Chapter 11

"Dry Runs"

Drake Yuji sat in his home with Agents Neven and Wolfe with a confession that he had close encounter with several of the 9/11 hijackers. He had identified one of them as a hijacker that took part in the hijacking of American Flight 77 on 9/11. But he knew that there were others and the Supreme Orange Islands Gym Leader was determined to rat them out.

"Here is another one, Mr. Yuji," said Agent Wolfe, showing the picture of another hijacker also with dark hair but without a mustache. "Does he look familiar to you?"

Drake of course didn't care about his reputation as a Pokemon trainer and gym leader. As far as he was concerned, he wanted to clear the air.

"Yes," he said. "I think his name is Fayez or something like that. I know because I remember his name being mentioned in conversation."

"Well, he was another hijacker," replied Agent Neven. "Used in the hijacking of United Flight 175."

Now it was becoming clear to all of us that what Drake had experienced was a dry run for the September 11th attacks.

"Did you see or hear of them having Pokemon in reserve?"

"In what way?"

"Were they planning to use any Pokemon during the flight?"

"No, I didn't hear about that," confessed Drake, rising to his feet. "As far as I'm concerned, Pokemon are living creatures like you and me. They are to be protected while also allowed to grow and learn."

Drake then grabbed the Pokeball around his neck and showed it to Agents Neven and Wolfe. Inside that Pokeball was his best Pokemon.

"This is my Dragonite," he said to them. "He is my strongest Pokemon and a Pokemon that I trained in self-defense."

"How?"

"A couple of months ago, I was battling a trainer named Ash Ketchum when two Team Rocket agents and their talking Meowth tried to capture Dragonite. Of course, Dragonite took the lessons I taught him in self defense and sent them away. I taught all my Pokemon the importance of self-defense, not just Dragonite."

From Drake's perspective, he was more than just a trainer…he was a class act to both humans and Pokemon alike and would lay his life on the line to protect them.

"In fact, I was supposed to have a match with a trainer two days ago, but it was cancelled because of the attacks in New York and Washington."

Just then, Drake sat back down and sighed deeply, seemingly being affected in some way.

"Of course, I learned the next day that a relative of my opponents was on one of the planes," he confessed. "He was returning from the United States."

"We're sorry to hear that, Drake," sighed Agent Wolfe. "Was the opponent related to Toshiya Kuge?"

"How did you know that?" Drake asked, taken aback by the question.

"We notified his next of kin in Tokyo of what had happened," said Agent Neven. "Toshiya was on Flight 93, the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. His family said he had Pokemon on the plane."

"As for if and when any were used in the revolt," added Agent Wolfe, looking over to his partner and sighing. "That remains to be seen."

"Revolt?" Drake asked again. "What revolt? Did something happen on the plane?"

For the first time, the Pokemon world was learning about the bravery of the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93.

"Supposedly the passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers," answered Agent Neven. "There had been an order to shoot down any planes still left in the air but when we learned Flight 93 went down…the vice president said that an act of heroism took place."

At that moment, Drake wasn't thinking of having the next event in his stadium be a Pokemon battle. Instead, he was going to honor the next of kin of someone he was going to battle against.

"Then Toshika was a hero," he remarked. "Can you find anything related to this?"

"They are recovering the black box now in Pennsylvania where the plane crashed," said Agent Neven as both he and Agent Wolfe rose to their feet. "If there were any Pokemon used, then they would be heard on the black box or the Cockpit Voice Recorder."

"We'll keep you posted if anything is found, Mr. Yuji," added Agent Wolfe as he and Neven shook Duke's hand. "Have a nice day."

"Thank you, guys," Drake said as he watched the two agents leave. Now left alone, Drake went outside and touched the Pokeball around his neck, releasing his strongest Pokemon. "Dragonite, the next time we step into the stadium won't be to battle…it will be to honor."

And Dragonite nodded to his trainer in reply that he would go with whatever Duke said. Of course, more of what happened on Flight 93 would come in due course.

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