Up on deck Vance stayed with Gardevoir, Zweilous, Zoroark and several of the smaller Pokémon.
"Splooosh—"
Below the liner Gyarados went streaking past; ten metres and more of him, and still he looked small.
He was taking his ease, so naturally his Pokémon should have some pleasure of it too. Apart from the ones unwilling to come out, Vance had let them all out to take the air.
With Pokémon that strong on show, and Vance's own bearing being what it was, nobody came over to that corner of the deck to disturb them; a space was left clear for Vance and his Pokémon.
"Sss-heh—"
Haunter popped up from somewhere with an armful of things, all of it food, pushed some of it on Sandslash, and the two of them settled down to eat off to one side.
Gardevoir and Zoroark put on dark glasses along with Vance and lay out on the deck chairs in the sun, sampling the human way of living.
"This is comfortable enough."
Vance turned over. The sun was warm; what more could anyone want?
Zweilous still stood at the rail gazing out at the sea, watching the tide come and go, with a look on him of thinking something over.
So it was with Black One, and so with Black Two.
An air he could not account for rose off him.
"Splooosh—"
The sea struck past, and the great bulk of the S.S. Anne held as steady as ever.
Zweilous's presence gave a sudden shudder.
"Boom—"
"Raaugh—"
Zweilous let out a roar. He had broken through into Elite-Four-class!
The dragon's cry rang out clear, all of it delight.
In that moment the pressure that belongs to an Elite-Four-class Pokémon came off Zweilous.
With that pressure, and the heavy weight of dragon-awe behind it, the Pokémon around him felt an enormous force bearing down at once.
Some of the weaker ones went soft in the legs and could not move; some went down flat and did not dare get up.
"Roar, roar—"
Both of Zweilous's heads were roaring. His body had finished tempering itself; relaxing here today, the feeling had come over him all at once, and he had taken Elite-Four-class in passing!
"Garde—"
By the time Gardevoir and the others had looked over, something more was happening to Zweilous!
After breaking through to Elite-Four-class, as though good fortune had opened his mind to it, another feeling had come!
The feeling was evolution!
Points of white light appeared over Zweilous and spread slowly — arms, legs, the lower body — and soon half of him was covered.
"Roar, roar—"
At this sudden turn Zweilous looked over, asking Vance what he thought.
"It is time, Zweilous. Follow what you feel."
Vance came to his side and said it to him gently.
"Raaugh—"
Hearing him out, Zweilous held it back no longer; he let the power go and let the force of evolution sweep through him.
The blinding light of evolution appeared there.
Zweilous was evolving!
Through trial after trial, Zweilous had come to this today.
It had begun with meeting Vance aboard the S.S. Anne and having the trouble in his body put right; and now, still aboard the S.S. Anne, he was beginning his final evolution.
There is no telling how strange the workings of fate can be.
Which showed that Zweilous and the S.S. Anne were bound together more than a little.
Within the light of evolution Zweilous's shape changed, and the dragon-awe about him grew heavier still.
"Roar—"
That roar was fiercer than before; one hearing of it was enough to tell you that whatever had made it was not to be trifled with.
"Roar, roar, roar—"
Three roars one after another; and within the light Zweilous changed, wings growing out of his back, three heads taking shape.
When the light drew in, Zweilous was gone; what stood in front of Vance and the other Pokémon was a fierce Pokémon with six wings and three heads.
Zweilous's evolved form — Hydreigon!
The evolution had succeeded, and set beside Zweilous the shape of him had changed a great deal.
Vance called to mind what was written about Hydreigon: an extremely violent Pokémon, blue for its ground colour, covered in black fur, with three pairs of wings on its back and two rows of purple markings on its belly.
It has three heads in all, of which only the middle one is a true head; the heads on its two arms have no brains in them.
But what Vance saw now did not look like that; it was not as the description had it.
As he sensed it, the other two heads had consciousness in them.
And the Viridian Power did not make mistakes.
"Black Two? Are you still there?"
"Roar, roar—"
Vance tried asking, and one of the heads answered him.
Black Two was still there.
"Black One?"
"Roar—"
That was the middle head answering him, and the voice was full and loud.
"Good. As long as the evolution has gone through."
Vance said it happily. So Hydreigon had evolved after all — a little slow in coming, but it had come.
"Roar, roar—"
The remaining head stirred too and made a sound.
It seemed put out that Vance had not mentioned it!
"Ha ha ha. I haven't forgotten you either. From now on you're Black Three."
Vance named the newcomer Black Three, to go with Black One and Black Two.
Black Two and Black Three had both come out of Black One; they were one being to begin with.
Looked at closely, Black Two and Black Three seemed dull, while Black One was unaffected; sovereignty over the body, as in the Zweilous days, still rested with Black One.
One body and three consciousnesses — one master and two subordinate!
In a real fight that was a considerable advantage.
Three minds holding together without quarrelling among themselves could put out enormous fighting strength.
After evolving, Hydreigon's energy level stood at 62; he had caught up again.
Hydreigon was now one more on the team who had broken through to Elite-Four-class.
And after evolving he seemed much as he had before: apart from the change in his shape, the other Pokémon felt about him exactly as they always had — not violent in the least, his temper quite unchanged.
Perhaps what he had been through before had made him so.
> **Name:** Hydreigon (male)
> **Type:** Dragon / Dark
> **Ability:** Levitate
> **Aptitude:** Champion-class
> **Level:** 62
> **Moves:** Tackle, Focus Energy, Dragon Breath, Double Hit, Roar, Pursuit, Crunch, Scary Face, Dragon Pulse, Dragon Rush, Fly, Outrage, Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Dragon Dance, Earth Power, Hydro Pump, Hyper Beam...............
The system panel showed all of Hydreigon's details.
With the evolution through, his aptitude had come to Champion-class, as anyone would have expected, and he had broken into Elite-Four-class at an energy level of 62.
In this state the fighting strength Hydreigon could bring to bear was higher and stronger again.