ISF9 Chronicles, Part 2

While it’s more a flying whale castle island here, I do see the point. However, as you can see here,

it’s pretty far away from the progenitor of the airship we both know and love.

The Rune Factory Series (1/?) - Scenery Concept Art (Blue & Green)

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

Chapter 6. On the brink. "Do you think it's time already?" the Empress asked her husband. "I do," replied the Emperor, who has arrived to the palace via his own supersonic tiltjet not even ten minutes ago. "Look, dear, with this machine in orbit, we can declare pretty much whatever we want." "I don't really think so… but yeah, this allows us for much more freedom. Okay, tuning up to Nation's comm." The Empress opened the communications app on her computer and initiated call to her delegates, which were supposed to participate in talks with Pokemon Nation. Right now, one of the primary priorities will be what to deal with the corpse of Rayquaza - a pretty big radiological hazard... ---- "We're the guardians of heavens / Protectors of the skies / We'll fulfill our duties / We've been born to fly…" the pilot was quietly singing, to, surprisingly, no annoyance of the rest of the crew in the CIC. "About that - it's about time we rotate the shifts. The first shift will take the stations in a few minutes." said the XO. "Aye-aye," replied the rest of the officers. When the first shift came back, the rotation went without problems… but the captain was slightly unnerved by the contents of the transmission, which came to the ship in the meantime. Apparently, there was a possibility, that they'll have to deploy the retro-missiles today… ---- In the Meteor Village, things weren't easy. Right now, Damien and Elder were talking. Even though the head of the man was still somewhat aching, he could work through it. Because of how the Rayquaza was brought dead by the sorisian space warfare ship, the prophecy was rendered nil, and the sheer radioactiveness of the corpse of the Sky High Pokemon made any attempts to recover it equal to the suicide. And, as if to humiliate them even further, right now, there was an announcement on TV about how Soris Empire sent their giant nuclear-powered dirigible to recover the remains of Rayquaza for burial in the radioactive waste storage facility, as well as quite a few government agents, sent to oversee the extraction and make sure, that everything will go smooth. Even though most of the Draconids were against it, Damien has managed to convince the Elder that it was still the best thing to do, since sorisians, given their proficiency with nuclear tech, must have a great experience with decontamination too. Several especially head-strong Draconids, who decided to not listen to his words, got to look at Rayquaza's corpse and got radiation poisoning, only made the talks with Elder easier.. Of course, it was not normal for Draconid to be like this… but Damien was not a normal Draconid. Besides, having a girlfriend, who was a nuclear physicist and, as he recently learned, was involved in Castelia Project, helped to understand full ramifications of nuclear technology involved major time. The only thing Damien was really worried about was how, thanks to the actions of Soris Empire, now there wasn't anyone to stop the Groudon and Kyogre, should the awaken and rage again... ---- Not too far away from Zemlino, the giant launch assist sled track was, after many years of disuse since the pause of the "WHITEBIRD" project, finally repaired and prepared to be used once again. The hypersonic spaceplane for it - the "Dreamwing" - was already loaded with everything and almost refueled with liquid hydrogen and oxygen, awaiting the load on the sled and launch. This machine, unlike the Space Shuttle of the Pokemon Nation or Project 21A Space Ferry, was long, sleek and even somewhat ominous, resembling unovan SR-71 strategic reconnaissance aircraft. It had two short, somewhat angular vertical stabilizers near the the tail, alongside with two similar horizontal stabilizers. However, the most unusual thing about this human creation were three long, boxy engines, suspended beneath the fuselage. The engines of the spaceplane were hybrids between usual scramjets and pure rocket engines. They've needed the spaceplane to be pre-accelerated to more than 1320 km/h before they could be started, but once they were up and running, they would accelerate the spaceplane to more than 7 times the speed of sound and get it to the edge of atmosphere, where it'll switch to internal oxygen supply and finish the orbital insertion. As big as this spaceplane was, there wasn't too much place for payload bay, crew cabin or like this - the machine mostly consisted of giant fuel tanks for the liquid hydrogen, because such was a price of being an SSTO. Because of this, the crew was forced to live in conditions somewhat harsher, than aboard the 12-meter LRV, though they didn't really mind it too much. ---- "Your Majesty, the "Dreamwing" is fully loaded and installed on the launch assist sled. T-1 hour and counting," said one of the technicians in Zemlino. "The "Red Explorer" is ready to receive the cargo," continued the other one. "Wonderful, just wonderful…" the Emperor replied to them via videolink, looking beyond merely pleased with how events were unfolding. "Notify me of any anomalies or mishaps. I'm sure our guys up there'll like this little present…" ---- "Vanya, please, can you explain to me - what's up with all those launches in such a short time?" Empress Svetlana asked her husband. "First - we need to make sure, that our big ship is supplied with everything they need, and there wasn't really too much of a place on the "Water Dragon" to cram everything we needed. Second - we need to get our launch infrastructure up and running again, if we want to continue to hold our advantage in space over the Pokemon Nation." "And the third