Dratini?!
Silas stared in disbelief at the Pokémon in front of him.
He knew there were Dratini and Dragonair living in the Safari Zone, but he'd never had any interest in catching one. After all, Kaiser had dedicated his whole life to protecting these Pokémon. Plus, while Dratini might be rare for most people, for Silas, if he really wanted one, the Dragon Master clan would hand them over, no questions asked.
But still, this was surreal—just falling asleep and waking up to find a Dratini on his stomach? What the heck was going on?
"Dratini~"
While Silas was still dazed, the little guy didn't seem afraid at all. It didn't try to dart away, but instead called out to him, snapping Silas out of his trance.
Watching the Dratini staring right at him, Silas cracked a smile, rummaged through his bag, pulled out some Pokémon food, and held it out in his palm. "Hey there, lil' buddy—want some snacks?"
"Dratini!"
Dratini stuck its head into Silas's outstretched hand, sniffed the food, and its eyes instantly lit up at the scent. In a flash, it was shoveling food into its mouth, beaming up at Silas as it ate. Silas couldn't help chuckling. "Take it easy, little guy—there's plenty more where that came from. Don't choke yourself."
"Dratini!"
Dratini just wolfed the food down even faster after hearing that.
Seeing Dratini eating so contentedly, Silas couldn't help but smile a little. It'd been a while since he'd met a Pokémon this bold—and a Dratini, no less. So, not caring how much Dratini could eat, he just kept bringing out more rations, even tossing in a Water-type crystal and blending it into the food!
Not long after, the little food monster was finally full—Dratini flopped out on the grass, stuffed belly skyward, looking completely satisfied. Silas just burst out laughing at the sight.
But right as he laughed, something changed.
Suddenly, waves rippled across the peaceful lake. From the water burst a Dragonair over four meters long, anxiety all over its face. The instant it spotted Dratini by Silas's side, its look turned angry.
"Dragonair!"
Dragonair let out a furious roar at Silas, as if warning him to back off from Dratini!
Silas didn't get mad at that anger. He knew that tons of people had tried to catch this particular Dragonair—the fact it didn't trust humans was only natural. Of course it wouldn't be happy to see its baby this close to a human. So Silas said to Dratini, "Time to head home, little guy. Your mom's looking for you."
"Dratini~"
Dratini shook its head, clearly not wanting to leave the guy with all the good snacks.
Watching Dratini refuse and glancing at the increasingly frazzled Dragonair, Silas could only shrug helplessly and explain, "Dragonair, I mean you no harm. I'm not trying to take your child—feel free to bring Dratini back whenever you want."
This Dragonair obviously understood human speech—and could sense just how powerful the Pokémon surrounding Silas were. Even the smallest, Pikachu, was on par with her. So Dragonair, full of caution, slowly slithered closer but stopped a safe distance away, calling out to Dratini. "Dragonair~"
"Dratini~"
Dratini shook its head again.
That made Dragonair panic, and she started frantically calling, "DragonairDragonair"
"DratiniDratiniDratini!"
No matter how much Dragonair pleaded, Dratini kept shaking its head like crazy.
Finally, Dragonite spoke up, exasperation in his voice: "Ugh, will you two give it a rest? Look, you—Yes, you, Mom. Keeping Dratini locked in the lake all day—have you ever thought about how that feels? Of course it doesn't want to go back!"
Dragonite's words left Dragonair speechless.
"You're up?" Silas noticed Dragonite had sat up, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah." Dragonite nodded, shooting an annoyed look at mother and child. "They were just so noisy—didn't have a prayer of sleeping through it."
"So what's the deal here?" Silas asked, frowning.
"It's like this…" Dragonite began to explain.
Apparently, ever since humans came after Dragonair, she'd grown extremely distrustful of them. When Dratini was born, she kept it hidden away, never allowing it to come up to play, basically keeping it locked up in the lake. The only reason Dratini managed to sneak out today was because Dragonair fell asleep for a while.
When Silas heard the story, he gave Dratini a sympathetic look.
Pokémon like Dratini grew up so slowly. Judging by its size, this one was still practically a baby—and all babies want to play. But if Dragonair forced it to stay cooped up in the lake… no wonder the little guy didn't want to go back.
Still, Silas could see why Dragonair did it.
After all, pseudo-legendary Pokémon like Dratini weren't something just anyone could ignore. If word got out that a Dratini and Dragonair lived here, history would repeat itself—greedy humans would swarm the place and bring disaster for sure. It was hard to say either side was right or wrong.
"Go on, back you go." Silas patted Dratini's head with a smile. "Get back to your mom and live your life. I'll even give you another treat. Deal?"
"Dratini…"
Dratini gave Silas a pitiful look and shook its head even harder, making it clear it wanted to stick by his side.
Silas could only give a resigned laugh—this little guy really had gotten attached.
BANG!
As Silas gave a helpless laugh, the sharp crack of a gunshot rang out!
"Tyranitar!"
"Charizard!"
