Shrike Flamestar
The Invisible!
- 212
- Posts
- 16
- Years
- Age 35
- Within the synapses of the internet and my own min
- Seen May 9, 2022
Latest Update: 7/13/10 - Chapter 0 + 1
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Introduction
Welcome to the new thread for my fanfic, TRINITY! I ran into a bit of a problem with editing in revised chapters in my old thread so, uh, here's a new one without the old chapters to get in the way.
As for the fic itself, I often like to say that TRINITY is unlike any other Pokémon fanfic online, and rightfully so. While there are a handful of other Pokemon fics out there with similar settings, very few use a futuristic sci-fi approach like I do here. If you've ever seen the anime Ghost in the Shell, you'll have a good idea of the general feel and tone of TRINITY as it's a sci-fi Pokémon fic which uses several cyberpunk concepts.
The Pokémon world I represent in TRINITY is nothing like the Pokémon world we all know it as; there are no trainers for one. Technology has granted Pokémon and humans the ability to fully communicate with each other, allowing Pokémon to integrate into human society as somewhat accepted and civilized creatures. The core around which the plot focuses, cybernetics, is widespread in use not only in humans but Pokémon as well. If you think Pokemon is getting too futuristic with every generation, well, consider this a very distant extrapolation of that.
I hope you enjoy TRINITY, but just be forewarned right now that I have a habit of taking a long time to post new chapters, anywhere from one month to three. If you wish to be easily informed of new updates without needing to constantly keep tabs on the thread, my preferred method is via thread subscription. You can also post a reply or shoot me a PM saying that you'd like to be added to my TRINITY PM update list if you prefer that, however.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Table of Contents and Information
Overall Fanfic Rating: PG-15 (Swearing, violence, occasional gore, and other generally more mature themes)
Genres: Science Fiction, original universe, drama, action
Phase.Alpha
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Metal and plastic lined maze-like corridors; the metal gave the passages a cold, sterile feeling that plastic sheets inlaid with holographic screens could only attempt, and ultimately fail, to warm up. To a newcomer this could be off-putting. To the man walking through those halls, it was familiar. He hadn't been to this exact place before, but it was similar enough so as to grant a sense of familiarity. As he walked, screens of orange light flashed into existence within the plastic panels along the walls; signs pointing him in the direction of various offices, labs, elevators, stairs, even restrooms. The man wanted none of that. A small nook in the corridor up ahead beckoned him, an overhead light reacting to his presence and illuminating a free-standing computer terminal.
The man barely glanced at the screen that flickered into existence before him, running his hands along the stand from which the holographic display and keyboard were projected. A single circular interface port was inset on the stand, but it was all he needed. Reaching up the left sleeve of his trench coat and the shirt underneath, the man pulled out a cable with a matching plug on the exposed end. Plugging it into the interface port, his eyes slid up to look at the screen. However, he didn't pay much attention to it. Invisible to anyone else, a panel of pure light seemed to appear in the air before the man, much like the holographic screen of the computer terminal. Unlike it, the panel of light followed the man's eyes, always squarely centered in his vision. Indeed, his eyes didn't play any part of him seeing it. Implants that intercepted the nerves running from his eyes to his brain modified what the eyes saw, overlaying that vision with the translucent panel that words were now beginning to appear on.
The words scrolled by at speeds that would have made them impossible to read if seen normally, however as the words themselves were purely data processed within the man's own mind, he could tell exactly what every word said. He didn't need to, though; the initialization required when connecting to any external device rarely provided any useful information unless an error occurred. In this case, the man was thankful that no error occurred. Quickly, he drew up a handful of new panels using only his mind, each running a separate program and outputting their own relevant status messages. He didn't really care about anything they said; they were passive and didn't require his attention. Mentally he shoved all the panels but one to a stack of icons on the side of his vision to clear what was essentially his virtual desktop. On the remaining panel, he watched as more status messages appeared, all of which he ignored until finally the entire panel cleared itself, leaving only a flashing command prompt. Mentally typing out the commands, the man quickly went to work.
It didn't take long for the computer to crack wide open, the man calling up all the external network connections the terminal was connected to. One by one he examined them, until finally he located what he had come for. A single network connection, leading directly from the terminal to another networked system located elsewhere in the facility. Not much differentiated it from the other connections, except for the label given to it: "Security Camera Monitor." Copying the networked computer's address, the man executed a remote connection to it tunneled through the current terminal. No security greeted him, the system had been designed to be protected by the terminals it was connected to. A new panel popped up to load the camera monitoring interface, but as soon as it appeared the man lowered the opacity on it and returned his attention to what his eyes were actually seeing: the terminal hidden away in a nook in the hallway. He quickly glanced around to ensure he was still alone. He was.
