A young woman was reading on-top of an unshared bunk bed. Her short red hair was splayed over her pillow, sticking slightly over the bed's metal frame. She flicked her well-manicured nails through a glossy covered magazine. A gasp escaped her lips as she read over the article that took up the book's first couple of pages. Her slim fingers gripped the latest edition of the Jaeger Monthly News Report tighter as she continued to read.

"The Jaeger Monthly News Report" started as a military pamphlet given out to those in the Pan Pacific Defense Corps at the beginning of the Kaiju War. The UN thought it would be a good idea to keep the entire military force informed about what was happening in the war, even if they weren't directly involved with It contained small excerpts on the Jaegers being sent out into the field, their pilots, and the occasional page dedicated to the invading Kaiju.

The publication proved wildly popular in the Corps, eventually spread over to the civilian population with the help of the internet. With the already rock star-like status of the pilots the miniscule pamphlet naturally turned into a magazine with more readers than any other publication in the world.

Evangeline Keating, the woman on the bed, face visibly deflated upon finishing the article. The top of the page read "Gypsy Danger Pilot Taken Out by Arctic Terror: Knifehead!" Yancy Becket, the deceased pilot, had been killed in a surprise attack by the Category 3 Kaiju. His brother, Raleigh, had survived the battle, and even managed to finish the Kaiju off before their Jaeger went offline.

Evangeline piloted a Jaeger with her own twin, Chloe, so she knew even the thought of losing a twin could be extremely damaging. Chloe was still alive, but Eva had seen her hurt. Seen her almost not make it; it could really mess with a girl's head.

Fellow twin empathy aside, it was always a sad day when a Jaeger pilot died. Yancy Becket would probably get a holiday named after him, like the rest of the dead. A statue would get put up in his honor at the Jaeger Memorial Center.

Eva put her magazine to the side, and jumped from the top bunk to the cold floor. She walked out of her room and started down the long metal corridor. She had been living at the Sydney Shatterdome for over a month now, having been moved there from her home in Ireland. The UN had centers set up all over the world, holding drifting tests almost every day for perspective pilots. It was Chloe's idea that they tested. Her sister had always been more patriotic than her.

"Hello, Marcy," she called out to a passing medical officer. Her thick Irish accent was an oddity among the Sydney Shatterdome, the only other person from the Emerald Isle was her sister.

"Good morning, Evangeline," the medical officer called back. Eva had known Doctor Dinnae since she'd been in Sydney. She had been the one to do both Eva and Chloe's physical exam. Eva had found the woman to be extremely likeable and warm, like a long lost aunt.

"Have you seen Chloe?" she asked the older woman.

Dr. Dinnae thought for a moment before responding, "I think she's in the gymnasium. She had a look when she went inside."

"Oh no, not a look," her sister's moods could be harrowing. "Did it look like a bad one?"

"Well she almost tore off Matthew's head, so I'm going to go with yeah," she sighed.

"Great," she drew out the word with her own sigh. Eva had an inkling of an idea on what had soured her twin's mood. Most likely the same thing that had depressed her. "Well, I'm gonna go find her. Thank ya, doctor," she said with a tired smile.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. Probably just needs to let off some steam."

Eva nodded at the doctor before walking past her, continuing on to the gymnasium. The gym wasn't very far off from their room, Chloe had asked for it that way. Less of a walk when she wanted to train.

The sounds of flesh hitting padded matting were audible from the hallway, which was impressive since the door was shut and made of thick steel. Eva pressed the open key on the door's control panel and stepped inside.

Only one person was in the gymnasium, Chloe. She was fighting a hanging punching bag like it had killed her family. Her tightly corded muscle flexed with each wild attack. Chloe's long read hair was waving around her like a wild fire, she hated keeping it short or pulled together. It made her feel trapped.

She hadn't noticed her sister's entrance. Eva snuck over to the far wall and picked up a heavy medicine ball, hoisting it high over her head. She let go of the ball, letting it fall to the ground with loud smack.

Chloe stopped her onslaught of attacks, almost jumping out of her skin from the surprise. Her body twisted around to see the sound's owner. She looked over to see her twin laughing at her fright. Chloe could feel her face becoming beat red.