"Gastly!"
"Pikachu!"
The moment the sound struck, Silas's four Pokémon shot upright and let out fierce roars!
Mother and child's bickering had roused them a little, but since there was no threat, they'd stayed half asleep. But this gunshot was different—this time, they sensed something dangerous. They sprang up in an instant, faces set and hostile, all glaring in the direction the shot came from—ready to tear into any enemy Silas pointed out.
Looking over, Silas saw Kaiser glaring angrily, both his Thunder Brothers already leveled right at Silas. Silas could only force a bitter smile. "Uncle Kaiser, I think there's been a misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding?" Kaiser scoffed, cold and hard. "How is this a misunderstanding? I've spent every day hunting poachers, and I can't believe I let my guard down for you. I thought you were a decent kid—but it turns out you were after Dragonair and her baby all along! I'm warning you: put Dratini down right now, or you'll regret it!"
Facing Kaiser's threat, Silas managed a wry laugh. "What if I said Dratini's the one who refuses to leave me? Would you buy that?"
"You take me for an idiot?" Kaiser shot back icily.
Silas just gave another helpless smile. Even he wouldn't buy that story under normal circumstances—why would Kaiser believe him?
As Silas puzzled over how to handle this, Dragonite spoke in a bored, almost lazy voice: "Human, you're mistaken. Our trainer really isn't after this Dragonair and Dratini. If he wanted them, he wouldn't bother talking to you. Any one of us could take you out in a heartbeat. So kindly put down your gun, before we're forced to act."
The blunt threat left Kaiser totally stunned. He could only stammer, "Y-you… you have a talking Dragonite?!"
"Keeheeheehee~" While Kaiser was still gawking, an eerie giggle drifted from right behind him. Gastly had appeared out of nowhere, eyes glowing a sinister purple. "Human, drop the weapon. Or else… you're dead."
The icy threat made Kaiser's skin crawl, and he abandoned all thoughts of resistance—he could feel Gastly wasn't bluffing. He immediately dropped the Thunder Brothers on the grass.
Seeing Kaiser comply, Silas spoke up, "Gastly, stand down."
"But…" Gastly shot Silas a concerned look, clearly reluctant to leave, in case Kaiser tried something once unsupervised.
"Stand down," Silas said gently, a soft smile on his face. "Uncle Kaiser's only looking out for the Dragonair and Dratini. There's no more misunderstanding now, right, Uncle Kaiser?"
"Yeah," Kaiser nodded.
If Dragonite and Gastly could both talk, then Silas was obviously no regular Trainer. If he really wanted to catch Dragonair and Dratini, he'd have sent Gastly after him—there was no need for further talk.
"Hmph!" Gastly snorted, but faded back. Only a faint voice lingered by Kaiser's ear, so low only he could hear: "Human, don't even think about messing with our trainer. If he's hurt because of you—even a single hair—you're dead. Got it?"
The threat made Kaiser break out in a cold sweat—he knew Gastly wasn't joking; that thing was way too sharp and ruthless to sound like a normal Pokémon.
"Uncle Kaiser," Silas called gently, "why don't you come sit with us awhile?"
Kaiser hesitated, but for the Dragonair family's sake, forced himself to nod, "Alright."
After Kaiser walked over, Silas returned his Pokémon to their Master Balls, leaving only Dragonite by his side. After all, it'd be hard for Kaiser to relax and talk with those monsters out. He kept Dragonite out just in case Dragonair lashed out.
Once they were settled, Silas explained, "Uncle, here's what happened…"
As Silas recounted the incident, Kaiser's expression turned gradually ashamed. When he heard how Dragonair kept Dratini locked up, his regret grew even deeper. With a bitter smile, he finally said, "Sorry, I really lost it. I shouldn't have gone in guns blazing before getting the facts. I hope you can forgive me!"
"It's fine!" Silas waved it off, stroking the still-shivering Dratini that had dived into his arms at the gunshot, smiling. "You only did it because you care about these two! There aren't many like you anymore—nothing to be mad about."
Kaiser just sighed, his gaze full of guilt as he looked at Dratini. "What good is caring? I can't even protect this mother and child. Keeping Dratini cooped up like this... I'm just useless."
Seeing Kaiser's self-blame, then looking down at Dratini, Silas hesitated—but in the end, he suggested, "Why don't you bring Dragonair and Dratini to Pallet Town? My Grandpa is Professor Oak. If the two of them lived at his place, no poacher would dare get close, and Dratini could finally be a regular kid. You could help my Grandpa manage the Pokémon there—it'd be a good life."
"Professor Oak?!" Kaiser's eyes lit up, nearly breathless. "You mean the Professor Oak?!"
"Yep." Silas nodded, a little hesitant. "I just think Dratini deserves a real childhood—and while this place isn't safe anymore, nobody could touch you in Professor Oak's backyard. If you're willing—"
"Absolutely!"
Before Silas could finish, Kaiser blurted out, face shining with hope, "Count me in!"
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