Chapter 13: Coming full circle
We are finally about to reach the door to the Pokéball Factory! The paved pathway leading to it seemed to be as long as a battle between two Metapod. I thought we only had to walk a few meters until reaching the factory, but it actually took quite a good while! At least we all got entertained looking at the Pokéball statues and the small hedge mazes that appeared once we got closer to the factory itself.
When we enter the building, a big lobby greets us: the white walls are decorated with posters and paintings depicting the different kinds of Pokéballs, as well as a big diagram indicating the parts that make them up. A middle-aged man with a relaxed expression is sitting behind a desk as he looks through some papers, but now he notices us and gets up from his chair. The man, who I'm guessing is the receptionist, approaches us with a smile.
"How can I help you?"
"Is the factory open for tours today?" Giles asks politely.
"Definitely! Actually, I'm in charge of the factory tours. I will show you guys around the place!" The man makes a gesture with his hand, pointing to a door which has a sign next to it on which the word "Factory" can be read. The factory is definitely behind that door!
"Great! How much does the tour cost?" Giles gets his wallet ready, opening it with a swift movement.
"Oh no, don't worry about that! The tours are for free, we don't see the need to charge our visitors to see such a simple process." The guide explains as we head towards the factory's door.
"Although pokéballs are actually amazing devices despite of how common they are." Steven adds.
"That's right! It's incredible how these small spheres can store inside them a living being just like that." Our guide agrees as he finally opens the door to the factory, unleashing the buzzing sound of the machines involved in the manufacturing process.
As we enter, I find out that the factory itself is not as big as I imagined it to be. Now I understand why he said that it's a simple process! We can see a cart full to the brim with pokéballs that have just came out of the assembly line. The guide gestures us to follow him to the opposite side of the room, where said assembly line actually starts. A tired looking man is selecting a few materials before he puts them into the machine, which is relatively small compared to what I expected. Our guide starts explaining all about the course of action.
"This is the first step in the fabrication of a pokéball. As you can see, our worker has just put into this machine two of the key materials that make up a pokéball: the metal shell and the reflecting glass." The conductor points to the first machine, the one that is being used right now.
The man who takes care of the machine proceeds to put two metallic semi spheres on a conveyer belt. As we start walking again, the two metallic pieces go through a compartment from which a strong smell of paint can be felt and the sound of a spray can be heard clearly as well. Now the two semi spheres come out colored in their very characteristic colors. Next, a different worker flips the two halves so now the hollow part is facing up. We can see that the reflecting glass the monitor mentioned is now attached to the inside of the spheres.
"If the two first things were important already, the most important part comes now! Right now, this little machine here," the guide says pointing towards a mechanism hanging from a crane "will attach to the inside of the top part of the pokéball the energy source that keeps the pokémon inside the device but not only that! A set of several copper pins will also be inserted there; they are used to help expand the energy inside the device along with the special glass."
Just as the monitor finishes his exposition, the machine hanging from the ceiling starts doing its job, placing inside the red half of the pokéball the pieces mentioned by our guide. Now we walk towards another one of the machines composing this assembly line, this one is slightly bigger than the first two.
"This tool will attach the two halves and place the titanium locking bar that keeps the device from opening, thus releasing the pokémon inside on accident."
"By the way, can I make a question about that?" Giles asks almost raising his hand like if he was at school or something.
"Of course! But that will have to wait, after we get to see the whole process, there will be a turn for questions. Now, let's keep on moving!" The guide answers cheerily as we continue to walk through the room. The pokéball we have been following has already the locking bar on, now it enters a different machine, very similar to the previous one. "Now the release button will be placed, that's pretty much the last step. Next, a few workers will be checking the pokéballs as they pass through the conveyer belt. After that, the pokéball that meet all the requirements will fall into the cart at the end of the assembly line, from where they will be sent to all the Poké Marts of the region!"
As we were following the creation process of that particular pokéball, others were being made as well. Lots of them are now going across the last conveyer belt. Behind it, a few men and women observe with attention the spherical devices to make sure none of them has any serious defect.
"Perfect… Perfect… Perfect… Perfect… NOT PERFECT!" One of them booms as she grabs the faulty device and throws it into a trashcan situated behind her.
The rest of pokéballs fall into the container that we saw at first when we entered the room, however, now a worker takes away that one as fast as possible and quickly replaces it with an empty one. The sound of the impact that the pokéballs make when falling against the bottom of the cart resonates across the room, almost matching in intensity the sound of the machines themselves. Now the process seems to be even faster, I guess they were slowing down before with the purpose of showing us the fabrication process with every detail.
"When a tour ends, we like to gift our visitors with a little present from our factory." Our monitor says as he approaches the container placed at the end of the assembly lines, now coming back holding six pokéballs. "There's two pokéballs for each one of you! Make sure to put them to good use." The guide winks as he gives us the pairs to each one of us.
"So, I guess this is the turn for the questions." Steven says looking in Giles's direction, who at the same time glances at the monitor, waiting for his answer.
"Of course! Fire away." The man answers, willing to take our questions.
"I know pokémon can escape the pokéballs when they are being caught, but could that happen with an already caught pokémon?" Giles leans forward in anticipation.
"Hmm… That's an extremely rare occurrence but yes, it's possible. Luckily, Kalos fabricated pokéballs barely present that kind of problems!" The monitor presents his best smile, trying to further convince us about that. I just hope that never happens to me or anyone I know closely, it would be devastating!
"You have mentioned before that pokéballs are made of titanium, does that apply to the rest of pokéballs as well?" Steven asks placing a hand on his chin.