The man returned attention to his mind as thumbnails of various camera feeds suddenly appeared in the networked computer's interface panel. Immediately the man applied a filter, narrowing them down to those from the floor he was on. Enlarging them, he began viewing them briefly one at a time, flicking through to the next when he determined it wasn't what he was looking for. A minute passed, but then he found what he wanted. The man stared at the camera feed for a brief moment before enlarging it, focusing it on one specific object. Barely a moment had passed before he tore his interface cable out of the terminal, the cable retracting back up his sleeve automatically. Turning down the hallway, the man set off running as he followed a virtual, invisible line on the floor.
"All levels nominal. Proceeding as requested."
The voice was flat and emotionless, coming from within a room that was small yet spacious. Not much filled the room, so despite being small it was mostly empty space. Only two elements stood out: a curved terminal in the middle of the floor that the woman who had spoken stood at, and a large glass tube set against the wall the terminal faced. Both were visible to the camera mounted in a corner of the room behind the terminal. However, despite almost the entire room being in clear view of the camera, it was hard to see who was at the terminal due to the dim lighting of the room. In fact, the only source of lighting was a circle of lights around the base of the tube.
"Test subject appears to be at one-hundred percent physical health, however final mental examination indicated deteriorating mental health detrimental to further testing. Despite success with the integration procedure and promising test results, it was determined that subject is unsuitable for further testing. Subject will be terminated and examined postmortem for concluding details. Initializing termination sequence."
The woman barely seemed to be aware of what she was saying, much less what was around her. She stood at the terminal, eyes facing straight ahead and vacant. Hands flew across a holographic keyboard at an inhuman rate without her even looking at the keys, yet without missing a single stroke. Her words were spoken as if by instinct, for indeed that was how she had been programmed. No one was observing her in the room or through the camera, but she did not know that nor did her program care. To her it was possible that anyone could be watching, at any time. Procedure had to be followed, above all else. Her program wouldn't have it any other way.
A small hum began to emanate from the glass tube, ripples flitting through the orange liquid inside. Floating buoyantly within that liquid, yet with arms and legs secured by clamps to the ceiling and floor respectively, was a large, furred creature. It was currently unconscious. Tubes ran from underneath its skin to the top of the tube where it met the ceiling, snaking through holes to machinery above that pumped the creature full of various chemicals; perhaps the most important was a direct flow of oxygen to its lungs, preventing it from drowning. Slowly the creature began to stir, twitching slightly before suddenly opening its eyes and gasping. Liquid filled its mouth and lungs as it did so, however one of the tubes carried away the liquid before damage could be done prematurely.
"Subject is regaining consciousness. Termination sequence initializing... Eighty-percent and rising."
The test subject clamped its mouth shut as it realized where it was, its eyes flicking about to take in its surroundings. Before it could gather much in the way of information, five metal rings that had been laying inset in the floor of the tube suddenly rose up around the creature, floating in the liquid. The creature's eyes widened as the rings began to rotate in alternating directions, sparks of electricity leaping between the rings as the speed of rotation increased.
"Termination procedure started. Thirty seconds until subject termination."
The test subject began to howl, thrashing about and trying to free itself of the clamps that secured and immobilized it. Its efforts were futile, however; all it could do was watch as electricity leapt amongst the rings, building up a charge that would kill anything in the tube within a nanosecond. Dejectedly the test subject lowered its head and growled.
This wasn't supposed to have happened.
Suddenly, an explosion rocked the room as the door flew off its hinges and crashed against the wall, taking out the camera in the corner with it. The creature snapped its head up in time to see a man dressed in a long black trench coat spring through the smoking doorway and over to the operator standing at the terminal, throwing a punch with his left arm that sent her crashing to the floor. Reaching into a pocket in his coat, he pulled out a small black box that he pressed against the single port in the back of the robotic woman's neck. Her whole body shook for a moment before falling still, but by that time the man was already on his feet and examining the computer console.
<It's about damn time you got here. Why didn't you tell me about this beforehand?!> The test subject angrily yelled, his speech not verbal but rather mentally transmitted to the man through a matching implant in both of their brains.
"Later! Need to concentrate!" the man shouted as he withdrew a cable from up his sleeve again and connected it to a port on the top of the console. His eyes narrowed as he stared at nothing in particular, working mentally on saving the test subject before it was too late.
A smile slowly crept across the man's face until finally he relaxed and nodded. "Termination procedure canceled," he said, adopting an emotionless voice like the woman before him. "Releasing the test subject. My test subject."
<Please. Spare me the flattery.> The former test subject rolled his eyes as the rings suddenly stopped rotating, falling freely to the floor of the tube with a clatter. The clamps that held him in place let go and the liquid in the tube began to drain as a mechanical hiss filled the room. Dropping to the floor, the former test subject lay sprawled out and began breathing normally again as his head rose above the liquid. Finally the last of the liquid had drained and the glass walls silently slid into the floor as the umbilical cords retracted; the small, insignificant wounds they left on the subject's body lost among his slicked down fur.
