"Kraboom—"
A great crash went up from somewhere deep in the forest, dust rolling, grass and trees flying.
The noise came from several Pokémon in a fierce fight; as far as the eye could see, the ground was a ruin.
"Rooaar—"
The Aerodactyl flew out of the dust and circled overhead, looking for an opening, while the Gyarados and the Vigoroth held the target from the front.
This target, the one that had all three Pokémon out at once, was an Elite-class Shiftry, and no weakling.
> **Name:** Shiftry (male)
> **Type:** Grass, Dark
> **Ability:** Chlorophyll
> **Aptitude:** Elite
> **Level:** 41
> **Moves:** Whirlwind, Tackle, Growth, Absorb, Razor Leaf, Rollout, Harden, Synthesis, Leaf Blade, Energy Ball, Leaf Storm, Rest, Fake Out
Shiftry.
The three of them were ganging up on this Shiftry, which was what Vance had arranged; as their strength rose, the targets they fought had to change with it.
Catching the Aerodactyl had raised the team's strength considerably, and running into this Shiftry just then, they had gone straight in.
It made a good target to be tempered against.
From the look of the fight so far it was going well enough: the three of them together were trading blows with this Elite-class Shiftry on even terms.
Vance and the Torchic stood in one corner of the field, watching quietly and calling out an order now and then.
He stayed out of it in order to direct; the Torchic stayed out because he was not yet strong enough.
As it looked now, the fight was going all right.
The Vigoroth attacked, the Gyarados supported, the Aerodactyl harassed.
"Hah—"
The Shiftry opened its mouth and swept the area with Bullet Seed; seeing it, the Aerodactyl overhead dodged in a hurry.
When it turned the attack on the Vigoroth, the Vigoroth was already moving, flitting about at tremendous speed.
After that the Bullet Seed turned toward the Gyarados.
The Gyarados is huge and not fast; there was no getting clear at all, and he had to grit his teeth and meet it, blocking with everything he had and hoping his two teammates would relieve him.
"Bang, bang, bang—"
The Gyarados's Protect held for less than two seconds under that Bullet Seed before it was broken through.
He could only curl where he stood, water surging up as he used Whirlpool to shield himself — and the Bullet Seed broke through that as well and struck him.
Luckily the Vigoroth arrived from the other side at that moment: a Fire Punch cut off the Shiftry's stream of attacks, and the Aerodactyl came diving down out of the air.
Knocked staggering by the Aerodactyl, and facing the Vigoroth's Fire Punch, the Shiftry set its face hard, raised an arm and brought it chopping down on the Vigoroth — a wound traded for a wound.
What it had not expected was that the Vigoroth's body was formidable, far beyond others at his level; he took the blow and still had the strength to fight.
And then the Aerodactyl's attack arrived, a Fire Fang biting into it, tearing a cry of pain out of it and doing no small amount of damage.
The Vigoroth took the chance to close in, both arms swinging, flames pouring off both fists, blow after blow landing on it.
"Shiiiftry—"
Its furious roar rang across the field. The Shiftry did fight back, but it found that the Vigoroth in front of it had an absurdly strong body and could not be dealt with quickly, while the Aerodactyl kept harassing it from the side, so it could not put everything into the Vigoroth either.
Its strikes on the Aerodactyl's skull landed on something rock-hard, and by the look of the thing it could take them.
That drove the Shiftry to distraction. What kind of Pokémon were these? A whole grade below it in strength, and absurdly tough with it — one with a body that would not take damage, the other with a head made of iron.
The Aerodactyl caught the Shiftry in both claws and shot upward, moving extremely fast with Aerial Ace behind it.
The Aerodactyl's flying was good; the rolling and turning were more than the Shiftry could stand, and its head began to swim. It was about to strike back when it felt itself go weightless — it was falling.
Below it the Gyarados and the Vigoroth had already gathered their power, each with a heavy move ready and waiting for it, watching it come down with the friendliest of faces.
"Whoosh—"
The Gyarados's Hyper Beam, the Vigoroth's Focus Blast, and an Aerodactyl's Flamethrower from above: three attacks arrived one after another and blasted into the Shiftry.
"Boom—"
Something like a black firework bloomed in the sky, and out of the black smoke a smoking shape fell and struck the ground hard.
Under the combined attack of the three of them, the Shiftry's coat was burned away in many places, leaving it black all over.
Its eyes rolled in circles; it lost consciousness and lay on the ground without moving.
"Ding. 50 Battle Points awarded."
"Ding. Congratulations. Mission achieved: 1,000 Pokémon defeated."
At the instant the Shiftry went down the system gave two notices together: one for the Battle Points, one for reaching an achievement for defeats.
"Oh — so somewhere along the way I've reached that thousand-Pokémon achievement?"
Vance said in surprise. This Shiftry happened to be the thousandth Pokémon defeated, which was a neat coincidence.
He took out a Poké Ball all the same and threw it to put the Shiftry away, then opened up the achievement mission and collected its reward.
"Ding. Advanced psychic power acquired!"
"Bloody hell — Advanced psychic power? Am I about to take off?"
Vance was stunned. He really was about to take off.
An Advanced Psychic's fighting strength, converted into Pokémon terms, covers the range from 41 to 60, matching the fighting strength of the Elite and Gym-class grades.
Good grief. His Pokémon were not coming along as fast as he was.
"Hahaha." Vance actually laughed aloud, and pressed to collect it at once.
The next moment an immensely powerful force appeared in his body and fused with it perfectly, as though he had won it through bitter training himself, with no after-effects whatsoever; and a body of knowledge concerning Advanced psychic power appeared in his mind at the same time.
"So this is what an Advanced Psychic's power is like."
Vance felt his way through it carefully. Between Advanced psychic power and what he had had before lay all the distance from the sky to the ground; the difference was one of kind.
"Torchic—"
The Torchic on Vance's shoulder was startled by the powerful presence that had appeared out of nowhere, and stared at him in disbelief. His boss seemed to have got stronger again.
The Torchic was not the only one; so were the Gyarados and the other two.
The Aerodactyl drew its head in, telling itself how lucky it had been: Vance had plainly held a great deal back when he struck it, or judging by the presence that had just appeared, killing it with one blow would have been no trouble at all.
"Roar, roar. Boss, have you — have you broken through?"
The Gyarados turned to look at Vance, hardly able to believe it.
"Mm. Something like that."
"Incredible!!"
The Gyarados nearly went down on his knees, astonished that his Trainer had come along faster than he had. The man trained less often and for less time — so how was he stronger?
It wasn't reasonable!
The urgency of it weighed heavier on him. He had to catch up, and break through to Advanced soon. Going on like this was no good at all.