Past Of The Future, Future Of The Past...
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...
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Survival (mini-fic)
Even before she has broken the protective shell of her egg, she could feel something wrong in the world around her. Unlike what it was supposed to be, environmental Aura streams were heavily distorted and plain wrong. Still, she knew that she couldn’t remain here anymore, so, a single strike of organic-metal spike broke a thick calcium shell, allowing small Emmanation Pokemon to enter the outside world.
She looked at herself. Not that she was completely sure, but wasn’t it supposed to be three fingers on her hand, not a four and a fifth opposed one? Could the Aura of this place do something to her? And... why she was thinking so clear for something barely hatched?
Suddenly, her “dreadlocks” felt something angry. Something, that was very interested in freshly broken eggshell and sure, that, whatever has hatched from it, wasn’t far away and would make a pretty good snack. She tried to “fade out” her Aura and took a refuge in ruins, full of sharp metal parts and unsure floors, made of concrete (she was still not sure, where from she knew all that, not nothing of it mattered right now).
She passively Aura-”looked” at her previous resting place and saw a big Pokemon, which radiated hunger and agression, take a look at all sides (literally, because it had three big compound eyes) and then, angry, devour what little was left of eggshell and small flying Pokemon, which has just happened to get near at the wrong moment, while cutting the second one in half with a short swing of razor-barbed tongue. When he left, she carefully returned and, feeling very hungry, finished the agony of what was left of the flying Pokemon and made sure the body won’t go to waste.
At this moment, she couldn’t guess it, but it’ll become her style of life for several next years - find the nearly- or freshly dead Pokemon, cut some of them with self-invented Aura attack and quickly consume it, before real predators or scavengers come nearby. While she had fur color far from being camouflage one, she has managed to make up for it with Aura - she could let world’s streams flow right through her, preventing anyone, who relied on Aura in receiving what was happening around, from detecting her, while also silently using her inner Aura to distort the light, silence the sounds and nullify the smells. She became the stealthiest being in this part of world.
Today was the day she got busted.
Despite all her Aura-based cloaking, despite all of her stealth attemps, one of the local Pokemon has managed to find out about her and, what was the worst, find her.
Now it was chasing her.
Her left leg hurt really bad from getting chemical burn from one of the spits. Because how it wasn’t coagulating, it was, probably, base, instead of acid (she never bothered to think about where from she was getting all of this knowledge - it sorta just happened to somehow get into her head in the least apropriate times). She knew she would be able to use Aura to heal it later, but right now, she couldn’t do a thing about it.
Now, she has managed to drive this to unfinished abandoned building, complete with metal sticks sticking out of walls and just laying here and there.
Suddenly, she tripped on one of those sticks and fell over, quickly trying to get back standing. She succeeded, but situation had already got from “bad” to “really bad”.
Riolu saw, how a big, angry and strong Pokemon leaps at her, opening a huge maw with lots of sharp teeth, and, not understanding, what she’s doing, rose a big metal stick above her head, while closing eyes and cutting herself from Aura reception.
A monstrous squeak and dying roar of pain nearly destroyed her ears, but, somehow, she was still alive. After waiting for several more seconds, she slowly opened her eyes and looked at what have just happened.
The Pokemon, which wanted to eat her, jumped straight at the thin metal stick and got skewered on it. From what she could tell, he jumped just right to get his heart pierced, so it was of no wonder he died so quickly.
She could feel something strange, something building up in her. The death of this monster - the same one which has nearly killed her several years ago - made her feel some sort of a relieve and... Pride, for what she has done?
On this thought, she felt suddenly getting overwhelmed with some sort of a light, her body getting warped and changed. When it was over, she looked herself over, noticing the dense yellow fur and bio-metallic spike on chest, muzzle getting sharper, feeling the second set of Aura sensors, more power... and a huge hunger. The food was right here, impaled on the metal stick. After so many years of scavenging, she simply couldn’t let such a great fresh carcass go to waste.
After the meal time was over, she noticed something strange in herself. A strange emmanation, which have been present in her since her hatching here, has finally made it’s presence clear. It was dark, cruel, calculative, remorseless... but it was exactly what she needed to survive here, so, she completely embraced it.
