Turned out, Ai was the most fearsome of the five.

Not that the rest weren't awesome. I just wanted everyone to know that Ai was definitely better than Lemon Playlist.

Definitely.


Painted blood red with white highlights, complete with nuclear missile launchers flanking its waist and deadly retractable adamantium chain swords on both arms, it certainly cut its own amongst the five.

"This is an upgrade on the Gypsy, actually. Look-' the brunette shook my left shoulder and pointed excited at the Jaeger's arms as we crossed the Catwalk, "we kept the Plasmacasters and the Nuclear Vortex Turbine. What I did was to reduce the time needed to charge the load and inflict some really badass injuries."

I nodded, feeling my eyes roam the sexy thing that was Ai. It did have the shadow of the Gypsy Danger.

Jesse cleared his throat - his arm up and lifted, ushering us towards the Drivesuit Room where we were tasked to change into our circuitry suit: a black body suit that let us merge our nervous system with that of the Jaeger's.

"Okay," he chirped as we emerged from the changing rooms, "my technicians will help you guys get outfitted into your Drivesuits. Then we'll head into the Conn-Pod for the trial run. You guys are up first."


"Two pilots onboard."

"I'll take the right if you don't mind," she smiled, stomping over in a similar red and white Drivesuit while pulling her hair up into a bun. "I noticed that you're a Lefty."

I bowed my head slightly, face probably burning red at the close proximity of our bodies. I could almost smell the shampoo from her hair. Lavender.

"Uh, sure."

I watched her part her mouth once more, a quip or two lingering on those lips when the technicians came in with the helmets, red polycarbonated with a full-faced, tinted visor. Once secured, they attached the spinal clamps in and Chloe giggled when the metal crawlies made contact with her back. We waited for the golden Relay Gel to be released and that's when we saw another of Jesse's brilliance: Head-up display.

"Iron Man, much?" She laughed, influencing my own to bubble.

A thermal blueprint of the Jaeger was shown clearly on the top left hand corner of the HUD; directly below across the screen was a 360 panoramic x-ray view of our surroundings in pale green. The top right hand corner gave us the estimated characteristics of a Kaiju.

And then it disappeared.

"Jesse to Rangers, Jesse to Rangers. Do you copy?"

I turned to see Chloe smiling through her visor, her cerulean eyes piercing against the red and white suit.

"Yes Jesse, we copy. Loud and clear. What's up with the vanishing HUD by the way?"

I rolled my eyes at the embarrassed chuckle that followed.

"Uh, that wasn't supposed to be up- well it was if you're not connected to the pod yet. I engineered that in after the Hansens got stuck in Operation Pitfall and had to get out from the latch. We have installed an armory in each Jaeger's Conn-pod just in case of emergencies and you need to be on your feet, alright? Okay girls, go into position and be ready to get inside each other's head."

We replied an affirmative before stepping and locking our boots into the respective pod-space, our arms immediately attached to robotic controls.

"Hey."

I arched my eyebrows and whisked my eyes towards my right. There she was with that smirk again.

"Welcome to my world. Don't get too lost in it."


"Initiate Neural Handshake."

Tendo's voice echoed through the speakers. Chloe gave me one last nod of confidence before we're both plunged into a seemingly endless warp. That's when I saw it.

I saw it.

Felt it.

Went through it.


"Chloe! Come out and hang out with us! Summer is ending!" Jean yelled, waving her arms over her head.

"Not today, girls!"

"But we haven't had much sun for the past few weeks! Come on, Chloe!"

It was one of the late August afternoons. A Sunday afternoon, actually. Mommy and Daddy were both home for the first time ever since Daddy's came back from that dreary business trip. He was an UN rep.

"Oh, you can go with Jean and Sara. We're fine here," Mommy chided, patting me on my back as I stacked the last clean dish into the cupboard.

I shook my head, lunging forward to bury my face in her bosom. I loved her scent – Jasmine mixed with honeysuckle. She chuckled and pulled me in tighter. We stayed like that in the kitchen for a while before Daddy came along and decided to make this a group hug. I loved group hugs.

