Although having strength close to that of an advanced Pokémon wasn't considered particularly powerful, when it came to a Bug-type Pokémon like Mothim, that level of strength could already be considered extremely impressive—after all, their species were inherently weak by nature.
Up in the sky, after forcing Luxio back, Mothim rapidly flapped its wings and soared upward into the air.
As its figure ascended, it suddenly began to blur, and in the end, it completely disappeared into the sky!
Clearly, Mothim had used the move Camouflage, blending its form with the color of the sky, achieving a pseudo-invisibility effect!
However, such a technique clearly had no effect on Luxio. Using electrical waves to sense Mothim's position, Luxio began gathering electricity at the tip of its tail. The current quickly formed into a ball of electricity!
The electro ball spun rapidly, and with a swift flick of its tail, Luxio hurled it with tremendous speed toward the area where Mothim had vanished!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
Once again, a tornado formed in the air to intercept the attack.
But this time, powered by Luxio's incredible speed, the electro ball's energy clearly surpassed even that of a Thunderbolt!
As it crashed into the tornado, the two forces immediately began clashing, colliding over and over with increasing intensity.
Finally, with a deafening explosion, both the electro ball and the tornado burst apart, unleashing a terrifying energy storm that spread in all directions!
Smoke and dust from the explosion filled the space between Luxio and Mothim, completely obstructing both Pokémon's line of sight.
In the air, Mothim's figure gradually became visible again. After a quick glance at the smoke-filled chaos below, it began rapidly flapping its wings, attempting to escape from this treacherous battlefield!
Sigh… This world is just too dangerous, Mothim thought. I really need to find a safer place to hide and stay out of trouble!
Zzzzzt—!
But just as Mothim began to flap its wings to escape, a bolt of electricity suddenly shot out from the thick smoke!
The attack came so suddenly—but incredibly, Mothim actually reacted in time. With a flap of its wings, it twisted its body midair and narrowly dodged the incoming strike.
It was evident that even while trying to flee, Mothim had remained hyper-alert the entire time. Such an extraordinary level of vigilance was rare among Pokémon.
Perhaps it was precisely this extreme caution and survival instinct that had forced Mothim to master the move Camouflage, carefully hiding itself in the forest to avoid threats.
"Meowwwrrr!"
Luxio growled in frustration. How did that not hit?
Panting heavily, Luxio found the opponent in front of it unbelievably troublesome!
"Meooow~!"
As Luxio tried to catch its breath, Mothim once again prepared to flee.
Clearly, in a head-on battle, Mothim was not necessarily weaker than Luxio—in fact, it might even have had a slight upper hand.
But now, Mothim just wanted to run, showing not the slightest shred of resolve that a powerful Pokémon should have!
"Luxio, go after it with everything you've got!"
Upon hearing its trainer's command, Luxio gave a determined nod. With a powerful stomp of its paw, it burst forward like a bullet.
Against a Pokémon that only had one goal—to run—relying on speed to chase it down was the most effective tactic, and when it came to speed, Luxio had absolute confidence!
Whoosh—
Seeing Luxio rushing toward it, Mothim quickly unleashed a Silver Wind to buy time for its escape!
But this time, facing Mothim's attack, Luxio didn't even attempt to dodge. Wrapped in crackling electricity, it charged straight into the attack.
Boom!
Luxio crashed directly into the heart of the Silver Wind.
Countless shimmering silver scales swirled within the wind, pelting Luxio's electric-coated body continuously.
Seeing this, Luxio once again accelerated, its form flashing as it broke through the Silver Wind, emerging below Mothim!
Pouring all its electricity into its hind legs, Luxio shot upward like a rocket, slamming directly into Mothim, which had no time to fully evade!
A surge of terrifying electricity exploded on contact, electrocuting Mothim with devastating force. As a Flying-type Pokémon weak to Electric moves, Mothim's wings lost all strength, and its body fell from the sky like a broken kite!
"Meowww!"
Luxio landed on the ground at the same time, panting heavily as it stared at the distant, fallen Mothim.
Judging by its own assessment, Mothim, whose strength was similar to its own, shouldn't have been taken down so easily!
But when Luxio noticed that Mothim's eyes were tightly shut, it was taken aback. Was its defense really that weak?
"Battle over!"
Watching all this unfold, Aven wasn't particularly surprised.
When it came to stamina and endurance, Bug-type Pokémon would forever be burdened with that inherent weakness.
And on top of that, with Flying-types being countered by Electric-types, Mothim had been decisively and unsurprisingly one-shot by Luxio's burst attack!
"Alright… now comes the next step."
Taking a deep breath with his eyes closed, Aven reached into his bag and pulled out the Poké Ball crafted from White Apricorn.
Holding the ball in his hand, he gently pressed the activation switch. Instantly, the Poké Ball expanded slightly—the internal capsule structure unfolding.
In this state, the Poké Ball had entered its open phase, creating a special space capable of containing a Pokémon.
With practiced movements, Aven tossed the Poké Ball toward the unconscious Mothim lying on the ground.
As soon as the Poké Ball made contact with Mothim's body, its figure was suddenly transformed into a red beam of light and absorbed into the ball!
Once the red light had been completely pulled in, the Poké Ball quickly sealed shut and dropped back to the ground, beginning to tremble incessantly.
Throughout the process, the button on the Poké Ball continued flashing red—signaling that Mothim was still resisting inside, trying to break free from the net-like containment mechanism.
