Chapter Thirty-Two: The Sticky Pellet—Success!

"What is this thing you've got now?"
Zhu Suihan waved his hand. "Don't be impatient, there's a second experiment. The materials used for these two balls are a bit different."
Abi immediately glanced at the Scissor Mantis, the loyal red knight, who nodded earnestly and began adjusting his stance.
If the speed was the same as before, he should be able to catch it.
"The feel is different. The one with metal added should be a bit heavier."
Zhu Suihan tossed another flash of blue and white. "Go, Feather Ball!"
"Hassan!"
Without Abi needing to remind him, the Scissor Mantis darted forward, tracked the ball's trajectory, and positioned himself in advance. Like a baseball player, he caught the Feather Ball firmly with his pincers.
Even so, the Scissor Mantis felt a bit existentially perplexed.
With that speed and force, if you encountered this in the wild, as long as the thrower wasn't hopelessly unskilled, you'd be able to subdue a Pokémon from eight lengths away with a sneak attack!
Too high a probability for a full-health Pokémon to break free?
No matter. By the time the Pokémon breaks free, the trainer's partner is already crouched nearby, ready to unleash a finishing move.
As Abi's Pokémon, the Scissor Mantis naturally bore the imprint of the capturing energy.
Or rather, he'd been tagged with an identity proof, so he wouldn't be affected by the Feather Ball.
Abi stared wide-eyed. "What's with your Poké Ball? It doesn't look like you used much force!"
From Zhu Suihan's gestures and movements, Abi could tell it was a perfectly ordinary throw, probably comparable to how a trainer tosses a ball after a wild Pokémon loses its fighting power.
More like a casual toss.
"The ball is special—now you can see the difference."
Making Feather Balls from the feathers dropped by ordinary flying-type Pokémon causes them to drift after a certain distance, but adding metal components increases their stability.
Weight-wise, they should be effective against larger and more powerful Pokémon.
Zhu Suihan felt a bit regretful. Though he'd been intentionally training, he'd spent most of his recent time on research, so his physical strength hadn't improved much.
If it were someone like Zhiba or Ash—the human monsters—if they could aim properly, they could probably subdue a Pokémon from half a mountain away with a single ball.
As for the version of Feather Ball made from dropped materials, Zhu Suihan had an enhancement plan in mind.
If the dropped items came from Pokémon like Skarmory or Corviknight—metal powder and shells—the effects would definitely be improved.
The advanced versions would be the Wing Ball and the Shuttle Ball, above the Feather Ball.
But if using dropped items from Pokémon rather than attribute resources or associated ores...
Zhu Suihan felt a complex emotion.
Am I the giant smith myself?
"Ahem, how to put it..."
Abi coughed twice. "Suihan, since I let Scissor Mantis help you, shouldn't you show some gratitude?"
He was genuinely coveting the balls, so he selectively discarded his pride.
For someone who often ventures into the wild to observe bug-type ecologies, the blue-and-white Poké Ball's effect was just too good.
"I'll give you these two balls."
Zhu Suihan said, "If you need more, I can make them for you. Bring your own materials, I won't charge you for the labor."
In some sense, Abi was something of a benefactor, not too big nor too small. Though he relied on Mr. Iron's connections, he'd indeed helped a lot.
"I can guess you made them from primitive ball nuts, but that's fine—I can afford it."
Abi wasn't planning to arm a squad with Feather Balls and go on a rampage.
"All right, thanks. I'll continue my research. If there's any leftover materials later, I'll make a few more for you as spares."

