As one of Unova's Psychic-type Elite Four, Caitlin had plenty to be proud of. She was powerful, extremely wealthy, a highly popular Pokémon Trainer, and on top of that, possessed psychic abilities that were practically a cheat code.
With so many advantages stacked in her favor, it wasn't hard to understand why she was so aloof.
Still, seeing it in person was a little surprising.
When they got off the Pokémon League ferry, Caitlin spent most of her time yawning, her eyes half-lidded as though she could fall asleep at any moment.
Cynthia was clearly used to it. She went over and chatted with her for a while, laughing and talking until Caitlin finally woke up enough for Cynthia to properly introduce her to Luther.
Caitlin quietly sized Luther up, while Luther curiously observed her in return.
Just as Cynthia had said, Caitlin looked very approachable whenever she appeared on television. But in private, she gave off a definite "keep your distance" vibe. There was an obvious sense of detachment in her eyes.
Calling it arrogance didn't feel quite right.
She was more... distant.
Caitlin, meanwhile, was thinking about something completely different.
She owned villas all over the world and certainly wasn't short on money, so when Cynthia told her she planned to buy an island and invited Caitlin to chip in, she had agreed without hesitation.
Diantha, Lance, and Cynthia, three Champions, were all contributing money to help the man in front of her purchase this island. Bertha, Lucian, and Hakuya were Elite Four-level Trainers as well.
For Luther to convince so many people to help him at once made Caitlin curious.
What exactly had he promised each of them?
Or was there simply something special about Luther himself?
As for the island's future, Caitlin wasn't particularly optimistic.
These Champions and Elite Four members already owned plenty of villas, many of them in places with facilities far better than anything this undeveloped island currently had.
Caitlin herself was a perfect example. She had bought villas all over the world, but eventually reached a point where she simply handed the keys over to local friends for safekeeping.
She might not even visit some of them once a year.
So how many people would really abandon the villas they already owned to come here regularly?
Still, Cynthia was willing to put in ten million and had personally invited her.
That alone made Caitlin willing to toss in three million just to see what would happen.
Luther carried Caitlin around the island on Altaria, spending a good while showing her the various scenic spots.
He kept explaining and introducing everything, but Caitlin's expression remained fairly indifferent. She occasionally smiled, though most of those smiles were aimed at Cynthia.
The smiles she gave Luther were purely polite.
Cynthia glanced at Luther, made a small apologetic gesture, and smiled helplessly.
Luther didn't care in the slightest.
She had invested three million. As far as he was concerned, that made her an honored guest.
Besides, Caitlin didn't know him and had no reason to care about him. She had only come because of Cynthia.
They had met less than a day ago. There was no chance they were suddenly going to become close friends.
Luther understood that perfectly well, so he simply continued doing his job as a tour guide.
Caitlin chose her location quickly.
She gave another lazy yawn and said, "Wherever Cynthia chooses to live, I'll stay next door. Just pick a spot based on that."
It was obvious she no longer needed Luther around.
Taking the hint, Luther quietly excused himself and decided to head over to the area Bertha had chosen to see what Pokémon were active nearby.
After Luther left, Cynthia leaned against Garchomp and asked helplessly, "You don't seem to like Luther very much?"
Caitlin, already looking sleepy again, yawned.
"Not really."
"Since we started looking around the island, you've barely said more than two sentences to him."
"Most of your replies were basically 'Mm,' 'Yeah,' 'Oh,' or 'Okay.' He obviously noticed. He just chose not to say anything."
"What else am I supposed to say?" Caitlin replied. "I don't own a villa in this kind of environment yet, sure, but the outcome will still be the same. I'll buy it, leave it sitting here, and eventually the place will be covered in weeds."
She tilted her head slightly.
"I can't exactly pretend I'm fascinated and tell him I plan to move here permanently."
That was fair.
Someone like Caitlin owned villas all across the world. An undeveloped island with almost nothing built on it simply wasn't enough to excite her.
"It's rare for me to come all the way to Sinnoh," Caitlin continued. "I've seen the island now, so you should take me somewhere interesting. Otherwise I'm seriously going to fall asleep from boredom."
Since Caitlin had already gone through the trouble of coming here, she had no intention of returning to Unova anytime soon.
The Unova League was still in its off-season anyway, so she had nothing urgent to do.
Cynthia left with Caitlin, while Luther continued working.
The area Bertha liked was located inside the forest, where most of the active Pokémon were Grass- and Bug-types.
The social structure here was somewhat different from forests on the mainland, where Pokémon of the same species often gathered together and occupied their own territories.
Perhaps because many of the Pokémon on the island had ended up here for all sorts of different reasons, the groups here weren't divided by species.
Instead, they seemed to gather around strength and mutual recognition.
There was already one such group near the Pokémon Center, protected by a Tangrowth.
The group didn't just contain Tangela. It also included Pokémon such as Caterpie, Wurmple, and Cherubi.
According to Nurse Joy's observation records, Tangrowth and the Pokémon under his protection searched for food together and shared what they found.
Tangrowth received a larger portion, naturally.
After all, he was the one responsible for fighting off rival groups.
Since they were exploring a forest, Luther brought Jumpluff along.
He was a little worried that if Jumpluff ran into the dominant Pokémon of this area, she might start running her mouth again...
But as long as she didn't actually start a fight, it should just be her usual tsundere attitude.
They walked for quite a while, yet Luther didn't see a single Pokémon.
Jumpluff marched at the front, carefully searching for signs of Pokémon activity, but found nothing.
"Are there really no Pokémon living around here?"
Luther scratched his head.
Beside him, Espurr copied the motion and tried to scratch its own head too, only for its arms to prove too short.
In the end, it could only pat its head instead.
Espurr extended its psychic senses like radar and searched the surrounding area.
As they ventured deeper into the forest, it finally detected something.
Luther pushed aside a patch of grass almost as tall as a person and followed Espurr and Jumpluff's directions.
Not far away, beside a winding stream, several Cherubi, Budew, and Petilil were gathered around a pile of Berries.
A large ball of "cotton" appeared to be leading them as they divided up the food.
There were around eleven or twelve Pokémon in total.
That was probably close to the maximum number a leader Pokémon could realistically care for within such a small territory.
So this was most likely the local Pokémon group.
Luther stared at the ball of cotton, which had its back turned to him and occasionally gave a little shake.
It was roughly as tall as his Pupitar.
He couldn't immediately tell what Pokémon it was.
He pulled out his Pokédex and scanned it.
A small, adorable figure appeared on the screen.
"Whimsicott, the Windveiled Pokémon. It can pass through even the smallest gaps like the wind, leaving only white tufts of cotton behind."
So it was a Whimsicott.
The infamous prankster cotton puff.
But...
The cotton on the Whimsicott shown in the Pokédex was pale yellow.
The one in front of Luther was pure white.
Whimsicott smiled as it handed a Berry to Petilil.
Then it turned around.
The instant Luther saw it clearly, his eyes widened, and he instinctively took a step forward.
It was a Shiny Whimsicott!
(End of Chapter)
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