Thank You, And Damn My Keyboard For Adding Unnecessary "AlALLL".

I wasn’t talking about this, I was just saying, that, if the demo was made using the assets of the full version (models, sprites, sounds etc.), it is possible, that Game Freak just left some of the full-game assets (sprites, evos etc.) in the demo instead of removing them.

Welp now that Pokemon’s been data mined and I’m mostly on mobile I guess I’m not getting on Tumblr for a month lol.

Also, one can see post-mortem organ donation as a way to make his/her legacy live even after his/her death. I think it’s a pretty noble way to help other people even from the other side of the grave.

France just made every citizen an organ donor — will other nations follow its lead? (x) | follow @the-future-now

Past of the future, future of the past...

Chapter 9. A strange beginning

25.06.2000, 20 years after the Shift Neighborly Town, Sinnoh

Gentle ringing sound filled the room. With a sigh, a boy with long blue hair has removed the blanket and got up, doing morning stretches. After he was done, he took a shower, changed from his favorite dark pajamas to something more suitable and left his room, going down to kitchen for breakfast.

As always, his mom Deborah has made something amazingly-smelling and his dad Yakob was trying to start himself up with a cup of some horrifying caffeine mix, as dark as…

"Oh, and there you are, just in time!" said Deborah, as a figure has arisen from the shadows in the far end of the room.

"Suppose so. Morning, everyone," replied the Pitch-Black Pokemon, crossing the room.

"Morning, Darkrai," sighed Tobias, taking a seat. Yakob mumbled something welcoming too, then returned to drinking his crime against coffee. Darkrai visibly shifted away from Yakob, still having highly unpleasant memories about that one time he tried whatever infernal substance Tobias' dad was brewing for himself. There was a good reason it was once nearly classified as a chemical weapon, as a wide-awake Komala in Yakob's lab, who also made a mistake of trying this liquid insanity, could attest to.

After a wonderful breakfast (with Latios joining them soon after the beginning), the entire group started to pack up for today's trip in Unova. Thankfully, whatever unholy mixture Yakob was taking was sufficient to finally wake him up, so, he took the wheel, leaving Deborah, Tobias and Darkrai free to take seats, while Latios has cloaked and clung to the car's roof, loving the thrill of "riding" like that.

With a silent hiss, hydrogen started flowing into the fuel cells. Seconds later, with a quiet whine, wheel hub motors kicked in, driving the car away from the home and towards the Sunyshore City - specifically, the Theta Spaceport.

----

The not-so-young-anymore dragon silently flew underneath the forest's canopy, using the flexibility of its serpentine body to maneuver between trees. Something in the back of its mind screamed, that it shouldn't be going like this, that it should be soaring free in the sky, but immediate concerns continued to override it for many years.

Jet-black Legendary knew, that here, it was in relative safety. Humans would have massive troubles searching for it there. They won't risk using their horrific weapons there… or, at least, so it hoped.

Right now, it was nearing the edge of the forest, near the road from place, known to humans as "Pallet Town". It has decided to stay here for a bit, until the night comes… which should happen relatively soon, in fact.

Rayquaza took a rest on a tree, monitoring the situation around. Thankfully, the road wasn't used this often and Rayquaza knew, how to hide, so, even with its jet-black scales, it didn't have much trouble hiding.

Some time later, it has noticed a single young human, who was traversing down the road with two Pokemon at his side - a Pikachu and a Solosis.

Sky High Pokemon knew this human - quite a few years ago, this young human got lost in the forest and ended up taking shelter from rain under the roots of a large tree, together with a lot of Pokemon. Rayquaza knew this moment very well, especially since it also took a shelter there, coiling around others… and, despite worries of the Legendary, it all went pretty nice.

