- Apricorn Crafting -

A couple of days later, after discovering that Alexa's change had been extended quite a bit and with everyone much more tired from a rough start to training, a now human again Alexa and an illusioned William were back at Maizie's pokeball shop. "I need one William," Alexa told the other trainer as they approached. "We can speed up my training if we can use the Pokemon Center's healing machines to quickly build my energy back up."

"Have you used that kind of healing before?" William asked and stopped just outside the door. "Because your life so far has sounded like it might include that just from what I've heard."

"You need special adapters," Alexa had to admit. "Mom needed it for a long term treatment when I was a baby, complications from an illness going through town back then, and we kept them just in case." She rubbed her arm, one of just two for the first time in over a week, where the end of the adapter needed to be placed when she had used it to restore her energy after some encounters with lab pokemon. "It sort of itches, but its faster and better afterwards than potions. I'm still a bit drowsy from the past few days worth of those."

"Then once again you've used something normally made for pokemon more than I have," the other trainer sighed as they entered. "Luckily enough I've not needed that kind of treatment before."

"William, and I'm guessing that's Alexa again too?" Maizie called out from the counter as another customer started to walk towards the exit. The shop was empty other than that customer, Maizie, and Slowking, likely due to the sign saying they would be closing early today on the door. Alexa had called ahead to find the best time to do this when Maizie wouldn't be working after she returned to humanity, but the older girl had noted that with the lack of stock the place was already on reduced hours to refill the displays. Which from a quick glance were even more barren than they had been the first time, without any of the wood shelled balls and very few of the cheaper custom variants left.

"Yeah, this is my human form," Alexa said a bit nervously since the other customer wasn't quite out of the shop yet. The customer paused at the wording, but left easily without going too fast as if they were running or a bit slowly to linger. "Actually I changed back yesterday afternoon, but I wasn't sure when I would be turning back this time so I didn't want to limit the timing and get it wrong."

"You don't look quite like I expected, but I guess I've never met a human that changed into a pokemon as a pokemon first before," Maizie noted and got up herself. "Let me close down the shop and then I can give you two the full explanation."

"Ah, I was kind of hoping for a Dark typed ball," William sadly as he looked over the display in the counter. "Maybe I should have come in earlier."

"Actually making another of those might be a good demonstration," the crafter said brightly with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Also I've technically been out of those this whole time and really hoped you wouldn't ask for one that first day. The three that were left were already bought and I didn't want to lose them in the back rooms."

Alexa looked around the half empty shelves. "How much of this is actually for sale?" she nervously asked.

"So, how about we get started with how to carve the Apricorns!" Maizie said instead of answering, which seemed fair to Alexa, and led them into the back rooms. "We can begin with going over the parts."

While the front of the store was quite well organized, if a bit bare, the back room was a mess of various components and tools. Complete with Slowking picking through one pile of pokeballs wearing a pair of his own gloves. It certainly explained why Maizie didn't want stock back among tables piled with Apricorns, tools, books, jars of powders, and many bits and pieces that were more clearly pokeball parts.

"Maizie, please tell me we aren't to the point where we actually have to sell the low quality pile," Slowking sighed in the tone of someone who already knew the answer. "Because while it has grown taller than I am, it also ranges from broken ones that stopped working sometime after they ended up in the pile, to ones that seem fine now but ended up next to those other ones somehow, and I don't know if I can safely tell the differences at this point. I'm half afraid I'm going to find one woke up into a Voltorb."

"Can we stop talking about stock for a moment, I'm trying to avoid those issues for a bit," Maizie said with another false smile. Slowking stopped his pursuit of the pile and wandered over to them. "This is Alexa and William for the explanation."

"Ah, right. You want to impress the pokemon who are also trainers so they get a really unique ball from you," the Water/Psychic type sighed. "Are we going to be going for their gloves too." That wasn't much of a question, but more a statement about the pokemon's own apparel.

"Do we still have Dark Stone powder, or even just Dark Stones?" Maizie asked quickly as the older girl began to collect parts.

"We just got a small package of stones, although it looks like they got the order wrong again as only half are actually depleted," Slowking replied. "I don't suppose there are actually any pokemon that evolve with Dark Stones around a Johto town mostly just full of Slowpoke?"

"Wait, you actually have real Dark Stones?" William asked excitedly. "I've always wanted to see one. Rumor has it that they can evolve a Zorua instantly instead of making you wait until you've gotten strong enough."