"What are ya doing!? Ya scared the life outta me!" she whined at her twin.

Eva smiled at her screaming sister, "Oh, I just wanted to see how my favorite sister was doing."

"Well you could have knocked, or said something! Done anything!" Eva's smile grew as her sister continued to fluster. She was so easy to sneak up on.

"But that would take the fun out of it," Eva jumped on her sister, wrapping her freckled arms around her shoulders. "Did ya see that article?" Eva wanted to get to the heart of it quickly. Letting her sister seethe was never a good idea.

"Yes!" she yelled, ripping herself out of Eva's embrace, "Can you believe what those eejits wrote about our machine!?"

"I know it's hard when of ours dies, but you just haf ta- Wait. What?" Eva stopped confused. "Who said what about who?"

"That god forsaken magazine said that our Jaeger was inferior! That it was a ticking time bomb, waitin to explode!"

"The reason you're so off in the head is cause of that stupid editorial?"

"It's not stupid! Some ninny going around saying were not as good as the rest of them doesn't sound stupid to me," Chloe shot back indignantly.

"Didn't you read the cover story?"

"I did. What about it?" she gave her sister a look somewhere between anger and confusion.

"I thought that was why you were upset," Eva explained.

"Why would I be?"

"Because someone died! Another pilot lost his life!" she was flabbergasted at her sister's nonchalant behavior.

"And?" Chloe asked, confused as to why she should care.

"And, what!? One of our own dies and you're not upset at all about it?"

"Why should I be? I didn't know'em." Chloe said with a half-hearted shrug.

"So what if ya did na know'em. He was a pilot. Someone's brother!"

"He wasn't my brother. I mean, I guess it's a shame he's dead, but it's war. It's goen'ta happen," Chloe stated matter of factly.

"I cannot believe you! Someone loses their life trying to protect us! All of us! And all you can care about is some daft opinion piece! What if that was me, huh?! Would ya care then?!" Eva's face was turning as red as her hair.

"That daft opinion piece drug our names through the mud! And it wasn't you, so I'm sorry if I get'ta little tiffed at that and not at the death of a man I never met!"

Evangeline and Chloe glared at each other, each of their green eyes shining with well founded rage. In a huff, both of them turned their backs to each other. Evangeline left the gymnasium without another word, leaving her sister alone with her thoughts.

The twin's thoughts were ablaze with the anger their sibling had stoked with their selfish comments.

Evangeline mind screamed at her callous sister, "I can't believe the cheek that little dope can spew! Who does she think she is, a freakin queen?! Her damn reputation won't matter if the git's dead!"

Chloe's thoughts stormed to a similar tune, "Where does she get off acting like some kind of bastion of moral superiority. I remember when she couldn't give two shites when Roco died! Or Demy! Sure they were just dogs, but they were our babies! And they didn't get nothin!"

The director of the Sydney Shatterdome stood in front of the Keating twins, his face stony as marble. He wore a well decorated military uniform, each pin an unknown achievement to the twins. A brightly lit monitor hung behind him, showing a map of the southern Pacific Ocean, and a photograph of a monster.

"The Kaiju is a category 3, one of the biggest yet. Its codename is "Trollgre". Has a humanoid form, appears to be covered in long hair."

"Hair?" Chloe cut in, "Didn't know Kaiju's could be like, mammals."

"They can't," the operator quickly took back the lead in the conversation, "As the scientists say, they are pseudo-reptilian, crustaceans. The fact that this thing has hair is a testament to the variety that these beasts can come in," the operator turned from the picture of the Kaiju to the map and continued his briefing, "The Kaiju is currently six miles off the coast of New Zealand."

Chloe interrupted once more, "Why are we going in? Doesn't New Zealand have a Jaeger?" Her sister quickly elbowed her in the gut.

"You, git!" she hushed, "Erratic Driver, and both its pilots were killed three months ago."

"Well sorry!" Chloe shot back a little too loudly, "I don't read every issue of that dumb magazine!"