Sensing no one else of note around, the not-so-young dragon decided to take a risk and lit up the bioluminescent stripes, then flew almost right in front of the young human, even showing off a bit. While human did end up taking some device and pointing it at Rayquaza, evidently, it has malfunctioned and produced no result of worth… although Sky High Pokemon decided to stop doing the risky things now, darkened the bioluminescent stripes again and disappeared under the canopy of the forest, barely noticing Ho-oh flying above it, to which none of the participants paid much attention.

----

"Good afternoon passengers," sounded from the speakers. "This is the pre-boarding announcement for flight P-52-4 to Nuvema, Unova. Please have your boarding pass, Pokeballs and identification ready. Boarding will begin in approximately ten minutes time on Tower 12. Thank you."

Tobias, Deborah and Yakob nodded to each other and headed towards the appropriate access terminal. Two elevator and one travelator rides later, they were walking through the access arm to their vehicle, which was just finishing getting refueled with slush hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Seemingly short and stout (but only seemingly so), it, nonetheless, was capable of easily carrying up to 1000 people between any two points of Earth.

Family took their designated places, with Latios being confined to a Pokeball and Darkrai managing to secretly leave it and sneak into the shadow under Tobias' bunk.

"Attention, passengers, this is your captain speaking. The vessel will take off in ten minutes. Walkway is now retracting," sounded from speakers, as the doors to the outside world got closed and walkway got retracted. Passengers were still chatting, as they were taking their places and preparing for takeoff, some of them checking safety cards and/or watching the safety videos, some sharing their experiences, some merely talking… all was as usual.

"Attention, passengers, this is your captain speaking. The vessel will take off in five minutes. Make sure you're on your designated acceleration couch, safely strapped and with your Pokeballs put into the safe underneath it," sounded from the speakers again. Tobias, after a small check, found out Darkrai's small machination, but decided to stay quiet, knowing his oldest Pokemon partner all too well.

"Ten, nine, ignition sequence start, six, five, engine running fully... Liftoff! We have a liftoff on ballistic liner P-52-4! Tower cleared!"

As those words were being said, the plug-cluster aerospike engine has ignited and reached the nominal power. The launch clamps have opened too, letting the huge rocket soar into the sky and set the trajectory to suborbitals, while also making passengers experience moderate G-force. People, however, seem to take it just fine, some of them even joking about the flight being "Smooth, quiet and, in altogether, delightful experience".

Finally, all external fuel tanks ran dry and, with quiet dull clangs, separated from the rocket, starting their own flyback sequence to allow for easier recovery. In the meantime, ballistic liner finished the boost phase and entered the microgravity coast, with captain making another announcement:

"Good afternoon passengers. This is your captain speaking. First I'd like to welcome everyone on Talonflame Aerospace flight P-52-4. We are currently cruising at an altitude of 185 km at an speed of just under 7 km/s. The time is 1:25 pm. The weather under us looks good and with the lack of wind at the arrival point we are expecting to land in Nuvema with some fuel to spare. The weather in Nuvema is clear and sunny, with a high of 25 degrees for this afternoon. If the weather cooperates we should get a great view of the city as we descend. Right now, you will be able to unstrap yourself and to get some awesome views in the illuminators. I'll talk to you again before we reach our destination. Until then, relax and enjoy the rest of the flight."

Indeed, soon enough, people liberated themselves from the safety straps and started gathering around illuminators, with Darkrai managing to slip out of the shadows and get near Tobias too. While it did prompt some uneasiness, authority of Yakob and Deborah was sufficient to prevent it from escalating further, allowing a blue-haired boy and a white-haired Mythical to enjoy views of Earth from the space for a bit longer… until another announcement came through:

"Attention, passengers, this is your captain speaking. In five minutes, we will begin the flip maneuver. Please, return to your couches and strap yourselves back."

Grumbling, people have complied, returning back to their acceleration couches and strapping themselves in order to prevent flying away, when rocket fires maneuvering thrusters. In exactly five minutes from announcement, RCS engines rumbled and the rocket flipped around, pointing the main plug-cluster aerospike engine in the direction of travel. Soon, the main engine woke up again, decelerating the rocket a bit and correcting its trajectory.

