"There, there, Deino. You're recovered now, and it will only get better from here."
Vance patted the Deino's back and soothed him.
He could understand how the Deino felt. For a prodigy to fall suddenly out of the clouds is a painful thing.
The contrast between before and after is far too sharp.
Even a human being would find it unbearable, let alone a dragon Pokémon, who sets such store by fighting strength.
"Rooaar, rooaar—"
The Deino gradually grew calm, and his eyes gradually firmed.
Since his recovery had come from the man in front of him, then from this day on he would bring that man glory without end!
The Deino had made up his mind.
"Combusken, combusken—"
The Combusken at the side called out happily as well, glad for the Deino's recovery, and crying out all the more at how suddenly he had grown strong.
"Roar, roar—"
The Gyarados and the others gathered round to congratulate him too; and although the Gyarados and the Aerodactyl, those two "seniors", found it hard to keep their faces straight, they offered their good wishes very sincerely all the same.
There was something crestfallen in the Gyarados's face. Perhaps he had taken a knock as well.
His standing in the team's order of fighting strength had just gone down by one.
And the one who had passed him this time was not his old rival but a little younger brother who had only just joined, which dealt the Gyarados, who fancied himself the big brother of the team, a certain blow.
"What are you brooding about, Gyarados? Every one of us has his own fate. Stronger for a moment doesn't mean stronger for good."
Seeing the Gyarados a little downcast, Vance said it to him through their mental link.
"Boss, I've worked it out. Maybe I was holding on too tightly. I have a fate of my own too."
At Vance's comfort the Gyarados saw it all at once, and his face cleared.
"As long as you've worked it out, that's good. And your own fate is nearer than you think." Vance said it smiling, with a stone that gave off a coloured sheen in his hand — the Mega Stone.
Over these last few days Vance had identified the Mega Stone: it happened to be the Gyarados's own.
Vance found it a great coincidence himself, but so it was.
Mega Evolution needed other conditions as well, though; only with all of them working together could it be done.
Besides the Pokémon's own Mega Stone, the Trainer had to hold a Key Stone.
Ordinarily those two were the prerequisites.
Once the Pokémon had its Mega Stone and the Trainer his Key Stone, the bond between the two of them still had to reach a very deep level before Mega Evolution was possible.
In Mega Evolution a Pokémon's appearance, its type and the rest change, and at the same time it puts out strength far beyond that of its original form.
The deeper the bond between Trainer and Pokémon, the greater the power that can be drawn out of it!
The Gyarados had been raised by Vance's own hand; the two of them had come up together out of nothing, and Vance felt sure there was no question about the bond between them.
What was missing now was the Key Stone.
One of the three conditions was still short.
For anyone else that would certainly be a very hard thing; for Vance it was merely a troublesome one.
Vance had looked the Key Stone up in the system. It could be exchanged for, but it cost a great many Battle Points, and he would have to save up.
One Key Stone came to a full 8,000 Battle Points, and he had only 5,400 at present — still some way short.
At the Elite-class level of a fight like the Slaking's, beating one opponent brought in forty-odd Battle Points.
The Aerodactyl, at Advanced strength, was at the thirty-point level.
The Combusken, at Intermediate strength, was at the twenty-point level.
Even with every Pokémon on the team going out together, making up the difference would still take a while.
Because strong Pokémon were harder and harder to come across, and the places they lived were far from human cities, deep in the mountains and the old forests, or out in the sea.
The ones near human cities had mostly been dealt with. Those friendly to humans and mild in temper were moved elsewhere, with Pokémon habitats set up for them.
Those of a vicious temper that had hurt people more than once were driven out, or killed.
And all those driven out came into the wild and fought for survival, the strong eating the weak, and the ones that lived through it were naturally the strong ones.
"So my fate is nearly here... it's about time it was."
Perhaps because he had let it go and his state of mind had been tempered by it, the presence about the Gyarados swelled and drove at the Elite barrier.
Only, the fate he had in mind was not the "fate" Vance had meant; at bottom, though, both came to the same thing — more strength.
"Boom—"
The next moment an Elite-class presence came off the Gyarados. He had broken through to Elite as well!
"Roar, roar. I've broken through to Elite too. Ha, that feels good."
Feeling the power in him, so much greater than before, the newly Elite-class Gyarados was hugely pleased with himself.
"Congratulations, Gyarados. Two happy events in one day."
Vance laughed, delighted. He had not expected the Gyarados to break through the moment he let go of it, and two happy events in one day it truly was.
That made three Pokémon on his team in the Elite-class.
And not ordinary Elite-class either, but the kind that could fight above its rank.
Now that the Gyarados had broken through as well, he and the Slaking together should have no trouble beating a Gym-class Pokémon.
Vance quietly put the Gyarados's Mega Stone away and said nothing of it for now; he would bring it out again once he had saved the Battle Points and made the exchange.
"Fate, fate. That one word, 'fate', really is hard to make out."
Vance said it with a faint smile, and then thought that he had stayed a long while in Vermilion City and it was time to set out again.
Thanks to Lt. Surge the remaining four Badges were all in hand, which freed up more time for training his Pokémon.
A day later Vance took his leave of Nolan.
"Why not stay a few more days? I haven't entertained you properly yet. Apart from those first days you've spent the whole time in the training room. I really do give up on you."
Nolan tried to keep him. Ever since they had come back from the S.S. Anne, Vance had gone into a state of "seclusion", and Nolan had had no chance to play host at all.
"Ha, you've entertained me plenty. You showed me Vermilion City and let me see a luxury liner like the S.S. Anne. I've gained a good deal out of it. Let's leave it there — my journey has to go on."
Vance laughed off the reproach in his words and held to his decision to go.
"'Gained a good deal' — only you could make it sound so fine. What did you gain? You walked round Vermilion City and bought a boat ticket, and on top of that I put you through a storm aboard the S.S. Anne."
"But what I 'gained' this time really was a great deal."
Vance's smile did not fade, because what he had gained this time really was a great deal. He simply could not say so outright for the moment.
The two of them talked a while longer and then Vance left, with Nolan seeing him as far as the outskirts and watching him go.
"Aerodactyl, come on, we'll fly that way. We've been settling in long enough — it's time to go and level up on some wild ones, and get you through to Elite as well."
Vance pointed off in one direction, toward the interior of the mountains; only the Pokémon there would be of any use to the Gyarados and the rest.