one? I feel, that there's a third reason for it." "... Yeah, there's one - it's a chance for me to challenge the Pokemon Nation to a space race." "And why do we need it?" "Because it's the future!" the Emperor snapped in all sudden. "Space exploration and exploitation is the answer to almost all questions! The medical researches on both Space Lab stations showed amazing results, but the special drugs, developed during those researches, can only be manufactured in microgravity, as well as some of the ultrapure materials! The orbital solar power plants can easily supply us with enough energy to start rerouting our nuclear fuel production from being used for powering planetary grids to be used in space for engines of long-distance interplanetary ships. With heavy spaceships out there, we can easily deal with any asteroid! And with colonies out there, even if something happens to Earth, humanity will persist!" The Empress was taken aback with the sheer fervor in the voice of her husband. She was always worried about his intense desire for space exploration, but he never got that excited and angry. "However," Ivan calmed down no less suddenly, "we must not forget, how challenging them to the space race will also allow us to subtly steer them in directions we desire." "But they can try to do it to us too." "Yeah, but it doesn't mean, that we shouldn't try. Oh, by the way, the "Dreamwing" will be launched in one minute! Gonna watch it…" "Nearly forgot to ask - why did you resurrect the WHITEBIRD? I've thought you'd rather go with the BLUEBIRD…" "I'd really like to do it, but the BLUEBIRD nuclear spaceplanes are still in process of development, even if nearing the final stages, "Water Dragon", while reusable, takes decent time to prepare for launch again, so, the cheap WHITEBIRD, with pretty short turnaround time and non-extensive refurbishment, is our current best ground-to-orbit ferry." "I guess I can see that." ---- "...Three, two, one, launch!" sounded words of the operator in comm. Crew of the "Dreamwing", trained as they were, still were somewhat surprised by abrupt acceleration. On the outside, the sled, loaded with huge spaceplane and propelled by both electromagnetic forces and hydrolox engines, started to move and gain speed almost as fast as an adult Garchomp. In less than a second, the sled passed the 100 km/h mark and continued to accelerate, soon entering the "ramp" portion of the track, which was going on for several kilometers both in length and in height. The engine ignition on the spaceplane happened mere moments before the sled with it passed the highest point on the ramp and performed the separation. After that, one human-created machine stopped on accelerating and continued to slide down the rails - now towards the depot, where it'll be prepared for another launch assist procedure, while the second one steadily accelerated and climbed into the skies, continuing to squash its own pilots with g-forces in the desperate attempt to pass the atmosphere, the horrible thief of velocity and heat-giver, as soon as possible. A few minutes after, the airflow through the scramjets thinned out to the point, when it was no longer sufficient to sustain the engine operation. The supersonic combustion ramjet engines went silent for several moments, as the air intakes were closed, injectors were reconfigured and nozzle extensions were deployed, before starting again - this time, as pure rocket engines. ---- "Another launch detected from the Soris Empire," noted one of the operators in the Mossdeep Space Center. "Apparently, this time, it's some kind of spaceplane, if we go by the trajectory and acceleration." "They sure do a lot of launches these days," grimly replied one of the generals of Hoenn Self-Defense Forces, who got recently transferred here because of the actions of Soris Empire. "Let me guess - another supply mission to their space battleship?" "We don't know for sure, since the plane is still in the atmospheric phase and yet to begin the actual orbital insertion…" "Whatever. Still, they've decided to bet on their space tech… and Arceus-damn it, they now have a space battleship with WMDs above our heads! And I'm sure, that they're now stuffing even more weapons in there… Can't wait, until usage of Legendaries for warfare is decriminalized again…" Most of personnel, present there, paid no attention (or, at least, played paying no attention) to a horrible, bloodlusty smile, that has appeared on general's face. ---- Several hours after the launch, the "Dreamwing" spaceplane was finally docked to the "Red Explorer". Even though this was mostly a cargo mission, with three retro-missiles for reloading the ship's storages and some provisional supplies, the cosmonauts from both vessels still've had a small chat about the events both on Earth and in space. Pilots of the "Dreamwing" were astonished by the deeds of the crew of the battleship, while their colleagues from the "Red Explorer" were pretty surprised to hear the rumors from the ground. Alas, all good things come to an eventual end, so, after four hours in docked state, the "Dreamwing" separated from the battleship and began the deorbiting burn, with resulting trajectory ending right on the airfield of Zemlino, while the ship continued silently orbiting the planet. Inside the ship's CIC, the things were pretty professional and quiet. The thrill of battle and victory was gone, the tension of the diplomatic talks on the ground (which, apparently, weren't going exactly good, if a few whispers from the crew of "Dreamwing" were to be believed) was in the air and… the very fact, that they've manned a humongous weapon platform was pretty unsettling by itself. Suddenly, the comm came to life and the words from it made the blood of the officers chill: "Zemlino to "Red Explorer" - this is the Emperor speaking. Prepare to perform the Operation D-2." "Acknowledged," said the