The rocket plunged through the atmosphere, decelerating even further as it goes, with liquid hydrogen circulating through the truncated spike of main engine and cooling it down, allowing it to work as a heat shield. Soon, it ended its flight by a gentle hover landing, with exactly right position and heading to allow one of the access arms on the service tower to reach it. After the connection of access arm and opening of doors, Tobias and his family packed up and left the rocket, reaching their rented car two elevator and two travelator rides later.

As usual, human part of the family took their places in the vehicle, Latios cloaked and clung to the outside, while Darkrai stayed in shadows near the backseat.

"So…" started Tobias. "What's this conference's going to be about?"

"As always, yearly conference between researchers of Legendary and Mythical Pokemon," replied Yakob, driving the car to the hotel. "Thanks to your help, we've got some nice results."

"Yakob, if they ever try this again…" said Darkrai from the shadows in a pretty grim voice.

"I know, crouch, get to the nearest cover and wait for the Dark Void attacks to stop flying, then use the replicas of Lunar Wing over the victims, once you've cleared the area."

"Exactly. The fact of me deciding to follow Tobias and you two on my own volition does not mean me welcoming invasive experimentation."

"I sure remember the last time…" muttered Deborah in a strange voice.

"I didn't kill anyone back then, though," quickly replied the Pitch-Black Pokemon, as if slightly afraid, prompting Tobias to enter the conversation again:

"Mostly because of Latios with his Heal Pulse being capable of stabilizing their condition, until I was there to break the Lunar Wing replicas from my personal stash out."

"Yep. Exactly what I've counted on," said Darkrai, even leaving the shadow a bit and nodding.

"Not the best strategy… but, I guess, we'll have to let it slip for now." mumbled Tobias' mother, then sighed. "I hate the rocket lag, to be honest."

"We all do!" agreed everyone inside the car with her.

----

"Now arriving to the Space Colony Core-Middleway," sounded in the cabin of "Drapion" Galarian deep space transporter, as it was slowing down and preparing to dock to the still-unfinished Bernal Sphere - a greatest testament to the insane race of the Space Fever, alongside with automated factories on the Moon, as well as mass driver, which was used to deliver parts of the colony into space, where they were assembled.

"Finally…" mumbled a remarkably unremarkable human, cradling some strange case in his hands. Soon, a quiet, dull "clang" announced, that the ship has docked to the gigantic space installation. Man, blending in with the rest of passengers of the Earth-L5 express, left it through the docking tube and went through a route few people knew, heading straight to the biolabs block on the equator of the sphere.

Inside the Lab 14, another man was already waiting for him.

"So?.."

"Recovered," said the newcomer, opening his case and extracting a strange, tubular device with a faint glow inside the transparent middle section. "You have no idea, how hard it was, though. But old Fuji built some stuff real sturdy."

"Heh… brother was sure like this… was."

The colonial sighed, knowing too well, what's happened back on the planet, then went for another question:

"What about the second specimen?"

"Was unable to recover."

"Well… I guess we'll have to do with only her for now."

"I guess."

The newcomer gave the device to the colonial scientist, who, gently cradling it, took it to the adjacent room and placed it on the table, starting to connect it to the equipment.

"Lessons were learned, mistakes will not be repeated," mumbled the scientist, working on the device and, from time to time, looking at a huge empty biogrowth tube behind him. "I just hope you'll understand me, when the time comes…"

----

"Your Majesty?" sounded a message from the comm app.

"Yes?" replied the Empress.

"Project SAS is going almost as planned. Phase 2 is at 70%, industrial automation is progressing surely, second level networks are almost established."

"ISFs 3, 5 and 9?"

"Gave us all-clear on the technical side."

"And… what about possibility of Scenario 5?"

"Non-zero, but not too great. Roughly 3.6% possible."