The man smiled as he walked over to the opened tube, running a hand through his short blonde hair. Stopping before it, he appraised the creature sprawled out weakly on the floor: a Typhlosion. "Good to see you again, Havoc." He grinned as he reached his left arm down. Its hand was covered with a fingerless black glove, in opposition to his uncovered right hand. Havoc sighed as he took the man's hand and was pulled to his feet.
<What took you so long, Tashima?> the Typhlosion asked as he cautiously took a few steps himself, trying to warm his muscles back up.
"Long? Man, this was short," Tashima snorted as he walked back over to the computer console. "You must have lost track of time or something because I'll tell you now, it is five days before when I was supposed to bail you out. I happened to find out, completely by chance, that you were being done in today. That was fifteen minutes ago." As Tashima was ranting, he knelt down over the still body of the operator drone and pulled the black box out of her neck, sliding it back into a pocket.
Havoc leaned against a wall, examining the room. Despite the door having been clear off, no alarms were sounding. Even without them though, he assumed it was only a matter of time before someone or something came to investigate what was happening. They would have to leave soon. <I assume that means you don't have much of a plan now?>
"Plan?" Tashima repeated as he adjusted the glove on his left hand. "My plan consists of us running like hell to an elevator and getting out of this place."
<Cameras?>
"Tagged and disabled. Thank Zan for that program..."
Havoc raised an eyebrow, an odd expression for a Typhlosion yet one that Havoc found himself using frequently. <You still think it's safe to trust him?>
Tashima shrugged, not elaborating much more beyond, "What other choice do I have? Any more questions?"
<Yeah, why aren't the alarms sounding?> Havoc finally asked. <You've blown up the door, knocked out an operator drone, and released me. You'd think something there would do it.>
"Cut the alarms on the way here," Tashima answered simply.
<And? Explosions are loud. Someone must have heard it and alerted security manually. How do you think they'll respond when they find both me and the door missing, and that operator drone disabled?> Havoc growled as he walked over to the door and peered out it, glancing down the empty hallway in both directions. <And why are we just standing around here?>
"Because you keep asking stupid questions like that," Tashima rolled his eyes in response.
<Well then, let's get going...> Havoc stepped out into the hallway, but was stopped by Tashima.
"Wait, hold on. Got to hide the fact that you escaped..." Tashima muttered as he reached into one of the interior pockets of his trench coat and pulled out a small black sphere. Squeezing it caused the sphere to split open around the middle, revealing a pulsating red core. Casually Tashima threw it into the middle of the room, Havoc shaking his head as the human took his time slowly walking out of the room. "Remote detonation," he explained to Havoc whose fur was bristling. "I'll wait until we're clear and then all evidence of your rescue will be gone."
<Except the fact that I'm alive,> Havoc growled as he set off down the hallway in the direction Tashima pointed out.
"You're a Pokémon. You know how most people treat you guys; they can't tell the difference between individuals. Don't let them ID you and they'll never know who you are."
It didn't take long for Tashima and Havoc to reach an elevator, quickly shoving their way into it and fortunately finding that it was empty. As the elevator began to descend downwards, Tashima nodded as he pressed the mental button to detonate the explosive he had dropped. The building shook slightly and alarms finally sounded as the lights flickered for a moment. Sighing, Tashima wiped some sweat off his brow and pried off a panel on the wall, extending the cable from his sleeve again and interfacing with the elevator. Havoc weakly fell to the floor in the corner across from Tashima, his ears drooping.
"How'd it go?" Tashima finally asked after he was done disrupting the elevator's functionality so that it wouldn't stop to let anyone else on.
<Successful, you could say,> Havoc grumbled. <Yet at a cost.>
"You knew the risks beforehand. I warned you and told you that you didn't have to do it, yet you insisted."
Havoc merely grunted and rolled onto his side, exhausted after the near-death experience. Frowning, Tashima walked over to Havoc and sat down beside him. Gently he ran his hand through the fur on Havoc's neck above the red incendiary spots, parting it. Beneath lay the indistinguishable marks of Havoc's previous experience. Situated in a hexagon on the back of Havoc's neck were six circular interface ports, and in the middle of the hexagon a tattoo reading:
Property of CYPHER Corp.
Test Subject #5687-9504-5609
Test Procedure #9013-4598-0043
Procedure Details:
Cybernetic Integration
TRINITY Integration
"It's not like being cybernetic is anything new to you; you've always had a couple implants. Besides, trust me, it isn't all that bad. Just wait until you see the Cybernet," Tashima grinned, trying to cheer Havoc up.
<There's a difference between 'a couple' implants and having most of your body replaced with cybernetic parts. What did I have before? A wireless interface with this communicator, a single prosthetic eye, and a couple other implants here and there. Not even a cybernetic brain. Now not only do I have a cybernetic brain, but nearly my entire body has been reinforced with metal plating, electrical wiring, sensors, mechanical joints, and more; hell, I wouldn't be surprised if I have a couple concealed weapons in here someplace,> Havoc sighed as he rolled over to face Tashima.
