With three Ditto showing the way, Cole's efficiency in finding and capturing Pokémon reached impressive heights.
Within half an hour, he had caught 2 Exeggcute, 4 Seedot, 1 Masquerain, and 2 Pawmi in succession. These added to his previously captured 3 Eevee, 2 Vaporeon, and 3 Ditto, bringing his total to 17 Pokémon.
At this rate, catching another 13 Pokémon in the remaining time would be no problem at all, barring any unforeseen circumstances.
During his hunt, Cole encountered several classmates. Their envious and jealous looks at the three Tauros beside him told the whole story.
Clearly, their situations resembled Valerie's — likely with little to show for their efforts.
Of course, not everyone was struggling. While passing through a grassy area, Cole spotted a little girl communicating with a Bulbasaur. The Pokémon not only stayed put but affectionately nuzzled the girl's palm.
Cole recognized her — Chiyo, a student from the First Middle School of Celestic Town in Sinnoh, currently ranked sixth on the points leaderboard.
He noticed that while she communicated with the Bulbasaur, a special energy field surrounded her body. He speculated that the girl is also a special ability user.
After capturing most of the rare Pokémon the Ditto knew about, Cole recalled two of them to their Poké Balls. He kept only the one he was riding and released Masquerain instead.
Since Masquerain flew around frequently, it would know about different Pokémon locations.
Under its guidance, Cole discovered an Abra. Unfortunately, the Pokémon reacted too quickly — teleporting away the moment it spotted him, giving Cole no chance to capture it.
After searching the forest without finding any further trace of the Abra, he gave up and moved on to look for other Pokémon.
While riding on Tauros (Ditto), Cole heard a series of clanging sounds. Following the noise, he found a pink figure by a small river.
The Pokémon resembled a little girl with pigtails, but carried an iron hammer almost as large as its body.
It was a Tinkatuff!
This was Cole's first encounter with this Pokémon — a Fairy and Steel-type native to Paldea, evolved from Tinkatink, with Tinkaton as its final form.
Another non-native Pokémon!
Just as Cole was happily about to approach, he spotted Lucas emerging from the bushes with a berry he'd picked. Lucas spoke to Tinkatuff in a tone one would use with a small child.
"Be good, cutie, come with me, and I'll give you this berry if you do."
Tinkatuff stared at him blankly for a few seconds, then raised its hammer and swung it at him.
BANG!!!
Fortunately, Lucas dodged quickly, and Tinkatuff's hammer only hit a rock. Had he been slower, Cole was genuinely concerned the "cutie" would have flattened him.
"Tink~ Tink~"
Tinkatuff raised its hammer again and chased after Lucas, swinging repeatedly while he frantically jumped and hopped away, the berry long dropped and forgotten.
"Hahaha~~" Hiding in the shadows, Cole couldn't help but laugh out loud at the comical scene.
Realizing his embarrassing situation had been witnessed by his nemesis (or so he thought), Lucas froze. His entire face turned bright red.
He pointed at Cole with a trembling finger for a few seconds but ultimately fled without saying a word, leaving Tinkatuff staring at his retreating figure as if he were an idiot.
Tinkatuff then turned toward Cole and raised its hammer to strike him, but midway through the swing, it found both its hammer and body suddenly immobilized.
"Tink~ Tink~ Tinktuff~" — Let me go! Let me go!
The little one was quite feisty, its eyes flashing with anger as it glared at Cole.
Cole: I don't think I've done anything that terrible to you, have I?
He walked over and used his Special Ability to pinch Tinkatuff gently. As the energy entered its body, it suddenly let out a surprised cry.
"Tink~~" — What are you doing? You pervert!
The comfortable sensation spreading through its body made Tinkatuff feel both pleased and shy.
Hearing its words, Cole was surprised, "You even know what a pervert is?"
"Tink~ Tink~ Tinktuff~" — Randomly touching a girl's body, what are you if not a pervert?
Its voice was filled with shyness.