But Mothim was already seriously injured and unconscious. Although it regained a sliver of awareness when it was converted into red light and pulled into the Poké Ball, it was nowhere near strong enough to break free!
Clink—!
With a final metallic click, the flashing red light disappeared entirely.
The Poké Ball stopped shaking—indicating that Mothim had given up resistance and had been successfully captured!
"Success! Mothim has been caught!"
Aven's face lit up with excitement. The experiment had gone smoothly—the Poké Ball truly possessed the capability to capture Pokémon!
Of course, the test wasn't over yet. Next, he had to test the release and recall functions of the Poké Ball.
"Mothim, come out!"
Pressing the button again, the Poké Ball opened swiftly, releasing its captured Pokémon.
A white light flowed from the Poké Ball, gathering on the ground and quickly reforming into Mothim. Though still badly injured, it was now awake.
"Now, for the recall."
Aven pressed the button once more, and a red beam shot from the Poké Ball.
As the beam touched Mothim, its body once again turned into red light and was quickly absorbed back into the Poké Ball.
Then, once more, Mothim was released—its figure reappearing in the white light. Its eyes were now filled with confusion, as it had no idea what had just happened.
"It worked—it completely worked!"
After successfully testing both the release and recall functions of the Poké Ball, Aven finally breathed a sigh of relief.
This Poké Ball, crafted from the White Apricorn, had clearly succeeded. It possessed all the functionalities of the Poké Balls from the future world!
"Moth—"
Mothim glanced around and quickly spotted Luxio off to the side.
Then it saw Petilil, Ralts, and Rhydon emerging from the forest—its entire body suddenly shivered.
Finally, its gaze landed on Aven, and it began trembling even more violently.
"Mothim, don't be afraid. I won't hurt you."
Seeing Mothim shaking uncontrollably, Aven felt a little guilty and hurriedly took out a healing potion for it.
However, Mothim didn't immediately drink the potion. Instead, it kept scanning its surroundings, clearly still on high alert despite Aven's reassurances.
"Once you drink this, you'll start recovering right away."
Hearing the human speak, Mothim glanced again at the surrounding Pokémon and, with some hesitation, reluctantly drank the potion.
Immediately, its eyes lit up—it could feel the potion taking effect and accelerating its recovery.
"Just a little more recovery, and you'll be back to normal."
"Now then… I believe it's time we have a proper talk."
"According to the rules of the Pokémon world, the moment you stop resisting the Poké Ball, you become my Pokémon."
"Of course, those are the rules set by humans and Pokémon in the future world. Right now, I want to give you a choice."
"If you don't wish to follow me, I can let you go. But if you choose to stay, we'll be partners from now on."
"As your partner, I'll protect you, care for you, feed you, and help you become stronger—so you'll be better able to protect yourself and your friends."
Aven sincerely explained to the trembling Mothim. Even though he had technically already captured it, he still wanted to respect Mothim's own will.
This was true even in the future world. Just because you caught a Pokémon didn't mean it would obey—Pokémon could resist commands or even try to break free from the Poké Ball entirely once they regained enough strength.
Some powerful Pokémon, after recovering, could force their way out of Poké Balls and return to being wild Pokémon.
That's why respecting a Pokémon's will was always important. Fortunately, in the future world, most Pokémon didn't object to being caught.
Being with a Trainer meant becoming stronger and living a better life—this had already become a shared understanding among Pokémon, and many willingly traveled with Trainers!
"Moth…"
Mothim still hadn't fully processed what was happening.
But before it could think further, it suddenly caught a whiff of food.
After taking a bite of the Pokémon food, it suddenly felt like thinking wasn't so important anymore—the food was just too delicious!
"I have plenty more of this food. As long as you follow me, you can eat as much as you want."
"You've seen the strength of my team, too. You don't have to worry about safety—we'll protect you."
Aven continued persuading Mothim. Since they had only just met, it was unrealistic to expect Mothim to trust him immediately. That's where temptation came into play.
And for Pokémon, the temptation of food was overwhelmingly powerful. Few could resist it.
For a Pokémon Breeder, the most efficient way to tame a Pokémon quickly was—without a doubt—to win over its stomach!
"Moth…"
Mothim, chewing on a berry, looked around cautiously.
It was actually more aware than Aven imagined. It knew it had already been captured.
And if it wanted to survive, playing obedient for now was the best option. As for escaping—it could always find a chance later to slip away quietly.
Soon enough, the cautious Mothim made its decision. It gave Aven a small nod, indicating its willingness to follow him.
"Then, from now on, let's take care of each other."
A smile finally bloomed across Aven's face. Though he had claimed he didn't care, deep down, he obviously did.
After all, this was his very first successful Pokémon capture in this world. Naturally, he wanted it to go perfectly and flawlessly.
If Mothim had rejected him, then this Poké Ball would've been considered wasted.
Although Poké Balls could be reused for capturing, once a Poké Ball had successfully caught a Pokémon, a connection would be established.
After that, the ball couldn't be used to catch other Pokémon—and that Pokémon couldn't be captured by another ball. The two were permanently bound!
In fact, in the future world, even Poké Balls and Trainers would be linked via special devices—so that no other Trainer could use another's Poké Ball!
(End of Chapter)
TN: The first test sub- ehem..., I mean the first captured Pokemon.