commander, concentrating and trying to stop his panic, then gave an order to the weapons officer. "Prepare the nuclear ordinance for planetary bombardment." "Aye-aye. Nuclear ordinance is now ready for planetary bombardment," replied the officer, who held himself only so well. "Arm the retro-missile #6." "Retro-missile in silo 3-25 is now armed." "Enter the confirmation code: 12-342-24-553." "Confirmation code entered. Retro-missile is now ready for launch. Key it, captain." "Zemlino to "Red Explorer" - the launch permission is granted, I repeat, the launch permission is granted!" "Acknowledged. Three, two, one, retro-missile away." As those words were being said, both the commander and the weapons officer inserted their respective keys into locks and turned them at once, sending the final confirmation signal to the ship's ordinance systems. On the outside of the ship, one of the round hatches opened again, much like back in the battle with Rayquaza or recent resupplying procedure… but this time, it was different. A small explosive charge ejected retro-missile, shaped like a short cigar, out of the ship. After clearing some distance from the ship, it turned around, received a final package of guidance data from the ship, then activated powerful chemfuel engine, decelerating from the orbital speed and preparing to drop down the gravity well. Onboard microcomputer calculated the burn with great precision to deorbit the retro-missile at designated coordinates. A few minutes later, heat started to build up on the retro-missile, which prompted for separation. The now-empty and useless propulsion bus got detached, while the front cover fell apart, allowing all individual warheads to leave their nestings and enter the terminal phase. The atmospheric ram pressure burned the fronts of conic machines, but arcanotech-enhanced ceramic held well, allowing the vessels of death, now engulfed in plasma, to continue accelerating towards their targets. Tiny steering flaps helped the warheads to constantly correct their trajectories, all of which were converging on the island, placed between Soris and Sinnoh. Roughly 40 seconds later, all warheads reached their target points. In each of the machines, altitude triggers sent signals for the airburst detonation... but there was nothing to respond to it - the thermonuclear devices inside were replaced with mockups, since this retro-missile was a dummy one, loaded on ship purely for demonstrational purposes. All six warheads impacted the ground not even a second later, vaporizing in the bright kinetic explosions. "Wonderful," came voice of the Emperor from the comm. "Great job, guys. We've filmed it. Stand by for additional orders… and deactivate the habitation centrifuge for now. I feel like you'll have to do some maneuvering soon." "Aye-aye, sir," replied everyone in the CIC, relaxing. Of course, the fact, that they've had to launch a dummy retro-missile instead of live one, helped them to get through it, but the possibility of actually using nukes for attacking the targets on the surface of Earth still persisted. A few more stressful hours passed, before the comm received another transmission from the Empire: "Zemlino to "Red Explorer" - this is the Emperor speaking. Perform the trans-lunar injection and enter the Moon orbit ASAP, I repeat, perform the trans-lunar injection and enter the Moon orbit ASAP!" "It will be done, Your Majesty, but… why?" the captain decided to go slightly off-protocol. "We've shown them the power of our weapons. We now need to show, that they'll only be used for self-defence - after all, you'll need several hours to travel from the Moon to Earth. If something really bad happens down there, you are authorized to open the code packages and perform the global thermonuclear bombardment - the hundred PBRM-1 retro-missiles with MIRVs and another hundred with big booms should be more than sufficient." "I don't quite follow that logic, but okay, we are already preparing and will activate the bomb drive in three minutes." "Acknowledged. Good luck to you, guys, and thank you for all of your deeds." Soon after those words were said, the pulse engine started thumping once more, setting the ship on the transit trajectory to the Moon. ---- Young Latias looked in the skies, seeing small white flashes. Even if she didn't know about that, those flashes, which belonged to the working nuclear pulse engine, marked the definite end of the usual flow of destiny, the true beginning of the new age and the new fate of this world - fate, which was not shaped yet. Now, it was up to the inhabitants of this world to create their own fate. ---- "Ram heating has reached threshold #2. Atmospheric ionization detected, blackout imminent," reported the pilot of the "Dreamwing", looking at the MFD. "Acknowledged, "Dreamwing", we're tracking you, return safe," replied the flight control center shortly before the radiolink got drowned in static. "Aaand we're deaf again," noted the commander. "Well, good to fly our birdie again!" "Uh-huh," mumbled engineer, looking at his own MFD. "Wow!" "What's that?" immediately asked him both pilot and commander. "Some kind of a directed flash of arcane energy - draconic one, of Legendary level... or was it? Most likely, just interference from ionization hitting the sensors, like back during the third test flight..." "Draconic, you say? Let us really hope, that those were merely interferences..." grimly said the commander, turning his gaze towards the window. "Because if it's not - we're in the world of trouble..." Author's notes: The launch sequence of the "Dreamwing" is partially inspired by the Silbervogel project and the launch of "America" hypersonic spaceplane from the "Silver Tower" by Dale Brown. SSTO - Single Stage To Orbit. MFD - Multi-Function Display. Hydrolox - a type of binary rocket fuel composed of liquid oxygen (lox) oxidizer and liquid hydrogen combustible.

