4th gear | video

[paishodown]

[Here's someone who hasn't been on the network so much lately. When Asami appears on the camera, anyone who hasn't seen her recently will notice that she looks a bit older.]

I finished it!

[Stepping away from the camera, she reveals a hotel courtyard with various tools and scraps scattered about. A metal contraption that appears to be some kind of battery sits a safe distance away at the center of the shot.]

At home, we employ lightningbenders to make our electricity. They shoot energy straight into batteries, and it can be stored efficiently without having to burn coal. I'm hoping I can get something to work similarly with Pokémon's electric attacks.

[She glances off camera.]

When you're ready, Supāku.

[A Flaafy shuffles onto the camera, winds up, and releases an electric attack at the metal conductors of Asami's invention. After several moments, an indicator meter on the device's facade turns to maximum, and the Flaafy stops.]

I think it worked!

[Asami trots over to the device with another 'Gear in hand (sorry Korra, she had to steal yours for science purposes) and plugs it in.]

It's charging!

[She turns back to the camera.]

I'm hoping I can continue working with this idea and eventually come up with something small enough for trainers to keep on their person while they're traveling. The technology here is evolved so much farther than at home, I think it might be possible.

Comments

[defyingfrigidity]

[... O-Oh. Well. Elsa's face sure is feeling warm all of a sudden.]

... Y-You truly think so?

[paishodown]

Maybe it's already used in other parts of this world. Hard to tell with how... strangely isolated we all are.

[paishodown]

Oh- well, no, that part I knew. But biology actively mimicking technology is backwards from what I'm used to.

[paishodown]

As far as household appliances and electronics go, I don't know how reasonable it would be to create a device that would be kept in a tightly enclosed space like a kitchen if it needed to be shocked for power. Even though there could be safe uses, if you're going for a product that's going to be widely distributed, it needs to be as foolproof as possible.

[Her nice way of saying "people are stupid."]

Home batteries might be a possibility, but I'd be hesitant to put something like this in an indoor domestic situation. At the very least, that's just asking for some accidentally blown fuses.

[Asami they're called circuit breakers now...]

[bylight]

It's not uncommon where I'm from. There's even living creatures fused with technology so they can be controlled. Then there's automatons that have a mind of their own. That Pokémon isn't that strange to me.

[paishodown]

It's a pretty big part of what I do at home, even if it's more innovation out of necessity than actively seeking new ideas. There were some radical changes to the living environment at home these past few years, and I was contracted to manage the reconstruction of our city. Needless to say, we had to think of a lot of new building strategies.

[paishodown]

Elsa, you're a great friend. Of course. I admit it's... kind of upsetting, to think about how going home means getting cut off from everyone here.

[capitald]

Which would obviously bring its share of problems. If the batteries hold the concentrated energies of Pokémon attacks, then even a small crack risks the lightning bursting out and delivering a nasty shock to its owner, both literally and figuratively speaking.

[Blown fuses are one thing, but surely there's a risk of injury as well. With so many children traveling this world, extra care is a necessity.]

I wonder if there's a way to stabilize the energy. You said that people in your world utilize a similar technique; how have they managed to keep these batteries in check?

[defyingfrigidity]

[Whoops, here come the tears! Just... give her a second to quickly scrub them away.]

T-Thank you. Really. nobody's ever said that to me before... [Having such good friends... Elsa never thought that would happen to her.] And I understand. The thought of never seeing any of you again when I return... it hurts.

[C'MON ELSA STOP BEING SO PESSIMISTIC]

But hey... you're a genius inventor, right? I'm sure you'll figure out some way for all of us to keep in touch even after we return home!

[paishodown]

[Asami's eyes widen when Elsa gets... very emotional. At least it's not the bad kind; she would have felt awful.]

It's no problem. Really. I'm glad to be your friend.

[She doesn't linger on the whole nobody's ever said that bit. Her own curiosity wasn't important, even if it was well intended.]

Ripping holes in the universe is more Korra's specialty. I'll see about getting her on that, though.

[defyingfrigidity]

[don't cry don't cry DON'T CR-- oops

okay well she doesn't outright cry this time. Just. Gets a little misty-eyed. Even after this long, Elsa's kind of doubted she's been a very good friend to all the people she came to know in Johto, so hearing this is just.... lifting a weight she didn't even know was there off her shoulders.]

R... Really now... [There's a story there. She's not sure if it's good to ask just yet.] Well then, if it's the two of you working together, you'll most definitely figure something out.

[armoredsoul]

Yeah, I kinda noticed that...it's weird that we can't travel to the other regions at all--well, outside of the New Years thing, but even with that they kept us all penned up pretty strictly.

[foolishwren]

Contracted to manage the construction of a CITY?

Holy shit.

What are you, like, twenty?

Most twenty-year-olds where I come from are doing well if they make higher than minimum wage!

[paishodown]

I hope you go through with it! I'm still getting my feet wet with computers in general, but it would be interesting to at least see what you're doing.

[paishodown]

That's wild. To people understand how it all works?

[paishodown]

Well, the energy is perfectly stable once it's stored and the safety holds are in place. The problem would be actually charging the thing. People are... generally not as responsible as one would hope, and I don't want anyone to get hurt because they thought it was a good idea to set off an electric attack indoors to charge their refrigerator.

[bylight]

Yes. The military does. Not sure about civilians. They might have an idea since those creatures accompany the PSYCOM in keeping people in line. I was in the Guardian Corps, and trained against creatures like that. The automatons on Gran Pulse were created by the Fal'Cie there to help with various tasks.

[paishodown]

It makes me a little nervous, to be honest. Like this whole place is a little too perfect... Except for that one, glaring detail.

[Asami I promise you aren't secretly in some horror dystopia.]

[paishodown]

[Asami is trying to figure out if that's a good thing or a... very bad thing.]

We've only recently started exploring spirit energy in our technology. Of course, it was immediately weaponized and that went about as well as you would probably guess.

[bylight]

There's no record on Gran Pulse of when they started to weaponize certain creatures. Or on Cocoon. I can only guess maybe about 2,000 years or more.

[Lighting has only been around for about 500 years. Two of her friends for a lot longer.]

[codeforhope]

I plan to! I asked the Network what trainers might like to see in a new application, so I have some good ideas already.

[capitald]

And heaven forbid they do so after they've finished showering.

[It'd be careless, to say the least, but he really wouldn't put it past some people.]

Hmm... perhaps you could include a disclaimer in big, bold letters. Detailed instructions may also aid the less technically inclined, assuming they take the time to read them.

[armoredsoul]

It could be that it's a reaction to all of us showing up here. People appearing out of nowhere and no one knows how it happened...if it was isolated like this seems to be I could easily see countries back home reacting similarly. That doesn't explain the weird holes in this world's logic and natural laws, but I've been trying to figure out that stuff the whole time I've been here and it still confuses me.

[paishodown]

I've stopped trying to understand a lot of things. Pokémon themselves make no physical sense to me, but I don't know if that's because I'm from such a different place, or because they actually just don't make sense.

[paishodown]

That's always a given, unfortunately. Something like this for domestic use would be a dozen lawsuits waiting to happen, without pages and pages of fine print.

[SIGH why are people so difficult.]

Maybe I should just stick to the basics with something intended for travel.