16.5

[?. ?. ?. Three days ago]

Vyro's nose was bleeding. Grayson moved to eye level with the captive. Vyro looked into his eyes and saw nothing, not even age.

"What do you know about bombs?"

Vyro said nothing and meekly shook his head. Grayson turned around, then sucker punched Vryo in the mouth. Grayson shook out his hand. Vyro coughed blood over his shirt.

"Bombs, you imbecile. Bombs; what do you know about them, your experiences, your knowledge. Surely a dangerous psychopath like yourself has spent a considerable amount of time around bombs?"

Vyro licked the blood from his teeth and spit it onto the ground. How had this old man bested him? It was unthinkable, such a weak and feeble man had got the jump on the great Vyro! He studied the man's face, memorizing the details, cataloguing every crease and turn of the landscape of Grayson's face.

"Yeah, I know a thing or two about bombs. Why? Need me to smoke out a cheating whore? Barbeque a disgruntled business partner? You could have just asked, man. No need for this whole Rocket get up."

"Perhaps."

Vyro rocked in his chair. "I'd be glad to help, for the right price of course."

"Do you know what 'pro bono' means?"

"No, man, do I look like the kind of guy who paid attention in school?"

Grayson cracked a smile, a wicked grin, underneath his moustache. "In Old Kalosian, it means 'done so that I don't snap each individual rib into your chest one by one.'"

"I don't think that's what that means," Vyro muttered. "You know, you keep calling me crazy and a psychopath, but I think you might need to get your anger checked out."

"Oh, you do, do you?" Grayson chuckled and punched Vyro's stomach again. "I would seem in this case that it takes one to know one."

"What do you even want, man?"

"I need to know if you possess the wherewithal to press a button at the precise time I instruct you."

"Seems easy enough." He tested the bonds that trapped his hands. "Where?"

"Celadon City."

"So business partner. Got it. Which building?"

Grayson put a worn hand on Vyro's shoulder. "All of them."

Vyro's eyes widened in a mixture of terror and glee. This man was as fucked up as he was. It had been a long time since he had ever had a chance to talk shop with a fellow madman. "Ok, so all the buildings. I'll nix that business partner idea. It'll take time to assemble all those bombs."

"It's already been taken care of. Like I said, all you need to do is press a button precisely when I tell you too."

"Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?"

Grayson laughed. "The catch? You're the catch. The fall guy, the prize, as it were."

This took Vyro aback. "Hey, I'm not bait."

"Oh, but you are. You're just a worm that I dug from the ground and placed on the line of mine. That's all you are."

"No deal."

"You aren't in a position to be striking a deal here, madman," Grayson said. "There is no deal, there never was or will be. You will do this because I told you to; you will do this because you have no other choice. You will do this, because if you do not, I will find you, and you will wish you had. Do we understand each other? Am I making myself clear enough for that limited brain of yours?"

"Crystal."

"Excellent. I will deliver you to the vantage point. There you will find a hardwired device and a small parcel. When I contact you, you will press the button of the device and open the parcel. From there you will go to Vermillion. I have ensured that all who survive will make the journey to Vermillion. Under the cover of night, you will wait for my signal and then press the button on what you find on the device."

"You got this all figured out. I like it."

"I had figured a man like you would come around to my way of thinking eventually."

"Yeah, this is good. Soon everyone will know of the great and powerful Vyro who single handedly destroyed an entire city!"

Storm clouds seemed to form over Grayson's head. "No, absolutely not. No one must know you were involved. You would be too easy to apprehend, and you, no doubt, would inevitably crack under any sort of half-hearted interrogation. No, you will remain absolutely silent about your involvement, and will follow my instructions to the letter."

Vyro couldn't wrap his head around this; how could a man perpetuate such total destruction and simply not want to shout his name triumphantly to the fools he had crushed? It all seemed so wasted. Underhandedly sabotaging an entire city was quite a feat—a feat that the man should be proud of! It was sickening.

"So why are you doing this?" Vyro asked as Grayson began packing his things. He noticed, with a bit of fear, that Grayson did not look to be moving to undo the restraints. Vyro gave a last tug, a futile gesture.

"Why? I didn't think someone as crass and shortsighted as you would be interested in the 'why' of what one does. I had thought one which subtlety is completely foreign to would not trouble his mind with the likes of 'why.'"

"I mean, I know why I would do it."

"Mass bloodshed and death is not a reason unto itself, madman." Grayson slipped his coat on. "And as long as you see it as the end and not the means, you will always be a tool, a particularly blunt one, but a tool nonetheless to men with ambition."

"I didn't come here for a lecture, old man."

"No, of course you didn't."

"So is this the part where you're going to tell me that you're doing this for the greater good? Because that schtick's pretty old, don't you think?"

"I do not pretend that my actions are somehow noble, only that they are justified."

"Justified. Always seemed pretty one-sided, if you ask me."

"Then it is good that I did not. Your opinions hardly matter to me. All I care about is that you do what I tell you, when I tell you. Beyond that, I think we may yet be rid of each other."

"You gonna untie me, or am I supposed to make it to Celadon strapped to the chair?"

Grayson rolled his eyes. He stepped behind the chair and cut the bindings. Vyro massaged his wrists.

"I've taken the liberty to heal your pokemon for you after that horrendous display against Master Kai. In the future, if you do intend to pursue a life of crime, I recommend brushing up on your battling skills. I believe the Trainer School in Viridian is open for enrollment."

"Yeah, yeah, I bet I could whip your old end up and down cycling road in a straight fight."

Grayson smiled. "Men such as us rarely fight straight fights. And in the event that we did come to blows, you would be severely out classed."

"Whatever. Do you have anything to clean my face with? This blood doesn't go well with your whole 'in the shadows' deal."

Grayson mindless fished a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Vryo who wiped his face. Something caught his eye on the cloth; it was monogrammed in the logo of a prominent company.

R. I. G., Silph Company.