Lance moved fast. Vance had said yes in the morning, and by the afternoon his papers were all made out.
"That's convenient — Investigation Headquarters is here as well, so there's an office and all the rest of it laid on."
Lance said it with a laugh as he handed the papers over. He had got the man in at last; once he had grown into it he could take a larger share of the work.
"Thank you, Elite Four Lance."
"There's no need to call me Elite Four Lance, it's too distant. In private just call me Brother Lance."
Lance said it with a wave of the hand.
He thought highly of Vance, and his impression of him was excellent.
It was not only the business of Vance beating Wren and taking the Conference title, but the ability Vance had shown along with it.
With fighting strength like that he would make a very fine investigator indeed, and might even take over from him one day.
For now he would talk the lad round and get him inside the investigators' system; later there would be some work done on his thinking, and then a transfer across.
"I'm off. Come and see me in Hoenn when you've the time."
Steven waved, and then sprang onto the back of his Skarmory.
"You can come to Sinnoh too if you've time. I'm always there."
Cynthia said it as well, sending out her Garchomp and standing on its back.
"Until next time."
Vance answered.
The two of them nodded, and then signalled their Pokémon away.
Vance watched the pair of them go.
"I must be off as well. Keep at it."
A hand clapped his shoulder. It was Lance.
"Right. Don't let me keep you."
Lance called out his Dragonite as well, shot up into the sky and went off about his business.
Three had come and three had gone, and in a moment the place was empty. In Vance's hand were the papers Lance had just had made out for him, and on them stood the words: Vance, Deputy Director, Inspection Department.
He put the things away and stowed them properly.
Deputy Director of the Inspection Department was his standing in the League now; and to tell the truth it was no low standing, and the post being in the Inspection Department at that, the reach of it was wide.
It came down chiefly to himself. If he had a mind to it there was a great deal that could be inspected; if he did not care to inspect, there was very little to do.
This was what he had called an "easy" post.
The terms were good as well. Besides the usual, every three years in the post brought one chance to go to the League's central vault and choose a treasure, with no other conditions attached.
"Three years. That's too long."
To anybody else it was a very fine thing indeed; Vance only thought it too long.
Beyond that, a man had the chance of getting in only by winning a tournament outright or by performing some great service.
Vance thought of those few people, and wondered on what conditions they had got in. Could they have got in by holding a post, the same way?
It hardly mattered now, though. The Deoxys crystal was in his hands, and what they took was neither here nor there.
"Things are looking up."
Vance was in an excellent humour, sunning himself in the grounds and thinking what to do next.
There was a certain amount of work in this deputy directorship; it seemed that shortly he was to go and inspect several of the Gyms under it.
"Gyms. Going strictly by the standard, Misty's family Gym would certainly not pass. The Gym Leader was killed in action, though, so there ought to be some allowance made."
A long while back, in one of Team Rocket's operations, the Leader of the Cerulean Gym had had the misfortune to be killed; which was why, when he came to the Cerulean Gym later on, the person he battled was Misty's elder sister.
Hold the post and you must mind the business of it; having taken the place, he had to give thought to such matters as these.
Time went slowly by while Vance turned it over, and by evening he had the thing straight.
The relations among the Gyms within the League, the relations between a city's officials and its Gym, and the relations between the Gyms and Team Rocket.
Vance had not forgotten that he was still an officer of Team Rocket, and that at times he would be needed to appear and lend a hand.
Team Rocket had no few Gyms in the Kanto region — more than half of the well-known ones — and this post had come at a convenient moment.
"My apologies, Elite Four Lance. I'm afraid I shall fall short of what you expect of me."
Vance said it in a low voice. He knew well enough that Lance thought highly of him, that the goodwill shown him was real, and that the man meant to bring him on.
Only he was not truly a Trainer up from the bottom with nobody behind him. He came from Team Rocket.
It was a laughable thing to say, but the League's Conference title had come within an ace of being carried off by an outside organisation, and had been carried off by a man out of Team Rocket instead.
