"Damn it. Not a shred of decency in them. Five hundred thousand — how long does it take to earn that?" In the office, Emery said it with real pain.
The three of them all worked out of this one office. Ambrose had in fact proposed setting up private offices of their own, and Vance had refused.
Ordinarily he did not come in often in any case, so there was no need for it.
"Nothing for it but to put it down to bad luck. It's only five hundred thousand — that isn't so dear." Ambrose said it slowly, and took an unhurried sip of tea.
"Easy for you to say, standing there with your back not aching. Five hundred thousand."
"All right, all right. There was nothing to be done about it, was there? Could we have refused? If we hadn't paid, they'd have made trouble for us whenever they felt like it and we'd have been finished. Then where would we be? Enough. Stop complaining."
Ambrose called a halt to it, and then looked over at Vance.
"Boss, let's split that five hundred thousand three ways."
"Oh, right. Split three ways."
Emery said, following his lead.
"Hah, of course we split it. We'll just take it out of our operating fund. What's on the company books you two still get your share of."
Vance laughed as he said it.
"Isn't there hardly anything left in the operating fund?"
"There was plenty. After this five hundred thousand, there isn't."
Vance waved a hand as he said it.
"Right, right. The two of you sort it out between you. I'm off." Vance went on, standing up and heading for the door, then turning back.
"Oh, and one more thing. Keep at your Pokémon's training, both of you. You know as well as I do what strength is worth."
"Don't worry, boss. We'll remember."
"Mm-hmm."
Outside, Vance found fewer people on the road than before, though the shops on both sides of the street were still open.
After a good many turnings he came to a training hall run by the League, where he had taken training rooms.
He was staying away from the Game Corner for the time being. Word was going round, and he wanted to avoid any trouble.
He opened the door of the training room and a wave of cold air met him. This was where the Gyarados trained.
"The boss is here."
"Mm. Where's the Torchic?"
"The Torchic? It's run off to Vigoroth's side. I've no idea what it's about, it just insists on going over there. There's nothing I can do — it's as if it's terrified of me." The Gyarados said it gloomily. The Torchic had been training in this room to begin with, but once he started training here it would not stay any longer, and went over to the Vigoroth instead.
"Heh. That will be because the Torchic is a Fire-type, and a place full of Water and Ice is the last thing it wants. Drop you in a desert and I expect you wouldn't last either. That's the Torchic's situation."
Vance offered that explanation.
"Oh. Oh, so that's it. And here I was wondering."
"It's just as well. With the Torchic gone it won't get in your way either. Water and fire do work against each other."
"Rooaar, rooaar—"
"Have you run into any difficulties?"
"Nothing so far."
"Good. Stay here and train, then. I'll go and look in on Vigoroth and the little one. Carry on. Keep at it."
Vance waved, and left.
He opened another door and came into the Vigoroth's training room.
"Torchic—"
The moment he was through the door he saw the Torchic spitting out small flames, with a little force behind them now.
They struck the training dummy and did no small amount of damage.
"Torchic—"
Cheeks puffed out, the Torchic sent the flames in bursts, following a particular rhythm, and the look of it at its training was perfectly serious.
"Splendid. Keep that up and you'll be stronger yet, Torchic."
Coming further in, he had nothing but praise for the hard-working Torchic.
"Torchic—"
Praised, the Torchic threw itself into its training harder still, wanting to do better.
"Hahaha. Keep at it."
Vance crouched down, stroked the Torchic's head and gave it a few words of encouragement.
"Is the Vigoroth about to break through?"
Vance glanced at the Vigoroth and found the energy coming off it rising, with a swell and fall to it.
The bottleneck at Advanced was never going to hold the Vigoroth back. It was only a question of how fast.
"Roar—"
While Vance's thoughts were still running on, the Vigoroth opened its eyes and gave a great roar. The force about it changed and its energy climbed.
And with that it entered Advanced.
"He's done it."
From the Advanced-strength energy pouring off the Vigoroth, Vance knew it had broken through.
He opened the system to look, and saw its condition as well.
> **Pokémon:** Vigoroth (male) (mutated) (status: disordered)
> **Type:** Normal, Psychic
> **Ability:** Vital Spirit, Inner Focus (incomplete)
> **Aptitude:** Elite-Four-class
> **Level:** 31
> **Moves:** Focus Energy, Scratch, Thrash, Fury Swipes, Endure, Slash, Thunder Punch, Fire Punch, Dig, Rest, Rock Slide, Focus Blast, Confusion, Psybeam, Calm Mind, Thunderbolt, Counter, Double Team, Protect
Over that stretch of time, besides growing stronger, it had picked up several more moves.
"Hm? What does 'status: disordered' mean?"
Seeing "status: disordered" marked in red on the system's display, Vance frowned; and as he lifted his head he found the Vigoroth watching him with a pair of blood-red eyes, every muscle swollen, veins standing out under its skin.
"Roar—"
The Vigoroth beat its chest hard and gave a great roar.
"It hurts! My whole body's splitting open — aaah!"
The Vigoroth went down on the floor, both arms pounding at the ground.
"Vigoroth."
Vance called out.
"Boss, don't come over. I... I can't quite keep hold of myself. I feel like I'm about to split apart — roar!"
A savage feeling welled up in it so hard there was no pressing it down, and the Vigoroth could only clamp down on itself with everything it had.
It did not want to hurt its own Trainer.
"It's awful. This feeling — it's worse than last time."
The energy around the Vigoroth had fallen into disorder as well, the Normal and Psychic forces worst of all. The two of them seemed to have got out of control, attacking each other inside its body and spreading out beyond it, drawing the energy around it into the fight too and making the Vigoroth suffer all the more.
"Don't come closer. I'm about to lose control."
Seeing Vance walking toward it, the Vigoroth said it quickly — and then a surge of psychic power slipped free and drove straight up into the crown of its head. In an instant the Vigoroth lost consciousness.
"Roar—"
The Vigoroth rose to its feet, eyes blood-red, saliva running down its teeth.
But those eyes avoided Vance and went instead to the Torchic further off, with its blank little face.
That small, downy Torchic.
Perhaps some instinct still remained in its body; drowned as it was in that savage feeling, it changed targets and made straight for the Torchic.
"Torchic!"
At the sight of that face, harsher and more savage even than Gyarados's, the Torchic was terrified, and the down on its forehead stood up with fright.
*What a wretched run of luck. What has been going on lately? It really is bad luck,* the Torchic said sorrowfully to itself.
"Trainer, run! Don't go near it!"
Frightened as it was, the Torchic saw Vance rushing forward and cried it out at once.
But Vance seemed not to have heard it, and kept running forward — to cut the Vigoroth off, by the look of it.
"Torchic!"
The Torchic's eyes set hard. It mastered the terror in its heart, moved its feet and, undaunted by the awful force pouring off the Vigoroth, sprinted forward.
Its Trainer had gone in, so of course it, as his Pokémon, had to go in too. Protecting your Trainer was part of a Pokémon's job — back at the Pokémon Day Care, that had been part of their basic training.