"You might want to look for those, they could be handy someday. I'm still trying to figure out how I can get this old thing fixed or, better yet, updated without CYPHER getting suspicious, or breaking the bank." Tashima smiled as he pulled off his single glove and pushed up his left sleeve to the elbow, revealing an arm and hand that looked to be more machine then man. The skin was oddly shiny and reflective, and the faint outline of inset buttons could be easily seen spread over the surface of the arm.
Tashima pressed one of the buttons near his wrist and with a whir the entire surface of his lower arm and hand snapped apart into quarters to reveal the messy inner workings of the cybernetic arm. Exposed within the arm, wires and red organic tissue formed a complex maze that made sense only to the original designer. Amid all that, the most prominent feature of the inner arm was revealed: a dark gray gun barrel that ran through the center of the arm. Over the surface of the gun barrel, exhaust vents aligned with the gaps between the opened skin panels to provide the necessary ventilation it needed when being used.
"I've tried firing this thing a couple times lately but it seems to be broken. Spent quite a bit to get this plasma cannon installed under the radar and a lot of good it amounted to..." Tashima scoffed. "I guess that's what you get for cheap, damn bargains. Good thing I've never had to use it..." Tashima sighed, looking up at the elevator's floor readout; they were almost at their destination now.
<That's a good thing. You already put us in enough danger as is...>
"Maybe so," Tashima mused, pressing the same button on his arm again. The arm snapped closed seamlessly with a hiss, no signs that it had ever opened up visible. His arm back to normal, Tashima pulled his sleeve down again and slid the fingerless glove back on his hand to mostly hide its cybernetic appearance.
Silence followed for a moment before Havoc gave another sigh. <We don't even know what this TRINITY thing is; is it really worth all this trouble?>
Tashima shrugged. "CYPHER is keeping very secret about it and it's going to go into mass production soon, but not for commercial release. It's obviously important for something and thus I want to check it out for myself first."
<You and your toys... Was the cost really worth it this time?>
"...As I said, you didn't have to do it."
The two of them both pulled themselves to their feet, the Typhlosion standing about a foot shorter than Tashima. <Don't get me wrong, I'm suspicious about it too and want to find out what it is. Plus, I'd never let you down. Perhaps being fully cybernetic won't be so bad after all...>
"...Thanks," Tashima simply said as the elevator slowed down, finally stopping.
The pair stepped out of the elevator and into a large, spacious lobby. Security guards stood about the place, while a mixed variety of scientists and formally-dressed business people walked about minding their own business. No one paid the two of them much attention. Havoc followed Tashima as he walked over to one of the sliding doors on the wall, passing through it without incident. The human and Typhlosion stepped out onto a transparent floor that extended out from the side of the building, far above the ground below. The building rose up behind them like a giant pillar, thrusting straight upwards miles into the sky. However, only the bottom portion of the tower could actually be seen from where the two stood. A giant dome enclosed the base of the tower, cutting off the miniature city clustered around the tower's base from the larger city outside.
As prominent as the tower was, the large dome and what it enclosed was arguably the most important feature of the complex for most people, including Tashima. While he did work for CYPHER, the corporation that owned the entire complex, the tower was merely a place of work for him. The dome was where normal employees such as Tashima actually lived and enjoyed life. Much smaller towers rose up out of the ground around the base of the CYPHER Tower, completely covering the ground below except in the areas right around the base of the CYPHER tower and against the edges of the dome, where the buildings were small and sparse enough so as to actually expose the ground. Light shone down from the top of the dome where transparent glass panels allowed natural light through, augmented by powerful lamps that circled the interior of the dome; however, the multicolored lights from the buildings below were often enough to light up the inside of the dome on their own. It literally was a miniature city under the dome, one in which the CYPHER employees could live out their entire lives without having to leave.
Tashima escorted Havoc down one of the several glass-floored piers that branched out from the tower, seemingly supported by nothing. Reaching where he had parked, Tashima wirelessly connected to the small red aerocar sitting in the spot he had left it at the end of the pier, turning it on and opening the top hatch. The top part of the car swung upwards to expose the small two person interior, Tashima leaping over the side and into the driver's seat while Havoc pulled himself into the passenger seat situated behind the driver. An array of holographic displays appeared in midair as Tashima sat down, his eyes scanning over them while he pressed the button to close the car's top hatch.
"Hey, want to grab something to eat?" Tashima asked as he prodded at the holographic displays, flicking some out of the way and enlarging others, looking over the news feeds to see if anything interesting had happened in the world. Naturally, nothing had.
<Do I even need to eat anymore?> Havoc grumbled.
"You need to work on that bitterness. But whatever, can't hurt to try it," Tashima grinned, scrolling through a list of destinations in one of the holographic windows before picking one out, selecting it. Automatically the aerocar lifted into the air, rising up and away from the pier as it slowly drifted away. Having drifted far enough from the pier, the main thrusters kicked in and the car flew away from the tower, spiraling down towards the miniature city below as it accelerated to its top speed in just a few seconds. Tashima sunk down in his seat as he let the aerocar fly its course on autopilot, only now able to truly relax.
