Kurt

Sometime after capturing Cyndaquil, the gang made it to Azalea Town. Azalea Town was one of those peaceful towns surrounded by nature. When they first set foot in the town, they found out that the people there respected Slowpoke because they bring the rain whenever they yawned together. And the Slowpoke lived in Azalea Town as well as the Slowpoke Well, which was an underground river filled with Slowpoke.

"I find it amazing that this whole town is filled with Slowpoke." Misty said.

"I know what you mean." Ash nodded in agreement with her. "I mean it's normally forests, lakes, meadows, oceans and skies that are filled with Pokemon. And I know cities and towns get wild Pokemon, but this seems a bit crazy."

"Well since Slowpoke is worshiped here, it doesn't really surprise me." Brock said. "But I suggest we look for Kurt."

While they were looking for Kurt, Ash was looking at some sort of brochure which he had picked up in Azalea Town's Pokemon Center.

"What is that brochure about Ash?" Misty asked.

"It's about Kurt and how he's famous for making Poke Balls out of apricorns."

"Apricorns?" Misty asked.

"Yeah they are like giant berries." Brock answered. "Except humans and Pokemon can't eat them because their skin is very rough."

"That's right." Ash nodded. "And there are seven different kinds of apricorns, so Kurt makes seven different kinds of Poke Balls with them."

"Wow that sounds interesting." Misty said. "I'd like to see how Kurt does it."

"So would I." Tomo said.

Ash looked at the brochure some more.

"Oh it also says that you can make juice with apricorns." He said. "But you need to have a machine called an apriblender to make it."

"Oh really?" Brock asked.

"Yeah." Ash said. "The juice is called aprijuice and it's a sort of energy drink for Pokemon to make them strong."

Brock was intrigued by that.

Soon they finally arrived at the house Kurt lived in, an old Japanese style house. When they got there, a little girl greeted them.

"Hi there. What are you here for?" She asked.

"Hi there." Ash said. "We're here to see Kurt."

"My grandpa's in his workshop making Poke Balls." The girl said. "I'll take you to him. My name's Maisy by the way."

Maisy led the gang to Kurt's workshop; it was a big shed outside the house. An old man was putting something in an oven.

"Grandpa, someone is here to see you." Maisy said.

The old man stood up and looked at the gang.

"Welcome." He said. "And what can I do for you?"

Ash took the GS Ball out of his backpack and gave it to Kurt.

"Prof. Oak had no idea what this ball really was, so he thought you might be able to find out more about it."

"Well." Kurt said, inspecting the GS Ball. "This ball is certainly a mystery, but I will see what I can do to solve it."

"Yeah no need to worry." Maisy said. "If anyone can figure out this mysterious ball, grandpa can."

"Would you mind making the special Poke Balls from apricorns?" Ash asked Kurt.

"The truth is, I'm interested in this special type of Poke Ball." He said. "So would it be alright if I have each of the seven Poke Balls."

Misty thought that was a bit greedy, but Kurt agreed to do it.

"Certainly Ash." He said. "But you will need to grab some apricorns for me first."

Ash nodded and Maisy offered to help the gang.

Maisy showed the gang a tree that was growing outside the house. White things were growing in the tree.

"Those are white apricorns." Maisy said. "Grandpa uses those to make Fast Balls. Fast Balls are used to catch Pokemon that move quickly."

"Are they okay to pick?" Ash asked.

"The ones on the lower branch are." Maisy said, pointing to the ripe ones. "Before you pick one though I want to explain something first. You must be very careful when you pick apricorns because if you pick them like crazy before they're ripe, the apricorn trees would be destroyed. So you should only pick them when they are all ready to be picked and not take too many at once."

The gang agreed to be careful and then Ash picked a white apricorn.

Next Maisy took the gang to a forest near Azalea Town.

"We can get the other apricorns here." She said. First she led them to a tree with pink apricorns.

"Those pink apricorns are used for making Love Balls." Maisy explained. "And you can catch Pokemon of a different gender with them."

"That's cool." Ash said.

