Vance walked into the vast green sea of forest and began his hunt through the wild, with the Combusken at his side as before.
"Combusken—"
The Combusken was in high spirits; he was always keen when they came out into the wild, and what he had built up over these days had brought him to level 29.
After training so long, his fists were past bearing it.
He badly wanted a Pokémon to fight, to hone himself and to make a little money on the side.
"Combusken, combusken—"
The Combusken took off the card he wore and handed it to Vance to hold; once the fighting started, he was afraid of losing it.
Vance had told him it would be all right, but the Combusken still did not want to carry it into the field.
"Whoosh—"
Just as they were passing, a chunk of rock came flying at them with the wind whistling behind it.
"Combusken—"
The Combusken had felt the thing coming before Vance could warn him; he sprang, turned, kicked it to pieces, and came down again in a handsome pose.
"Combusken—"
"Ape—"
In a big leafy tree turned to the sun, a Primeape appeared, anger on its face, shouting down at Vance and the Combusken.
After its call, several more Primeape and Mankey sprang out and shouted at the pair of them together, their tone taunting, each with a rock in hand ready to throw.
Hearing what sounded like abuse from them, the Combusken grew angry too.
"Very good. You've earned your deaths. Combusken—"
Then he glanced at Vance, as though asking.
"Go on, Combusken."
Vance said with a slight smile.
"Comb—"
At Vance's word the Combusken charged straight in, running along the trunks and branches as though walking on level ground, and at the first meeting one Sky Uppercut hammered a Primeape flat.
"Bang—"
The Primeape hit the ground hard, and after that one punch it did not move again.
"Ape, ape—"
With the Combusken showing what he truly was, the monkeys shrieked one after another; the weaker ones drew back and put forward the stronger, the Primeape with more power behind them — three of them in all, one of them the very one that had thrown the rock at Vance and the Combusken.
One of Intermediate strength and two of Advanced. The Combusken was not daunted in the least; he sprang forward, meaning to make these Primeape pay.
With one of their own put down by the Combusken, the three Primeape were angrier still.
"Level 29, level 32, and one Primeape at 34. The Combusken should still be fine."
Down below, Vance had read the three Primeape clearly enough. The Combusken should have no trouble.
"Combusken—"
The Combusken charged straight in, dodged a Low Kick, slipped aside from another Primeape's X-Scissor, and with one Double Kick sent the Primeape that had struck last flying.
With a bang, it hit a tree.
"Ape—"
The Primeape that had been kicked away got up again, its rage reaching to the sky, more furious than ever, and threw itself back into the fight with markedly more force behind its blows.
"A Primeape with the Anger Point Ability, is it."
From the side, Vance had seen what was different about this Primeape and understood its Ability.
The Combusken's blow just now had not knocked it out outright; instead it had roused its fighting strength.
As a Fighting-type, a Primeape was naturally at its best with Fighting moves, and the Combusken happened to be well versed in that line himself, so they were exactly the opponents to sharpen his own Fighting moves on.
Low Kick, Seismic Toss, Rage Fist and the rest came out at him, and the Combusken handled them with room to spare, moving among the moves, and whenever he found an opening, a punch left and a punch right put two of the Primeape down.
After that only one Primeape was left on the field, and it was the one that had thrown the rock.
"Combusken—"
A fierce smile came over the Combusken's face, and he closed his claws tight until the joints cracked.
Only now did the Primeape grasp how serious this was. This Combusken was absurdly strong.
The Combusken did not care; he charged in again to bring it down. Terror showed in the Primeape's face and it hurriedly called the rest of its companions to the rescue.
"Swish, swish, swish—"
The remaining Primeape and Mankey proved loyal enough: they dropped out of the trees one after another and ringed the Combusken in, seething.
"Now it's interesting. Combusken—"
The Combusken rolled his neck to the left, rolled it to the right, and closed both claws.
"Ape—"
At one furious roar the whole troop went forward together and attacked.
"Hyaah!"
The Combusken's fists and feet flew, knocking them away one after another — near enough a punch apiece for the little ones.
In no time the ground was covered with Mankey and Primeape lying where they had fallen.
Out in the middle of it the Combusken was holding a Primeape up, the one that had thrown the rock.
The Combusken raised a claw, put on a stern expression, waved it in front of the Primeape's face, and then clenched it tight, and a sound like a creak came out of it.
Battered black and blue, the Primeape looked at him with fear in its eyes — the Combusken had beaten the rage out of it — and seeing all that, it nodded; whereupon the Combusken gave it a clean end and knocked it out cold.
Call that strength? Not the faintest sense of where they stood, and still they dared to jump a Combusken like him.
"Combusken—"
Having dealt with this lot, the Combusken called out to Vance and pointed at the Primeape lying on the ground. His meaning was plain enough.
Catch them, and turn them into money.
Vance gave them a casual look and took only five into Poké Balls, among them the Primeape that had ambushed the two of them; the rest he left alone.
The Combusken had no objection; he no longer wanted the whole lot bundled up. He was not the Torchic he had been either — he knew what "value" meant now, and he had grown choosy.
Having picked over the Primeape clan, Vance and the Combusken went on with their hunt.
The two of them pushed deeper in, and the Pokémon they met were stronger, so it came to be the Combusken's turn to rest and the Aerodactyl and the others' turn to show what they could do.
Now Vance and the Combusken stood at a distance, watching the Deino in a fierce fight with a Pinsir.
Both Pokémon were Elite-class. At the start the Deino fell a little short, not quite at ease with himself, but under Vance's guidance he gradually found the feel of it again.
The prodigy in him began to show; he steadily pushed the Pinsir back, and then with a single Dragon Pulse finished off this Pinsir that was near enough his equal.
"So this is what strength feels like. Roar, roar."
One foot planted on the Pinsir, the Deino felt again the strength he had known in the old days. It was a thing to make a dragon drunk.
This was the feeling.
"Something coming, Deino?"
Vance called the warning from a distance.
The next moment a ringing screech went up not far off, and a Fearow came flying in, fixed on the Deino below it from the air, and dived.
"Roar. Just in time."
The Deino was not afraid in the least. He had only just found the feel of it again, and here was a sparring partner delivered to his door.
Then suddenly, in his mind, there was an image of a Hydreigon facing a Flying Pokémon, with every detail of the fight set out in it.
That battle experience, appearing in his mind out of nowhere, was understood at once; his body reacted on the instant to meet the diving Fearow.
First he used the Dragon-type presence he carried to cow his enemy and weaken it.