"Curiosity is natural enough."
Vance smiled. If he had not been so poor at the start that he could not keep them — and with no means of keeping them either — he would have caught more Pokémon himself, the same as the rest of them.
Later, when his circumstances improved a little, the heart for it had gone.
Who comes to the Pokémon world and does not want a happy journey of it, catching the Pokémon he loves?
Unfortunately that wants a foundation behind it, and at the time he had nothing at all, and was in a bad way besides.
Eating his fill was a problem. Taking his beating from the world, he had had to put that childish notion away.
Fortunately, he was doing rather well now.
As for the future, the thing was to hold power in his hands.
With strength you have standing wherever you go, and a voice with it. As for so-called good and evil, at the Near-Champion and Champion level there is not so much fuss made about it, and you have a great many choices.
And once you rise past the Champion level, it is no longer others who make demands of you; you make them of others.
In this world it is always strength that does the talking.
"Ha ha ha. You seem so steady — quite different from those children. No wonder you've come as far as you have."
Professor Oak looked at him and smiled as he said it.
"It's a good thing. A steady man can settle his mind, and does better at whatever he turns his hand to."
Professor Oak added.
Talking with Vance, Professor Oak came more and more to think him promising material; barring accidents along the way, he might one day reach the old man's own level.
"Not like those young ones of mine, up to mischief all day long. Dear me, what a headache."
Professor Oak said it with a smile on his face, and not the least sign of the headache in question.
"Ah — Professor Oak, save me!"
Just as they were speaking, a short boy in a baseball cap came tearing past, carving himself a way through, with a Dodrio behind him; one of its heads stretched out and gave the boy a light peck on the backside.
You could see that the Dodrio was not putting any weight behind it. It knew where to stop.
Which stood to reason. Most of the Pokémon inside the Oak Research Lab had Trainers of their own, and the rest were mild-tempered creatures at worst; none of them would use real force on a person and put him in danger of his life.
Still less when the target was a small boy.
Had it truly meant to run him down, the boy would not have got far; over land, no human outruns a Dodrio.
"Ow, that hurts, that hurts!"
The boy howled, clutching his backside, and picked up speed. He reached Professor Oak and Vance, gave Vance one curious look, and got in behind Professor Oak.
"Dodri, dodri—"
The Dodrio pulled up in front of Professor Oak and squawked a few words at him.
Professor Oak nodded and soothed it.
After that the Dodrio let the matter drop and went off back the way it had come, running faster than before.
At that speed a moment ago, the boy would have been caught long since.
"Ash, what have you been up to now, to have the Dodrio chasing you?"
Professor Oak hauled the boy out from behind him, a headache in his voice.
The child was keen on Pokémon and fond of them — only rather too much so.
He had made no small amount of trouble in the Oak Research Lab.
"Ash!!"
Vance's spirits lifted. Looking at this boy covered in dust — so this was Ash. The legendary Ash himself.
Still a small boy for the moment.
His skin looked dark, his eyes were bright and lively, and when he laughed he showed white teeth that gave you a feeling of good cheer.
"It was nothing. I was just curious, so I went to watch a female Dodrio laying her eggs, that's all."
Ash came out, scratched his head and said it a little sheepishly.
"You. No wonder the Dodrio came after you. When they are laying, that is the thing they hate above all others. It's as well it was a Pokémon we know; out in the wild you'd never have got clear of the nest."
Hearing Ash out, Professor Oak did not know whether to laugh or cry.
Ash's curiosity about Pokémon was as vigorous as it had ever been.
Now he had gone off to watch somebody laying her eggs.
"All right, all right."
Ash beat at his clothes, which had got dirty in the running. If he went home like that his mother would be sure to give him a scolding.
And if he talked back, he might well get a hiding as well.
At that thought Ash beat at them more carefully still.
"Ha ha ha. You must excuse us. This is Ash, another resident of Pallet Town. He sets his heart very much on anything to do with Pokémon."
Professor Oak introduced Ash to Vance while he was about it.
"Hello. My name's Ash, and in the future I'm going to be a Pokémon Master."
Ash was not shy of strangers, and greeted Vance in his large, easy way, his eyes sincere; one look told you there was no calculation in the child.
"Hello. My name's Vance. I'm a few years older than you. I'm travelling at the moment, and I'm a Trainer too."
Vance answered with a smile. To see Ash here was quite a curiosity.
In time this boy would be this world's protagonist. Come to that, where was his Pikachu?
The two of them together made the real pairing; that was where the flavour of it lay.
Ash on his own felt as though something were missing.
"Ha ha ha. Hello, Brother Vance. When I'm grown up I'm going travelling too, and working to become a Pokémon Master."
Ash said it with a hearty laugh.
"You'll have to work hard at it, then."
Hearing those familiar words, Vance smiled and put out a hand to clap him on the shoulder.
"Mm, I will."
Ash took great encouragement from it, clenched his small fists, and looked full of fight.
"Honestly, Ash. All that hot blood and excitement. What Pokémon Master ever carried on like you?"
Another boy's voice came from one side, and a good-looking boy walked over.
He was rather fashionably turned out, his hair arranged without a strand out of place, in sharp contrast with Ash's dusty, plain appearance.
The two of them looked like a polished city child beside a country scamp.
There was some difference in their bearing as well.
Ash came across as hot-blooded and impulsive, while this boy was cool and shrewd.
"What's wrong with the way I am? I'm telling you, Gary, I am going to be a Pokémon Master. I definitely am. And I'll beat you as well."
Ash said it, not at all willing to concede the point.
The boy who had walked over was Gary, who had never got along particularly well with Ash.
They were much of an age and had grown up together.
"Grandfather."
Gary paid Ash no attention, came up in front of Professor Oak and called to him.
"Mm?"
Professor Oak nodded with a slight laugh.
"This is Vance. When your sister was attacked this time, it was thanks to him."
Professor Oak pointed to Vance and said it to Gary with a smile.
"Thank you for helping my sister."
Gary bowed and thanked him, sincerity in his voice.
His sister Daisy had mentioned it to him at the house before he came out.
"Not at all. In truth I did very little."
Vance waved a hand.
He had had a mind to help at the time, but Professor Oak had arrived and there was no longer any need of him.
"Eh? What's happened to Daisy? How did Brother Vance come to be rescuing her?"
Ash had caught it from the three of them talking, and asked in a hurry.
Daisy had been a very good big sister to them, looking after them often when they were very small.
So Ash was very much concerned.
"It's all right, Ash. The matter's settled. Your big sister Daisy is at home already, and she's finished the cooking — she's only waiting for us to come and eat."
Professor Oak answered, telling him not to worry.
As small as that, it would not do to tell him too much; the child's mind was a simple one, and the less he saw of the dark the better.
"Oh, she's cooked already? Now that you mention it, I am a bit hungry. Professor Oak, when are we eating?"
Ash rubbed his stomach and said it a little sheepishly.
"Honestly."
Seeing his companion like that, as guileless as ever, Gary could hardly bear to look; he clapped a hand to his face and turned away.
He was the mature one, plainly. This Ash did not look very bright, and was just as he had always been, as though he had not grown at all.
So Gary thought, and that was the reason he so often needled Ash: he always felt him childish, and too easily led.