"Shall we go together?"
Blaine said it, looking over at Fuji beside him.
"Together, then."
Dr. Fuji nodded, indicating that he would come along.
The two of them going in together should present no difficulty. The forces the pair could call on were nothing a small-city Branch Chief like Vance could match.
And neither of them was weak in his own right either.
A great many Pokémon researchers seemed to be far from weak; their strength as Trainers was considerable too. If they went and became researchers, perhaps it was out of interest.
These two were of that kind, and so was Professor Oak.
"Hah, I nearly let the matter slip. I called you over this time, didn't I, and told you there was something good?"
Blaine turned the conversation and brought the thing up.
"So what is the good thing? Don't tell me you're making me a present of a Legendary to play with."
Vance said it as a joke; it was what Blaine himself had said before.
"Hah, that we haven't got. We've no mastery of it yet either, so we can't make one, and even if we did make one you'd very likely think nothing of it."
Blaine laughed aloud. He knew well enough what standards a man like Vance set in choosing his Pokémon.
"Then what is the good thing?"
"It's right there in front of you."
Blaine pointed at that dim blue body of energy as he said it.
"That? What's the catch??"
Vance looked at the power that had come from the Suicune, and that was where his mind went without his meaning it to.
He thought of the bad before he thought of the good.
"There's no catch, naturally. Watch, if you don't believe me."
His assistant came in and sent out a Water-type Golduck.
The moment it appeared the Golduck showed its hunger for that mass of power, staring at it with burning eyes.
The assistant worked a button, and the precision apparatus let threads of the power seep out, which the Golduck absorbed entirely.
And its strength rose with it, from 35 to 36, to 37, and its life-presence grew a great deal stronger.
That much could be felt; presumably the Golduck's aptitude had risen too.
"Take it down to be examined."
"Yes, sir."
Before long the assistant came back with the examination report and handed it to Blaine.
"We've wasted a little more. Something of a pity."
Blaine looked over the figures, made a regretful noise, and turned back to Vance.
"Look here. These two were measured at different times, and after it absorbed that power there's a clear improvement."
Blaine gestured for him to look. The figures on the sheets were packed close together, but Vance could make rough sense of them.
And where he could not, the system's panel showed it plainly enough anyway.
"You're a Psychic, so you'll have some sense of energy. Have you noticed that this energy is dispersing? Not even a precision instrument can seal it in."
"Mm."
Vance reached out with his senses, and found that it was so.
"You've seen the power for yourself. No side effects, and it drains slowly away. I didn't want it wasted, and I thought of you — you have a Water-type Pokémon, don't you? Isn't that a good thing, then? A Legendary I haven't got, but I do have a Legendary's power. Will you take it?"
Blaine said it with a chuckle, and clapped him on the shoulder.
"Is there anything I have to do for it? Cooperate with the research, anything of that sort?"
Vance pressed on with his questions. If it meant cooperating with the research, he would rather not have it.
Tempting as the power was, he did not have to have it.
"Hah. A young man does well to be careful."
Dr. Fuji laughed too, and gave him a look of approval. An excellent young man — outstanding gifts, and careful and prudent with it. How could a man like that fail to go far?
Not like those youngsters who come by a little talent and grow pleased with themselves, looking down their noses at the world.
"Quite so, a little caution does no harm. Set your mind at rest. Once it's been taken in we measure it, that's all. I only need some reference figures."
"Reference figures? That's all right, then."
Only then did Vance agree. A measurement of the figures did no harm.
Then Vance sent the Gyarados out onto the floor. The space was a large one, and even with the Gyarados's huge frame in it the room did not feel crowded.
The moment it was out, the Gyarados's attention was drawn away to that power.
"This Gyarados has been very well raised."
Looking over the hide along the Gyarados's body, even Blaine and Fuji nodded.
The Gyarados had indeed been raised well; Vance had put no small amount of effort into it.
Its aptitude now was still at the Elite-Four-class tier, but close to Near-Champion; with slow accumulation it could be brought up to the Near-Champion standard.
"Get ready, then. I'm releasing it."
Blaine said, and took out a remote control.
"Is here all right?"
"Of course it is."
"Good."
The precision apparatus opened all at once and the power inside spilled out — a wave of mildness meeting the face, a hazy feel of water vapour, one breath of which cleared the head and eased the body.
"Roar, roar—"
The Gyarados grew livelier still, hauling that power in with all its strength and gathering it onto itself.
Seeing it, Vance took a hand as well, drawing the power over to help the Gyarados absorb it.
"Rooaar, rooaar—"
There was pleasure in the Gyarados's roar. Water-type energy is known for its mildness; thread after thread of it was drawn into its body, and what part drifted away Vance drew back again, so that the greater share of it went into the Gyarados.
"Fwoom—"
The Gyarados's energy level shot up, from level 51 to 52, and then on to 53.
Level 54, level 55, and only at 55 did it slow. Progress by leaps and bounds, you could call it.
"Roar, roar—"
That energy was strengthening the Gyarados's frame as well, transforming its aptitude and raising that too.
There was less and less of the energy left; the greater part of it had gone into the Gyarados's body.
"Fwoom—"
The Gyarados broke through again, into level 56, the scales along its body giving off a dim blue glow, and a faint pressure came into being from within it.
Under the wash of that power the Gyarados grew a little dazed, as though it stood in a boundless sea. It was the darling of that sea, able to drive the wind and chase the waves; the Water-type power between heaven and earth moved at its command, and as the wind blew past it seemed to be rising into the air, on the point of turning into some other form.
"Gyarados!"
Just then Vance's stern voice sounded inside its mind. The Gyarados started, and came awake out of that trance.
"Rooaar—"
With one more sweep it drew the last of the power into its body.
*He, the Gyarados, was stronger again. His own aptitude had been greatly reinforced too; he could feel it.*
Vance gave a slight nod. It was enough that the Gyarados had come back to itself, and been spared any illusion.
A Gyarados is a Gyarados, and nothing else.
A faint trace of Water-type power still bled off the Gyarados, more than it could take in fast enough; even with Vance lending a hand it could not be stopped, so they simply let it be.
"Gyarados, absorb it properly. Try to break through the aptitude bottleneck."
Vance said it gravely. A chance like this did not come often.
By its aptitude, the Gyarados had broken through there as well, crossing from the Elite-Four-class tier to the Near-Champion tier, and a Near-Champion close to full at that, not far off the point of breaking through to Champion.
With that Vance was well satisfied, and he was happy for the Gyarados that it had come this far.