"Hahaha, you little thing are really adorable!" Cole couldn't help but laugh. He had only pinched Tinkatuff's shoulders and arms, yet he didn't expect such a strong reaction.
Generally, Pokémon encountering humans don't have such a strong sense of shame, nor do they understand human concepts of modesty. Contact with hands, feet, or head typically doesn't make them shy — they're more likely to feel alert and defensive, unless the behavior is particularly intrusive.
But this Tinkatuff's reaction was truly fascinating.
"Alright, since you don't like it, I won't touch you anymore! I'm going to release you now, but you promise not to hit me, okay?"
"Tink~"
Tinkatuff nodded shyly.
Cole released the Psychic Power restraining Tinkatuff. True to its word, Tinkatuff didn't swing its hammer at him again, just quietly watched him.
Cole took out a Poké Ball and said, "Do you want to come with me?"
Seeing the Poké Ball, Tinkatuff startled, then raised its hammer and knocked the ball right out of his hand. Its aim was precise, not injuring his hand at all.
Cole stared in disbelief at the smashed Poké Ball, "If you don't want to come, just say so. Why did you have to break my Poké Ball?"
Once broken, the Poké Ball couldn't be used to capture Pokémon anymore. Each Pokémon was worth 2 points!
He wailed internally.
What a double loss — he failed to catch the Pokémon and lost a Poké Ball too.
"Fine, fine! Since you don't want to come, I'll be on my way." Cole turned and left with his Masquerain and Ditto.
There were plenty of Pokémon in the hunting grounds; he didn't need to waste time on one that refused to join him.
With Masquerain's guidance, he once again set out to find more Pokémon.
His progress became much smoother afterward, his Psychic Powers combined with his Special Ability proving unstoppable.
Half an hour later, he had captured 1 Clefairy, 1 Natu, 3 Wooper, 1 Heracross, 2 Smeargle, and 2 Nickit — totaling 10 Pokémon.
Together with the 17 he'd captured earlier, he now had 27 Pokémon, all rare or non-native species worth 2 points each. Just 2 more to go.
Sigh~ If it weren't for Tinkatuff, he could have captured one more Pokémon. Still, it had been less than an hour and a half so far, leaving plenty of time.
As he walked, Cole suddenly felt like something was following him. He quietly extended his Psychic Power outward and soon detected something unusual behind a large rock.
He struck suddenly, using his Psychic Power to grab whatever was tracking him.
"Tink Tink" — Let me go! Let me go!
Tinkatuff floated in mid-air, controlled by his Psychic Power, its short legs kicking wildly while its hammer fell directly to the ground.
Cole looked at it in surprise, "Didn't you refuse to come with me? Why are you following me now?"
"Tink~ Tink~" — You touched me, you must take responsibility!
Tinkatuff screeched wildly.
"Take responsibility for what?" Cole asked, bewildered.
"Tink~ Tink~" — Put me down! Put me down!
Seeing Tinkatuff's non-stop screaming, Cole had no choice but to set it down. The moment its feet touched the ground, it rushed over to retrieve its hammer.
"Tink~ Tinktuff~" — Of course, you have to make me your bride!
Tinkatuff declared this as if stating an obvious fact.
"Are you joking?" Cole was stunned.
"Tink~ Tink~" — Who's joking with you! You touched me, shouldn't you take responsibility?
Tinkatuff glared at him like he was a dishonorable scoundrel.
Cole thought: I've touched plenty of Pokémon before — how many brides would I need to have?
He took out another Poké Ball and asked, "Then do you want to get inside the Poké Ball?"
Seeing this, Tinkatuff immediately raised its hammer to strike. Cole, quick-witted, hurriedly withdrew the Poké Ball.
"If you don't want to, that's fine, but why get so angry? If you don't get in the Poké Ball, I can't take you with me!"
"Tink~ Tink~" — I don't care, I just want to be your bride!
Tinkatuff turned its head away, completely ignoring his reasoning.
Cole had no choice but to pretend he hadn't heard and continued searching for Pokémon.
Whenever he looked back, he could see Tinkatuff following him at a distance.
