Pacific Rim: Age of the Divine Beast
Chapter 3: Return of the Rose
Disclaimer: I do not own Pacific Rim
RIO DE JANEIRO
"Oof!" Jaz grunted as she hit the floor, glaring up at her opponent. This had been going on for the last 3 months. Whenever Reanna was unavailable to spar with Jaz was pawned off on a friend of Reanna's; Miette Giselle Bataillon, and the Noblewoman seemed to derive a sick sense of pleasure putting Jaz on her ass in every sparring session, and to make it worse the woman would do it in a set of damned HEELS!
Miette had long brunette hair that cascaded down all the way to the swell of her buttocks along with blue-green eyes and a light tan. Her body was just as perfectly built as Reanna's own but made for Miette's 5'6" frame, distracting Jaz greatly during the spars due to her chosen style of dress.
Miette currently wore a dark blue Blazer over a white blouse that had a collar high enough to cover half of her neck while the sleeves extended passed her blazer's cuffs, a midnight blue ribbon worn as a loose bowtie with a clasp, a skirt that came down to mid-thigh, mid-thigh length socks, and knee-high riding boots with a distinct heel. She also bore another scaly belt like Reanna and her children did, leading Jaz to think it was a fashion choice of their people, though Jaz had seen the 'belts' twitch and writhe at times as if it were one of their limbs.
The back of the Blazer bore a crest on it that consisted of a shield bearing a great castle with words under it that Jaz had been told was Arielian, Reanna and Miette's native language, and meant 'One warrior with the strength of an army, and the heart of a saint.' the crest and creed of Miette's clan, which had a noble lineage due to one of Miette's ancestors doing a great service to their homeland.
"Is that the best that you can do? I think not. Get your ass up, you can do a lot better than that." Miette's voice replied to the glare, that subtle French accent showing her background but not bleeding into her speech enough to make her mix languages or make it hard to understand what she said.
Jaz growled before getting up and settling into a stance, which Miette mirrored before grinning at her and the two began again. While Jaz hated how Miette seemed to enjoy beating her, it always came when she would make a mistake, as Miette was mercilessly brutal about hammering incorrect stances and improperly done moves out of Jaz's fighting.
Jaz pulled her upper body back in order to dodge a high kick, only for that skirt to enable her a clear view of the panty-like bodysuit bottom Miette wore, and Miette took advantage of the distraction the sight of her bottoms and lithe, toned legs caused to perform a second rotation of her hips, putting her other leg in Jazmine's side, or it would have landed there if Jaz hadn't blocked it with her forearm.
Jaz's other arm shot out and landed a shot to Miette's stomach, only for her to recoil and shake her hand before blowing on it. It felt like she'd punched steel!
Just as Miette went to deliver a blow to Jaz's face, an alarm went off and Miette's attack stopped no more than an inch from it's target. Miette then lowered her fist and went into a non-combat stance by standing straight with Jaz copying her.
"Three hours, quite the feat to last so long against one of the Goddess Orenda's chosen. You have even landed a hit on me." Miette told her, though Jaz was more interested in how Miette's blazer was still pristine and she didn't have one drop of sweat staining her brow, while Jaz was covered in sweat and grime from the effort of keeping up with the powerful noblewoman.
Jaz smiled in triumph at passing that particular hurdle, as it had been her goal to manage a hit on either Miette or Reanna since her training with them began. As she moved to leave the room alongside Miette, her legs gave way beneath the strain of even standing after having worked them by sparring for three straight hours. Miette responded by dipping her legs and catching Jaz in her arms before picking her 'student' up bridal style before leaving the room, a fond smile on her face.
Miette walked into the Hangar after depositing Jaz in her room, and looking out she saw the massive frame of Cherokee Rose, the Jaeger still showing the damage from the battle against the Lucertola aside from it's head, which had been reattached. Looking at the machine she was surprised to see it twitch, almost like a muscle would, when one of the technicians ran a quick check over the internal systems. She even heard what sounded like a groan come from the massive machine using the AI's voice.
Using her senses she quickly located Reanna, who was standing on a gantry next to the Jaeger's head, and joined her. As she approached Reanna turned and asked "How is she?"
"She's getting better, much better. If I didn't know any better I would say that she had an Arielian ancestor somewhere, she managed to hit me during our spar."
"Impressive, most impressive. It should not be much longer before the Rose is once more whole again, but something in the Pons system schematics worries me."
"Oh? What is it?"
"I think it would best if Ms Becket were here to hear this. What I have found changes everything we know about the Jaeger program." Reanna answered and Miette went silent, unable to glean anything from Reanna's surface thoughts.
"I have ordered construction of a simulator and Kwoon combat room so that we can begin testing pilot candidates for drift-compatibility." Reanna said with a cunning yet cheeky grin, one that was quickly mirrored by Miette.
Jaz awoke the next morning feeling like a huge bruise, every part of her body hurting and in pain, her hand especially from the attempt to knock the breath out of Miette. Despite the pain she felt two source of warmth on both sides of her body and, opening her eyes, found herself being held by Reanna's two children.