So, in this backwards world, Pokemon Rescuer J fights against evil Poacher-Rangers, greedy cruel trainers and corrupt police force? I’d like to read a fic about this!

APPARENTLY IN ANOTHER WORLD HUNTER J GIVES OUT RARE POKEMON

Some worldbuilding for my fic - Azoth Kingdom, Alva, part 1.

Unlike in the canon, Cabinet Minister Alva here is less of a “Complete Monster” and more of a “Well-Intentioned Extremist” with a tiny bit of Richard Hawk from “Metal Wolf Chaos”. He still wants to overtake the Azoth Kingdom and rule it from the Giant Metal Spider Flying Fortress (which here is also often called “Defence Fortress”), but here, it’s because he wants Azoth Kingdom to become great and powerful once more (no, no Trump jokes. Really, no Trump.)

As for now, Azoth Kingdom is slowly, but surely losing positions in the airship and small VTOL markets due to corporates proposing more advanced machines for the same price. Considering that Azoth’s main sources of income are, again, airship and small VTOL production and export, you can understand the feelings of minister, who does love his motherland and does not like the ruling royalties, which do next to nothing about it.

The true reason Alva was able to get along with prince Raleigh is because the young boy was very alone. Raleigh’s mom has passed away several years ago, dad is paying next to no attention to him, Kimia is not much better in it, so young prince took refuge in studying arcane science, which has brought him close to Alva, who was an arcane researcher. A small kinda quote from the fic:

(Raleigh, trying to ask his sister for help): Kimia, can you help me?

