IIRC, Only Female Salandites Can Evolve.

Fight (mini-fic)

BOOTING UP...

BOOTING UP...

ISF9 ROBOTICS SUB-DIVISION (424 AFE)

CMBTRN MK2 BCS REVISION 023

CPU: CALCUTEC HEXALITH CLUSTER CPU E0812

LOADER V2.1

EXEC VERSION 32.43

64 GDUNITS RAM SYSTEM

20 GDUNITS FREE

50 TDUNITS PRIMARY DATA STORAGE

38 TDUNITS FREE

EXTERNAL DATA STORAGE FOUND AND CONNECTED (ISF9 ROBOTICS DIVISION, B-BOX MK51)

LOAD ROM(1): GENERAL.OS

LOAD COMPLETE

INITIALIZING...

COMMENCING SELF-DIAGNOSTIC PROCEDURES...

MOTIVE SYSTEMS: WALKER, BIPEDAL / QUADRUPEDAL / HEXAPEDAL, DIGITIGRADE, OPERATIONAL

GYROS AND ACCELEROMETERS OPERATING NORMAL

MANIPULATORS: FOUR, FIVE-FINGERED, OPERATIONAL

SENSORY SYSTEMS: ADVANCED TARGETING SENSOR COMPLEX, ADVANCED RECON SENSOR COMPLEX, THREE GENERAL AWARENESS SENSOR COMPLEXES

POWER SOURCE: TWO INTEGRAL ULTRA-HIGH DENSITY RECHARGEABLE ARCANE ENERGY BATTERIES (ALL 100% CHARGED), ONE REMOVABLE ULTRA-HIGH DENSITY RECHARGEABLE ARCANE ENERGY BATTERY (100% CHARGED), MULTI-PURPOSE POWER CONVERTER

ADDITIONAL SYSTEMS: OPTICAL CLOAK - READY

WEAPONS: ASSAULT BEAM CANNON (POSSIBLE MODES - ASSAULT BEAM / ASSAULT PULSE), TWO CUTTER BLADES, TWO GRAPPLING HOOK LAUNCHERS (36 METERS, SMART HOOK)

VOCALIZER OPERATIONAL

OPERATION START.

Combatron found itself in a transport container. Considering unusual position and the fact, that startup sequence was initiated by the systems of container, which were very low on energy, some emergency situation happened, and now machine was to analyze it, find the way to humans and complete the mission in protecting them.

Because of how container was locked and lock itself was inoperable, combatron decided to take a way of force.

Machine deployed two cutter blades from the upper limbs, activated the blade enhancing system, enshrouding them in clouds of destructive arcane energy, then simply cut the container open, like a tin can, threw what remained of door away and jumped out, prepared to take on hostile targets.

Strangely enough, none were found nearby, and, apparently, the container itself was lying in some forest in the Kalos region. Combatron, after seven seconds of analysis, decided to move out to north, “hoping” to eventually find a human settlement. One activation of cloaking system later, and everything became silent.

Machine noticed the desolate land straight ahead. Since the arcane energy detectors were picking up some very strange readings, combatron resorted to quadrupedal movement in order to maximize speed. Right now, the only combat protocol in the robot’s mind was simple - “protect the civilians and eliminate hostile targets at all costs”.

Jan saw, how Yveltal prepared the Oblivion Wing, how the orb between wings and tail grew... and how, suddenly, bright blue beam from somewhere hit it and caused it to explode, cancelling the attack and throwing the Destruction Pokemon into uncontrollable tail-spin.

- Citizens, this is combatron robotic military unit speaking! - sounded from roughly the beam’s point of origin. When he and Aila turned their heads to it, they saw a six-limbed metallic construct dropping the invisiblity camouflage and swiftly turning cylindrical “head”, still slightly opened, like a backwards flower (authors note: like this), and glowing faint blue, from one side to another, searching for something.

- Citizens, I, as a most powerful military unit here, order you to evacuate at once to increase your chances of survival!

Jan wanted to object, but the thing somehow predicted it and continued:

- Failure to fulfill the given order will result in your death sentence with immediate execution!

- Let’s go, Aila, I don’t think we’ll make a difference in this battle, - motor-mouthed scared Jan, placing girl on the back of his Gogoat and setting a course for somewhere sufficiently far away from here. The metallic-looking six-limbed thing nodded in approvement and quickly jumped forward, saying something to barely-stabilized Yveltal.

