Chaser and the Greatest Smith's Ball

Chaser and Chance Reunions

Poké Balls.

They were incredible pieces of technology that allowed the capture and transport of miraculous creatures known as Pocket Monsters, or Pokémon for short. The name Poké Ball was itself derived from 'Pokémon' and 'ball', thus the full name for it would be Pocket Monster Ball. Through great technological wizardry that Goh didn't quite understand, Poké Balls are able to convert Pokémon into light and energy, and holding this form until the Pokémon was released. These devices were capable of containing the largest of titans all the way down to the smallest of insects.

While he wasn't quite sure about how they worked, he did know a bit about their construction. Historically, Poké Balls had three major components. The first of these was a rigid, protective structure to give the ball durability when thrown. Famously, in ancient times, they used the humble apricorn for this purpose. Named as such as they were effectively acorns the size of apricots, apricorns formed the base of the ball and came in a wide assortment of colors, though as the ball itself would be used, this color would gradually fade away.

The second most important component of a Poké Ball is the tumbler. In ancient times, these were special stones of various weights, each with their own properties that affected how far the ball flew and how effective it was at keeping a struggling Pokémon inside.

In modern times, however, these were all replaced with synthetic parts that were honed by science for maximum ease of use and reliability. The Poké Balls he found himself regularly using were made of rubberized plastic and metal. That metal, for reinforcement, was the third major component.

The different colors of apricorns were also said to have different properties and create balls with different capabilities when used to make Poké Balls, but Goh wasn't familiar with how each kind of ball worked differently from the others. He had heard that there were some craftsmen out there that were still working in the old ways, crafting Poké Balls from apricorns. He'd even heard rumors that there were some attempts to machine manufacture apricorn Poké Balls, but from what he had seen online, their success was spotty at best.

It seemed that, as far as replicating the old ways, you had to go back to the source.

Goh sighed, tossing another book onto the pile.

It had been a few very awkward weeks since he and Chloe rang in New Year's Day in the Kalos Region. He and Ash had gone on a few more research trips since they had returned to Vermilion City, and Chloe had returned to school, and so things once more returned to that familiar rhythm of research work, seeing Chloe after school, and going to bed to do it all again the next day.

He leaned back in the chair in Professor Cerise's study, the chair meant for the Professor himself, and he groaned loudly. It was a groan so discouraged that Grookey even stepped away from his attempts at playing with Argent the silver Eevee on the floor to poke at Goh with his stick, wondering if he was alright.

And Goh was far from alright.

Much like before, his research had come to a standstill - while there was a lot written about old Poké Balls, there wasn't a lot written about an old Poké Ball made of feathers and whatever strange crystal was indicated, and if his look into Ho-Oh had told him anything, following up on that thread was doomed to fail, anyway. So now he was stuck looking to find any sort of lead or clue that could point him in the direction of his next chance.

If only that was the bigger of his two main issues at the moment.

After watching the fireworks with Chloe, the two of them had shyly returned to the Pokémon Center and gone to bed, and then the next day neither of them seemed to want to discuss what happened. Ash and Serena said their goodbyes as they split to return to Kanto and Hoenn respectfully, and there was no further discussion of what had occurred beyond Goh taking some time to analyze the Silver Wing. They arrived back in Vermilion City and each went their separate ways and then they fell into the same awkward routine each day.