Damian seriously considered the possibility, but in the end, he still felt the problem lay with this Rainbow Wing.
"Fini～"
Tapu Fini floated back hugging a small bundle of Rainbow Wings, proudly handing them to Damian, her big eyes sparkling.
"Nice work. I'll reward you with a bag of little cakes today."
Damian took the feathers and gave Tapu Fini a thumbs‑up.
"Fini～!" Tapu Fini instantly beamed with joy.
Damian looked over the feathers, satisfied.
At a glance, there were a little over a dozen.
Some were damaged and not that pretty anymore, but that didn't really matter.
"Mr. Damian, what are you collecting all these feathers for?"
Erika asked curiously.
She thought they were quite pretty, sure—but that was about it.
Some were even incomplete.
Even if Ho-Oh's feathers had some commemorative value, at the end of the day they were still just… feathers.
"You don't get it. These are Ho-Oh's feathers."
Damian grinned, lifting one of the more intact Rainbow Wings, admiring the faint rainbow sheen along the vane.
"In terms of actual value and symbolic value, they're priceless."
What did a Rainbow Wing represent?
From a "normal" point of view, a Rainbow Wing was a treasure only humans approved by Ho-Oh could possess.
It represented the status of a reserve Rainbow Hero.
According to myths and legends, if you place the Rainbow Wing on the Rainbow Rock at the rainbow's end, the legendary Ho-Oh will descend!
Of course, that part wasn't much use to Damian.
The difficulty of being acknowledged by Ho-Oh was way too high for him.
After all, Damian's personality really didn't match Ho-Oh's "ideal taste in people."
"Ho-Oh is a mythical Pokémon in Kanto's legends.
In the Kanto Region, Ho-Oh is sacred to a lot of people.
Over in Johto's Ecruteak City, there are still plenty of Ho-Oh believers even now."
Damian spoke slowly.
"So if I take this Rainbow Wing and sell it to them—or wave it around and claim I'm the human chosen by Ho-Oh…
How do you think they'd react?"
Damian smiled, downright arrogant.
Yeah, Ho-Oh's status in Kanto was sky‑high—
Especially in Johto's Ecruteak City.
As the city Ho-Oh once descended upon and dwelled in, Ecruteak still had many devout Ho-Oh followers.
Like the monks of Bell Tower.
And the famous Kimono Girls and their Eeveelutions—
Especially the Kimono Girls.
In truth, the Kimono Girls' background and identity were very special.
Anyone who'd played HeartGold/SoulSilver should know this.
The Kimono Girls were among the few in modern times who'd inherited an ancient legacy—
Kind of like Hoenn's Draconid people, who could pray at Sky Pillar to call down Rayquaza.
The Kimono Girls could perform their inherited ritual dance at specific places to summon Lugia and Ho-Oh!
Damian suspected the Kimono Girls' ancestors had been shrine maidens or attendants who served Ho-Oh and Lugia—
And that's how the legacy had been preserved.
But after the great fire a hundred and fifty years ago, Ho-Oh and Lugia had both left humans in disappointment.
Even with that inheritance, the Kimono Girls still needed a "trigger" to reconnect with Ho-Oh and Lugia.
"T‑that…"
Erika was stunned.
If true, devout followers of Ho-Oh saw Damian holding a Rainbow Wing—
What would they do?
They'd probably treat Mr. Damian as Ho-Oh's chosen agent, right?
But… that wasn't right!
"Isn't that basically scamming them?"
Erika felt this was a bit too cheap.
"I'm Team Rocket. Isn't this just standard procedure for me?"
Damian replied with perfect righteousness.
Erika: "…"
"And besides, there are plenty of rich people in this world.
With a Rainbow Wing like this, all we have to do is give it some artistic treatment—
Turn it into an exquisite craft piece, decorate it with Rainbow Wings… and boom, instant art.
Sell it to some loaded collector who has more money than sense, and we'll definitely get a great price."
Damian smiled as he toyed with the Rainbow Wing.
In his eyes, the Rainbow Wings had tons of uses.
Hmm…
He wondered how much he could get for a single Rainbow Wing art piece.
Eight figures at least, right?
Erika's eyes were already spinning.
"On top of that, since Ho-Oh can resurrect the dead, its feathers might also share that special property.