TRINITY
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Introduction
Welcome to the new thread for my fanfic, TRINITY! I ran into a bit of a problem with editing in revised chapters in my old thread so, uh, here's a new one without the old chapters to get in the way.
As for the fic itself, I often like to say that TRINITY is unlike any other Pokémon fanfic online, and rightfully so. While there are a handful of other Pokemon fics out there with similar settings, very few use a futuristic sci-fi approach like I do here. If you've ever seen the anime Ghost in the Shell, you'll have a good idea of the general feel and tone of TRINITY as it's a sci-fi Pokémon fic which uses several cyberpunk concepts.
The Pokémon world I represent in TRINITY is nothing like the Pokémon world we all know it as; there are no trainers for one. Technology has granted Pokémon and humans the ability to fully communicate with each other, allowing Pokémon to integrate into human society as somewhat accepted and civilized creatures. The core around which the plot focuses, cybernetics, is widespread in use not only in humans but Pokémon as well. If you think Pokemon is getting too futuristic with every generation, well, consider this a very distant extrapolation of that.
I hope you enjoy TRINITY, but just be forewarned right now that I have a habit of taking a long time to post new chapters, anywhere from one month to three. If you wish to be easily informed of new updates without needing to constantly keep tabs on the thread, my preferred method is via thread subscription. You can also post a reply or shoot me a PM saying that you'd like to be added to my TRINITY PM update list if you prefer that, however.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Table of Contents and Information
Overall Fanfic Rating: PG-15 (Swearing, violence, occasional gore, and other generally more mature themes)
Genres: Science Fiction, original universe, drama, action
Phase.Alpha
- Chapter 0
- Chapter 1
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Phase.Alpha
Chapter 0
Chapter 0
Metal and plastic lined maze-like corridors; the metal gave the passages a cold, sterile feeling that plastic sheets inlaid with holographic screens could only attempt, and ultimately fail, to warm up. To a newcomer this could be off-putting. To the man walking through those halls, it was familiar. He hadn't been to this exact place before, but it was similar enough so as to grant a sense of familiarity. As he walked, screens of orange light flashed into existence within the plastic panels along the walls; signs pointing him in the direction of various offices, labs, elevators, stairs, even restrooms. The man wanted none of that. A small nook in the corridor up ahead beckoned him, an overhead light reacting to his presence and illuminating a free-standing computer terminal.
The man barely glanced at the screen that flickered into existence before him, running his hands along the stand from which the holographic display and keyboard were projected. A single circular interface port was inset on the stand, but it was all he needed. Reaching up the left sleeve of his trench coat and the shirt underneath, the man pulled out a cable with a matching plug on the exposed end. Plugging it into the interface port, his eyes slid up to look at the screen. However, he didn't pay much attention to it. Invisible to anyone else, a panel of pure light seemed to appear in the air before the man, much like the holographic screen of the computer terminal. Unlike it, the panel of light followed the man's eyes, always squarely centered in his vision. Indeed, his eyes didn't play any part of him seeing it. Implants that intercepted the nerves running from his eyes to his brain modified what the eyes saw, overlaying that vision with the translucent panel that words were now beginning to appear on.
The words scrolled by at speeds that would have made them impossible to read if seen normally, however as the words themselves were purely data processed within the man's own mind, he could tell exactly what every word said. He didn't need to, though; the initialization required when connecting to any external device rarely provided any useful information unless an error occurred. In this case, the man was thankful that no error occurred. Quickly, he drew up a handful of new panels using only his mind, each running a separate program and outputting their own relevant status messages. He didn't really care about anything they said; they were passive and didn't require his attention. Mentally he shoved all the panels but one to a stack of icons on the side of his vision to clear what was essentially his virtual desktop. On the remaining panel, he watched as more status messages appeared, all of which he ignored until finally the entire panel cleared itself, leaving only a flashing command prompt. Mentally typing out the commands, the man quickly went to work.
It didn't take long for the computer to crack wide open, the man calling up all the external network connections the terminal was connected to. One by one he examined them, until finally he located what he had come for. A single network connection, leading directly from the terminal to another networked system located elsewhere in the facility. Not much differentiated it from the other connections, except for the label given to it: "Security Camera Monitor." Copying the networked computer's address, the man executed a remote connection to it tunneled through the current terminal. No security greeted him, the system had been designed to be protected by the terminals it was connected to. A new panel popped up to load the camera monitoring interface, but as soon as it appeared the man lowered the opacity on it and returned his attention to what his eyes were actually seeing: the terminal hidden away in a nook in the hallway. He quickly glanced around to ensure he was still alone. He was.
The man returned attention to his mind as thumbnails of various camera feeds suddenly appeared in the networked computer's interface panel. Immediately the man applied a filter, narrowing them down to those from the floor he was on. Enlarging them, he began viewing them briefly one at a time, flicking through to the next when he determined it wasn't what he was looking for. A minute passed, but then he found what he wanted. The man stared at the camera feed for a brief moment before enlarging it, focusing it on one specific object. Barely a moment had passed before he tore his interface cable out of the terminal, the cable retracting back up his sleeve automatically. Turning down the hallway, the man set off running as he followed a virtual, invisible line on the floor.