Before finally leaving this place, she used several of her “Aura Cut” attacks to chop herself a decent part of this metal stick (”rebar”, as the name for it has suddenly appeared in her mind) and sharpen one of the ends of it. She couldn’t explain, but she felt it’ll help her great time in the future. She couldn’t help but wonder, why does it fit in her five-fingered hand so well.
A quick Aura-accelerated charge with rebar set before her - and prey’s heart gets pierced, ending the fight before it had ever began. A second decisive strike - and it’s mate dies with severed spinal cord. Since she has become Lucario, she finally stopped being a mere scavenger and became quite a death player here herself. While she still was not an apex predator here, she haven’t lost her stealth skills (in fact, she has continued at ever-enhancing them) and always knew when to fold her plans. However, she still never risked approaching groups of humans with firearms. While human bodies were fragile and could be destroyed with aa single maxed-out Aura Sphere or similar attack, their guns, loaded with something they called “Ripper rounds”, could quickly (and very painfully) kill most of the local Pokemon. Attacking humans was just not worth it, especially after how they’ve firebombed a place from air, after one of the mightiest Pokemon here had killed fifty humans.
She knew it was a trap.
Somehow, whoever stood behind those Pokemon and co-ordinated their doings, has lured her into this very narrow valley and locked her in it.
She stood proud, clenching the sharpened rebar in her left hand. Lucario knew, that it may be not of much use here, but she wanted to be ready to give her all.
Suddenly, she felt a human presence getting stronger behind them. It definitely was a woman, which, for some strange reason, wanted to see the fight with her own eyes (not without backing herself up with some Protects, several additional Pokemon guards and a firearm, of course).
She concentrated her Aura sense on this human woman... and saw something very dark in her soul. This darkness, while different from the one which gave the Lucario her power, was still somewhat familiar. This darkness brought understanding. There was no use in fight, because like has no need to fight like.
- I surrender, - sent a peaceful Aura message Lucario, while slowly lowering the rebar. - I sense no need in fight.
- Why is that? - asked human woman in somewhat defiant voice, but deep inside, the dark power in her soul became interested.
- Because you bear darkness, as do I. Even if they are different, like does not need to fight like. I think we can achieve something greater if we allow our darknesses to work together.
- Hm. You tell truth. Readings of my sensors tell me, that you are different from the normal Lucarios and your abilities are almost on par of those of the low-level Legendaries. Do you know, why is that?
- The darkness of this land has touched me. Changed me. Gave me the bliss of power, - replied Lucario, feeling some strange pride rising in herself.
- Yeah, you are the only introduced Pokemon I know who has managed to survive on border between Tunguska and real Soris, - said the human woman. - So, to Pokeball stage we go?
- I do not know what do you mean, but I’m ready, - replied Lucario, seeing, how human tosses the small spherical device with strange markings towards her, how this device opens, how her body slowly, but painlessly, gets warped and twisted in all ways possible and some, that are essentially impossible, then everything settles down and calms, then disturbance arises again - and she stands before human once more.
- Absolutely no resistance! - wondered human, looking at Lucario.
- Why should I resist something, that will allow me to unite my path with other bearer of darkness and help me achieve something greater? - calmly asked her Aura Pokemon.
- I’m happy about it, actually. So, do you understand, that from now onwards, you will obey all of my orders?
- I most certainly do.
- So the darkness in our souls will become one and open a path to something greater?
- Absolutely.
-... You’re the strangest Pokemon I’ve ever met. Anyway, nice to get you in my team. I assign you tactical designation “Blue Rapier”.
- I thank you for that. And... how should I call you? Mist...
- No, not this crap! - objected human, then gave the Lucario an evil twisted smirk. - Simpy “K” or “Commander” would suffice.
Maybe, but my ficwriter side found it’s fuel, so, now I've got some headcanons for this backwards universe.
Official Pokemon Nation Government is corrupt beyond any imagination, up to the point, when Ranger force openly can act like a terrorists and receive no punishment in any form. The Governmental Leader bears some resemblance to the Richard Hawk from the Metal Wolf Chaos.
