"But what you did was highly improper. It amounts to putting the organisation's interests at risk. Two Division Commanders were of no small use, after all."
Giovanni said it just as Vance was beginning to relax.
Vance already had an answer ready. Giovanni was a man of breadth and presence and might well have no real objection to the two deaths. Or was this another test?
"I don't think what I did was improper." Vance said it mildly, unhurried, not letting the fact that the man in front of him was Giovanni tie his hands.
"First, the two of them moved on me before I moved on them. What I did was reprisal, and that would stand anywhere. The League is another question, of course, though I doubt much will come of it."
"As for the organisation's interests, I believe the worth I can bring it is greater than theirs by a long way."
"Good, good. And since you are worth so much, where does that worth show itself?"
"Where would you like it to show itself, Boss?"
Vance looked at Giovanni in earnest, and Giovanni looked back at him with a smile at the corner of his mouth.
"What have you in mind?"
"Something with a freer hand."
"That can be done."
Giovanni nodded at once, and then turned over the papers in front of him without speaking. The room went quiet enough to hear a pin drop.
"Meeowr—"
The Persian beside him turned its amber eyes on Vance for a moment, licked a paw, lowered itself down and went to sleep.
*That Persian is strong!*
When the Persian had looked at him Vance had felt a smothering pressure, like a thorn pressed against his back. This was no ordinary Persian.
A flick of thought opened the system, and he pulled up the Persian's details.
> **Name:** Persian (male)
> **Type:** Normal
> **Ability:** Technician
> **Aptitude:** Champion-class
> **Level:** 75
> **Moves:** Scratch, Growl, Fake Out, Pay Day, Bite, Taunt, Pursuit, Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse, Iron Tail, Thunderbolt, Fury Swipes, Slash, Nasty Plot, Swift, Hyper Beam, Icy Wind.........
Level 75! A Near-Champion Pokémon!
This Persian, which looked so ordinary, no more than a pet, was already Near-Champion. From that alone a man could guess what Giovanni's real strength was.
"Meeowr—"
Lying on the floor, the Persian seemed to notice Vance's eyes on it. It opened its amber eyes and looked at him again.
There was something thoughtful in the look.
A broad, heavy hand came down on its forehead and broke the stare.
"Meeowr—"
The Persian gave itself up to the stroking. Of all the Pokémon it was not the strongest, but it was the most favoured. It alone could stay at its Trainer's side at every hour of the day, and be stroked into the bargain.
Those brutes with nothing but muscle between their ears were in no position to compare themselves with a Persian.
Come to that, its Trainer had lately taken notice of a Meowth, and seemed rather interested in it.
It had gone over and had a look. The thing was odd, that was all — it could speak like a human. Nothing more than that.
Its strength and its aptitude were both very ordinary.
And yet it meant to compete for favour. Hah. It had no idea of its own measure.
"Meeowr—"
"The the Godbeast Gang — have you heard of them? Though these days they should be called the the Sacred Order."
"The the Godbeast Gang?" Into Vance's mind at once came those several figures who had penned in the Zapdos that day; when they fought, there had been so many Legendary Pokémon with them, and by the look of it they had been trying to capture the Zapdos.
*Could it have been them?*
*That was in Hoenn. Have they come to Kanto now?*
"I have seen something of them. Several mysterious figures, and when they fought they had a number of Legendary Pokémon with them. I wonder whether that was them."
Vance set out what had happened that day.
"That was them. Nobody else could work on that scale. So you have already seen them at it."
Giovanni said it mildly, watching him with a smile.
"Yes. Some time ago, on my way back from Hoenn to Kanto, I ran into them. They were closing in on a Zapdos of frightening strength."
"Oh."
*As calm as that?* Vance was taken aback, but on reflection the man had every right to be; a Zapdos meant nothing at all to him.
"Then what do you intend, Boss?"
Vance tried the question.
"They have come into Kanto. Some time ago their leader came to me and told me to withdraw from the Cinnabar and Dark City region. I gave him a lesson, and he has been quiet since."
Vance did not interrupt and went on listening. Giovanni did not waste words; what came next would be the point of it.
And the flat way he said *a lesson* shook him.
A lesson meant he was the stronger. And the master of the the Godbeast Gang could hardly be a simple man — whatever else, he must have several Legendary Pokémon to fight with. And even so he had been given a lesson?
From what Vance knew of Giovanni, he was not a man who talked big. If he said a lesson, then a lesson it had been, with nothing added.
"But Dark City took heavy damage, and for the moment there is no capable man to send there and bring Team Rocket's strength back."
Hearing that, Vance began to see it. Did he mean to send him to Dark City as that capable man?
"One more thing. On their way out they leaked the files from the bases they overran. That branch exists in name only now. Whoever goes there will have to start again from nothing."
"And am I that capable man?"
"You may be and you may not." Giovanni said it, then took out a letter of appointment and laid it in front of him.
"You are a talent, and a talent has more choices than most."
The meaning was plain enough.
If he did not want the assignment, an organisation the size of Team Rocket would always have others that suited him, where his worth could show.
"Then I am."
Vance took it head-on and accepted the assignment.
"Good. Then let me see this worth of yours, and whether it comes to more than those two Division Commanders."
Giovanni signed his name on the letter of appointment and handed it to Vance.
"How far do you want it taken, Boss? And how much time do I have?"
Vance took it, and then asked.
"Team Rocket's strength is to run all through the place, so that it can be set in motion when it is needed. As for time, that is up to you."
Seeing Vance fall into thought, Giovanni went on.
"You will not be fighting alone, of course. Men and money I will provide. What comes of it is where your worth lies."
Vance understood. The Dark City business was a test Giovanni had set him, to measure his worth.
"Understood."
"Mm. From now on you deal directly with me. I shall look forward to seeing what you do."
Giovanni's mouth curved slightly, and he reached out and went on stroking the Persian.
The Persian, having heard him out, gave Vance one long look and fixed him in its memory.
Perhaps it would be seeing a good deal of this human from now on.
"Thank you, Boss."
Vance thanked him. It counted as a promotion: straight from a Squad Leader to a Branch Chief holding a city of his own.
Except that the post would take work before he was truly a Branch Chief.