A loud commotion outside where Jean and Sara were standing broke us from our blessed reverie. Screams and shouts echoed through the neighborhood as chaos started building around us. Daddy turned pale immediately as undecipherable sounds came in from the den where the TV was.

"Edgar?" Mommy asked, pulling me along with her as we followed him. She gasped when she saw the screen.

Kaiju. Charging through the city of Tampa.

"Oh my God! Edgar, get Chloe out of here!"

"I can't, I've got to make some calls. Listen to me," Daddy started to pull an increasingly frantic Mommy towards him, his hands on both her shoulders, shaking her a little. "Listen to me, Meg; listen to me! Take the Rover and Chloe and drive far away. As up north as you could!"

"Daddy? Mommy?"

A sickening roar – slightly high-pitched lion's roar echoed through the air, followed by sounds of cars crashing into each other and their alarms going haywire.

Daddy turned towards Mommy, his blue eyes wide open with flicks of red reflected from her hair

and the flames behind us.

Then everything slowed down suddenly, as if someone's turned on the slow motion.


Ugh! We both fell backwards as we exited each other's memories into the headspace. Panting slightly, I peered over at the redhead to find her pale as sheet; her face covered with beads of sweat.

Before I could say anything, my right arm started moving – forward before jutting backward. Same thing with my left.

"Left Hemisphere calibrated. Right Hemisphere calibrated. Ready to activate Jaeger."


"Hey you."

Her slumped shoulders picked up and tensed at the sound of my voice. I could tell that her breaths were erratic by the white wisps escaping from her mouth.

Miami climate sure was weird this time of the year.

She didn't respond the second time – even when I was just standing right behind her, diagonally with my left toes touching the back of her pants. Her eyes just continually fixed themselves on the horizon when the waves disappeared over the edge. Nudge. Nudge nudge.

"Hey." Feeble. Good enough.

I squatted down next to her and reached out to swat at the wet leaves when she wrapped her freezing fingers around my wrist. "I'm okay."

She's looking at me now, her eyes red and puffy.

"I'm okay."


That night, she repeated the words into my ears before she slipped off into slumber; her red locks pooled in the trench between our shoulders.

I'm okay. I'm okay.

And then a shudder – that's when we both heard it. My eyes shot wide open and goosebumps harvested across my skin. But she remained still, willing her breathing shallow and routined.

I'm not.


"Woohoo! Go Beca!"

Fat Amy was being Fat Amy, bouncing up and down amongst the audience next to a beaming Dr Geiszler and a stoic-faced Dr Gottlieb. The hangar was packed to its brim – riggers, mechanics, all of J-Tech people. Even those who were cut from the program but remained to help in other ways.

Marshal Herc started from the leftmost: Aubrey Posen.

Her chin was stuck up high, almost 45 degrees north with her eyes leveled. Her twin brother, Luke was almost the same – only, his teeth were showing through those curled lips. Both of them saluted the Marshal after he pressed in the PPDC badges into their lapels, their right foot stepping up – almost knee level when they stomped it right down. The sound reverberating throughout the extremely high, ironclad ceilings.

From the corner of my eye, I could see the blonde smirking as she threw a glance over. Tendo cleared his throat.

"Aubrey and Luke Posen. The pilots for Lemon Playlist."

Well, at least the Jaeger matched their blonde.


The next coupling was a surprise. Probably the least expected duo whose compatibility exceeded even that of Chloe's and mine.

99.8%

"Bumper Allen and Donald Stanislaw. The pilots for Dajnty Lady."

Mad applause and cheers broke out amongst the crowd. Everyone was either laughing gaily or slapping the two men on the backs. They looked embarrassed all the time with red climbing up the back of their necks whilst throwing stare daggers at each other.

They almost killed each other during every physical.

And now they shared a bunker.

"Oh joy!" I remember Donald mumbling when he lugged his packed duffels past me.


"Stacie Conrad and Cynthia Rose Dean. The pilots for- Uh. For Hipster Overload."

