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It had been the better part of two weeks, and Mari still hadn't caught the Natu that had made a buffet of her berry garden.
She wasn't unfamiliar with the Pokémon, having seen the Natu perched atop the nearby ruins the few times she traveled near them, but one wandering freely into the city seemed unusual. She had sympathy for it, hoping it uninjured, but it irritated her to no end that it was the most skittish Pokémon in the world.
This Natu wasn't a stealthy creature. No, she first saw it when it was picking at a woody stem. The berry bush itself was small and domestic, and nearly as round as the Natu. Mari had thought, briefly, that somehow another one had grown overnight. But when she leaned over her window to look, she caught an intense, unwavering gaze that kept her in her steps. Mari imagined that it was almost gleeful in its thievery.
The second she moved her arm to shoo it away, though, it was gone. But it always came back, hopping up for another snack. Mari couldn't fault it - she took good care of her berries - but it simply wasn't fearful enough to stay away. She was resigned to perpetually shooing it away though.
But today was different. She had a plan that involved nothing more complicated than walking out her front door and around the side of her small home, Poké Ball in hand and her steps light.
It didn't notice her immediately, small beak tearing at something, but eventually it heard her walk up. The Natu froze when it saw her, and Mari mirrored it. The second she moved, it would dart off. But she was prepared.
The Natu began hopping away when her hand raised, and Mari wasted no time in throwing her Poke Ball towards it. When it connected, there were a few brief shakes before it stilled. Jogging to pick it up, Mari made her way back inside, door closed and locked. She had already made sure to pick up a handful of shoots and bits of the berries she harvested and place them on her countertop.
She let the Poke Ball fall open, letting the Natu out beside its feast. Mari gave it a bemused look, but it didn't jump away in panic when she gestured at the covered countertop.
"We could have skipped the part where you terrorized my garden, you know," she said. Tentatively, she reached over to pat the top of Natu's head. It didn't run, staring intensely at her. The feathers were soft. "And you'll probably like these more, anyways."
She took the tiny hops before it settled in to eat to be those of joy.