Present (mini-fic)

Some worldbuilding for my fic - Ancient Soris Empire, part 1.

More than 3000 years ago, in the Soris region, there was a great Soris Empire.

Thanks to lack of Apricorns in Soris and low cooperativeness of local Pokemon, as well as abundance of easily-acessed metals and fossil and fissil fuels, Soris people took a technological way of development. Several centuries later, a Soris Empire springs into existence.

Unlike what you will think, this empire, at it’s peak, was pretty diesel/atompunk heavy and most of the electronics were based on higly-advanced vacuum tube technology, though transistors and arcane science devices started to slip in near the end of the empire. They also had nuclear-powered transport, including icebreakers, submarines and even rigid-hull hydrogen-lifted dirigibles!

The single most beloved Pokemon species in the later Soris Empire was introduced Alolan Flygon line, thanks to their weather-adaptational ability (like this of Castform) and great cooperativeness towards humans. Nowadays, these dragons has somewhat diverged from the original line and became Soris Flygons, which, while retaining abilities of their Alolan ancestors, have also gained minor Aura abilities (which they use to locate their prey and as a darkvision of sort) and are constantly migrating from one part of Soris region to another (however, they do this only in small herds, so each part will have some Flygons coming in, some staying and some coming out), so they will not get stuck in one form, like the Hoenn Flygons did. The most prominent changes of Soris Flygons are longer antennaes, which are crucial in Aura reception and are forked in two roughly in the middle, the lower part of antennae being shorter than a upper one, slightly different shape of wings and, surprisingly, more omnivorous digestive system, because such is life in Soris - hard and complicated.

These cute, but powerful insect-dragons were the reason why, after the fall of Soris Empire and subsequent loss of technology, humans has managed to survive in this region and, eventually, rebuild.

One of the greatest achievements of the Empire were Imperial Science Facilites, which were researching lots of things - physics, genetics, chemistry and so on. The main jewel in this crown was Imperial Science Facility 9 - the single biggest and most powerful of this line, which also had early arcane science as a main direction of the research, although not the only. More than 90% of this base were located deep underground to prevent outbreaks and protect it against attacks, when the ground had only a Bioscience Division’s surface labs (mostly for studying extraregional Pokemon), Astronomical Dome, material sorting and transport complexes, as well as some recreational sub-facilities.

This facility was constructed to be self-sustainable and able to survive for centuries without maintenance, if properly conserved. Because of this, the main energy source of this facility was complex of closed-circuit geothermal reactors, which could provide up to 1200MW of electricity and were cooled by the oceanic water, which was pumped from pretty far away, to reduce chances of detecting the facility itself. The secondary energy sources were several nuclear fission reactors, capable of providing up to 900MW each, although two of them were mostly used to empower some of the science equipment directly.

One of the main energy hogs in this facility, as well as in Imperial Science Facility 8, was early arcane science equipment, especially irradiation chamber (in which first Mega Stones and some artificial Evo Stones ever were created) and tseryobla (teleportation device. Why it was named so? Even creators, when they were alive, could barely remember it, because all memories of the night when it happened were way too obscured by the alcohol fumes). One of the most important devices, which were crucial to functioning of the rest of arcane science equipment, were highly advanced two-way energy converters, which could not only turn Pokemon life energy into electricity (like Devon Inc. and some of the Nikola’s devices did), but turn electricity into life energy as well! Because of these converters and abundance of electrical energy (thanks to geothermal and nuclear reactors), facility had no need to use Pokemon as a “fuel”, so, no “Powered by a Forsaken Child” for you! After the fall of the Empire, data on how to create and maintain these converters, as well as most of the converters themselves, was lost, and the only surviving units and documentation are in the sealed away ISF9, which is pretty much guaranteed to finally fall apart in this century. Chances of this facility, and, because of it, technology getting re-discovered and restored are... slim, at best.

It was also the facility in which first artificial mechanical pokemon ever was created. Constructed by one of the leading arcane scientists and named “Chugun” (”Cast-iron”), this guy (psychological gender of the Chugun is male) quickly became intergral part of the personel, because he was truly great at task he was created to do - repairing and maintaining things. Having powerful and resilient body, which was also very easy to repair and modify, Chugun was always ready for performing different jobs - from helping planting tunneling explosives to saving people from the gassed or burning room to working in the operating reactor pool to hermetizing steam mains to soldering electronics and so on. In fact, he was beloved so much, that when one of the revisors came to this facility and ordered to dismantle Chugun, because he thought of him as too dangerous, Dr. Pobegov, which was in charge of the Imperial Science Facility 9, threatened to perform a skull trepanation and subsequent lobotomy on the revisor if he does not shut up. When this revisor reported this to the Emperor, he got following answer: “Imperial Science Facility 9 reports directly to me. You were sent to it to find a problems and report them, not to express your opinions left and right. In fact, I think Dr. Pobegov was right about what to do with you.”

