Chapter Thirty-One: The Featherball Triumph!

“Wuu wuu.”
Having exhausted all its stored energy, the Dragonite couldn’t wait any longer and came over eagerly.
Food, food!
“Hold on, I’ve already prepared it for you, and the quality is definitely higher than before.”
Nearby, the wild Pokémon were eating with shiny, greasy faces. When Zhusu Han had been testing out improvements to his cooking methods, he’d run into some problems with quality, nearly dropping it down to commercial grade.
Upholding his principle of never wasting food, Zhusu Han began feeding the little ones.
Even so, the nutritional content was so rich that even the most gluttonous Poliwag only managed four or five pieces.
Water and ice types are inseparable; otherwise, Zhusu Han wouldn’t have fed them this.
“All bones, huh?”
Zhusu Han reached into the water to press down on the Magikarp, finding it rather amusing.
It was very hard—not glass bones, but the best word to describe it would be “skin and bones,” completely unrelated to nutrition intake.
Zhusu Han didn’t have the magical passive ability “Evolutionary Foot,” but he thought with this level of hardness, Magikarp might be one of the few in the Pokémon world who could turn itself into a hammer.
Lapras ate heartily, clearly noticing that the trainer’s cooking was much better than before, both in flavor and in other qualities.
A blinding white light suddenly appeared, and Zhusu Han was briefly stunned. Everyone turned their attention to the source—a Poliwag lying on its back, basking in the sun with its belly full.
“Is it evolving?”
The dazzling light of evolution—at last, he was seeing it with his own eyes in the real world.
Poliwag’s evolved form is Poliwhirl; the swirl on its belly changes from counterclockwise to clockwise, and even its next form, Poliwrath, keeps the clockwise pattern.
Of course, you could also interpret the Poliwag’s original pattern as a touch of rebelliousness.
“Yoro!”
Poliwhirl’s excited voice rang out, raising its arms high in celebration for all to see.
After evolving into Poliwhirl, it still looked fine—at least its eyes hadn’t yet become the intimidating, tattooed stare of a Poliwrath; they remained clear and bright.
“Congratulations on your evolution.”
But what’s with those gloves? Do they come with the evolution?
“Yoro!”
Poliwhirl bounced about in excitement, shooting a jet of water skyward from the center of its swirl.
“Wuu wuu.”
Lapras was curious too—she knew her species didn’t have an evolved form.
With Poliwag now a Poliwhirl, Lapras could feel an unusual surge of elemental energy within it—the benefit of evolution.
“Good thing I have waterproofing,”
Zhusu Han put away the incense burner, naturally not taking credit for Poliwag’s evolution.
It was only outward appearance, after all; calling the energy cubes “elixirs” was just a joke he’d made with Nurse Joy.
From the previous water fight, it was clear that Poliwag was actually stronger than its peers.
In other words, Poliwag’s level was just about right for evolution—the energy cubes were only a finishing touch.
“But are you sure the resources here can support you now?”
Zhusu Han gently tapped Poliwhirl’s belly. “I’ve looked things over—this little body of water has enough resources for the other kids, but not for you.”
Evolution is growth. In the animated world, it might seem to come with a bit of HP lock and recovery, but in reality, evolution brings greater nutritional demands—at the very least, a bigger appetite.
“Yoro.”
Poliwhirl shook its head, pointed to the current flowing through the water, then to the wild beyond Azalea Town.
“So you’re planning to leave?”
Zhusu Han felt a strange mix of emotions. So Azalea Town was just your kindergarten? After growing up, you all head into the wild?
Poliwhirl wasn’t at all fazed, acting with the ease of someone who’d done this before—clearly, plenty of “seniors” had taught them well.

