Gotta Terminate 'Em All
The crackle of blue/white lightning sizzled around Cameron as the Temporal Displacement Equipment powered up and activated. Her surroundings began to change, and after a few seconds of holding perfectly still, the temporal displacement was complete.
She was not pleased to find herself surrounded by four humans. Two young males, a young female, and an elderly male were gathered around an empty box, and each of the youths held a red and white sphere in their hands.
"Egad!" the older man shouted. "What's this? A human-shaped Pokemon? I've never seen the like before!" he said, apparently referring to the cyborg's nude form.
"Oh, wow! It's amazing, Professor!" one of the boys said. Cameron had not yet risen from her crouch, and already she had attracted unwanted attention.
"Be careful, boys! You too, Dawn! It may attack. But, I wonder… Can you three possibly catch this new Pokemon? It would certainly benefit my studies greatly."
"What is a Pokemon?" Cameron asked.
"It can talk!" one of the boys said.
"No, silly! It's trying to put us under the Confused condition to keep us from hitting it. Go, Chimchar!" the other boy shouted as he threw his sphere, out of which came a small monkey that appeared to be on fire.
Cameron analyzed the creature in front of her, and found no matches in her database. It was a curious being.
"Chimchar! Use your tackle attack!"
Attack? The children employed creatures - presumably called Pokemon - as a martial force, it seemed. As the red monkey came flying at her, Cameron caught it around the neck in one hand. She squeezed and snapped its neck. It fell to the ground, lifeless.
"Aww. Chimchar fainted. Hey, why isn't it coming back to the Pokeball?"
The elderly man looked puzzled. "Hm. That is a good question. I've never heard of a fainted Pokemon not returning to its Pokeball unless the ball is damaged. Let me see it."
While the elderly man examined the sphere that had held the now-terminated animal, the other boy and the girl both released their spheres, which contained a turtle-shaped creature that looked distinctly plant-like, and a blue penguin-like creature.
The two creatures charged at Cameron, looking to knock her over or else pound her with a fin. The cyborg simply kicked one and then the other. While they were down, she moved forward and drove a fist into each one, drawing strange colored blood.
"Oh no! Professor! It… It killed them!"
"What? Don't be silly, Dawn. Pokemon don't kill each other."
"I'm not a Pokemon," Cameron said. They all looked at her, then back to the bloody corpses, and then back to her. "This is not Los Angeles."
"N-no, my dear. This is Lake Verity, just outside of Twinleaf Town. Why on earth did you kill those poor Pokemon?"
"They attacked me," she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "At your insistence," she added, taking a step forward towards the Professor.
"Don't come any closer!" the older man shouted as he raised another red and white sphere. "I warn you, I am a skilled trainer in my own right!"
Cameron stalked forward, snatched the sphere from the man's hand, and crushed it between her fingers.
Gasps erupted around her. "This is no Pokemon," the elderly man said gravely. "Hurry, children! Head to Sandgem Town and warn people!"
"We can't, Professor! A flock of wild Starly just appeared in the tall grass!"
The humans saw her as a threat, and sought to warn others about her. This could not be tolerated. Cameron dragged the three children back to the clear, short grasses and threw them down. They were too shocked to resist.
The tall grass was strong enough to make good bindings for all four of them. The professor now sat naked, his clothes adorning Cameron.
"You will tell me where I am, when I am, and what Pokemon are. If you do not, then you will be terminated."
After an hour of interrogation, Cameron was beginning to wonder if perhaps this world was more threatening than she had originally imagined. Traditional fauna did not exist, and in its place were beings called Pokemon, which supposedly lived side by side with humans in a mutually beneficial relationship. Pokemon battled on behalf of their trainers, and some of them were very powerful. They could be captured, however, and made to do ones bidding. While inactive, they resided inside of the red and white spheres called Pokeballs.
"And that's all there is to tell, I swear," the elderly Professor - a man named Rowan - said. "Now, then, will you let us go?"
Cameron analyzed the situation and determined it was still likely that they would see her as a threat after she had killed three Pokemon and crushed one inside of its Pokeball. Lethal violence was almost unheard of in this area, it seemed. Word could not be allowed to spread.
She moved to the first young boy, grabbed him by his neck, and squeezed. He gasped for breath, but a quick crack ended his life.