(Kimia, going to king to discuss Alva’s financial report and barely paying attention to her brother): Not now, Raleigh.

(Raleigh, silently, but angrily whispering): “Not now”, just as always! Daddy - “Not now”, Kimia - “Not now”, so when will then be “Now”? And these people wonder...

(Alva, silently coming to prince): Is there something wrong?

(Raleigh, calming down): Nothing special, minister Alva. For some reason, I can’t assemble a working levitator - outer shell breaks all the time, resulting in systems failure. Can you help me with this?

(Alva, smiling): Of course I can.

Not quite like the canon Alva, this version of the cabinet minister actually does sympathize Raleigh, which is why he tries to slowly get his trust, loyalty and support instead of just using him as a simple tool.

When it comes to arcane science, Alva uses the Nikola’s version (the only one available now), but he does know the rumors about the Soris origins of this discipline, though he prefers to dismiss them as jokes. His favorite directions in it are arcane computing devices (for unlocking Fortress’ control systems) and Mega Evolution research (he is yet to create Mega Wave devices here, though he has some working prototypes now).

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?

Couldn’t agree more.

Tumblr seriously you need to stop with the bigoted and idiotic blogs being recommended to me. I interact with them BECAUSE THEY’RE DOUCHEBAGS WHO NEED TO BE CALLED OUT FOR BIGOTRY. Can’t you cross-reference what I post about and not who I interact with?

Also, during the Johto arc, Satoshi recognizes Lugia. The only time he could see Lugia before it was during the events of the second movie. The same with Aura abilities from the Lucario movie - he uses them (albeit passive ones) to track down Riolu in “Pokemon Ranger! The Wave-Guiding Riolu!! (Part 2)”.

@bringsyouwings Just because Satoshi doesn’t remember/act like he remembers stuff from the movies doesn’t mean they don’t happen. He acts like that with stuff from previous episodes and nobody claims they don’t happen. I mean he was chased around by Dogas for how long and then had to look it up upon seeing one later. I’m also pretty sure he acts like he doesn’t remember Pokémon that HE’S HAD.

Yeah the Victini movie is a weird case but I imagine they still went to the same place and met the same people. That’s really the only one with any issue though. Even there being a second Mewtwo is covered since Masaki knows about the first one and there likely being a massive paper trail at Rocket HQ about it.

What the Ultra Space is wrong with me?

A day ago, after watching some Infinite Warfare gameplay - space battle, to be specific (I don’t play COD and usually don’t watch vids about it, but thanks Youtube for this vid - I love watching space battles) and re-watching Pokemon Generations, I’ve got a very weird idea for fanfic, which I’ve immidiately put into work.

Now, I look at the space battle between corporate aerospace force and Team Tornado squadron, while Mega Rayquaza and Deoxys are fighting on the background and... no, I think, how to improve it and, if possible, prevent jumping the shark for fic (current events are roughly at the beginning of Johto season of anime, except not in Johto, and the battle is pre-written for much later). Also, Brendan/May dies, because being on the satellite’s solar panel when the debris cloud from the destroyed Tornado Interceptor flies right at you at high speed and with enough energy to tear this panel clean off the satellite is a very bad idea. And Mega Rayquaza does not notice this until some time later, because here, it needs to evade attacks of both Deoxys and Tornado Fighters.

Why the Ultra Space this battle has begun in the first place? To put it short:

Corporates wanted to commence high-orbit asteroid interception and test their shiny new toy - “Spark” directed-energy cannon, which has enough power to blow it up and can be installed on orbital EOS-controlled fighter drone. They knew nothing about Brendan/May and Rayquaza until the Sky High Pokemon destroyed the asteroid with Dragon Ascent and released the Deoxys.

Rayquaza and Brendan/May wanted to intercept asteroid and deal with Deoxys.

Team Tornado, which here complements Teams Magma and Aqua like the Rayquaza complements Groudon and Kyogre, knew about Brendan/May’s plans and wanted to get Rayquaza and/or Deoxys. They’ve even installed Pokeball launchers on Fighters and Interceptors, which they’ve loaded with mostly modified (Snag-type mod) Ultra Balls, but several modified Master Balls were present as well.