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"All levels nominal. Proceeding as requested."
The voice was flat and emotionless, coming from within a room that was small yet spacious. Not much filled the room, so despite being small it was mostly empty space. Only two elements stood out: a curved terminal in the middle of the floor that the woman who had spoken stood at, and a large glass tube set against the wall the terminal faced. Both were visible to the camera mounted in a corner of the room behind the terminal. However, despite almost the entire room being in clear view of the camera, it was hard to see who was at the terminal due to the dim lighting of the room. In fact, the only source of lighting was a circle of lights around the base of the tube.
"Test subject appears to be at one-hundred percent physical health, however final mental examination indicated deteriorating mental health detrimental to further testing. Despite success with the integration procedure and promising test results, it was determined that subject is unsuitable for further testing. Subject will be terminated and examined postmortem for concluding details. Initializing termination sequence."
The woman barely seemed to be aware of what she was saying, much less what was around her. She stood at the terminal, eyes facing straight ahead and vacant. Hands flew across a holographic keyboard at an inhuman rate without her even looking at the keys, yet without missing a single stroke. Her words were spoken as if by instinct, for indeed that was how she had been programmed. No one was observing her in the room or through the camera, but she did not know that nor did her program care. To her it was possible that anyone could be watching, at any time. Procedure had to be followed, above all else. Her program wouldn't have it any other way.
A small hum began to emanate from the glass tube, ripples flitting through the orange liquid inside. Floating buoyantly within that liquid, yet with arms and legs secured by clamps to the ceiling and floor respectively, was a large, furred creature. It was currently unconscious. Tubes ran from underneath its skin to the top of the tube where it met the ceiling, snaking through holes to machinery above that pumped the creature full of various chemicals; perhaps the most important was a direct flow of oxygen to its lungs, preventing it from drowning. Slowly the creature began to stir, twitching slightly before suddenly opening its eyes and gasping. Liquid filled its mouth and lungs as it did so, however one of the tubes carried away the liquid before damage could be done prematurely.
"Subject is regaining consciousness. Termination sequence initializing... Eighty-percent and rising."
The test subject clamped its mouth shut as it realized where it was, its eyes flicking about to take in its surroundings. Before it could gather much in the way of information, five metal rings that had been laying inset in the floor of the tube suddenly rose up around the creature, floating in the liquid. The creature's eyes widened as the rings began to rotate in alternating directions, sparks of electricity leaping between the rings as the speed of rotation increased.
"Termination procedure started. Thirty seconds until subject termination."
The test subject began to howl, thrashing about and trying to free itself of the clamps that secured and immobilized it. Its efforts were futile, however; all it could do was watch as electricity leapt amongst the rings, building up a charge that would kill anything in the tube within a nanosecond. Dejectedly the test subject lowered its head and growled.
This wasn't supposed to have happened.
Suddenly, an explosion rocked the room as the door flew off its hinges and crashed against the wall, taking out the camera in the corner with it. The creature snapped its head up in time to see a man dressed in a long black trench coat spring through the smoking doorway and over to the operator standing at the terminal, throwing a punch with his left arm that sent her crashing to the floor. Reaching into a pocket in his coat, he pulled out a small black box that he pressed against the single port in the back of the robotic woman's neck. Her whole body shook for a moment before falling still, but by that time the man was already on his feet and examining the computer console.
<It's about damn time you got here. Why didn't you tell me about this beforehand?!> The test subject angrily yelled, his speech not verbal but rather mentally transmitted to the man through a matching implant in both of their brains.
"Later! Need to concentrate!" the man shouted as he withdrew a cable from up his sleeve again and connected it to a port on the top of the console. His eyes narrowed as he stared at nothing in particular, working mentally on saving the test subject before it was too late.
A smile slowly crept across the man's face until finally he relaxed and nodded. "Termination procedure canceled," he said, adopting an emotionless voice like the woman before him. "Releasing the test subject. My test subject."
<Please. Spare me the flattery.> The former test subject rolled his eyes as the rings suddenly stopped rotating, falling freely to the floor of the tube with a clatter. The clamps that held him in place let go and the liquid in the tube began to drain as a mechanical hiss filled the room. Dropping to the floor, the former test subject lay sprawled out and began breathing normally again as his head rose above the liquid. Finally the last of the liquid had drained and the glass walls silently slid into the floor as the umbilical cords retracted; the small, insignificant wounds they left on the subject's body lost among his slicked down fur.
The man smiled as he walked over to the opened tube, running a hand through his short blonde hair. Stopping before it, he appraised the creature sprawled out weakly on the floor: a Typhlosion. "Good to see you again, Havoc." He grinned as he reached his left arm down. Its hand was covered with a fingerless black glove, in opposition to his uncovered right hand. Havoc sighed as he took the man's hand and was pulled to his feet.