Rather than calling this a kindergarten, it was more like a “talent training ground.”
“Nyororo...”
The water bulged as a large, resolute Poliwrath surfaced, beckoning to the newly evolved Poliwhirl.
The aquatic powerhouse—Poliwrath, the stalwart swimmer.
Zhusu Han’s mouth twitched. Was this really a talent training base?
“Yoro!”
Poliwhirl said farewell to its little companions one by one, then ran over to Zhusu Han and Lapras to offer its heartfelt thanks.
Zhusu Han waved. “Good luck—the wild is nothing like life in town.”
Lapras began to sing a gentle tune, her song a blessing for Poliwhirl.
“Nyororo.”
Poliwrath nodded to Zhusu Han, then led Poliwhirl into the water, leaving Zhusu Han to let his mind wander.
Another underground waterway, by the look of it; the space must be quite large if a Poliwrath could fit through.
Well, with all those muscles, Poliwrath could certainly handle any troublemakers.
“The wild, huh? I suppose I’ll be heading out into nature before long myself.”
Zhusu Han scratched Lapras behind the ear. “Next comes my research time—I hope I can succeed with that project.”
At the Rocket Group’s convenience store, Zhusu Han found the box of original Apricorns he’d ordered and felt a bit overwhelmed.
They were expensive—almost highway robbery.
Although with his little “cheat” he could surely replicate the most perfect Hisui technology, he refused to believe that was the only way.
I refuse to believe I can’t do it!
Fortunately, the shop carried a wide selection—elemental resources and their associated minerals, tough bug silk, feathers shed from flying-type Pokémon, and more.
Zhusu Han even spotted half a Skarmory feather; the shopkeeper said it had been broken during a battle and a passing trainer had picked it up.
“Skarmory materials, huh? I’ll take that too.”
“Big spender!”
The shopkeeper grinned from ear to ear—helping with deliveries was worth it for the sales boost.
Back at the Azalea Gym, Zhusu Han munched his calorie-laden fast food and took out an Apricorn to begin his research.
His plan was to use twenty Apricorns to study the Feather Ball series, and the remaining eighty as research material for Sticky Balls.
The initial goal was simply to achieve success; the long-term aim was to see if colored Apricorns could be used to make Sticky Balls.
After all, Zhusu Han wasn’t sure if modern Apricorns were up to the task—originals were just too expensive for mass production.
“Let’s start by making a rough prototype.”
The sound of hammering filled the air as Zhusu Han skillfully crafted a rough shell. With a small amount of flying-type elemental ore added, the Apricorn took on streaks of blue and white, like sky and clouds mingling.
“Looks like this line of thinking is right.”
Setting the prototype aside, Zhusu Han began a second, this time adding materials shed from flying-type Pokémon for a control experiment.
But lacking experience and dealing with materials much less tractable than minerals, he ruined a few Apricorns in the process.
That was fine, though—even half-spoiled materials could be recycled for future Sticky Ball experiments.
The blue-and-white pattern emerged again, and Zhusu Han felt satisfied, his ideas confirmed once more.
Both Apricorns and “sky-blue jade” were key, but only when the “capturing energy” in the Apricorn merged with the elemental energy in the jade could a Feather Ball be created.
However, using shed materials from Pokémon probably involved some time sensitivity.
He’d forgotten to ask how the feathers had been collected—did trainers really go around picking up what Spearows and Pidgeys dropped during fights?
That took guts.
“And I’ll have to be careful during forging. If the temperature’s too high, the feathers might be destroyed before I can even begin.”
So perhaps mineral resources were the safer choice—after being infused with flying-type energy, their weight wasn’t excessive.
Let’s see how the finished product turns out.

Two original Apricorns went into the furnace, the blue-and-white streaks on their surfaces slowly spreading like ink in water, dyeing the shells a pale azure.
“The patterns differ, but my process is the same—maybe the materials are the key.”
Zhusu Han propped his chin in his hand. “I’ll need to find a place to test these. I hope Azalea Gym has a dedicated area for Poké Ball throwing practice.”
In the Crystal version of “The Catcher,” their method was pretty hardcore—tying your hands and practicing with your legs while running through the woods.
For a professional Pokémon Gym, Azalea should have something more high-tech.
At the very least, a shooting range like a gun club.
...
Bugsy wiped the sweat from his brow. “Of course we have a throwing range, but it’s mostly for kids interested in becoming trainers. It’s open to the public as a business.”
For the kids...
Zhusu Han thought about it—it was probably like those “toy gun shooting balloons” booths.
“Anything more professional?”
“Nope. Honestly, if you’re a real trainer, you’ll pick up this skill on your own within a couple of weeks on the road.”
Zhusu Han smiled. “Sorry, I’m just a rookie.”
Bugsy sat down to drink some water. He’d just had a tough battle with a challenging trainer.
“So, what’s the plan? Did you finally decide to become a trainer? Want to have a match?”
“No, I want to test this.”
Zhusu Han took out the freshly crafted Feather Ball. “Just made it—want to see how it works.”
Bugsy’s eyes lit up. “Another special Poké Ball?”
“Not exactly. Lapras’s was a one-of-a-kind custom ball; this is more of a mass-producible, small-scale special type—a brand-new kind of ball.”
“No wonder you asked about the training range.”
Bugsy snapped his fingers. Scizor appeared instantly at his side.
“Tell Scizor how much distance you need—he’ll help you out.”
Zhusu Han shook his head. “Not about distance—he’ll need to fetch the ball. If I weren’t worried about breaking your windows, I’d have thrown it already.”
Bugsy: ?
“Whatever, nothing beats hands-on testing.”
Zhusu Han gripped the modern Feather Ball. “Scizor, I’ll throw it forward—after that, it’s up to you.”
“Hassan.”
Scizor nodded—no problem.
“Here we go!”
Whoosh!
A streak of blue and white shot out. Bugsy’s expression froze.
“Scizor, Agility!”
“Hassan!”
Scizor accelerated instantly, striking with assassin-like precision to snatch the still-flying Poké Ball out of the air.
Ah.
The Azalea Gym Leader and his Pokémon fell silent, a perfect contrast to Zhusu Han and Lapras’s exuberant celebration.
The Feather Ball—test successful!