Abi widened his eyes. "Wait, you're going to keep researching? Are all you researchers so reckless?"
Zhu Suihan couldn't help but glance at him. "Who's the one who stayed up all night reading materials—do you have any right to criticize me?"
"And when are you heading to Viridian City? If our schedules line up, maybe we can leave Azalea Town together."
"I don't know. I heard they're still recruiting people over there; we should wait for further notice."
Abi looked at the Feather Ball in his hand. "And if you're planning any experiments with finished products, you must give me a heads-up first."
If the Scissor Mantis hadn't been fast enough, that Poké Ball could have smashed the gym windows!
"Don't worry. If the research yields results, I’ll definitely drag you along."
If the research succeeded and a wild Pokémon happened to cause a commotion, Zhu Suihan would have every reason to stir things up.
Sticky Ball—he wondered if it would work on those legendary titans.
From his memory, even the Pokémon kings of each region—the leaders among leaders—could only be calmed with something called "treasure pacifiers."
If Ruby still followed the original plot to negotiate with Rayquaza, and Ruby’s energy cubes were gathered together, it could be seen as a kind of pacifying treasure.
The key was transmitting the trainer’s heartfelt intentions to the Pokémon during the process.
Considering that ball nuts harden when overheated, Zhu Suihan hadn’t tried temperature experiments.
Overheating would prevent the Sticky Ball from doing its job, and instead, it’d just be a brick to knock the Pokémon out.
"Water, then?"
Zhu Suihan signaled Lapras to try hydrating the ball nut, but didn't notice any special changes—perhaps it needed more time.
"Ball nut, hollow ball nut, hollow..."
A nearly rotten ball nut?
Suddenly, Zhu Suihan felt he’d found the key, and decisively ran to the gym’s ecological zone, lured a Caterpie with an energy cube to help him out.
"Ta-bi."
The Caterpie crawled onto the ball nut, or rather, hugged it with its upper body—much like a baby clutching a basketball—then turned to look adorably at Zhu Suihan.
"Right, try nibbling at it."
Caterpie obeyed, munching and chewing out a few holes in the ball nut. Zhu Suihan took it, examined it, and apart from gleaming ball nut juice, nothing particularly special seemed to happen.
Am I supposed to build a time machine just for this?
Well, just kidding.
Modern technology can make liquors mature in five, ten, or even more years—surely the Pokémon world could do something similar.
Now that Caterpie had nibbled it, how about trying a high-temperature environment?
Zhu Suihan handed Caterpie an energy cube, patted its head—he had to admit, the feel was superb, fluffy and soft.
He boiled water, put the ball nut in, simmered it for a few minutes, opened the lid, and poked the shell with chopsticks.
It softened.
Wonderful. Now I understand everything.jpg
Suppressing his excitement, Zhu Suihan set aside the softened ball nut, picked up another, and this time, instead of Caterpie, he used a small knife to cut a few slits on the shell.
He repeated the previous steps, opened the lid again, and got another softened ball nut.
He understood.
Integrity.
If the ball nut’s shell was intact, it would harden after forging, leaving no way to process it further.
A whole garment keeps you warm, but a torn one might not—perhaps that’s why the Sticky Ball sometimes needs to be thrown multiple times to work.
When artificially altered, or chewed by bugs, some "capturing energy" is lost.

"Keep going!"
Zhu Suihan turned up the heat, quickly made several half-softened primitive ball nuts, and wrapped them in bug silk and leaves.
The bug silk came from well-bred bug-type Pokémon, guaranteed quality; the leaves were similarly sourced.
In short, all materials were modern, but the finished product looked excessively old-fashioned.
Zhu Suihan left one Sticky Ball with an extra length of bug silk, intending to try it as a meteor hammer or chain ball.
"Oooh..."
Lapras shrank her neck nearby, nudged Zhu Suihan unhappily.
She felt the thing in her trainer’s hand was strange, making her uncomfortable all over.
"That’s true—Sticky Balls don’t care whether you want to be captured or not."
Zhu Suihan placed the finished products in the incense burner; the space backpack's purpose was to preserve the items’ effects to the utmost, akin to vacuum packaging.
"I didn’t expect so much left over—guess I’m just too clever."
A touch of vanity, Zhu Suihan began working, transforming the remaining seventy primitive ball nuts into Feather Ball series, using abundant materials—at least at Wing Ball level.
Unfortunately, he was a bit greedy during the process; a few balls had too much material, so the final count was seventy.
[Research Points: 70]
What is this, the Will of Seven?
But it makes sense—the Feather Ball series is different from the North Sea Ball he invented on a whim; at least it’s a historical version.
This was evident from the increased research points; even though items like Feather Balls and Sticky Balls boosted progress, it wasn’t as dramatic as last time.
"Next, I need a test subject for those Sticky Balls."
Lapras's reaction made it clear—his Sticky Balls were definitely effective, but the challenge was finding someone suitable to be hit.
He couldn’t just find random wild Pokémon for experiments—that would violate the principle of not doing to others what you wouldn’t want for yourself.
He wouldn’t let Abi’s Scissor Mantis help test the Sticky Balls, nor would he have Lapras try it herself.
Similarly, wild Pokémon hadn’t provoked him.
Unless someday he encountered something like a Mankey or Primeape—those hot-headed types looking for trouble.
Then Zhu Suihan wouldn’t hold back!
Let Primeape experience the harshness of modern society a bit in advance—maybe with a little stimulation, the "Fist of Rage" skill would be mastered instinctively, triggering evolution.
A young person full of sunshine and vitality—meaning Primeape—
After being crushed by society, turned into a soulless wage slave, filled with resentment against unscrupulous bosses and cunning merchants—
Disillusioned Ape, enters the stage!
Zhu Suihan arrived at the gym’s battlefield for another rookie match; Abi sent out Heracross to test the trainer and Pokémon’s mindset, but Heracross’s fierce appearance triggered intimidation and pressure.
The scene could only be described as helpless.
After the battle ended, Zhu Suihan tossed his water bottle to Abi.
"Do you have any Pokémon here who are rebellious, or those sent to labor reform after causing trouble?"
"Or let me rephrase—does Azalea Gym have a prison or something?"
Abi: ?