Slowking moved over to one of many random packages on the floor. They then removed both a pitch black evolution stone, and another lighter greyed stone of the same kind that clearly was drained of its full power. Alexa easily recognized the items, her father had found pokemon species that could use them during his work. "Scyther can actually use those to become a really dangerous Dark/Flying type pokemon. My dad isn't sure why that evolution loses the Bug type, but that is one your team could use," Alexa noted to William. "Other than that there is one for Pidgeotto, Dark/Flying in that case and fairly mean, another for Pikachu that is an even meaner Electric/Dark, and a Grass/Dark evolution from Weepinbell that tried to eat me."

Everyone was staring at her now. "They tried to eat you," Slowking slowly said while the two other human-shaped people present just sort of looked at her.

"Right, so it seems you are full of awkward moments today," Maizie declared and quickly moved to the nearest bench. Alexa smiled at the statement, it was fairly close to her mother's favorite joke about her father. "So, I'm going to pretend you didn't instantly know what local pokemon can evolve with those and move on to the explanation." The older girl held up a carved Apricorn half, a small hinge, and a latch mechanism. "These are the basic parts you need to make a pokeball, a shell that collects typed energy in a way that converts the target into energy, a hinge to let that shell open easily, and a latch to keep it closed when the target is stored."

"Without that 'attunement' thing?" Alexa asked as William nervously questioned, "Like a police ball?"

"The basic premise doesn't need attunement, and the police still use pokeballs with that modification," Maizie confirmed for both of them. "That is the big difference between the local Apricorn craft and that ancient Sinnoh recreation I showed you two the other day. Tumblestones weren't as common around here, so locally we just used better reinforcement and learned to teach pokemon to not struggle as much when they needed to be re-caught."

"From what I've heard it honestly was a bit better for the pokemon here," Slowking added as he put away the still energetic Dark Stone and brought the other one to Maizie. "The energy loss thing meant that Hisuan pokemon were mostly kept inside their pokeballs so they didn't run out of charge, while around here they were only really used for travel or emergencies because being inside risked breaking them from the inside." The Water/Psychic shuddered. "It was complicated back then, and still better than no pokeballs at all, but I wouldn't want to spend weeks or months in a pokeball at a time."

"So Apricorns are one of a fairly rare, at least now, kind of plant that takes in the energy of others to grow," Maizie continued. "The fact that they come from plants makes them one of the easiest shell materials. Other kinds of historic pokemon storage generally were either worse at catching, worse at releasing, or worse at keeping the pokemon inside." The carved wood was set down. "Mostly because they have the hollow spot in the middle, the 'pocket', for the target to go. That makes it so that the shell just contains the target as long as it is closed, and with a latch and hinge you can get them out."

"Or just a hole and a plug," Slowking noted with a glance over to something that looked more like a canteen than a pokeball. "But it is hard to get out of those, even if they hold up better for catch and release."

"Yes. Those were a style for a few crafters," Maizie agreed unhappily. "I don't sell those, they can hurt some particularly large or energetic pokemon."

"So you really don't want to make a Heavy Ball like that," Alexa realized a bit uneasily as she inspected the noted ball. It was very rough and unpainted, but seemed to be a white colored wood.

"No, using a black Apricorn for that style is a terrible idea and the people that made them considered those 'bad' Apricorns," Maizie agreed and nodded at the back wall, which had a variety of Apricorns in separated bins. The largest bin was actually a purple color. "Kind of like the purple ones used to be Johto's 'good' ones before they had the blight. Grandpa spent a lot of what he made from crafting just getting them back to the point where you can buy them again. Those are generic, like the brown of Sinnoh, but with a few other features."

"The other colors always add a bit of altered function to the ball," Slowking clarified. "Black always work a bit better at turning larger bodies into energy. Blue works best around Water typed energy, although it isn't technically limited to just Water type pokemon. Green is more careful with the energy in a way that makes the ball nicer to enter and exit, great for ball-sick pokemon. Pink." Slowking paused for a moment to consider. "Well pinks are good if there is chemistry between pokemon. Red ones work best when a pokemon helps to suppress the target's energy. White is great for grabbing pokemon that can move their energy quickly. Finally, yellow means the tree grew up on top of some Moon Stone, which helps with the pokemon that those effect."

"All of those are nice when you are making the variants my grandpa always made, but for anything else you need a more stable collection shell," Maizie continued for them. "That wasn't done mostly because purple were so rare since the blight about eighty years ago. I use quite a few, but when I'm practicing I try with the best fit of the other kinds first so I still don't just waste them."

