"Bang—"
The Aerodactyl crashed to the ground, throwing up clouds of dust.
Through the dust the Aerodactyl looked up at the sky, rather lost. It did not understand. Why could this Vigoroth fly? It plainly had no wings.
It had come across Vigoroth before. They did not fly.
Before it could think any further, a Thunderbolt came down out of the sky.
The Aerodactyl scrambled up, using wings and feet together, and got clear of the Thunderbolt.
It beat its wings and was about to take off when the Vigoroth appeared and a Thunder Punch came down. This time the Aerodactyl had learned: knowing it could not dodge, it did not try, and folded both wings in front of it to take the Thunder Punch.
Pain came through its wings, and numbness with it, and the Aerodactyl knew its chance had come. It thrust its head forward and rammed.
"Thud—"
The blow told, as it had expected. Its rock-hard skull had struck the Vigoroth.
But what met the Aerodactyl's eye was the Vigoroth's smile. Its skull was still a little short of him, and what it had felt was not his body but a layer of blue energy in front of him, blocking the way.
Its iron-headed charge seemed to have worked, and yet had not quite worked.
The Vigoroth seized hold of it, grinned savagely, and spun on the spot.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—"
All the Aerodactyl knew was that the world had turned over; its head swam, and the howling wind all but pulled its face out of shape.
After a great many turns the Vigoroth set himself and hurled it down at the ground.
"Kraboom—"
A great crash, and the ground shook with it.
The Aerodactyl was driven into the earth hard enough to leave a small crater.
In the crater the Aerodactyl lay without moving; only one foot still twitched.
"Ding. 36 Battle Points awarded."
"Vigoroth, wasn't that a little heavy-handed?"
Vance said it, looking at the Vigoroth. With the system giving its notice, the Aerodactyl had lost the ability to fight; it just looked rather a sorry sight.
"Ah — was it? It seemed all right to me. The lad looks like he can take a beating; his foot's still twitching, isn't it?"
The Vigoroth pointed at the Aerodactyl's twitching foot as he answered.
"Poor devil. If it had gone against the Gyarados it might not have come off so badly."
Vance shook his head, feeling sorry for the Aerodactyl. The creature had first tried to take advantage by picking the Torchic and been cut down to size for it, and then, given the Gyarados and the Vigoroth to choose between, had picked the stronger of the two.
"Ah, boss, I think you've misunderstood. If it had been me, I'd have hit it harder. Who told it to steal the roast lamb the three of us had been waiting for? And knock the other two over into the dirt as well, so they taste far worse."
the Gyarados muttered, a savage look on his face.
"Good grief. Now I know why you hit it so hard, Vigoroth."
The Vigoroth explained at once, "Don't misunderstand, boss. That isn't why I did it."
"Hmph. If I could have beaten it, I'd have gone over and given it a hiding myself."
The Torchic put in his line as well. He remembered perfectly well the contemptuous way the Aerodactyl had looked at him, and that "little chick" — damn it all, among the Pokémon out there he was known as Brother Chick.
"Hahaha. That's my little brother. He's got my temper."
the Gyarados agreed.
"Enough, enough. It's hardly anything. He's going to be one of us from now on. Don't hold it against him."
Vance called a halt and went to look over the Aerodactyl's injuries; having looked, he took out medicine and treated it.
With Vance seeing to it the effect was certain to be good, and some ten minutes later the Aerodactyl came round to find one human and three Pokémon watching it — and the three Pokémon, in particular, did not look well disposed.
"Awake? How do you feel? Does anything hurt?"
Vance came over, solicitous.
He meant to catch this Aerodactyl, so he naturally had patience for it.
"Rooaar, rooaar. I feel all right," the Aerodactyl answered. *Though could those three behind you stop looking at me like that? It's a little frightening.*
*Hm? No, that isn't right either, is it? I'm an Aerodactyl, I go where I please, a tyrant of the skies. Since when was I this feeble?*
Absolutely not acceptable. The Aerodactyl realised it all at once.
Just then the Vigoroth happened to look its way, and somewhere in the Aerodactyl's body a pain flared, and it remembered what had happened to it up in the air.
All right. It could not win. Feeble it would be.
"You've lost, Aerodactyl. I gave you your chances. Now take your loss like a gambler and let me catch you. Join us."
Vance took out a Poké Ball and set it down in front of the Aerodactyl.
"You saw it for yourself. You and the Vigoroth are about equal in strength, and yet in a fight you were no match for him. Why do you think that is?" Vance crouched down and talked it through with the Aerodactyl.
"It's because the Vigoroth and the others have had rigorous training, and a plentiful supply of food on top of it. That's what opened the gap between you and him."
"So do you want to become stronger? If you do, then join us."
Vance made the invitation sincerely.
Behind him the Gyarados and the other two had been watching the Aerodactyl the whole time, and there was something not quite right in their eyes.
The three of them watched it darkly. If it refused, so much the better — then they would not have to hold back.
The Aerodactyl looked at Vance, then at the three Pokémon behind him, thought for a moment, then raised a claw of its own accord and touched the Poké Ball, turning into a streak of red light and going inside.
"Thunk—"
The Poké Ball on the ground rocked a few times, then stopped with a thunk: the catch had succeeded.
Catching a Pokémon made Vance happy every time. Holding the Poké Ball with the Aerodactyl inside it, he pressed the button, and the Aerodactyl appeared outside again.
"Welcome to the team, Aerodactyl."
"Rooaar, rooaar—"
Perhaps because it had been won over, there was less of the wild and violent in the Aerodactyl's voice.
"Ha ha. Let me introduce you to the others." Vance laughed and looked back at the Gyarados and the rest.
Whether he imagined it or not, why was there a trace of regret on all three faces?
"Roar, roar—"
The Gyarados was the first to answer warmly. That being so, they were all colleagues now, and the earlier unpleasantness could blow away on the wind.
"Hello, Aerodactyl. I'm the Gyarados. Call me Brother Dragon from now on. And by the way, I'm the boss's first Pokémon, and the one who leads this team."
the Gyarados explained, chest out.
After that the Vigoroth and the Torchic came out and introduced themselves too, and a first acquaintance was made.
"Roar, roar—"
Out of respect for strength, perhaps, the Aerodactyl was modest with the Gyarados and the Vigoroth; toward the Torchic its manner was rather more perfunctory, the little chick being the weakest of them.
Having survived a long time in the wild, it held absolutely to the rule that the strong come first. Out there it would not have given a creature like that a second glance — only a thing to be eaten.
Its own position had changed, though, so the Aerodactyl greeted the Torchic anyway.