There was a cold laugh in the eyes of Gyarados and the rest. The nerve of these two, to come here at all.
Sneaking about like that, anyone could see they were not up to any good.
Vance had known of them from the moment the pair came within a hundred metres of the villa, and had set Gyarados and the others here to wait for them; when the two came over the wall they landed squarely in front of the lot of them.
A ball on one man's belt shook, and a Gym-class Drowzee appeared on the ground. It was a Pokémon of the Farrow family, put at Kai Farrow's side to keep him safe.
And tonight Kai Farrow had sent it along with these two men to Vance's villa.
The moment it caught the presence of Gyarados and the rest it felt that something was wrong, and it had hardly begun to move before a fist appeared in front of it. Dodge how it might, the fist came after it like its own shadow, and there was no getting away.
Gathered in such haste, what power it could raise did not hold the blow off either.
"Thud—"
The world turned over, and the Drowzee lay flat on the ground with its head full of pain.
The next moment a second dim blue shadow of a fist came down, and the Drowzee lost its senses on the instant and went limp and still.
From Slaking's first move to the end of it was under three seconds. The two men beside it had not caught up before this Gym-class battle was already over.
And nothing of the noise of it could be known outside. The ground around was covered over by a barrier shaped like a square, and no sound within carried out of it at all.
The barrier was Vance's work, naturally. Since rising to Elite-Four-class, a barrier he drew together could hold in even what Gyarados and the others made.
"Aagh—"
Before the two men had caught up they were taken, and were dragged, along with the senseless Drowzee, onto the lawn inside the villa. Vance stood looking at them with something that was not quite a smile; beside him Ambrose was still cracking melon seeds, and Emery was reading through those papers of his.
"That's no small nerve, the pair of you, coming to my villa. What was it you meant to do here?"
The corner of Vance's mouth lifted as he looked at the two of them.
He remembered their faces. They were among the ones who had looked at him with hatred that day, and by the look of them they would be that Kai Farrow's men.
A young master of the Farrow family, then. High-handed, and no mistake.
All he had done was exchange a few words with Cerise, and this was the payment for it — with the League tournament still running, they dared come here by night.
And a Gym-class Drowzee with them, and a weak one at that. Against anybody else it might have served; in front of Gyarados and the others it was not worth looking at.
"We never... mercy... spare us."
With matters come this far the two lost their heads, and seeing Vance as he was they went straight down on their knees and begged to be forgiven.
The man was terrifying. He had disposed in a few strokes of the Drowzee they had been counting on.
What they had of their own now was a few Pokémon of no standing at all, of no use whatsoever.
"It was that one from the Farrow family who sent the pair of you, was it?"
The two checked at that, looked at each other, and begged louder than before.
"I can't be bothered to draw it out of you a step at a time."
Vance wasted no more words but put the two of them under hypnosis, and they laid their plan out point by point. It was the business with Cerise after all; his earlier instinct had been right. He had run up against one of those young masters who treat other people as cattle.
Their plan had been to let the Drowzee strike quickly; once it was done the two of them would leave here at speed and see how things fell out afterwards. If it went hard they would live under other names for a time, and the Farrow family would clear up behind them and smooth the matter away.
And if it went lightly there was even less to trouble about.
It came back to there being nobody behind Vance. However well he performed, once he was dead he would not be worth much.
Even if the League did carry an inquiry into the business of Vance forward, so long as it raised no great stir it would be easily settled.
"Emery, these two are yours."
Having the whole of it from beginning to end, Vance had no interest in hearing any more.
"If you mean to get inside the League system, boss, and pay this back later, these two will be of use. Let them keep their lives for now."
Emery proposed.
"Mm. Decide it as you see fit. What they have on them is for the two of you to deal with as well."
With that, Vance went into the house.
"For the two of us? This Drowzee as well?"
Ambrose said it hesitantly.
"It is. Get to work. While it's dark, let's take it outside."
"Right, right."
The two of them set about it, and the whole time Ambrose had a smile on his face. One night's work, and a fortune of that size dropped in your lap — anybody would be pleased.
Fine fellows, the pair of them. At the same time he spent a few seconds in mourning for that Farrow family. Of all the people to provoke, they had provoked his boss. The grudge of a killing attempted in the dead of night was made now, and afterwards they would have to bear whatever Vance paid back.
Whether his boss would succeed in paying it back was not a thing he even needed to think about.
Back inside, Vance settled peacefully into meditation. The two men's night raid had made no difference to him at all.
He quietly set this Kai Farrow down in his mind, and would wait only for the time to come.
On the other side, Kai Farrow waited and waited, and deep into the night nobody came and no word came either.
A bad feeling rose in him. He pressed the feeling and the anxiety down and went on waiting, and right up until it was full daylight outside no word came back.
The tournament ground on the second day was as lively as ever, and people were in high spirits to watch the matches.
"Good morning, friends in the stands. After a full day of selection yesterday, 256 Trainers have been decided, and today they will give us finer matches still. Let us look forward to it."
The host's voice rang out across the arena.
The great screen above came to life again, went into the drawing of the competitors, and then put the results of that drawing up on the screen.
Vance had a look. The opponent he had drawn this time was a seasoned Trainer.
He had read the man's details: an old hand at these tournaments, who had been in the Indigo League Conference three times already.
His strength was middling and orderly, the sort who advances steadily.
Once on the field, Vance sent out his Onix.
Ten minutes or so later the referee declared Vance the winner, and he went through to the next stage.
Onix had done the work of a sweep as well, beating all three of the other side's Pokémon one after another.
With the battle over, Vance made his way off the field, and a man came towards him who looked as though he had been waiting there for him on purpose.
Vance laughed. The man still dared come looking for him, when he had not even gone looking for the man yet.
It was Kai Farrow.
"The two of them have disappeared. Was that you?"
Kai Farrow planted himself there and said it sharply.
"Disappeared? What has that to do with me?" Vance was not about to indulge him, and threw it straight back.
"You dare speak to me like that?"
Kai Farrow's whole face went black. He had been mocked by this jumped-up piece of luck.
"Don't make me laugh. Who do you think you are, that a man shouldn't dare speak to you like this? And besides, as to what those two went off to do, I imagine you know well enough in your own heart, Young Master Kai."