Vance stayed on in Cerulean another two days, made a point of restocking his supplies, and then set out again.
The next target was Vermilion City.
The Gym Leader of Vermilion City was Lt. Surge, another Team Rocket man like himself, buried inside the League's own system.
Lt. Surge had made rather more of a success of it, though. With Team Rocket quietly behind him he had become Gym Leader of Vermilion City and held a considerable amount of power.
Naturally, undercover for Team Rocket though they both were, the man had no idea who Vance was; and if it had not been for his memories, Vance would never have imagined that the Gym Leader of an entire city was a Team Rocket plant.
With Gyarados urging him on, Vance left the main road and struck off into the forest again.
For the trip to Vermilion City he had not taken the main road, short and untroubled as it was, because the main road was only what it was: safe enough, but without the thrill of open country, and with very few Pokémon to be met on it.
Whether it was bad luck or not he could not say, but half a day of threading through the woods turned up no suitable Elite-class opponent.
That was normal enough. Ordinary Pokémon knew to keep out of the way, and there were plenty of human traces here, which meant a good many Trainers came through, so naturally there were fewer Pokémon to run into.
"Combusken, Combusken—"
Combusken, for his part, was thoroughly happy, running all over the place after Vance. They might not find a suitable opponent for Gyarados, but opponents for Combusken could certainly be found.
One battle over, Combusken picked up a Poké Ball with the ease of long practice and carried it to Vance, pleased with himself.
Vance took the ball and went on searching through the woods with Combusken. At one point he stopped and looked east, where there were sounds of fighting and violent surges of energy breaking out: someone was battling over there.
Vance's brows drew together slightly. He had no wish to get mixed up in it, so he changed direction and left.
Out in the wild, people cutting each other down was nothing out of the ordinary — over profit, or over something else.
There were warm-hearted Trainers, of course, who would go in and play the hero, and who knew, one of them might rescue a beauty and see where it led.
Hot-blooded boys with hard heads did that sort of thing. The genuinely seasoned had steered clear long since, taken their Pokémon and gone. Who had time to bother with it?
Vance was plainly not one of those hot-blooded boys. Whether anyone lived or died had nothing to do with him; they were no kin of his and no friends of his. Come out into open country and you had better be ready for the worst — dying out here was a common enough sight.
After all, everyone who takes up that life pays for it one day.
The dangers of the wild did not lie in Pokémon alone. They lay in one's own kind as well — and of the two, the second was the more dangerous.
Vance had turned away early, and the sounds of the fight grew further off until they were gone altogether.
Whether it was luck again, or simply nothing suitable to be found, after Combusken had had his practice they climbed onto Aerodactyl and went on exploring the forest from the air.
Three days went by quickly, and in those three days they did find several suitable opponents to train against, so Gyarados and Aerodactyl both got their work in.
Gyarados's energy level rose to 39, level with Aerodactyl, and Combusken reached 25. The gains were not small.
That day Vance caught a faint saltiness in the air. It was the smell of seawater.
Listening closely, he could hear the sound of the sea as well.
"Let's go."
Vance packed his things up and set out again.
Half an hour later Vance came out of the forest, and what he saw was the sea.
Being able to see the sea meant Vermilion City was not far off.
"So this is the White Strait. Bill's Lighthouse is here too."
Vance looked at the map, noticed it, and the thought followed at once.
"Which means the giant Dragonite. I wonder whether there's any chance of seeing it."
In the anime Ash had come here as well, and on a day of heavy fog the giant Dragonite had shown itself.
"Hahaha. Let it happen as it happens. We'll rest here a while — it's been a tiring few days."
The mood had taken him, and Vance decided to rest a while in this place called the White Strait. As it happened the scenery here was rather good, with sunshine and a beach both.
"Roar—"
Swimming in the seawater, Gyarados's spirits rose a good deal too.
On the beach Vance wore sunglasses and walked barefoot over the sand, while some way off Aerodactyl and Combusken drank coconut juice that Aerodactyl had brought back from somewhere nearby, and under a sun umbrella Slaking went on lying on the ground asleep.
And say what you like, in surroundings like these Slaking found he slept very comfortably. Perhaps it was the first time he had enjoyed anything of the sort; it felt extremely good, and with the Truant Ability to go with it, this was an excellent place to sleep.
So Vance rested there for several days together, and during them he made the trip over to Bill's Lighthouse to pay a visit; but he was not Ash and had no introduction from Professor Oak, so Bill merely received him politely and then went back to his own affairs.
Vance did not mind any of that. He had only wanted a look at a character from the source material.
"Several days here. If it isn't going to turn up, so be it. Time to move on."
Vance packed his luggage and set out again.
Those few days of holiday had been for relaxing and enjoying himself, but also to see whether the giant Dragonite might appear; plainly it was not going to, so he did not care to wait any longer.
"Let's go, Aerodactyl. Fly that way."
"Rooaar."
Aerodactyl beat his wings and flew off in the direction of Vermilion City.
"Stop. Trainer, stop where you are. There is an operation against Team Rocket ahead. Halt, produce valid identification and submit to inspection."
They had not been flying long when two people in investigators' uniforms, riding Flying-type Pokémon, came up in front of him and brought him to a halt.
"Let's put down, Aerodactyl."
At that Vance had Aerodactyl land and cooperated with the two investigators' inspection.
"Here is my Pokédex."
Vance handed his Pokédex over. The two exchanged a glance and relaxed a little.
They opened the Pokédex, went through the checks, confirmed there was nothing wrong, and only then did their faces ease.
"Sorry to have taken up your time. You'll have to go round, though — we're carrying out an operation up ahead."
One of the investigators came forward and said it.
Both of them looked young and full of energy; not long out of training, most likely.
"Right. Understood."
Vance nodded and answered.
"In two days Vermilion City is holding a large commercial event, aboard the S.S. Anne. There will be crowds coming and going and all sorts mixed in among them. If you spot anyone from Team Rocket or any other criminal element, remember to notify us."
The other investigator gave him the instruction.
*A large commercial event on the S.S. Anne. That is convenient timing,* Vance thought, and looked at the two of them.
"Thank you both for your work. If I see anything, I'll let you know."
"Good."
The two watched Vance go, then held their posts, stopping people as they came past and keeping them out of the operation zone.
"Aerodactyl, let's go down again."
They had not flown far when Vance saw something and had Aerodactyl land once more.
Aerodactyl heard him and did as he was told, coming slowly down.
A man was leaning against a big, thickly leaved tree, covered in blood and looking badly hurt.