Past Of The Future, Future Of The Past...

The problem may be not with phone itself, but, instead, with battery charge controller. Try rebooting your phone and make sure there are no energy-heavy apps running, such as a Pokemon Go, Pokemon Duel or like it, and, if this fails, try to turn phone off and let it charge for a while before turning it back on and checking progress. If there is no charge buildup, swap charger for another compartible and if this fails as well - there are, probably, big problems with the battery.

There’s something wrong with my phone. It’s plugged in, says it’s charging, but loses battery.

Originally Kasumi asked Jirarudan, why he keeps birds in capturing frames instead of pokeballs (she thought birds suffer from this), and Jiri replied, that if no one can see them, that’s not a true collection.

im watching pokemon 2000 and misty is berating the collector for trying to catch the legendary 3 (which, fair) but she says “ the way you talk, pokemon are just a thing to collect!” the catchphrase of pokemon is straight up “gotta catch em all” like what message are you going for 4kids???? be consistent at least

A: I came up with the “Above the ground, nothing can time me down...” from the “Ware wa Collector” lyrics.

B: Dunno. Even if there was a moments like this, I’ve already forgot them.

C: Varies as storiy progress.

D: Of course, it’s “Ware wa Collector”, though only for some moments now.

E: I’m already writing the sequel, called “I won’t let go tomorrow...”. It’s a continuation of adventures of protagonist and some other people, mainly Ash Ketchum group, in this strange derailed world.

F: (Ash Ketchum and Misty, during the Orange Islands Incident, in one of the multi-purpose rooms of the Flying Palace, which was modified to serve as a bedroom, nearly start fighting among themselves (they’ve slept together on one bed, but it wasn’t intentional... well, it makes sense in context), when A.I. system stops them):

Flying Palace’s A.I.: I have some doubts Mister Lawrence will approve any kind of vandalism inside of his property.

(Overall, I’m not very much into dialogue.)

G: I write the scenes as soon as they come to my mind, then I think how to make them whole.

H: As mixed one.

I: No.

J: I can’t, I’m too railed on the second fic to think of alt. endings for the first one.

K: Flying Palace’s A.I. system seeing her master badly injured and pretty much dying, but being unable to do anything about it. For one of the possible alt. ‘verses (nightmares, maybe) - her, again, seeing, how her master, on the brink of death, all but orders Jorsey (his Yveltal, who thinks of protagonist as a “daddy”) to finish him with Oblivion Wing, so the Yveltal will both end suffering of the protagonist and receive a piece of his “daddy”, which will be always with him. Of course, it’s a very hard hit for both Jorsey, who, after lots of refuses, finaly agrees and executes the last will of his “daddy”, and the A.I. system, who witnesses death of her creator and master.

L: Two or three, sometimes more.

M: No.

N: No.

O: Varies between the stories. This one was so entwined that it’s impossible to tell what was first - plot or character.

P: Hard to say - I have a big general plan, all the way to Ultra Beast Crisis, but I often re-write it, unfolding the story as it goes.

R: Yes there are. In fact, I think, that Blackjack’s “Obsession” had an influence on my version of Azoth Kingdom characters.

S: “Benevolent A.I.”, “Cool Airship”, “Cool Plane”, kinda-downplayed “Ragnarok-Proofing” and “Magic by Any Other Name” (ISF9′s condition, even with all conservation procedures and maintenance, is far from the perfect now, arcane science is still science with lots of researches, experiments and theoretical work involved), “Kill Sat”, “Mega Corp.” (albeit benevolent ones... relatively, because they are pretty “Humans First”, though not up to the active Pokemon hunting without really good reasons.) and some others.

T: “A.I. Is a Crapshoot”, “Karma Houdini” (albeit it varies, though I, if I’m using it for some reasons, prefer to downplay and justify it, showing, that it wasn’t easy to get away with it, and sometimes, it can still bite your back later), “You Can’t Thwart Stage One” (I plan to end the fourth movie events pretty much right at the beginning with a single shot of a certain siver-haired women’s hand-cannon) and some others.

U: @blackjackgabbiani​ (because of the “Obsession”), Rynowm (because of the “Journey to the High Leagues”) and Secondpillow ("Dobby relished his groinsaw's roar as he withdrew the flesh-choked blade from the astronaut's ruined skull."...)

V: I don’t even know. I still have at least three fics to finish.

W: Both equally, though specific ones are more welcome.

X: No one so far (except for, maybe, Jorsey, but his “daddy” will always comfort him and is pretty close to finding out who made the little Yveltal afraid of Energy Reaction Cores and who had given him nightmare).