If we turn these Rainbow Wings into medicine, the effect might be insane."
Damian sounded absolutely sure.
Yeah—he was convinced Rainbow Wings could be used as medicinal ingredients.
In the games, a wild Ho-Oh always held a very powerful healing item—Sacred Ash.
Sacred Ash's effect: fully restores HP and PP of all party Pokémon, and cures all status conditions, including fainting.
Completely broken.
In other words, a must‑have god‑tier drug for any healing specialist.
Every wild Ho-Oh carried Sacred Ash—
Which meant Sacred Ash was a Ho-Oh product!
Sacred Ash, Sacred Ash.
As the name suggested, odds were it was made from Ho-Oh's feathers burned down to ash.
It couldn't be Ho-Oh's bird poop burned into ash, right?
Would Ho-Oh then just carry that around everywhere? That'd be disgusting.
So Damian genuinely believed Rainbow Wings absolutely could be used in medicine.
Even if they couldn't make "true" Sacred Ash, they could at least make a weaker "mini Sacred Ash" with still‑broken healing effects.
And even that would completely crush every healing item currently on the market.
"If we can really create a potion with insanely powerful restorative effects, we could build an entire new pharma corporation around it."
Caitlin's beautiful eyes gleamed.
"Yeah, but this batch of feathers probably isn't enough."
Damian glanced up at the sky.
The battle up there was finally approaching its end—
But more importantly…
He watched the feathers still raining down from above and called out to Tapu Fini.
"Fini, I'm gonna have to trouble you again. Go pick up the rest of those feathers."
Tapu Fini was very motivated.
To her, these were all little cakes in disguise!
Ten more minutes passed.
A black silhouette dropped from the sky and landed hard in front of the three—
Shadow Mewtwo.
This time, Shadow Mewtwo's body was marked with a number of burns, clearly from eating Ho-Oh's flames more than a few times.
Even so, the aura rolling off it right after battle was terrifying—
Even if, from its actual condition, it was clearly exhausted.
"Looks like you enjoyed yourself, Mewtwo."
Damian raised his hand, sending a stream of green motes drifting toward Shadow Mewtwo.
The power of Viridian flowed out, healing its injuries.
"Sorry, Damian. I'm still not its match right now."
Shadow Mewtwo's hoarse Telepathy echoed in Damian's mind, without a trace of stubborn denial.
It agreed with Damian's view.
It had only awakened not long ago, after all.
"That's only natural.
You're a brand‑new legend recognized by the world—but those guys have lived since ancient times.
Even a fraction of their lifespan dwarfs the time since you were born."
Damian smiled and patted Shadow Mewtwo on the shoulder.
"But I believe it won't take long for you to surpass it.
You are Mewtwo."
"Mm."
The deep purple flames in Shadow Mewtwo's eyes flickered as it nodded.
It could feel Damian's absolute trust in it.
That alone was enough.
Shadow Mewtwo also fully believed in itself.
It would never let Damian down.
Ho-Oh slowly flapped its wings and descended.
It wasn't exactly in great shape either—Mewtwo had landed plenty of hits during their fight.
But Ho-Oh's physical toughness and defenses were too exceptional, so its injuries were far lighter than Shadow Mewtwo's.
"Human, you can release Suicune and the others now, right?"
Ho-Oh's neutral Telepathy rang out.
It more or less understood now.
Damian had likely forced himself on its Legendary Beasts just so he could battle Ho-Oh and test Shadow Mewtwo's limits.
"I don't recall ever agreeing to that."
Damian raised a brow.
"Human, don't try my patience."
Ho-Oh's tone clearly grew heavier, threaded with anger.
Even if it disliked striking humans, that didn't mean it never would.
"I can give Raikou and Entei back to you.
But I want to keep Suicune."
"Impossible!"
Ho-Oh rejected him without a second of hesitation.
Little tongues of rainbow flame began to kindle around its wings as the crushing pressure descended again.
"Human, I've already told you—Suicune will never acknowledge you.
Even if you keep it, it will never truly fight for you."
Ho-Oh's voice was low.
Pokémon weren't humans' puppets on strings.
They were living, breathing, intelligent beings—
Especially legends like them.
They all had their own thoughts and will.