<What took you so long, Tashima?> the Typhlosion asked as he cautiously took a few steps himself, trying to warm his muscles back up.
"Long? Man, this was short," Tashima snorted as he walked back over to the computer console. "You must have lost track of time or something because I'll tell you now, it is five days before when I was supposed to bail you out. I happened to find out, completely by chance, that you were being done in today. That was fifteen minutes ago." As Tashima was ranting, he knelt down over the still body of the operator drone and pulled the black box out of her neck, sliding it back into a pocket.
Havoc leaned against a wall, examining the room. Despite the door having been clear off, no alarms were sounding. Even without them though, he assumed it was only a matter of time before someone or something came to investigate what was happening. They would have to leave soon. <I assume that means you don't have much of a plan now?>
"Plan?" Tashima repeated as he adjusted the glove on his left hand. "My plan consists of us running like hell to an elevator and getting out of this place."
<Cameras?>
"Tagged and disabled. Thank Zan for that program..."
Havoc raised an eyebrow, an odd expression for a Typhlosion yet one that Havoc found himself using frequently. <You still think it's safe to trust him?>
Tashima shrugged, not elaborating much more beyond, "What other choice do I have? Any more questions?"
<Yeah, why aren't the alarms sounding?> Havoc finally asked. <You've blown up the door, knocked out an operator drone, and released me. You'd think something there would do it.>
"Cut the alarms on the way here," Tashima answered simply.
<And? Explosions are loud. Someone must have heard it and alerted security manually. How do you think they'll respond when they find both me and the door missing, and that operator drone disabled?> Havoc growled as he walked over to the door and peered out it, glancing down the empty hallway in both directions. <And why are we just standing around here?>
"Because you keep asking stupid questions like that," Tashima rolled his eyes in response.
<Well then, let's get going...> Havoc stepped out into the hallway, but was stopped by Tashima.
"Wait, hold on. Got to hide the fact that you escaped..." Tashima muttered as he reached into one of the interior pockets of his trench coat and pulled out a small black sphere. Squeezing it caused the sphere to split open around the middle, revealing a pulsating red core. Casually Tashima threw it into the middle of the room, Havoc shaking his head as the human took his time slowly walking out of the room. "Remote detonation," he explained to Havoc whose fur was bristling. "I'll wait until we're clear and then all evidence of your rescue will be gone."
<Except the fact that I'm alive,> Havoc growled as he set off down the hallway in the direction Tashima pointed out.
"You're a Pokémon. You know how most people treat you guys; they can't tell the difference between individuals. Don't let them ID you and they'll never know who you are."
It didn't take long for Tashima and Havoc to reach an elevator, quickly shoving their way into it and fortunately finding that it was empty. As the elevator began to descend downwards, Tashima nodded as he pressed the mental button to detonate the explosive he had dropped. The building shook slightly and alarms finally sounded as the lights flickered for a moment. Sighing, Tashima wiped some sweat off his brow and pried off a panel on the wall, extending the cable from his sleeve again and interfacing with the elevator. Havoc weakly fell to the floor in the corner across from Tashima, his ears drooping.
"How'd it go?" Tashima finally asked after he was done disrupting the elevator's functionality so that it wouldn't stop to let anyone else on.
<Successful, you could say,> Havoc grumbled. <Yet at a cost.>
"You knew the risks beforehand. I warned you and told you that you didn't have to do it, yet you insisted."
Havoc merely grunted and rolled onto his side, exhausted after the near-death experience. Frowning, Tashima walked over to Havoc and sat down beside him. Gently he ran his hand through the fur on Havoc's neck above the red incendiary spots, parting it. Beneath lay the indistinguishable marks of Havoc's previous experience. Situated in a hexagon on the back of Havoc's neck were six circular interface ports, and in the middle of the hexagon a tattoo reading:
Property of CYPHER Corp.
Test Subject #5687-9504-5609
Test Procedure #9013-4598-0043
Procedure Details:
Cybernetic Integration
TRINITY Integration
"It's not like being cybernetic is anything new to you; you've always had a couple implants. Besides, trust me, it isn't all that bad. Just wait until you see the Cybernet," Tashima grinned, trying to cheer Havoc up.
<There's a difference between 'a couple' implants and having most of your body replaced with cybernetic parts. What did I have before? A wireless interface with this communicator, a single prosthetic eye, and a couple other implants here and there. Not even a cybernetic brain. Now not only do I have a cybernetic brain, but nearly my entire body has been reinforced with metal plating, electrical wiring, sensors, mechanical joints, and more; hell, I wouldn't be surprised if I have a couple concealed weapons in here someplace,> Havoc sighed as he rolled over to face Tashima.