Tendo Choi could be so cute. The tiny man frowned as he went through the list again, his nose scrunched together. Marshal Herc walked past him and pressed in the same PPDC badges into the two women's flightsuit lapels; the grins on their faces almost stretched past their ears.

"Oh heck yeah, they chose my suggestion!" Cynthia Rose (who actually preferred people to call her CR) cried out just as Marshal continued to the next coupling, her pink fringe fraying in the air. Her tall brunette partner reached out her hand in response and they did some fancy high-five of sorts (or was it a fist bump?).


"It's our turn, it's our turn!"

The crowd had finally quietened down after the commotion caused by the Hipster Overload pilots. The two of them launched into some sort of musical riff-off and got everyone singing.

Everyone, except Marshal Herc, Aubrey and myself.

The big man cleared his throat, his glare easily silencing those who dared eek any form of sound. His eyes roamed across the remaining four of us and landed on a petite Asian woman.

"Lilly Onakuramara and Benjamin Applebaum. The pilots for Qwerty Echo."

The Jaeger enthusiasts.

Marshal Herc smiled – rare, as he studied the two fresh faces before him. Lilly's literally squirming with excitement whilst Benji was- Was that foam on his mouth? The wait was obviously overkilling this duo.


I watched his weathered boots stop in front of me. Almost parallel to my own polished, shiny ones.

"Chloe Beale and Beca Mitchell. The pilots for Ai."

And that was the end of the ceremony. Although it did finish with a sumptuous bang – Fat Amy had never been this excited.

Or quick.

Not even dissecting a secondary Kaiju brain could achieve this effect.

"Buffet line, baby!"


Training as pilots has begun. It was a day in, day out process lasting up to 14 hours a day.

Every Handshake felt stronger than ever. She was knowing me and me, her. In fact, it's happening for all of us.

"Be careful!" She yelped, her underarms resting in my hands – just an inch before she nearly collapse in the elevator. Her chest heaved up and down, beads of sweat rolling down her sideburns. We stayed like that for a while.

A good thing no one else pressed for the elevator.

I'm okay.


"Don't you have any fear?" She asked one morning, eyeing my plate of scrambled eggs and hot dogs before darting her sight back to her own polished one. Greasy, but all gone.

I shook my head, shoving my plate over to her and watching her wolf down the last bits of food. Out of the corner of my eye, I spied Fat Amy's jaw drop at the speed of her chowing.

"That's- Strange- Beca." She commented between mouthfuls, looking up just as Stacie and CR arrived at our table. The duo arched their eyebrows suspiciously at the hungry redhead, casting a look at each other before tossing their apples over to her, almost missing her hands.

But she caught both expertly, impressing the taller brunette seated beside me.

She smirked as she took over CR's hot cocoa, "So, I heard that headspace training is almost over. Next up: real time."

Fat Amy almost spat out her own drink. "Real time?" She wheeled right around and stared at me. "As in you're going to go head-on with a Kaiju?"

Raucous laughter erupted from our table, turning a few heads. Chloe, Stacie and CR grabbed their tummies as they howled and slapped the table, shaking the crockery.

"Naw, a simulator, Fat Amy," CR managed to squeak out in between gulps of air, "they won't throw us right into battle man. Not now, at least."

"Oh."

I rubbed at my best friend's shoulders – slow and in a tiny circle, just rubbing in the warmth into her, and her own lips pinched together forming a slight pout.

Yeah, Dr Geiszler has officially turned her into a Kaiju groupie.


"You still upset about all that real time thing?" I nudged Fat Amy in the ribs as we ambled down the hallway – me towards Kwoon Combat room and her back to the lab.

She shrugged, sipping on her cola.

"Oh well. We could do with some fresh brains you know," her voice dipped to a new low, "I've been hinting – and when I say hint, I mean hard hinting, at Newt and he says it could be a possibility if I can get a totally undamaged brain. Primary or secondary, doesn't matter."

She must be kidding.

"I'm not kidding."

"You are. Kaiju appearance isn't a joke, Amy." Her stern voice echoed in our ears as she shoved right past us. I made sure of eye contact as she passed, that blister-causing smirk ever present on her face.


