Termination
Prologue
My parents used to tell me stories of the world before the war. What it was like before I was born. They told me of a vast and beautiful, green world. One that was filled with laughter and hope for the future. But then, on one day, everything changed.
July 1st, 2018.
On that day, SkyNet, an artificial intelligence created to automate our nuclear arsenal, decided that all humanity was a threat to its existance and launched our missiles at every major country in the world, allowing their counter-attack against us to finish the job.
Five billion died in the nuclear fire.
Those that survived called it Judgement Day.
They lived only to face a new nightmare. The war against the machines.
I was born the year after Judgement Day in what remained of the small town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. My parents were among the only survivors. Both of my great grand uncles and my aunt perished. For ten years we practically lived like rats in the shadows, constantly trying to find food and evade the machines that dominated our world. Then came SkyNet's newest weapon. Infiltration units designed to pass as humans.
The Terminators.
One day, my mother and I were forced to watch one gun down my father before it turned to us. But just when we assumed that this would be the day we were finally free of this Hell we lived in, a man came to our rescue.
His name: John Connor.
He assembled most of what was left of the human and metahuman population and gave them the courage to fight against SkyNet. The hope that we could take back the earth from our metal oppressors. For years, we fought back against them, smashing them into scrap. We even had help from beings from other dimensions thanks to the efforts of one of John's top ranking generals, Star Butterfly. Unfortunately, just a week ago, she had been taken by the machines in what will soon be SkyNet's final victory.
For tonight, we crush SkyNet once and for all.
This will be my final journal entry.
-Ian Pines
Los Angeles, 2039.
Amidst the devastation in the former City of Flowers and Sunshine lied the hidden, underground base of the Resistance. Ian Pines, son of Wendy Corduroy and Mason 'Dipper' Pines, stood in one of the hallways as he finished writing in an empty page of one of his late father's journals before closing the book and taking another smoke from the cigarette in his mouth. He placed the book in one of the large pockets of his trenchcoat when he heard footsteps coming from his left. He proceeded to turn and see John Connor himself approaching him, the scar on the left side of his face being unmistakable.
"Sir," Ian said as he stood straight before his leader. Despite his cynical look on most of the world, having been born after Judgement Day, his respect for John was absolute. Not only was he the one that saved him and his mother from being victims of a Terminator attack, but he had given the world something that it desperately needed: hope for the future.
"Drop the formalities, Ian," Connor responded with a confident smile.
"Alright, John," Ian responded as he and the leader of the Resistance started to walk down the hallway. "Are we ready?"
"That we are," John answered. "The offensive in Colorado is ready when we are."
"Forgive me, John, but might I ask why we're not focusing our efforts there?" Ian asked. "This is the complete destruction of SkyNet we're talking here, so why are we attacking this one work camp instead of SkyNet's central core?"
"Because the camp is a smokescreen," John answered. "Inside it is a hangar. Beneath that hangar, SkyNet has hidden its final weapon. Once it realizes it's going to loose the war, it will deploy that weapon to ensure its survival. We take it tonight, or there is no tomorrow."
Upon hearing his leader's reasoning, despite still having his doubts, Ian decided that he will still follow John on this mission.
"It's funny, isn't it?" he asked as he took another smoke. "For years I've looked at this hellhole I've been forced to live in with distain. With the belief that this was going to be how it would be til the day I finally die. But in just a few hours, all that is gonna change."
"What will you do when this is all over?" Connor asked.
"My mother and I are gonna find her house in Oregon," Ian answered. "We'll rebuild it and use our hands for something other than killing. How about you?"
"Well...A couple of cold ones would be a good place to start," John answered, to which he and Ian couldn't help but chuckle in response.
"That's some pretty big plans," Ian remarked.
"Yeah," John replied. "I guess I never thought about it too much."
"Well, whatever happens, it's gotta be better than this," Ian stated.
"Damn right," John replied as he patted his fellow Resistance member on the shoulder. It was then that the two of them made it to their destination: the briefing room. Where a large crowd of Resistance members were awaiting their leader to arrive. Both John and Ian stood before them, alongside other high ranking members of the Resistance.
First, standing beside Ian was his mother and John's tough as nails second-in-command, Wendy. Now in her late thirties, she, like most of the other members, wore a black, armored uniform, though the difference was that she had pictures of the heads of T-800's on her shoulders and her back, each one with an 'X' crossing them out. If this was to be believed, she had destroyed well over a hundred of the machined that ravaged her world, and the only reason there wasn't more was because she was starting to run out of room. Her hatred for SkyNet possibly exceeded all others'. She had witnessed her friends and loved ones either burn in a nuclear fire or be gunned down by SkyNet's machines, and now all she wants is to make it pay for all the pain it had caused her.
Next, there was the leader of the French Resistance and John's tech-expert, Jeremie Belpois. When the nuclear holocaust reached France, Jeremie, as well as his friends, Ulrich, Odd, Yumi and Aelita formed the first international resistance group after hearing stories of the legendary John Connor rising up against SkyNet. This group consisted of most of what remained of the French population, as well as the heroic duo of Paris known as Ladybug and Cat Noir. Jeremie's resistance group kept in close contact with John as they continued their fight and, upon hearing that the end of SkyNet was nigh, immediately traveled to the States to offer their assistance.