The two rambunctious kids, fourteen year old Alvise and thirteen year old Diana, were ravenous about all things Jaeger and were constantly trying to get everything they could about what it was like to pilot a Jaeger out of Jaz, much to their 'Aunt Miette's' amusement.
Looking at the two slumbering teens, Jaz found herself dumbstruck when she looked at Alvise' waist and saw that 'belt' of his. The red-scaled thing looked like it was coming out of his boxer shorts, and looking at Diana Jaz saw the same thing but through her panties while the belt was a bluish tinge.
The sight of their belts seemingly being tails made Jaz a little wary but she relaxed as the gentle warmth from the kids seemed to sooth her nerves, just in time for the door to open and Miette to walk in with Reanna, smiles on their faces at the sight. Reanna saw the pain Jaz was hiding behind her cool facade and walked over silently, Jaz couldn't hear a THING as far as Reanna's steps were concerned. Reaching them Jaz was surprised to see Reanna's right hand light up in a soothing green tone before touching Jazmine gently on the arm.
Reanna ran her healing technique through Jazmine's arm, coursing her ki through the woman in order to ascertain the damage the previous day's spar had done. While she did so she was also healing it. As she looked deeper, into Jaz's bone and muscle density, she cut the technique with a gasp of surprise.
"What's up, doc?" Jaz said with curiosity lacing her tone.
The two teens, awakened instantly when their mother walked into the room, burst into laughter in response. Reanna and Miette too found humor in the question and chuckled to themselves for a few minutes.
"What did you see?" Miette asked.
"Jazmine's bones, have become denser than is normal. Her muscles have done so as well." came the answer.
"Well how dense have they become?" Jaz asked
"About two and a half times. Your bones and muscles are now two and a half times more densely packed than a regular human's. I think the food I had shipped from Ariel might have done it, but I can not be sure."
"Are you sure it isn't her force of will doing it?" Miette asked, getting everyone's attention. "Jazmine here has a force of will stronger than anyone i've ever seen before outside of the Empire." she finished and Reanna nodded in understanding.
"While it could very well be her force of will that transformed her like that, i would like to think that the fruits, meats, vegetables, and other food items i had imported here had something to do with it as well." Reanna replied.
"Ah'm still here, ya know. So what's gonna happen, ah ain't gonna get heavy as hell, am ah?"
"Not at all, Ms. Becket. You will be much stronger and faster than a baseline human of the same height and mass but you will not gain any extra weight because of the increased density." came Reanna's reply.
"Well thank the lord for small favors then. Ah don't know what ah woulda done if ah ended up weighin two hundred pounds 'cause of this." Jaz popped off.
"Yes, but this will make your training much easier. With your bone and muscle mass so dense you will naturally be stronger and faster, it will also make hurting you that much more difficult, as your experience yesterday attested to." Reanna told her.
"Yea, bout that, why'd it feel like ah punched a steel wall when i hit you, Miette?" Jaz asked, directing the question to her sparring partner the previous day.
"It's because of my own bone and muscle density." Miette began. "Reanna, Alvise, Diana, and I all have bones and muscles ten times denser than a baseline human. The apparent results of this is that my skin and muscles are very hard to damage. You could shoot me in the forehead with a standard issue pistol and the bullet will only bounce off. If an ordinary human were to hit me it would break their hand." she finished.
"Sweet mother of mercy, you got one hard ass head." Jaz commented only for the air suddenly becoming thick and heavy as what looked like the head of a European dragon appeared behind Reanna as she smiled a little too sweetly, smoke curling lazily from it's mouth as it bared it's teeth.
"Language, Ms. Becket, I will not allow you to curse in front of my children or any other child. Understood?" Reanna asked a suddenly terrified Jazmine, who nodded her head quickly.
"Good." came Reanna's reply as her face returned to it's normal expression before she turned to leave the room. Just as she went to leave she turned her head back and said "I am ordering the construction of a Kwoon combat room alongside a simulator. This will allow us to find you a replacement partner for piloting the Rose."
NOVEMBER 10, 2020
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
"Cherno Alpha, holding outside miracle mile." Sasha said as a repaired Cherno Alpha stood outside of the miracle mile around Seoul, South Korea, a Kaijū, codenamed Atticon, was inbound on the city. The massive Jaeger had taken a surprisingly minor amount of damage when compared to the others, allowing Cherno to be easily repaired and returned to duty. Alexis and Sasha were still wary of the Lucertola, however, the massive animal starring rather prominently in their nightmares ever since their defeat.
"Cherno Alpha, Atticon is inbound, should be reaching your sensors now!" came the call from LOCCENT, Cherno wrapping it's giant fists over the 'roll of nickels', the machine's punching force now enhanced as it slammed it's fists together, ozone permeating the air as electricity arced across the Jaeger's hands and forearms. What the Jaeger didn't see was the three rows of dorsal-fin like scutes that came up out of the water to the right and behind it for a few seconds before popping back down.