"Kaiju signatures reported off the shore from Cape Town, sir."

The first words I heard as I rushed into LOCCENT where the rest of the team were gathered. Chloe was already there, whirling around just as I stepped past the glass doors. Her usual cerulean now a clouded grey. Aubrey's next to holding her hand.

Holding her hand.

"What are you doing?" I couldn't help but talk through my teeth, my hand snatching Chloe's right over. A strong sense of heat rising from beneath my gut.

The blonde simply tsked at me, her gaze remained fixed on the back of Marshal Herc who's currently hovering over the two circular holographic displays.

"Signatures? Like the ones we've got a few months back when they came near Miami?" Tendo shook his head, his face solemn.

"No sir, these red spots here are moving straight for their kill."

Their kill?

Silence. Marshal Herc's shoulders tensed and his back straightened a little bit. A small movement but big enough for every eye in the room to catch.

"It's a double event, sir. Cape Town's not ready."


Monstrous footprints were scattered all over Southern Africa in a span of three days. They took that city's only Jaeger with them. It was half-mast for every PPDC unit for the next couple weeks.

Training became almost unbearable.

Almost.

Hang in there.

Stop talking in my head.

Can't help it if I could.


"We could have helped Cape Town, sir."

Everybody froze as if someone stopped time – all eyes on the tall blonde standing in the middle of the hangar. We watched as Marshal Herc slowly turned around, his eyes downcast and puffy - the way they were ever since the end of the Pacific Breach.

She took a step forward, closer to the damaged man and studied his rugged face. Her fists clenched to her sides, knuckles white with pressure as she awaited his response. When none came, she spoke again. Her voice deafening in this hangar of silence.

Silence.

"We could. You could have sent us."

"No."

"But sir, why! Why did we watch them die when we could help-"

"Aubrey."


So we did have a mission all along.

Behind shut doors, Marshal Herc and Dr Gottlieb revealed everything. Laid them cards around the table. None of us spoke when the alarms blared again.

Triple event heading towards Spain and Portugal.

Dr Gottlieb leaned on his walking stick and ambled over. "It's sooner or later, Rangers. They were unpredictable at first – my math couldn't see the meaning behind but now they've sent us a message and-"

Message. Fat Amy's right after all.

"-you can quit the program if you wish to," Marshal cut right in, ignoring the siren overhead. "But I do hope you would stay."


"Hipster Overload ready for the drop."

The metal overlords that were the heavyset doors slowly pulled and slid open at Jaeger Holding Bay 3. Chloe and I watched on, standing behind Marshal Herc, Jesse and Dr Lightcap as the Orange-Cobalt Blue checkered Jaeger rolled out of the hangar towards Biscayne Bay, directed by the J-Tech crew.

Tendo flicked a few switches and punched in a couple of commands. "Neural Handshake, strong and holding."

"Listen, Rangers" the Marshal ordered, dragging and dropping the three green dots on the hologram screen, "follow Lemon Playlist's lead."

On the TV screen overhead, Lisbon's 25 de Abril bridge was being crushed by a Category 4. Matador Glory could be seen in the background trying to get up from where it was after being thrown and tossed.

Its right arm torn from its body.


"Go big or go extinct, gentlemen!" Stacie's cheery voice could be heard over the speakers, making the redhead beside me giggle like a silly girl.

"We are the Dajnty Lady, Stacie!"

"Shut up, you two and move faster. We have a task to accomplish."

"Oh Posen, take that stick out of your ass, will you?" was all I could say into Jesse's microphone when I got yanked by my collar and thrown into a chair. Marshal Herc even barked at Chloe to watch over me.

As if that would- Okay, she's sitting on me. Yeah, this worked. This definitely worked.

"Hey Chloe, what are you doing in Beca's lap and how's everything? Did we miss it?" Benji panted while Lilly looked eerily calm with wide eyes next to him. Except – she wasn't exactly calmed.


Red alert, red alert.


"Rangers! We have a signature right near you! 100 miles, 6 o'clock." Silence. Static. Silence. Then some clearing of throat.

"P- Per- Permission to engage, sir."

