"Elder Vayne, has something changed?"
Once the three of them were outside, Gerald Farrow asked it as they walked.
"Changed? You could say so."
Elder Vayne said it darkly, looking at the two of them with something strange in his eyes.
"How do you mean, Elder Vayne? Was it something that boy said to you privately, or what? Could you make it plain?"
The old fox, Gerald Farrow, seemed to have realised something was wrong. He signalled his grandson Kai Farrow behind him; his own instincts were telling him there was something queer in this.
"You, or him. Now there is a question. And looked at that way, he is one man alone, and still worth a great deal more than your Farrow family."
Elder Vayne said it mildly, and the words frightened Gerald Farrow out of his wits, while his mind ran at speed after some way out.
Elder Vayne made no move either, but watched him with a smile all over his face, to see how he would react.
"Wait, Elder Vayne. I am sure there is something crooked in this. The two of us can talk it over again; as it stands I am afraid we may be walking into that boy's snare. Put what we each know together and we shall see the truth of it."
Gerald Farrow held the situation together as well as he could, and made his appeal.
*What is this? Why has grandfather gone so tense? Why?*
Kai Farrow did not understand it. Was this Elder Vayne not an honoured guest of the Farrow family, a good friend of his grandfather's? How had it come to this?
He could make little of it, so he stood quietly and watched.
Elder Vayne watched him, turned it over a few times in his mind, and then nodded.
"Not bad. As a partner you do have something about you."
And then he set out everything Vance had said to him just then.
"His first condition was that he wanted that Darkrai. His second was a choice between you and me — that you die; and it is with your deaths that he will come over to the Sacred Order."
"Neither of them is easy to manage. That is what I was thinking about just now."
"And which did you choose?"
Kai Farrow spoke first, and was pressed quiet by his grandfather.
"Elder Vayne has chosen us already, or he would not be telling us."
"Ha ha ha. Very good, very good. Working with you was the right choice after all. You are a clever man, Farrow."
Elder Vayne began to laugh, a hoarse laugh, not pleasant to listen to; though Gerald Farrow was easy enough now.
And at the same time he was thinking how the business was to be settled.
"Then how are we to act now, Elder Vayne? The Farrow family will give its full cooperation. My own Pokémon broke through by the Sacred Order's help; I can never be grateful enough for so great a kindness."
"Hm. I have my methods. For the present we go slowly. Wait until I have the snare laid and let him put his head into it. I shall act myself this time, and I promise you there will be no mishap."
"Are you going to kill him?"
Kai Farrow said it quickly; that point concerned him very much.
Elder Vayne looked at him and said with a smile, "That man is worth more alive than dead. What comes to him will not be death, naturally. A thing should be used for all it is worth — and so should a man."
"Kai, Elder Vayne has his ways. All you need remember is that the man will have no power left to take revenge with."
Gerald Farrow added.
"Oh. Oh."
"Heh heh heh. You will know when the time comes. This Champion Vance — I have said it already — he and his Pokémon are both excellent material, and now there is one thing more, which is what he now is."
...................
For several days together Vance passed his time receiving visitors, and gave no clear word about going anywhere; he simply let it drag.
For one thing there was nothing among them he fancied; for another he had plans of his own, and was in no hurry.
In the grounds of the villa some of the Pokémon, the Gyarados among them, lay lazily in the sun and rested, while others trained.
Vance sat to one side under the awning, drinking tea and talking with Ambrose.
"So what do you mean to do about it, boss?"
Ambrose asked. The three of them had got on to the subject of the visit from Farrow and the other two.
"We'll see. There should be word in the next few days. What sort of word, I couldn't say yet."
Vance answered, took an unhurried mouthful of tea, and watched the Sandslash honing its moves in the distance.
"Whatever they're trying to do, though, I can deal with it. Set your minds at rest."
There was a stir over at the gate, and then Cerise and Nolan came across.
"Ha ha. Congratulations, Champion Vance."
Nolan was as he always was, coming up with a grin.
"Where's the present?"
"There isn't one. Nothing I have would be worth a champion's notice anyway."
They had all come up out of Team Rocket, and there were no outsiders here, so the talk ran freely.
In the course of it Vance learned that the two of them had come to take their leave.
The tournament was over and there was no need for them to stay; each would go back to his own place, one to Saffron City and one to Vermilion City.
"You're a great man now. You'll have to look after us. Don't forget your old friends once you've come into money."
Nolan said, laughing and fooling.
"When I get back I'll settle this business with the Farrow family. It won't touch you."
Cerise said. She had not forgotten it.
"Let it take its course. Oh — that Gerald Farrow is a Near-Champion-class Trainer now."
Vance let her know what Gerald Farrow's strength was, so that she would be ready.
"What? He's broken through to Near-Champion-class?"
Cerise was startled. A Near-Champion-class Trainer, if that were so—
It was not something she had foreseen. If he was a Near-Champion Trainer, then with what she could do at present there was nothing she could do at all.
And it was because there was nothing she could do that she felt guilty.
"There's no need to worry. The man has already been to my door to make amends."
Vance said with a smile.
"Mm."
Cerise nodded, and said nothing.
The two of them sat a while and then took their leave. Vance saw them to the gate and watched them go.
"You two had better build yourselves up as well, and get your numbers up to strength. What we run into next won't be the small stuff of before."
"Yes."
"Right, boss."
Even Ambrose had nothing flippant about his face; he had turned serious too.
"Work at it. I have some things here that aren't much use to me now. The two of you take them."
"Thank you, boss."
"Mm."
That afternoon Vance went to the League office on the Indigo Plateau and applied to go to the League Vault and choose his treasure.
It was approved quickly.
So he left the Indigo Plateau for Mt. Silver, where the vault stood.
Going through the proper channels, Vance came to Mt. Silver without hindrance.
Mt. Silver lies to the west of the Indigo Plateau, and the distance is not great.
Riding the Aerodactyl, Vance reached it soon enough.
Mt. Silver stands between the Kanto region and the Johto region, in the east of Johto; and the League headquarters for the Johto region stands on Mt. Silver as well, facing the Kanto region at the Indigo Plateau across the distance.
But Kanto and Johto are one house, and even divided they have a great deal in common use, and the League Vault at Mt. Silver was one such thing.
"Champion Vance. Delighted, delighted."
When he arrived, a middle-aged man who gave himself out as the director of some department or other came to meet him, and it was this man who took Vance to the League Vault to choose his treasure.
"Delighted. Here are my details."
"Very good."
He looked them over, confirmed there was nothing amiss, and took Vance in.
Vance found the brisk, clean handling of it very much to his taste.
That was what he liked. A round of civilities only wastes time.
He had spent these last few days getting through civilities, and it had left him thoroughly out of patience.
The vault itself was not the blaze of gold and colour he had imagined, but very plain.
Vance was brought now to a huge stone door.
The door was silver-white, with patterns cut into it that stood for something or other.
"Hummmm—"
After the man had worked at it a while, the stone door rumbled and opened slowly.
"This way, please."
Said the man with the look of a director about him.
"Please."
The two of them went in together, and Vance found there was modern equipment inside as well, and running.
As the two of them entered, two beams of light swept over them, checking their details.
"Beep. Identity verification complete. Recipient: Vance."
The automated voice sounded. Vance looked up: the vault was built in tiers, with treasures of every kind set out on them.
There was plenty of light in the room, enough for a man to see everything clearly.