Without realizing it, he walked into a canyon and discovered a clear lake inside, its surface calm and undisturbed. Strangely, he didn't see any Pokémon around or in the lake.
Standing on the lakeshore, Cole spotted a cave where part of the lake extended inside.
Curious, he entered the cave. After hesitating for a few seconds, Tinkatuff, who had been following him, also went in.
The cave wasn't completely enclosed; round holes in the ceiling connected to the outside world, providing adequate light, though the silence was striking.
Water dripping from the ceiling, Cole's footsteps, and the scraping of Tinkatuff's hammer on the ground — all echoed clearly in the quiet cave.
Reaching the depths of the cave, Cole came upon a pond. The emerald green water looked like a gemstone embedded in the ground — absolutely beautiful.
He walked to the edge, crouched down, scooped up some water, and rubbed his hands. The pond water felt cool and refreshing.
Just then, Cole noticed a long black shadow flash across the bottom of the pond, extremely close to him.
"What's that!"
Startled, he couldn't help but cry out. Tinkatuff leaped to Cole's side, raising its hammer toward the shadow just inches away.
"Woo~"
As ripples spread across the water's surface, a blue head with a single horn emerged, gazing at Cole with large black eyes. It had a pair of small white wings on either side of its head.
"A Dragonair?"
Cole was astonished to find such an extremely rare Dragonair hidden here.
"Woo~"
Dragonair tilted its head, looking at him with an endearing expression.
Cole suddenly recalled a storyline from the original anime where Ash encountered a Dragonair mother and child (Dragonair and Dratini) while traveling to the Safari Zone. Could this be that same Dragonair?
This Dragonair had clear eyes that looked innocent and pure.
"Dragonair, do you live here alone?" Cole asked.
"Woo~" — Yes!
It nodded.
That means Dragonair's child hasn't been born yet. It makes sense, since it's still several years before Ash begins his journey.
Cole took out a jar of Pokéblocks, poured out two, and held them out to Dragonair, "Dragonair, would you like to eat these?"
To prevent cheating, their spatial backpacks had been confiscated, but items like berries and Pokéblocks were still allowed.
Battle captures had already been banned; if food luring wasn't allowed either, they might as well just say outright that catching Pokémon here was forbidden!
Dragonair stared at the Pokéblocks in Cole's hand, unconsciously swallowing, but ultimately shook its head.
"Woo~ Woo~" — I'm sorry, I can't eat that. Kaiser told me not to show myself to humans or eat anything they offer.
When saying this, Dragonair looked visibly guilty — when Cole arrived, its curiosity had gotten the better of it, and it couldn't resist revealing itself.
Living in solitude, always hiding, had made it very lonely and sad.
Hearing Dragonair mention Kaiser, Cole suddenly remembered — that was the name of a warden at the Safari Zone.
Kaiser had discovered Dragonair when it was still a Dratini. To protect it, he had concealed its existence and eventually stopped visiting altogether.
He'd discovered Dragonair about fourteen years ago, meaning he hadn't seen it for over a decade, yet it still remembered his instructions.
Indeed, Pokémon are such loyal creatures!
Cole extended the Pokéblocks again, "Go ahead, it's okay. I'm not a bad person; I won't hurt you."
Dragonair hesitated greatly, but under Cole's encouraging gaze, it carefully took one block into its mouth.
The moment its tongue touched the Pokéblock, Dragonair's expression brightened — it was incredibly delicious, unlike anything it had ever tasted before.
Seeing it enjoying the food, Cole offered the remaining block as well, "Do you like it? I have more."
This time, Dragonair didn't hesitate and happily ate the Pokéblock.
Seeing Cole continuously feeding Dragonair, Tinkatuff, who had proclaimed itself his bride, became unhappy. It raised its hammer and began banging on the rocks by the lake, creating harsh scratching sounds to get his attention.
Cole looked at it helplessly, "What do you want? Do you want some Pokéblocks too?"
As he spoke, he poured out two more Pokéblocks and offered them to Tinkatuff.
✲✲✲
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