Whenever Applin chose to inhabit an apple, the Grass-type Energy it carried would merge with the apple, preventing oxidation and effectively making it part of Applin's body.
However, its evolution differed somewhat from the game mechanics of Ash's previous life. Although the apple's flavor still determined which evolutionary branch it took, it was not limited to a particular special apple.
In reality, once Applin inhabited an apple, it would steadily eat away at the flesh inside, absorbing the nutrients it needed to evolve.
Of course, eating through a single apple was not enough to meet the conditions for evolution.
It had to keep changing hosts and eating more flesh to fulfill those requirements, preferably from apples of a single flavor.
If it accumulated sour nutrients, it would evolve into Flapple, a physical attacker capable of flight.
Conversely, if it accumulated sweet nutrients, it would evolve into Appletun, a bulky special attacker touted as a "hardcore" tank.
Both had excellent potential for development, along with their own signature moves.
Although Ash did not know which form Applin would ultimately evolve into, since he had caught it as his starter Pokémon, he would treat it as a partner, or even family.
Because of the painful memories from his previous life, Ash decided to let Applin choose its own evolutionary path without interfering.
In the end, Applin chose a half-green, unripe apple as its new host, which could be considered a first step toward accepting Ash as its owner.
In this world, when someone bought a Poké Ball, the store would also ask for their ID to register an account on the national website.
Once the Poké Ball's built-in system was linked to a personal account, its owner could connect to it through a Smartphone anytime, anywhere, to check which Pokémon they had