Young meant drive and it meant potential, and Vance did like a young Pokémon.
Over there, having dodged one attack from the Gyarados after another, the Aerodactyl did not fly off at all; it perched in a thick-leaved tree instead and jeered at him.
The way it jeered was almost human, too.
Its sense of fun had got the better of it. It opened its mouth and put out its tongue, flicking it up and down — nyah, nyah, nyah — and used one claw to pull an eyelid down at the Gyarados. Mockery to the last detail.
The Aerodactyl dared to do it because it had something to back it up: it was confident in its own strength.
It had the other side's measure as well. Only the Gyarados looked fierce enough to be worth fighting, strong enough to be any threat to it — and it disliked the Gyarados's Water-type moves very much.
As for that Vigoroth, nothing remarkable at all; the ripple of power on it was very low, so it was presumably some weakling. And then there was the little chick. A thing of that quality — and the Aerodactyl was not boasting — could come at it a hundred at a time and it would not be afraid.
A hundred of them would not fill a gap between its teeth. Nothing worth worrying about.
As for the two-legged beast that kept watching it, less still. That was a human, wasn't it? A build that small made for a still feebler creature; less of a threat, in fact, than the little chick on the man's shoulder.
The Aerodactyl's eyes were full of intelligence. It had the situation worked out.
"Why does that two-legged beast keep staring at me? Can it be that he admires me? Hahaha."
At the thought, the Aerodactyl stretched itself out and struck a gallant pose.
The Gyarados stopped attacking as well — not for want of strength, but because Vance had called him off.
Vance stood perfectly composed, murmuring something; you would have had to come close to make out what he was saying.
"Ten, nine, eight......"
"Roar, roar—"
The Aerodactyl was still jeering at the Gyarados and looking down its nose at the Pokémon around it. Trash, all of them.
"Gaah—" Its body seized up all at once, the mouth that had been laughing so brazenly still open and out of its control, a wave of numbness going through it until it was stiff as a board, and its whole body dropped straight off the great boulder it had been standing on.
It hit the hard ground with a thud, and all the Aerodactyl felt was a wave of dizziness, with stars seeming to turn in front of its eyes.
"I... what's happened to me, why am I like this — this is bad, the food was poisoned!"
The Aerodactyl realised there was something wrong with its body; several attempts got it nowhere.
"Heh heh heh. You were pretty cocky just now."
The Gyarados came over at his leisure, his great bulk laying a wide shadow across the Aerodactyl.
"Laugh. Why aren't you laughing? Don't you like it?"
Now it was the Gyarados's turn to swagger, and he patted its face with his tail.
The little wretch had been full of itself a moment ago, and look at it now. Very satisfying.
Vance and the Vigoroth came over as well, to find the Aerodactyl sprawled on the ground like a dead dog, unable to move.
"Rooaar..."
Mocked like that, the Aerodactyl wanted to snarl back, but the roar that came out had none of its usual force behind it.
"Doesn't an Aerodactyl know better than to eat food it finds lying by the road? Well, now you know."
Vance said it with a light laugh. He had put a special seasoning of his own on those lambs.
It did the Gyarados and the others no harm. Other Pokémon were another matter.
And as it happened this green young Aerodactyl had turned up and eaten the stuff, which proved what his special seasoning could do — and there it was, lying on the ground.
"Look at the state of you. No strength left to resist, so I'd call that my win. You may as well throw in with me from now on." Vance took out a Poké Ball and held it out toward it.
"No. I don't accept it. You only got me like this with a dirty trick; you didn't really beat me. I don't accept it."
The Aerodactyl's words reached Vance by telepathy. It did not accept it, it did not accept it at all.
Caught just like that, over its own greed? How could it take that lying down?
"But like this you have lost. If I wanted you dead you'd already be gone. What is there not to accept?"
Vance said it, amused.
"Hmph. I don't accept it."
The Aerodactyl set its face, stubborn, refusing to concede.
"All right, then. I'll give you a chance."
Vance gave a small laugh. If he was going to catch this Aerodactyl, it had better be done properly.
He was a most democratic man, and he had patience for an Aerodactyl that might yet become a partner.
If the Aerodactyl would not accept it, then he would make it accept it, heart and mouth both. He had always won Pokémon over by virtue.
"I can cure the poison, get you back to full strength, and then fight you fairly. Would that satisfy you?"
"Hmph, hmph. Yes, yes. A real fight. Far better than this."
The Aerodactyl answered, breathing hard.
"Right, then." Vance took out the antidote and, with a few quick movements, helped it recover.
Ten minutes or so later the Aerodactyl was fully restored.
"Roar—"
Back from the dead, the Aerodactyl gave a long roar at the sky. That was the feeling.
"Heh. Human, you have just made a stupid decision."
The Aerodactyl beat its wings, raising a gale, full of menace as it spoke.
"Is that so? I don't think I have. Are you ready? Because if you are, I'm going to start."
Vance said it with a smile, in the wind.
"Wait. One against one — and I want to pick my opponent."
Seeing Vance and all three Pokémon standing there, the Aerodactyl said it quickly, so as not to be set on by all of them at once.
Having said it, it congratulated itself on its own quick wits; it had seen a great many humans send out a whole crowd of Pokémon at once when they went to catch one.
*Heh. If the human works that way, he was no doubt thinking of beating me the same way. A pity — clever as I am, how could I let him have what he wants?*
*One against one, and then let's see how he makes me accept anything!*
*Hahaha. Saying that, he won't fly into a rage from shame, will he? I'm back to normal now anyway, so I'm not afraid of him. Roar, roar.*
"One against one, of course." The words struck Vance as odd as well. If you wanted to catch a Pokémon and have it truly accept the loss, wasn't one against one exactly how it was done?
Then he spoke again: "As for choosing your opponent — go ahead and choose."
Whether it was the Vigoroth or the Gyarados, Vance saw no problem at all in handling this Aerodactyl.
The Vigoroth was level 32 and the Gyarados level 30. A little behind it in level, but not at all behind in fighting strength.
"Then I'll choose."
A shrewd light came into the Aerodactyl's eyes as it looked the Gyarados and the rest over.
"That little red chick. Out you come. You'll do."
"Torchic?"
The Torchic, up on the shoulder enjoying the show, was suddenly called on and was rather puzzled. Why him?
"There. It's you. Come out. What's that fierce look for? Think you can beat me? I'll even give you the first move."
The Aerodactyl wore the smile of a creature whose scheme had come off, and swaggered.
"Go on then, Torchic."
"Torchic?"
Vance did not look at the stare the Torchic sent him; he looked at the Aerodactyl instead and said, "In that case — a Trainer and his Pokémon are one. If the Torchic goes in, I go in as well. That's only reasonable, surely?"
"Reasonable, reasonable. You come too. I fear nothing."
And it blew two jets of white breath from its nostrils as it said it.
"Good. Let's go, Torchic."
Vance smiled and loosened himself up; his body crackled from end to end.
Behind him the Gyarados and the Vigoroth looked at each other, marvelling that the Aerodactyl had brought their boss into the field in person.
They did not follow it. They did not understand it at all.