"You might want to look for those, they could be handy someday. I'm still trying to figure out how I can get this old thing fixed or, better yet, updated without CYPHER getting suspicious, or breaking the bank." Tashima smiled as he pulled off his single glove and pushed up his left sleeve to the elbow, revealing an arm and hand that looked to be more machine then man. The skin was oddly shiny and reflective, and the faint outline of inset buttons could be easily seen spread over the surface of the arm.
Tashima pressed one of the buttons near his wrist and with a whir the entire surface of his lower arm and hand snapped apart into quarters to reveal the messy inner workings of the cybernetic arm. Exposed within the arm, wires and red organic tissue formed a complex maze that made sense only to the original designer. Amid all that, the most prominent feature of the inner arm was revealed: a dark gray gun barrel that ran through the center of the arm. Over the surface of the gun barrel, exhaust vents aligned with the gaps between the opened skin panels to provide the necessary ventilation it needed when being used.
"I've tried firing this thing a couple times lately but it seems to be broken. Spent quite a bit to get this plasma cannon installed under the radar and a lot of good it amounted to..." Tashima scoffed. "I guess that's what you get for cheap, damn bargains. Good thing I've never had to use it..." Tashima sighed, looking up at the elevator's floor readout; they were almost at their destination now.
<That's a good thing. You already put us in enough danger as is...>
"Maybe so," Tashima mused, pressing the same button on his arm again. The arm snapped closed seamlessly with a hiss, no signs that it had ever opened up visible. His arm back to normal, Tashima pulled his sleeve down again and slid the fingerless glove back on his hand to mostly hide its cybernetic appearance.
Silence followed for a moment before Havoc gave another sigh. <We don't even know what this TRINITY thing is; is it really worth all this trouble?>
Tashima shrugged. "CYPHER is keeping very secret about it and it's going to go into mass production soon, but not for commercial release. It's obviously important for something and thus I want to check it out for myself first."
<You and your toys... Was the cost really worth it this time?>
"...As I said, you didn't have to do it."
The two of them both pulled themselves to their feet, the Typhlosion standing about a foot shorter than Tashima. <Don't get me wrong, I'm suspicious about it too and want to find out what it is. Plus, I'd never let you down. Perhaps being fully cybernetic won't be so bad after all...>
"...Thanks," Tashima simply said as the elevator slowed down, finally stopping.
The pair stepped out of the elevator and into a large, spacious lobby. Security guards stood about the place, while a mixed variety of scientists and formally-dressed business people walked about minding their own business. No one paid the two of them much attention. Havoc followed Tashima as he walked over to one of the sliding doors on the wall, passing through it without incident. The human and Typhlosion stepped out onto a transparent floor that extended out from the side of the building, far above the ground below. The building rose up behind them like a giant pillar, thrusting straight upwards miles into the sky. However, only the bottom portion of the tower could actually be seen from where the two stood. A giant dome enclosed the base of the tower, cutting off the miniature city clustered around the tower's base from the larger city outside.
As prominent as the tower was, the large dome and what it enclosed was arguably the most important feature of the complex for most people, including Tashima. While he did work for CYPHER, the corporation that owned the entire complex, the tower was merely a place of work for him. The dome was where normal employees such as Tashima actually lived and enjoyed life. Much smaller towers rose up out of the ground around the base of the CYPHER Tower, completely covering the ground below except in the areas right around the base of the CYPHER tower and against the edges of the dome, where the buildings were small and sparse enough so as to actually expose the ground. Light shone down from the top of the dome where transparent glass panels allowed natural light through, augmented by powerful lamps that circled the interior of the dome; however, the multicolored lights from the buildings below were often enough to light up the inside of the dome on their own. It literally was a miniature city under the dome, one in which the CYPHER employees could live out their entire lives without having to leave.
Tashima escorted Havoc down one of the several glass-floored piers that branched out from the tower, seemingly supported by nothing. Reaching where he had parked, Tashima wirelessly connected to the small red aerocar sitting in the spot he had left it at the end of the pier, turning it on and opening the top hatch. The top part of the car swung upwards to expose the small two person interior, Tashima leaping over the side and into the driver's seat while Havoc pulled himself into the passenger seat situated behind the driver. An array of holographic displays appeared in midair as Tashima sat down, his eyes scanning over them while he pressed the button to close the car's top hatch.
"Hey, want to grab something to eat?" Tashima asked as he prodded at the holographic displays, flicking some out of the way and enlarging others, looking over the news feeds to see if anything interesting had happened in the world. Naturally, nothing had.
<Do I even need to eat anymore?> Havoc grumbled.
"You need to work on that bitterness. But whatever, can't hurt to try it," Tashima grinned, scrolling through a list of destinations in one of the holographic windows before picking one out, selecting it. Automatically the aerocar lifted into the air, rising up and away from the pier as it slowly drifted away. Having drifted far enough from the pier, the main thrusters kicked in and the car flew away from the tower, spiraling down towards the miniature city below as it accelerated to its top speed in just a few seconds. Tashima sunk down in his seat as he let the aerocar fly its course on autopilot, only now able to truly relax.
End of Chapter 0
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