Inside the light, the Combusken's shape began to change. He grew taller, too — nearly as tall as Vance now.
A wave of scorching air came off him.
"Combusken—"
A cry went up, deeper and more grown than before; the light of evolution drew in, and the Combusken's evolution was finished.
What stood revealed was the Combusken's evolved form: Blaziken.
He had a head of white feathers and a V-shaped comb, and his eyes were blue.
He had claws wrapped in bandages and a pair of strong, powerful legs, and every few years he burns away his ageing feathers so that bright new ones can grow in their place.
"Blaziken—"
Looking over his changed body, the Blaziken threw a casual punch and then a kick. He had never felt so good in his life.
"Congratulations, Blaziken. You've evolved into a Blaziken now as well."
Vance stepped forward to say it, and felt something as he did. When he had first started raising him he had been a Torchic, and now here he was, evolved into a Blaziken.
As the weakest Pokémon on the team he had naturally had a great deal of Vance's attention and care, and day to day the Gyarados and the others looked after their little brother too.
"Blaziken — ha ha, I've evolved!"
After the punch, the Blaziken was shouting about it, jumping on the spot, turning several backflips, thoroughly pleased with himself.
Well, the temperament was the same temperament as before, all noise and bluster. Vance had thought evolving might make him a little more grown up; it had not changed a thing.
As far as Vance was concerned it made no difference. His Pokémon could have whatever temperaments they liked.
The Blaziken put out both hands, flames sprang up around his wrists, and his feet caught light as well. He thought it was great fun.
"Go for a turn round the inside and dry it out a bit. Mind how much fire you use — don't burn the cave down."
Vance said it to send this fire-happy Blaziken into the cave to do something about the damp, and to give the lad something to keep him busy.
"Blaziken—"
The Blaziken did as he was told and went in to get on with it.
Vance opened the system to look at the Blaziken's data.
> **Pokémon:** Blaziken (male)
> **Type:** Fire, Fighting
> **Ability:** Speed Boost
> **Aptitude:** Near-Champion
> **Level:** 37
> **Moves:** Scratch, Fire Punch, Double Kick, Growl, Ember, Flamethrower, Quick Attack, Bulk Up, Feather Dance, Brave Bird, Detect, Aerial Ace, Flame Charge, Slash, Fire Spin, Earthquake, Focus Energy, Protect, Heat Wave, Flare Blitz, Sunny Day, Fire Blast............
The evolution had taken the Blaziken from level 35 to 37, and his aptitude had risen, as expected, to Near-Champion. Beyond that he had picked up a great many new moves, which would need plenty of training to bring up to proficiency.
"So that noisy Combusken has evolved too. It's going to take some getting used to."
Vance said it with a quiet laugh, and a Poké Ball on his belt stirred.
"All right, come on out."
He had barely finished speaking before the Zweilous came out of the ball and ran over to the Blaziken, to offer his congratulations, presumably.
There was only so much room, so Vance did not let the others out. With all of them out it would have been very crowded.
..............
"Boom—"
The Blaziken came up out of the black smoke without looking back, confidence in every line of him.
A true Pokémon is always that confident. No need to look back; he already knows the result.
A light wind blew past and stirred the feathers on the Blaziken's body.
The smoke cleared to show several Victreebel, their bodies steaming with heat, and, exactly as the Blaziken had expected, no longer able to fight.
"Ding. 30 Battle Points awarded."
"Ding. 25 Battle Points awarded."
............
Five system chimes in all, and a tidy sum of Battle Points with them.
"Eight days now, and still not a sign of anything."
Vance said it with some worry. Three more days had gone by since the day he had seen the Zapdos and the Blaziken had evolved.
He had spent all of it drifting about at sea.
The weather had been bad through those days as well: black cloud over everything, no sun to be seen, no way even to find a direction.
The land he was on now was another nameless island.
"Wooo—"
He was in the middle of turning it over when a ship's whistle came from far off. A whistle meant a ship going past.
"Blaziken, we're moving."
Vance put the Blaziken away, brought out the Aerodactyl, climbed onto its back and made for the source of the sound.
This was excellent. There were actually ships passing out here. He could go and ask the way, and get out of this endless sea — and perhaps even cadge a passage.
When Vance got there he saw three cargo ships running abreast.
He thought for a moment, then approached.
"Something up. Someone coming in."
The sailors on the cargo ships spotted it at once and reported it to their superiors.
As Vance came closer, a man rode a Pokémon straight up into the air and blocked his way.
"Trainer. To avoid any misunderstanding, please come no closer."
The man called it out, civilly enough. Under him was an Elite-class Swellow.
A Trainer appearing out of nowhere in the middle of the sea was naturally something to be guarded against.
"Hello. I've lost my bearings out at sea. Could I ask where this is?"
Vance did not go any nearer. He had the Aerodactyl hold where it was, and asked.
"This is the sea east of Lilycove, waters under the jurisdiction of the Hoenn region."
"The Hoenn region? How did I end up here?"
Hearing that, Vance was taken aback. Over all these days of drifting his flying had gone some way off course after all.
The Hoenn region lies to the south-west of the Johto region, and Johto is joined to Kanto, so it lies to the south-west of Kanto as well.
"The nearest city from here is Lilycove City, in the direction our ships are heading."
The man spoke again and pointed Vance the way.
"Good. Thank you."
Seeing how guarded the man was, Vance did not linger. He thanked him and made to leave.
"Boom—"
At that moment one of the cargo ships blew up, black smoke rolling off it, its engines damaged, and came to a stop.
"How dare you! Who would attack a cargo ship of the Stone Trading Company!"
"Team Aqua again. You have some nerve."
"Ha ha ha. If we didn't have the nerve, we wouldn't be Team Aqua."
In an elegant room on the cargo ship a handsome young man had been disturbed as well. He came out, and a man who looked like a butler met him at the door.
"What's happening."
The young man put the question to the butlerish man in front of him.
"It's Team Aqua. Our people have already gone to deal with it. I'm sorry you were disturbed, young master."
"Team Aqua? Is there something in this shipment that they want?"
"Possibly, sir."
The young man frowned slightly, then walked outside.
On the cargo ships fighting had broken out in one place after another, moves of every colour crashing together.
"This has nothing to do with me. Would you believe that?"
The sudden turn made Vance's scalp crawl, and the atmosphere had gone awkward all at once.
His luck really was poor. Why did something have to happen the moment he arrived — not before, not after?
Vance had heard it too: the attackers were Team Aqua, the notorious dark organisation of the Hoenn region, and the ships under attack belonged to the Stone family.
The Stones were one of the great houses of Hoenn, enormously strong, and the family had produced talent in every generation.
Of the present younger generation, the most celebrated is Steven Stone.
Vance knew of this Steven. Before very long he would be Champion of the Hoenn region.
Right now Vance did not dare get mixed up in anything between these two giants. All he wanted was to slip away.
But the man across from him was all wariness, watching him closely, ready to act at any moment.
"Look — this has nothing to do with me. I'll take my leave."
Vance called to the Aerodactyl and was about to go when a figure suddenly came running towards him.
Behind it came a squad of men dressed as sailors, in pursuit.