Chapter 10

"Extra Security in the Pokemon World"

If there was one thing that the September 11th attacks had done was that it brought to our attention that Pokemon and humans were just as much as soft targets as the buildings and landmarks that were attacked. Although Blaine was hesitant about adding extra security to Cinnabar Island, the Pokemon gym leader was now starting to slowly think of the possibilities more than the consequences.

"All this has happened before," Blaine sighed as he filled a water tank in the Pokemon Center's recreation area. "In fact, my brother used to be a firefighter for the NYPD. He's retired now, but it makes me wonder. Agent Mitchell, the attack on this Pokemon Center, are you really sure that something like this can happen again?"

"Blaine," I remarked as an Electabuzz walked in to use the weights. "Team Rocket has been at war with us for almost 60 years. They will use Pokemon as weapons to kill by any means necessary."

"Yeah," said Blaine, reaching for a Pokeball and his Rhydon came out to join Electabuzz. "You know something else about my brother? He was one of the first responders to the '93 World Trade Center bombing. He found the dead body of a pregnant woman in the garage. Ever since then, I had a hunch that something needs to be done to protect anyone who comes into our region, human or Pokemon."

Then the topic came to security measures.

"What exactly are you proposing?" Blaine asked. "Keep in mind also that whatever you say to me will need to be shared with all the other gym leaders in this region."

Without any hesitation, I gave my recommendation.

"For one thing," I suggested. "Bag searches, metal detectors, preventive measures to ensure that any Team Rocket agents posing as trainers are stopped dead in their tracks. Will it delay people getting onto the island? Yes, but the FBI would much rather have impatient people than dead people."

At that moment, Blaine took another Pokeball and released his strongest Pokemon, Magmar, joining Rhydon and Electabuzz in their exercising routine. He could well remember the first time Team Rocket came to Cinnabar Island and how they tried to steal Magmar.

"How much money do you make on tourism and Indigo Pokemon League qualifiers?"

"Probably around $5 million a year. We also charge taxes as well for upkeep."

"Then there is a favor I want to ask of you," I said, taking out a check signed for $1 million that was put towards the proposed security screening checkpoint at Cinnabar Island's entry. "If you are willing to put up another $1 million to this check, we can get these machines installed by the end of the month."

I saw Blaine think about this for a while. But being a gym leader, he was responsible for the overall health and safety of Pokemon Trainers, their Pokemon and tourists that come to visit for their vacations. But he also had a brother as a firefighter in New York who could have been among the dead at the World Trade Center had he not retired.

"When do you need it by?" he asked.

"Thank you, Blaine."

Well, that was easy and Blaine was the first of many gym leaders taking the next steps towards protecting the Pokemon regions.

…

Meanwhile, in the Orange Islands, another team of FBI agents were sitting outside of a house on Pummelo Island. Walking up to the front door, they knocked on the door and a man in his late 30's, wearing a Pokeball around his neck, answered it. Rather than being surprised, he seemed to have been expecting them.

"Drake Yuji?" one of them asked.

"Agent Neven?" he asked, as the two agents showed off their badges to him. "Agent Wolfe?"

With their identities confirmed, Drake led them inside his house.

"Come on in, I've been expecting you."

"You wanted to report something about the hijackers?"

Little did anyone know that Drake was the supreme gym leader of the Orange Islands. Sure he had his victories, but he also knew his human instincts. The trophies he had held in his home were nothing of great importance for this visitation.

"First of all," he said as they sat down in his living room. "Thank you for coming on such short notice."

"It's our pleasure, Mr. Yuji," replied Agent Neven. "Now, according to our last conversation, you claimed to have encountered some of the hijackers, did you not?"

"Yes," Drake answered. "In addition to being the supreme gym leader, I'm also a motivational speaker and I was returning home from speaking to high schools outside of Boston and during my first flight, I noticed something strange going on in first class. These four men were speaking in a strange language and part of me felt like they were going to do something."

"What airline were you flying?"

"I was flying United Airlines to Tokyo via San Francisco from Boston. It was on August 11th of this year."

"What was their behaviors like?"

"They seemed to be just looking around the cabin, just eyeballing the flight attendants, the movements they were making. They were also looking at the cockpit door, trying to see if it was locked or not. This went on for about 20 minutes after we left Boston."

"Did you notify someone?"

"I did," Drake answered. "I reached out to a flight attendant and asked the flight attendant if I could speak to one of the pilots. The first officer came out and I explained to them that these guys in first class are being suspicious. Nothing was done against the men which was smart considering that I didn't want to cause any unnecessary panic. When I landed in San Francisco, I saw the men again and it looked like they had a connecting flight to catch. One of them looked at me as if to say to mind my own business."

Reaching into his suit pocket, Agent Neven handed Drake a picture of one of the hijackers with a mustache and black hair.

"Is this the man?"

Drake looked at the picture and studied it carefully. Handing it back, he gave us his answer.

"Yes," he answered. "This is one of the men."

Drake felt a pit in his stomach as he handed the picture back to Agent Neven.

"Is he one of the hijackers?" asked Drake.

"Yes, we believe he was on one of the planes. Supposedly on American Flight 77, the plane crashed into the Pentagon."

Disgusted, Drake briefly looked away in disbelief knowing that looking back, he could have stopped some of the hijackers that day. He had Pokemon capable of stopping an attempted hijacking and he didn't use them out of respect for fearing other passengers and crew on his flight.

"If you have any other identification of those guys on my plane, please give them to me now."

…

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