By its account, one of these could be used as an Elite-class asset, and that amounted to raising their own strength.
The robot looked clumsy enough from the outside, nothing like as light and nimble as a Pokémon, but it was still very good.
That was the part that moved them.
Among the Division Commanders, some were exactly as they had been before, and some were mildly interested.
"Operative Meowth has done well. That deserves encouragement."
Vance gave it a word of praise and his approval.
"Meowth, thank you for the compliment, Branch Chief. The three of us put this together."
Meowth said its thanks, and brought Jessie and James in as well.
"Meowth..."
The two of them were deeply moved. This Meowth really was all right — bringing the pair of them into it, standing by its friends like that. Here was a Meowth you could get along with!
No less than you would expect from a teammate they had picked themselves.
The robot had mostly been Meowth's doing, from the design through to the finished build; the two of them had only fetched and carried at its elbow and helped a little here and there.
One mention from it and the credit felt evenly shared.
Boo-hoo-hoo. Yes. Very much yes.
That was what the two of them said inwardly. Meowth had spent all the money, true — her dresses and all the rest of it, his beloved figurines and all the rest of it, every one of them gone — but it had been worth it. Thoroughly worth it.
For a moment the two of them even felt ashamed of having blamed Meowth before.
Meowth was so good to them, and there they had been, counting every coin. Honestly.
"Mm. The three of you count as a unit of your own. Work hard from here on. Elite-class is passable; aim at developing a Gym-class robot, and it will really be of use. Bring any requirements to me, and if I'm not here, bring them to Ambrose."
Vance nodded and said it.
This Meowth had a real gift. Used properly, the Dark City branch could have a whole body of robot strength of its own.
And the conditions for manufacture and research would be a great deal better too.
"Keep at it. Whenever you make another breakthrough — a Division Commander's post, a recommendation up to headquarters, anything else — I'll approve it."
At the end of it Vance handed out a verbal promise and painted them a very large pie in the sky.
Without noticing, he had learned that trick as well.
Once a man was in charge it came to him without a teacher.
"Thank you for the recognition, Branch Chief. We'll work hard."
The "trio" bowed as they answered. Everything Vance had named was something they wanted.
"The three of us can take other assignments too. We won't come off worse than anybody here."
James put in, keen about it, and Jessie and Meowth meant the same.
"Good. Team Rocket needs talent like yours."
Vance turned to the Division Commanders and the Squad Leaders and said it.
"Look at them. These are what true members of Team Rocket look like. Clear in attitude, positive in thinking. You would all do well to learn from it."
"Yes, sir. Yes, sir."
Several of them answered yes, smiles on their faces.
Some of them meant it, and some were saying whatever came to hand.
Finally Vance put Meowth's "trio" in charge of the mass production of the robots to begin with, and had Ambrose work with the "trio" to get them built.
"The meeting's finished. My time's my own after this. So where to?"
Back in the training room, Vance thought about it.
The main business was in hand. The side branches he could leave his people to handle.
What he was thinking about now was where to go to temper them.
At the strength Gyarados and the others were at now, the only things that would give them any tempering at all were Elite-Four-class.
Those were not easy to find. Most of them were well away from where people went — deep mountains and old forests, lone islands in the grey sea.
"That's right. There's that as well. Under a month left."
Vance clapped a hand to his head and took out eight gleaming Badges.
Eight Badges were enough to enter the Indigo League Conference.
And the Conference opened in under a month.
"Then I'll go and enter the Indigo League Conference."
Vance made up his mind on it. Having come to this world, surely he had to go and see the Indigo League Conference for himself. That had been a dream of his a very long time ago.
Under the eyes of the multitude, in a storm of applause, to send out a Pokémon and fight a fierce battle.
And the Conference could be used to win a certain standing as well.
Team Rocket put no bar on it — they backed it, in fact. Giovanni had said as much himself before now.
"One month of good hard training, then, and go and meet the best of Kanto. No telling which Trainer that will turn out to be. It might even be me, for all anyone knows."
Vance murmured it, his eyes going off into the distance.
"Beep, beep, beep!"
The communicator set down beside him started up.
"Branch Chief, there's trouble. Base One has come under attack by unknown forces. We've lost contact with it. Casualties unclear."
The voice on the other end came fast and tight, giving him the bad turn of it.
"Put everyone on alert. Ready for battle. At the same time, cut all outbound communication from the base so no mole can pass anything along. Then report the situation to headquarters, get it on the record, and if there's no answer inside the hour, request support."
Vance made the arrangements at once and gave the orders.
That said, he recalled his Pokémon and ran out.
He came to the assembly point, a space rather like a parade ground. The Division Commanders and Squad Leaders fresh from the meeting and the rest of the members were already there, waiting on their Branch Chief's orders.
"By the book. Everyone to alert status. Prepare to meet an enemy."
"Sir."
"To your positions!"
Every man went to the place he had been assigned beforehand and stood ready in formation.
Before long Vance had word that Base Two had come under attack as well.
Some unnamed force had moved.
As things stood, it was either the League's side or that Godbeast Gang lot.
Kept this secretive, it was ninety-nine parts out of a hundred the Godbeast Gang.
After that Base Three went out of contact too. These were all outlying bases, every one of them built since Vance took the post.
Three of them gone silent inside a single day.
The base Vance was in was the main one, and better hidden. No enemy had come at it yet.
"What sort of enemy?"
"Black night. Pitch dark, all of it. That was the last message out of Base Three."
"All posts. Apart from the main base, the members of every other base and outlying post may arrange their own advance or withdrawal, and wait on further word."
They waited through to the small hours, and everything stayed quiet.
Nor did any further word come from the outlying bases. Only three of them had been hit.