What the Ultra Space is wrong with me?

She’s a Rule 63 version, not 34! Rule 34 says that there is always a porno about this, and Rule 63 says that there is always gender-swapped version of this character.

Ok since last time almost everyone focused on the bosses, let’s go a bit different. Huggability rating, movie baddies.

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

Chapter 8. The sky's not the limit.

Author's warning: a suicide is attempted in this chapter. Proceed at your own risk. If computer systems could've been bored, the avionics of the "Hauler" would've been bored for sure. For more than a day, it was slowly doing small burns here and there, carefully deorbiting after having been unloaded, while also trying to evade space debris. Despite being impacted at several points already, automatics deemed the damage acceptable and went on with soft landing program, instead of simply deorbiting craft in they way it will burn and break apart. Right now, as Rayquaza was no longer of any concern and Minior posed not much more danger than debris - even less so, in fact, as they were actively trying to avoid collisions. Back on Earth, not too far away from Zemlino, recovery forces stood by, waiting for the cargo ship to land, so it can be brought back to Space Center for turnaround procedures, much like rocket stages of the "Water Dragon" would be in mere hours. Heat shield, parachutes, gas bags - all landing systems were still green and data meteorology stations was showing, that everything was within acceptable parameters for the landing and recovery. But right now, the ship still had to orbit Earth two more times… ---- "So… what do you think of it?" asked the captain of the "Red Explorer" everyone else, who was currently present in the mess hall in the centrifuge. "The more I think of it, the more it hits me, just what kind of a thing we've done - we've killed Rayquaza, a being millions of years old, who has controlled the skies for many eons." "And?" asked him the engineer. "Well… I mean, it's been around much longer, than humanity. Our actions has removed it out of play and, if data from ISF 9 and Hoenn locals is to be believed, there are two more players in there - Groudon and Kyogre. And with no Rayquaza to keep them in check…" "We may have to," said the pilot. "I mean, even excluding the retro-missiles, we can use solid-core railgun ammunition for orbital bombardment!" "With crappy precision and power," replied the sensors operator. "Atmosphere won't be gentle to it." "Even so…" muttered the captain, then assumed a bit more relaxed position in the chair. "I hope they'll be able to figure something out, back on Earth…" --- "And here our babies are," muttered technician in the Imperial Gray Sea Starport, seeing recovered stages of the "Water Dragon" being towed towards drydock for repair and later reuse, with a few curious Alolan Flygon in Rainy forms flying/swimming around them, as "buzzers" on the ships were now disabled. "Seems like everything went perfectly." "Indeed," replied the engineer nearby. "Just like the previous time." "Which one of previous times exactly?" asked him technician. "The original delivery of landers, docking block and Power and Propulsion Module to the Space Lab 1 to make it into the ship for the Imperial Moon Mission? The missions to build Space Lab 2?" "All of them, starting with the test flights with recovery system installed." "I guess. Kinda shame, that the early missions for delivering satellite constellations had to be only partially reusable, with only engines saved…" "Agreed. Well, they've almost got the stages there, so, time to get to work!" --- As the morning came to the eastern parts of Soris, the Emperor, still stationed in Zemlino Space Center, prepared for something truly special. Dressed in a strict suit, more fitting for a spokesperson of the space agency, rather than royalty, he, nonetheless, appeared to be concentrated, confident and serious. Right now, he was about to give the most important speech in his life so far. When the time came, he entered the conference room and walked onto the scene, under the gaze of cameras. "My dear sorisians, good morning," started the Emperor, sounding far more serious, than ever before. "I want to tell you something… Back before the Shift, when I was a young boy, one of the court's elite engineers and entertainers has constructed the first ever liquid-fueled rocket, which worked on kerosene and hydrogen peroxide. Even then, rockets have already fascinated me, but solids didn't have quite the same impact as this one did. When I first heard the roar of the turbopump, installed on the test stand, when I saw the assembled rocket blast off… I knew, that nothing would be the same for me from this day hence." "Because of that, when I've become the Emperor, I chose to, instead of trying to conquer the rest of the world, set our sights a bit higher and start conquering skies and, later, space." "And