"Vance. The Boss wants to see you."
In a Team Rocket base beneath Viridian City, a man who looked as though he had been cut out of shadow said it to Vance.
He wore a black robe that wrapped him from head to foot, and a mask that covered his whole face. The mask was made in the likeness of a Gengar, and on its left side the figure "three" was carved.
The man belonged to another arm of Team Rocket, answerable directly to the Boss, Giovanni. Wherever there was a plan or an operation that served Team Rocket, they appeared, and nobody could sound the depth of their strength.
"How should I address you, sir?"
Vance stood up and asked it politely.
"Shadow Three." Shadow Three said it briefly, with curiosity in his eyes. This young man called Vance was an Advanced Psychic — it was hard to credit.
The last one as frightening as this had been her, and she was still holding Saffron City now, one of Team Rocket's great officers: Sabrina.
As to whether he might be lying, there was no need to worry about that; the aura spilling off him told the story.
An Advanced Psychic beyond any doubt.
"Fatty, you two wait here a while. I'm going to see the Boss."
Vance said it to the two men behind him.
"Oh — right, off you go. Emery and I will wait here."
Ambrose answered at once.
Vance went off after Shadow Three.
Giovanni, the Boss he was about to meet — the greatest villain in the Pokémon world, its greatest strongman — left Vance a little nervous, and a little eager as well.
"Squad Leader Vance. Why didn't you come to headquarters at the start? You might have been stronger by now."
Shadow Three spoke up suddenly on the way.
Vance answered calmly. "I wanted to go back to my home town then. There were some things there to see to."
"Mm." Shadow Three inclined his head slightly and said nothing more.
From the moment Vance asked Team Rocket to bring him back to headquarters and showed the gift he had, the intelligence section had gone to work. His file lay open and clear on the desk, and even some of what he had done in Hoenn was in the report.
"There's no need to be nervous. The Boss values talent. With gifts as fine as yours he is bound to take you seriously — that is how it went with Lady Sabrina."
Shadow Three had grown talkative now, and was willing to converse with Vance, not so cold as he had been outside.
In no time the two of them were standing outside a room. Shadow Three stepped up, knocked, and stated their business.
"Mm. I know. Send him in."
A steady, magnetic voice came through, and both of them heard it perfectly clearly.
"There. The Boss says you may go in. I'll be off."
Shadow Three said it, looking at Vance.
"Of course. Please."
Vance said it politely and watched him go, then straightened his clothes, opened the door and went in.
To his surprise the room was not luxurious. Plain, even.
In the middle of it stood a desk, and behind the desk a large bookcase with rows of books on it, a good many of them badly worn and marked by being read.
On the desk, documents and books were laid out neatly; it was very clean, without a speck of dust.
Beyond it stood a solid chair, and in the chair sat a middle-aged man in a suit.
He had a square face and short, clean-cut hair, and his eyes were deep and steady, as though no difficulty on earth could defeat him.
This was the Boss of Team Rocket, the underground emperor of Kanto and Johto — Giovanni.
A man of ambition, of ability, and of the kind of presence that made men follow him.
He sat squarely in the chair, his left hand resting on the desk, tapping at it as though without thinking, his right hand stroking the forehead of a Persian.
And the Persian's face was all enjoyment; it seemed very comfortable, and it took Giovanni's stroking very well indeed.
At that moment, the instant Vance came in, the corner of the Boss of Team Rocket's mouth moved and a confident, knowing smile appeared there. About the young man he had felt something familiar.
As he entered, Vance felt a deep gaze measuring him. He looked up, and it was the Boss of Team Rocket.
"Boss."
Vance brought his feet together, stood straight, bowed slightly and said it to him, his voice ringing and firm, and waited for an answer.
"Mm." Giovanni made the sound, and the fingers of his left hand stopped tapping. "You are better than I expected. A holder of the Viridian Power."
*Just as I thought.* Vance said it to himself. The Viridian Power in him could not be kept from this man.
It stood to reason. The Boss held the Viridian Power himself, and had taken it to a depth nobody could measure.
Looking at him, Vance found him precise from head to foot, still as deep water and immovable as a mountain.
It was like standing before a peak that could not be crossed, and the weight of it pressed down on him.
No wonder the man was a Boss. One look at that bearing explained how so many proud, headstrong men, each with his own ideas, were willing to bend the knee to him.
"Nothing escapes you, Boss. I did have a small piece of luck. I came by the Viridian Power more or less by accident."
Vance answered.
"Interesting. Find a chair and sit."
Giovanni made no show of mystery about it, and told Vance to take a chair.
"Thank you, Boss."
Vance sat down in a chair not far in front of him, on the edge of the seat, his face serious, waiting to be questioned.
"The Viridian Power. Have you ever seen that creature Celebi?"
Giovanni said it mildly, looking at the Persian under his right hand, as though it were an idle question.
"I have not."
"Mm. That is odd." Giovanni nodded slightly and let the subject drop, showing no interest in this piece of luck of his.
"I hear you killed two of the organisation's Division Commanders one after the other, and cut down a number of squads from the Celadon branch."
"I did."
Vance answered plainly and without hedging.
"Why?"
Giovanni watched him with real interest and waited for the answer.
"They deserved it. A man who kills is killed in his turn. Since they could not kill me, they had to take my anger, and that is fair enough. What it came down to was which of us was the stronger."
Vance said it a sentence at a time.
"It would displease Bram. Were you not afraid of that?"
Giovanni asked it idly, still stroking the Persian.
"No. I had taken the measure of Branch Chief Bram's character, and with the situation in Celadon City in the state it is, and with absolute confidence in headquarters, I was quite certain he would not move against me. He would do the opposite and make overtures. What he did afterwards proved I had guessed right."
Giovanni looked him over and nodded slightly. "Bold and careful both, with a firm grip on human nature. You will do very well."
"Thank you for the praise, Boss."
"It was not praise. It was a statement of fact."
Giovanni said it without committing himself either way.