"Set your mind at rest, Vance. These men dared to rob you, and I'll see they're sorry for it."
With the men trussed up, Idris thumped his chest and gave his word on it.
"That's settled, then. I have business now, so I'll leave them with you, Thorne."
Vance answered, sent out Aerodactyl and sprang onto its back.
"No trouble at all. Oh — who are those two? They look rather familiar."
Idris said it, pointing at Steven and his companion, standing not far off.
"Rooar—"
Over there, seeing Vance call out his Pokémon, Steven and Cynthia called out theirs.
Garchomp and Skarmory appeared, two powerful Pokémon, and the weight of them bore down on everyone present.
"That's Steven. And the other one is Cynthia, of Sinnoh."
Vance answered with a smile, then signed to Aerodactyl to take off, and with a rush of air they were up into the sky.
Seeing it, Steven and Cynthia signed to the Pokémon beneath them to take off as well, caught up with Aerodactyl quickly, and went on together toward Celadon University.
"Good heavens — this Vance is going to go far!"
Idris said it with feeling. To have dealings with those two — that was quite something.
"Eh — no, wait. That young fellow's Aerodactyl, with a presence as strong as that, is certainly Gym-class! Hss— he really is formidable. A good thing I made a friend of him and never gave offence."
Idris had taken in how strong the Aerodactyl was, and that was where his thoughts went.
"Quite something, quite something. And there was I fighting to get him this and that trifle, when it looks as though he has no need of any of it."
After that Idris's spirits sank. In pressing Vance's claim to the credit, there had been a notion of looking after him in it.
He had not expected the man to have a Gym-class Pokémon, which put him above Idris, an Elite Trainer — would such a man care about these few scraps?
His own conduct felt the least bit ridiculous.
He shook his head. Say what you liked, he had made a friend of the man and had not given offence, and that was the greatest gain of all.
A man who could mix with two of Elite-Four rank would go no one knew how far; it might well be that one day there would be something to ask of him.
So Idris thought.
"Rooar—"
Up in the sky, with the weight of those two great Pokémon behind it, Aerodactyl felt the pressure of it heavily.
The Garchomp above all. Sharing the same stretch of sky with it left Aerodactyl ill at ease.
"Easy, now. Pay no attention to it. One day you'll be that sort of thing yourself."
Vance soothed it from its back and gave Aerodactyl a pat.
"Rooar."
Aerodactyl nodded and put its mind to flying well.
The two Pokémon behind were no ordinary Pokémon. The Skarmory was the weaker of them, but even so it was a Near-Champion-class Pokémon with an energy level of 71; while the Garchomp had reached level 79 and was close to breaking through to Champion-class. It was Cynthia's ace.
That Aerodactyl should feel the pressure was only natural.
Carried by the swift flight of the Pokémon, the three came down in the square at Celadon University, and as they landed they drew the eyes of the staff and students there.
Seeing that it was Steven and Cynthia only brought more of them crowding round, faces alight, eyes full of worship, thronging about the pair.
As though they had come upon a pair of idols.
None of which had anything to do with Vance, of course. As things stood he had not the least scrap of fame; in the eyes of those staff and students he was, presumably, a passer-by and nothing more.
He had come down alongside two great figures, and that was simply how it had fallen out.
Squeezing his way out of the crowd, he came to an open space and stopped there, and a hearty laugh reached him from beside him.
"Vance — how is it you're here?"
He turned to look, and it was Professor Oak, with several people in white coats beside him, some old and some young.
"I had only just got back to Celadon City when I heard you had come to Celadon University, and I was on my way to call on you. I happened to run into Steven, and came here with the two of them."
Vance told it as it was.
"Is that so? You know Steven as well, then."
"I do. We met when I went to Hoenn."
"Good, good. You young people ought to get to know one another properly."
Professor Oak nodded.
Excellent people always keep company with excellent people.
Those behind Professor Oak, for their part, looked at Vance with searching eyes.
They wanted to see what there was in this young man that a giant of the field like Professor Oak should treat him so — and, by the look of it, think a great deal of him.
Over there, Steven and Cynthia had squeezed out of the crowd too, and came before Professor Oak to pay their respects.
"Away with you now, away with you. Your studies come first."
One of the men behind Professor Oak stepped out and sent the gathered students off — an officer of the university, no doubt; at a word from him a good part of them fell back.
"They are young. Wanting to be where the excitement is only comes naturally. When I was young myself, in my student days, I was just the same — and then in the turn of an eye one is old. Where the League goes from here rests on you young people."
Professor Oak looked at Vance and the others and said it with feeling.
"Ha ha ha, Oak, you go too far. You are at the height of your powers, and this is your time for great things. These young people still have their learning to do."
From behind them an old man of scholarly appearance came forward.
"Ha, it was only a passing thought."
Professor Oak said it with a smile.
"Ha, I have the same thought myself at times."
The old man stroked his beard and laughed.
"President, did you not say that Celadon's younger generation were weak as fighting Trainers? I laughed at the time, and you asked me what I was laughing at. This is what I was laughing at."
Professor Oak turned to the old man — President Thackeray of Celadon University, himself a Pokémon professor of great repute throughout the League.
"Oh? Which one? Can it be this young friend of yours?"
President Thackeray turned his gaze on Vance.
Steven and Cynthia went without saying, of course; the two of them were from other regions. The only one it could be was Vance.
"The very one. Believe it or not, given time this young man will be a rising star of the League as well, and not far behind these two young friends of ours."
So Professor Oak rated him, and highly.
It was said in a way that left even Vance a little embarrassed.
Just then, seeing every eye turn on him, Vance took the looks that came his way calmly enough.
Embarrassed he might be, but he was no fraud, and he had no fear of their scrutiny.
If it really came to comparisons among the younger generation, then apart from that one small handful he could not match yet and would need time to catch, he was ahead of all the rest as things stood.