Y: Protagonist, Jorsey (even if he is Yveltal, he’s still a litlle hatchling, who needs love and protection), Latias (who is yet to appear), Flying Palace’s A.I. system (she really thinks she is doing the right things, because she can’t even imagine her existence without her beloved master).

Z: Sometimes I read such a fics, but I don’t want to write it. It’s easier to say, whom death I can tolerate (Giovanni, for instance).

FanFic Ask Game

A: How did you come up with the title to [insert fic]?

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

C: What member do you identify with most?

D: Is there a song or a playlist to associate with [insert fic]?

E: If you wrote a sequel to [insert fic], what would it be about?

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

G: Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

H: How would you describe your style?

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

J: Write or describe an alternative ending to [insert fic].

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

L: How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?

O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters?

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

Q: How do you feel about collaborations?

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

U: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

V: If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

W: Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones?

X: A character you enjoy making suffer.

Y: A character you want to protect.

Z: Major character death–do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can’t tolerate?

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

Chapter 2: Handshake above the skies.

- So, comrades, we are in big clusterheck now, - grimly said captain Vasilyev to the cosmonauts, who gathered in the station's command module. - The ground control, basically, told us "Provide data and do whatever situation calls you to do, until we give you new orders", the whole world has changed, the orbits are crowded now, and we are not alone up there anymore. Any ideas?

- Propulsion is nice now, - started the pilot. - Of course, we've used some propellant for changing orbit, but it wasn't much. If anything, we can pump dry the cargo pods, along with 3-seated return pods, and use them to load propellant on the Lenticular Return Vehicle, so, even after the orbit's change, we will be able to return to Earth. We'll need to modify it first, though, but we have everything for it onboard.

- Orbit change, you say… - wondered the engineer, who also doubled as psychologist. - Can we join the unidentified space station?

-... Well, theoretically, we can - given that we use most of our propellant for maneuvering and will be left with barely enough to deorbit the LRV, but should we?

- Why not? - answered question with question captain of the station. - It's not like we have any better ideas at contacting them. We don't know their frequencies, we don't know their data encoding, we don't know a thing!

- Whatever you say, guys, I'll just hover here and watch over the station's parameters and engines, - mumbled the pilot, floating towards the control console.

- Here goes nothing, - suddenly decided the captain. - Join the unidentified space station and keep the distance between us and them in-between 180 and 210 meters.

-... Aye-aye, comrade captain. I'll activate the propellant pumps now, to redistribute the propellant. The orbital maneuver will take some time, though.

- No problem. We'll prepare the MMUs in the meantime.

-                                                                                                                              -

- The MCC is silent, - said Aneeta Gerst, flying away from the computer console. - Apparently, there's quite a chaos down there.

- I can understand them, - replied Sarah Donnager, who was hovering nearby. - After all, the whole region, which was previously dead and absolutely unwelcome, suddenly becoming inhabited and developed is not something, that happens everyday.

- Most definitely, - mumbled Anthony Falkis, who was monitoring connections. - Wait a second… No, this can't be… or can it?

- What? - asked him two women.

- According to the radar data from Mossdeep, unidentified huge space station has just started orbital maneuvering.

- And?

- … It's going to get near us.

- How? You sure, that they have enough delta-V?

- Of course I am not, but the maneuver is too similar to those, performed by our crew transports and resupply ships.

- And what the Mossdeep says?

- Mossdeep remains silent.

- How long to rendezvous?

- Roughly two days.

- Two days, you say… enough to commence evacuation in pods several times. Should we do so, though?

- Negative, - came sudden reply from the Mossdeep. - Perform survey on the unidentified space station and, if possible, contact them.

- Contact them… - angrily whispered Samuel Franck. - How should we contact them, if we have no idea about their radio frequencies and encryptions? By flying to them on MMUs?

-                                                                                                                              -

- This thing is huge, - commented Sarah, taking another picture of the unidentified space station, which had two contra-rotating centrifugal wheels, a few big parabolic mirrors, aimed at, presumably, some kind of boilers, a big set of heat radiators, an unidentified device, which possessed its own set of heat radiators, a six docked pods and a what looked like a flying half-saucer with steering fins, flaps and, yet again, deployed heat radiators, roughly twelve meters in diameter, docked to the "lowest" part of the station.

- I'm afraid to even imagine, how many resources were spent on building this thing… - said Gerst, flying closer to Sarah. - By the way, is it just me, or… do you see someone going on EVA?

Donnager quickly took a camera again and tried to use zoom on it as an impromptu telescope. Thankfully, Cupola module, in which she was present, was spacious enough for her to aim the camera and see, that someone indeed has exited the unidentified space station and, using some kind of MMU, started to approach the National Space Station. However, roughly on the one-third of trip, the unidentified astronaut performed a deceleration burn and stopped, as if waiting for someone.

