Author's Note:

There's a bonus Chapter 192.5 attached to this chapter. So don't miss out.

***

Nina and Kerry rang the shrine’s bell, clapping their hands together and bowing in deep prayer as was custom. 

However, Kurt just stepped around the donation box in irreverence and unceremoniously slid open the wooden door leading into the shrine. Beyond which was a simple altar housing a plush cushion with a singular Pokeball on top — one gleaming gold and silver.

“The GS Ball!” Nina exclaimed in her mind.

And indeed, cutting through the golden top and silver bottom like a deep scar were the letters G at the top and S at the bottom, both linked to the central button to form one continuous stroke.

“Here.” Kurt tossed the GS Ball over to Nina, causing her to fumble at it in a panic before securing it in her grip.

“The heck! How could he throw such a legendary item so casually like that?!”

But once she calmed her nerves and could properly examine the metallic sphere in her hand, Nina couldn’t help but gasp in awe. In particular, at the coarse texture of the gleaming shell, which had a sort of feather-like pattern etched all across its metallic body.

“So it’s true then, the GS Ball was crafted using the feathers of Ho-oh and Lugia…” Nina murmured, before jolting up in fright at her slip of tongue. “Crap, didn’t mean to say that out loud!”

However, Kurt just chuckled at the girl’s remark. “Heh! Seems like ya know more than I thought. That damned Elm, always such a Loudred. Don’t recognize that name you used though, is that something that brat dreamed up?” His face then twisted into a condescending smirk as he clicked his tongue. “Beautiful ain’t it? Probably the prettiest and most expensive failure ever made.”

“Failure?” Nina asked in confusion.

“Heh. D’ya know what that Ball was originally made for?”

Nina frowned in contemplation, trying to sort through her meta knowledge and consider their relevance. So far, things had been a lot different in this world after all.

“Let’s see here… In the anime, the GS Ball was a discarded plotline. The original idea was for it to contain a Celebi once opened. And in the games, it was an item used to summon Celebi in her shrine.”

“To catch a Legendary…?” Nina muttered, voice full of uncertainty.

Kurt snorted in affirmation. “Our foolish ancestors tried to create a vessel that could contain a Legendary Pokemon — more specifically, to contain Time, in a misguided attempt to attain immortality.”

“Celebi…”

“Ha! Not that it went anywhere. Because in the end, what they got was a glorified paperweight.” Kurt sighed. “What a waste of materials… Try to open it and see.”

Nina did as she was told, pressing down on the central button that all Pokeballs had, but to no effect as the GS Ball remained inert, still cold and gleaming against her palm. “Did they forget to program it or something?”

“Ha! Good one! But nay, that ain’t it. This Ball was brought to me by a lackey from Elm and Oak many years ago. They scanned it, did all their tests and some other science-y nonsense. The Ball should work, yet it don’t open. So what gives? That’s when they thought of ol’ Kurt.”

The man laughed. “And to think those bastards used to make fun of my art. Said it was mystic voodoo nonsense. Hah! Serves them right! Not that I managed to crack it either. But it does have an aura to it — makes it a nice bit of decoration for this here fake shrine.” 

Apparently, the shrine was originally erected as tourist bait, not that it worked since they didn’t bother to advertise it. Not to mention how difficult it was to actually access the village.

Nina nodded, unsure of what to say in response. Her mind still reeling at the casual discovery of such an important item. “This can’t be right. There has to be more to the GS Ball.” The girl recalled the disappointment from her childhood. For the GS Ball to be hyped up so much in the anime, only for it to be tossed aside and never mentioned again.

“Anyways, you asked about Celebi. That little rascal is attracted to that thing’s aura. No idea why. Bring it over to the shrine and she’s sure to show. I only found out by accident when I got lost in that rascal’s domain and had to take shelter in the shrine.”

“So Celebi is female…” Nina mused. It made sense. “Is it okay for me to take this? I mean, I know you said it doesn’t work. But this is basically an early prototype of a Master Ball isn’t it?” 

Unlike the games, Legendary Pokemon couldn’t be contained within normal Pokeballs — didn’t matter what kind. Their ancient minds were simply too vast, too incomprehensible for a mundane Psychic signature to take hold. 

The one exception was the Master Ball — a singular existence that broke all written laws on Pokemon rights, with all the usual limitations and safety features of a commercial Pokeball completely removed.