"I've seen those before," William noted with a nod. "We have a few trees back home that a neighbor imported for some reason. I guess he wanted to get into ball crafting."

"Given how every crafter in Johto is trying to bring them back I'm actually not too surprised they were able to get some," Maizie replied and set down the other parts. "Latches and hinges are easy compared to that. You match those to the reinforcement you use to hold the collection shell together better." The older girl shifted some parts and picked up a ball shaped cage of metal with one of the latches on one end and the hinge on the other. "That is an extra part to help stop the collection shell from being broken. The metal can matter, some works better to let energy through or to be stronger, but usually this part is the most general. I mostly just buy the generic ones from a factory complete with sensors for the pokemon to use, but I have the tools and parts to make them myself here." Maizie nodded at a metalworking bench that was actually fairly clear of random parts.

"Oh, that's one of the nicer welding setups for small parts," Alexa said as she spotted a machine she recognized. Then she remembered something. "I forgot to see if Charizard could match it in the off season."

"Is your Charizard careful enough to use one normally?" Slowking questioned carefully.

"Her Charizard can read and write," William answered and motioned at the cage-like construction. "Can I see that more closely? I think I recognize these from my neighbor too."

"The ribs tend to crack when a ball breaks, so if you try to fix a pokeball you usually need to repair or replace this part," Maizie said as she handed it over. "You also will need to clean it, because it is right next to the important part." The older girl then grabbed a ceramic shell that was small enough to fit in one half of the cage, it had a series of segments made of glittering crystal pieces. "This is a standard attunement layer, specifically the mass produced kind used in Great Balls. A high quality Apricorn collection layer along with one of these is enough to get Ultra Ball performance at worst, which is why I go for them instead of the cheaper ones for standard pokeballs."

"So, how good it catches wild pokemon is both the Apricorn and the crystal stuff?" Alexa questioned thoughtfully. She already knew that modern pokeballs were actually very simple to manufacture, but they were made of special materials that let them do what they did.

"Actually just about everything affects that. Police balls for instance are usually made with stronger latches that don't have easy access to the pokemon inside, which technically makes them better at just catching but worse for the pokemon inside," Maizie gave as an example. "The way you carve the Apricorn can focus where the energy goes, the right materials in the right places can make that easier, and other materials can make the ball stronger, or the attunement faster. The way things typically work is that the attunement layer breaks first on a failed catch, they are usually ceramic or crystal and that is more fragile than the rest."

"It can be fairly easy to break that actually, and the most accidental breaks from willing captures are breaks in those from when a pokemon instinctively struggles," Slowking added knowingly. "It takes deliberate effort to break the latch, and a lot of effort to crack the shell from the inside." They rubbed their Spiral Shellder. "A whole lot of effort with the good ones."

"The mix of materials in the attunement layer is the most important part of how I do things," Maizie moved on and grabbed a second ceramic shell, this one more uniform in make but with a glitter to it across the entire surface. "The history there is actually a bit interesting too. Have you seen that movie about the Mew tree and Aura Guardians?" Alexa nodded and considered the cartoon, there had been a strange staff used sort of like a pokeball in it. "Those crystal storage systems are actually real, but they are also solid. It can work for longer than even one of our pokeballs, that Lucario did really get rescued from one, although it wasn't anywhere near as dramatic and he's still alive and well. The important part though is that they are made out of a crystal that can collect and store pokemon energy really well."

"The deposits large enough to make those crystal balls are much rarer than the smaller ones that can be ground into powder to make into the ceramic," Slowking added with a nod at a small kiln in another corner. "Also those crystal ones really aren't comfortable, I feel real sorry for that Lucario being stuck in one so long."

Alexa nodded at that. "So, is that the best stuff for the attunement, or just an example?" she questioned thoughtfully as Maizie passed them both the shells to inspect up close.

"And on that topic do depleted evolution stones work as well?" William agreed about the earlier reveal of the presence of rare examples. "I know they have energy in them before they are depleted, but I didn't think they could get it back."

"It depends on what kind of pokeball you're making. Some materials help with attunement better than others, but those also can make the conversion harder too. The big thing though is compatibility and comfort for the pokemon," Maizie replied and started towards the desk with the most jars of powder, and a few small scanners that Alexa recognized more from catalogs than her father's lab. "Evolution stones are a way to make the energy state more comfortable for pokemon of a matching type. They aren't the only way, I've used some others in experiments, but depleted stones are the easiest to actually get."