"Yes, except for Master Balls! They are made with a very rare kind of metal which name I'm not allowed to mention. In fact, that's the very reason Master Balls are so rare. Here in this factory we make more than just pokéballs, the other kinds are assembled on different floors on this building. The floor where we craft Master Balls is the very last one."
Now that he mentioned the Master Balls, I think this is a great occasion to ask this. "This question might be similar to the first one but, is it true that there's a small possibility that Master Balls fail to capture a pokémon?"
The man scratches his head. "Nobody likes to admit it but yes, it's possible. It's as rare as a captured pokémon breaking free from a pokéball, but it can happen." Now the guide takes a look at his watch. "Oh, it's time to finish this tour! I have a scheduled one with some school children in five minutes."
"That's alright! We have enjoyed this visit very much." Giles waves goodbye as he walks towards the exit door. Why is he suddenly acting like he is in a rush?
Both Steven and I thank the monitor as well and we quickly catch up to Giles, who is opening the door just now. What's his problem all of sudden?
"Giles, is it just me or you really want to fly away?" I ask with curiosity.
He seems to giggle. "You know, we really have to leave Laverre City now. I know it's weird and it's coming all of sudden, but I have a hunch that we should be somewhere else right now."
"What do you mean, Giles?" Steven asks with a very puzzled expression. Who knows what kind of thoughts are going across his mind!
"I will explain on the way there, now I'll go to the Pokémon Center and I'll get our things. You two can wait for me outside."
I guess we will have to trust him, then! I didn't see him this determined ever since he took us to that stone shop on Lumiose City. I just wonder what could be going on for him to be so excited all of sudden.
Giles has rushed inside the Pokémon Center promising that he will be back with all of our stuff in the bat of an eye. Meanwhile, I'm here with Steven right besides the door of the aforementioned building as we wait for him. I still can't stop wondering what could possibly he be thinking about now! Giles is definitely a box full of surprises.
"What an absolute madman!" I mutter to myself, but Steven catches those words.
"I can agree with you on that, but without him we wouldn't even know where to start looking for the things that were stolen."
"I wasn't saying it as something bad!" I pretend to be mad at what he said.
"I know that, I was just making an observation." Steven smiles as he puts his arm around me.
Ever since we are in Kalos, we haven't had too much time for the two of us. I guess that comes with having to share most of the time with someone who is literally a key for us to be able to get around the region, which I'm not saying is a bad thing. It's just that I wish I could spend more time alone with Steven.
Taking advantage of the situation, I lean in for a kiss but unfortunately, that small moment for the two of us ends right now. Giles steps out of the building carrying all of our suitcases with the help of his Ampharos.
"I hope I didn't interrupt anything important!" Giles comments with a smirk as he gestures Ampharos to give us our respective trolleys. We just answer with a sheepish smile. "Alright, that means we can leave already. Thanks for your help, Ampharos!" With that, Giles withdraws his pokémon into her pokéball and we start walking towards a gate to a route leading outside of Laverre City.
I can't believe we are leaving already; I wanted to stay here a bit longer! I know Laverre City has lots of things to offer and I wished to see all of them but again, I must keep in mind that we aren't here as simple tourists; we are going after someone, as weird as that may sound. At least we got to see some interesting things here and we even talked to the gym leader! There are probably still many other cities and towns that we will have to visit, even if some of those visits will be brief. But if Giles wanted to go somewhere else all of sudden, it's very probable that there's an important reason behind that.
Now that we are just a few steps away from the gate, I suddenly hear a feminine voice calling my name. The three of us turn around to discover her identity. It's Hailey, the girl from the Pokémon Fan Club. She is carrying a red and white box with a dark blue bow on top of it. She is coming towards us with a mildly amused expression.
"How are you doing? Are they your friends?" She asks making a curt gesture with her head towards Giles and Steven.
"I'm doing pretty well and yes, they are! This is my boyfriend Steven and he is our friend Giles, he is showing us around the region since we aren't from here." I gesture towards them as I speak.
"Aah so you aren't from here? Then I suppose you are doing tourism or something!"
"Not exactly." Giles blurts all of sudden. "We are, uh… Looking for something."
"That sounds very cool! Did any of you guys catch any Kalos pokémon yet?" Hailey makes sure to look at the three of us as she sports an amused smile.
"Yes! I caught an Espurr that I sent to my parents so he keeps them company and not too long ago, I got a Sliggoo." Hailey nods as I talk and approaches me, putting the box she is carrying closer to me.
"Okay, here you go! I don't know if you will believe me, but your Hershey definitely has something to do with it!" She winks and giggles as I hold the box.
I'm a bit perplexed with her words; I don't even know if I should open the box now or wait until she leaves. I look up at Hailey to see if she is still here and indeed, she is waiting for me to open it. Without hesitation, I carefully lift the box's lid and what I find is…
…another one. ANOTHER EGG! And it's from Hershey? Wait…
"It's true what the day care workers say, sometimes you don't even know how these things happen!" Hailey giggles in amusement. "Please, take good care of it! Did you ever have any experience with eggs?"
"About that…" Steven speaks now. "… we are taking care of another egg already. What's more, we suspect it's more or less close to hatching." As if it agreed with his words the egg on the basket, which is being carried by Steven, moves slightly.
"Then that's awesome! I knew I did well giving you the egg, Emily. After all, I thought it would be nice for the pokémon that'll hatch to know its father. Now, if you can excuse me, I have to go buy some stuff. I hope we meet again, guys!" Hailey starts walking away as she waves goodbye.
We wave goodbye as well, telling her to take care. Now with yet another addition, it's time for us to keep on moving in our journey too, following Giles's sudden hunch. I can't wait to see where he wants to take us and what he wants to do there. Either way, I'm sure that there must be a big reason behind that!