Cherno's wait was over mere minutes after that when Atticon came surging out of the water in full on attack mode. Cherno pulled it's left hand back and sent a massive punch at the attacking Kaijū, only for a much larger fist to explode from the water and slam into Atticon at the exact same time, a growl that still haunted Sasha and Alexis' dreams telling them who it was that had arrived.
Cherno looked over as the Lucertola rose from the water, the seas parting around it's massive bulk as it came up and towered over the Jaeger. The immense animal growled a challenge at Atticon while widening it's stance, shocking Cherno when the pilots within realized that the Lucertola had effectively copied their fighting style to use for itself.
As Cherno stood there it heard Atticon give a roar of challenge that was answered in kind by the Lucertola before it charged, Cherno forced into following it's lead. Just as Cherno reached them the Lucertola struck and nailed Atticon in the jaw, a second blow coming in time with Cherno's tesla fist bolstered by the roll of nickels, snapping Atticon's head up in time for the Lucertola's momentum to cause it spin.
The Lucertola's massive tail swung out and tripped Atticon, causing the animal to go face first into the waves, and as it came back up it was struck on the top of the head by both Jaeger and Kaiju with a double axe handle smash, forcing it back down and struggling to stay alive, much less conscious. Atticon managed to reach it's feet only for the Lucertola and Cherno to deck it once more in the face, sending it reeling backwards. As it painfully raised it's head, it saw the Lucertola and Cherno look at each other and nod before turning back to Atticon.
The dorsal scutes on the Lucertola's tail flashed in gold, the flash traveling up the tail from the tip and across the hips, back, and neck before reaching the scutes right behind it's head. The flash seemingly jumped from that last trio of scutes to the Kaijū's eyes just before glowing energy the same color as it's eyes appeared in it's mouth and an earth-shaking roar issued forth.
The resulting gold/white blast was timed with twin jets of flame from Cherno, the two attacks melding into one as the beam of ki seemingly pulled the flames into spinning in streamers around it, slamming into Atticon with a level of force that shook the ground when the beam ignited, sending up a massive column of smoke as the fireball rose into the sky and heralded by an agonized cry from the dying Atticon.
When the smoke and flame went away, nothing was left of the Kaijū, and the Lucertola turned to face Cherno again, the Jaeger seemingly surprised when the much larger animal raised it's hand with the fingers openly slightly in a non-threatening manner.
Realizing what the Lucertola wanted, Cherno recalled the roll of nickels before gripping the Lucertola's hand with it's own, the creature pumping it's fist and giving Cherno a pat on the shoulder. Once the handshake was done, the Lucertola gave a call before moving away, quickly vanishing back beneath the waves and against LOCCENT's ability to track.
Jaz woke up the following morning, finding herself in the now familiar position of having Alvise and Diana using her for a cuddle buddy. Thinking back she remembered what she'd been told that day months ago:
(Flashback)
Jaz followed Reanna and Miette towards the labs, Reanna having said that she had something important to tell her.
After they reached the labs Jazmine noticed notes lying everywhere alongside a holographic table commonly used for presentations. Showing on the table were the schematics of the Rose, the Pons system highlighted and blown up for better study.
"So what's goin on Doc, something's sure got you in a rush?" Jaz asked and Miette nodded.
"I found something unexpected inside the Pons System." Reanna began and used her finger to point to a strange looking circuit. "This, when built for human-sized machines, like Androids, can be referred to as a Maiden Circuit, but we in the Arielian Empire normally call them a Personality Matrix."
"So, you're saying that the Rose is sentient?" Jaz asked.
"Yes, and if it is not self-aware now then it will be soon, the Personality Matrix has been piggy backing off of the Pons system, using your Drift data with your partners to construct a personality and mind for the Rose. Why else would the system use the terms 'Left Hemisphere' and 'Right Hemisphere' when Drifting. The two Jaeger pilots are mind melding, their two minds becoming the sides of a brain, a brain for the Jaeger." Reanna informed her and left Jaz reeling as she thought it over.
(Flashback end)
"Jazmine Becket please report to the Hangar. Jazmine Becket to the Hangar." Came a call over the PA and Jaz got up after untangling herself from the two teens, a squawk of indignation coming from her lips when Alvise's hand instinctively gripped her hip as she moved.
After getting dressed she left the room and headed straight to the hangar. Once she arrived she gasped in surprise at the sight that awaited her; the Rose was WHOLE again!
Kaijū/Jaeger Dossier; November 11, 2020 Update
Kaijū
Atticon
Breech Date: November 10, 2020
Category: Unknown
Status: Deceased/ Lucertola Devota & Cherno Alpha
Height: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Speed: Unknown
Strength: Unknown
Armor: Unknown
Jaeger
Cherno Alpha
Launch Date: 2015
Classification: Mark-1
Status: Active
Country of Origin: Russia
Height: 280 ft. (85m)
Weight: 2,412 tons
Speed: 3
Strength: 10
Armor: 10
Cherokee Rose
Launch Date: November 3, 2018
Classification: Mark-4
Status: Active
Country of Origin: United States of America
Height: 260 ft. (79m)
Weight: 1,800 tons
Speed: 9
Strength: 9
Armor: 8