She's scared.

I gripped on to her hand and squeezed hard.

She's not scared, Chlo. She's Aubrey.


Tendo pulled up another screen and zoomed into the radar map of Biscayne Bay. The single red dot was moving in fast towards the three green ones. 80 miles, 60 miles – everybody's counting.

Then it stopped.

"We've got a slight visual and it's not very clear. That dude's stopped 40 miles from us." CR's voice resonated across the room. "Permission to engage, sir."

Marshal Herc cussed under his breath, his brows knitted tightly together as he studied the visual of the Kaiju transmitted over. This looked worse than Slattern. Fat Amy could be wetting her knickers right now.

"I bet all my milkshakes that's a category 5."

Speak of the devil. Marshal nodded at Tendo's confirmation and grabbed the microphone over.

"Permission granted. Slay it."

Donald's voice came in next, sounding confounded. "It's not moving at all, sir. It's just staying put."

"What's that thing glistening down its arms? It doesn't look like Kaiju blood..." Chloe asked, shifting such that she's whispering into my ear, her warm breath warming up my earlobe. "Is that..."

It was. Everybody in LOCCENT saw it.

"By golly."

Fat Amy's last words before the red dot start moving again, faster than before towards Dajnty Lady.


"Take these," Jesse said, his voice soft and gentle as if afraid to break us. I peered down at the strange goggle-like device lying in my hands before arching my eyebrows at him. He motioned at all five of us, urging us to put the device on whilst his was snapped snuggly around his head.

It was pitch dark for a while before a few images appear before me. The sheer reality of it sent endless shivers down my spine.

It's Lemon Playlist against the Slut (Fat Amy and Dr Geiszler had thusly named it). They're fighting back.

/

"What on earth is this!?" Luke screamed as he struggled against one of the tails – a heavyset chain sword that looked similar to the one from good ol' Gypsy Danger. Aubrey squirmed as the screeching sound of metal against metal increased in decibels, her own left arm raised and shaking under pressure.

"It's a hybrid, Rangers! A hybrid!" Dr Geiszler's sounding rather frenzied – excited, even. "I believe the alien masters have created a new breed of Kaiju out of Gypsy's part-"

Bumper cut right in, Dajnty Lady having been tossed across the bay, nearly missing the docks. "It is the Gypsy Danger that we're fighting here, Newt!"

"What?"

"Come on, Bump. We can do this." Dajnty Lady got right back on her feet and poised for a run, her gears locking into place.

"Hammerfist?"

"You heard me."

Meanwhile, on the other end of the weird triangular fight ring in Biscayne Bay, Hipster Overload was holding the monster in a grapple. The Posens had managed to overcome it – shooting acid bursts right onto its chest before tossing it over to the BFFs who jumped on her almost instantly.

"Man, it's strong!" CR huffed, both her arms raised.

"It's a good 9800 tons, of course it's strong! Come on boys, we can't hold her much longer!"

Dajnty Lady was a good few yards away when she leaped into the cold night sky. Bumper's voice booming overhead in all Conn-Pods. "Back off now!"

And down went the Hammer Fist, connecting with the monster's chest and neck. It groaned as its sternum cracked – head leaned back and mouth wide open, baring its teeth. All three Jaegers halted their actions; the men panting hard from the special attack earlier but quickly resumed their fighting stance.

"CR, look! It's going down on one knee."

"What the heck was that moving across its ches- Is that metal?!"

"Donald, Bumper! Look out!" Aubrey screamed into her comms just as the monster leaped and lunged forward, throwing its entire weight onto the charcoal grey-orange Jaeger, pushing it down into the waters. Inside the Conn-Pod, both pilots were harshly thrown back and Donald howled in pain.

Everyone watched on with abated breaths and increased heart rates as the Slut drove one of its tails into the mid-section of the Jaeger.


"Chloe!"

I stepped and barely crushed her tossed goggles on the floor as I pounded after her, following her cries towards our bunker. Her scent filled the hallways as she pushed past bystanders who hardly had enough time to jump out of her way.

Lavender.