- You are facing Combatron-class assault robot. Death is inevitable, - said the machine, before it cloaked and started to charge the Assault Beam Cannon. Of course, the chargeup sequence itself partially compromised cloaking field and took more time in stealth mode, but right now, it did not matter to arcane robot - the only thing that mattered was the success of mission, and even in the current state, it was cloaked enough to disrupt hostile’s ability to aim effectively.

As much as machine would’ve liked, the Yveltal didn’t hover in one place - rather, it started to use general aerial attack patterns, similar to those, used by the most Flying-type Pokemon.

The first attack was saturation Razor Wind, directed at general location of the combatron. Though it, thanks to spread, barely scratched the paintwork on armor, it still made a disturbance to the cloaking field. Thankfully, combatron was able to cling to a rocky cliff and avoid being detected.

The next attack was another Oblivion Wing, targeted at escaping civilians. Because they were executing order to evacuate and combat protocols ordered so, machine was forced to prematurely fire the Assault Beam Cannon, exposing itself, in order to cancel the hostile’s attack and allow non-combatants to pull away safely.

The third was Dark Pulse, directed almost precisely at the combatron. Machine instantly disengaged the gripping system, allowing itself to fall off the cliff to avoid the powerful attack.

- No quarter! - replied robot, switching the Assault Beam Cannon to Assault Pulse mode and quickly sending two small beams of energy in hostile Pokemon. Yveltal shuddered, as streams of destructive arcane energy burned holes in his flesh, but continued the pursuit for elusive machine, furious in how it managed to allow the prey to escape and was trying to take the Destruction Pokemon down, barely noticing, that combatron was slowly luring it away from the human settlement.

The battle was raging on for the second hour already, with no immediate winner in sights. While the first part of the combatron’s plan - lure the hostile away from the civilians - was a total success, the robot still needed to defeat it for the sake of a world’s safety.

As usual, the Destruction Pokemon was commencing strafing runs with either Oblivion Wing or Hyper Beam one after another, sometimes adding Dark Pulse or Razor Wind for coverage, while the combatron was attacking it with Assault Pulses and, sometimes, trying to hit it with Assault Beam (not often, though, since it was draining batteries like no tomorrow).

Machine registered, how close Yveltal was passing to it this time, and took a chance.

Left lower hand raised, grappling hook launched. While recoil was pretty harsh, it was taken in account during aiming sequence.

Unfortunately, the hostile Pokemon made a sharp turn, evading the hook. Combatron instantly engaged the hoist, retracting the hook along with a rope back into the launcher, and swiftly jumped out of the way of another attack.

- The fight is already over, monster! - boldly announced machine, activating the Assault Beam Cannon and firing several small shots, trying to damage the wings and force the hostile Pokemon to land, where it would sever the spinal cord and slice the brain apart with the cutter blades.

It was a fifth hour of the fight, which continued to rage on even at night.

Both of the combatants were on their last reserves. Yveltal’s body was already overtaxed and overheated, while the combatron had exhausted two batteries, meant mostly for supplying weapons with energy, and was running on the third one only.

Combatron noticed, how the Yveltal, tired as he was, prepared to fire partially-charged Oblivion Wing at the machine. Unable to use the Assault Beam Cannon to cancel out the hostile attack, robot crossed the deployed cutter blades before itself and reconfigured their energy cover, extending it like some sort of a shield.

The impact of a Flying-type attack, capable of nearly-instantly draining life energy from other lifeforms, dissipated on the impromptu deflector, but it was at price - overloaded blade enhancing system malfunctioned, leaving the blades useless and damaging the servos of outer arms. However, it left Yveltal, who passed a little too low, open, and machine took that chance.

Combatron jumped with all power it’s servos were able to provide and fired both of the hooks, hitting the Yveltal this time and quickly pulling itself to him. Barely, but arcane robot still somehow managed to get a decent grip on the Legendary embodiment of death. The upper limbs, which, originally, housed deadly cutter blades, were out of commision, weapon energy supply was flat, but machine still had something left.

Barely clenching to the feathered skin, arcane robot has managed to move itself to the head of the Yveltal. Blue eyes of the Legendary Pokemon of Destruction, the Death Embodied, intersected with several lifeless sensors of the most advanced killer machine in the world, neither of them bearing any trace of empathy or sorrow.

