Tia fulfills a special request from a Poke Ball collector in return for some special information.
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
“The things I do for information…” Tia muttered to herself as she crouched behind a fallen concrete wall. The swarm of Voltorb in front of her rolled merrily along, electricity snapping between them like twigs.
Her target: a shiny Voltorb, distinct from the rest of the swarm with its blue and white color scheme, more resembling a Great Ball than a Poke Ball. Her assignment: to catch the shiny Voltorb in a Premier Ball.
Tia didn’t know exactly who her client was, having found the request on a local job board in Route 10’s Pokemon Center, only that he or she was a self-proclaimed Poke Ball collector and was offering rare insider information on Poke Ball development to the person who could catch a shiny Voltorb in a Premier Ball. Why Premier Balls, Tia didn’t know. Personally, she thought the color scheme would work better with Great Balls, but who was she to judge?
The whole thing smelled of a giant scam, but the promise of rare Poke Ball development information was too strong. There were some things, as a lowly university student, that she just did not have access to. Maybe this person used to work for Silph or Devon and was willing to share what they knew. Then again, her parents were Poke Ball specialists who worked for Silph and Devon, and she’d already learned so much from them. What more did she need? No matter. She was going to get that development info, or her curiosity would never let it rest.
And so here she was, skulking around in the abandoned Kanto Power Plant like an urban explorer, chasing after special Voltorbs with special Poke Balls.
Tia pulled out a homemade blue ball and threw it near the swarm of Voltorbs. As it hit the ground, it let out a noise like a shot. Several of the Voltorbs noticed and rolled toward the noise, excluding the shiny Voltorb, which stood its ground.
Tia nodded and crept closer to the Voltorb. The Scatter Bang seemed to be doing its job; Tia had found the recipe for it in an old tome of ancient capture methods, and figured it would come in handy.
She eventually got close enough to the shiny Voltorb to throw a Premier Ball. The Voltorb disappeared inside, and she waited anxiously as the Premier Ball wobbled three times, then clicked shut.
Tia picked up the Premier Ball and looked up to see the other Voltorb rolling back to her. She threw another Scatter Bang, which only made them angry and roll toward her faster. A couple of them started throwing out Electric attacks. “Oh, no…” She backed away, turned around, and ran, feeling ridiculously like a lone tenpin in a bowling alley...
Some time later, Tia emerged from the ruined entrance of the abandoned Power Plant, exhausted, clutching a lone Premier Ball in one hand and beating the static out of her hair with the other. The humid air was charged with electricity, and the sky threatened to pour down rain.
As she walked back to the river, Tia thought she heard a trilling bird’s call amid the thunder, and she looked around. Seeing nothing, she continued on her way.
Back at Route 10’s Pokemon Center, Tia plugged the Premier Ball into her workstation and loaded the capture data.
Voltorb
Level 30
Gender: Unknown
Capture Rate: 0.99
The capture rate looked about right for a repurposed Poke Ball. Tia unplugged the Premier Ball and carefully placed it in her pack to take to the Poke Ball collector.
The “rare Poke Ball development info” ended up being a wash: it was for something called the Beast Ball – a Ball developed in Alola, specifically for a single class of Pokemon: Ultra Beasts, whatever they were. Used on any other Pokemon, the capture rate was an abysmal 0.1. For Tia’s research, they were basically useless.
As Tia was moping over this, her Pokegear rang.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Tia.”
“Aidan!” Tia said cheerfully, “Just the person I needed to talk to!”
Aidan chuckled. “You sound pretty excited to hear me. What’s up?”
“Ever heard of Pokemon called Ultra Beasts?”
In the original Pokemon Crystal, the Power Plant is operational. In Pokemon Crystal Clear, however, it's still abandoned.