The Pineco Ball is a Pokeball made from round pinecone fruit. Because the ball itself carries many special effects and has a shape distinct from ordinary Pokeballs, it is very popular among the public.
However, the Pineco Ball's production requirements are demanding, and the maturation of the round pinecone fruit is rather complicated, making Pineco Balls scarce and always in demand.
But this is Mr. Kurt, the creator of the Pineco Ball. As long as there are materials, Kurt can make as many Pineco Balls as needed.
He is friends with Professor Oak, and Ash is the favored protege of Professor Oak. Plus, Ash brought the GS Ball all the way here, prompting Kurt to say that however many round pinecone fruits Ash and his friends gather, he will help them make the Pineco Balls.
With such an offer, Ash naturally wouldn't hesitate.
Following Brock, they arrived at Azalea Town's mountain, which was covered with round pinecone fruit. Brock led them to understand the state of maturity and immaturity of the fruit and reminded them that immature round pinecone fruits must not be picked.
After all, the growth conditions of the round pinecone tree are harsh and do not bear fruit infinitely, so wasting even one fruit is heartbreaking.
But for Ash, this is not an issue.
Everything has life, everything has Aura. As long as maturity is determined by the Aura strength of the round pinecone fruit, the picking can be precise.
Still, while Mr. Kurt said he would help make however many they pick, they clearly can't take too many round pinecone fruits, as that would be too troublesome for him.
So Ash and Brock took one fruit of each kind, while Misty and Serena focused on collecting more blue, pink, and red round pinecone fruits.
For girls, cute Pokeballs are the top priority. Misty particularly likes Water-type Pokemon, so the blue round pinecone fruit used for making Pokeballs to capture Water-type Pokemon is naturally her favorite.
In total, the four of them gathered twenty-eight round pinecone fruits, averaging seven each.
The picking process was simple; Ash used Aura Power to slightly hook and take them down, leaving Brock looking dumbfounded.
This was because usually, many Pokemon guard round pinecone fruits, especially the Pineco, which like Voltorb and Electrode, can trigger an explosion with even a little provocation.
Thus, the process of gathering round pinecone fruit is typically challenging, involving avoiding the guarding Pokemon or defeating them head-on, and finding mature fruits among many conditions limiting the number of round pinecone fruits picked each time.
With five people coming to gather, Brock thought gathering two or three round pinecone fruits would be considered a great achievement. Who could have imagined the leader possesses such unique abilities!!
Not only could he converse with Pokemon, but with just a finger motion, he could take round pinecone fruits from the tree.
It is literally just flicking his finger; he slightly bent his finger below, and the round pinecone fruit came flying as though attracted to him. It was simply unbelievable!
Having watched little TV, Brock wasn't very familiar with Ash, recalling only occasionally hearing his name, which he had forgotten.
Every action from Ash brought a great shock to young Brock.
After gathering round pinecone fruits, they prepared to return to Mr. Kurt, when the long-absent Team Rocket trio appeared, declaring they would take all the round pinecone fruits here.
Ash replied, "Why don't you stay cool elsewhere?" He then instructed Pikachu to use Thunderbolt.
It unexpectedly ended up charging the Rockets' vacuum cleaner, boosting its power to the point it almost uprooted the round pinecone tree!
Seeing the situation, Ash quickly used Aura Power to protect the surrounding round pinecone trees, also voicing admiration for Team Rocket's technological progress.
Pikachu is now at Mid-Elite Level, yet even Mid-Elite Level Thunderbolt couldn't break through the opponents' electric absorption device. These three are surely specialized against Electric-type Pokemon!
But only against Electric-type Pokemon. When Ash released Lucario to send an Aura Sphere, those three and their junk all flew into the sky!
With a familiar "What an annoying feeling," Ash felt everything had returned to normal.
For Brock, experiencing this for the first time, he looked at the act performed as if watching a circus show.
After dealing with Team Rocket, Brock casually captured a Pineco that had been sucked down by the strong vacuum cleaner.
The Pineco was almost taken by Team Rocket but was timely hit with a Pokeball by Brock and captured.
Capturing a Pokemon with a single ball without a battle is an extremely rare event.
The group then returned to Kurt's residence, handing over the round pinecone fruits.
"How did you manage this? You gathered so many round pinecone fruits in such a short time?" Kurt looked at the pile resembling a small mountain and was thoroughly astonished.
Goodness, a rough look reveals at least over twenty! Considering the walk back and forth, did they use only ten minutes to gather so many round pinecone fruits?