Combatron, despite Destruction Pokemon desperately trying to shake it off, had finally alinged itself with the part of beast’s skull, where the brain was located, and steadied the joints.

Energy source switched, power rerouted. The head-mounted Assault Beam Cannon started opening like a backwards flower once again, howling chargeup sound getting higher with each millisecond passing and cannon itself glowing blue brighter and brighter.

Combatron registered, how fast the energy from the main power supply was draining, but machine couldn’t care less about it - if the beam makes contact, it’ll be worth it, even if it’ll mean total cessation of the combatron’s operation.

Yveltal understood, how the thin-limbed metallic thing, despite all of the damage, started preparing the most powerful beam attack, directed right at his head, and he couldn’t do anything about it. For the first time in untold millenia, the Destruction Pokemon was not angry, not annoyed, not furious, but outright terrified. And then everything broke loose.

Monstrously powerful beam erupted from the energy cannon. Even the skin of the Legendary, capable of shrugging off any but strongest attacks, could not stand in the path of focused destructive arcane energy of such a magnitude.

The bright blue beam easily atomized the skin and tore through the skull, completely destroying the brain, and then continued along the neck and spine, which were “lucky” to happen to be in the way of beam after the Yveltal’s attempts to throw the combatron off. In less than four seconds, a decent parts of head, back and tail of the Destruction’s embodiment ceased to exist.

The wretched corpse of the Yveltal, along with powerless husk of combatron, fell into the lake, dead machine still clinging on what remained of Destruction Pokemon.

When two dead deathbringers impacted the water’s surface, combatron’s powerless servos easily gave up, as it was thrown away from the Yveltal’s body, which skipped across the surface a single time, like a stone.

After both of them sunk to a considerable depth, Destruction Pokemon’s true ability has finally kicked in, starting to absorb life energy of everything around (which was not that much) and trying to fold what remained of the body into the Cocoon form. It’ve succeeded... mostly, because sheer scale of damage, done to the body, and insufficient amount of absorbed life force prevented normal full-scale resurrection sequence from taking place. It has required a fresh start, start from the very zero, start from anew.

On the bottom of the lake, inside what would normally be an Yveltal, folded into a Cocoon form, old life, which was to be eternal, has perished for good and entirely new one was born. It was smaller and weaker by magnitude of several orders, but, at least, it was.

Mostly because of the lack of gravity, which opens a tons of a new possibilities.

Why Sequencing DNA in Space is a Big Deal

… And How You Can Talk to the Scientists Who Made It Happen

Less than one month ago, DNA had never been sequenced in space. As of today, more than one billion base pairs of DNA have been sequenced aboard the International Space Station, Earth’s only orbiting laboratory. The ability to sequence the DNA of living organisms in space opens a whole new world of scientific and medical possibilities. Scientists consider it a game changer. 

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, who has a background in genomics, conducted the sequencing on the space station as part of the Biomolecule Sequencer investigation. A small, commercial, off-the-shelf device called MinION (min-EYE-ON), manufactured by Oxford Nanopore Technologies in the UK, was used to sequence the DNA of bacteria, a virus and rodents. Human DNA was not sequenced, and there are no immediate plans to sequence human DNA in space. 

(Image Credit: Oxford Nanopore Technologies)

The MinION is about the size of a candy bar, and plugs into a laptop or tablet via USB connection, which also provides power to the device. The tiny, plug and play sequencer is diminutive compared to the large microwave-sized sequencers used on Earth, and uses much less power. Unlike other terrestrial instruments whose sequencing run times can take days, this device’s data is available in near real time; analysis can begin within 10-15 minutes from the application of the sample.

Having real-time analysis capabilities aboard the space station could allow crews to identify microbes, diagnose infectious disease and collect genomic and genetic data concerning crew health, without having to wait long periods of time to return samples to Earth and await ground-based analysis.

The first DNA sequencing was conducted on Aug. 26, and on Sept. 14, Rubins and the team of scientists back at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston hit the one-billionth-base-pairs-of-DNA-sequenced mark.

Have more questions about how the Biomolecule Sequencer works, or how it could benefit Earth or further space exploration? Ask the team of scientists behind the investigation, who will be  available for questions during a Reddit Ask Me Anything on /r/science on Wednesday, Sept. 29 at 2 p.m. EDT. 

