain — how much anyone would actually come away with was another matter.
A day of wandering had told Vance that the strongest man here was Ives, the one the League had sent, an Elite-class Trainer. Of the other Trainers who had come to help, most were of Intermediate strength and a few Advanced; he had not yet seen another Elite among them.
The first night was uneventful. Nothing happened, and it simply passed.
The next day Vance did as he had done before, walking about Mt. Moon at his leisure and looking at this and that.
Evening came quickly.
When the full moon hung high, Vance felt the whole area change.
"Clefairy—"
The Clefairy were thoroughly excited, coming out of their caves one after another and running for the giant Moon Stone.
The sight drew everyone else's attention. They knew now that tonight was when the Moon Stone would let its power loose, and they all pulled themselves together.
That plain, unremarkable giant Moon Stone was giving off a faint glow, and Vance found the energy in the air denser than before, with a slight change in the magnetic field around it.
Coming to the place where the giant Moon Stone stood, he saw a crowd of Clefairy around it, waving their arms in excitement as though calling out to something.
"Kraboom—"
Just then the sound of fighting came from some way off, and at once somebody was shouting that they were under attack.
"Attack! Team Rocket are attacking!"
"Quickly — get over there and support them."
Dr. Renn said it urgently.
Ives reacted fast as well, picking out a party of men and sending them to intercept, so that nothing should affect the Clefairy here.
By now the Clefairy around the giant Moon Stone had begun to dance to some melody of their own.
"Boom, boom, boom—"
The sound of fighting was coming closer. Perhaps the enemy was simply too fierce.
"What's happening? Why is it getting closer? I'm counting on you all — go and hold them off."
Dr. Renn said it anxiously. He set great store by this business and had no wish for anything to go wrong.
"Ha ha ha. I never thought the League would post such a weak force here this year. We'll get our hands on it this time."
An Elite-class Pidgeot carrying a burly, bald-headed man came over their heads, and at the sight of the giant Moon Stone pouring out its power below, the man laughed aloud.
Some way off, Ives was already tied up and could not get free.
"What do we do? Which of you can beat him?"
Dr. Renn asked it, thoroughly alarmed.
Most of the Trainers in front of him shook their heads: they could not.
"Ha ha ha. This giant Moon Stone is mine."
Seeing that nobody was stopping him, the man made straight for the giant Moon Stone.
"Clefairy—"
Several Clefairy of Advanced strength sprang out to stop him.
"Ha ha ha. A few Clefairy? How are they going to stop me?"
"It seems I, Officer Jenny, will have to step in."
A figure came out of the crowd below, threw off a heavy coat, and there stood Officer Jenny.
"Arcanine, Fire Blast. Bring it down."
"Woof—"
A magnificent Arcanine flashed out of its Poké Ball; by its presence it was already a Gym-class Pokémon.
*Trust the League to play it sly — they had an Officer Jenny hidden in there all along.*
Vance said it inwardly when Officer Jenny appeared.
She had been hiding in the crowd the whole time, never showing herself.
Had that Team Rocket man known she was concealed here, he would probably not have dared to come.
While he was thinking it, the Pidgeot overhead had already been brought down by the Arcanine, and the man himself had been arrested by Officer Jenny.
Not long after the arrest, though, two more broke through Ives's line and came flying in.
*Stop feeding, stop feeding. Officer Jenny is one away from a triple kill. Stop handing her your heads.*
Vance badly wanted to tell them so: stop feeding her, there's an Officer Jenny lying in wait in there, don't go charging in head-first just because you have an Elite-class Pokémon or two.
And so it went. The two who came in traded a few blows with Officer Jenny, wanted to run and could not, and were taken.
It was only after handing over three heads like that that the Team Rocket people outside realised something was wrong, and nobody else came past the line.
"Three big fish caught here tonight. Hee hee. Not bad luck at all."
Officer Jenny said it with satisfaction.
Bitterness filled the faces of the three she had taken, and they shed tears of regret. They were finished now. What had happened to nobody inside being able to stop them?
Elsewhere, realising that something was wrong and unable to break through Ives's line, Team Rocket withdrew at once.
The giant Moon Stone, meanwhile, was pouring out pure energy at its fullest, and a single breath of it was enough to open every pore of the watching crowd, wonderfully comfortable.
In that power, several of the Clefairy began to evolve.
Five minutes later the Clefairy stopped dancing. A good few had finished evolving, and the rest, which had not, looked to have got a great deal out of it all the same.
There was still a fair amount of loose energy in the air by then, and the moment had come for Vance and the rest of them to take their perquisite.
"All of you, out."
Vance called it as he hurried to send out the Aerodactyl and the other three.
"Quickly. If you can absorb it, absorb it now."
That said, he paid no attention to anything else, set his psychic power working and drew the loose power in toward the four of them.
"Oh, that feels good."
The Combusken said it, luxuriating in it.
As the energy went into them, the Vigoroth and the others took on the same look of enjoyment.
With Vance stepping in as he had, there was more energy around those four than anywhere else.