After holding it a while, the Gyarados let the Mega Evolved form disperse and returned to his original shape.
Once he had changed back the Gyarados felt the drop, but he adjusted to it quickly enough.
After all, he had just held the Slaking down face to face. Hahaha. He did not know why, but he was rather pleased with himself.
And he had made his peace with all that long ago.
"All right, all right. Your mouth is about to split. Pull it in a bit."
said Vance, seeing the smug look on him.
"Heh heh. It's only that I'm pleased I can have that state at all."
The Gyarados chuckled away.
The Slaking glanced at him, and at the sight of him rolled his eyes, let his face go slack again and lay down on the ground. He could not be bothered to argue the point; lying about really was the more comfortable state.
Lying down was perfectly good. Let things be.
The Gyarados was still in high spirits, taking the compliments of the Combusken and the others, and he held nothing back in describing what he had felt and what he had made of it, sharing it with these "juniors".
After listening to the Gyarados's explanation the Deino seemed to grasp something; his presence rose sharply, and he came to level 44.
"??"
That left the Gyarados rather at a loss. That worked too?
Could this little younger brother be a genius Pokémon, one in ten thousand? That was frightening. Earlier the cause in his body had been dealt with and he had leapt straight to Elite; now he had listened to a few remarks about power and broken through a level. Did it have to be this ridiculous?
Was this what a Dragon-type pseudo-legendary was worth?
For a moment the Gyarados pulled back in that head of his that had begun to swell a little, and it came to him that there were no ordinary Pokémon on this team, and that with their own boss supplying them the whole way and directing them properly, every one of them was rising fast.
Apart from the Combusken, who was still weaker and could not catch up for now, there was very little between the rest of them, each one at the next one's heels.
"Gyarados, Gyarados, there's no slacking off for you. It isn't only the Slaking on this team — the Aerodactyl isn't to be taken lightly either. His eye may be poor, but his real strength is nothing to sneer at."
"And this Deino could pass you at any moment. You've seen that terrifying talent of his for yourself. From what the boss says, the Deino has two more evolutions ahead of him and an enormous amount of room to grow. No getting above yourself. Settle down."
The Gyarados warned himself, and his eyes grew firm. He must not fall too far behind the younger ones; he had a long road yet to walk.
"Very good, Deino. Another level up."
Vance came over to the Deino and stroked his forehead.
"Rooaar, rooaar—"
"Oh — and drink this potion. It was blended especially for you." Vance took out the potion and had the Deino drink it.
Once the Deino had drunk it nothing out of the ordinary happened; he only belched.
Vance laughed, gave him another stroke, and went off to one side to sort out his things; they would be sleeping out here tonight.
His supplies were nearly at an end after all this time, and Vance meant to come out of the wild the next day and find a nearby city to restock at.
In that half a month he had met his aims: the Pokémon had all made progress, and he had exchanged for the Key Stone. They could rest for a while.
Vance lay down on the soft grass with the Combusken and the others lying around him, and the Gyarados coiled round the outside of them all.
The weather had turned cold by now, but Vance did not feel it in the least; with Advanced psychic power in him his body was no longer that of an ordinary human, and keeping out the cold was nothing to him.
The next day Vance walked out of the forest and came to its outer ring.
There were people about on the outer ring of the forest, a fair number coming and going, some in parties, some alone.
The wild is where most Trainers find the resources to grow; dangerous as it is, the returns are not small.
"The nearest city is Acapulco City."
Looking at the map on his Pokédex, the nearest city shown was Acapulco City.
Acapulco City was a port as well, with sea to the east and to the south of it; some days earlier, aboard the S.S. Anne, he had seen the place from a distance.
Setting out from Vermilion City by sea one would arrive quickly enough; he had taken a great roundabout way instead, threading through the forest to get here, and this was north of Acapulco City.
"Into town first, to sort myself out."
Vance put the Pokédex away, called out the Aerodactyl, rose into the sky and flew off towards the city under the envious eyes of the passers-by.
At the Pokémon Center in Acapulco City, Vance handed the Gyarados and the others over to Nurse Joy, but kept the Deino's Poké Ball in his own hand and did not give it up.
On the S.S. Anne even the International Police had turned up, and that had had to do with this pseudo-legendary; for the time being it was better to keep his head down, though nothing was likely to come of it.
Once some time had passed and the fuss had died down he could think again; by then the Deino would have evolved and his own strength would have risen, and there would be nothing to fear.
The business of the S.S. Anne was bound to end as a muddle nobody could follow up. There are a great many such muddles in the world; one more of his would make no difference.
Ordinary Trainers do come by pseudo-legendary Pokémon now and then; if it came to it, Vance would say he had met this one in the wild, and who could prove otherwise?
It was only that now was not the time to show his face.