"3.6% - not great, not terrible," concluded the Empress, before the call has ended and she relaxed in the chair, remembering, how has it all started fifteen years ago...

----

The Empress was sitting in her chair, listening to the group of scientists, who were standing before her and telling about a plan - a very audacious one, but, given, what has happened a week ago, worthy of consideration. When they've finished giving the explanation, she stood up a bit, walked to the window and, looking at the city outside of the Palace, asked:

"Automation of the economy, huh?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"And… what does it promise for the Empire?"

"Well… an economic solvency that will eclipse that of the rest of the world, no corruption, once it's fully implemented, highly-reactive planning, allowance…"

"Enough. Tell me one thing… Does it mean, that, should it be fully and completely implemented, I will lose my power and be, in fact, left without ability to rule the Empire, remaining merely a face of the new, automatic government system?"

"... Yes."

"And… will this system bring more prosperity to the Empire, than I and the rest of the current rulers can?"

"... Yes."

"... Then you have my full approval."

"... Huh?"

"You are to begin the implementation process as soon as you can. If sacrifice of my position and power will mean the best for the Empire - I am ready to do that."

"... As you wish."

The group of scientists left the room, leaving Empress looking in the window and thinking, whether this decision was right or not and should she cancel this project, while there's still some time left.

Author's notes: The ballistic liner Tobias and his family rides is based on ITHACUS global transportation rocket; The "Drapion" is based on a real project of a "Scorpion" general-purpose space transportation system; Space Fever will be explained more, as the time goes; Can you guess, what was the device the newcomer gave to the scientist on the space colony? The hint is in the only name mentioned in this section...

Well, there’s a Hunter J with her laser-armed ship and hand-mounted energy gun, Lawrence III with his artillery-armed Flying Palace, Zero’s Megarig have some sort of energy beam cannon (used to paralyse Giratina so he can be easily put in the scanner), Team Rocket have battle tanks and combat helicopters (tanks - “It’s Mr. Mime Time!”, helicopters can be seen in the first movie) and even Rocket Trio used rocket launcher with HE rockets several times. You can read more about this here : http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Weaponry_in_the_Pok%C3%A9mon_world .

Why don’t any bad guys in pokemon carry guns. This one guy is okay with glassing the entire earth but he won’t shoot a child.

Weird dreams make great fanfic fuel.

Four days ago I’ve got another strange dream, although I’ve only remembered (and quickly wrote down) a single scene - Adam getting congratulated by the Sarif while being in a some kind of art-decoed airlock, which wouldn’t look out of place in a  “Hikōkyū 2”. If we go deeper from here, I think, that it’ll be like this:

At unknown moment (presumably, some time after deactivation of the Darrow’s signal and transmission of the Sarif’s message, which’ve resulted in the actions against the “Humanity Front” and gave transhumanists (Sarif Industries included) the upper hand), Deus Ex world got somehow linked to the Pokemon world.

Sarif Industries, being the first who’ve managed to get into the Pokemon world and create a colony of sort in it, are currently more powerful in it, than Illuminati, but sheer amount of conspiracies in both worlds and such may quickly change this. So far, only Sarif Industries and the Illuminati managed to get into the Pokemon world, and no one in the Deus Ex world has enough power to stop theirs progress.

To get a better hold in the Pokemon world, Sarif Industries currently tries to find a new markets in it, going even as far as creating products with systems based on those of theirs aug-products (Typhoon, Glass Shield cloaking system, Rhino reactive armor, Sarif Series 8 energy converter and so on) and providing cyber-services. So far, theirs best selling products are energy converter (which can turn food into electrical energy in a very short amount of time), wearable electrogravity-based Icarus Landing System (fall from any height and land safely) and several lines of Rhino reactive armor (self-explaining). They aren’t selling augmentations in the Pokemon world yet.

Malik and Pritchard are alive and well.

