"How's it going, Vigoroth? Anything you don't understand?"
Vance sat down beside him, smiling at the sight of Vigoroth holding a book open in both hands, with the words *The Art of War* on the cover.
"I have gained a little."
Hearing the voice, Vigoroth closed the book, and something wise passed through his eyes, as though he had drawn wisdom straight out of the pages.
"Oh? Gained what, exactly?"
Vance said it with real interest, looking curiously at the great hulking Vigoroth.
Whether from being well fed or from some other peculiar factor, Vigoroth stood close to two metres, muscle standing out all over him, huge through the body, with a frightening amount of power held in that frame.
The book sat in that enormous hand of his and looked rather small there, with all the incongruity of a rough big man labouring over a page.
"Know the enemy and know yourself, and a hundred battles will hold no danger. The key to a battle is understanding your opponent's weakness and building your plan around it. If he is quick to anger, goad him. If he is humble, make him proud." Vigoroth set the book down with the look of one who had gained something.
*Bloody hell. He really has got something out of it?*
Hearing that come out of Vigoroth with that profound expression on his face left Vance a little disoriented, and swearing quietly inside.
After the swearing came being pleased for him. Vigoroth had been clever from the first, but that he could follow a book of military strategy was genuinely remarkable.
"And have you thought about putting any of it to use in a fight?"
"I have. I mean to use it on the big oaf." When he had said it, he gave Vance a wary look.
"No need to be wary of me. For this match I'll do nothing but help the pair of you get stronger, and I won't tell you anything about Gyarados either. Don't worry." Vance settled him. As a Trainer he naturally treated the two of them fairly, even though Vigoroth had not been on the team long.
"I trust the boss." Vigoroth said it plainly. Since the day he had been caught, everything Vance had done had been fair and even, without favour to either side.
"Have you got an approach in mind? Tell me and I'll help you think it through. It's the same on Gyarados's side — I'll be giving him suggestions too."
Vance picked up the copy of *The Art of War* and said it with a chuckle.
Working from each one's strengths and weaknesses, he had drawn up different battle plans and training programmes to bring them both to their peak, and he was looking forward to seeing what the two of them would show in the fight a month from now.
They had the same teacher, but what he taught each of them, in method and in thinking, differed slightly, which made the comparison well worth having.
"Know the enemy and know yourself. The big oaf is a Water-type, and Electric moves do terrible damage to him, so that's where I want to work."
"Good, good. You know about type matchups as well, and thought of it yourself." Vance said it approvingly, and gave him a thumbs-up.
"That's as far as my knowledge goes, which is why I need you to help me, boss. I want to master Electric moves." Vigoroth asked it of him.
"Electric moves. You already have Thunder Punch, so you've a first hold on Electric energy. What comes next is the advanced sort of Electric move. If that's what you want — Thunderbolt. Do you want to learn it?"
"I do. And boss, is there anything you'd add to this idea of mine?" Vigoroth asked for his guidance. He could read now, but he still felt himself nowhere near as deep as the Trainer in front of him, and in the raising of Pokémon in particular the man was so far ahead that he could not see his back.
He had read a few books on moves and raising before this, and what he made of them fell a long way short of Vance's explanations. That did not matter. What the Trainer understood counted as understood, and it would all come down to him in the end, so Vigoroth was in no hurry.
What mattered was to read the art of war until he knew it by heart, and beat Gyarados by sheer intelligence, and take the big brother's place.
Vance thought about it, weighed Vigoroth's advantages, and gave his opinion soon enough. "Use your psychic power to support it, then hit with the lightning."
Then Vance went on talking, filling in a great many details, and Vigoroth marvelled again and again. So this was what an excellent Trainer could do: a tactic that good, produced in that little time.
"Right. That's the tactic. Now we set the training to fit it, and we can do it like this. First we train your movement in the air, then the Electric attacks..."
With the tactic explained, Vance worked out the matching training method around it, built mainly on flight and Electric attacks.
Vigoroth's eyes lit up as he listened, and his admiration for Vance grew, and he resolved privately to do a great deal more reading from now on.
Vigoroth remembered that Vance spent much of his time reading, which was why he was this formidable. If he read too, then even if he never got that formidable, surely he would get half the way there.
"One more thing. Don't let anything but the Electric attacks slide either. Gyarados isn't the enemy, and the real enemies won't all be of one kind."
Vance told him.
"Yes, I understand, boss. You can set your mind at rest."
Then he threw himself into training in high spirits.
Vance did not sit idle either. He lent a hand at getting the move mastered, hauling out a set of equipment built for training with lightning to help.
"Crackle, snap—"
Arcs of electricity flashed in every direction with Vigoroth's shape weaving among them, feeling out the power of lightning at close quarters, drilling the move.
Vance stayed where he was, calling out corrections from time to time, notebook in hand, watching everything Vigoroth did and now and then writing something down.
"This way of training is rather one of a kind, isn't it."
Vance rubbed his chin, watching Vigoroth train.
"Zzzt, zzzt, zzzt—"
Electric light flickered over Vigoroth's body, drawn along both arms and shot out — only to scatter in mid-air, falling short of a working Thunderbolt.
"No hurry. Look how long you've been at it." Vance called, and corrected his form.
The next day Vance went into Gyarados's training room to watch him train.
He had a battle plan for Gyarados as well, and a training method tailored to it.
Vance held nothing back from either of them and favoured neither, working with what each one had and aiming to bring them both to their peak.
Cold air hung through the training room and streaks of ice crossed it everywhere; the place had turned into a world of frozen ice, which was of course Gyarados's doing.
Gyarados had taken the advice and put his weight behind Ice-type moves, then built a tactic on his own Water typing as the foundation.
"Your freezing can't stay at points and lines, it has to cover surfaces. You're Water and Flying, and Electric moves are murder on you, so that's where your guard has to be. You can shield yourself with Whirlpool, then freeze it solid in an instant to hold off the Electric attack, and then..."
In Gyarados's training room Vance supplied a set of battle methods and training methods as well.
Gyarados listened with his eyes blazing.
"At bottom it still comes down to better control and use of your energy. Practise properly and don't slack."
"Raah, raah. No problem, boss. You watch, and see how I take that Vigoroth apart this time."
Gyarados agreed straight off. With the battle plan Vance had given him, his confidence was high.
"That's your specialty, but don't let the other moves and tactics slide either. Vigoroth is one of ours. There are plenty of real enemies out there, and you can't pin everything on this."
"Raah, raah. I understand. When the time comes I'll be the big brother and I'll look after my little brother, naturally. Set your mind at rest, boss."
Gyarados wanted only a hand to thump his chest with as he gave his word, agreeing over and over.
"Work hard, then. As for the fight between the two of you, nobody knows the result until it's over."