Prologue
Alright, guys. So this is the prologue chapter for the reboot version of my story, "Pacific Rim 2". I decided to separate this one since I wanted to keep the original. :)
Anyway, this fic has better story and writing while retaining the same characters, Jaegers, Kaijus and key elements from the first one.
But enough talk. It's time for the story itself!
Kaiju. That's what we called them. Giant beasts from another dimension hellbent on eradicating humanity.
The first one, codenamed Trespasser, attacked San Francisco, USA on August 10, 2013. For six days, it rampaged across the West Coast, destroying three cities and killing tens of thousands in its path. We threw everything we got at it. Tanks, jets, missiles. But we only managed to slow it down. Until at last, on the sixth day, it was finally killed after the military dropped three nuclear bombs on it.
We thought it's over. We thought it's just an anomaly in the evolutionary process. We moved on.
We were so wrong.
Six months later, it happened again. Another monster. Another city destroyed. Another nuclear bomb deployed.
But that's not the end. Two more attacks followed. Each one as devastating as before. And that's when it dawned on us. This is not gonna stop. This was just the beginning.
The beginning of a war.
Knowing the risk of excessive uses of nuclear ordinances, we tried to think of another way to destroy them. All ideas were rejected. All conventional weapons that we currently have doesn't work on them. Radiation from nuclear bombs will kill us. And so we needed something else. Something that can match them. Something big or else we go extinct.
A new weapon.
Jaegers. Giant war machines piloted by two people mind melded into one being. To fight monsters, we created monsters of our own.
At first, we thought it would never work. Who would? The idea was straight out of a science fiction novel or movie. Based on children's monster and robot toys.
But then came Karloff. Our first kill. Our first victory. They counted on us to hide. To fail. To give up. They never considered our ability to stand.
That we will rise to the challenge.
During the five years that followed, our small army of Jaegers grew. Each year, thousands of aspiring Rangers flocked to the Academy, hoping to pilot these machines and ride them into battle against the Kaijus. For five years, we were victorious. For five years, we were heroes.
Then it all changed.
In the year 2020, Knifehead, the largest Category III ever recorded, attacked. In less than five minutes, it easily destroyed USA's Mark-3 Jaeger, Gipsy Danger, killing one of its pilots. During the next four years, Rangers started to die as the Jaegers fell at the increased attacks and ferocity of the Kaijus. With each attack, our heroes fell. With each attack, our hopes slowly diminished. Until we were just down to two Jaegers, including the restored Gipsy Danger. Right then, we knew it. It was only a matter of time before our last line of defense was breached. And so, on January 2025, at the edge of our hope, at the end of our time, Marshall Stacker Pentecost decided to assault the portal for one final push and destroy it with a thermonuclear bomb.
The battle was long and grueling. With only two Jaegers against three Kaijus, one of them a Category V, the mission seemed futile. Marshall Pentecost knew it. And so, together with his co-pilot Chuck Hansen, they decided to sacrifice themselves by detonating the bomb meant for the Breach. In its last act of defiance against the monsters, Striker Eureka, first and last of the Mark-5, goes down in a blaze of glory and took a Category IV Kaiju with him while severely injuring another one.
As the last Jaeger left on earth, Gipsy Danger, piloted by Raleigh Beckett and Mako Mori, headed straight for the rift to destroy it using their own nuclear core, killing the first Category V along the way. Using its corpse, they entered the interdimensional portal, floating slowly down towards their destination like an angel of death sent from heaven. As they escaped using the pods, the Kaiju's masters watching the behemoth machine with wide eyes, Gipsy Danger exploded as humanity's last warning to the invaders.
The Breach soon collapsed upon itself. The explosion strong enough to permanently close it. And so we celebrated. The clock was stopped. Our mission was finally done and the war is over.
We had canceled the Apocalypse.
The whole world rejoiced. And mourned as well. We mourned for the Jaegers and Rangers that had sacrificed their lives to give humanity a chance to survive. Gipsy Danger. Striker Eureka. Crimson Typhoon. Cherno Alpha. The Wei Tang triplets. The Kaidonovskys. Chuck Hansen. Stacker Pentecost. All the Rangers and Jaegers that fought bravely for humanity. These heroes will be forever remembered throughout the history.
Three years passed, the world slowly recovering what it once lost. With the Kaiju War finally over, we began anew. Cities were rebuilt. International economy grew once more. We got our lives back.
And just like before, just like the first attack, we thought it's over.
We were so wrong.
August 9, 2028...
Newton's House, 2:01am
The ring of a phone awoke Newton Geiszler from his sleep. With a start, he jumped into a sitting position, briefly considering if Otachi had somehow found him and looked around in fear.
Then he sighed. It's been three years already since that terrifying encounter with not just one, but two Otachis. Everytime he was being startled from sleep, or everytime there was a loud vibration on the ground, he always thought that the flyer was knocking at his door or hissing in front of him. That incident was forever etched in his memory. How he barely escaped from being eaten alive. In fact, he still have nightmares about it.
The phone rang again.
With another sigh, he stood up and grabbed his eyeglasses from his bedside table before picking up the receiver.
"Dr. Geiszler here." He mumbled, still drowsy. It's 2am in the morning. Any sane person shouldn't be calling at this hour. Unless it's important, which was happening quite a lot lately. He and Hermann are now world renowned scientists. Kaiju experts. Their work and research had finally paid off, with most of their discoveries being used in various fields including medicine, construction, engineering, and most of all, military. They are now celebrities. As famous as the Rangers themselves.