- Hey, girls, - started Franck, who drifted to Cupola. - What…

Seeing the looks in the eyes of two women and knowing, that current commander of the NSS will support them, Samuel has greatly regretted the words he whispered two days ago.

-                                                                                                                              -

Samuel exited the airlock, preparing to do something inconceivable before. He put the hand on his MMU's control stick and gently shifted it forward, flying to the unidentified space station, which had appeared less than a day ago. His trusty Reuniclus was in the Pokeball on the suit's belt, ready to be released, should something happen.

From what he could see, there was a similar activity on the side of unidentified space station, which showed in the form of humanoid in advanced space suit flying towards him, propelled by the similar maneuvering unit.

Nearly two minutes after, they were, finally, close enough. For what it looked like, the unidentified humanoid could very well actually be human… but how?

Sam released his Reuniclus to try to establish the telepathic contact, but, right after that, his "opponent" took a huge, rectangular pistol-like device from the belt, threw a small instrument away, shot it with this device - the shot itself was invisible, save for how a part of the instrument instantly turned yellow-hot from it - and then took aim at Samuel.

Reuniclus prepared to attack the unknown individual, but Samuel ordered him not to. The alien astronaut pointed at the Reuniclus with a free hand, made a swiping gesture, pointed at the energy pistol and tapped at the belt.

Samuel, in response, pointed at the Reuniclus, then grabbed the pokeball and tapped at it with his index finger.

Alien astronaut repeated the gesture, so, Samuel decided to withdraw the Reuniclus, despite how the Multiplying Pokémon was objecting against it. Thankfully, the gesture was understood correctly, so unknown individual switched something on its pistol and put it back on the belt, before grabbing a small container.

Samuel was ready for another threat display, but, surprisingly, inside the container lied an sketchbook of some sort and several different pens. The unknown astronaut withdrew the sketchbook, took one of the pens and started drawing some strange symbols, adding lines over each of them.

"So, those are numbers. Nice," - thought Samuel, looking at how many lines correspond to what symbol. - "And they use the base ten system. Even better."

Right after it, alien astronaut stopped drawing and handed the sketchbook and pen to the Samuel. He wasted no time and drew national numbers right under the alien ones, then gave the sketchbook and pen back to the rightful owner.

Alien astronaut made a strange - hopefully, approving - gesture, then turned the page and started making new drawings.

-                                                                                                                              -

- Vasya is doing pretty well, - said commander of the Space Lab 2, looking at the screen, which displayed direct feed from the helmet cam.

- Of course he does. Though, comrade captain, I think you'll have to give him reprimands for threatening unknown cosmonaut with laser multitool.

- I will, but later. Vasiliy, - announced captain into just-activated mic, - don't forget, that you are here to get some basic info and then return to Lab!

- I know, I know, I'm doing it, - replied cosmonaut, who was busy exchanging drawings with cosmonaut from other space station. - It's not like I have a lot of oxygen left. An hour or so - and I'll get back… or not.

- What do you mean?

- Look at my cam.

-                                                                                                                              -

The oxygen meter showed, that it was time to return to the station. Samuel pointed at himself, backpack of the space suit, MMU and the National Space Station in succession. Alien astronaut understood it and extended its hand - probably, for the handshake. Franck, deciding, that here goes nothing, responded to this gesture by grasping the extended hand and actually shaking it. Just before the Nation's astronaut turned away and activated the engines, unknown individual lifted the filter on his helmet, opening the view on the face - an unmistakably human face.

Weird dream is weird

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

Work (mini-fic)

- Down, down, slightly left, slightly forward, down, down... - motor-mouthed Levi into comm, dubbing his vocal commands with gestures with handheld signal beacons. Above his head, Cherie, controlling Alva’s personal airship “Kamiya”, slowly descended, trying to place the huge pile of cargo, which was now hanging on external mount, right into designated zone.

- Down, down, half’o’sec’o’thrust right... Perfect! - screamed Levi. - Disengage electromagnet, drop Raleigh and take our baby back home.

- “Our” baby? - sounded the cabinet minister’s voice in the comm. - Well, it’s not that I’m that against you two using my airship when I don’t need her, but, if the costs for flight, not counting energy for engines, exceed two million, you will be the ones paiyng them. However, if you want to take her for a private flight for your honeymoon...

- Boss? - sounded confused Cherie in the channel. - What do you mean - “honeymoon”?

- Ah, I suppose, I’m rushing the events, - replied Alva in somewhat sarcastic voice.

