Was she seeing things?
Cynthia stared at the report, her eyes widening, unable to believe it.
Her close friend and fellow girl, the owner of the Battle Castle in the Battle Frontier, had somehow become an executive of the evil organization Team Rocket???
And she'd even injured Alola Region's Island Kahuna Hala.
How was that possible? It shouldn't be possible!
Emotions churned through Cynthia's chest. From their calls a while back, it was true that Caitlin had seemed… subtly different.
But Cynthia still couldn't accept that Caitlin would join Team Rocket.
No. There had to be some kind of misunderstanding.
Team Rocket was an evil organization—one even the Indigo League hadn't been able to completely wipe out.
Cynthia immediately pulled out her phone and called Caitlin. In fact, she'd been calling her every few days lately.
But for some reason, Caitlin never picked up.
This time was no different. The line played the same message: The number you've dialed is unavailable. Please try again later.
"Caitlin…"
Looking at the black-clad image of Caitlin on the monitor, Cynthia's expression grew more and more complicated. She remembered what Caitlin had said that day over the phone.
"The weak me of the past died today."
Cynthia understood. She'd always understood Caitlin's pride. But even if she wanted to change herself…
Joining Team Rocket wasn't the way.
Cynthia couldn't picture some future day where she and Caitlin stood on completely opposite sides of a battlefield.
And it wouldn't be some friendly Arena match. It would be a brutal clash between enemies.
That wasn't how it was supposed to be.
"Mr. Chairman, it's me. Yeah. I need to make a trip to Alola. It's something important."
Cynthia stood up without hesitation, striding out of the office with her usual decisiveness as she called the Sinnoh League chairman to give notice.
As Sinnoh's Elite Four Champion, Cynthia's status was no joke. Whenever she went to another Region, it was best to have her own chairman give the local League a heads-up.
Even if, technically, with the Alola League not yet established, the formalities weren't really necessary.
"Caitlin, I'm going to bring you back. I'm not just going to stand by and watch you fall."
...
Inside Damian's ocean-view villa—
"So you ran into Hala, huh? How was he? What'd you think of his strength?"
Damian asked Caitlin with great interest. She'd already changed into a pink-and-white long dress.
By the floor-to-ceiling windows, a certain island guardian deity floated in front of the deep blue sea, a straw in its mouth, sipping watermelon juice.
In its other hand was a slice of strawberry shortcake. It took a bite, closed its eyes in satisfaction, and polished it off in a few more mouthfuls.
Then the shell miss drifted toward the table.
But when she saw the empty bag lying there, her mind blanked for a second.
"Fini? Fini!!"
Tapu Fini let out a heartbroken cry, immediately floating over to Damian, tugging at his clothes and pointing frantically at the table, chattering away.
"Oh, the cake? I didn't put it away. Gengar probably finished it."
Damian blinked, then answered after a second's thought.
"Fini!!!"
Rage flared in the shell miss's chest. She knew it. It had to have been that damned evil gray fat guy.
She scanned the room, clearly trying to figure out which shadow the gray fat guy was hiding in.
"All right, all right. Don't get worked up over that glutton. Deep breaths, okay?" Damian said with a chuckle, ruffling the shell miss's soft hair.
"Fini…"
Tapu Fini let out a pitiful whimper, like a little animal that had just been abandoned.
Those were her little cakes. Hers.
"It's fine, it's fine. Here—you can go buy more yourself. Just remember, don't eat too much, got it?"
Damian pulled out a wad of cash and handed it to Tapu Fini, giving her a reminder.
For some reason, the shell miss seemed especially fond of juice and fruity little cakes.
"Fini Fini"
Tapu Fini instantly broke into a grin, expertly scooped up the cash, and floated happily toward the door. Open, slip out, close—one smooth motion.
Caitlin, meanwhile, watched Tapu Fini the whole time with a quietly creepy stare, right up until the guardian's figure vanished from sight.
If she remembered right, when Tapu Fini had first been caught, she'd looked like the sky was falling. It had only been a few days.
"Damian, you're not worried she'll run away?" Caitlin asked, puzzled.
Tapu Fini could absolutely make a break for it right now.
"She won't." Damian shook his head.
Would Tapu Fini run? Maybe she'd thought about it at the beginning. But ever since that one little line—"Tapu Fini, you don't want…"—she'd pretty much resigned herself.
And like the saying goes: if you can't fight it, learn to enjoy it.
Once you lean into the "screw it" mindset, there's no going back. And those soft, sweet little cakes were just too damn good.
Tapu Fini was gradually being molded into Damian's image.
Caitlin tilted her head, unable to help a flicker of admiration for Damian's "training" methods. Impressive.
"Senior Hala really is strong. I'd say he's even a bit stronger than Proton and Mr. Guzma."
Back to business, Caitlin shared her honest impression.
"But you still beat him. Caitlin, you're growing fast." Damian praised her with a smile.
She really was progressing at a remarkable pace—but that was due to her own effort, too. Once this noble lady made up her mind, her ability to act was terrifying.
"Thank you. But I've still got a lot of work to do."
A soft smile touched Caitlin's lips. Her clear, beautiful eyes rested on Damian, and even her voice had gentled.
She was pretty satisfied with her own growth lately. It was all thanks to Damian—without him, she'd probably still be lost.
"When we've got time next, I'll run some special training with you. Once you hit Champion-tier, you can go catch Tapu Lele too."
Damian thought for a moment, then said it outright.
"Mm~!!" Caitlin let out a soft, nasal hum—almost like she was acting spoiled. It was… kind of adorable.
"Since you beat Hala, Kukui's only going to be more cautious about us from here on out. Damian, are we still moving ahead with our plans?" Caitlin asked.
"Of course. If we're going to develop here in full, clashes with the locals are inevitable."
Damian tapped his fingers lightly on his thigh, completely at ease.
"To keep them from getting too full of themselves, we've got to make them taste a little pain. Once they understand what we can do…"
"They'll 'behave' themselves a bit more."
Proton had already reported that more and more suspicious people had been showing up around the entertainment complex lately, clearly staking the place out.
That kind of blatant surveillance could only have come from Hala and his people.
So brazen. It was like they didn't even put Team Rocket in their eyes. They definitely needed to get smacked around at least once.
"Okay." Caitlin agreed without needing a reason.
"But we'll give them a few days to prep. Otherwise, Hala probably won't even be able to get out of bed yet."
Damian thought about Hala's twisted back and couldn't help wanting to laugh.