Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw a tall, middle-aged man with graying hair pushing his way through the crowd.
"Who is it? Who captured Dragonair?"
"It was me. What's the matter?" Cole stepped forward.
The middle-aged man glared at him with hatred in his eyes, "Why did you capture Dragonair? It was living well here. Why did you disturb this peace?"
Cole thought to himself: This must be Kaiser. Is there something wrong with his head?
"Why can't I capture Dragonair? Is it your Pokémon?" He retorted.
Kaiser was stumped by this question. Dragonair certainly wasn't his Pokémon. It belonged to the Safari Zone, to the League, and possibly to trainers who came here to capture Pokémon — it belonged to anyone but him.
He had only met Dragonair once, fifteen years ago when it was still a Dratini. Since then, he had kept the secret of the minidragon to himself, developing an obsession over time.
He wouldn't allow anyone else to touch this secret, as if keeping Dratini unknown somehow made it belong to him.
Seeing that Kaiser remained silent, Cole continued, "I captured Pokémon in the Safari Zone according to the rules. I didn't break any regulations, and Dragonair willingly came with me. You have no right to question me, and even less right to stop me from capturing it!"
Hearing that Dragonair left willingly, Kaiser exclaimed, "Impossible! Impossible! It promised me..."
It promised me it wouldn't leave and wouldn't meet any humans!
"Let Dragonair out to see me. I want to ask it directly. It couldn't have willingly left with you!" Kaiser said anxiously.
Cole replied expressionlessly, "I'm sorry, but I refuse!"
Since Dragonair still remembered this old man, it meant it still had feelings for him. If Cole released Dragonair now, it would inevitably have to choose between them.
Why force Dragonair into such a difficult position? Why cause it pain and suffering?
So Cole absolutely refused to let it be placed in such a dilemma.
Hearing his words, Kaiser snapped. His face contorted with rage as he flung open his coat and whipped out two handguns, aiming them directly at Cole.
"Release Dragonair now! I need to see it, or my Thunderbolts will show no mercy!" Kaiser roared.
The "Thunderbolts" he referred to were his handguns.
Someone in the crowd screamed at the sight of the weapons — firearms were strictly prohibited in the League and forbidden for private ownership.
No one could believe a Safari Zone staff member would be carrying handguns.
The teacher behind Cole paled at the sight. He quickly pulled Cole behind him and attempted to calm Kaiser down.
"Sir, we can discuss this reasonably. You want to see Dragonair, right? We can make that happen!" The teacher couldn't fully honor Cole's wishes now; his priority was to pacify this deranged man.
But Cole stepped out from behind the teacher and moved forward. His eyes blazed with intense purple light as he approached Kaiser step by step.
"I will not let you see Dragonair." Cole declared, "If you truly cared about it, you wouldn't try to control it under the pretense of protection! And you certainly wouldn't resort to force like this!"
"Cole, what are you doing?!" The teacher cried out in terror, certain the boy would be shot down any second.
But then everyone saw Kaiser's face twist in strain as his body froze in place. He struggled to pull the trigger, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move a muscle.
At this moment, Daniel approached the teacher and whispered, "Don't worry, Teacher. Cole will be fine. He's a Psychic. That old man definitely can't move now!"
He looked proud, as if he were the one with the Psychic powers.
Hearing this, the teacher sighed with relief. Thank goodness! If a student had been harmed under his watch, his career would certainly have been over.
Sure enough, a moment later, the two handguns flew out of Kaiser's grasp under Cole's control and landed in Cole's own hands.
With a thud, Kaiser was forced to his knees by the Psychic pressure.
Now the students finally understood why Cole had captured so many Pokémon in the Safari Zone. With such strong Psychic abilities, how was that any different from bringing a Pokémon in with him?
No one could accuse him and his team of cheating anymore!
Several teachers, seeing that Kaiser had been subdued, quickly rushed over to hold him down. Only then did Cole release his mental restraints.