But that wasn’t all of course. The Master Ball was also capable of restraining a Legendary’s mind, forcing them into submission, a feat so incredible and so heinous that the inventor completely destroyed all traces of their research to ensure that it did not fall into the wrong hands. 

“Even the Legendary Red, Blue and Jade Orbs could only compel their respective Legendaries, not fully control them.”

In the end, only a single Master Ball was ever made, kept under guard by the Pokemon League to ensure that it never sees the light of day. The only reason why it was never destroyed was because of the usual paranoia that one would associate with conniving bureaucrats; for the off chance that a Legendary Pokemon ever went berserk one day and needed to be suppressed. Like if Giratina ever escaped the Distortion realm or something.

Or so that’s what they told the people. In reality, it was an open secret that each Region’s Pokemon League had access to at least one Master Ball in their vaults. As a deterrent against the aforementioned scenario. So evidently, the League did ultimately manage to reverse engineer the sole Master Ball left behind by its inventor.

Kurt scowled at the mention of Master Ball. “Don’t ya dare talk about that abomination in front of me. That thing’s an affront to everything that we stand for. And I ain’t giving it to ya, just lending it, and only because my gut tells me yer a good kid. Make sure to return it when yer done. And don’t ya dare lose it!”

Nina responded with a solemn nod and thanked the old man for his generosity.

***

“So? What sort of Pokeball you after?” Maizie asked.

Nina and the young Pokeball smith were now sitting in her workshop. Kurt’s house had suddenly been turned into an impromptu clinic once word had spread that a Nurse Joy was in town, much to the old man’s chagrin. The retired Pokeball smith had almost popped a blood vessel when they got back and saw a line of old folks queuing at his front door.

Nina reached into her backpack and rummaged around, to retrieve the Beast Ball that she recently acquired. “This might be a long shot, but any chance you could replicate some of this guy’s functions?”

Mazie practically threw herself over the table as she eyed the Beast Ball with a hungry gaze. “That’s quite the illegal little item you got there… Where’d ya get it from?” The girl cooed like a Meowth in heat as she gently took hold of the rare item and carefully examined it from every angle.

Nina laughed. “It’s a long story… But I don’t exactly plan to parade it around. And I also only have one. So do you think you can replicate it?”

The Pokeball smith hummed. “Unlikely, but I’ll need some time to research it to know for sure. Mind giving me a couple of days with it? I’m sure gramps will be interested as well. Fair warning though, there’s a non-zero chance we might break it.”

Nina frowned in hesitation, but was ultimately convinced when Maizie told her that she would make her a fresh batch of Apricorn Balls for free and that she would give Nina a lifetime discount and priority on any future orders.

“I’ll be out and about a lot. So… do you do, like, mail order or something?”

Maizie scoffed. “I live in the boonies but don’t mean I’m a bumpkin. ‘Course I do! Can’t have my clients come visiting everytime like gramps’. ‘Sides, having a buncha busybodies buzzing in and out is a real hassle. I’d rather just focus on my craft and let Kuwamushi handle the emails.”

“Wait, your Heracross can do emails?!”

Not holding back, Nina ordered the full suite of Apricorn Balls that Maizie had on offer; Heavy Ball, Lure Ball, Friend Ball, Love Ball, Level Ball, Fast Ball, Moon Ball, as well as a whole slew of other prototype originals that Maizie was working on. Since Nina was a miser and the first round was free. “Gotta make up for that Gold Nugget!”

“Wait, wait!” yelled the flustered Maizie. “I ain’t got that much time to make all of that! Not unless you wanna wait til next year. Three!” The girl exclaimed, with her fingers raised. “I can make you three in the time that you have with us, since you’re leaving soon anyway. Then I’ll make you another three that I’ll transfer to you at a later date. And if we manage to figure out the Beast Ball then I’ll send you a prototype for free as well. How’s that sound?”

Nina wilted, but ultimately nodded in acknowledgement. “I suppose I can only be so unreasonable. Man, I’m really starting to become more and more like Violet huh?” It was a disturbing notion that sent shivers down her spine.

In the end, the girl settled for a Fast Ball for more skittish and restless Pokemon, a Maizie original Swamp Ball that would be perfect for Sir Clodington, and a Heavy Ball for the thiccc bois/gals out there. Those seemed to be the more immediately useful ones, though she did plan on getting more.