"Energized stones aren't as good. They make things a bit too intense inside," Slowking sighed. "It kind of is like being in a bed that is comfortable, but a bit too hot."

William watched as that discussion led to Maizie showing off the actual process of making the ceramic inner layer for a Dark typed ball using one of the depleted Dark Stones. The first step was to grind the stone into powder, which took a small machine next to the other powder jars. Some of those were pointed out as being to produce the attunement effect, while others were to improve energy conversion, and a couple were to make it easier for the others to function while next to each other.

"Now, there is another bit that I use sometimes with custom ones," Maizie said as she inspected the mortar and pestle she was using to get a bit finer grain on the machine's results. "Alexa, would you mind putting a hand on that scanner there." Maizie pointed to the larger of the two present with the pestle. "Humans get different results usually, so that is a better example."

His currently human and possibly Legendary traveling companion seemed a bit unsure about that, but went up to the device anyway. "Is this just for types or are the other energies important too?" Alexa questioned as she set a palm on the device.

"Types are the one I can work with best. So in your case it would be," Maizie said as she checked the results. "Um, 'Calibration Test'? Wait that's the special reading for when I send it to make sure it reads all the different types at the same level properly."

"She might have a somewhat unique typing," William admitted. "Is that going to be a problem?"

Maizie looked at the results a bit longer as Alexa shuffled back a bit. "Okay, alright. Slowking, do we still have some of the All-Type powder I mixed up?" the crafter questioned. "Also we might actually be able to go with attuned gloves for you. Alexa, because if you are... that unique, then higher end clothing shape magic might work too." William cringed at that near mention of Alexa's Legendary status.

"Should I try this again with my other forms first?" Alexa questioned a bit quickly. "That was something you wanted to check, right?"

"I might want to use a better scanner now," Maizie admitted. "So, how about we focus on William for the moment."

William nodded and took Alexa's place, and with a thought broke his illusion. Then he set his claws on the scanner. "So, what are we looking for normally?" he questioned. "Because I did not grow up around these things. Well, maybe that kiln, I had a little one when I was younger and dad taught me Flamethrower to run it myself."

"You can run a kiln yourself? Because firing the ceramic yourself helps with the feel of the ball," Maizie commented excitedly. "We are going to need to make this new one for you anyway, even for just my typical Dark type ball. Which is the best fit, and your moderate amount of Fire type honestly would help with that."

"My Starter is a Grass/Fighting type," William had to comment, because how well he got along with Chesnaught was already a bit strange. "Even she has been unsure about how well we fit."

"She might have some Dark herself," Alexa noted idly, and without much conviction. "She's harsh enough for it, although it isn't a direct link for that sort of thing. You can check if you want, but it is probably just that you two get along. Types don't define people."

William looked at the shapeshifter who changed types all the time, and tried to work out if that meant she knew what she was talking about or was very mistaken. Alexa appeared a bit unhappy with his statement. "What is the difference between that and what you think about the Fairy and Psychic types?" he questioned.

"How you think is different from who you are. You aren't harsh, even though you are a Dark type, but you probably still think that way," Alexa replied easily. "Psychics and Fairy types have to deal with different ways of interacting with the world. Actually all types interact with the world a bit differently, that's why they tend to act different, but just because you interact with the world one way doesn't mean you are the same as everyone else who interacts with it that way."

"Besides, isn't being a trainer all about getting pokemon that wouldn't normally do so to work together?" Maizie asked a bit loudly to attract their attention. "I'm going to test out the mix on you a couple of times. The powder or shells don't actually attune without being completed, mostly because they are made to infuse the entire ball with defenses and that leaves bits that let the energy quickly drain out. That is why the powdered crystal doesn't get attuned to random pokemon like a Tumblestone."

The next thing was a description of the details behind the mixture she usually used for Dark type pokeballs. It wasn't very much depleted Dark Stone powder, along with quite a bit of the attunement powder, a specific kind of material to make the two interact better, and a final bit of powder that was mostly for the structure and strength of the resulting material. Then it was properly mixed with a bit of pure spring water that was apparently Normal typed to help with the conversion ability of the resulting ceramic, and to match that some of the Mundane Clay that Alexa used for transformations.

