Caitlin felt like her horizons had been blown wide open today.
It wasn't like the world had never seen Trainers with Legendary Pokémon. In the Hoenn Region, for example, there was Brandon—rumor had it he'd caught the legendary giant Regirock.
And in the Galar Region, there was the former former Champion, Mustard, the most famous legend-wielding Trainer of his era. With his partner Urshifu, he'd set a record of eighteen straight undefeated years that no one had managed to break since.
Those two were the most famous Trainers in the world known to have caught Legendary Pokémon. As for anyone else, Caitlin had never heard of them.
But today, she was about to witness the third.
Even if…
"Number forty-nine."
Caitlin silently watched Damian throw another Ultra Ball. This was the forty-ninth one.
Yeah. The previous forty-eight Ultra Balls had all been broken out of by Tapu Fini.
Caitlin knew catching a Legendary Pokémon wasn't easy, but she hadn't expected the Poké Ball phase to be this hard.
Sure, some particularly unruly wild Pokémon would break out a few times—that wasn't strange.
But three or four attempts at most. Tapu Fini was pushing fifty.
That was ridiculous.
Damian, though, didn't seem too surprised. Legendary Pokémon all had unusually strong wills, and their subconscious resistance was a lot heavier.
The Ultra Ball traced a clean arc through the air and struck Tapu Fini, drawing it in as a streak of red light.
Beep~
Beep~
The Ultra Ball hit the ground and slowly rocked twice.
Is it gonna hold?
Caitlin watched the Ultra Ball with a bit of nervous tension. Just one last shake to go.
Beep~
The ball shook a third time, the red light on the indicator still blinking.
Ding~!
With a final, crisp chime, the Ultra Ball went still.
It worked.
A smile bloomed on Caitlin's pretty face. She was genuinely happy for Damian—it had finally gone through.
"Not bad. Tapu Fini, caught."
Damian walked forward, picked up the Ultra Ball, and rolled it in his hand a couple of times, clearly satisfied.
"Gengar~"
Shiny Gengar drifted over, circling Damian and clapping happily for itself—thrilled to have another teammate.
"Congrats, Damian." Caitlin came up as well.
"Thanks. All right, come on out, Tapu Fini." Damian popped the Ultra Ball open.
White light hit the ground. Tapu Fini appeared sitting in its shell, looking utterly devastated, staring blankly at the dirt.
It had actually been caught by a human. Just like that. Uh…
"Don't look so down, Tapu Fini. You're not gonna have it bad with me."
Damian tried to comfort it.
"Fini?" Tapu Fini cut him a sideways glance and asked hopefully.
"Let you go? No way. That's not happening." Damian refused without a shred of hesitation.
He'd worked so hard to catch Tapu Fini. Let it go? Not a chance.
"Fini! Fini!!"
Tapu Fini's voice rose in agitation. Protecting Poni Island had always been its duty.
"Fini, seriously. What era do you think this is? How are you still this pure?" Damian tilted his head at the outburst.
With the power of Viridian, he could clearly understand what Tapu Fini was trying to say.
"Fini?" Tapu Fini stared at him. It was pretty sure he'd just insulted it.
"No one's truly inseparable from anyone else. You, Poni Island—are you really each other's only lifeline, like you're hardbound together forever?"
Damian posed the question to Tapu Fini.
"…" Tapu Fini froze.
"In reality, that's just not how it works. You think Poni Island can't survive without you? At least give it a chance. Maybe without you, they'll actually end up living better."
He coaxed it along patiently.
"Fini… Fini…"
Tapu Fini went quiet for a moment, then let out two soft, unwilling cries.
"Relax, Fini. It's not like you don't have a future." Damian's smile turned gentle.
"You might've 'lost' Poni Island, but you still have me. You can just treat me as your new 'Poni Island.'"
He said it with complete righteousness.
Caitlin blinked, then gave him a strange look.
Maybe mention why Tapu Fini "lost" Poni Island in the first place?
Tapu Fini's eyes went wide. It stared at Damian like he was speaking an alien language.
Was that supposed to be comforting? Who taught you to talk like this?
"Either way, you're my Pokémon now. From here on out, we'll work together, and I'll take you all the way to the top."
Damian smiled at Tapu Fini. As far as he was concerned, he'd been more than sincere.
"Fini…"
Tapu Fini answered helplessly. Even if it didn't agree, there was nothing it could do. This human clearly wasn't going to let it go.
Tapu Fini felt miserable. Why did it have to be this attractive? Damn it!
Being born beautiful could be a headache. It really was this good at drawing trouble.
"Very nice." Damian was thoroughly pleased.
"Starting today, we're teammates. I'll be counting on you, Tapu Fini."
"Fini~"
Tapu Fini sounded utterly lifeless. It had already been in rough shape, and now it'd been outright "kidnapped." It'd be weird if it had any energy left.
"Rest up for now. I'll get you treated in a bit."
Damian recalled Tapu Fini into the Poké Ball.
"Tapu Fini really doesn't seem very willing."
Caitlin's brows knit slightly. She couldn't help worrying whether she'd run into the same problem later when she went after Tapu Lele.
"It's been a guardian deity all this time. Getting caught out of nowhere and feeling a little lost is perfectly normal." Damian answered as if it were obvious.
"In cases like this, it's on us Trainers. Just take your time and win them over."
"And if they still won't cooperate?"
Caitlin asked, puzzled. It had never happened to her personally, but she'd definitely heard about it.
Some wild, untamed, or naturally prideful Pokémon wouldn't listen even after getting caught—some would even throw battles on purpose.
"Then you just have to use… slightly more special methods to make them cooperate first." Damian's tone stayed unhurried and relaxed.
Caitlin's curiosity perked up.
"Let's take my Tapu Fini as an example."
Side by side, Damian and Caitlin walked along the beach, leaving paired footprints in the sand.
"Caitlin, what do you think Tapu Fini cares about the most?"
Caitlin thought for a bit.
"Poni Island, right?"
"Exactly. For the Tapu, what they care about most is still the island they protect. They're land-god Pokémon, after all."
Damian nodded with a smile. All four Tapu were classified as land-god Pokémon in the Pokédex, without exception.
"So that makes things real simple. If Tapu Fini still refuses to cooperate later, all I have to do is say one line."
His lips slowly curled upward, thick malice surfacing.
"Tapu Fini, you don't want Poni Island sinking, do you?"
Tapu Fini: (°⌒°)
Understanding dawned on Caitlin's face. Yeah. She got it.