After Lance came another figure, the President of the League, President Goodshow, and the applause that went up through the whole arena was warmer still than the applause for Lance.
They were welcoming this old man who had worn himself out in the League's service.
"Good day to you all. Today is once again our annual Conference..."
President Goodshow set out his views briefly and then brought his speech to a close.
"Kreeee—"
A clear, ringing cry came towards them from far off, and with it came a wave of warmth.
Vance looked up and saw a Pokémon of beautiful build wreathed in rolling fire, brilliant flames streaming from its brow, its two wings and its tail, painting the whole sky red.
Moltres, one of the three legendary birds.
Magnificent and powerful. The moment it appeared the crowd below wore a single look of awe, and fell silent.
None of them had thought they would get to see the Legendary Pokémon Moltres today, and in the flesh at that, not in a photograph.
"Whoooosh—"
Moltres flew up over the field and lit the torch, and the blaze burned up fiercely, rising from the top of the grounds.
The crowd below burst out cheering at once, jumping and shouting, a tremendous noise.
People watched Moltres go with excitement in their faces, and any number of them had cameras out and would not stop taking pictures.
It was a piece of showmanship, and a display of power as well.
Seeing it, people would also have more faith in the League.
To ordinary people and to Trainers of the middle and lower ranks, a Legendary Pokémon was a god, the symbol of absolute strength.
"Moltres, is it. They've done something different this year."
Vance murmured it from his corner. In past years the lighting of the torch had always been done by the torch team; this year they had brought Moltres out to show its face, and it had caught every eye.
This Moltres was the genuine article, too. Its energy level was as high as 90, at the very summit of Champion-class, and the area around it obeyed it. On the road of the Fire type it had gone as far as the road went.
One step more and it would break past Champion-class and reach a different order of thing altogether.
The strength of the League could be judged from that.
"There's no torchbearer, then. Does that mean our plan's gone up in smoke?"
The speaker was James, who at that moment was still reeling from Moltres's appearance and had not got his wits back.
Beside the spectators' stand the trio had their trays of snacks and were huddled together in consultation.
They had been daydreaming about making off with the torch, and now that Moltres had come out to light it there was naturally nothing doing.
"What are you talking about? That's Moltres. How would you steal it? Are you stupid?"
Jessie gave him a thump and had nothing to say to him.
What sort of person was this, to dare to think of such a thing? Moltres had only flown past in the distance, and all three of them had felt it was beyond anything they could stand against.
The three of them, with a heap of scrap iron thrown in, were nothing at all next to that.
They saw as well that what they had been dreaming of before had been far too rosy.
"What do we do, then?"
"We sell the snacks honestly, that's what. Save the money up first and talk about the rest afterwards. A crowd like this is a good chance to make money."
"Jessie's right. Let's make the money first, meowth."
Meowth spoke up.
"A bag of sunflower seeds."
"Right you are, here are your sunflower seeds."
Meowth handed the seeds over and closed a sale.
"All right, all right, get on with the work."
Jessie got moving too, took up her tray of snacks and began to call her wares.
"Beer, soft drinks, mineral water! Peanuts and sunflower seeds, who wants some! Excuse me, please, mind your backs, coming through."
Watching the two of them bustle about, James stood there dumbly.
*There's something wrong with this picture. We're Team Rocket, aren't we? How has it come to this?*
"Get a move on, James."
Jessie was shouting from over there, hurrying him along already.
"Coming, coming."
James came out of it with a start and pushed his cart forward.
Team Rocket and all the rest of it did not seem to matter very much at this moment. Money first — and once they had the money they would have ample funds, and then they could buy equipment, and then they could catch rarer Pokémon.
Besides which, selling things here with Jessie and Meowth gave him a settled, solid sort of feeling, as though it were something he was thoroughly used to.
It was rather strange, and he could not work it out.
All three of the trio had a good tongue in their heads, the goods went quickly, and the money in their hands slowly mounted.
In other parts of the grounds, the competitors like Vance were all looking up at the great screens overhead.
The screens had begun to flicker. They had gone into matchmaking.
Before long the results came out, and in the space of a moment the matchmaking system put up pairings for nearly a thousand Trainers.
Below, Vance and the rest received the message as well, with some of the results on it.
"Perrin. Never heard of him."
He took up his Pokédex; his opponent was displayed on it, Perrin. Vance had never heard the name, and had not seen it in the second volume of the booklet Nolan had given him either. If he had seen it he would have remembered it.
As he was now, nothing passed his eyes without being kept.
In a case like this there were only two guesses: either the man was a great master, or he was a duffer.
Vance leaned towards the latter — that the man was a poor Trainer who had not even made it into Nolan's booklet.
There were not so many great masters about. And besides, Vance thought his own luck was rather good; surely he would not come up against a formidable figure the moment he walked on?
Surely not. His luck had not run down that far.
"Begin!!"
Down in the grounds, the first battle was formally under way.
The Trainers on both sides threw their Poké Balls together, and the Pokémon on both sides came out and made ready to fight.
The grounds were very large, and there was not one field but several running at once.
"Bang, bang, bang—"
The battles had begun below.
The energy levels of most of the Pokémon on the fields at this stage were not high, mostly Intermediate and Advanced, with a few Elite among them. There was no Gym-class yet; Vance looked all the way round and did not see one.
Vance nodded. That was as it should be. The strong were always the few, and this was only the first round.
The arena of the masters came later. Masters facing each other right at the start was, in the end, a rare thing.