Adam is still working for the Sarif Industries. At the current moment, Adam tries to get some information from the Lawrence III.

Lawrence III did not know he was helping Illuminati, he was just developing an advanced gravity control and an AI systems for a customer, who gave him a lot of a great and valuable artworks (Illuminati are so Illuminati…) in response. To add to this, some of these artworks were not even from the Pokemon world, and that’s exactly what he would want - a something really unique.

Illuminati here are less powerful, than in the original (Jensen’s and Sarif’s actions, as well as actions arranged by theirs allies, delivered a huge blow to the Illuminati), but still are relatively well and kicking. However, they were only the second to get into the Pokemon world and now they have to avoid Sarif’s agents, while plotting new conspiracies. So far, they’ve succeeded in implating theirs agents in the some Teams and hiring Zero and Hunter J.

Because of the whole interworld-link situation, Sarif Industries became a major power in the Deus Ex world and currently is a decent threat to the Illuminati. They also have a lot of agents in both worlds, but still less than Illuminati.

Hunter J is willingly working with Tyrants - Illuminati strike force, happy about her new allies and thinks on getting augmented herself (for free, because Illuminati recognize great potential agent in her). After all, implanted cloaking system, underskin reactive armor, commlink, Icarus landing system, Typhoon explosive system and an arm-installed paralyzer cannon are pretty useful for the Hunter which has no problems with killing those who are trying to stop her. Also, being able to jump from great height (cloaked airship, for instance) and survive landing without even a scratch, while being invisible most of the time, is pretty useful for any Pokemon poacher. Fat paycheck is a nice addition.

Tyrants are pretty happy of their’s new agent, especially because of her stealth airship, which also has enough volume to place whatever they need in cargo bay and still have a loads of space.

Zero is working together with Illuminati scientists, because they’ve promised to help him with a Megarig and a Mecha-Giratina projects. Currently, he is working on AI, gravity control and a ACS (Abilities Copying System) projects. The last is especially important to the Illuminati, because, potentially, they may get powers of Arceus (and other Legendaries) with it. Beforehand, he worked on the interworld portals phenomenon research (the very reason why there are Deus Ex characters and organizations in the Pokemon world), until it was transferred to the Deus Ex-world science team.

Some of the Team Plasma and Team Galactic scientists are Illuminati agents in disguise.

If the events of one of the previous dreams are taken in the account, Team Cipher is working very closely with Illuminati, have created theirs own underwater fortress (disguised as an oil development station) with some Deus Ex technology installed in it (Hyron Project included) and currently are experimenting with Shadow Pokemon. So far, they’ve managed to get XD-??? (Shadow Lugia) to be able to disguise itself as a human and talk without usage of the telepathy.

I’ll post more later. If I’ll get really lucky, I may have another weird dream with even more events like this.

@blackjackgabbiani​, what do you think about it?

Business (mini-fic)

- Approaching designated randevu point! - announced Cherie, carefully pulling engine control throttles and making the Azoth Kingdom-built airship descend.

- Still nothing, boss, - reported Levi. - All radars give clear picture. By the way, the lateral turning motor of the main parabolic radar broke once again, looks like short-circuit. Any ideas why?

- Levi, did you forget to apply varnish? -  asked him Alva in exasperated voice.

- No, boss, I’ve triple-checked this before we’ve gone flight. You know, it’s kinda uncomfortable, when your main radar loses ability to turn and can only scan the last direction. Good thing it stopped at zero-zero.

- Then no ideas, beside obvious humidity build-up somewhere.

- There we are! - announced Cherie, flicking switches and putting the engines of the airship to hovering mode. - Anchored and ready!

- If not for your words and sensor readings, I’d have never noticed it, - said Alva in pleased voice. - Great piloting.

- Thanks, boss, - replied somewhat shy Cherie, checking the ship’s systems. - Everything’s normal, no scratches or like this, our girl is healthy’n’good.

- Besides the main radar. Sixth time already, - murmured Levi, then began to announce. - All radars...