Maisy showed Ash which one was okay to pick and he picked it. The next tree was filled with yellow apricorns which were used to make Moon Balls which help capture Pokemon that evolve through the use of Moon Stones. The tree after that was filled with green apricorns which are used to make Friend Balls that make captured Pokemon friendlier. The next tree was filled with red apricorns which are used to make Level Balls for the purpose of capturing low level wild Pokemon. After that was a tree with blue apricorns used to make Heavy Balls, effective on a Pokemon that weighed a lot. In no time at all, Ash had seven different colored apricorns for Kurt to make into different Poke Balls. Misty picked two blue apricorns for herself, Tomo picked a blue apricorn, a red apricorn and a green apricorn for himself and finally Brock picked a black apricorn for himself.

"I can't wait to see how the Poke Balls will turn out." Ash said.

Tomo, Misty and Brock were excited too.

Just then Brock saw something in the tree.

"Hey look there." He said.

Some Pokemon that looked like giant pine cones were hanging from a tree.

"Those are Pineco." Maisy said.

Ash looked at Pineco on the Pokedex.

"Pineco, the Bagworm Pokemon. It likes to make it's shell thicker by adding layers of tree bark. The additional weight doesn't bother it."

"That sounds weird to me." Misty said.

"Not to me." Brock replied. "I want one."

He ran towards the tree where the Pineco were.

"I wish to capture one of you."

The biggest Pineco there was jumped down from the tree.

"Wow that Pineco doesn't seem afraid of being captured." Misty said.

"I'll say." Ash said.

Brock sent out Geodude to battle Pineco.

"Since Geodude is a rock type Pokemon." Ash said. "Pineco won't have a chance since it's a bug type Pokemon."

"What?" Misty gasped. "Pineco is a bug type Pokemon?"

"Yes, it may not look like a bug but it is one." Ash said.

"Well, Pineco don't look creepy to me." Misty said.

Ash and Tomo were relieved that Misty wasn't screaming like she normally does around bug type Pokemon.

"Okay Geodude, tackle that Pineco." Brock said.

Geodude charged into Pineco. Pineco jumped and then shot stars from it's body at Geodude.

"That Pineco knows Swift." Ash said. "It must be it's egg move."

The move did hit Geodude, but didn't do much damage due to Geodude being a rock type Pokemon.

"Use Mega Punch Geodude." Brock said.

Geodude's fist glowed white and then he punched Pineco really hard. Pineco was hurt by Mega Punch. Then Pineco started to glow white.

"Oh no." Maisy said. "It's going to use Self-Destruct."

"Brock better hurry up and do something before it does do that." Misty said.

"Now to catch it." Brock said.

He pulled out a red, white and yellow Poke Ball from his pocket.

"Hey that's a Fast Ball." Maisy said.

"Really?" Ash asked. "When did Brock get that?"

Brock threw the Fast Ball at Pineco and it was captured. Ash, Tomo, Misty and Maisy congratulated him for his capture.

"Hey Brock, when did you get a Fast Ball?" Ash asked.

"At the Pokemon Center." Brock said. "There's was an empty Fast Ball on the floor and I asked Nurse Joy if it belonged to anyone, and apparently no one claimed it. So I decided to keep it."

"I see." Ash replied.

He didn't mind Brock getting a special ball first because he was going to have a bunch of them later.

Soon they went back to Kurt's house and the gang gave the apricorns to him.

"Thank you." Kurt said. "I will start making them into Poke Balls right away. But you will have to wait until tomorrow for them."

"No problem." Ash said. "We're heading over to the gym tomorrow. So we'll pick them up aftewards."

"Hey did you learn anything about the GS Ball yet?" Misty asked.

"I'm afraid not." Kurt said. "But I will find out and let you know as soon as I can."

The gang hoped Kurt could uncover more about it.

That night the gang was resting in the Pokemon Center.

"I can't wait until we get our special Poke Balls." Tomo said.

"Neither can I." Ash added.

"Hey Ash." Misty called out. "What Pokemon are you going to use in the gym battle?"

"That's easy." Ash said. "Chikorita, Cyndaquil and Lugia."

"Huh, is Lugia ready for a gym battle?" Brock asked.

"Yep, I've done some serious training with him and taught him some new moves, so he is ready." Ash said.

Then the gang fell asleep.