Mewtwo here’s managed to escape from the New Island, when the so-called Rangers broke into the laboratory and started killing everyone to cover up this project. He’ve also managed to save some of the researchers, though, unfortunately, not the Dr.Fuji who was almost like a father to the Genetic Pokemon, although all of the scientists were knid to him and he was kind to them in the return. Nowadays, Mewtwo is sided with Pokemon Rescuer J because he wants his revenge on the Rangers.
Lawrence III... Honestly, I don’t know how to put him backwards. Maybe he makes some priceless artworks all by himself and he only wanted to awake Lugia to get the greatest source of inspiration he was pursuing through his entire life (somewhat like the Crystal Onyx episode in the anime).
Zero and Graceland are pretty much just role-swapped.
Pokemon Rescuer J is the one who fights with governmental forces and criminal teams as hard as she can. She rescues abused Pokemon from both Government-funded OCG’s and just cruel trainers, then helps to find a worthy trainer for them or, if they want to, just releases them in the wild. She is also kind with her henchmen, because they are of very few humans she can trust. Overall, she will always protect the crew and crew will always protect her.
Jarvis just wanted to overthrow corrupt monarchic government (almost as corrupt as the Pokemon Nation one), so he was forced to do what he did and he was really not happy about it.
Fortunately for Jarvis, Magearna here originally is an almost-soulless war machine, so she did not feel any pain, but the aerial fortress’s cannon malfunctions still were present because of her IFF system. However, she gets somewhat better after the core (Soul Heart), which was reprogrammed by Jarvis, is installed back in the body. Overall, she is like Johnny 5 from the “Short Circuit”, except it was the Jarvis who made her more than just a machine.
Xerneas is a 1000% psychopathic asshole. He's still a bringer of life... sort of, because most of the time, he gives live to a cancerous growths and horrible diseases. Why kill someone in person, if you can give him immortal uncurable cancer and then enjoy watching his/her slow, horrible and painful demise? If there's some epidemy in the Kalos region, 99,9% of the time it'll be Xerneas's doings. Also, he has an army of sorta zombies, much like the fossils from the fifth movie, which were revived by the Defence Mechanism of Alto-Mare. He is nicknamed "Life, that brings suffering and despair".
Yveltal here is still a deathbringer... sort of. She is the one who opposes Xerneas, which already makes Kalos people like her far more than a Life Pokemon, but she also actually cares about the human and pokemon lives. Long ago, when she first saw, just what kind of a psycho Xerneas is, she has started mastering her Oblivion Wing move and, after some time, she has mastered it to such a point, that she became able to selectively drain life from different cells and, therefore, cure Xerneas-created diseases (including even the normally-immortal cancer), sterilize things (making bio-contaminated items and environments usable again), or, if there is no way to save someone, use this move as an euthanasia. She's also kind to both humans and pokemon, because she understands the true value of life. Each time, when she was starting to revert into the Cocoon form, she was trying her best to go as far away from her allies as possible, so, most of times, she did this on the battlefield, bravely attacking Xerneas's forces, putting the "zombie" pokemon out of theirs demise, de-contaminating a previously bio-contaminated areas and allowing her fellow humans and pokemon to mount a strike. Because of her doings, she is referred as a "Destruction, that brings hope" and is widely worshipped as a saviour of the Kalos people.
Zygarde is not a real asshole - he just a sorta, to quote a TVTropes, "Tautological Templar". He thinks, that all the everything he does is right, because he can't do anything wrong. He is pretty much Greenpeace to the max, except with less knowledge (result of the Xerneas’s experiments with new bioweapons, which Yveltal was not able to stop in time) and too much power, so, when he decides that it is his time to shine, entire Kalos is pretty much destinied to turn into a wasteland for a long time, if humans and/or Yveltal don't stop him. Each time he's finished and sees the results of his doings (desolated wasteland), he'll always blame it on someone other, mostly Yveltal or humans (Xerneas know how to stay out of his sight... most of time).
Blackjack, what do you think about this insanity?
APPARENTLY IN ANOTHER WORLD HUNTER J GIVES OUT RARE POKEMON
Equipment (mini-fic)
(Author's Note: this story was previously submitted to the villain story contest in @allhailpokemonvillains. Because the contest is over, I'm finally publishing it here.