Chugun was also the first sentient, on whom tseryobla was tested, and he has volunteered for this! Of course, some tests were performed beforehand on non-sentients (lab Ratattas, heh), but most of the time, after the tests, workers had to wash entire test lab out of bloody pulp, which was sprayed everywhere. Thankfuly, during the test with Chugun, when tseryobla malfunctioned (yet again), there was only teleport-throwing in random places, including even the Reverse World (Giratina was quite surprised, when she saw strangely-looking glowing mechanical Pokemon briefly appearing and, before she even had a chance to finish her question, vanishing again), for five hours (but for Chugun, it was like five years, though he knew what he has volunteered for), after which, however, entire tseryobla crew was hospitalized because of excessive arcane energy exposure. Thankfully, amount of data, gathered in this experiment, was more than worth it, because it finally allowed to find a safe settings for tseryobla and ensure safe teleportations. Moreover - the required data was gathered in less than an a hour, and the rest of the time was dedicated to stabilizing Chugun in the ISF9′s tseryobla and safely extracting him from the teleportational “vortex”, because if they’ve simply pulled the plug, he would’ve got scattered across the teleportation places - all of them. As you can see from it, they’ve really held him in high regard.

When the Empire was at it’s last days, the ISF9 had undergone conservation procedures and Chugun was tasked with maintaining it until someone comes. For more than a 3000 years he was fulfilling his duty, but now, fuel for nuclear reactors was burned off ages ago, replacements are almost ceased to be, so he is forced to cannibalize whatever he can from reserve systems to maintain main ones in (barely) working condition, the main steam turbine complex, which provides power to the base, has lots of leakages, which he barely manages to patch... To put it in short, right now, base can survive no more than a fifty years on remaining reserves. Chugun understands it, but still continues to do everything he can, hoping, that one day, someone will excavate buried entrances to the facility and restore it to it’s full glory.

However, the last part does not apply to the Shift-verse, where the Empire, instead of Ancient Soris War, got time-shifted 3100 years ahead and, therefore, was never destroyed and even prospered in the new time.

(Funny fact - initially, fic Chugun was created after watching humoristic re-dub of Half-Life 2, called Kayf-Life 2, where Alyx’s Dog robot became, well, Chugun, which was originally created for straightening rails, but, thanks to faulty AI, has escaped from the factory and took refuge in the Budulai’s illegal undeground workshop. Also, Kayf-Life’s Chugun was a champion in throwing trash bins at the distant moving targets, but got disqualified after he has thrown one of the bins at the referee. What’s this all about - after I’ve thought of Chugun, my “train” of ideas has gone like this:

“So, mechanical Pokemon, which looks like it was assembled from the junk, but is pretty powerful and reliable and needs to be called Chugun. How to write it in? Hm, what about Russia-like region? Pretty good idea, actually, but it needs some non-obvious name. Riso? No. Rosi? Definitely no! Soris? That’s great! Hey, but nowadays, no one manufactures Pokemon like this, so, it needs to be ancient! Yes, ancient arcane science Soris mechanical Pokemon. That’s good. But just how ancient? Hm, let’s see... The first traces of arcane science originate back to Ancient Kalos War, AZ had some cool arcane tech... So, more than 3000 years old it is! Also, why not plan it in such a way, that AZ gained some of this tech from one of the crashed airships, which were escaping from the Soris during the Legendaries rampage? I’ll roll with it. And Nikola... Nah, he has developed the arcane technology again without any help from AZ or data from Ancient Soris Empire. Back to Chugun: where would he be created and what for? Let’s think again: he would be great at repairs, he would be first and, unfortunately, only of his kind with some small hope for building new in the modern time... His creator would be one of the arcane scientists from the huge science facility. What this facility would be like? Well, Ancient Soris Empire, as I’ve written in my notes about the underground base beforehand, is already planned to be atompunk, so... Ancient Soris Empire atompunk arcane science-heavy Black Mesa-like facility. That’ll be awesome.”

In short, entire region and ancient empire in it were created just because I thought of backstory of one of the planned characters and origin of the ancient underground complex.)

Maybe, but my ficwriter side found it’s fuel, so, now I've got some headcanons for this backwards universe.

Official Pokemon Nation Government is corrupt beyond any imagination, up to the point, when Ranger force openly can act like a terrorists and receive no punishment in any form. The Governmental Leader bears some resemblance to the Richard Hawk from the Metal Wolf Chaos.

