Apricorns

Apricorns originated in the Gold and Silver games as items which could be found throughout the Johto region and given to a man in Azalea Town named Kurt who could turn them into special Poké Balls. They were present again in the second generation's third installment, Crystal. Apricorns did not return in the third generation games.

In the fourth generation Apricorns returned only in the remakes HeartGold/SoulSilver; they cannot be found in the Sinnoh region games Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. Rather than be random bag fodder a new item has been introduced, the Apricorn Case, which organizes and carries your Apricorns for you. It can be accessed from the Key Items menu. This item will be given to you on Route 30 early on in the game.

With their return they were given an additional usage, the ability to boost a Pokémon's Pokéathlon stats. Using the Apricorn Shaker item Apricorns can be combined and mixed together to yield a juice that, when given to a Pokémon, will boost stats relative to the Apricorn/s used. Research on these effects is currently ongoing...

Apricorns have the same growth rate as they did in Gold/Silver/Crystal, one per plant, per day. They do not require planting or watering, unlike berries. Fortunately HGSS adds a few more locations to find Apricorns (this is especially useful given their new usage) and those are provided in the table below.

Kurt

Kurt returns as the Poké Ball Blacksmith in HGSS. When you first meet him, after defeating Team Rocket at Slowpoke Well, he will reward you with a Fast Ball. He resides in north-west Azalea Town and that is where you will be able to find him for the remainder of the game.

As in Crystal you can give him multiple Apricorns of any single color at a time and he will retool them into any of the various Poké Balls listed below, dependent on the color of Apricorn, in 24 hours.

Transformations and Locations

Art	Sprite	Names	Ball Made	Locations
		Black くろぼんぐり	Heavy Ball	Routes 31, 33 and 43
		Blue あおぼんぐり	Lure Ball	Route 36
		Green みどぼんぐり	Friend Ball	Routes 29, 30, 35, 39, 45, and 46
		Pink ももぼんぐり	Love Ball	Routes 30 and 33
		Red あかぼんぐり	Level Ball	Route 44
		White しろぼんぐり	Fast Ball	Route 38
		Yellow きぼんぐり	Moon Ball	Violet City Route 36