- How did you know? - asked Levi, already knowing the boss’s answer.

- I know you two much more than you think. Me, being a cabinet minister, arcane researcher and pretty much a father replacement for prince, does not mean I do not monitor condition of my two most important henchmen.

- Well, thank you for putting us in such a high regard! - happily said Cherie, repositioning the airship. - Raleigh and “package” on cargo platform. Levi - he’s under your responsibilty now.

- Acknowledged! - replied her colleague, walking to the lowered platform, on which young prince stood near the heavy metallic briefcase, obviously designed for transporting hazardous materials.

- Monsieur Levi? - wondered boy. - And where’s the minister Alva?

- Cabinet minister is very busy now, - said henchman. - He plans to perform a test today, and I need to deliver this cargo to him now.

- What kind of test? - asked him curious prince.

- New power source. Let’s go, no need to hold boss and Cherie waiting, - finished this conversation Levi, taking the briefcase and walking inside the Flying Fortress. Curious Raleigh followed him, and Cherie, after retracting the platform and closing the ramp, took the airship back to the port.

-                                                                                                                              -

- Here, boss! - said Levi, giving a heavy metallic briefcase to the Alva and leaving the room at once, closing the blast door in process. The cabinet minister carefully placed it on the table, grabbed tongs, dressed himself in a full hazmat suit and only after that opened the briefcase. In it, there lied several strange crystals, glowing faint blue.

- Unown shards, power source of the Kingdom’s future, - whispered Alva, carefully picking them with tongs one by one and loading into special holders in a strange-looking device. After he was finished, he installed the safety cover on the device and placed the tongs aside, but remained in the hazmat suit. Shortly after, he placed the device on small cart, opened the blast door and rolled it into the main engine room, which was loaded with terrifying amounts of equipment, installed on the new platforms near the central catwalk, above which the main power distribution core was suspended.

- Preliminary ignition cascade... operable. Secondary ignition system... operable. Secondary distributors... operable. Emergency power-bleeding system... operable, - mumbled arcane researcher, checking the machinery. - Looks like I can install the power source now.

- Minister Alva? - suddenly sounded child’s voice. Alva turned around and saw Raleigh, coming to him from the side of the steam condensers and coolant storage.

- Prince Raleigh, I strongly advise you to leave at once, - replied man, looking at the young prince. - The power source is very dangerous to handle without sufficient protection.

- Understood, understood, leaving... - muttered Raleigh, turning around and backtracking. Arcane researcher nodded to no one in particular, then opened a heavy reinforced hatch on one of the bigger machines, took the device, placed it in the connection port inside, closed the hatch and only after it exhaled quietly, being proud of himself. According to the data, showed on the nearby sensors, the power source was installed correctly, so, the second stage of the test was about to begin...

-                                                                                                                              -

- Please, Raleigh, be careful, - said Alva, guiding the young prince through the mess of cables and tubes, which covered floor of this corridor of the Flying Fortress in a thick layer.

- Boss, we’re ready! - screamed Cherie from the control room. No one was quite sure, how she has managed to get here from the dock so quickly. Apparently, it was one of her “girly secrets”.

- Understood, we’re almost there! - replied cabinet minister, right before he and Raleigh entered the room itself.

Even if Nikola supposed this room to be elegant in some way, it was anything but this now. Entirety of the floor was covered in tubes, cables and wires of nearly all kinds, the bridge was perma-raised and fixed in this position now, with an aluminum ladder placed to provide access, everything was cramped with a new machinery...

- Boss - need any help? - asked Levi, bending over the safety rails.

- Yeah, help me to get prince up there, - mumbled Alva before, along with Levi, getting Raleigh on the bridge, then getting on it himself.

The bridge - originally, pretty spacious - was even more cramped, than the rest of the control room. The layer of cables and tubes here was so thick, it worked as a floor by itself, the secondary consoles and equipment racks obstructed most of the view on the main screen, the original singular seat was removed in favor of modified office chair... Well, at least, now, before both of the primary control consoles, there were normal seats. Though the right one was so surrounded by additional control panels and indicators, it looked like it was in some kind of a strange cockpit.

- Raleigh - stay there. Cherie - on standby, - started to give orders Alva, trying to get into the “cockpit”, while his henchgirl sat before the left primary control console and, unbeknownst to him, invited Raleigh to sat on her knees, to get the better view. - Levi - activate the preliminary ignition cascade!

- Acknowledged, preliminary ignition warming up, - replied the henchman, sat on the central seat and started to flick switches and turn knobs on the nearby panels in order, which would seem somewhat chaotic to the uninformed observer. After roughly a minute, he said, - Preliminary ignition cascade ready!