"They are where my hope of breaking these bonds lies."
Vance looked at the Zweilous and the others at their training, and at the Deoxys crystal in his hand.
In this world it was still strength that spoke; with strength enough there was nothing to fear.
One day he would get there.
"Bzzz, bzzz, bzzz—"
Just as he reached that point the phone he had set beside him began to buzz. He picked it up and looked: a call from a number he did not know.
"Who is it?"
"Champion Vance. It's me."
Elder Vayne's voice came from the other end, and then he went on. "You told me to make my choice. I have made it."
"Oh? And what have you chosen?"
Vance held the phone in both hands and leaned back in his chair.
"You, naturally. I and the Sacred Order both think very highly of you, and we should be glad indeed if you would join us. The men are dealt with, and the Darkrai is ready as well. Come whenever you like and we can go into it in detail. The Indigo Plateau is a little inconvenient for it."
"Where are you?"
"Over at Bluecloud Town."
Vance looked it up. Bluecloud Town lay on the eastern side of the Indigo Plateau, some fifteen kilometres off; not far at all.
"That will do."
His mind turned it over and Vance agreed. He would keep the appointment, then, and see how matters stood.
After that a video came through from Elder Vayne's end, showing the bodies of Gerald Farrow and the other man, and the Darkrai as well, with an explanation given over the Pokémon.
"Come along, lads. We're taking a trip."
He called up Gyarados and the others, swung onto Aerodactyl's back, and flew for "Bluecloud Town".
With the Master-class Viridian Power in him, Vance had a great deal to be confident about.
Besides, Bluecloud Town was not far, and nothing was likely to go wrong.
..................
"You are ready, I take it. The moment he comes, we go down quickly and make sure of it. They say Lance, Steven of Hoenn and Cynthia of Sinnoh have all called on him. Drag it out any longer and I fear something will change."
Elder Vayne gave his instructions, with Gerald Farrow and Wren behind him.
This time the three of them would act together and take Vance when he arrived.
Kai Farrow they had not let come. He was too weak; he would have been of no use had he come.
Elder Vayne took out three Poké Balls and weighed them in his hand. To make sure of the thing this time he had brought them specially from headquarters.
All three were Near-Champion-class Legendary Pokémon, and all of them perfect; the only trouble was their lifespan, and for this occasion that was no great trouble at all.
With those, and the two Legendaries in Wren's hands, and the Near-Champion Pokémon Gerald Farrow carried, the preparations were sound enough.
"A pity the Sacred Order's Champion-class strength cannot be moved lightly. Otherwise it would be safer to use it, and even if those people came to look into the matter we should have an answer ready."
Elder Vayne sighed, and said it with some regret.
"Ha ha, this is quite enough. Three Near-Champion Legendaries, and my own fighting strength on top of them, to say nothing of my young friend Wren's Pokémon — it is a lavish arrangement already. The lad cannot possibly get away, and there will not even be a sound about it."
Gerald Farrow said it with a laugh. Elder Vayne's wanting to take Vance suited him exactly.
To leave the man loose out there and let him grow kept him in a state of dread, in great fear that one day he would take his revenge on the Farrow family.
To judge by the way the man had carried himself, it was entirely possible.
"It is partly on account of my coming here as well. The League would object to Champion-class strength; they are not like your Farrow family, who know which way the wind blows and understand the greatness of the Sacred Order."
To come to the Indigo Plateau with Champion-class strength in tow would have caused certain inconveniences, and with certain ends in view Elder Vayne had not dared bring it.
There was another reason besides: at the outset Elder Vayne had not counted on being able to work with the League at all, and had made his preparations for never going back. Instead the business had gone unusually smoothly; after he had displayed this and that wonder of the Sacred Order, the man had been moved, and the League's cooperation was obtained.
And since cooperation was possible, Elder Vayne had a good many ideas, thinking to use it to push deeper still — inside the League, and among the common people too.
This bore on the whole plan for the Sacred Order's survival.