Man’s voice faded when a huge signature suddenly appeared on all radars. Outside of the ship, a big airship, somewhat similar to the classic “Hunt-3R″, but bigger, with sleeker lines and more visible weaponry, de-cloaked and landed less then 300 meters from the airship of cabinet minister, two bow-mounted autocannon turrets aimed near the bridge.

- This ship looks like she was built by “Kirasawa Shipyards”, - finally managed to squeeze out a word Levi.

- But she wasn’t, - objected Alva, who was already studying the newcomer. - “Kirasawa”, most of time, puts external hangars and cargo containers, which often have more height that the ship herself, on the sides of main hull, while this one has containers half the ship’s height mounted between main hull and external engine pods. Also, bridge is too small and too deep into hull, and I never saw any ship from the “Kirasawa Shipyards” with that much weapons - those two turrets are definitely just part of point defence system.

- Boss, you know a lot! - said impressed Cherie

- I need to. After all, our kingdom continues to lose position on the airship market, and “Kirasawa Shipyards” is just after the corporations in the list of competitors. It’s like this ship was purposely built to fool those who know too little to think it was built by “Kirasawa”, but to let those who know style of those shipyards understand that it’s not... - Alva made a strange motion, as if shrugging something off. - Anyway, here they are, so I’m going in. Levi - open the hatch and prepare the elevator, Cherie - stay here, keep engines warm and ready. I feel far from good about this...

- Yeah... - replied Levi, remembering seeing records of the cabinet minister’s talks with this Hunter. While Hunter J, who has mysteriously disappeared not so long ago, was somewhat scary on her own, K...

                                                     ***

- So, cabinet minister of the Azoth Kingdom, huh? I’m happy to have such a client! - said woman with a jet-black hair, slowly moving across her small quarters, presumaby onboard of her ship. Levi couldn’t explain it, but something in her made him feel wrong and, from what it seemed, Alva too. For most of people, it would’ve been impossible to spot, but Levi knew his superior for long enough to notice he was nervous.

- So am I. Miss K, - Alva took an opportunity, trying to direct this talk into where he wanted it to go, - I want you to give me Pokemon from this list.

Cabinet minister quickly pressed some keys on his personal terminal, sending a message to her. Woman sat down on chair, reading the message without any hurry, then slowly rose from it and said:

- So, perfect stats; does not matter if Shiny or not; abilities, that work great together if those Pokemon fight side-by-side; some Egg moves; does not matter, if bred or hunted and all capable of Mega Evolution? Am I witnessing revolution, that is about to happen?

- I knew it’ll be obvious... - replied cabinet minister. - Sort of. Some of them will be needed for other, non-political purposes. And, if this info gets out...

- No need to worry, I never tell anyone about the details! - said K with somewhat menacing curved smile. - Contract privacy is contract privacy, no matter what. Also, I’m not into politics, as long as they don’t touch me. So, what about payment?

- Twenty millions total, ten - now, ten - after getting Pokemon.

- Fair enough. I’ll give you coordinates of the randevu point in two weeks. K out, - finished the talk woman and cut the channel. Alva opened a drawer, grabbed a small bottle of Azoth-produced “Cog Oil” whiskey, poured himself a shot and took it in a single long gulp. From what Levi saw in this recording, minister was still nervous about this K. Something in her was just plain wrong, but neither he, nor Cherie or Alva could point out, what exactly.

- It’s not like we have other options, - commented cabinet minister, stopping the video and shutting down his terminal. - She’s our best option now - both in price and quality.

- So, cabinet minister Alva, I suppose? - said one of the K henchmen, when Alva approached her airship, still feeling uncomfortable of CIWS turrets and her henchmen, which’ve already released their Pokemon to establish defense perimeter around her airship. - Commander K will be there very soon.