- Commence the preliminary ignition!

- Acknowledged, preliminary ignition commencing, - lazily said Levi, flicking open the safety cover and pressing the button.

Deep inside the Flying Fortress, in the main engine room, one of the machines finally hummed to life. Unown crystal shards, stimulated by arcanotechnological devices, glowed, trying to open the breach between dimensions and never succeeding in it, but giving away lots of energy in process, which was instanly harvested by the human creation.

- Preliminary ignition successful, crystal reactor is now at two percent, - reported Levi. - Commence primary engine ignition?

- Wait, power distribution normal, power-bleeding normal... - mumbled Alva, then replied, - Yes, commence primary engine ignition!

- Primary engine ignition commencing... - Levi tried to raise the power of the crystal reactor and route it into the Fortress’ main power distribution core. - So far, so goo...

At that moment, siren sounded, while the power monitoring display showed, that core, instead of activating and routing energy through the entirety of structure, remained locked and just accumulated energy, which could’ve meant explosion in this situation.

- Emergency shutdown and power-bleeding! - screamed Alva and Levi at the same time, each doing their own part in preventing a solid chunk of the wall, surrounding Azoth Kingdom, getting into the sky the wrong way. Thankfully, well thought-out contingency protocols and machinery helped to do it quickly, putting this crisis to end.

- Well, boss, I think your tech-paranoia has a very good basis, - mumbled Levi, trying to recover from this. - What do we do now?

- For now - let us just finish the second external power transfer line, then re-activate the reactor and share some of the energy with Kingdom - as much as safely possible, anyway. For later - we need to find and get the Soul-Heart, or this Fortress will stay locked on the ground forever, - replied the minister.

- And what do I do? - asked Cheri, helping Raleigh to get back to the floor.

- Go relax somewhere, I guess. Or you can try to help us to finish this power line. What’s your Pokemon today?

- Alakazam.

- Great. Your majesty?

- I think I want to see it.

- No problems. Just please, use the protective clothes, - finished his talk Alva, powering down most of the control equipment.

“Sometimes, I hate Nikola. He was genius, but a crazy one. Even with a new power source, we still need a Magearna to unlock the Fortress.” - thought the cabinet minister, crawling out of the “cockpit” and walking through the bridge, before getting down by a ladder. - “Well, I still need to make Azoth Kingdom a better place. For now, the better power source will do fine.”

And Latios in "Pokemon Heroes", and Volcanion in the recent "Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel".

Pokémon at the University

So, this morning I took an extremly interesting class revolving around theological causes for thought about New Testament issues. We had to discuss about sacrificial death and the teacher asked us to think of films in wich this topic plays a major role. People mentioned Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Narnia and then the professor looked at us and said: “You know where else we encounter this issue? - Pokémon!” Some of my fellow students turned their heads to me and called my name so I said that he refers to the first movie and blushed to the roots of my hair. It was on the tip of my tongue, I really wanted to add that without Team Rocket, Ash wouldn’t even had the chance to reach this island, but I effaced myself and instead of talking about my favourite Anime, I decided to make some inspiring remarks after listening to Schleiermacher’s and Müller’s theories about the atonement.

Jokes apart, this was one of the best introductions I’ve ever had. I believe this class is going to be highly frequented, not least because the topic is going to be much talked of. Thanks.

BA-11 Ballguard (Magearna)

When I saw Magearna deploying from her ball form

I immediately thought of 80-X Boxguard from Deus Ex: Human Revolution:

And now each time I see this cute robot Pokemon (Magearna), I can’t help but think of her saying “ENTER COMBAT” or some other 80-X phrases in some strange mix of her and Boxguard’s voices.

If we only got his airship as well...

Did anyone ever question how weird it was that the villain of Pokemon the movie 2000 was criticized for “collecting” Pokemon? Misty even screams at him that it’s “terrible” and Pokemon aren’t meant to be collected.

Like…what? Isn’t the catchphrase for the show, “gotta catch ‘em all?” Clearly we’re not catching “'em all” for battling purposes. Pokemon are literally MEANT to be collected but this guy was a villain and when Team Rocket legitimately tries to mass capture WILD POKEMON, which are technically open season, they’re accosted and stopped as though that’s justice. Why can’t they capture wild Pokemon again, Ash? No wonder they’re just like, screw it then, we’ll steal yours.

I’m pretty sure I’d be ostracized in the Pokemon world for my obsessive shiny collecting. Shame on me for collecting Pokemon and not forcing them into battle or whatever, Misty. I guess kicking your Psyduck’s ass on a daily basis is what GOOD trainers do.

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.