Chapter 60: Developing Poké Balls?
Spring has arrived, and the residents within the territory have become busy.
The miners head to the mine to excavate clay and limestone, and with the help of Explosion Head Water Buffalo, transport it back to the territory.
The blacksmith and others, using the power of Pansear, fire this clay into bricks.
After accumulating over a winter, the number of bricks within the territory has now filled an open space. Once another batch is fired, they can officially begin constructing brick houses and paving stone brick roads.
The morning’s special training ended, and on his way back, Lei Wen saw Megan feeding Magikarp by the pond.
Seeing Lei Wen approach, Megan stood up in a fluster and bowed, “Prince Lei Wen!”
“No need to be so nervous, Megan,” Lei Wen said with a smile, shaking his head, then cast his gaze towards the six Magikarp surfacing in the water.
Thanks to Megan’s diligent care, those six Magikarp were in a very healthy state, both in appearance and spirit.
“It seems you’ve taken very good care of them,” Lei Wen said.
“This is all I should be doing!” Megan replied, a little nervously.
Those six Magikarp were also staring at him in unison.
Lei Wen: “…”
He shook his head with a sense of helplessness, gazing at the scene before him, an image inevitably forming in his mind.
— A timid and fearful girl, protected in the center by six fierce-looking Gyarados. If anyone dared to bully her, they would face six Hyper Beam attacks simultaneously.
Hiss, that’s truly terrifying!
However, Lei Wen was quite looking forward to that day arriving.
He smilingly instructed Megan to get along well with the Magikarp, then turned and left the area.
Watching his receding back, Megan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She crouched by the pond and said to the Magikarp, “That’s Prince Lei Wen. His Highness is a very good person! Thanks to him, my brother and I can live in such a nice house and eat such delicious food!”
When they were slaves before, they were at the very bottom of the Royal City, eating cold, hard black bread meant for the poor, and sleeping on hard plank beds.
If they accidentally made a mistake, they would be beaten by the Lords of the Royal City…
For Megan, those were very terrible memories.
The Magikarp seemed to sense Megan’s emotions and leaped out of the water with splashes. Then they fell back in.
“But now, everything is slowly getting better!” Megan said happily.
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Upon returning to the territory’s main hall, Lei Wen told Snivy and Dratini to play for a while, while he sat at his desk, dipped his feather pen in ink, and began writing a letter on parchment to the Old King in Aindook Royal City.
Although he was not the original owner and had no relation to the Old King, Lei Wen felt that given his current identity, he should still report his safety to the other party.
Besides being able to inquire about the situation in the Royal City, he could also take the opportunity to request a batch of technical personnel and some Pokémon being exploited in the Royal City from the Old King.
The letter was quickly written, and the next issue was how to send it back to the Royal City.
Lei Wen sat at his desk, contemplating their current predicament.
The Pokémon World was vast and sparsely populated. They had gotten lost in a blizzard before, so they had no idea which part of the Unova Region they were in, let alone the direction of the Royal City.
Secondly, there was the matter of choosing a messenger. Because this was the Pokémon World, it was easy to encounter danger on the road. If even a slight misstep occurred, the messenger could easily be lost along the way.
“If only there was a Pokémon specifically for delivering mail…” The image of Pelipper appeared in Lei Wen’s mind.
Just then, the Old Butler, Elif, suddenly entered from outside.
“Your Highness, is this the Berry you were looking for?”
Lei Wen looked up and saw him holding several bright red fruits with a slightly pungent aroma in his hand.
Those were… Red Apricorns?
Lei Wen was slightly taken aback, then asked, “Where did these come from?”
Elif smiled, “You asked me about them before, so I recently had those patrolling Knights keep an eye out. They discovered these special fruits in a nearby forest.”
Lei Wen took the Red Apricorns in his hands. Their size was the same as the Poké Balls Lei Wen was familiar with, and they were also very light.
It really was an Apricorn…
Lei Wen searched the Technology Tree for related technologies, but unfortunately found that with the current Satisfaction level, he could not afford to redeem them.
Since that was the case, they would have to try and figure it out themselves for now.
However, before that, they had one more thing to do.
Lei Wen asked, “I’ve finished writing the letter to be sent back to the Royal City, but I don’t know how to send it back yet. Elif, do you have any suggestions?”
“Hmm… Perhaps someone in the territory remembers the way they came,” Elif mused. “Maybe Your Highness could send someone to search the vicinity for any Towns or Villages. If we can find them, we can ask for the direction to the Royal City.”
“If that’s the case, then I’ll leave this matter to you to arrange,” Lei Wen nodded.
“Understood.” Helping his Master was the duty of a Butler.
“Oh, and have Morik come over!” Lei Wen said, looking at the Berries in his hand.
While Elif went to call for him, Lei Wen used his feather pen to sketch the general appearance of a Poké Ball on the parchment.
Regarding the development of the Modern Poké Ball, Lei Wen remembered there was relevant information in the anime.
If he remembered correctly, it seemed that a Pokémon Professor, while researching a Primeape, made a mistake in the dosage of medicine, causing the Primeape to become weak and hide in his Glasses Case.
This meant that Pokémon, as a species, possessed a habit of shrinking their bodies and seeking small, hidden places to hide when in a weakened state.
But another question arose: even without a Poké Ball, could he directly use an empty bottle to have a Pokémon hide inside?
“No matter what, let’s first try to see if we can create a Poké Ball,” Lei Wen thought.
Elif soon brought the blacksmith, Morik, over.
Lei Wen handed him the Poké Ball blueprint and the Red Apricorns, and said, “Take a look, can you make this Red Apricorn into this shape?”
“What is this?” Morik looked at the round sphere on the blueprint with some confusion, but he still honestly replied, “It should be possible.”
First, cut the Apricorn in half with a knife, then use a metal ring to secure the upper and lower parts of the Apricorn. This way, it can be opened and closed freely.
“But we don’t have suitable materials in the territory yet,” Morik said with some difficulty. “There have been signs of Iron Ore being discovered in the mine, but we haven’t dared to go deep because it seems many Monsters inhabit there. Our miners only dare to dig for clay on the outskirts.”
“Iron Ore…” Lei Wen couldn’t help but think of the Cranidos that inhabited the mine, which was recorded in Christina’s ecological notes.
He pondered for a moment, then inquired, “What kind of Monsters?”
“There are monsters with two arms that float, and a large monster like a snake, entirely composed of stone!” Morik said, somewhat fearfully.
That monster appeared once when they were digging for clay, and the ground rumbled as if there was an earthquake.
Listening to the description, two Pokémon figures came to Lei Wen’s mind.
Geodude and Onix.
“I’ll go take a look later,” Lei Wen said.
He would see if he could cooperate with the Pokémon on that mountain using food. If that didn’t work, he could also forcibly mine the ore through battle.
After all, with Snivy around, and Onix, being of the Rock and Ground type, being four times weak to Grass, Snivy had a significant advantage.
