Inside the training room the two of them were still at each other, piling on more difficulty layer by layer.
Then all at once the power Gyarados was steering wavered, and before he could adjust it the water broke apart on him.
"Hahaha."
Vigoroth laughed at the sorry sight of him — and laughing, lost his own hold on the training pieces, which came down in a shower, several of them clunking off his head on the way.
"Rrrar, rrrar—"
Now it was Gyarados's turn to laugh at him, since he looked sorrier still.
"What are you laughing at? Don't you know you can overdo a thing?"
Vance flickered across the room and appeared in front of Gyarados.
At the sight of Vance rebuking him, Gyarados shut his mouth at once.
"Didn't I tell you to keep the increase to about one part in ten, three at the outside? Your head must have gone."
And as he said it he gathered a finger out of psychic power and tapped Gyarados on the skull.
Something to help him remember.
"Mmmph—"
Gyarados knew he had been in the wrong. He did not dare meet Vance's eyes, and let him say his piece, making a low noise in his throat to show he had understood.
"Heh heh, the boss is right, he needed taking down. The big brother of this team ought to be a steady, handsome, powerful Vigoroth like me. Don't you worry, little dragon, I'll keep the boss safe."
Vigoroth sidled up, all cheerfulness, and threw a little oil on the fire from the sidelines.
*...What?* The cheeky little— he was going for the throne right now, in the middle of this. Gyarados, freshly scolded, wanted to fire something back, but with Vance standing right there he could not, and had to swallow it.
"Keep me safe, will you. And as for you — you're no easier to manage. All over the place. What did I tell you at the start? What did I say about training? Forgotten every word of it, have you? I was about to get to your problems, and here you come."
Vance turned round and gave Vigoroth a dressing-down of his own.
Behind him Gyarados perked up and pulled faces at Vigoroth, laughing at him.
"Hm?"
Vance turned back, and there he was again with a face like a sour melon.
"I was only affected by him."
Vigoroth put up a weak protest.
"Affected how? If that's enough to affect you, what happens in a battle? Have you thought about it? Your potential is enormous; it's your temper that jumps about. That's what you need to watch."
"And another thing. You and Gyarados are the same in my eyes. You're both my partners. I'll train the pair of you and I'll find resources for the pair of you."
Another round of it, and Vigoroth's face drooped too.
"I've no objection to competition, but let it be the healthy sort, where you improve each other, and not this........."
"Enough. Watch yourselves in training from now on. Don't overdo it. One step at a time."
When he had said his piece Vance sent the two of them back to training and went to his seat to carry on with his book.
"Hmph. Just you wait. I'll improve faster than you do."
Gyarados said it with a snort.
"You? Catch up with me? It'll be a long while yet, big oaf."
Vigoroth folded his arms in front of him, with plain contempt on his face, and went on.
"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been chewed out by the boss today."
"...I was going to say the same about you."
"Ahem."
The cough reached them, and the two of them stopped needling each other, gave a snort apiece and went back to training — and this time they did not rush it, but trained to the plan Vance had laid out for them.
"Little devils. They'll want a lot more grinding down."
Vance laughed under his breath and went on with the book in his hands.
Some time that day, perhaps because the feeling came to him, Gyarados broke through cleanly and rose to level 26 — another step closer to Advanced strength.
> **Pokémon:** Gyarados (male)
> **Type:** Water, Flying
> **Ability:** Moxie
> **Aptitude:** Elite-Four-class
> **Level:** 26 (Intermediate)
> **Moves:** Bite, Tackle, Leer, Twister, Flail, Whirlpool, Ice Fang, Brine, Dragon Dance, Scary Face, Waterfall, Hyper Beam, Outrage, Water Pulse, Dragon Tail, Blizzard, Ice Beam, Rain Dance, Hydro Pump, Protect
"Well. Gyarados may look fierce, and his temper may be poor, and he may think rather a lot of himself, but his aptitude is nothing to complain about. Worth everything I've put into him."
Vance was well satisfied.
As for Vigoroth, breaking through to Advanced strength meant reaching level 31, and that would still take accumulation.
From 30 to 31 was a single level, but the difference was a large one. Still, with aptitude like Vigoroth's, getting past that barrier was only a matter of time.
Toward evening, Vance came to an office. Inside sat a young man with a clean, pale face and a refined look about him, dressed in a suit.
To look at him you would have taken him for a scholar with half a library in his head.
"Hahaha. You'd be Vance."
"I am, Division Commander Sylas."
"Sit, sit, no need to stand on ceremony. Call me Sylas. I was out on a mission all day and only got back just now."
Sylas waved him over, the two of them settled on the sofa, and they fell into small talk.
The Sylas in front of him was his superior. Young as he looked, he was already a Division Commander in Team Rocket, with six Pokémon of Elite fighting strength in his hands.
He was the man's subordinate, so a call was only proper.
Talking with him gave Vance a first impression of this superior of his. The Division Commander's beginnings were much like his own: an orphan out of the slums who, with nothing else for it, had joined Team Rocket by chance, and then met with a few strange turns of fortune that had carried him to where he stood today.
From what Vance could see so far, the man's temper was decent enough. Not the brutal sort. Easy enough to get along with.
"It looks as though the two of us started from much the same place."
Sylas said it with a mild smile, looking at Vance and thinking of himself as he had once been.
"You're new, Vance, so take work with little danger in it for the next month or two — gathering information and the like. Your identity hasn't been exposed yet either, which makes that kind of work easier for you."
Perhaps he simply liked the look of Vance. Either way, Sylas gave him the tip.
"Ha, understood. I'll bear it in mind."
Vance answered.
"Ring ring ring—"
While they were talking a telephone rang.
Sylas made a sign to him and picked it up.
"Hahaha, young Sylas, how have you been? I've got a job in hand that's as good as done, and I'm a few men short. Care to come along and pick up an easy one?"
The voice that came out of the phone was a hearty one. Whoever was on the other end was very confident about this mission.
"Oh. I tend to think every mission should be given everything you have. Talk like that worries me a little."
"Ha, that's you all over, young Sylas. Don't worry. Nothing can go wrong with it, and with my strength behind it the thing's simplicity itself. Come over and take a share of the credit, why don't you?"
"That's the... I'm in the middle of a mission at the moment. It wouldn't be convenient to get away."
"Oh, is that how it is. A pity. I meant to do you a good turn. In that case, it really is rather a pity."
"Mm......" Sylas was thinking something over, and then he looked at Vance, and had an idea.