- Good, - replied cabinet minister, taking a closer look on the ship. Even now, he could see several characteristic coverings of missile tubes and two retractable machine gun turrets near the opened frontal hatch. For all of her worth, this ship could be easily classified as a full-fledged heavy assault ship. Considering, what kind of team was now guarding the airship, the implications were far from good.

- Glad to see you, - sounded beautiful, but, for some strange reason, scary voice. Alva turned back to the lowered frontal hatch and saw a woman with jet-black hair slowly walking down to him, carrying a small case.

- Same, Miss K, - said Alva in gentle voice, then pointed his staff at the case. - All of them? Loyalty imprinting?

- Of course to both, - responded Hunter, opening the case and presenting it’s contents to cabinet minister. Inside, there were 15 standard Pokeballs, lying in small holders.

- May I commit a small test right now? - asked her Alva, gently closing the case and taking it from her hands.

- If it does not mean injury or destruction of my property, - replied K, pointing to a small clear zone next to the starboard of her ship. Cabinet minister travelled to this spot and, surrounded by K’s henchmen, released the Pokemon one by one, then pulled his own Pokeball out of many pockets of his coat and added his own Gengar to this team.

- You can easily assault a palace and dethrone the king with team like this, - commented one of the henchmen.

- But they are not for it, - replied Alva, changing a grip of his staff and passing two fingers above the small dark-violet stone, embedded in the unusually shaped pommel. - Mega Wave!

- ... Can you sell a device like this to me? - asked amazed K, looking at 16 Pokemon, which were all Mega-Evolved at once. - I can pay up to a billion for a such a gadget!

- Not yet, - said cabinet minister, passing the fingers above the stone again, reversing the effect, then taking out two wristbands with similar dark-violet stones out of another pocket of his coat and unleashing the second Mega Wave with one of them. - They are fragile, dependant on Master Stone - one per several devices, have limited worktime until shutdown, require some time to relax between activations to prevent malfunctions, often need repairs... In short, there are still many problems with them. However, once I iron those problems out, I might consider putting them on sale - our kingdom will really benefit from it.

- Then I’ll wait, - responded K, seeing, how Alva, after three Mega Waves and successful testing of all devices, returned his Pokemon back into Pokeballs. - By the way - do you really need to say words when activating them?

- Yes, you need to, - replied violet-haired man, putting most of the Pokeballs, bar the one with his personal Gengar, back into the case and closing it. - I’m sure you won’t like it to suddenly activate just because you waved your hand the wrong way!

- Of course! - let a somewhat scary laugh Hunter. - So, what’s about the second part of payment?

- Right now, - said Alva, taking his PDA out of one of his pockets and tapping the polarized touchscreen, contents of which were invisible to anyone bar cabinet minister, several times.

- I see, - murmured K, looking at her own PDA. - However, I thought we agreed on ten millions! Of course, it’s pleasant, but...

- But I do appreciate the great quality of the Pokemon you brought to me and want to give you some bonus for such a nice work! - replied cabinet minister, giving Hunter a gentle nod and taking a case with Pokeballs in his hand. - Goodbye, Miss K.

- Goodbye, cabinet minister Alva, - said she, ordering her troops to return to the airship with a simple gesture and walking back to the frontal hatch. - I hope that some time later, you will be my customer once more.

- ...And I surely hope not to, - whispered Alva, once his was back aboard his airship.

- Boss, the K’s ship has gone flight and cloaked once again! - sounded the Levi’s voice in the intercom.

- That’s great, - replied minister, putting the case with Pokeballs on the wall bench and taking a seat on it himself. - Levi - close the hatch. Cherie - lift off and take us back home. I’ll be on the bottom deck for some time.

- As you wish, boss, - replied his two trusted henchmen. With hydraulic whirr, the cargo platform collapsed and hatch started to close, while airship started to to gain altitude. Alva spent nearly half of hour like this, but, after it, focused and took a trip back to the bridge, where Levi and Cherie were already waiting him.

