Of the Pokémon in this world there were more than eight hundred species merely among those that had been discovered, and with a fighting style like the Zorua's, however good its gifts, it could never come to know every one of them and study each one deeply.
Besides, there was no need. It would cost far too much energy and time, and the return on it would be poor.
Every Trainer who had made a name for himself had a style of raising Pokémon peculiar to himself, and the Pokémon he brought up had characteristics peculiar to them as well.
That advantage came of years and years of work. It could not be reached by watching for a moment and copying.
"Oo-oooo—"
The Zorua nodded and rubbed against Vance to show that it understood.
"Start with the forms you know best — your original form will do nicely, and after that something like Suicune. Your original form is you. If you want to imitate others, the first step is to have complete command of yourself and dig out every scrap of power there is to dig out. Not that I'm saying you can't transform — but you must have something of your own."
Vance pointed the way for it.
After that the Zorua took Vance's advice, and in the next several fights it changed its style and went in wearing its own original form.
The Kirlia clamoured to fight, and Vance let her onto the field too.
Just now the two Pokémon were hemmed in by a whole crowd of Persian and Meowth.
It had started when the Kirlia beat a Persian, which brought its kin down on them; the Zorua beat several more, and then the entire tribe came and closed in around the two of them.
Which was how the present scene had come about.
"Kirlia—"
The Kirlia was not afraid in the least. She had the look of someone eager to try herself.
She remembered that this was how the Gyarados and her other seniors had all done it, and besides, she knew her Trainer was watching from out of sight and would step in to rescue them if there was danger.
There was no danger in this. It was a chance to be tested that did not come often.
Off in a corner, every Poké Ball on Vance's belt was shaking.
The Aerodactyl and the rest had noticed that the Kirlia and the Zorua were surrounded, and were furious.
They could not win one against one, so they brought the whole tribe down — a crowd bullying a pair, that was what it was.
But Vance held them all down and would not let them out. If he let them out there would be no test left for the Kirlia and the Zorua; one blow from them and that Meowth tribe would be finished.
The battle over there had begun. The Zorua changed first into a Shedinja, immensely quick, leaving trails of afterimages as it flew, weaving through the Meowth tribe, and every time it found an opening it took a few Meowth away with it.
The Kirlia vanished from where she stood and appeared in the middle of the Meowth, and psychic power bloomed in the middle of them.
In the course of the fight the Kirlia had also mastered the move Magical Leaf.
"Meeowr—"
A Persian's pounce closed on nothing. The Kirlia flashed in behind it, swept both hands round, and Magical Leaf came rolling out and knocked the Persian flying to land hard on the ground.
The other Meowth and Persian rushed in together, and every one of them was dodged and slipped before a paw could touch the Kirlia.
Over on the other side, the Zorua that had been a Shedinja changed again, and its Suicune form took the field.
Waves rose behind it, and it came sweeping in with the water under its feet.
Just then the Kirlia flashed to one side, braced both hands and sent Magical Leaf out at the Persian that had been driven back and were fleeing.
After the Magical Leaf, transparent walls of light rose across the field, hemming in the space they had to move in.
"Whoooosh—"
Together with the Zorua, that made up the wave of attack.
"Boom, boom, boom—"
The huge waves came down three times running, and when they had finished they spun where they were and ground up the rest of the trapped Pokémon, and turned at the last into spears of ice flung out on every side, doing the tribe enormous damage.
When the moves were done there were not many Persian left standing.
The two small ones joined forces again to deal with the last few Persian.
"Thud, thud, thud—"
A little later the last Persian went down, and their victory was settled.
The two small ones came to Vance in high spirits to report what they had done, and were rewarded with a pat on the head and a few words of praise besides.
"Oo-oo-oooo—"
Having taken its praise, the Zorua backed off a little, and a faint light began to come off its body.
"Is this evolution?"
Vance saw at once that something was different about the Zorua. That look was the sign of evolution.
He thought of the Zorua being level 30 now — round about that level was when a Zorua would evolve.
"Kirlia—"
The Kirlia was slightly startled, and then very quickly she was happy for the Zorua.
The evolution of a Pokémon was always a leap in its life.
If the Zorua could evolve, it would take another step forward.
Seeing how it was, Vance hurriedly brought out a great many of the treasures he had prepared and gave them all to the Zorua to use, to help it evolve successfully and get the greatest effect out of it.
The Zorua had not been long on the team and there were aspects of it that there had not been time to raise, so he had drawn up a slightly different plan for bringing it on.
Everything Vance gave it the Zorua swallowed down in one go, and following Vance's instructions it digested that outside power and turned it into nourishment of its own.
The light of evolution on the Zorua grew brighter and brighter until it wrapped its whole body.
"Roar, roar, roar—"
Several deep, powerful roars carrying an unaccountable pressure came out of the dazzling light of the evolution.
Just then the power all around the place where the Zorua stood was drawn in by some other force, pulled to that spot and sunk into the Zorua's body.
Of it, the Water, Fire and Electric energies were the strongest.
With those three forces present, water and fire struck against each other and lightning tangled with them, and the Zorua's evolution began to grow unstable.
Even the Dark-type power native to the Zorua was held down by those three forces, and no longer held the main place.
Happily, another power welled up from inside the Zorua's body.
With that power added, the energies of all the types within the Zorua's body were drawn together.
Vance, beside it, put out a hand at the right moment, and the Viridian Power, thick with life, poured into it to set its source right, making solid what was true in it and clearing away what was not.
The course of the Zorua's evolution steadied, and the dazzling light blazed out.
Within the light, the Zorua's body began to change.
"Ooo—"
A more grown roar came out of the ball of light, a gust of wind blew past, and a Pokémon in the shape of a fox standing on two legs appeared in front of Vance.
"Zoroark!"
Vance murmured it, giving the Pokémon's name.
And this Pokémon was indeed the Zorua's evolved form: Zoroark.