Her sister countered, in an equally, unnecessarily loud voice, "You read enough to know our freakin ranking, and when you're slammed in a tabloid!" The sisters continued to bicker in front of their superior. Said superior was not amused by their childish behavior.

"Ladies! I'm sorry, do you both need a wee bit of nappy?!" the lead operator yelled in an extremely insulting Irish accent. Normally, mocking someone's native tongue tended to stoke anger like a fire, but the operator's rage shut the girls up quick. "Maybe we should just let the Kaiju get to the land! Because I don't think that you're fit to even wash a control suit at the moment! Let alone pilot a damned Jaeger!"

The girls' faces flushed with embarrassment. Their heads dropped in shame at both of their outbursts. The lead operator regained his composure almost instantly.

He cleared his throat, "Yes, the Jaeger team manning Erratic Driver was killed three months ago, leaving New Zealand without any kind of Jaeger Protection. We had planned on sending Vulcan Specter's crew, but it's currently under repair. We hadn't expected a Kaiju attack near New Zealand this quickly. So that's why we're sending you."

The older man continued to rattle them, "What, no screaming at that?" Both twins shook their heads solemnly. "Good. As I was saying, the Kaiju is currently about six miles off. A key point of your mission is to make sure this thing does not get to the shore. Due to a series of scheduling errors, wreckage clean-up from Erratic Driver is still in progress. The Kaiju's appearance seems to just be a simple brawling type. No secret weapons have been spotted on it, but tread lightly and treat it with caution none the less. Moving on."

The digital map faded and was replaced by the schematics of the twin's Jaeger, Hurricane Meltdown. A top heavy Mark II, colored red with a shape not unlike a lowland gorilla, or the Kaiju it would hunt. Its long arms drooped well down past its knees, ending in large club-like hands. The girl's loved it. They couldn't quite put their finger on it as to why. Maybe it was how massive it was; it being the biggest Mark II ever built. Perhaps its blood red color scheme, or how if you squinted its head almost looked like a grinning monster. If they could agree on one thing they both liked about it, it would be its power. How strong it was compared to others of its Mark, it was strong even compared to the monolithic Mark I's.

The glowing screen zoomed in on the Jaeger's chest. The armor on the front was removed, the digital readout showing the colossal nuclear reactor residing in the center.

The operator continued, "Now, you both know that Hurricane Meltdown's name isn't just a simple moniker. Its reactor is highly unstable and is extremely susceptible to meltdown." Chloe and Eva gave each other a knowing glance. Meltdown's flawed existence was something they were reminded about every day.

"We've done our best to try work around this liability. Adding extra armor around the reactor itself. Equipping it with long range weapons to minimize the chance of damage. However, we all know what was in mind when this Jaeger was built," the operator smiled, "Pure up close and personal destruction." The twins grinned.

"Long range weaponry didn't work well on account of your Jaeger's overall design. Mounted guns couldn't be made to stay from its sloped shoulders," the operator swiped at the screen, changing it back to a full body shot.

"Internal guns got in the way of key systems, and the reactor. You're going to have to fight this thing like you're used to. Does that sound alright to the both of you? Or do we have to argue the semantics of that as well?" the operator gave the twins one last jab.

"Yes sir!" they both gave a hearty salute before realizing what they said, "Uhhh, no sir! Wait…."

The operator gave a hearty laugh at their confusion.

Hurricane Meltdown sloughed through the deep waters of the Southern Pacific Ocean, the bright sun hung high overhead. Despite its primate-like gate, it kept itself above the crashing waves without much trouble. Its jagged head sat well above the water line; its monstrous visage reflecting from the shining sea.

Chloe and Evangeline had managed to synch in the mental stream well enough upon launch. Even though anger towards each other still burned in their brains, they knew well enough how to both share and repress the volatile emotion. It was hard to be mad at someone if that someone was sharing a thinking with you.

They had been trudging through the Pacific for dozens of minutes before seeing the Kaiju. The carrier craft had been slow on transportation, letting the Kaiju get closer to land than anyone would have liked. It moved through the water with surprising speed, its gait showed everyone how similar it was in appearance to Meltdown.

"Control," Chloe speaking into the microphone in front of her, "We have sight on the Kaiju. It's still in the water."

