Vance had a clear enough idea of his own strength: it was not yet enough to stand against a whole organisation.
At the strength he had now, to go to their headquarters would mean dying very badly indeed.
What kept him from fearing reprisals was that out in the open he would never meet the whole of them at once.
Then again, what Vance's confidence rested on was strength.
At present his overall strength was the equal of a Near-Champion-class Trainer.
To bring him down, a Near-Champion-class being would not serve; and even where it could be done that way, it would take a fair number of them.
Beyond that, it would take a Champion-class being to manage it.
And of the Champion-class there were extremely few; anywhere at all they were the decisive strength, and were not moved lightly.
Even against a Champion-class being, Vance was reasonably sure he could get away.
"A pity. The flaws in them are too serious. No sense in raising them."
Vance said it looking at the three legendary birds in their Poké Balls.
The three of them looked imposing, full of splendour — as far as appearance went they would do — but the life force inside them was close to running dry.
Which was to say that these three Legendary Pokémon had not long to live.
Add that they had been made by some means or other and were not the true creatures, and Vance was less interested still.
Darkrai did interest him rather more, and not only because it looked striking; there was also the fighting strength it had shown.
The trouble was the damage to its foundation and how badly its body had been overdrawn. Apart from that, it had no other defects.
Cared for properly, it could be brought back to its full prime; it would only take a good deal more work.
For the moment Vance was not sure about talking it into joining them.
"Trainer. What is your name."
Darkrai drifted over.
"Vance."
"Vance. Good. I'll remember it."
"So you're leaving?" Hearing it put that way, Vance felt there would be no keeping it.
If it wanted to go he would not press it, though he would feel the loss of it.
It could hardly be dealt with the way an ordinary hunted Pokémon would be, either.
"Where will you go after this? The foundation of your body is badly damaged. If you mean to reach a higher level in future, you'll have to attend to that."
Vance said.
"I know it."
Darkrai inclined its head, standing where it was, looking straight at him.
"You saved me. By the custom of your human society this is a debt for a life saved, and a debt that must be repaid; only I have nothing at present that is fit to offer you."
"You're too polite, Darkrai."
"I am not. What I think I can do is to serve you — to fight for you!"
Darkrai said it in earnest.
"Serve me?"
Vance was taken aback. He had thought it would go, and instead it was staying.
"Yes. I, Darkrai, will swear it: for as long as you live, I will follow you and fight for you!"
Darkrai did not use the word caught, and it set a term to the thing — for as long as he lived.
But Vance was very pleased all the same; in truth it came to no different a thing from catching it, only put another way.
Perhaps that was the pride a Legendary Pokémon carried in it.
"Good. Darkrai, you are welcome here."
Vance did not drag it out with any show of refusing, but agreed on the spot.
"From here on we'll get on as partners. There's no question of following."
Vance stepped warmly forward and put out a hand.
"Good."
Darkrai put out its own black hand and took it.
Their hands gripped; man and Pokémon looked at each other and smiled, both well pleased with the way it had gone.
"Ha-ha-ha! Come along, come along — Darkrai, let me introduce the rest of our team to you."
Laughing, Vance led it over in front of Gyarados and the others.
"This is Gyarados, my first partner."
"Rraah, rraah—"
Gyarados roared amiably, showing Darkrai a friendly face.
The pitch-black creature looked rather weak, but there was a faint weight of pressure in the feel of it, and its level of life seemed to be higher than his own.
"This is Slaking, my second partner..."
"This is Blaziken... Aerodactyl... Blaziken, Blaziken... Sandslash."
Vance took Darkrai through them one by one, and the Pokémon all showed a welcoming, friendly manner.
"Haaah—"
Sensing the friendliness of it, Darkrai answered in kind, and so they were acquainted.
"I've no use for these. Blaine could use them, though, and I can go over and see whether I can trade them for anything."
While they were getting to know one another, Vance was thinking about what to do with what he had taken.
He settled on it roughly: take the things he had no use for to Blaine, whose people would surely be interested in them.
With that in mind Vance took out his phone, found a spot with a signal, and put a call through to Blaine.
"Brrr, brrr, brrr—"
"Hello — Blaine, sir, it's Vance."
"Ha-ha-ha! Champion Vance, is it! A busy man — it's been a long while since you called."
On the other end, Blaine's voice was as hearty as ever.
"Don't make fun of me, sir. I've come by some new things, and I could send them over for you to study."
"Oh? What sort of things?"
"Four Legendary Pokémon, and a number of strange items."
Vance had looked over his takings; apart from a few he could use himself, this was what there was.
And study of that kind did not interest Vance for the moment. He had no energy to spare for it either.
"Legendary Pokémon! Now that does interest me. I've been turning that very subject over lately. Which ones?"
"Moltres, Zapdos..."
Vance ran through it briefly, and named as well the many things out of Elder Vayne's storage device.
"Good, good, good — you could not have come at a better time. With four of them my research can move a great deal faster. When will you come over?"
"In the next day or two."
Vance glanced at the sky; it was dark by now.
"Very well."
They talked a little longer, and then Vance rang off.
That way he could clear the things off his hands, and go and see whether Blaine had anything he could make use of.
"Come on. Let's go home."
Vance came up in front of the Pokémon and said it with a smile.
Then he took out a Luxury Ball and held it in front of Darkrai.
It did not hesitate, but pressed the ball open and went into it as a streak of red light.
"Clunk—"
The ball gave one muffled sound. Caught.
"Ha-ha-ha! Aerodactyl, off we go!"
Vance climbed onto Aerodactyl's back and started back.
This attempt on his life had left him suddenly rich; the greatest gain of it, of course, was Darkrai.
The four Legendary Pokémon that were left, and eight Elite-Four-class Pokémon, were the bulk of the rest of it.
After that came the odds and ends tucked away in the storage spaces: Poké Dollars, energy cubes, and a few things Vance could make nothing of.
Such as the thing in his hand at that moment, about the size of a phone card and shaped like a crystal.
Vance sat looking at it.
When he sent his psychic senses into it, a muttering started up at his ear, and it would get in the way of his judgement and his thinking.
One look at a thing like that told you it was nothing good.
It disturbed the mind, and it carried a will of its own.
Nor was there any telling what it was made of — like plastic and like metal at once.
"Rraah, rraah—"
Aerodactyl was giving him warning, and its body came slowly down on the open ground of the villa.
He washed and made himself tidy; and as it was getting late, Vance went to his rest.