"Identify yourselves. Restore order."
Idris said it to the several men with him, telling them to show their credentials and take control of the scene.
"A Sandslash — a very fine Pokémon, that. You trained it. One move and it had the other fellow down."
Idris looked at the Sandslash standing at Vance's feet and said it admiringly.
He had seen everything the Sandslash had done a moment ago, and those few moves had been handsome ones.
Vance nodded and cast an eye around him. Perhaps word had reached them; not one member of Team Rocket had appeared.
And then he found himself carried along with the rest to the investigators' department. As one of those who had taken part, he had a share in the credit.
If anything came out of the interrogation, that share would be larger still.
Though the interrogation was unlikely to turn anything up. Sylas would have made his arrangements on that side.
That was the one point about this branch that Vance cared about. Besides worrying for the safety of Sylas, his old superior, there was a part in it that concerned himself.
If Sylas were taken, he knew a great deal, and it might well drag Vance in with him.
The odds were not high, though. His face was no cause for concern, and his file had been moved to headquarters; there was nothing anyone could take hold of.
Half an hour later Vance stood in front of a camera holding a certificate of commendation, with the Sandslash beside him draped in a red vest, man and Pokémon together.
"Click—"
The flash went off and the picture was on the record.
"Young Trainers, we hope you will go on doing good work. A bright future is waiting for you. The League's tomorrow rests on you young people."
A man with the look of a senior official came up to Vance, said this by way of encouragement, and added a few words more.
Behind them the photographers pressed their shutters all together and set the scene down.
"Ha, Vance, your luck's not bad at all. You happened on the very day the mayor came round on inspection. You've shown your face now, and no mistake."
Once the man had gone, Idris came over.
"Thank you for it."
"Heh, don't mention it. I've taken a liking to you, that's all."
Idris waved it away, generous about it.
"Ssh-ssh—"
The Sandslash looked at the red vest on itself and thought of the words it had heard a moment ago — strike at wickedness, wipe out the lawless — and something in it felt altogether different.
A sense of mission had come to it all on its own.
It, the Sandslash, was going to make something of itself as well.
Though if life and limb came into it, that would be another matter.
"Ssh-ssh—strike at wickedness, wipe out the lawless. That is so splendid. Boss, let's do it like that from now on."
The Sandslash threw out its chest, but it was rather short, and the lofty pose came out a little comic.
"Er... well, as long as you're happy with it."
Vance rubbed his face. The silly thing could not know how matters really stood — he had caught it too recently and had not yet made it clear to it.
Never mind. It was so pleased with itself that he would let it enjoy the feeling a while.
It had to be said, his luck had been rather good these last few days. Out of nowhere he had struck up an acquaintance with Professor Oak; and today, as though by coincidence, he had come in for a share of the credit, run into the mayor on his rounds, been commended in front of them all, and made his presence felt before the press.
All of which might be of use later on.
He had a meal with Idris; and once it was settled that there was no trouble, and that the interrogation had turned nothing up either, Vance took his leave. Hearing that Vance was making ready for the Conference, Idris wished him luck.
"Striking at the lawless. Ssh-ssh—so splendid."
Outside Celadon City, Vance and the Sandslash and the rest of them walked along the road.
The whole way the Sandslash was in high excitement, shouting and leaping about.
Zoroark's fist arrived on its forehead.
"Bam—"
A dull sound, and the Sandslash was driven into the ground.
"You are deafening. Striking at the lawless, are you. Being a hero is not as easy as all that."
And with that Zoroark added a kick.
The Sandslash was dazed out of its wits. What was all this? Why was it being hit?
Seeing the look of Zoroark, the Sandslash went meek and did not dare so much as ask.
Kirlia stood to one side and laughed and laughed.
"We are the wickedness too. Don't you know the Trainer's other, hidden identity — that he is Team Rocket as well? And Team Rocket is the wickedness you were talking about. So who is it you mean to strike at? Yourself? The Trainer? Or us?"
Zoroark said it darkly.
"Ah. That's..."
The Sandslash was rather stunned. What sort of situation was this?
"That's my fault too. I forgot to tell you, Sandslash. I had meant to explain it to you by degrees. We go after the lawbreakers among that lot — and, mm, we're Team Rocket ourselves."
"Ssh-ssh—"
The Sandslash woke as though from a dream. Blast it — when you got to the bottom of it, the villain was itself.
Vance went on filling it in, on that and on how things stood with them at present.
So that the new arrivals — Onix, Sandslash and Gastly — would know where they were.
"There's nothing in particular you need to do. Just play it as it comes."
That was Vance's advice at the end of it.
"Ssh-ssh—"
The Sandslash climbed to its feet with a look of regret still on its face.
A great pity. It had wanted to be a hero Pokémon, and by the look of things that was out of the question now?
"You can go on with it, you know. It doesn't clash with what we do. The two of us are beginning to be known in Celadon, and over the stretch of time ahead there'll be a good deal more of this sort of thing."
Vance said it with a smile.
The Sandslash brightened again. No clash, then, and that was all right. It looked over at Zoroark, found no sign of another blow coming, and only then set its mind at rest.
While he was still talking to the Sandslash a band of men appeared and closed around him. They had not come with good intentions.
"Sandslash, I think your chance has come round again."
Vance said it with a laugh, and gave the Sandslash a pat to send it forward.
Come to that, law and order in this Pokémon world really were nothing much. Go out anywhere and you were forever running into a robbery or the like.
There was no counting how many times it had been by now.
Once a man has power in his hands the desires in him swell, and he will lean on that power to do things against the rules and against the law.