"Quick, notify the Safari Zone camp commander to deal with this!" A teacher shouted.
One of the teachers immediately turned and ran toward the camp area.
Because the Safari Zone housed many rare Pokémon, the League had established a special camp to guard it, with the camp commander serving as the highest authority.
"Let me go! Let me go! I want to see Dragonair!" Kaiser shouted repeatedly as his head was firmly pressed to the ground. He struggled wildly, his voice growing more unhinged with each attempt to break free.
Without the several young male teachers restraining him, he would have been impossible to control.
Moments later, a muscular middle-aged man came rushing over with several others. Professor Oak accompanied them.
Professor Oak had been in conversation with the camp commander just before the incident.
"Kaiser!!!" The camp commander's voice thundered as a red light flashed from his body.
A powerful Machamp materialized and lifted Kaiser from where the teachers had been holding him down.
At the sound of the commander's voice, Kaiser's body trembled. The frenzy drained from his eyes.
His aggressive demeanor instantly deflated. He looked at the camp commander with confusion, weakly murmuring, "Commander..."
"Sigh~ What am I going to do with you? How could you hide these weapons and threaten people with them?" The camp commander asked with clear exasperation.
Kaiser could only hang his head in silence.
From the camp commander's subsequent explanation, Cole and the others learned about Kaiser's background.
Kaiser was a retired soldier whose Pokémon had all sacrificed themselves during a past mission to save his life.
The trauma led to severe psychological issues and an obsessive personality. The League had compassionately arranged for him to work at the Safari Zone to accommodate his condition.
His job at the Safari Zone was deliberately undemanding — his position mainly involved greeting visitors and collecting entrance fees.
But the commander never expected Kaiser had been secretly keeping two guns. He suspected Kaiser had hidden them during his previous missions, as with his former profession, concealing weapons would have been quite easy.
"Professor Oak, I assure you I will address this matter properly. The League's laws will show no leniency!"
Professor Oak smiled and said, "I have complete faith that you'll handle this fairly!"
"Please continue with your activities. I'll take Kaiser away now." The commander said with a bitter smile.
If possible, he would have preferred giving Kaiser a lighter punishment, considering he was a decorated veteran who had distinguished himself on the battlefield.
Unfortunately, past merits couldn't offset present crimes, and Kaiser couldn't escape his guilt. He faced charges not only for illegal possession of firearms but also attempted murder.
When he had pointed the gun at Cole earlier, he had already pulled the trigger. If the boy hadn't possessed Psychic powers, he would have likely been shot in the head.
Kaiser's emotional state was clearly extremely unstable.
And so, Machamp carried him away at the commander's order.
After all the Safari Zone staff had departed, Professor Oak smiled and said, "Alright, everything's settled now. Let's continue tallying the scores!"
Upon hearing this, the teacher led Cole back to the scoring area. Just as they were about to announce his score, they suddenly heard a series of exclamations from below.
"Where did this Tinkatuff come from? Ahhhh!"
"Quick, get out of the way! Don't let it hit you!"
"Ah~ Be careful, be careful, it's heading that way!"
...
Before long, Cole saw the Tinkatuff running wild through the crowd, vigorously swinging its iron hammer. Anyone who dared approach it would be greeted with the hammer's full force.
"Tink~ Tink!"
Finally, the Tinkatuff spotted Cole standing on the platform. With a cheerful cry, it dragged its hammer and leapt onto the high platform with remarkable agility.
"Tink~ Tink!"
As soon as it reached the top, the Tinkatuff hugged Cole's leg — though due to its short stature, it could only wrap its arms around his lower leg.
The teacher asked with confusion, "Cole, is this Tinkatuff your Pokémon?"
Cole quickly shook his head, "No, no, it's a Pokémon from the Safari Zone. It's the one that destroyed my Poké Ball!"
Hearing him say it wasn't his Pokémon, the Tinkatuff didn't contradict him but instead nodded repeatedly, as if to say: I'm indeed not Cole's Pokémon, I'm his bride!