The participants are:

Dr. Aaron Burton, NASA Johnson Space Center, Planetary Scientist and Principal Investigator

Dr. Sarah Castro-Wallace, NASA Johnson Space Center, Microbiologist and Project Manager

Dr. David J. Smith, NASA Ames Research Center, Microbiologist

Dr. Mark Lupisella, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Systems Engineer

Dr. Jason P. Dworkin, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Astrobiologist

Dr. Christopher E. Mason, Weill Cornell Medicine Dept. of Physiology and Biophysics, Associate Professor

Some worldbuilding for my fic - Azoth Kingdom, Alva, part 2.

In my fic, cabinet minister Alva is a child of the not very famous, but still pretty well-known arcane researchers Ogden and Nancy.

During his childhood, young Alva was a pretty lonely boy, whose main and almost only interest was the arcane science. Because his mom and dad were too much into arcanics to pay enough attention to their son, Alva spent most of the time reading the Ogden’s and Nancy’s books, trying to study the arcane science himself. While Alva’s parents were proud of it, they still paid too little attention to the boy, so Alva had to pretty much fight tooth and nail for his social progress from the position of the simple researchers son to recognized arcane scientist to the (much later) cabinet minister. However, Alva still loved his parents very much and they loved him too, though, again, payed too little attention to him.

Both Ogden and Nancy died in the accident (one of the catwalks above the big city gears, due to metal fatigue, broke and fell down along with people on it right into the working mechanism. The results were far, far from the pretty), when Alva was 19, so, from this moment, lavender-haired boy could only count on himself. Thanks to his parents library and his own skills, he was able to quickly take a position of the arcane science student in the local technological university and earn a degree in just five years. Overall, professors thought of Alva as a very promising student, so he was able to take a position of the junior arcane researcher.

At this point, Alva started to grow dark. Seeing, how Kingdom used pretty much the same technology as in the Nikola’s times with little to no advancement (how else would you explain such hi-tech control systems in the Nikola-built and then unmodified Flying Fortress?), how safety rules were violated from the very founding of the Kingdom (his parents died because of badly-placed and undermaintained catwalk, after all), how not-very-young corporations started to slip in the traditionally Azoth-monopolistic airship market (Tunguska Technologies, SaL-12 “Charizard” Assault Ship Aerodyne, which, thanks to high resilience and durability, low price, great fuel efficiency along with ability to use pretty much any liquid, gaseous or even gelatinous fuel, wide range of modifications and very easy repairs became widely-used platform for different machines, including even the VTOL cargo fliers and passenger transport) and how royalties weren’t doing a thing about it made him angry. After understanding this, Alva chose to become at least cabinet minister to try to, in the best case, influence royalties to take actions, or, if they won’t, take over the Kingdom and do it himself. Considering his genius, it didn’t take a long time.

The true reason why Alva sympathizes Raleigh is because cabinet minister sees himself in the young prince and does not want such a childhood for this young boy. If not for this, his plan wouldn’t even included Raleigh after the Alva takes the control over the Kingdom - he would’ve simply exiled or even executed everyone from the royal family and become the sole dictator, but friendship with the prince made Alva change his plans - in the new version, after the Alva takes control over the Kingdom, current king and Kimia are stripped of their positions, but left alive, Raleigh becomes a new king and, until he reaches the adulthood, former cabinet minister takes control of the Kingdom, while continuing to teach Raleigh arcane science and, as a part of preparation to become the king, politics and economics.

On top of everything above, the reason Alva is doing all of this is because he loves Azoth Kingdom very much and wants it to become mighty and prosperous once more, even if by such a dirty means.

He still remembers this crash and just wants to be prepared for another one (abandon crashing airship on the kite before airship makes contact with the surface).

Jiri you need to get your head examined.

I mean that. I think you may have suffered some brain damage in the crash.

Some worldbuilding for my fic - Ancient Soris Empire, part 2.

The Ancient Soris Empire, unlike most of the empires, depicted in the fiction, wasn’t really into conquest, but, rather, into science and exploration. While still moderately big (entire Soris region), it wasn’t that big, but it did have some colonies outside of the Empire, although they were research-centered and dependant on the parent-state.

The most well-known Empire’s machine, almost a sign of hope for colonies, was “Overlord of Skies”-class nuclear powered rigid-hull hydrogen dirigible.

