"What a dull man you are. I've never begged anybody like this before, and here I am pleading with you, and still you won't say."
Cerise said it helplessly. However she fished, even when she pleaded and played the weak one, the man in front of her stayed exactly the same. He really was dull.
"I wish you luck. Try not to get picked off. Go on."
"I'm off."
She could get nothing out of him, and it was her turn on the field again, so Cerise had to go.
The Trainer she had been matched with was an ordinary-looking youth, and the Pokémon he sent out was very ordinary too, only at Advanced strength.
His luck was bad; he had come up against Cerise, and the battle was over in a few moves. He sent his remaining Pokémon out, and those were finished in a few moves as well.
For some reason Cerise went at full force from beginning to end, gave him no opening at all, and disposed of her opponent cleanly and quickly.
From his seat Vance smiled and gave her his applause; catching a certain stir behind him, he only smiled at that too and took no notice.
In the seats behind him sat three young men with indignation all over their faces, and one of them seemed to have fire in his eyes.
"Where has that boy come from? Cerise's manner with him isn't right."
"Young Master Kai, don't trouble yourself. Let the two of us go and look into it."
The companion beside him said it.
"Good. Be quick about it. Thirty minutes — I want to know about him. I shan't see you badly done by."
"Thank you, Young Master Kai."
The two beside him gave their thanks.
This gentleman was the son of a house of Saffron City, by the name of Kai Farrow, of the celebrated Farrow family. In Saffron City the Farrow were a small power in their own right, and the family had an Elite-Four-class figure in it.
On top of which this Young Master Kai was the eldest son of the main line, and what merely leaked through his fingers would be enough to keep the two of them fed and watered without a care.
So of course they thumped their chests and gave their word at once. What were they waiting for?
"Go down and look into it, then. Let's see what he's made of."
"Yes, yes, yes."
The two of them answered and hurried off about it.
"Cerise. You can only be mine."
Kai Farrow's eyes burned. Ever since he had seen Cerise in Saffron City he had been deeply drawn by that matchless bearing of hers.
Every glance of hers, every smile, drew him in deeply.
He had made up his mind then and there: this woman, he, Kai Farrow, would have.
And once he had looked into her and learned the truth about Cerise, he was hotter still to win her heart. Even the Elite-Four-class figure in the family — that is to say, his grandfather — was strongly in favour of his pursuing her.
Beyond her looks, what was inside this woman was more dazzling still: a genius beyond compare.
So young, and already a Gym-class Psychic. Where would that end? There was every likelihood she would break through to Elite-Four-class, even to Near-Champion.
Their family would rise a step by it, and marrying her would add Psychic blood to the family besides, greatly increasing the chance of Psychics appearing among their descendants.
With all these advantages one on top of another, there was simply no refusing it.
Even in Saffron City she was a figure like a goddess.
The thought of conquering a goddess like that was enough to stir him up on its own.
His thoughts came back to him, and Kai Farrow looked coldly at Vance. He wanted to know who this man was.
Daring to meddle in his affairs.
He even seemed to have seen Cerise coaxing and playing up to him, and that was something he could not endure; he was in a hurry to make out what lay between them.
In front of him this goddess was always high above him, always with a cold look for him — and today he had seen that she had another side.
Only the one she turned it on was not him.
All of it made him particularly furious.
The goddess he was pursuing, playing up to somebody else. How was that to be borne?
At least he had not lost his reason, and had sent his men to find out about it. If the fellow was of one of the great clans, then let it go; but if he was... hmph, then he had better not blame him for what came after.
Because he would have earned his death.
How could Vance not have felt that cold stare?
He simply did not care to take any notice of it.
He rubbed his nose and sighed inwardly that women were nothing but trouble. From the look of the few of them, it was likely enough because of that scene of Cerise talking to him.
So he had been marked down for a grudge, had he? It rather looked like it.
By his past experience he did not even have to think about it; that would be roughly it. He only did not know how it would go from here.
"You really do know how to make trouble for me."
"???"
Cerise, who had only just come back, looked blank. How had she made trouble for him?
A few seconds later Cerise laughed.
"Getting your blow in first? Changing the subject, are you?"
"It's a fact."
"Then tell me. How have I made trouble for you?"
Cerise rolled her eyes and sat down beside him.
"That handsome fellow behind you."
Vance said it with a light laugh, giving her the hint.
"Who?"
Cerise looked round behind her, and at once her brows drew together.
"So, you see, I'll have to keep my distance from you, or I'll have your admirers beating me and threatening me."
"I'll deal with it."
Cerise said it after a few seconds of silence.
"Very well. So long as it doesn't affect me. And if they do come at me, I shan't be polite about it either."
"Naturally. He's a mangy dog. There's no need to be polite."
Cerise said it with her brows knitted, her voice full of disgust.
"All right."
Vance was left wondering aloud whether his luck had run out, that even a hackneyed business like this should come his way.
After a long wait it was Vance's turn on the field again.
His opponent this time was a girl, a little plump but not short, with baby fat still in her cheeks, her hair in twin tails, and looking full of energy.
After the handshake Vance went to his place, took out a Poké Ball, and when the referee's voice sounded he sent it out.
"Kirl—"
"Myaa-oo—"
The Kirlia and an Espeon appeared on the field at the same moment. This time it was the Kirlia going out to fight.
"Damn it, another slip. Not that it matters much."
Vance murmured it. The girl in front of him was another who had not been recorded in the booklet, and yet the Pokémon she had sent out was no weak thing — an Espeon at level 45.
Once again he had come up against a Trainer the booklet had missed, and once again one of no small strength.
A level 45 Espeon to lead with; by the look of it she was a good deal stronger than the one he had faced last time.