- We’re glad to see you, - greeted him Levi. -"Chancellor Cocktail”, the one you like, in the cupholder. Temperature optimal and everything.

- Do you think of me like some kind of an alcoholic? - asked him Alva, placing the case and staff near his chair and then taking a seat, though not before ensuring, that control is all transferred to Cherie.

- No, boss, but we do see, how do you feel after speaking with... her, - shuddered woman.

-... You know what? You’re damn right! - replied minister, taking a shot. - Nice. Who was one preparing it?

- Me, boss, - said Levi. - Cherie couldn’t bring herself out of her seat all the time you were ashore.

- Levi, I just wanted to get out of here ASAP! - told him Cherie. - I’m sure none of us wanted to be there anymore than needed. Those autocannons and goons...

- Uh-huh, - said her co-pilot. - Cherie, by the way - would you like to try to pilot the assault ship of this K?

- Nah, I won’t exchange our little “Kamiya” for anything, - nearly purred woman, gently stroking the surface of the pilot’s station, - She serves us well and I’m used to her. Even her little cargo bay doesn’t mean anything - “Traveller-4″ class can take three time it’s own mass into air on external, and our girl was upgraded by our boss to be able to take four times her own mass.

- And the main radar breaks every two damn weeks after this damn second scanning run, when this damn Volcanion hit us with Steam Eruption, - grunted Levi. - Boss, I was outside and fiddled with it - yep, short circuit in secondary control scheme. I've replaced it and the corresponding circuit breaker, but this is a temporary solution. I think I know how to rework it, so it will at least break once in two months instead of every two weeks. Do you authorize me to do it once we are back home?

- I do, - replied Alva, making some notes in his PDA. - By the way - after we return to Azoth Kingdom, I give you two weeks of vacation and then you start training with MWDs and your new Pokemon.

- OK, boss! - said Levi and Cherie at the same time, then Levi continued. - About the Pokemon, boss - are you really happy with your purchase?

- I am, but I don't want to do business with people like that anymore, - murmured the minister before falling asleep from lack of sleep beforehand and today's stress. His henchmen exchanged looks, then continued piloting ship like if nothing happened, alllowing Alva to silently snore right on the bridge.

Weird dream is weird

I’ve had a pretty weird dream today. It was mostly composed of random events, but the one thing I remember for sure was the event with Flying Palace. I’ve saw it slowly descending from the night sky, at first looking normal and even blinking lights like any aircraft, but on closer look it was horribly devastated. It’s lower ring was deformed and torn, like if someone forcefully stretched it from inside of the Palace, cannon tower wasn’t present like after the crash landing, lower bulb was covered in very deep breeches, but Palace was still online, afloat and even could launch those capturing devices. In the dream, for some strange reason, I thought that Palace survived Lugia’s attack and came for the Ash, not for capturing him in the collection, but for taking him for the very angry conversation with Lawrence III, probably, about Ash’s reason for freeing Moltres and Zapdos. And I was Ash here.

For me, it’s not that much different from the normal trainer’s situation - I still can’t chose between them because they all are so cute and awesome!

I’m back!

Imagine if you were a pokemon trainer as a rich kid… would you perhaps get fancier starters?

Ah, thanks for clearing this up. May you give me link to it when you publish it?

I’m finally writing out the timeline to my original story

Sorry for not responding in such a long time, there were some problems, including, but not limited to, glitching Internet connection, general problems with provider and such. I do like this fanfic very much. To summarize my feelings about it, I need to quote one of the posts (#171, page 7 in the “Obsession” thread), and quote it completely, because it summarizes my feelings perfectly. I also especially liked the moments with Corbin’s new ship project (”ship in a cage” - proto-Hikokyu?), the whole Eye of the Dawn thing... Overall, it’s easier to say that all of the moments were great.

@mgrgfan you say you’re almost done with Obsession? What do you think so far? Please reply as a reblog so I can respond to it directly.