Chronologically, it's set after "Promise" and before "Business")
- So, Levi, - started the cabinet minister in sinisterly gentle voice, - can you tell me, why there’s no VTOL gravplane on the aft landing pad of my airship?
- Well… - began his henchman.
- Twenty words or less, - taped Alva, gripping his staff harder and pointing it at the Levi.
- I’ve forgot to moor it after the scanning sweep in area, where bringing entire airship wouldn’t have been an option, so…
- Twenty, - stopped him minister. - Cherie - what’s your excuse?
- We were forced to commence emergency evasion maneuver soon after Levi's return, so, unmoored gravplane fell off the airship, - said the woman, looking at the sharp tip of the staff, which was now pointed at her. - At least it, during the fall, has collided with the Volcanion, which tried to attack us, and absorbed a decent part of its Overheat while simultaneously throwing its aim away, which is why we were able to bring the airship with barely working aft levitation engine here, back to the docks. If not for the gravplane, the ship would’ve been crashed wreck now.
-… OK, I accept this explanation, - replied minister, changing the grip position of his staff to the less threatening one. - After all, I saw the damaged parts of the airship. However, it does not change the situation, that, thanks to your doings, I’ve lost my private gravplane - not a cheap one, by the way, and almost lost my airship - a pricy one too. Had I ever told you “Now, these airship and gravplane are completely yours. Use them as you wish!”?
- No… - began Levi.
- Right, I never did such a thing. However, the gravplane is no more and airship is seriously damaged. What the time it is, when you come back with damaged equipment, no gravplane and no results?
- Third, boss, - said Cherie in exhausted voice.
- That’s right, you come back with no gravplane and no… Stop, you did come with some results this time! - suddenly cheered Alva, activating the projector, switching to the map of Azoth Kingdom's surroundings and pointing at it with his staff. - From what it looks like, Volcanion protects this specific region - even more specific, the Nebel Plateau. Each time you’ve tried to approach the Plateau, this Pokemon suddenly attacked you, as to if prevent you from ever getting a chance to perform a scanning sweep! Maybe, what it’s trying to hide is exactly what we are searching for.
- So… wait ‘till repairs are over and commence search-and-retrieval operation? But…
- No, not like that, - said cabinet minister with strange and menacing smile. - I’ll make sure airship gets some armoring this time and you… you will get the presents I was talking about for the long time already.
- MWDs? - asked Levi and Cherie at the same time.
- Yes, Mega Wave Devices, I’ve almost finished testing the final prototypes, so, in following months, you’ll get them along with Mega-able Pokemon. It’s kinda bad Hunter J has disappeared somewhere, so, I’ll have to work with either this new K girl or some smaller players at the black market… Anyway, you two are dismissed!
Alva’s henchmen has happily left his room, while the cabinet minister placed his staff away and took a tablet with a scanned images of Nikola’s design diagrams - specificially, Flying Fortress and Magearna.
“A year or so - and the kingdom will receive two rulers, which will finally guide it back to the ways of might and glory!” - thought Alva, analyzing the designs of the Soul Heart and the Fortress’ cannon’s power source’s cradle. - “And I’ll finally fulfill my promise!”
Thank you.
Well, so far, Jorsey (yes, this little Yveltal here is him) caused a harm (and a very minor one) only a single time - immideately after hatching - and loves his "daddy" way too much now to cause harm to him, but for the A.I. system, it was more than enough. Protagonist does willingly ignor potential threat Jorsey presents to him, but A.I. system does not, and she may have a point.
Code (mini-fic)
SCL55T=100%O; F4ACS+T23+H45;…
She never had a name. Not that she needed it.
She never had a heart. Not that she needed it.
She never had a soul. Or did she?
ERCOp=1.1Gw/s; AGU1=100%;…
She was nothing more than a code inside of the powerful computer, yet she felt perfectly fine about it.
She was sentient for less than a year, yet she knew almost everything about her creator.
Her creator - the very reason why she exists… and without whom she will have nothing to continue to operate for.