"Most crafters don't use Mundane Clay, but I've discovered that it works the best for my depleted elemental stone mixtures," Maizie explained as she shaped the two halves mostly with molds and other tools. "There is some sympathy between them, which makes the result stronger overall in a way that lets me get around using the typical strength increasing clay that normally needs to be mixed in alongside a more energy permissive clay. The end result is still strong even though it has more attunement material."

"The downside is that it isn't safe for pokemon to try and mix the stuff together," Slowking commented with a shudder. "That's a good way to spend a week Normal typed if you get too much rubbed into your skin."

"Yeah, when I use Mundane Clay I don't let the pokemon mix it themselves, even though that helps a bit for other options," Maizie confirmed. "Now, how about we see if you can fire this for yourself?"

William remembered enough to keep a Flamethrower steady long enough for the two halves to be ready to cool properly, but it was also a strong reminder that Alexa was already a better battle pokemon than he would ever be. He could keep the flame steady, he could make the place hot enough, and he could even hold the flame for a long time, but he needed a good minute to prepare himself for any of that. It was the skill of a baker-pokemon's son, not a battle-pokemon trained to use their fire out of combat.

"Looks good, now just stay quiet while I assemble everything," Maizie said to him. "Then we can start to work out what kind of materials will work best for Alexa. All-Type is possible, but I haven't had luck with it before."

"Alright, should I try a cheaper ball first to make sure I don't break this one?" William questioned practically.

"That was a concern before we found a way for you to personally help with the process," Maizie laughed. "I hope you two didn't think you were the first I've taken back here to help with their custom ball. The best way to make sure you don't break it is to find somewhere where you and your energy helped to make it. I'll admit, it is sort of a shortcut to make attunement faster, but honestly the comfort aspect is a bigger part of it."

That reduced one of William's worries, but he still was uncertain about the entire process. "Well, I guess it does feel a bit better to hear this is just your typical custom ball method," Alexa noted with noticeable relief. "Should we see if some of my other transformative materials can be integrated?"

"Give me some examples," Maizie asked cautiously, and Alexa explained a few of them that were currently being used. "I don't recognize the Mercury or Magma stuff, but I have tried Toxin Contagion, Chitin Powder, Clearwater Geode water, and even a bit of Crystal Syrup. They have uses, but I'm not entirely sure it is a great idea to mix all of them at once. Also it would be very wet, and I'm not setup for something that experimental."

"It is an idea for later at least, but I'll need to talk with a real mage first I think," Alexa agreed thoughtfully, while William blanked at the idea of Alexa with even stranger options available.

Maizie finished the assembly soon afterwards, and gave the ball a quick paint job that still managed to look nice and clean. Then she carefully handed the ball to William without setting it off. "It will need a good solid hit to trigger," the crafter explained. "We should set it on one of those mats over there to be safe, but I think you should catch yourself in this case."

It was a better option than William expected. He would have asked for help otherwise, but it did leave him with a question. "If some can catch humans how often does that happen with just a strong hit with the wrong ball?"

"They wear gloves or end up needing to buy new Ultra Balls," Maizie darkly noted. "Which is why I want to get a scanner out front to make sure my customers don't end up doing the same." The crafter frowned and muttered, "Maybe I should start selling the gloves too."

William carefully set the ball down on a curved cushion that seemed to be made for that purpose. Then he took a deep breath and rapped his knuckles on the ball. He was familiar with the sensation of being turned into energy from teleport systems, but the sense of being just energy was a bit different. It was an odd sense of both being limbless with altered senses, and the place he ended up sort of felt as if he had just gotten suck inside of a nest of blankets like when he was little. It felt a bit cold and tangled at first, but not too cold. After a firm click it shifted to feel comfortable and safe in a way that instantly made him a bit tired.

Then he felt himself get dumped back out again. "Alright, no falling asleep while you're the trainer," Maizie said, but William was more concerned with grabbing the little bit of himself that was now sitting on the cushion.

"I'm going to need to think about that," William admitted and looked over the pokeball again now. It was still one of the Dark typed balls like the others that had been on display, black in color with a pair of harsh red bands as if it was styled after a Zoroark with a dark blue Dark type symbol that was nearly invisible on the surface, but he could still feel it the same as he could his hair bead. "How do pokemon stand losing these things?" he had to question with that comparison.

"Well, there is a reason pokemon that don't like their trainers tend to steal the ball when they leave instead of break it," Alexa noted curiously but her eyes looked a bit unsure. "Although now I'm more interested in what that feels like."