And it's all thanks to one Hannibal Chau.
Newt couldn't still believe how the black market dealer had survived though. The Kaijus were amonia-based organism. Their very blood is poison and acid combined. Chau couldn't have lived after being eaten alive. When he asked the man about it, the dealer merely laughed.
"I sold my soul to the devil long ago. I won't die easily."
Back at the present, the caller spoke.
"Dr. Geiszler! It's me, Ramirez!" A man with a South American accent said over the phone. Immediately, Newt's sleepiness vanished. Edgardo Ramirez was a former officer in a K-Watch observatory on an island near South America. Their outpost was just one of many others tasked with monitoring any Kaijus heading towards the southern hemisphere. But that was back then during the war. With the breach sealed, the UN had decided to shutdown PPDC and every department connected to it for good, it's personnel going their own separate ways.
"Ramirez! How have you been?" He said. He hadn't seen the man for five years already.
"I'm fine, doctor. But that's not important right now! You must come here immediately! This is urgent!" The man replied, clearly agitated.
"What is it? What happened?" Newton asked, concerned.
"I can't properly explain it to you over the phone, doctor! It's better if you come here instead. This is really urgent!" Ramirez said with a slight tone of terror in his voice. The man was usually a calm individual, barely expressing fear or panic at even the most dire situations. Including a Kaiju attack. Whatever this important thing is, it must be big that Ramirez showed signs of terror. Something that he couldn't let pass.
"Alright, I'll head there right away." Newton confirmed.
"Gracias, doctor, gracias. And please bring also Dr. Hermann Gotlieb with you. I'm afraid we will need his expertise too for this."
...
August 9, 2028...
K-Watch Outpost, near Peru, 9:34pm
"Glad you could make it, Dr. Geiszler, Dr. Gotlieb. Please follow me." Ramirez said hurriedly as he led them along the hallway. They were currently in one of K-Watch's outpost 10 miles from the mainland.
"So, what's this about?" Newt asked, slightly alarmed by the fact that they were inside a Kaiju-monitoring building. Facilities such as these were already closed, its purpose served. But, if Ramirez had reactivated it, then the situation must have been dire for him to do so. His suspicions were proven true when the former K-Watch officer answered.
"Something bad." He muttered. "You do know that these outposts were shutdown by the UN ever since the Breach was closed, correct?" He asked the two scientists. They nodded.
"Well, just last night, I came here by myself." He began as they reached a door marked with a "Authorized Personnel Only" sign. "You know, for old time's sake." He added as he unlocked it. Once inside, he flicked a switch, lighting up several flourescent bulbs around the room. Various monitoring equipments and computer terminals filled the walls while a large steel table with a map of the entire Pacific Ocean sat in the middle.
"I booted up some of the computers, checking if they were still working. After all, it's never good to just leave them here to rust. And the government never wanted them anymore." He continued as he approached one and pressed the power button. Immediately, it activated. "When I did a scan..." He trailed off, his fingers beginning to tremble as he typed on the keyboard. "The scanners detected this." An image appeared on the screen. Immediately, Newton and Hermann approached and inspected it.
It was an image taken from a satelite, showing various readings. Nothing too impressive about it. Except for the radiation readouts, which was above than usual. However, Ramirez typed a bunch of keys again and another image appeared on the left.
And that's when Newton's heart skipped a bit.
"The right one is taken yesterday. The left one is taken by NASA on August 9, 2013." Ramirez spoke softly.
August 9, 2013. A day before K-Day.
"Impossible..." Newton whispered. The scans were nearly identical. Even the radiation readouts. But that's impossible. When Newton and Hermann had drifted with the Kaiju brain, they learned that the Precursors were slowly dying. And they had already destroyed their bioengineering facility. No way could they open another portal in less than four years.
"Where was this taken?" Hermann asked, concerned.
"Just a few miles from the last one." Ramirez replied. "But that's not the only problem." He said, his voice trembling. Once again, he punched several keys on the console as another image was opened.
"Doctors, this one is just a hundred miles off the western coast of Mexico." The South American said with fear in his voice.
"My God..." Newton and Hermann whispered simultaneously. They were terrified. And rightly so. Not only one, but two portals might soon open. Tomorrow at the very least. And at each end of the Pacific.
Newton's hands trembled. It's starting again. The Kaijus are returning. Possibly in greater numbers. And they have no Jaegers to combat them.
They are completely defenseless.
"What do we do?" Hermann said even as Ramirez did the sign of the cross.
Newton gulped very hard. They have to remain calm. And act fast. Taking a deep breathe to steady himself, he answered.
"Alert the UN. Tell them to re-establish the PPDC... and restart the War Clock."
How's that? Now, compare this to the original prologue and tell me if this isn't better. :D
And yes, I did payed homage to the movie itself by beginning this with a first-person narration. :D As for who is speaking at the start of the chapter, I'll just leave it as ambigous as possible. Though I can tell you that it's not an OC. And definitely not Raleigh. ;)
By the way, who got that Hellboy reference I placed? :D
Anyway, that's it for now. Expect faster updates from now on since I have plenty of free time now. :D
Please Read & Review! Until next time!