Some of Maizie’s other original creations seemed quite tempting as well, like a Sun Ball specifically tailored to Grass Types with adjustable internal conditions to ensure their comfort and health. Though that one was plagued with durability issues according to the young craftswoman.

Maizie nodded and noted down Nina’s orders, even asking if she wanted to customize the look of the Balls. “I should have ‘em ready for you before you leave the village. And hopefully, I should be able to return the Beast Ball to you as well.”

Nina thanked the older girl, but instead of leaving her to work, she continued to ask some additional questions. “Maizie… The Unown that you etch into your creations…”

“No idea.” Maizie answered before Nina could finish. “I treat them almost like… art? The way that gramps does. Like, you don’t need to understand how to make paint to make use of them in a painting right? Just gotta know how the colors interact with one another and how they all look in the end.”

Nina nodded. It made sense, kind of. “I just thought… because Mr Pokemon used the word ‘program’ to describe your work.”

The young Pokeball smith shrugged. “Eh. Sort of? C’mon, lemme show you something.”

Maizie got up and led Nina into another room. One filled with machinery powered by a Voltorb and hooked up to a Magneton. The whole space looked fairly incongruous set against the plain wooden background.

“Back in gramp’s day, making Apricorn Balls was as much about luck as it is about skill.” Maizie explained how traditional Pokeball smithing had a fairly high failure rate requiring a lot of time and experimentation.

The girl said that the etching of each Apricorn Ball would vary depending on their grain, since the grains acted as circuitry of sorts. “So like, the interior of two Friend Balls are different from one another and stuff. Though the color of the Apricorn, that is, the type of fruit, does make a difference. No idea why though.” 

This was the main cause of failure. If the Unown were arranged incorrectly, then the Pokeball would be inert even if it was perfectly crafted. Old school craftsmen like Kurt mainly relied on their predecessor’s records and rote memorization.

“In a batch of ten, your average smith might just get two usable balls, if any. Reason why they call gramps a legend is ‘cause his success rate is higher than the norm. Old man always had an instinct to ‘im, like he just knows how the inscriptions are supposed to flow together.”

The girl then gestured towards all her machinery. “I ain’t got a shred of that old Growlithe’s instincts, so I rely on these little doodads. Pokeballs are industrial items these days. Stuff you get in the Pokemart are all standardized — buncha metal and wires. White goods that people just throw around like garbage.”

Maizi sighed. “But there’s still value in the craft. Else, why would weirdos like you come knockin’? But I ain’t a wastrel and I can’t be bothered wasting all my time and Apricorns. So I took apart a buncha gramps’ work and scanned it into this database.”

“So you’re using Magneton’s Analytic ability for machine learning…” Nina gasped.

“Yup. To make up for my lack of talent. So before each project, I just have ol’ Denji scan the grains of each shell and they automagically extrapolate a working template for me. Ain’t perfect, mind you — still gotta go in and make adjustments, ‘specially at the beginning. But now, it saves a heckuva lot of time and Apricorns.” Then the hardest part was just the crafting, which was prone to failure too, even for a smith as skilled as Maizie.

“So yeah… After all this time, I have a rough idea of how the Unown interact with one another. How to chain ‘em together and arrange ‘em to create certain effects with my Pokeballs, but I have no idea beyond that.” 

“She’s basically vibe coding while her grandpa is like a medieval mortician maybe?” Nina nodded, scribbled in her notebook and thanked the girl for her insight. 

She had been examining the fragment of a broken Apricorn shell as Maizie was talking. And sure enough, the Unown letters were arranged in a discernable pattern, but not in a way that was obviously legible to her otherworldly brain. 

Although, if she squinted hard enough, Nina could maybe make out some abbreviated words here and there. “It’s hard to tell with how stylized and distorted they are. I’ll have to borrow a fragment and study them in depth later.”

“Thanks, Maizie. I should probably go check on Kerry, see if she needs any help. I’ll leave you to your work now.”

***

Author's note:

Just FYI, if ever there is a Legendary Pokemon that takes a liking to Nina, they can be voluntarily contained within a Pokeball.

It's just that I've always felt it was a little ridiculous that you can catch the likes of Giratina in a bog standard Pokeball if you get lucky enough. So this is my way of rationalizing things.