Chapter 771: Seven Heal Balls
The interior space of the blacksmith shop was quite large.
Probably to accommodate those massive machines of unknown purpose.
After Lucario entered the shop, he glanced around and noticed many industrialized red and white Poké Balls in a corner. "Is this place a Poké Ball processing shop?"
"Why did we come here?"
Dragonite looked at Kazuya.
"About three hundred and sixty years ago, I learned the craft of forging Poké Balls from a middle-aged man named 'Tetsuya' here. Back then, this was just a small wooden cabin."
Kazuya looked at the unfamiliar environment inside and couldn't help but sigh.
He walked to the corner and looked at those red and white Poké Balls. He could tell at a glance that these were products manufactured by machines on an assembly line, without a single trace of handcrafting.
It wasn't to say that ordinary red and white Poké Balls were bad.
In that League era where Trainers emerged in droves.
Only these mass-produced red and white Poké Balls could meet the demands of Trainers worldwide.
And handcrafted balls weren't necessarily better than the red and white ones.
For instance, the Poké Balls Kazuya forged in the past weren't that great; after all, his skills weren't particularly excellent.
It was just...
Seeing these balls in this blacksmith shop.
Did it mean that the craft had ultimately been lost in human society?
"Oh~ Tetsuya was a master Apricorn Ball forger in the early days of the Pokémon League's establishment, right? I didn't expect Lord Kazuya to have studied under him."
Lucario glanced at Kazuya in surprise.
He wasn't surprised that Kazuya studied under Tetsuya, but rather that a Pokémon would go learn how to forge Poké Balls.
If it were a wild Pokémon.
The moment the Poké Ball was forged.
Wouldn't they just directly catch themselves?
"Ah, that's right. I didn't expect Uncle Tetsuya to be quite famous?"
Kazuya smiled slightly.
That uncle had a tsundere personality.
On the surface, he'd curse and swear, acting like he didn't care at all, but in reality, he'd secretly squeeze out time to forge Friend Balls for Meowscarada.
"Of course. It's thanks to Master Tetsuya passing down his craft that later generations have so many special Poké Balls to use."
"Hm? Uncle Tetsuya's craft wasn't lost? Then what are these?"
Kazuya pointed to the boxes of red and white Poké Balls in the corner.
"These are just semi-finished products waiting to be processed."
Lucario simply bent down, picked up a Poké Ball, and tossed it toward Scizor.
The latter caught it in a flurry.
Just when he thought he was going to be sucked into the ball and was prepared to break free, he found that the Poké Ball was crushed by his pincers.
"Processed?"
Kazuya picked up a red and white Poké Ball and observed it carefully.
He could be considered quite knowledgeable about the structure of Poké Balls.
So with just a few glances, he could tell.
The completion level of these Poké Balls was only around 70%.
Therefore, they currently lacked the function to capture Pokémon.
"Yes. The Poké Balls manufactured on the factory assembly line can only meet mass demands. But for some Trainers with special requirements, only Apricorn Balls involving handcrafting suit their needs."
"Usually, Trainers of this type have a very high status. They are either high-ranking Trainers within the League or Ph.D. scholars engaged in research. So even the League carefully protects this craft."
"To improve the production efficiency of these Apricorn Balls, the League collaborated with later master Apricorn forgers to develop these semi-finished products. They can save a massive amount of creation time and difficulty, only requiring the master forgers to perform the final finishing touches."
Lucario explained all of this.
This sparked some thoughts in Kazuya's mind.
Since they had these semi-finished Poké Balls.
Could he forge a few special Poké Balls for his companions?
A Poké Ball was a very powerful restrictive item.
Throwing a Poké Ball at an opponent in battle could instantly hard-control them; even Demon Gods would be hard-controlled for a moment.
Carrying some Poké Balls around would greatly increase their chances of survival.
However.
To use this item.
First, one couldn't be a "wild" Pokémon.
That is to say.
They, these Pokémon, had to be caught by a Poké Ball once first.
Only then could they use a Poké Ball as an item.
At the same time.
Pre-catching themselves was also putting a layer of protection on themselves.
Magical beasts weren't the only things in this world they needed to guard against.
There were also guys like Team Rocket.
If, during a battle, those Team Rocket members suddenly threw Poké Balls at their group of wild Pokémon, it would be somewhat troublesome.
Catching themselves in advance.
Meant they wouldn't have to worry even if they were carelessly hit by a Poké Ball in the future.
Kazuya immediately shared his thoughts with Scizor and the others, and the several Pokémon had no objections.
"Since that's the case, let's stay in Azalea Town for a few days."
Kazuya nodded.
And immediately began dividing the tasks.
Dragonite and Lucario were responsible for gathering food.
Both were incredibly fast.
Lucario also had Aura perception, making gathering food a piece of cake.
Mewtwo and Scizor were responsible for going to the Poké Mart to get some mass-produced Ultra Balls.