"No! Why are you- Agh!" the second boy exclaimed as Cameron began to choke the life out of him.
"Stop it!" the girl said as her companion fell. "We're not going to-" Cameron slammed her fist into the girl's skull, sending brain matter flying.
"You won't get away with this!" Professor Rowan vowed.
Cameron punched through his chest and crushed his heart between her fingers. "I already have."
The cyborg pondered her options as she washed her hands in the lake water. There were legends that they had spoken of. Two Pokemon that controlled space and time. Even if they were only myths, it was the only chance Cameron had to get back to fulfill her mission.
Firearms did not exist, and more primitive weapons would not be sufficient. Cameron was left with no alternative.
-{PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE: Acquire Pokemon}-
A soft whistle/chime roused Cameron from her thoughts, and a strange creature floated out of a cave on an island in the middle of the lake. A device in deceased Professor's pocket identified it as Mesprit, the Legendary Pokemon of Emotion. It seemed to float through the air with no discernable apparatus for doing so.
It moved over the bodies of the terminator's kills, and it seemed to be weeping.
Sensing an opportunity, Cameron reached for one of its two tails and grabbed it. The stunned creature yet out a melodic yelp, but the cyborg had it pinned to the ground. She beat it over the head with one flesh-covered metal fist until it finally lapsed into unconsciousness.
Finding a lone empty Pokeball in the Professor's coat, Cameron tossed it at the Mesprit which sucked it inside as it if were made of energy instead of matter. The ball fell to the ground and shook to the side once. Then again. Then a third time. Finally, it made a clicking sound, which the terminator knew indicated that she had successfully caught the creature.
Picking up the Pokeball, she attached it to a compartment on Rowan's belt (he wouldn't need it anymore), and headed through the tall grass towards an open path that would take her to the nearby Sandgem town. There was a market there where she could stock up on supplies, as well as heal her new conquest.
Cameron came to a path that was filled with tall grass that her optical sensors could not penetrate. There was also a small ledge that seemed safe enough for a young boy to jump down from. Not one to be deterred by such a minor obstacle, the cyborg climbed up the tiny slope instead of going the long way around.
A right turn led into a small town. A few small houses sat by the water. Immediately on her left, the cyborg saw a building with a sign labeled 'Professor Rowan's Lab.' There might be more answers inside. But first, there was a more pressing concern.
Without even a bow and arrow, the Pokemon themselves would have to make do as weapons, and her weapon was in need of repair. A strangely shaped building clearly labeled 'Pokemon Center' drew her attention, right next to a 'PokeMart.'
Once inside the Pokemon Center, Cameron walked straight ahead to a desk, behind which a kind-looking woman stood. She appeared to be a nurse, but her outfit seemed impractical for standard medical practice. Real doctors did not wear skirts like that.
"Hello, and welcome to the Pokemon Center," the woman said. "We restore your tired Pokemon to full health. Would you like to rest your Pokemon?"
No one seemed to take notice of her wearing the traditional garments of a well-known resident of this same town, so Cameron simply went along with it. "Yes, please," she said.
"OK, I'll take your Pokemon for a few seconds," the nurse said, gently taking the Pokeball and putting it into a machine behind her. It glowed for a few seconds before the nurse handed the sphere back to the cyborg girl. "Thank you for waiting. We've restored your Pokemon to full health." She then bowed. "We hope to see you again!"
Cameron tilted her head to the side, not understanding. "You hope to see me again? Does that mean you wish me to injure my Pokemon so that I will require your services?"
The nurse blinked and stood there with her mouth hanging open slightly. Clearly, she hadn't given her words enough thought. "N-no! Of course not! I just meant… Well, it's traditional for businesspeople to be polite."
"So you practice medicine as a business for profit. You benefit from others being injured."
"No! No, not at all! Pokemon Centers are free of charge for anyone and everyone to use! I would never dream of making profit off of a Pokemon's suffering!"
Cameron still did not understand. "But you wish to see me again. If you don't make profit, then you must wish to see Pokemon come to you injured for personal reasons. Are you a sadist? Or do you feel the need to prove yourself to others with your medical skills?"
This proved too much for the nurse to handle, and she ran into a back room, sobbing hysterically.