"Chloe!" I tried again. She kept on running, one foot after the other. Her boots making loads of noises against the metal floor, echoing down the hallway. "Chloe!"

This won't work. Wait.

Chloe!

Leave me alone! I can't watch them die!

I panted, huffing and puffing as I came face to face with the locked metal door. I pounded my fists against the teal entrance – again and again, begging her to let me in.

Please.

Silence.

I lifted my fist once more only to have it yanked back. Another arm came and wrapped itself around my torso, almost lifting me up. It did pull me away and onto the adjacent hallway.

"Beca, Beca – stop!" Lilly?

It was Lilly. Why was she so loud suddenly? My breaths laborious as I darted my eyes around the three figures standing before me, their faces white with worry. We remained quiet for a while, catching up with our heart rates and listening to the redhead weep and thrash on the other side of the door.

"We should head back," Benji mumbled, lifting out his right hand towards me with his puppy eyes glistening. My best friend who stood next to him nodded her agreement.

I'll be back. I'll be right back.


"Dajnty Lady is severely damaged, sir!"

Marshal Herc sighed and rubbed at his temples whilst an anxious Tendo licked his lips, his eyes searching out Marshal's.

"They may not make it, sir." He repeated.

/

Lemon Playlist lifted her head and puffed up her chest. A ear-piercing scream rent the air, making everyone cover their ears. Even the Slut was cowering - its metal tails retracted, allowing a hapless Dajnty Lady to slide down on her knees, shoulders slouched.

"Au- Aubrey." Bumper slowly rose from the ground, his glass visor broken and cut into his cheeks. Yellow sparks were flying all around in his Conn-Pod in the midst of the rain coming in from the damaged hull.

"Don's out," he breathed out, "he's KO. Now, listen to me: I'm going to send this slugbag a piece of my ass before I'm going down. Once I did that, you and HO move right in with your acid and whip, okay?"

"No, Bumper – you listen to me. Grab Donald and get out of there. Use the Evac-pods, now!"

The stocky brunette laughed coolly, his hahas coming out in broken breaths as he reached towards the flickering HUD and tapped on the Jaeger armory list.

"Nuclear Dual Cannon activated."

A series of explosions threw the injured Jaeger backwards into the deep waters; Bumper smiled peacefully as he slowly closed his eyes.

/

The Slut screamed and yelped in pain as some of its chest plates burned and simmered in orange glow. It staggered backwards a little, its hand clutching and grappling at its newly inflicted injuries. This time, no more new metal plates appeared.

Stacie turned towards her BFF – her childhood friend since birth and CR nodded in understanding. Tapping on their Jaeger armory, both pilots swung their right arms to the side. An electrical whip shoot out from under Hipster Overload's right wrist, glowing and sparkling in bright blue. Stacie smirked and flicked her right wrist.

Crack!

Meanwhile, to the left of the monster, the Posens had finally come out from their shock.

"That idiot," Aubrey hissed, punching in a few commands on the overhead controls before swinging both arms out (and chest up), wolverine-style. Outside on the Jaeger, Sting-blades slid out above both wrists and the Jaeger resumed its fight stance.

"Hipster Overload. Whenever you're ready."

"Ready, Posen."

The Slut had barely enough time to look up after examining its wounds when a blue light flashed across its eyes and bound around its neck tightly. Its hands immediately went up to the offensive whip – Hipster Overload gripping and pulling back hard behind, only to cramp and jerk in shock as a few thousand watts flew down its nervous system.

Lemon Playlist made use of the monster's momentary paralysis and raced forward, both arms outstretched and directed towards its exposed flesh between what's left of the metal plates across its chest.

Yeaawwwww!

Luke and Aubrey grit their teeth and grunted, twisting their arms with their fists clenched as they turned and ground the Sting-blades deeper into the grey flesh. The Slut trashed about in deep agony, its scream already gone as both Jaegers held on for dear life.

"It's still alive! Posen, use the acid!"

"Acid Blasters activated."

With a last jerk of its chin towards the sky – as though indignant, the Slut finally slumped against the two Jaegers.

They won.