RDrU1-RC01; PCP02!=1;…
She still can’t understand, why her creator and master does not want to either neutralize or outright terminate the small Yveltal that roams around him. Unlike the Titans and Waters Great Guardian, which are now suspended in stasis and present no danger unless abruptly released, this Pokemon was allowed to move freely all around the airship, excluding the engine room and hangar.
She saw through her very cameras, how, after the hatching, this Yveltal almost started to suck the life out of her master, yet he was perfectly fine with the little embodiment of destruction being restricted by nothing more than his words. It was almost like her master was doing the wrong thing, and yet, she could do next to nothing about it.
From the very moment this Pokemon took a place in the Flying Palace, she understood the concept of “dream”, because she dreamed of eliminating this danger to her master forever.
- Good morning! - picked up the microphones, which were installed in her masters bedroom. As she saw through one of the CCTV cameras, her master woke up fresh and healthy, because yesterday, he listened to her advice and took a normal sleep. Sometimes, her master’s obsessions with either work or collection were getting out of control.
- The same, master, - replied she in the normal, non-worried voice. Being a machine, she was free to manipulate with voices as much as she wanted to. No one will know her feelings from her voice, unless she wants to. - As you’ve asked me to, I’ve done a simulation of how will the current version of the Aura Fighter gauntlets work. The resulting effectiveness is… far from perfect.
Her master does not even understand, just what beast he has as a “pet” and, from what she sees, he willingly prefers to ignore this danger. She tries to find out his reasons for doing so, but so far, she is yet to find a single one.
She can’t completely disobey or betray him - it goes against the very core of her code. She can’t use psychological conditioning on him - he has programmed pre-cautions against it. Hovewer, there was no precautions against some simple psychological tricks, which do not fit in the “psychological conditioning” category. Of course, her master could’ve left this loophole on purpose… but even if so, she will use it for all of it’s worth.
She will never betray him. The Flying Palace will always be his home, and a safe one at that. Even if it’ll mean some manipulations.
After all, she was created for the very purpose of serving and protecting him.
She was nothing more than a computer code.
Or was she?
Fear (mini-fic).
A little one. He was alive for several months only, yet he already knew lots of feelings. However, only four were strong enough to actually matter.
Love
He loved his daddy very much and, from what it looks like, his daddy loved him too. Jorsey knew, that they were very different, but paid no attention to it. It was enough that his daddy loved him and he loved his daddy.
Curiosity
He was always curious, what his daddy was doing. Sometimes he was walking in the big round hall, looking at the different things, placed near the walls, and at the four huge bird-like Pokemon, suspended in some kind of energy fields, generated by the encasing metal structures. Daddy told him that, one day, he may need his help during the negotiations with the big white-and-blue one - Lugia, which he called “Waters Great Guardian”.
Happiness
He was happy when his daddy was happy. He was happy when his daddy finished another project. He was happy when daddy got something new into the collection. He was happy, when he drained all the life from passing Pelipper with a single attack, which his daddy dubbed as an “Oblivion Wing”. It felt as a right thing to do. Of course, he would never do such a thing to his daddy.
Fear
He was very afraid of the mind of the home, which, normally, was helping daddy in his doings, but hated little Yveltal with passion. He knew, that she always watched him through these things, which daddy calls “CCTV cameras”. She said to him in plain text, that, if he ever does serious damage or kills his daddy, she will make sure to completely destroy him, even if it’ll mean cessation of her existence. She was everywhere in this flying home. There was no hiding from her. There was no escaping her. The only reason he was still alive is because his daddy wanted it. She knew all of this and she still wanted him destroyed. She was not afraid to use something, which, according to what his daddy has shown him and what he heard from both daddy and her, generated incredible amounts of energy and worked on principles more basic than universe itself. The little Yveltal was very afraid of her. In fact, the main kind of nightmares he had so far was where his daddy was dead, like from the Oblivion Wing, and she was coming to take his life in revenge for her master’s death. And, unlike him or daddy, who was called “Lawrence Gelardan the Third”, she had no name, as if she had no need in it. She was everywhere. She wanted him removed from existence. He could do next to nothing about it. And he was very afraid.
