At that moment Vance stood ringed about by a crowd of men, without a ripple on his face — he rather wanted to laugh, in fact.
They had taken him for young and easy to bully, and so had dared to rob him.
"Ha ha ha, boys, we've caught ourselves a fat sheep today. A Kirlia, no less — that will be worth a good deal of money."
"That's right, we're rich, we're rich."
"Once we've done this one we can take a rest for a while."
"Just so, just so."
The men talked it over without the least restraint. They already had Vance down as theirs for the taking.
Where they got their confidence from was a mystery. Vance could not make it out either, and had no idea what was going on in their heads.
Had it been him, he would certainly have thought it through, weighed it up, gone carefully. Even with a young man he would not have dared to move so casually.
"Ssh-ssh—"
It was the Sandslash's first time in a situation of this kind, and it looked over to ask what was happening.
"Kir—"
The Kirlia that was Zoroark in another shape raised a hand and gave it a smack on the head.
In a situation like this you fought, of course. What was there to ask?
That one blow and the Sandslash took the meaning. It rubbed its two sets of claws until they shone, eager to be at it.
Another fight, was it? Since it had been caught there had been no shortage of fighting, and that part it liked.
Because its life was safe; if it were hurt it would be healed, with nothing to fear afterwards. With so solid a backing behind it, it could set down a little of its old caution.
On its own, the Sandslash would have chosen to leave and would not have joined the fight at all.
Win or lose, once you were hurt the consequences were serious; it would tell on the rest of your life, and even on whether you kept it.
"Going to put up a fight, are you? Let's see how you fight. Be good and give yourself up."
The men brought out their strength as well: Pokémon running from Intermediate up to Elite.
Intermediates made up most of them, and there were three Elites; about forty Pokémon all told, the strongest a level 45 Weezing.
Packed thick together, with no small weight of presence about them, they had Vance and his few in the middle, and looked to have him for certain.
Sandslash, Zoroark, Kirlia and Gastly faced that mass of Pokémon with flat expressions, not a ripple in any of them, and stood against them.
The air was grim. One word of command and it would begin.
"Right, right, right — take them!"
Seeing all this, the men made ready to move.
On the edge of the sky two figures appeared, flying this way.
The two were a man and a woman. The man was handsome and clean-featured, with blue hair and a well-cut suit.
The woman was beautiful and finely made, tall, with a fall of golden hair; beneath her stood a Garchomp whose presence had nothing at all to match it.
"Oh—"
The man made a small sound, as though he had noticed something, and drew the woman's eyes.
"What is it, Steven?"
"There's a friend of mine down there. He seems to have run into trouble."
Steven said it with a light laugh. From the sky all that could be seen below was a ring of Pokémon; it was his own Metagross that had told him Vance was there.
"Let's go down and have a look."
"Very well."
The Pokémon the two of them rode came down and circled above Vance's head.
*That's Steven! What is he doing here?*
Vance looked up and saw a figure he knew. So handsome, and with that air about him — it was Steven and no mistake.
Earlier, when Grady had set out to kill him, he had drifted as far as the Hoenn region and had made Steven's acquaintance there; they knew each other, after a fashion.
And the woman beside him drew Vance's attention as well.
Her face, her tall figure, the golden hair, and a Garchomp standing under her — one look and Vance had her at once. This woman was Cynthia, the future Champion of the Sinnoh region.
And the youngest Champion there had ever been.
She could not be Sinnoh's League Champion yet; Vance had heard nothing of it. Perhaps it would come next year, or the year after.
"You seem to have run into trouble, my friend."
Steven said it, pointing at the crowd, which had grown frightened and uneasy at the appearance of the two of them.
"It can't be helped. A robbery."
Vance shrugged, and said it as one who had no choice in the matter.
"Do you want a hand, then?"
"There's no need for that."
Vance took out several more Poké Balls and sent out what was in them.
Gyarados and Aerodactyl and the rest appeared outside and went after the fleeing crowd.
He had meant to let the Sandslash and the others get some seasoning out of it; that would keep for now. Better to have the thing over with early.
"Rooar—"
With Gyarados and the others on the field there was of course no surprise in it: the men had not time even to run, and every one of them was taken.
"A Gyarados. Elite-Four-class before long, I should think. That power has filled its body well enough already."
Steven narrowed his eyes at Gyarados and the rest. With an eye like his he could of course see how they had been raised.
"You're stronger than you were."
With the fighting over, Steven came down off his Pokémon's back and walked up to Vance.
"I haven't got over the Elite-Four barrier. Set beside you, I'm a long way short."
"Ha ha ha, soon enough, soon enough."
The easy way the two of them talked left Cynthia, behind them, a little puzzled.
Steven she knew, but this one she did not. She ran over the promising young people of the Kanto region in her mind, and there seemed to be no such figure among them.
It made her curious in spite of herself: who was this, who could talk so happily with Steven? A pair of amber eyes rested on Vance, studying him.
And Vance had noticed her too, and turned his gaze on her.
"I forgot to make the introductions. This is Cynthia, of Sinnoh, and a very fine Trainer as well — taken all round she is no weaker than I am. At present she serves as one of the Sinnoh region's Elite Four."
Seeing it, Steven made the introduction for Vance.
"This is Vance, a Trainer of all-round excellence. Breeding and everything else — he has mastered them all, and he is a powerful Psychic besides."
"How do you do, Cynthia."
"A pleasure, a pleasure."
Introduced by Steven, the two put out their hands and shook.
After that brief greeting Cynthia said nothing more. Her face was calm, and she watched the two of them talk in silence.
Only now and then, when Steven drew her in, did she put in a word of agreement.
"Is something big happening in Kanto? How is it the two of you are here?"
Vance asked it. Neither of them was a small figure, and for both to come here together there must be something behind it.
Ordinarily it was hard enough to see one of them, let alone the two of them travelling in company.
"The Indigo League Conference. We were invited to attend it as witnesses. As for coming to Celadon City — Professor Oak is giving lectures at Celadon University these few days, so we came to pay our respects, and ran into you here."
Steven explained.
"I see."
Vance nodded, understanding it now. No wonder he had run into the pair of them here; and from what Steven said he learned that Professor Oak was in Celadon City as well, which was a coincidence.
"Come along with us and call on Professor Oak. If you don't know him, I can introduce you."
Steven said again.
His opinion of Vance was good. With that much promise, going on as he was, he would one day stand on the same level as Steven himself; there was no difficulty at all in making an introduction for him.
And perhaps a hand now would bring him on faster.
Besides which, so far as he knew, Professor Oak was very fond of bringing on the younger generation of Trainers — and was Vance, standing here in front of him, not exactly that?
A native of Kanto, too, which made it better still.
So Steven thought.
Vance thought it over and agreed. A chance to spend time with two future Champions did not come often.
As for the crowd at his feet, Vance took out a number and rang Idris; he remembered that this sort of thing came under him as well.
Hand the men over to him, and if anything were got out of them that would count as a piece of good work for him.
A return for the leg-up Idris had given him earlier.
Call it give and take.
Before long Idris arrived with a party of men in a great hurry.