"Hiss-heh. Boss, where are we off to next?"
"Boss, how does training actually work?"
"Boss, boss, why won't the Kirlia take any notice of me? Is it because I'm too rubbish?"
...............
The Gastly circled Vance chattering away, an absolute magpie, never stopping for breath.
"It isn't that you're too rubbish, it's that you talk too much. Training, is it? Here. Drink this down. Getting through it is the training."
Vance tossed over a bottle of something dark that looked like a potion.
"Hiss-heh—"
The Gastly simply opened its mouth and swallowed the lot, bottle and all.
"Pfffsst—"
Down it went, and its body gave a pffft where the gas leaked out.
A faint black-purple vapour spilled away from it.
"Heh — what is this, I... ffssst—"
Before it could finish, several more jets of gas came out of it.
The flowers and grass the gas touched withered at once.
The vapour was very strongly poisonous.
Vance and the Kirlia both put some distance between themselves and the Gastly and left it to vent where it was.
"Pfffsst, pfffsst—"
"Hold on, Gastly. Get through it and your poison will be the stronger for it."
"Heh...... pfffsst—"
The Gastly felt itself swelling again. Uncomfortable. Every time it opened its mouth to speak, off it went venting once more.
"Kirlia—"
Seeing it like that, the Kirlia covered her mouth and laughed softly.
Several days had gone by since the Gastly was caught. It had been all right at first, a little shy even; once it had settled in, it never stopped talking.
And it was intensely curious with it, asking about this and that, wanting even the so-called "training" explained in full.
When the venting was over the Gastly lay sprawled lazily on the ground, its body a deeper purple than before.
So full. Much like after a good meal, except the taste was nothing much — nowhere near as good as food.
The Gastly grumbled inwardly.
Being that full, it had stopped talking as well. It could not be bothered. Lying there would do.
A minute later Vance came and stood over it.
"Rested enough? If you're rested, it's back to the training."
"Hiss-heh. More training?"
The Gastly hauled itself lazily off the ground and floated in the air.
"That's right, more training. Today we'll work on the accuracy of your moves, and their power as well. Here."
Vance took out several things shaped like Pokémon dummies. They were for training, and could read off the data of any move that struck them.
"Kirlia, you come over too and train along with the Gastly. What you have to do is work these things and keep them from being hit."
Vance called the Kirlia over and told her so.
That way one exercise trained two Pokémon at once.
"If you win, I'll buy you whatever you like once we reach a city."
Vance said it with a laugh, and saw the Gastly turn a pair of hungry eyes on him.
"And of course there's a reward for you as well if you do it well. Let's see how the pair of you get on."
With that he signalled them to begin and withdrew to one side to watch.
The Zoroark had changed back into her own shape and leaned against a tree, watching the two of them trade moves, now and then calling out to cheer the Kirlia on.
Set against the Gastly, she was on closer terms with the Kirlia; and besides, the Kirlia was the prettier of the two, and more to her liking.
That young Gastly nattered on all day long. Wearying beyond words.
Out on the ground the Kirlia used her psychic power to work the training apparatus and keep it out of the Gastly's attacks.
Ten pieces of apparatus in all, and the Gastly was no dud either; once the training was properly under way it was hard work.
"Thud—"
One of the Gastly's attacks landed on a piece of apparatus, and a figure came up on it recording the power of the move.
"Hiss-heh—"
Seeing it had got one home, the Gastly gave a pleased little laugh.
Keep it up, then. On with it.
It and the Kirlia were the only two left on the team still at Intermediate strength, which made each of them a decent sparring partner for the other.
Against the Gastly's flightiness the Kirlia was much the steadier, keeping her head and going on shifting the pieces about.
Vance had marked out an area they were to move within, and set a time as well, with the result at the end for the measure.
While the two Pokémon were training, two parties, one ahead and one behind, came flying towards the place where he was.
It looked like a hunt with killing in it, and the ones behind had the upper hand.
In front, on the back of a Flygon, sat a bright-looking young woman, fighting and falling back by turns.
Vance picked them up while they were still nearly a kilometre off, and at once called a halt to the Kirlia and the Gastly and drew off to one side.
He had no wish to get mixed up in it. Who was in the right and who in the wrong was nothing to him.
Under the eye of his psychic power, the girl being chased was good-looking — pretty, in fact, with a gentle face and some quality about her; you could tell at a glance she was a decent sort.
Even so, Vance did not move. He had not the least intention of playing the hero to a beauty in distress.
Vance stood by with his hands at his sides and kept out of the way.
And then they were on him.
Seeing someone ahead of her, the girl on the Flygon was about to call for help when she saw that he had only two Kirlia and a Gastly — not strong enough, no match for the people behind her.
"Get away! They won't let you off either!"
With no help to be had from him, all she could do was shout at Vance to get clear quickly, before he came to grief.
The people behind her had a great deal of killing in them; it was quite possible they would kill him in passing.
Vance was rather surprised. The woman had a good heart in her, then.
"Ha ha ha. Nobody's going anywhere. Since you've seen us, you can die here."
The man in pursuit said it with a swagger. Under his feet was a Gym-class Pidgeot, and the others with him rode Elite-class Pokémon.
"............"
Vance had nothing to say to that. He had done nothing at all and trouble had come knocking at the door. What a tone to take — as grand as that, and he would not be let off either?
On the strength of that Gym-class Pidgeot of his??
"Flygon, Dragon Breath."
The Flygon flying in front doubled back all at once and broke the pursuers' charge with a Dragon Breath.
And her own speed dropped away with it.
"Get away! It's me they're after. Go, quickly."
The woman was still shouting, urgency in her voice, as though she were buying Vance a chance to run.
And so she was, in fact. She had the Flygon attack and drove the pursuers back, at the cost of her own speed.
"No need. I wasn't going to meddle, but seeing it's like this, I'll meddle."
"Ha ha ha. The lad wants to meddle. Have you got the strength for it? Rare Pokémon, though — well, well, well. A bonus haul today."
Vance's offer to step in earned him nothing but mockery.
"Boy, do you know who we are? We're Team Rocket!"
The man went on, with the face of a man who found the world too small for him.
"Team Rocket........."
Hearing them say they were Team Rocket left Vance at a loss all over again. As impressive as that, were they?
Throwing Team Rocket's name about, too. Were Team Rocket's people as swaggering as this? He was a Team Rocket officer, and he had never known it.
And another thing — did they not know that on a job outside you do not drag the neutral parties into it?
It made you look brainless and made the job harder. Vance remembered that much; the instructors had taught it back at the base.
How had this lot got so far above themselves?