A great many Water-type Pokémon went swimming suddenly across a clear lake, churning the water muddy behind them.
There was panic on every face, because behind them waves of energy were colliding, and even the backwash of it was enough to kill.
Vigoroth hung in the air above the lake and bombarded what lay beneath, sending Thunderbolt after Thunderbolt down into the water.
"Boom, boom, boom—"
When the bombardment stopped, several Water-types floated up with arcs of electricity still crawling over them and their eyes spinning, well past any ability to fight.
Vigoroth was satisfied with that. He was thoroughly satisfied with his own handiwork.
Water-types, as expected, had essentially no power to resist his Thunderbolt. The moment it touched them, the stronger ones took heavy damage and the weaker ones simply lost consciousness and were out of the fight on the spot.
That being so, he could feel confident of handling Gyarados when the month was up. Coming here had also been to confirm how much force the move had, and so far he was reasonably satisfied.
*Guard against pride and haste. Gyarados is nothing like these small fry. How could a Trainer like the boss not know Gyarados's weakness? When he trains him he is certain to make a point of that very thing.* Vigoroth said it privately to himself.
If Vance would help him, he would naturally help Gyarados too. Both Pokémon understood that perfectly well, and both believed he would not favour either side, which was the impression days together had given them of him.
He drew the force in and came down beside Vance, and asked him how he had done and where there was anything to improve.
In the past he would not have; he would only have waited for Vance to speak first and point out the failings. Now he knew how. He had read a great many books, and Vigoroth understood a thing or two, and was one step closer to being a cultivated Vigoroth.
"That was very good. Let's follow the waterway down and see whether we can run into a Gyarados to give you some practice."
Vance said it with a smile, threw out Poké Balls to take in the more valuable of the Pokémon, and then set off along the riverbank with Vigoroth.
"A type advantage only shifts the odds of winning or losing. Whether a battle is won or lost comes down to every side of it, and the largest share of that is still raw strength."
"Rraargh—"
Vance talked as they went, and Vigoroth made noises of agreement.
They walked a long way without meeting a Gyarados. Magikarp there were plenty of.
To find a Gyarados they would have to follow the waterway deep in. Vance thought about it and gave the idea up.
Afterwards Vance took Vigoroth somewhere else instead, to a stretch of thick forest.
Trainers were said to have found a Shiny Pidgeotto here.
Vance was somewhat interested in that.
Shiny Pokémon generally had high aptitude and were stronger than others of their kind, and beyond that there was their rarity, which made them valuable on the human market.
Scarcity sets the price, and that holds true everywhere, so an ordinary Shiny Pokémon would fetch a good sum. Except that whoever managed to catch one usually did not want to sell; they kept it and raised it themselves, which was a matter of face as well as of substance.
Vance walked patiently about the area, putting his mind out to search, but he found no Shiny. Ordinary Pidgeotto and Pidgey he found plenty of.
Only they did not interest him. Pidgey were mild-tempered creatures; they saw Vance from a distance and made no move to attack him, and one of them even brought a few Berries over in its beak for him and Vigoroth, showing itself friendly.
That left Vance rather at a loss.
It was a common enough scene in the anime, humans and Pokémon living together in harmony, but in real life it very seldom happened.
Very few people ever got that sort of treatment. Today Vance had.
Vance touched his own face. Could it be that he was simply too handsome?
No, that could not be it. Humans and Pokémon did not judge looks the same way. What he thought handsome, the other might well think ugly.
None of it was a bad thing, at any rate. By way of thanks Vance took out some Pokémon food, set it down in front of the Pidgey and gestured for it to eat.
The Pidgey did not stand on ceremony; it pecked straight in like a chick at grain, and, finding the taste good, chirped its companions over to eat as well.
"Pidgey. Are there any of your kind that are Shiny? Ones that look different from the rest of you, and are stronger."
Vance crouched down, reached out with his mind and spoke to the first Pidgey.
So there it was, the real purpose showing at last. Everything he had done up to that point had been leading to it.
It was a method Vance had thought of on the spot. Rather than hunt about blindly himself, better to find a local and have it show him the way — convenient, quick, and good for picking up news besides.
"Pip—"
At the question the Pidgey shook its head outright and said so aloud: there were no Shiny members of its kind here at all.
"Is that so." Vance frowned slightly. Was the report false, then? The Pidgey did not look as though it were lying, and that much he could feel from the emotion coming off it.
After staying a while longer Vance left and searched the surrounding country.
On the way he met several Trainers. Neither side said anything when they met; they only looked at each other warily and went back to their own business. Presumably those Trainers had come for the Shiny too.
Out in the field it was normal for two parties of Trainers to hold each other off. Nobody knew whether the people opposite belonged to some evil organisation, or were crooked sorts who made their living by robbery.
Only people who already knew each other could still smile and say hello.
"Hey, hey, hey. What about that one? Can we take him? He's on his own."
Two furtive figures had their heads together, and the shorter of them jerked his chin at Vance's back.
"Keep watching. That boy's Vigoroth has some strength to it."
The other one finished looking and answered flatly.
"What, more watching? I say it's him. Everyone else comes in groups; he's the only one alone. Isn't that as easy a target as we'll get? We were the ones who put the word out that there was a Shiny here, and if this goes on the interest will die away and there'll be nobody left at all."
"No hurry. Better safe than sorry. Take it slowly. Things aren't what they used to be — we've no organisation behind us now, so caution is better. We'll watch a while longer."
"All right, then."
From some way off Vance had already registered two pairs of eyes watching him. He looked back and saw two men, one tall and one short. They only looked, and did nothing else, and Vance had no wish to make trouble, so he let it alone.
Having gone once round the area and found nothing whatever, Vance left.
Perhaps the report of a Shiny here was false, a rumour passed along until it grew.
He found a spot with a pleasant view and dealt with lunch.
*That wasn't somebody's bait, was it.*
It struck him in the middle of the meal. Shiny Pokémon being what they were — precious, and a thing you met by luck and never by searching — there had been cases before of people using one as bait to draw Trainers in, and of what came of it afterwards.