Professor Oak, standing nearby, said, "I think it specifically came to find you. It probably wants to go with you, right?"
"Tink~ Tink!"
The Tinkatuff nodded vigorously in agreement.
Professor Oak smiled and said, "Then let's count it among the Pokémon you've captured. After all, if a Pokémon willingly follows you, what does it matter whether you have a Poké Ball or not?"
"But..."
Cole tried to respond, but Professor Oak interrupted, "Alright, it's decided!"
"But I promised Dragonair that I'd take it with me as my first-place prize!" Cole thought.
Cole felt caught between a rock and a hard place.
He bent down and asked the Tinkatuff, "Didn't you leave? Why did you come back?"
The Tinkatuff turned its little head away, as if to say: I'm not telling you!
After seeing him give Dragonair a full-body massage, the Tinkatuff had initially planned to give up on Cole. But then it thought: even if this infidel touched Dragonair more, we're competing fair and square!
So it came back!
The teachers, following Professor Oak's instructions, added the Tinkatuff to Cole's count.
"Cole's final score is 60!"
Hearing the teacher's announcement, the students erupted.
"60 points! How will we ever close the gap with this monster?"
Noticing the students' concerns, Professor Oak smiled and said, "Don't worry. We'll hold activities like this, where you can earn substantial points, twice — once during the middle of the summer camp and once at the end. So keep working hard! You'll have another chance to catch up!"
Hearing his reassurance, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Since there were still many students waiting to have their scores tallied, Cole had to return to the line and continue waiting.
As he passed by the teams from other schools, they all cast looks of awe at him.
✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲
By five in the afternoon, all the students' scores had finally been tallied.
As expected, Cole claimed first place.
Second place went to Chiyo, the girl Cole had met during the competition, with 40 points.
Third place, surprisingly, went to Junichi, who had raided a ghost-type Pokémon nest in the Safari Zone. Despite not capturing a single Pokémon of any other type, he managed to catch 17 ghost-types. Since ghost-type Pokémon were all rare, he earned 34 points.
Fourth place was Keith, with 26 points.
Fifth was Anabel, with 21 points.
Sixth was Valerie, with 18 points.
Seventh was Daniel, with 16 points.
Eighth was Daisy, with 15 points.
These were the only students with impressive scores; the rest performed poorly, with most scoring below 10 points.
Worth noting was the alternative-style girl who had previously teamed up with Lucas. She performed quite well, scoring 10 points and ranking right behind Daisy.
All the Pokémon she captured were poison-types. Cole later learned during another activity that her name was Roxie, a future gym leader from Virbank City in Unova who specialized in poison-type Pokémon.
Upon learning her score, Roxie proudly strutted over to Lucas and the other boys who had previously teamed up with her and offended her, showing off her achievement.
The boys' faces twisted as if they were constipated.
"Now I'd like to invite the top three competitors to come up on stage and choose one Pokémon to take with you!" Professor Oak announced to everyone below.
Cole, Chiyo, and Junichi walked onto the stage in an orderly fashion.
Chiyo chose a Bulbasaur without hesitation, while Junichi selected a Drifblim.
When it was Cole's turn, he unhesitatingly chose Dragonair, as he had promised!
However, as soon as he received Dragonair's Poké Ball from the teacher, a thunderous cry erupted from below.
"Waaaaaah~~~"
Everyone turned toward the sound to see the Tinkatuff sitting on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably, its hammer cast aside in grief.
At this moment, the crowd fixed Cole with mocking looks that seemed to ask: What will you do now? On one side is the Tinkatuff who voluntarily came to follow you, and on the other is the extremely rare second-stage pseudo-legendary Dragonair.
Which one will you choose?
Cole shot Professor Oak a helpless look that clearly said: See? You insisted on keeping the Tinkatuff, and now how are we supposed to solve this problem?
Professor Oak looked embarrassed — after all, he hadn't known earlier that Cole had also captured a Dragonair.
✲✲✲
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