And so three more days went by. For those three days Vance worked on setting the Deino's body right, and the effect was plain to see.
> **Name:** Deino (male)
> **Type:** Dragon, Dark
> **Ability:** Hustle
> **Aptitude:** Elite-Four-class
> **Level:** 33
> **Moves:** Focus Energy, Dragon Breath, Roar, Tackle, Bite, Headbutt, Outrage, Dragon Pulse, Dark Pulse, Zen Headbutt, Thunder Wave, Thunder Fang, Crunch
The Deino's details were displayed in front of Vance.
When he had read them through, the only word in his head was magnificent, and he wanted to laugh out loud.
Ha. He had picked up a treasure this time.
Still a Deino in his first form and already Elite-Four-class in aptitude. No wonder he had been a dragon everyone talked of in the Valley of Dragons, sweeping his whole generation before him.
The Deino had told him about those grand days of the past as well.
Vance sighed over the pity of it. If not for the accident the Deino might well have evolved into a Hydreigon by now — that was not impossible — and at the very worst he would never have come down to this.
So... shabby, and it had worn away his spirit besides.
There was a good side to it too: compared with what he had been, the Deino's temper was tougher now, with less of the restlessness and the swagger and rather more composure.
And naturally it was because of all this that Vance had met the Deino at all; had the Deino not run into that accident, he would never have been cast adrift.
"Rooaar, rooaar—"
The Deino lay soaking in the medicine like a creature in a hot bath, his belly turned up, lazy, a look of perfect comfort on his face.
It had felt strange at first and grown more comfortable as it went on; the medicine was strengthening his frame and building his power every moment.
He had come to love the feeling.
"Brother Chick, a bit more heat. It's gone a little cool."
The Deino lifted his head suddenly and called down to the Combusken feeding the fire below.
Over these days he had got on rather well with the Combusken, well enough that the two of them were calling each other brother.
Perhaps there was some affinity between the two little ones; they got on very well together.
Hearing the Deino call, the Combusken put out more heat.
For the Combusken this was a kind of training as well: it was supposed to teach finer control of fire and a better grasp of its power, and it happened to make use of the treasure they had just bought, the Volcanic Crystal Carbon. That was what he had heard from Vance.
"All right. That's about all the good it will do. We can go on to the last step." Vance broke in.
"Ah, already?"
At that the Deino stopped enjoying himself, rather taken aback.
"Yes. The last step now."
Vance nodded and put out both hands, a power gathering in each of them.
"Rooaar, rooaar. Come on, then."
The Deino was telling him he was ready.
"Good."
Vance moved. He wrapped the Deino in energy, and the energy crept into his body and made for his mind; it was only because the Deino trusted him and let him do as he liked that he had come this far without meeting any resistance at all.
Before long Vance found that source of power, the one that was like the rest of it and yet unlike.
"Disperse!"
Vance put out his strength at once, the psychic power in him — a match for a Gym-class Pokémon — pouring out in full, and broke that source of power apart.
"Rooaar—"
As it came apart a long, resonant dragon's cry went up, and a sense of great age came at him; Vance seemed to see a pair of dragon's eyes of terrible authority looking straight at him, and the weight of them was immense.
"Hmph!"
Vance snorted coldly and simply broke the phantom apart.
Whatever had left that "fixation" behind had been dead for who knew how long, so why should he be afraid of it? Facing the thing while it lived would have been another matter.
"Rooaar—"
At the same moment the Deino let out a dragon's cry of pure relief: the binding he had carried all this time was suddenly gone.
Right after that his mind turned upside down, and he found that a great many fragments of memory had appeared inside it. The "he" of those memories was a Deino too, and then a Zweilous, and then evolved into a Hydreigon, and fought in countless battles all his life, and was strong beyond measure.
They went past in a blur, barely taken in, and the Deino's eyes went glassy.
A warm force appeared and brought him back to himself.
"I am Deino the Handsome!"
The Deino was himself again, his eyes clear.
"Rooaar—"
The Deino gave another ringing dragon's cry, and the presence about him climbed step by step.
Level 34... level 35... level 36... level 40 — at 40 it paused for a moment, then surged up again, broke through the barrier of Advanced, entered the Elite-class at 41, and only then stopped.
The sudden rise in energy left his body unused to it; holding so much power made it sting all over, but it took the power steadily all the same.
This was exactly what Vance had been aiming at these last few days, building up the Deino's frame.
If not for this moment, there would have been no need for so many days of treatment.
Another Elite-class presence had been born there, and it drew the attention of the Aerodactyl and the rest; even the Slaking, who had been asleep, put his idleness away, stood up, and took a look at him.
He ran a rough reckoning: this little younger brother had entered the Elite-class, certainly, but was still not his equal.
The Aerodactyl and the Combusken stood open-mouthed and staring, apparently astonished.
The Gyarados was rather less collected, his whole face blank with shock. Th-that... that was breaking through to Elite already?
He was still stuck at level 40; he had only just been given a treasure and was still working through it, had only just begun to feel a breakthrough coming, and this little younger brother who had only just arrived had broken through already?
The presence might be a little unsteady, but he was in the Elite-class all the same.
The Deino reaching Elite-class shook the Gyarados badly, and he declared that he could not understand it.
Was there any hope left for this world?
The Gyarados looked to Vance, and Vance shrugged, and his meaning was plain enough: this breakthrough came mostly out of what the Deino had built up on his own.
Perhaps because the trouble had been dealt with, the Deino was also showing very great mental strength; a newborn spirit-sense was slowly gathering inside him, and when it had fully formed, that would be the time for the Deino to evolve.
"Rooaar, rooaar—"
The Deino wept old tears down his face and threw himself straight at Vance.
It was back, it was back, the strength he used to have was back!
And stronger than before!
In that instant, in front of Vance, the Deino let out everything he had held in, all the grievance and all the joy of it.
In the Deino's heart Vance was not only a warm human being but the light that had redeemed him.
And so a proud dragon lowered his head and poured out his grievances to him.