"So what you're saying is: righteous Suicune will never acknowledge someone with an impure mind like me."
"Of course."
"Is that really so?
Then why did you kidnap my little brother back then?"
Damian glanced sidelong at Ho-Oh, half amused, half mocking.
Silence.
The air went dead still.
Ho-Oh froze the instant Damian's words landed, staring at him in shock.
Caitlin and Erika, too, stared at Damian, stunned.
Ho-Oh… had kidnapped Damian's little brother?
"You—"
Ho-Oh finally came back to itself, its eyes growing complicated—ashamed, regretful, dim.
Ho-Oh didn't deny it?
What the hell.
It was true?
Erika was floored.
"That was my little brother.
He was five that year.
Ho-Oh, you haven't forgotten, have you?"
...
Ho-Oh had no response.
This truly was the one and only stain on its life.
Ten years ago, both it and Lugia had been caught by a human.
That human's power had been terrifying—
And because of that, Ho-Oh had agreed to become his Pokémon.
But everything that happened afterward had eventually driven Ho-Oh and Lugia to turn their backs on that human.
The sins they'd already committed, though, couldn't be undone.
That was exactly why Ho-Oh was even more convinced now that its ideology was correct.
Power wasn't everything.
Only purity of heart was what it awaited.
That was also why it wanted Suicune and the others back.
It truly believed Suicune and Damian simply weren't compatible—
That they could never become true partners.
"That really was my fault, even if it wasn't what I wanted."
After a long silence, Ho-Oh finally sighed.
Out of guilt, it had never even asked Damian what the child looked like.
Back then, both it and Lugia had been flying all over Kanto searching for gifted children.
For all it knew, Damian's brother might have been one Lugia had grabbed instead.
Not that that made much difference.
It was all still its and Lugia's sin.
"I can compensate you.
But human, even if you force Suicune to stay, the two of you will never be happy together."
Ho-Oh's attitude had clearly softened a lot.
"Can you bring Silver back?"
"I… can't."
Ho-Oh's reply was helpless.
It wanted to send back every child it had stolen all those years ago—
But how was it supposed to show its face there again?
"Three promises, Ho-Oh.
I need three promises from you.
Whenever I'm in real trouble, you must come help me."
Damian raised three fingers, speaking to Ho-Oh.
"I'll keep Suicune for now and work on bonding with it.
If things really are as you say and we're incompatible, I'll let it go.
But if we're a good match, you can't try to take it back."
"Three favors, hm? Fine.
But if any of them go against my ideology, I won't help you."
Suicune's matter, Ho-Oh could barely accept.
It hesitated over the three promises, but ultimately agreed—
It couldn't help it.
Its heart was guilty.
"Of course not."
Damian answered immediately.
Obviously he wasn't going to have Ho-Oh help him do anything evil.
Otherwise, not only would Ho-Oh refuse, it'd probably try to stop him.
Even so, with Ho-Oh as backup, a lot of things now had an extra safety net.
Since the terms were agreed, Damian wasn't about to go back on his word.
He took out Entei and Raikou's Poké Balls and hit Release.
Two flashes of white light—
Entei and Raikou appeared in front of them.
Both looked a little confused at first, but instantly felt Ho-Oh's presence.
They turned and bowed respectfully to it.
"Then Ho-Oh, when I need you, how do I contact you?"
Damian asked the key question.
A particularly bright feather drifted down from Ho-Oh's body, stopping in front of Damian.
"You can use this feather to contact me from anywhere in the world.
And I can find you through this feather's location."
Ho-Oh's Telepathy was calm.
"Pff～"
Damian clicked his tongue as he examined the stunning Rainbow Wing.
This one really was top‑tier.
In terms of color, luster, and completeness, it completely outclassed the "defective" ones in his hand.
"Oh, right—Ho-Oh, there's one small, personal request I'd like to make.
It doesn't count toward those three promises.
You're free to refuse."
"Speak."
Ho-Oh honestly had a good temper.
It was still willing to at least hear Damian out.
"When's your molting season?
Do you normally shed a lot?
Your feather quality doesn't look that great right now.
Why don't you just change out your entire coat of feathers, and give me everything you shed?"
"???"
Ho-Oh's eyelids twitched violently.
Its gaze toward Damian grew more and more dangerous.
~~~
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