With Apricorn season comes... Apricorns! They're a common fruit found in nearly any biome in the Japanese regions where trees grow, and are one of the first materials used to make Apricorn Balls. I got the supplies and made a few to demonstrate c^^
Materials you'll need: at least one Apricorn, something to cut it in half (i used a pull-saw), very tiny hinges, latches, and screws, a very small screwdriver, linseed oil, sandpaper, and a rag.
The full step by step is found below the cut!
Gather your supplies! I'm working outside on a folding table. Apologies for the angle.
The first step is to split the Apricorn in half neatly, with the step-side being centered on one of the halves. That will be your top shell!
There will be a fruit inside; many Pokemon enjoy eating it, like Niniku, who immediately hijacked my table to steal the halves and clean them out for me.
You'll want to thoroughly clean out every shell, wiping out any junk, fruit, or other biological material aside from the shell, which has the feel of a hard wood. Remove the stem entirely- there will be a small hole on the top where the stem once was.
Sand down the two halves- you need to make a 'dip' on one half and slightly widen the other, so the two can sit slightly within each other and form a complete seal.
Some people like to sand down the outer shell of the lower ball entirely to reveal the wood-grain pattern, but this is solely for aesthetics. I don't want to put all that work in.
This stage in the process is where the two haves start to function as a Pokeball, but you have to have a very tight grip- or the two halves will fall apart and forcibly eject the Pokemon inside.
Realize you forgot to get a rag and run to grab a rag to rub in the linseed oil. This will preserve the wood and make sure the apriball doesn't rot out. I like to do this prior to the metalwork to make sure the entire thing is coated. Make sure you give it time for the linseed to soak! With something small like an Apricorn, I only had to wait a half hour.
Realize you forgot your screwdriver and go get that. In older times, they would fashion these hinges and latches out of the unique material Tumblestone, but I don't have that and this serves the purpose of keeping the two halves together perfectly well. Many people also add a metal trimming around the edges of the ball, but I don't have that right now.
I once knew a guy who would waste his time carving the two halves to screw into each other...
And you've made yourself a basic Apriball! This one has no upgrades or increased catching power, but it has baseline function, takes more time and effort, is more expensive, and is much easier to fuck up. Happy crafting!
This class begins in the orchard and makes it's way towards the garden as Ellisa shows trainers the various fruits they may encounter on their journey. Light rain in the early morning and a breeze helped cool things off a little, but the afternoon sun eventually burned through the clouds.
Foraging 101: Apricorns and Berries
Apricorns are the fruit of a tree in the Order Rosales. This taxonomic group includes many well known plants, such as roses, bulk, razz, pecha, rawst, aspear, figy, nanab, wepear, and apicot berries, apples, pears, strawberries, raspberries, black berries, mulberries, most stone fruits, almonds, hops, nettle, and cannabis. The apricorn tree grows best in cool climates, making the versitile plant impossible to grow in some regions.
If the plant is native to your region, you'll be looking for short, stocky trees bearing large fruit. Color is not a good indicator, as common apricorns come in a variety of colors, and fancy varieties can produce even more. Instead, shape is the best way to identify. They should be roughly the size and shape of a navel orange, with a hard, woody cap where the stem protrudes. The fruit is very similar to western Persimmons: horribly bitter and tough until very over ripe. In order to eat these strange fruits, you must either let them ripen way past maturity, until they are almost fermented, or freeze and blend them to make them palatable. Various colors taste slightly different, with white being the most bland and versitile. While they are still young and hard, Apricorns can be harvested and hollowed out to make Pokéballs and other vessels.
Ancient Hisui (modern Sinnoh) had a brown variety of Apricorn that seems to have since gone extinct. Records show that while these were not eaten, they were incredibly useful, as all kinds of Pokéballs were made from them.
I do not recommend attempting to craft your own Pokéballs from Apricorns without sufficient training. Today, even small business owners will purchase the electronic parts of Pokéball making from Silph Co. to ensure the safety of the Pokémon, as ancient methods could be faulty and did not contain the same saftey measures that modern producers have invented. Instead, you can harvest and sell them to local businesses for their craft, or turn them into an edible snack with the previously mentioned methods above.
Berries are one of the most reliable food sources around the world. Most varieties grow well in any climate, and can be found on nearly every route in every region. Some regions have government programs in place to grow berries in specific, easy to locate places along routes to help trainers survive. You can find these locations close to the path in well kept flower beds. The domestically grown berries will always grow on short shrubs, roughly 1.5 foot in diameter and no more than 4 foot tall. It is common courtesy to plant a new berry in the place of what you harvested, and water every berry plant you come across, as they are fast growing and supply many trainers. Sitrus and Oran berries contain the highest nutritional value of the known berries, so are safe bets when unsure what to plant. If you're lost off the path, you may encounter more wild varieties of berries, which will grow in slightly unfamiliar ways. Some may grow on trees, vines, low creeping plants, tall stalks, or thorny bushes. The fruit itself should appear nearly identical to those found on paths, though are generally smaller and less sweet. Do not plant these berries in flower beds on paths, as they aren't as reliable as domestically grown berries and take up too much space.
When in doubt, it's better to pass up on potentially safe food than to accidentally poison yourself. Exercise caution when foraging. Try a tiny lick of fruit in a safe space and wait an hour to see the effects before eating the whole thing if you aren't 100% certain it's edible.
What had to be the weirdest thing you had seen on your Pokémon journey?
Oh dear. There’s plenty of odd stuff out there... For example, my family still uses Apricorns to make Pokeballs. It was a major shock to me when I found out you could mass purchase Silph Co. ones in stores! There was a point, when I was filling out my NatDex, where I stopped using Apricorns completely, just because I was catching so may Pokemon for my PokeDex, and it was more convenient. Nowadays however, I’ve gone back to Apricorn balls, simply because it feels a bit more personal; They’re pretty easy to customize and adjust for different Pokemon, if you know how, so I can pretty easily get lost in carving for hours, making sure they suit their residing Pokemon!
Then, there was finding out you could resurrect Fossil Pokemon. When I was younger, they had only just started to do so, and it was definitely a major shock for me! Now, its pretty common, but when the science was new... Well, lets just say I searched for Fossils for hours when I found out!
Recently, I’ve stopped being surprised by things quite as often, and excluding the Galar Fossil Pokemon, poor things, I can’t exactly say I’ve seen anything too weird as of late...
Then again, I suppose there was the Pachirisu my Assistant found... He has pink cheeks rather than yellow! I ended up doing a quick check up and took a DNA sample, before releasing him back into the wild. He’s a healthy little dude, and I’m interested to see if more Pachirisu with pink cheeks crop up in the coming years. Not particularly weird, but it was rather cute looking.
