"Bang, bang, bang—"
One bolt of lightning after another burst out of Vigoroth and struck the training dummies about the floor, with no small force behind them. It had begun to be a real weapon.
Three days had gone by, and in those three days Vigoroth had mastered Thunderbolt. Mastering it in so short a time said a good deal about his aptitude.
"Whoo-hoo—"
Excitement all over his face, Vigoroth landed and threw a combination of Thunder Punches, both fists driving straight out, lightning spitting off them, the air cracking as it went — a fierce and imposing display.
When he had finished he looked at the wreckage of the floor, well pleased. He had done it at last; the training had reached what the plan called for.
*Vigoroth, do not get above yourself. This is only one stage of success, hardly worth mentioning. Guard against pride and against haste.* Vigoroth warned himself privately, though the smile would not stay off his face. He could feel that he had grown stronger again.
Seeing Vance watching him train from across the room, he put the smile away, came over to stand beside him, and looked up at him with expectation filling his eyes.
"Excellent!"
Vance gave him a thumbs-up and praised him.
Only with the praise did Vigoroth grin, and the smile came back to his face.
In Vigoroth's eyes only the Trainer's approval proved that he had succeeded. His own feeling might be an illusion; the Trainer's would not be.
Without noticing it, Vigoroth had begun to depend on Vance and to want his praise, and every time he got it he was very happy.
It was not simply being recognised; it was proof that he had made no mistakes, and Vigoroth found it very agreeable indeed.
"Having received the great kindness of your instruction, Trainer, I shall repay it in days to come."
Perhaps from all the reading lately, there was a bookish, old-fashioned turn to the way Vigoroth spoke now.
Vance laughed softly at the sight of him and answered, "Never mind repaying kindness. Quarrel with Gyarados a little less in future and that's the best repayment there is."
"Agreed."
Vigoroth nodded and gave his word, then sat down beside Vance, took up a book and began to read, drawing the wisdom out of it.
Vance did not mind in the least. Education was a good thing; the educated did not get taken advantage of so easily. Being an educated Pokémon helped with whatever you did.
"You've got the first version of it down, but you're short on real fighting. In a few days I'll take you both out and get you some."
Vance said it mildly, his hand still writing something in the notebook.
"Mm, mm."
Vigoroth agreed. He wanted to get out and move about as well; since coming back from Trial Island there had been very few fights.
The food and the sleeping were good here, but Vigoroth still had a longing for his days in the wild.
Longing was one thing. Given the chance to choose once, Vigoroth would still choose to follow Vance.
It was too good here. Board and lodging found, training and strength found as well — far better than going back to the wild.
As for freedom?
Well. Freedom is precious and strength is dearer; but for board and lodging, both may be cast away.
That was how Vigoroth saw it. Let his lost youth scatter where it liked. He was not what he had been. What he was now was going to be an educated Vigoroth.
His thoughts came back to him and he straightened up, reading the book in front of him — *Thick Black Theory* — with great seriousness. He had found another good book lately, and this was it, and he was absorbed in it. He loved this sort of thing, and felt he was getting a great deal out of it.
So the man and the Pokémon sat together in the training room, one reading, one taking notes. Anyone from outside who saw it would have found it beyond belief.
The next day Vance came to Gyarados's training room to oversee the training.
Where Vigoroth's side flashed with electric light, Gyarados's side ran with flying waves of water.
Layer after layer of water froze solid in an instant under Gyarados's control, forming a spinning shell of ice. The support machines at the edge sent out several bolts of lightning, and the fast-spinning shell threw all of them off, doing its work as protection.
When the machines put more power out, cracks appeared in the spinning shell. At that moment Gyarados's gaze hardened; he threw up the water, burst the cracked shell apart, and sent the broken shards of ice out in a dense, bristling volley at a single point, terrifying in sound and force.
"Boom, boom, boom—"
The power around Gyarados surged again; streams of water wound about him, and he rose into the air and came down in a strike from above. As he fell, the water outside his body froze in an instant and sealed him inside it, making a driving spike of ice that struck the ground with tremendous force.
It was like a comet coming down. The ground shook, and the training room went on rocking a long while after the blow.
"Ha ha ha."
Gyarados flew up out of the enormous crater looking thoroughly pleased. His training had gone no worse than the other's; he could put out serious damage now.
Vance gave Gyarados his praise as well, and thought very highly of what the training had produced.
With Vance's approval, Gyarados was just as happy.
The inspiration for Gyarados's move had come from the Ice Aqua Jet that Ash Ketchum's Buizel used in the anime.
As far as the timeline went, Ash was still a small boy at this point, so for now the thing counted as Vance's own invention.
It was only the inspiration, at that; the workings were different. What Gyarados did used Water and Flying power together, and there was still a difference between it and that Buizel's Ice Aqua Jet.
"Good. The first stage of the training has worked. In a few days I'll take you out for some real fighting."
Vance nodded and said it to Gyarados.
"Raah, raah. No problem. Boss, is there anything to eat? I'm starving."
Gyarados lowered himself down and begged for food.
Training like that burned through the body's energy fast, and Gyarados had a large appetite; a few rounds of it and he was hungry again.
"Here. Go on, eat."
Vance took a heap of Pokémon food out of the storage space at once, and several boxes of energy cubes, and set it all down in front of him.
"Then I won't stand on ceremony."
Gyarados opened his mouth and put the food away.
"Boss, how's that Vigoroth getting on? Is he better than me?" Gyarados asked between mouthfuls.
"What's this, scouting the enemy? A pity. I can't tell you. You just train properly and leave it at that."
"No, no. Only asking."
Gyarados laughed it off awkwardly, made short work of the food in front of him and went back into his training.