look, where did that get us. Even back then, while the rest of the world had to rely on the Pokemon to attempt to traverse the skies, we did so via comfortable machines, more advanced than anything would be in millennia to come. Even now, our nuclear airships are unmatched." "When the rest of the world had to rely on Castform at most and signs normally for predicting weather, we've had meteorological satellites for that. When bulk lifting was unachievable for them, we've used our helicopters and airships for that. When they've had to risk their men and Pokemon to get high-altitude observations, we've had satellites for that." "A lot of our technological achievements can be traversed back to the space program and the applications program for it. Even the TVs you are watching my speech with have a lot of components, derived from the space program." "For many years, we were exploring space. I remember, how happy I was, when we've managed to put the first satellite into orbit. I remember my ecstasy, when I've managed to quietly replace pilot of the SP-04 "Black Bird" with myself for the first mission and has become the first human in space." "For years and years, we were putting more and more satellites into orbits. We've also put men there - first in small spaceships, then in the Proof-Of-Concept Stations, then in the Space Labs… And when Rayquaza, without any warning, has destroyed our satellites, along with Space Lab 2 and LRV-03 with 12 cosmonauts onboard… We've turned our shock and grief into first resentment, then hatred and then - innovation." "Nowadays, there's a huge nuclear pulse battleship, which, currently, is stationed in orbit of the Moon, serving as a deterrent to any aggressor, who may think of attacking the Empire. In addition to that, as researches in the Space Lab 2 and ISF 5 have shown, some normally-terminal diseases can be treated in the microgravity." "As you've seen, aerospace industry was a great part of why our Empire was so successful. Because of that, I want to announce the Integrated Program Plan - our ticket into future. By the end of this year, we will clean the orbits a bit, partially restore the satellite constellations and, once again, have an operational space station, bigger and more advanced, than Space Lab 2. By the end of the next year, the first dedicated orbital hospital will be opened. By the end of third year, the first industrial-grade orbital factories will go operational. By the end of fourth year, the satellite constellations will be completely restored and we will have the Moonbase. By the end of fifth year, we will perform an expedition to the Red Planet. By the end of sixth year, more orbital factories and hospitals will be brought into operation. By the end of first decade of IPP, the assembly of the space colony in the libration point L5 will begin. By the end of the second decade, the colony will be brought into operation. Of course, there might be slips… but all of it will be achieved." "The Earth is a cradle of mankind… but one cannot eternally stay in the cradle. We should remember, what have we already achieved, and go on towards the future. The achievements of yesterday are commendable, but it's the achievements of today, which are truly impactful. Stay strong, my fellow imperials, and together, we will conquer the space!" ---- William Steelman, the president of Unova, didn't feel well. In fact, the entirety of the last year, especially the months after the so-called "Shift", was a major clusterbomb of problems. Especially when those damn Sorisians launched their damned space warship and demonstrated how they can use it against planetary targets. Especially when they've demonstrated the feasibility of nuclear weapons - something, that he had supported defunding back during the war with Hoenn and Kanto, before his presidency. Especially when he has also supported defunding the space program, considering it a waste of tax money, which could've been spent on more PokeCenters, hospitals, shelters and so on. And now, after this damned speech of this damned Emperor of this damned Soris Empire, he had no idea, what to do. And Sorisians announcing and giving a TV report about recovering all parts of their gigantic "Water Dragon" rocket, including the heavy cargo spacecraft, for a bit of repair and reuse soon after, was making things even worse, given the current-day situation with launch vehicles in Unova. And, what was the truly worst about it all, is that a decent part of the reason for Unova ending up so behind Soris Empire was his own fault. Even when he was defunding UASA and allowed them to lease the Space Shuttles to the rest of the world (mostly Hoenn), he only did it to free up tax money and spend it on social programs, to help everyday Unovans… and then it turned out to be a doom to Unova in the long term, unless some miracle saves them. And even nuclear industry of Unova wasn't in the really good condition, when compared to