"Congratulations. Through to the last 32."
Cerise spoke up as Vance came back to his seat.
"It won't give you any trouble either. I'll be waiting for the good news."
Vance answered her.
Cerise nodded, and went on up to begin her own match.
"Boss, we've dealt with those two. Here's the file I've put together."
Once he had sat down, Emery and Ambrose came over to report to him, and produced a tidy dossier as well.
To be on the safe side, Emery had put the pair through a hard questioning, then set what he had got out of them together with the rest of what he had learned, and worked it up into a file.
"Good. Thank you for the trouble."
Vance thanked him, opened the file, read it through and fixed everything about the Farrow family in his mind.
"Only an Elite-Four-class family, and it can still raise a jackass like that. Remarkable. With an eldest son and heir of that sort, the family may as well sit and wait for its decline."
Vance said it offhandedly, and put the thing away.
"Yes. This Kai Farrow is arrogant by nature, and his family indulge him, so the character is no surprise."
Emery answered him.
"What methods do you two think he'd use, if he means to come at me?"
Vance put it to them to see what they would say.
"Well, that....." Emery frowned, thought it over, and began slowly, "I think that if you mean to go the League route, boss, the Farrow people would probably use the connections they've built up in the League over decades against you, and keep it inside the rules. Beyond that there's assassination — finding out where you are and arranging to have you killed."
Vance nodded. He had thought so too. What Emery had said was much what he had in mind, except that there was one other thing besides: that they might settle the business with him instead.
And Emery's next words came to that very point.
"Of course, there's also the possibility that they'll come to terms with you, boss, because you are genuinely outstanding and they don't want to make too many enemies, so they'd want a settlement."
"Heh. Terms won't be so easily come by. They sent men in the middle of the night to kill me, and if they can produce what I want, it isn't impossible; only I doubt they will, and I shan't be putting up with less."
"That's the way of it."
Emery agreed with him. After so long together he had his boss's character worked out.
Clear about who had done him good and who had done him harm, and certain to repay both; and if he could not repay a thing at once, he kept it in mind and repaid it when he had the power.
Ambrose looked at Emery, looked at Vance, and shook his head. He could not be bothered to analyse it; it made his head ache, this sort of thing was not something he was much good at, and so he simply left it alone.
Before long Cerise came down as well, though she had had a hard fight of it, her opponent being stronger than the ones Vance had drawn — nothing so easy as his.
Happily, sheer strength carried the day and she won through to the last 32 all the same.
Vance offered his congratulations. Nobody else knew it, but Team Rocket now had two people in the last 32.
Reaching the last 32 was also a credential a person could parlay into a good position in the League.
"Wow!!"
"That's a Raikou — heavens, there's a Legendary Pokémon here!!"
"A Trainer who's caught a Legendary. Where has he come from? How has nobody heard of him?"
"Wasn't he the one with the Raticate? How has he pulled out a Legendary??"
"This is past believing."
The arena was in an uproar, cries of astonishment everywhere. The Legendary that had appeared on the field brought most of the spectators to their feet together, all of them staring up at it with shock and disbelief.
At this Conference, of all places, a Legendary Pokémon.
At this year's Conference, of all things, a Trainer who had caught a Legendary!
Vance looked over at the field, saw how magnificently the Raikou carried itself, and with that and the familiar aura about it — the Godbeast Gang's handiwork — he was certain the man had a connection with the Godbeast Gang.
What he did not know was why the man dared show himself at this Conference, and take part in it besides.
More to the point: why was there nobody in the League doing anything to stop it?
Was it that they had not noticed? Certainly not.
If it had been a pseudo-legendary brought out, the League might conceivably not have looked into it closely; but with a Legendary, Vance did not believe for a moment that the League would take no notice.
And besides, the Raikou's own aura fell short of a true Legendary's, which was something that could be sensed too.
At present this Wren was still being allowed to run through his matches as usual; after the Raikou's appearance, the League's senior people up in the stand had made no move at all.
"Raikou, Thunderbolt!"
"Rooar—"
Dozens upon hundreds of thick bolts of lightning ploughed across the ground with an irresistible force, straight at the Drapion in front of it. The whole field was filled with blinding electricity, and nothing in it could be clearly seen; the noise was immense, the savage aura sweeping out over everybody, so that the crowd felt a wave of pressure and a tightness in their chests.
"Wait, we forfeit......"
Over there the Drapion's Trainer, seeing there was no arguing with it, tried to concede; but the Raikou did not stop, and went straight on.
"Boom, boom, boom—"
A roar that turned the world upside down, savage power spilling out of it, set off the protective measures in the arena; one powerful Pokémon after another appeared on the field and shut the aftershock out, keeping the watching crowd safe.
Even so, a good many spectators were deafened by it, with their heads ringing.
When the smoke cleared, the field, which had been only slightly damaged before, was unrecognisable, broken past mending, and the Drapion lay motionless among the rubble, the breath of life faint in it, at the point of death.
"An Elite-Four-class Raikou. Now that is interesting. This one's shape is more complete than the earlier ones, better made. They have made progress."
Vance drew that conclusion once he had finished studying it.
An Elite-Four-class Pokémon had appeared, and a Legendary at that.
To use so intimidating a method the moment it acted, to announce itself like that — it was very striking, and very formidable.
Before this Vance had supposed that his chief rivals for the title would be that Aurelian and Elspeth.
But seeing this Raikou, Vance knew: to the chief rivals must be added this Wren.
Of his present team, Gyarados and Slaking could match it.
Zweilous could too, only he would come off a little the worse.
After the Raikou beat its opponent the spectators boiled over, cheering it at the tops of their voices.
"A Raikou. What do you make of it, Elspeth? Do you fancy your chances?"
As one of the favourites for the title and at the same time the League's public face for this generation, Aurelian too was weighing his odds after seeing the Raikou come out.
Having made his assessment, he concluded that this Raikou was a shade stronger than his own ace, and so he asked his old friend beside him whether she had any way to deal with it.
"Not much chance of it, but I'll do what I can."
Elspeth shook her head as she said it.
One move had been enough for her to judge the Raikou's strength.
"That is a nuisance."
Aurelian inclined his head, turning schemes over in his mind, looking for a way to handle the Raikou.
Under ten thousand pairs of eyes, Wren left the field calmly, unmoved by praise or blame.
He came to Elder Vayne's side and stood there quietly.
"Very good. Battling is a matter of showing the world the might of our Sacred Order, of bringing more people to see how great our Sacred Order is"
Elder Vayne clapped him on the shoulder, well pleased.
At Elder Vayne's introduction, he exchanged greetings with the two Farrows, grandfather and grandson.
That the Legendary's Trainer should turn out to be one of their own set Kai Farrow wild with joy.
Ha ha, did you see that? What was so very remarkable about him? The real genius, the Trainer with a Legendary, was standing right here, and greeting him with a smile.