The former had psychic powers and could gather these Ultra Balls without touching them; they could be used as throwing items later.
The latter was the former's bodyguard, just in case.
As for Kazuya himself.
He was, of course, staying at the blacksmith shop to study these semi-finished Poké Balls.
He didn't plan on letting his companions use those mass-produced Ultra Balls.
Because in his memory, there was a better choice, the best choice.
"Heal Ball."
The crafting success rate of this pink Poké Ball in the games wasn't low.
Its effect was:
Upon capture, the caught Pokémon's HP is fully restored, and any status conditions are cured.
This restorative effect only applied during the initial capture.
So it was considered a rather useless ball.
But in the real world, the Heal Ball was vastly different.
The Heal Ball was an extremely rare Poké Ball that was incredibly difficult to forge; its value even surpassed the Luxury Ball, which was comparable to gold in the Poké Ball world.
Because its effect was incredibly powerful!
As long as a Pokémon entered the Heal Ball, the injuries on its body would slowly recover, and status conditions could also be slowly cleared.
This speed might not compare to the instant full recovery in the games.
But its strength lay in the fact that its effect wasn't a one-time thing.
As long as the Pokémon entered the Heal Ball, it would continuously receive healing.
Of course.
Because Pokémon Centers existed.
The utilization rate of Heal Balls during the League era wasn't high.
Generally, only Trainers engaged in special work, living in the wild year-round, and unable to frequently visit Pokémon Centers would need them.
But now.
In this New Magical Beast Era, the Heal Ball was simply too crucial!
One must know.
There were no Pokémon Centers for them to go to in this world now, nor were there Berries with various effects to forage and eat in the wild.
If Kazuya and the others got injured now.
At most, they could only rely on Aura for external wound healing and the Heal Pulse of psychic powers.
As for status conditions and the like, they were completely helpless.
If a companion was unable to continue acting due to some status condition or mental trauma, the problem would be quite severe.
It would heavily drag down their pace.
And in critical moments, it might even cost them their lives.
But they couldn't possibly abandon a companion either.
Therefore.
The value of the Heal Ball.
Became increasingly precious.
Kazuya hoped to equip each companion with a Heal Ball.
But his forging skills were truly not proficient enough.
Even relying on these semi-finished balls to greatly reduce time cost and processing difficulty, Kazuya wasn't confident he could forge a Heal Ball in three days.
He didn't even have the confidence to forge a single one.
But he had to try regardless.
It was only three days anyway.
If it didn't work out, they'd just make do with Ultra Balls.
"Let's practice first. We're not short on materials..."
Kazuya took a trip to the storage room.
And brought out a large amount of Pink Apricorns and tools.
These tools were covered in a layer of dust; clearly, by League Calendar Year 250, these things hadn't been used in a long time.
People at that time presumably used those machines for auxiliary processing.
Unfortunately, Kazuya didn't know how to use those machines.
His Apricorn forging craft was inherited from Tetsuya three hundred years ago; the technology at that time could be described as utterly traditional.
Moreover, these machines looked like they would make a huge racket when operating; attracting a horde of magical beasts would be asking for trouble.
Let the work begin.
The attempts at making Heal Balls were in full swing.
Along with the rapid consumption of Pink Apricorns and semi-finished red and white balls in the blacksmith shop, Kazuya's understanding of Heal Balls and forging experience were also rapidly increasing.
And because it was specialized training specifically for Heal Balls, with no need to study other types of balls.
Kazuya's learning speed also grew faster and faster.
Until the final day.
He finally successfully forged a Heal Ball.
And forged seven of them in a row!
Aside from Kazuya and the other four Pokémon, there were two extra usable ones!
If this world-saving squad needed to recruit more members in the future.
These two Heal Balls could be given to the new companions.
The five Pokémon sequentially recalled themselves into the Heal Balls.
Although it was somewhat surprising that Lucario and Dragonite were also considered "wild Pokémon," no one cared about such minor details.
Back on the road again.
Every Pokémon had a small pouch hanging on them.
Every pouch was stuffed full of Ultra Balls.
These were essentially their throwing items or "ninja tools."
When facing those Demon Gods or wild magical beasts, these Ultra Balls might just have miraculous effects.
Continuing westward.
They plunged into the Iron Thorn Forest near Azalea Town.
Originally, everyone thought they would just walk all the way to the Hoenn region from here.
But they quickly realized something was wrong.
Because Kazuya was leading them in circles within this forest, seemingly searching for something.
Facing everyone's confusion.
Kazuya didn't hide anything and answered frankly: "Didn't Lucario mention before that Azalea Town suddenly lost its presence? I suspect a Legendary Pokémon appeared near Azalea Town back then."
"The only Pokémon I can think of that could appear around here is the Mythical Pokémon 'Voice of the Forest,' Celebi."
"Three hundred years ago, there was a small shrine to the Voice of the Forest nearby. Perhaps we can find an unexpected harvest there. Help me look for it."
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