If you look closer at the moments when the last shell from those, which were launched on island, hit’s the rock, you can see, that it DID some damage (rock shards flying), and sheer kinetic power of impact can be observed when shells hit the Moltres (he is pushed backwards pretty hard). And yeah, I’d like to learn more about Flying Palace too. From what I’ve seen in the movie, she has 5 levels plus exhibition hall and control tower (it can be seen during the scene where Moltres and Zapdos are wreaking havoc on her), her GUI language is English and she has 3 main anti-gravity modules (”Mayday! Mayday! Prepare for crush landing on Lightning island!” scene. If you look closer, you can see the word “CAUTION” on the left side of hologram GUI and three power scales on the right side, which are going criticaly low).
Why don’t any bad guys in pokemon carry guns. This one guy is okay with glassing the entire earth but he won’t shoot a child.
Memory, part 3 (mini-fic)
For less than a split-second, Yevgeniy saw a bright orange flash and felt, like his body was twisted in ways, which should not even be possible in the three-dimensional or even eleven-dimensional space, but right after it, he was brutally thrown back into reality, seeing triples and having his head spin like no tomorrow.
- So, apparently, it does have some unpredicted results on organic lifeforms, incapable of teleporting naturally, - sounded voice of Yelena Groisman. - Chugun - help him at once and leave this Latias to me!
- Her name... is... Liya, - mumbled microbiologist before horrifying pulsing sound in his ears got too loud and he passed out.
- -
- How many fingers do you see? - sounded voice from somewhere, when Goncharenko tried to open his eyes. His thoughts were still clouded and slowly arranging themselves back into place.
- Three, - replied Yevgeniy after several failed attempts, during which he could only mumble something incomprehensible.
- Good. Sorry, but no one knew, that slingshot relaying device will have such an effect on you. We’ve already collected data and will work on fixing it ASAP!
- If Liya is hurt, I swear, I’ll...
*I’m fine,* - “sounded” the telepathic voice from side. - *It was a little trippy at first, but nothing serious.*
- A little trippy? I’ve felt like I’ve experienced geometries beyond comprehension of any living being, and those geometries wanted to twist me, rip me apart and push through infinitely small holes at the same time! - screamed man, who already fully regained his consciousness, but still felt weak in body.
- Looks like it was caused by the sling having too wide of a trajectory and too low speed of a swing, exposing teleportees to the interworld space for too long, - mused Chugun, listening to the Yevgeniy and reading the data from the terminal. - I can correct it right now.
- Do it! - ordered him Yelena Groisman.
- Zheka - sorry for this little inconvinience... - began Izya.
- Hold on, - said microbiologist, sitting up and turning to the young Latias, still disguised as a human, with a furious expression on his face, - Liya - what the heck?! What were you thinking about, activating the Slingshot Beacon?! Didn’t you hear, how Chugun talked about being in one piece and not clipping into ground, clearly exposing, that this device is still being tested and is still dangerous! What’s w... Liya, please, promise me, that you won’t put yourself in the danger like this anymore!
Seeing Yevgeniy suddenly break into tears, the entire arcanist team was surprised, while the Latias felt herself really sick for scaring and hurting her pretty much father like this.
*I promise... father,* - replied Liya, giving man a hug and starting to cry too.
- Well, now everything has settled, maybe, we shall continue? - asked Izya after both man and Pokemon from the Bioscience calmed down. - Zheka - I’m really sorry for this inconvenience with tseryobla and SRD. And you, Chugun, - slowly said arcanist in sinister voice, turning towards huge mechanical Pokemon, who started to slowly back away, - what were YOU thinking, grabbing the beacons with you and leaving them there? We know you can withstand troubles with tseryobla - after all, you were the one, who volunteered to test it several years ago and survived five hours of being trapped in the teleportational vortex - but honestly... Were you insane? What you can brush off, can kill human or normal Pokemon! Honestly, sometimes I’m not sure if I’ve really needed to create you.
- I... I don’t know, - replied Chugun in scared and slightly whimpering voice, continuing to slowly move away from the enraged scientist. - Something must’ve clouded my judgement bad. Like, really bad. I won’t do something like this ever again!