(Image taken from soviet “Энциклопедический словарь юного техника” book, although in this verse, dirigible is lifted by hydrogen instead of helium and has a bigger cargo and passenger bays)

This class of airships could easily provide supplies for colonies in any part of the world, as well as transport almost any kind of cargo, including even small nuclear powerplants for polar colonies. Powered by liquid metal-cooled nuclear fission reactor, they had fuel autonomy of several dozens of years, as well as ability to be, in fact, flying scientific colonies for many kind of researches: Pokemon migration surveillance, atmospheric research and such. Also, several years after the Alola Expedition, in addition to the onboard helicopter and plane, these airships usually had several Alolan Flygons, because: 1) they were that beloved by the Soris people (a Pokemon which is willing to cooperate with humans, unlike the Soris native Pokemon); 2) they didn’t consume any hydrogen fuel, unlike the copter or plane, and food for them wasn’t that much of issue; 3) they were better in in allowing researchers to observe Pokemon without disturbing them - Flygon is much more quiet than a heli; 4) they were sorta like companions for humans in long journeys for science.

Unfortunately, when the Soris Empire fell, all of these majestic airships were destroyed, sooner or later. “Researcher-2”, which has escaped Soris and was travelling to one of the far colonies, carrying copies of the newest arcane science discoveries, as well as some tech supplies, has suffered a major reactor meltdown (because someone onboard has failed both mechanics and aerodynamics classes, so he thought, that overriding all of the safeties and pushing the already maxed-out reactor even further will increase the speed of airship) and crashed in the Kalos, though without huge explosion (emergency hydrogen dump-and-burn system has worked well), but everyone onboard has suffered insane radiation poisoning and died shortly after. Skip a little, AZ comes down and, understanding, that there’s something wrong about this wreck, orders his men to scout the remnants and bring anything useful to him. Several very bloody battles with an activated combatron class arcane tech-based assault robot later, irradiated Golurk - sole survivor from one of the many scouting groups, which has finally managed to bring the combatron down - brings down an unlocked safe, which contains arcane science documentation and, soon after, next group manages to transport some of the containers with advanced stuff to their king. Because AZ, roughly a decade ago, hanged out with several Soris arcane tech researchers (from the Soris Empire’s Kalos research base), he was able to understand Soris language and some of the more complicated stuff in these documents, so, Ancient Kalos Kingdom put some of the arcane technology to use. However, as you can remember, the most well-known Kingdom’s arcane science-based device was the Ultimate Weapon, after a single use of which arcane science was forgotten for 2500 years, until the Nikola from the Azoth Kingdom had independently re-discovered a basic principles behind it and developed arcane devices once more.

The Ancient Soris Empire has even had a space program, but, unfortunately, they were only able to launch so many satellites, automated nuclear-powered interplanetary probe and two “Space Lab”-class space stations, first of which was similar to the real “Skylab”, while the second one resembled something closer to ISS, if it was bigger, nuclear and solar powered, had two contra-rotating gravity wheels, several normal escape pods and dock for the lenticular return vehicle, before the fall, all of which had de-orbited and burned during the re-entry in following years. There were plans to produce arcane science-based machines, ranging from a simple arcane-tech probes to full-scale mechanical Pokemon, for advanced deep space exploration, but, sadly, it has remained in plans only.

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.

So I’ve got a goal of $450.

I’m willing to take on simple character art like what’s shown to reach that goal, as it’s quick and fun for me to do. These are images used for an RP on Discord but you can use yours for anything you want. 

Simply DM me a character, and a paypal email address for an invoice!

It kinda reminds me of some old comic strip (scientist to jouranlist - NEWSPAPER’S HEADLINE):

- We’ve managed to destroy several percents of cancerous cells in the lab rat’s tail. - SCIENTISTS’VE CURED CANCER.

- No, we’ve only managed to get closer to the future when cancer can be cured! - SCIENTISTS TRAVEL IN TIME.

- Fuck you! - SCIENTIST HAS RAPED JOURNALIST!

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, to design and create Flying Palace, he needs to start from something. Maybe, it’ll be his first step to make such an airship real.

Took the Tomodachi Life personality quiz for Jirarudan and he ended up with Confident Designer and told he should have an office and a lab coat.

……what.

Just look what I’ve managed to find! Although Articuno here is closer to his final version, Hikokyuu here is still pretty similar to Robur’s “Terror” from “Master of the world” and Melody still have a lute. I’ve found this here: http://blog.goo.ne.jp/goo20030407/e/23e284ab36b13f27f0fc8688279125ff . Now, if only someone translates the page...