"Engage at will. Do not let it get to land," the operator on the other line responded.

"You got it boss," she said more to herself than to the operator.

"How do you want to take this?" Eva asked.

"Well, it doesn't look like much," Chloe eyed the beast, "Just a big beasty that needs putting down."

Eva gave her a thin eyed glance, "Knifehead 'didn't look like much' and look what happened to Yancy."

"Oh come off it! You never even met the guy! Besides didn't that one sneak up on them, at night in the rain?!" She gestured as well as she could with her gloved hands over to the lumbering giant, "But, if you couldn't tell, it is bright and sunny. It's also right freaking there, so let's kill it before it gets to shore!" Her movements caused Hurricane Meltdown to point the Kaiju.

"I'm just saying we should still be careful," Eva seethed out, trying to ignore her sister's tirade.

They both went silent and crept towards the hunched over Kaiju. Its "hair" hung loosely over its scabby hide like wet noodles. Two massive horns jutted out from the sides of its head, pointing in front of it like a steer. Trollgre didn't seem to notice the gigantic monstrous mech standing right behind it.

"Engaging," Chloe said. Eva nodded in wary agreement. Hurricane Meltdown quickened its pace to catch up the hulking Kaiju, and grabbed at its shoulders with both of its titanic hands. Its thick fingers sank into the soggy "hair" on the Kaiju's back; Meltdown turned the Kaiju to face it.

Trollgre's horrifying face matched Hurricane Meltdown's own. The Kaiju's beady eyes stared passed the Jaeger like it wasn't even there. The Keating twins rose one of Meltdown's long arms over the Kaiju and slammed down, trying to crush the thing's misshapen skull.

The Kaiju wrenched itself from their single handed grip, and shoved at Jaeger, moving it back several hundred feet. The Kaiju then, in a head scratching move, turned around and continued moving toward land.

The twins looked at each other, their mouths hung agape. What was it doing? Weren't Kaiju supposed to be kill crazy? They hadn't fought one before, but they were sure it wasn't supposed to be acting like this.

"What is it doing?" Eva said, befuddled.

"It's makin a run for it! Get after the bastard!"

The Jaeger straightened itself and ran after the meandering Kaiju. It moved into a tackling position and shouldered Trollgre in the back, plunging it into the water. The twins saw its arms move to try and drag itself forward.

"Would you just sit still and fight!?" Chloe yelled.

"Ya know, I've never heard of a cowardly Kaiju," Eva said wryly.

Hurricane Meltdown grabbed at the Kaiju's flailing arms, one of its meaty claws swiped at the Jaeger's head, landing a glancing blow. Eva and Chloe both shook in the control pod, the diagnostics readout showed only superficial damage.

"Keep going!" Eva yelled. Meltdown punched down into the Kaiju's submerged head. They felt contact with something, but the Kaiju's continued thrashing told them it wasn't enough. It drew back again for another downward punch before Trollgre pushed up with horrendous strength, and threw them off into the water.

It pushed itself back up and maintained its progress towards the land, which, it was getting quite close to. If it kept on at its current pace, it would most likely reach the shore in only a handful of minutes.

If one were to look at the clean-up crew, at this time, they would see a few dozen trained military men scrambling to clean up and run for their lives, like chickens with their heads cut off.

The twins were livid within their pod. Anger flowed through the neural link from one mind to another, fueling their rage in tandem. They took a step forward and then charged the asinine monster.

Hurricane Meltdown was not necessarily built to jump into the air, but it could in a pinch. The Keatings threw themselves into the back of Trollgre, slamming an unthinkable amount of tons onto its body. Trollgre's heavy shoulders cracked under the pressure, but still kept up its escape.

"Activate Joint Rocket's!" they yelled in unison. The readout next to their view finders showed a small image of a cartoony arm in the corner of its screen. Fire spewed from the back of Meltdown's elbows and propelled each of them forwards.

Mechanical fists rained down on the Kaiju's back and head. The twins weren't aiming for any kind of vital spots, just for the Kaiju itself. The impact of the wave of attacks shook the control pod with each punch.

"I think we've got it!" Chloe happily exclaimed.