Following Jeremie was a young man that bore a resemblance to the Norrisville Ninja, Randy Cunningham. However, under the mask was his son, Zack. After Randy had graduated high school in 2016, the Nomicon proceeded to mind wipe him and select a new freshman to become the Ninja. He had begun to pursue a career as police officer and had proposed to his high school sweetheart, Theresa Fowler, when Judgement Day happened. Miraculously, the two of them had survived and had their child just a few years later, only for the machines to take them when Zack was fourteen and bring them to one of SkyNet's work camps, never to be seen again afterwards. Soon afterward, he discovered the Nomicon, which had been lying dormant after the Ninja it had selected was killed on Judgement Day in the ruins of Norrisville High, and chose him to become the next Ninja. Given the circumstances of the world, the Nomicon elected to not mindwipe Zack once his four years were up, and allowed him to continue assisting humanity as the Ninja.
Then, there was Sashi Kobayashi. If anyone came close to matching Wendy's hatred of the machines, it was her. She and her boyfriend, Penn Zero, had been together for a few years after saving the entire multiverse from destruction when the nuclear fire wiped out their hometown of Middleburg. Their friend, Boone Wiseman, as well as Penn and Sashi's families, perished, leaving only the two of them to survive in SkyNet's world. Sashi was pregnant with a daughter, one she named Akiko, when the Terminators found them. Penn was gunned down and killed right before Sashi's eyes and, in the resulting fight, she had suffered a miscarriage. She would have lost her life as well if it weren't for a team of Resistance soldiers that destroyed the machines before they got the chance. Now, having already had anger problems even before Judgement Day, a fiery rage was now forever inside her that would not be extinguished until SkyNet was no more, and, despite initially wanting to join the Colorado offensive in attacking SkyNet's central core, she was still more than glade to take up John's mission if it meant destroying more of the machines.
Next was Astra Butterfly, the daughter of Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz. Like Ian, she too was born years after Judgement Day and was constantly on the run from the machines along with her parents. She had been taught several martial arts skills from her father before he was taken from her and Star by SkyNet. Once she had heard stories of John Connor's rising Resistance, Star and Astra sought him out and joined with him, Star eventually using her dimensional scissors to call upon a few friends she had made during her travels in the multiverse. Unfortunately, upon seeing her magical feets, SkyNet made capturing her a top priority, and was eventually successful. Despite the pain of losing both of her parents, Astra continued to fight alongside John in the hope that SkyNet could be destroyed and that she could find her mother alive.
Finally, there was the head of the remnants of G.I. Joe, Scarlett. When the missiles went up, the Joes were caught off guard and, as a result, a majority were killed in the nuclear onslaught. However, their leader, Joe Colton, managed to assemble what remained of the organization, joined John and his Resistance, and proceeded to cause SkyNet several game changing setbacks. However, in the process, Joe, and two of his higher-ups, General Hawk and Sergeant Conrad 'Duke' Hauser, fell victim to SkyNet, prompting Scarlett to assume command of G.I. Joe. Now, after all the hell that the machines put her, the Joes and all of mankind through, Scarlet was anticipating finally seeing the day she and so many others dreamed of: the fall of SkyNet.
Upon seeing John approach them, the members of the Resistance instantly fell silent and stood to attention, awaiting his final speech. Nearly every high ranking member was there, from Steven Universe, Kim Possible, Jake Long, Danny Fenton and Manny Rivera, to non-human members such as Raphael of the Ninja Turtles, the Manhattan Clan and the Crystal Gems, to the ones that Star had called to Earth, those being the Storm Hawks, Team RWBY, the samurai known as Jack and the warrior known as Ashi, to even one or two former villains such as Shego and Zoe Aves. John proceeded to look over to each and every one of them before speaking up.
"SkyNet thinks that we cannot win," he began. "It thinks that we will not strike at its very heart. And yet, here we stand on the precipice of the final battle. If we fail, and we die tonight, mankind will die with us."
As he continued to speak, he hopped on the bed of a stationed truck.
"I look at each of you, and I see the marks of this long and terrible war. But after today, our children, our children's children will no longer have to bare these scars. They will know who we are and what we did! They will know that we did not bow down! We did not give in! We rose up! We fought at this moment, at this hour, willing to sacrifice everything so that they could live in freedom! On this night...we take back our world!"
The rest of the Resistance rose their weapons and let out a battle cry, letting John know that each and every one of them were with him til the end. Everything that Judgement Day had set in motion was about to come to an end.
After tonight, either SkyNet was going down, or mankind were.
Credit for the characters of Ian Pines, Astra Butterfly and Zack Cunningham goes to my frequent collaborator.
DISCLAIMER: Terminator is owned by Paramount Pictures, Gravity Falls, Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, Star vs the Forces of Evil, Gargoyles, Kim Possible, American Dragon: Jake Long and Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero are owned by Disney, Danny Phantom, El Tigre and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are owned by Nickelodeon, Steven Unverse and Samurai Jack are owned by Cartoon Network, G.I. Joe is owned by Hasbro, RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth, Storm Hawks is owned by Nerd Corps and Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir is owned by Zagtoon. Not sure who owns the rights to Code Lyoko, but it's obviously not me.