"Heh heh. Boss, I've got a very good idea to put to you. I've been thinking about it for a whole day, and it's definitely going to be useful."
Gyarados came surging up to Vance, full of enthusiasm, and said it.
"Oh? You have an idea as well? Let's hear it, then."
Vance raised an eyebrow and answered him. He took a supportive line on anything his Pokémon came up with; he was not going to knock the enthusiasm out of a partner.
If the idea was a bad one it could be reworked, and if it was a good one, so much the better.
*...That Vigoroth has ideas too? He's a worthy rival after all — his mind runs as wild and free as mine does.*
A serious look came over Gyarados's fearsome face as he thought it.
From the way Vance had put the question, he could guess that Vigoroth had been putting ideas forward in the same way.
"Go on, then. Let's see whether your idea will work."
"It's like this. After I use Hyper Beam my body has to recover for a few seconds, yes? So you help me sort out that side of it, and then when I fight Vigoroth I can make use of it. Heh heh. Great things can be done."
"The little wretch will see me stuck in the recovery and he'll attack me for certain — and that's when he's wide open." As he said it Gyarados's eyes shone with the light of intelligence, and the analysis came out point by point.
Seeing Vance watching him calmly, apparently in agreement with the idea, he could not help feeling pleased with himself. He, Gyarados, was really rather clever.
Hyper Beam is a move of enormous power, and precisely because the power is so enormous, a Pokémon that uses it generally needs a moment afterwards to recover. Different Pokémon in different condition need different lengths of time.
"Think about it. He believes I'm in the recovery and can't move, and then I move. Isn't that exciting? Ha! I can already picture the look of shock on that little wretch Vigoroth's face."
"It's not a bad idea, but it would be very hard to bring off, and there are variables in it. What if Vigoroth plays it safe and won't take the bait? Then you get no surprise out of it at all." Vance answered once he had heard Gyarados out.
"The recovery time after that move is determined by your physical condition. To do what you're describing you'd have to work from that end — build the body up until the recovery time comes down. In the ordinary way that's already part of your training, you simply haven't noticed it, and it isn't the main direction we're working in either."
"But I still don't think it pays for itself. Building up the body isn't a short job. Keep it as a supplement to your training — otherwise carry on with the plan as I set it out. You could also put the emphasis on Outrage, where there's a great deal of room to develop, and the same goes for Rain Dance. Building absolute strength is the surest road."
Having heard Vance's analysis out, Gyarados accepted the facts and settled down contentedly to train his moves to the plan.
Vance brought out his computer as well, opened up the Team Rocket intranet and spent contribution points going through the literature, looking for what had happened with Vigoroth during the day, to see what was behind it.
He searched a good deal of it and found nothing, so it had to be set aside.
Vigoroth is not a Psychic-type Pokémon, and yet his Vigoroth happened to have a Psychic aptitude, so there was not much reference material to be had.
Time went by quickly, and day came round again.
On this day it was Gyarados who came out with him, while Vigoroth stayed behind in the training room to train.
Out in the wild, Gyarados was clearly in very high spirits.
Out here he could let himself go.
"Sploosh—"
Passing a river that ran fast, Gyarados dived into the water, swam about in it happily, and came up with a formidable grin on his face.
"Rooar—"
A roar of pure authority announced his arrival. Shoal after shoal of Water-type Pokémon scattered in a panic, and the sight left Gyarados thoroughly pleased with himself.
This was what strength felt like.
"Come on. The Pokémon here aren't strong. What's the use of frightening them?"
Vance cut short Gyarados's showing off and carried on forward.
Gyarados's presence alone frightened a good many Pokémon away.
Plenty of them caught his aura from a long way off and ran before he came near.
The result was that the whole way along they met hardly any opponents, which was not how it went with Vigoroth — with him there was always some Pokémon or other coming at them head-on.
"Back in the ball for now. I'll take you to find a suitable opponent."
After a stretch of road Vance had Gyarados return to his Poké Ball and travelled on himself, which was more efficient.
At the same time, in the underground base beneath the Game Corner in Celadon City, Sylas looked at a piece of intelligence that had been passed up to him and smiled.
"In that case, the thing can be done!" He said it as he picked up the telephone beside him and put a call through.
"Hello. My people have collected some intelligence on this Director. It ought to be of use to you — see whether you can make anything of it."
"What is it?"
A woman's voice came from the other end of the line.
"It seems he has an illegitimate son. The intelligence isn't entirely firm on the point, but I think you could try it. Take the boy first and talk afterwards. It may do very nicely."
"Right."
An hour later the telephone rang.
"Hello. How did it go?"
"Your intelligence was accurate. He's confirmed as the man's only son, too. Their side is asking me what I want."
"Heh. This Director Oswin was injured some years ago and can no longer father children. That boy is going to be very useful indeed." Sylas laughed. He had not expected to pull one genuinely useful piece of news out of all that scattered intelligence. What a fine thing.
"Have him give up some important intelligence first — we have to verify it. And keep the evidence safe. This Director isn't going anywhere. Once there's a first time there'll be a second."
Sylas said it coldly, then thought of something else and went on: "And that child is to be well looked after. He's the apple of that Director's eye, and later on we may well want to be on very good terms with the man."
"Right."
A long while later the telephone rang again.
"Ha ha ha. We've landed a big fish at last. If this Director can be brought in, things are going to be a great deal easier for us here in Celadon."
Sylas put the telephone down in high good humour and lay back in his chair with his face full of smiles. The work of corroding the upper ranks of the Pokémon League had finally made progress.
"So my arrangements have their uses after all. This Squad Leader Vance really does bring me pleasant surprises."
The intelligence Sylas had come by was exactly what Vance and his two had dug up at the party. Nobody had expected a shot that wide of the mark to land so neatly where it was needed.
..................
"Roooar—"
Gyarados came down out of the sky, his body a spike of ice, and struck the ground with a thunderous crash.
"Still a bit dizzy."
Gyarados climbed out of the huge crater with his head swimming. Beside him two Ursaring had already been knocked out of the fight.
They were a married pair, one male and one female, who had lorded it over this patch on the strength of Advanced-level power. Ordinary Pokémon could not beat the two of them at all.
And today they had been brought to justice by Gyarados.
The battlefield was covered in frost, and Gyarados had a few injuries on him, though his spirits were good.
One against two, and fighting above his class at that, and the win was still his — which let him see the progress of his own strength plainly for himself.