Trollgre, almost like it heard her, reared up like a bull and threw the Jaeger, once more, from its back. It shook of the damage like it was nothing, ignoring their advance entirely. Its long horns moved toward the beach with the rest of its massive form behind.

Hurricane Meltdown had move out of the water fast, as to not let any water in any possible hull breaches. Its reactor was already unstable, water would only make the walking train wreck even worse.

"What are you two doing?! Get in front of it, take it down!" The operation's manager was just as angry as the pilots.

The Keatings kept still in the pod. Fury was etched across their features, unable to move from the rage boiling up to their surface. Anger bread itself into more anger. Without any kind of middle ground or opposing force within, the mind will continue to burn itself until there's nothing left but ash.

"Remove the outer shell," they whispered to the Jaeger's AI. The sound of things unclamping and scraping metal filled the pod. Outside, the Jaeger's outer armor was being dropped into the ocean, like unneeded chaff. The operator's voice came rang over the crashing metal.

"Be careful you two. Your core is even more exposed now. One hit might send you into a full shutdown. The possibility of a meltdown has been exponentially increased." The operator was ignored by the twins.

Silently, they shook the rest of the superfluous casing from their machine's body. Without the extra armor, Hurricane Meltdown, could move as fast as the storm it was named for. Its design was focused entirely on killing whatever was in front of it as quickly as possible, the only drawback being that unstable core.

Trollgre's black eyes could see its target. On the sandy beach, Erratic Driver's destroyed body was sprawled about, the clean-up team having finally fled. It quickened its pace to the Jaeger, ready to do what it was made for.

A shadow appeared behind its back, but was ignored like everything else; nothing would stop it. A swift kick to the back sent it reeling forward. Before it could try and move away from the unseen threat, the shadow moved in front of it, dealing another nimble kick to its horned head.

Hurricane Meltdown grabbed at the Kaiju's horns as it tried correcting its stance. It pushed back against the beast and began twisting the horns in its metal hands. The Keatings pulled the Kaiju's head forward, head-butting it in the middle of its face. The pilots screamed defiantly at the dazed monster.

Meltdown rocketed its left, and then right, hand into its gaping maw. It pushed the Kaiju further back into the Pacific with a flurry of jabs. As Trollgre's head moved back to try and get back on track to its mission, Meltdown grabbed at its horns again. It cracked the protrusions from the Kaiju's head like a cracker, and jabbed them into its thick neck.

"Die!" the twins screamed at the dying Kaiju, "Just die!" They pulled the broken horns from its thick hide and plunged them into the Kaiju's eye sockets. A roar of escaped Trollgre's twisted mouth, the twins relished in Trollgre's death-rattle. The body fell still as the bellow finished. Chloe and Eva weren't fazed by the Kaiju's lack of movement and kept on thrusting into the corpse.

The detached horn had shattered into chitin, the girls taking the opportunity to pull the beast apart. It threw each bit of Kaiju into the ocean around them. The greasy "hair" on the Kaiju's head was ripped free, along with the bits of skull, and thrown to the side.

"Um… girls?" the operator called into the control pod. "Its vital scans show its dead… You- you can stop now." The operator was ignored. "Chloe? Eva? Can you hear me?"

"Shut up!" they yelled, continuing to mutilate the Kaiju.

At the Shatterdome, the operator looked over at the technicians and the head operator behind him.

"What do we do now?" he said, motioning toward the monitor.

The lead operator spoke surely, "Continue with the clean-up of Erratic Driver. Send out a team to deal with the Kaiju's remains when they're done."

"Should we let them keep going like that?"

"No, shut them down. They're going to do more damage to themselves than the Kaiju did like that," the head operator shook his head at his pilots' behavior.

Another scream echoed over the intercom.

On the sandy New Zealand beach, the body of Erratic Driver laid apart. Metal scraps dotted the areas in between the more put together pieces of wreckage. The tide had begun to come in on the mech, bits of seaweed and salt water stuck itself to the metal hull. Bits of Kaiju hair had also gotten into Erratic Driver's destroyed body, sticking to the dilapidated robot like glue.

Trollgre had succeeded.