the Soris Empire… though, at least, he has helped to progress the molten salt reactors, which worked on relatively cheap and abundant thorium… But what's use in all this, if Soris Empire continues the conquest of space and, surely, builds more space battleships and weapon platforms, until they can keep the entire world compliant to their terms, lest the orbital bombardment with nuclear weapons commence?! William opened a drawer of his table. In it, alongside some old-type Pokeballs, which he kept from his League days, original ebonite knobs included, there was a familial heritage - a revolver, made by his gunsmith grandfather, along with a speedloader from the same maker and a small box of ammo. While the firearms were never too widespread in Unova, as Pokemon were almost always just as good and far more versatile, they've still had their niches and customers. Steelman took the revolver in his hands, looked at it, reflecting on the engraved writing and overall beauty of the weapon, then placed it on the table. He grabbed the speedloader and started putting cartridges into it, while thinking of what he has done in his life. After he was done, he used the speedloader to reload the revolver in one swift motion, just like during his time with father on the shooting range. William took the revolver in his hands, opened his mouth and inserted the gun's barrel into it, until it was touching the palate. He cocked the hammer, closed his eyes… and put the gun back on the table. He was the reason Unova was inadequately prepared to deal with the Soris Empire now. "Easy way out" was nothing but a cowardice of the highest level. He will be the one, who atones and fixes those mistakes or, at least, does his best to. As Steelman was unloading the revolver and putting everything back in place, his mind was racing, combing the memory for the project UASA has previously shown to him, what they've promised and how much money will they need to be done. He had work to do. A lot of it. And, maybe - just maybe, - he'll succeed in this endeavour. Even if it will require cooperating with all other member states of the Pokemon Nation. --- Around Zemlino Space Center, as always, there was a lot of work. Just as the recovered "Hauler", moved on the crawler, was rolled into one hangar, from another, a vessel emerged. It was a spaceplane - a sleek, delta-winged one, with boxy engines underneath the fuselage bringing those of "Dreamwing" to mind… and some of them were pretty similar, also being hydrogen-fueled scramjets. Others, however, were not, for they were not scramjets, but nuclear turboramjets. Inside the cockpit, two test pilots were checking everything. As this spaceplane was powered by the nuclear reactor, they've had to be very careful. Even though reactor was built to withstand low supersonic impacts, wrecking such an advanced vessel was… undesirable. "Zemlino, this is Bluebird-1, all systems green, running on batteries. Towing truck at safe distance, requesting permission to start the reactor," said the commander, hovering his hand over one of the covered buttons. "Bluebird-1, this is Zemlino, permission to start the reactor granted. Take off when ready." After receiving those words, commander flicked the cover open and pressed the "START 1" button. Far behind two humans, several control rods were retracted, allowing the chain fission reaction to start and get into high gear soon, heating up the hydrogen coolant, while the turbine pumps were revving up to ensure normal circulation of coolant through the entire system, including the heat exchanger on the outside. As the temperature continued to rise, electric motors inside the turboramjet assembly kicked in, revving up the turbines to get the air going through the heat exchanger and start up the turboramjets proper. "So far, so good," muttered the second pilot, observing the data on the MFD. Right now, the thrust has reached sufficient level to allow pilots to begin taxi to the runway, preparing for the takeoff. As much as they've wanted the Bluebird-1 to go to space today, alas, it was not an option - their test program was limited to some supersonic and hypersonic flight to test the engine assembly, then a bit of maneuvering to test the structure. As the vessel took off from the runway and the landing gear retracted, commander looked to the side and saw a "Whitebird" spaceplane, a recently-built unmanned cousin of the "Dreamwing", getting launched to deploy a satellite of sort and later retrieve it. There were rumors, that this satellite was supposed to house some kind of weaponry… but, most likely, they were just rumors. Author's notes: MFD - Multi-Function Display. BLUEBIRD spaceplane is based on the real M(G)-19 "Gurkolyot". Alolan Flygons are based on that wonderful picture. Hopefully, this chapters will be one of the last, so focused on the worldbuilding. Anyway, by the chapter ten, I will do my best to make story enter the more Pokemon route.