- Are you sure those two aren’t brothers? - whispered Yelena to Boris, who was just standing aside and enjoying the view.
- Nah, they aren’t brothers, at least not in blood. In the spirit, hovewer...
- -
Compulink system active.
Please, enter login and password.
Login and password correct. Access granted.
Accessing “LPT-LOG-1″ datafile…
EDIT MODE
Goncharenko Liya, personal log.
02.01.425 AFE, 21:14
I feel so bad right now. Even though it was more than a day ago, I still can’t get over it. My father... after I used this device, he instantly grabbed the second one and activated it, just to follow me. I remember, how he, after the teleportation, said, about how I have a name, and then collapsed into this horrible fit. Arcanists said, that his brain couldn’t handle such a surge of the arcane energy and the long exposure to the interworld overdimensional space, but still, seeing him spasming like that, and having this horrible feeling of barely to no control of his body and thoughts dispersing, like a vapour in the dry air... I can’t bear to stand that. And all of it was, because I was too curious and wanted to try out this beacon. I don’t even know what to think of myself anymore.
Compulink system deactivated.
Keel Lorenz (pic related) got nothing on the Benusis la Arwall (aka Neo Icon Epiphanes).
mrgrfan’s fanfiction and worldbuilding masterpost.
If you are interested in my writing, follow this post.
Shift Universe fanfic
Past of the future, future of the past…
Prologue: Once upon a time… - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/173057352382/past-of-the-future-future-of-the-past
Chapter 1: A new day, an old world. - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/173807895267/past-of-the-future-future-of-the-past
Chapter 2: Handshake above the skies. - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/176710301752/past-of-the-future-future-of-the-past
Worldbuilding:
See “Ancient Soris Empire” below.
Mini-fics:
See “Ancient Soris Empire” below (only pre-Ancient Soris War mini-fics are canon to the Shift Universe).
Main-line fanfic and addendums:
First part (”Above the ground, nothing can tie me down…”) - https://ficbook.net/readfic/3693118 (in Russian, kind of old shame, but still canonical one. Also, protagonist is not the totally reliable narrator, just like everyone else bar me, as per “Word of God”, here. Finished.)
Second part (”I won’t let go tomorrow…”) - https://ficbook.net/readfic/4073788 (in Russian, follows the AU of the first fic. WIP.)
Woldbuilding
Corporations
Part 1 - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/156441613350/some-worldbuilding-for-my-fic-corporations-part
Part 2 - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/156677029022/some-worldbuilding-for-my-fic-corporations-part
Ancient Soris Empire
Part 1 - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/156770617137/some-worldbuilding-for-my-fic-ancient-soris
Part 2 - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/156817576217/some-worldbuilding-for-my-fic-ancient-soris
Part 3 - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/156951683842/some-worldbuilding-for-my-fic-ancient-soris
Part 4 - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/157623819287/some-worldbuilding-for-my-fic-ancient-soris
About Combatron-class assault robots - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/170318922797/some-worldbuilding-for-my-fic-ancient-soris
Soris region
Part 1 - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/163028327677/some-worldbuilding-for-my-fic-soris-region-part
Azoth Kingdom, cabinet Minister Alva
Part 1 - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/157057482987/some-worldbuilding-for-my-fic-azoth-kingdom
Part 2 - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/157411917382/some-worldbuilding-for-my-fic-azoth-kingdom
Miscenallous
About Flying Palace’s Artificial Intelligence system - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/156641604612/some-worldbuilding-for-my-fic-flying-palaces
Mini-fics
Fics about Alva&co., in chronological order:
“Parents” - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/158286557947/parents-mini-fic
“Promise” - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/157498025162/promise-mini-fic
“Equipment” - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/162344275882/equipment-mini-fic
“Business” - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/161365781312/business-mini-fic
“Work” - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/174123915647/work-mini-fic
Ancient Soris Empire fics (pre-Ancient Soris War are also canonical to the Shift Universe):
“Present” - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/158601229917/present-mini-fic (Ancient Soris War, Soris)
“Re-entry” - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/158604547977/re-entry-mini-fic (post-Ancient Soris War, Earth’s orbit)
