Espeon, one of Eevee's evolved forms, a Psychic-type Pokémon, with a red gem set in its forehead that glittered under the light of the sun.
That glitter caught the Kirlia opposite it, and she felt a sudden wave of dizziness; luckily she came back to herself within a second and dodged where she stood, and a beam of light that shot across from the other side went past her.
Inwardly the Kirlia cried out that that had been close.
Not that she did not know that if she had failed to dodge Vance would have stepped in, and no great harm done.
But that was not what she wanted.
What she wanted was to be able to truly grapple with an opponent, and to show as much of herself as she could.
Not to fall short of Vance's raising of her, or of the Alakazam's expectations.
A gentle psychic force settled over her, and her presence began to climb.
Up from its original level 32, one level at a time.
33, 34... 40...
"Boom—"
41... 44. Only at level 44 did it stop.
This was not the limit of what Vance could do, but the limit of the power the Kirlia could bear, and the limit of what she could control at present.
Vance had thought all of this through.
"A Psychic!"
The girl opposite cried out, looking at Vance with shock in her eyes. A stroke like that could only be a Psychic's.
She sighed inwardly at her own bad luck in coming up against a Psychic, and then set her teeth and went on directing the Espeon in a fierce fight with the Kirlia.
Invisible to the naked eye, the space between the two Pokémon churned: it was psychic power tangling with psychic power, while the Pokémon themselves did not move at all.
"Here, the two Pokémon on that field have both stopped moving. They're just looking at each other. Are they trying to frighten each other with big wide glowing eyes?"
The spectators below noticed it too, and thought it odd.
Then somebody explained it.
"Both of those Pokémon are Psychic types, and they're contending with psychic power. You can't see it with the naked eye. Look at the ground under the pair of them — it's all cracked."
"Ah, I see."
A spectator who understood it explained, and the rest nodded with the light dawning on their faces.
"Bang—"
The words were hardly out before the Espeon was flung aside by a force and came down to one side.
The next moment a piece of psychic power in the shape of an open palm appeared and came down flat on it.
It struck the ground and raised dust all over the field. The Kirlia appeared up above, Magical Leaf forming in sheets all around her, and swept them away at once.
After that she used other moves, giving the Espeon no time to react.
The angle and the force of the moves were judged exactly right.
It was not only Vance who had trained her; the Near-Champion-class Alakazam had been teaching her too.
In the mastery of psychic power the Kirlia had already come a very long way.
So against the Espeon — it was no match for the Kirlia at all.
Once the Kirlia had been raised, it was on the losing side in a moment.
"Espeon, Psybeam."
Being beaten on for ever would not do; the Espeon opened a counter-attack of its own, looking for a way out.
The Kirlia was not afraid in the least, and answered with a Psybeam of her own.
The two beams met in mid-air, and a harsh grinding sound went up.
"Come on, Espeon."
Its Trainer called out to encourage it.
But encouragement could not change how the fight was going. The beams locked in mid-air came down towards where the Espeon stood.
"Mmyoo—"
A wave of dizziness took the Espeon, and the world before its eyes burst into colours. In the haze it saw its Trainer shouting for it in alarm — and it seemed to be flying through the air?
Those things around its body seemed to be Magical Leaf. When had it been hit head-on?
The Espeon did not understand, and its awareness sank into darkness.
"Espeon is unable to battle. Kirlia wins."
Down on the ground the referee announced it and gave the result.
"Come back, Espeon."
The girl let out a sigh and recalled the Espeon, then threw another Poké Ball, and a powerfully built Pidgeot came out.
An energy level of 47, a little stronger than the Espeon just now.
"A level 47 Pidgeot. The Kirlia will have no trouble handling that."
Once Vance had judged it, the battle began soon enough.
Fierce winds swept the field. The Pidgeot stooped, sharp claws dropping straight down, and came down on nothing; it righted itself, pursued with Quick Attack and closed on the Kirlia again.
Its movements were swift and fierce, hard and strong; from the first stroke it went all out.
"Pidge—"
Shaking off the psychic bindings around it, the Pidgeot fixed on the Kirlia again.
"Kirl—"
The Kirlia raised both hands, and Light Screen after Light Screen appeared in front of her, layered one upon another.
"Pidgeot, down! Divine Bird!"
"Pidge—"
The Light Screens' defence was destroyed in an instant.
"Trick Room."
A coloured barrier closed over them, and the Pidgeot's speed checked.
"Pidgeot, charge!! Our work together doesn't end here!"
"Pidge—"
The Pidgeot put more force into the charge; the phantom of the divine bird over its body grew brighter, and the space in that quarter began to lose its footing.
"Kirlia, Shadow Ball."
The moment the Pidgeot broke through, a Shadow Ball came at its face.
"Double Team."
Vance spoke again; the Shadow Ball could not stop the Pidgeot's charge.
The Kirlia had her orders and carried them out at once, and more than ten "Kirlia" appeared across the ground. The next second the Pidgeot's Divine Bird came down.
It smashed through most of the images, and still it had not touched the Kirlia's real body.
"Good chance. Disarming Voice."
He used the move while the Pidgeot had come down to the ground and had not yet risen again; once it was back in the air the effect would be a great deal poorer.
"La-la—"
Ethereal, lovely murmured singing went straight into the Pidgeot's ears, and a blankness came into its eyes.
The first note seemed a little noisy; the second was sweet and tugged at its thoughts... and as it listened, it sank into the singing.
And when it looked at the Kirlia afterwards, a look of adoration came over it as well. She seemed extraordinarily lovely, and the song she sang extraordinarily fine.
"Pidgeot..."
"?? Who's calling me? Oh — that's my Trainer. What's she calling me for? Never mind, it doesn't matter. Her singing is so lovely."
The Pidgeot glanced back once and then sank again into the Kirlia's singing, forgetting everything, including the fact that it was still out on the field.
"Pidgeot, wake up! Think of the work we've put in together, everything we've been through together — Pidgeot!!"
Over there its Trainer was still shouting, but the Pidgeot turned a deaf ear and put its fawning bird face up in front of the Kirlia, letting her use Draining Kiss, feeling its own life force ebbing away while hers grew stronger.
*She's using my strength.* Watching it happen, the Pidgeot actually felt thoroughly content, and let her draw it out.
"Aaah, Pidgeot, what are you doing!!"
The Pidgeot's Trainer was nearly going out of her mind; it had left her with nothing to say. Look at the state of it — wrapped round the Kirlia's little finger.
They were in a battle. They were out on the field.
"Ha ha ha, that Pidgeot's killing me. Played for an absolute fool."
"Ha ha ha, yes, yes. It looks exactly like a mate of mine chasing a woman — wrapped round her little finger and never knowing it."
"Boo-hoo-hoo—"
"What are you crying for, mate? What's there to cry about?"
"I've thought of a friend of mine. He's just like that Pidgeot."
"Ah. That friend wouldn't happen to be you, would it?"
"Nonsense, it isn't me. Don't talk rubbish."
The fight on the field had drawn the notice of the crowd in the stands as well, and seeing all this some of them laughed out loud and fell to discussing it.
Two striking performances had fixed Vance in a good many memories.
The way he had strengthened the Kirlia just now especially showed that he was out of the ordinary.
Vance's own details had already appeared in the booklets of certain information brokers; only Vance kept a low profile, and they had not yet gathered much on him.