"Strange." The brown-haired cyborg girl was confused by this area and its people. Still, she had a goal, but she was unaware how to find the legends, Dialga and Palkia. Supposedly, they were to be found at the Spear Pillar of Mount Coronet, but adventurers had never reported seeing any such thing there.
Exiting the Pokemon Center, Cameron headed north, which a sign told her led to Jubilife City. She saw a few people, mostly children, standing about on the trail, or else walking in circles or pacing. Humans had already seemed strange to Cameron, but these humans were even stranger.
Ignoring them, she continued on her way. But a child's cry stopped her in her tracks.
"Hey, wait up!" a young boy cried. "My eyes met yours, so we have to have a Pokemon battle now!"
Cameron tilted her head, as she was wont to do when confused. "I don't understand."
The child looked awed. "But, everyone knows that! If two people make eye contact, or if you pass a trainer who sees you, then you have to battle them! And you can't run away like in a wild Pokemon battle, either."
"Why not?"
"Because, uh… Because, you just can't! It's a rule! And I… I'll tell on you if you don't!"
This was an unfavorable predicament. Cameron wanted to avoid having to deal with authority figures. Too much attention was definitely bad. And this was also a way to test out her skills with her new weapon.
"Very well. We will battle."
"Awesome! Bidoof! I choose you!" the boy cried, throwing out his Pokeball, out of which came a beaver-like creature. The ball then mysteriously traveled right back to the boy's hand.
Cameron took out her Pokeball, but she did not throw it. The trigger was obviously the button in the center. It would not be tactically sound to divest herself of her weapon. Unless…
Winding up as if for a pitch, the gynoid threw the Pokeball with great force at the beaver-thing's head. It made a satisfying impact that sent the creature into a daze as Mesprit emerged.
"Hey!" the boy cried. "You can't do that! That's not a Pokemon move!"
"Mesprit," Cameron commanded tonelessly, "Psychic attack."
"Huh? Mesprit? The Mesprit?" the boy asked, full of awe.
For its part, Mesprit looked at the Bidoof and sent a rippling psionic attack at the creature, instantly knocking it unconscious.
"Arrgh! And I worked so hard to catch that Bidoof! All right, here you go," the boy said, handing over a small coin purse to Cameron.
"What are you doing?" she asked him.
"I lost, so you get my money. And I'd been saving up all month for another Pokeball, too!"
Cameron had no need for money. She could simply take what she needed by force. "Take your money back. I don't need it."
"Uh, no. I can't do that. If my mom catches me going to the Pokemon Center with money on me, I'll be grounded for sure."
"The Pokemon Center likes it when you hurt your Pokemon," Cameron said sagely. "Don't battle with it anymore. You will only encourage the sadism of the Pokemon Centers."
"Y-you're scaring me! I'm gonna tell my mom on you anyway!" the boy said, running away as fast as his little legs would take him.
Cameron picked up the boy's dropped wallet, and decided that if she could buy what she needed, she would draw less attention than resorting to violence. Stealth was her ally.
"Thank you, Mesprit," she said to the floating creature. It regarded her strangely before humming a reply back to her in an unintelligible language.
"You are a legend, Mesprit. Perhaps if you travel in plain sight, instead of confined to this prison sphere, then weaker humans and Pokemon will be less likely to challenge us."
The small, fairy-like thing shook its head, as if it knew some secret that Cameron did not. "Would you prefer to travel like this?" the cyborg asked with genuine curiosity, holding up the Pokeball.
Mesprit seemed to consider this, and then shook its head. It cooed in a way that Cameron's programming analyzed as positive.
"All right. Let's go." By the time Jubilife City was in sight, Cameron had added a fair amount of money to her purse.
"This is not so bad, is it Mesprit?" she asked the strange creature. It cooed happily, and Cameron found it strange that she, a machine built for function alone, would converse with the Pokemon. There was an intangible positive sensation gained from it, and Cameron would not argue against it.
Cameron put on a smirk. "At this rate, no power in the 'verse can stop us."
Hello everyone! I don't own Pokemon or Terminator or any non-original elements contained in this story.
This is just meant to be a little spoof/parody, so if I make a few mistakes here and there, please go easy on me.
Many Thanks for reading, everyone! I hope you enjoy what I have so far. Let me know if you think I should continue this story or leave it as a one-shot.