Mewtwo here’s managed to escape from the New Island, when the so-called Rangers broke into the laboratory and started killing everyone to cover up this project. He’ve also managed to save some of the researchers, though, unfortunately, not the Dr.Fuji who was almost like a father to the Genetic Pokemon, although all of the scientists were knid to him and he was kind to them in the return. Nowadays, Mewtwo is sided with Pokemon Rescuer J because he wants his revenge on the Rangers.

Lawrence III... Honestly, I don’t know how to put him backwards. Maybe he makes some priceless artworks all by himself and he only wanted to awake Lugia to get the greatest source of inspiration he was pursuing through his entire life (somewhat like the Crystal Onyx episode in the anime).

Zero and Graceland are pretty much just role-swapped.

Pokemon Rescuer J is the one who fights with governmental forces and criminal teams as hard as she can. She rescues abused Pokemon from both Government-funded OCG’s and just cruel trainers, then helps to find a worthy trainer for them or, if they want to, just releases them in the wild. She is also kind with her henchmen, because they are of very few humans she can trust. Overall, she will always protect the crew and crew will always protect her.

Jarvis just wanted to overthrow corrupt monarchic government (almost as corrupt as the Pokemon Nation one), so he was forced to do what he did and he was really not happy about it.

Fortunately for Jarvis, Magearna here originally is an almost-soulless war machine, so she did not feel any pain, but the aerial fortress’s cannon malfunctions still were present because of her IFF system. However, she gets somewhat better after the core (Soul Heart), which was reprogrammed by Jarvis, is installed back in the body. Overall, she is like Johnny 5 from the “Short Circuit”, except it was the Jarvis who made her more than just a machine.

Xerneas is a 1000% psychopathic asshole. He's still a bringer of life... sort of, because most of the time, he gives live to a cancerous growths and horrible diseases. Why kill someone in person, if you can give him immortal uncurable cancer and then enjoy watching his/her slow, horrible and painful demise? If there's some epidemy in the Kalos region, 99,9% of the time it'll be Xerneas's doings. Also, he has an army of sorta zombies, much like the fossils from the fifth movie, which were revived by the Defence Mechanism of Alto-Mare. He is nicknamed "Life, that brings suffering and despair".

Yveltal here is still a deathbringer... sort of. She is the one who opposes Xerneas, which already makes Kalos people like her far more than a Life Pokemon, but she also actually cares about the human and pokemon lives. Long ago, when she first saw, just what kind of a psycho Xerneas is, she has started mastering her Oblivion Wing move and, after some time, she has mastered it to such a point, that she became able to selectively drain life from different cells and, therefore, cure Xerneas-created diseases (including even the normally-immortal cancer), sterilize things (making bio-contaminated items and environments usable again), or, if there is no way to save someone, use this move as an euthanasia. She's also kind to both humans and pokemon, because she understands the true value of life. Each time, when she was starting to revert into the Cocoon form, she was trying her best to go as far away from her allies as possible, so, most of times, she did this on the battlefield, bravely attacking Xerneas's forces, putting the "zombie" pokemon out of theirs demise, de-contaminating a previously bio-contaminated areas and allowing her fellow humans and pokemon to mount a strike. Because of her doings, she is referred as a "Destruction, that brings hope" and is widely worshipped as a saviour of the Kalos people.

Zygarde is not a real asshole - he just a sorta, to quote a TVTropes, "Tautological Templar". He thinks, that all the everything he does is right, because he can't do anything wrong. He is pretty much Greenpeace to the max, except with less knowledge (result of the Xerneas’s experiments with new bioweapons, which Yveltal was not able to stop in time) and too much power, so, when he decides that it is his time to shine, entire Kalos is pretty much destinied to turn into a wasteland for a long time, if humans and/or Yveltal don't stop him. Each time he's finished and sees the results of his doings (desolated wasteland), he'll always blame it on someone other, mostly Yveltal or humans (Xerneas know how to stay out of his sight... most of time).

Blackjack, what do you think about this insanity?

APPARENTLY IN ANOTHER WORLD HUNTER J GIVES OUT RARE POKEMON

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.

I think original Hikokyuu is far closer to the “Terror” from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_the_World_(novel), which was built by Robur the Conqueror after the “Albatross” and was capable of land travel, submerging, sailing and flight. It was described as small submarine-like ship with wheels on the underside and retractable ornithopter wings, and, although no jet engines were present on the outside, some Parsons turbines were mentioned. Here’s several pictures from DA for you:

“Terror”

Robur the Conqueror along with “Albatross” and “Terror” on the background

“Albatross” again

All of them are pretty close to the Verne’s descriptions, so they’ll give you general picture of these two machines. And yeah, final Hikokyuu may’ve been inspired by the “Albatross”, but original version looks pretty similar to the “Terror”. By the way, I’ve found this early production picture already, but thanks nonetheless.