“Fight”- https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/170318925327/fight-mini-fic (post-Ancient Soris War, Kalos)
“ISF9 Chronicles, part 1″ - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/166017047697/isf-9-chronicles-part-1 (pre-Ancient Soris War, ISF9)
“ISF9 Chronicles, part 2″ - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/166051922027/isf9-chronicles-part-2 (pre-Ancient Soris War, ISF9)
“ISF9 Chronicles, part 3″ - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/167061007667/isf-9-chronicles-part-3 (pre-Ancient Soris War, ISF9)
“ISF9 Chronicles, part 4″ - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/167565862097/isf-9-chronicles-part-4 (pre-Ancient Soris War, ISF9)
“ISF9 Chronicles, part 5″ - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/170430106887/isf9-chronicles-part-5 (pre-Ancient Soris War, ISF9)
“Memory, part 1″ - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/170162337092/memory-part-1-mini-fic (pre-Ancient Soris War, ISF9)
“Memory, part 2″ - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/170278461467/memory-part-2-mini-fic (pre-Ancient Soris War, ISF9)
“Memory, part 3″ - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/170509068702/memory-part-3-mini-fic (pre-Ancient Soris War, ISF9)
“Memory, part 4″ - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/170551919297/memory-part-4-mini-fic (pre-Ancient Soris War, ISF9)
“Memory, part 5″ - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/170627399037/memory-part-5-mini-fic (pre-Ancient Soris War, ISF9)
Hunter K fics:
“Survival” - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/162289238132/survival-mini-fic
Miscenallous
“Code” - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/157684898832/code-mini-fic (from the POV of Flying Palace’s Artificial Intelligence system).
“Fear” - https://mgrgfan.tumblr.com/post/157957986722/fear-mini-fic (from the POV of Jorsey, Yveltal hatchling, who stays in the Flying Palace along with main fic’s protagonist and AI system)
Team ISP (Specific Impulse). This Team, unlike many others, does not want to get anything on Earth - quite opposite, in fact, they want to get AWAY from it! Their main reasoning for that is that too much weird and dangerous shit is happening there (and, to be fair, it kinda is - just look at the games and anime!), so, it’d be better, if civilization thrived in more than one place. As long as it inhabits a single planet, a single star, it can be extinguished instantly at doings of a few madmen. Quite a bit of their research and development is spent on creating a colony ship, sufficient to get everything, needed for building the civilization anew, to another planet (or even another star) in one go. This Legendaries this Team seeks out are those, who can help them with their goal - Palkia, Dialga, Giratina, Solgaleo, Lunala and Necrozma, although they have plans for slower-than-light travel, should it fail.
The Flight Director (leader) of Team ISP is Robert Phillip Eugen Charles von Korolyov. His second-in command (admins) are Control Officer Gary Truax and Flight Activities Officer Robert Koelle. One of the problems with this Team is that they kinda... lack appropriate care at how damaging the start of their colony ship is going to be. Even the basic version, with Zubrinov’s mass conversion torch engines (based on researching the Guzzlord), can easily damage the ecosystem with their crazy exhaust (53 megatons of TNT equivalent per second). Quite ironic of them, indeed, but, even though they are aware of that, the events in the world make them constantly “adjust” their priorities, with the one about the minimizing the collateral damage of the launch going lower and lower.
Their Pokemon are mostly space-themed, with Flight Director having Deoxys and two Celesteela in his team, whil the Flight Activities Officer has a Rayquaza, in addition to non-Legendaries.
If you were to design an evil team for Pokémon, what would their goal be? What would you name them?
I’d like an “evil” organization of scientists who want to restore the earth to how it used to be before pollution, deforestation, global warming, and the extinction of plants and Pokémon. The only problem is that they’re going about it by stealing fossils from museums, maybe under the guise of a break in, but in reality some of those within the organization work there.
They could be called Team Revitalization.
The legendaries are brought back from fossils. Maybe if the region was based in Greece or Egypt they could be a griffin and/or basilisk. Maybe when they’re brought back, they go berserk in this new world they don’t understand, and go about trying to destroy everything in their path.
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