Here’s that picture of the original Hikoukyuu and Melody’s instrument. Articuno has about…twice its mass in tailfeathers…

@mgrgfan check it out.

“Wanna see what science looks like? Here it is in human form - it’s your prof Guzma!”

Cuz tumblr neEDS MORE PROF.GUZMA

Well, this works just as well. Looks like I was pretty inspired from watching “Volcanion and the Mechanical Magearna” some time ago - specificially, by Eliphas. Hovewer, Artist!Jirarudan in the Azoth Kingdom regency outfit... Well, he may change them according to what artwork he works on at the current moment (he may have some odd habits, you know, especially because he’s that kind of artist).

APPARENTLY IN ANOTHER WORLD HUNTER J GIVES OUT RARE POKEMON

Memory, part 3 (mini-fic)

For less than a split-second, Yevgeniy saw a bright orange flash and felt, like his body was twisted in ways, which should not even be possible in the three-dimensional or even eleven-dimensional space, but right after it, he was brutally thrown back into reality, seeing triples and having his head spin like no tomorrow.

- So, apparently, it does have some unpredicted results on organic lifeforms, incapable of teleporting naturally, - sounded voice of Yelena Groisman. - Chugun - help him at once and leave this Latias to me!

- Her name... is... Liya, - mumbled microbiologist before horrifying pulsing sound in his ears got too loud and he passed out.

-                                                                                                                              -

- How many fingers do you see? - sounded voice from somewhere, when Goncharenko tried to open his eyes. His thoughts were still clouded and slowly arranging themselves back into place.

- Three, - replied Yevgeniy after several failed attempts, during which he could only mumble something incomprehensible.

- Good. Sorry, but no one knew, that slingshot relaying device will have such an effect on you. We’ve already collected data and will work on fixing it ASAP!

- If Liya is hurt, I swear, I’ll...

*I’m fine,* - “sounded” the telepathic voice from side. - *It was a little trippy at first, but nothing serious.*

- A little trippy? I’ve felt like I’ve experienced geometries beyond comprehension of any living being, and those geometries wanted to twist me, rip me apart  and push through infinitely small holes at the same time! - screamed man, who already fully regained his consciousness, but still felt weak in body.

- Looks like it was caused by the sling having too wide of a trajectory and too low speed of a swing, exposing teleportees to the interworld space for too long, - mused Chugun, listening to the Yevgeniy and reading the data from the terminal. - I can correct it right now.

- Do it! - ordered him Yelena Groisman.

- Zheka - sorry for this little inconvinience... - began Izya.

- Hold on, - said microbiologist, sitting up and turning to the young Latias, still disguised as a human, with a furious expression on his face, - Liya - what the heck?! What were you thinking about, activating the Slingshot Beacon?! Didn’t you hear, how Chugun talked about being in one piece and not clipping into ground, clearly exposing, that this device is still being tested and is still dangerous! What’s w... Liya, please, promise me, that you won’t put yourself in the danger like this anymore!

Seeing Yevgeniy suddenly break into tears, the entire arcanist team was surprised, while the Latias felt herself really sick for scaring and hurting her pretty much father like this.

*I promise... father,* - replied Liya, giving man a hug and starting to cry too.

- Well, now everything has settled, maybe, we shall continue? - asked Izya after both man and Pokemon from the Bioscience calmed down. - Zheka - I’m really sorry for this inconvenience with tseryobla and SRD. And you, Chugun, - slowly said arcanist in sinister voice, turning towards huge mechanical Pokemon, who started to slowly back away, - what were YOU thinking, grabbing the beacons with you and leaving them there? We know you can withstand troubles with tseryobla - after all, you were the one, who volunteered to test it several years ago and survived five hours of being trapped in the teleportational vortex - but honestly... Were you insane? What you can brush off, can kill human or normal Pokemon! Honestly, sometimes I’m not sure if I’ve really needed to create you.

- I... I don’t know, - replied Chugun in scared and slightly whimpering voice, continuing to slowly move away from the enraged scientist. - Something must’ve clouded my judgement bad. Like, really bad. I won’t do something like this ever again!

- Are you sure those two aren’t brothers? - whispered Yelena to Boris, who was just standing aside and enjoying the view.

- Nah, they aren’t brothers, at least not in blood. In the spirit, hovewer...

-                                                                                                                              -

Compulink system active.

Please, enter login and password.

Login and password correct. Access granted.

Accessing “LPT-LOG-1″ datafile…

EDIT MODE

Goncharenko Liya, personal log.

02.01.425 AFE, 21:14

I feel so bad right now. Even though it was more than a day ago, I still can’t get over it. My father... after I used this device, he instantly grabbed the second one and activated it, just to follow me. I remember, how he, after the teleportation, said, about how I have a name, and then collapsed into this horrible fit. Arcanists said, that his brain couldn’t handle such a surge of the arcane energy and the long exposure to the interworld overdimensional space, but still, seeing him spasming like that, and having this horrible feeling of barely to no control of his body and thoughts dispersing, like a vapour in the dry air... I can’t bear to stand that. And all of it was, because I was too curious and wanted to try out this beacon. I don’t even know what to think of myself anymore.

Compulink system deactivated.

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.

Parents (mini-fic).

- Well, that’s it for today! - said cabinet minister Alva, closing the old book. - Your majesty, your homework - assemble the levi-drone and program it to avoid obstacles during the flight on determined path. Next lesson will be in two days.

- Understood, minister Alva! - happily responded prince Raleigh. The cabinet minister gave him a smile, left the prince’s room and headed for his own one, slowly drifting in his thoughts...

"Why they can’t spend more time with me?” - asked young Alva himself, slowly reading “Introduction to Arcane Science”. - “Am I less important to them, than arcane researches? Or...”

- Happy birthday, Alva! - said Ogden, giving his son a present. - Sorry for so little time, but, as you know, our salary...

- I know and I understand you, - replied boy, slowly unwrapping the package. - Wait, is it...

- Yes, it is, - proudly said Nancy. - “Young arcane researcher’s first kit”.

- But it’s so expensive... How much... What... Why...

- Alva, you’re our son, - announced both Ogden and Nancy at the same time, - and we want you to be happy. About money... It’s not that important. Again, forgive us from spending so little time with you, but...

- Thank you so much... - responded the young boy, who was on verge of crying. As he knew, this kit costed nearly thrice the dad’s salary, so, they should’ve either started saving money no less than few months ago, or overwork. From what it looked like, it was the second cause. And they did this just because they’ve wanted their son to be happy...

- Prince Raleigh, why are you crying? - gently asked cabinet minister young prince, who was silently sobbing in the far corner of the library. - If it makes you feel better, I promise, that I won’t tell it to anyone.

- Dad... I’m not sure if he still remembers that I exist, - angrily whispered boy. From what it looked like, he just couldn’t keep it in himself anymore. - Sister loves her jetbikes more than her own brother... And mom, the only one, who loved me...

Raleigh couldn’t see it, but Alva’s grip on the staff became harder. His parents may’ve spent too little time with him, when he was child, but, at least, they’ve truly loved him and wanted their son to be happy.

- My condolences, prince Raleigh, - said cabinet minister, looking at the book, which was placed on table before prince. - You’re interested in the arcane science?

- Yes, and what? - harshly replied boy, showing, that his closest relatives didn’t share this kind of interest.

- Nothing special, prince Raleigh, I’ve just wanted to say, that I’m an arcane researcher and can provide help in it to you, if you want it.

- Really? - asked Raleigh, looking at cabinet minister with hope in his eyes.

“Just how alone is he?” - asked Alva himself, while giving a smile to prince and saying:

- Of course.

- Great work, but there are some mistakes, - said Alva to Raleigh, checking his homework. For more than year now, Alva was pretty much giving free private lessons in arcane science to young prince and, from what it looked like, neither king nor Kimia cared. - Looks like we need to perfect your math first!

- If we need it, I’ll do my best! - responded Raleigh whole-heartedly. As Alva has understood, he was pretty much the only friend of young prince, his closest men... and that the plans about overtaking kingdom needed to be re-written. Raleigh may never know it, but he was the one who deeply softened the cabinet minister’s heart and prevented a chain of planned political assassinations.

“When we overtake the kingdom, you will be the one, who will bring it might and prosperity, and I... I’ll help you do it,” - thought Alva, looking at young prince’s work and explaining him his mistakes.

“From what it looks like, I’m more of a parental figure to Raleigh, than the king,” - finished his chain of thoughts Alva, putting the staff aside, taking the place in the chair, pressing the “Door lock” button on the remote, opening the drawer and taking an old photo from it.

I’m not sure about this, because increase of update’s speed usually means decrease in size and/or quality of chapters, and I’m 100% sure, that no one will be happy about it. If refining your chapters takes time, that’s normal, because it means better result.

@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.