Pacific Rim is copyright to Warner Bros. and Legandary
Sailor Moon is Copyright to Naoko Takeuchi and Toei Animation, licensed by Dic Entertainment, Cloverway, and Viz Media
Chapter 8
Back at the Research lab, we see Newton putting together an improvised neural bridge device using the blueprints that he showed Darien earlier. He has just finished putting the finishing touches on it as he removes a metal bar off one side of the rig and discards it. He then grabs a voice recorder and switches it on.
Newton: Kaiju to Human Sync Experiment, Take 1.
He puts the voice recorder in the front pocket of his shirt, which continues recording while he sets everything up to test his experiment.
Newton: The uh, the brain segment is the frontal lobe. Chances are, the segment's far too damaged to Sync with, unscientific aside. Hermann, if you're listening to this, well I'm either alive and I've proven what I've just done worked. In which case, "Ha, I won." Or that I'm dead, and I'd like for you to know that it's all your fault. You know, you drove me into this, In which case "Ha, I also won." Sort of.
After he equips a helmet and picks up the remote which control the machine he rigged, he stands ready to initiate his experiment while facing the large glass tube that housed the Kaiju brain segment.
Newton: I'm going in at 3, 2, 1.
He presses a button on the remote and activates the machine. He cringes heavily as his mind is synchronized with the kaiju's brain. During the Synchronization process, we highlights from Newton's past. These highlights include the quality time he spent with his dad by going on fishing trips during his childhood. Later on, he became a very successful scientist during his young adult years, sometime after graduating from college. Finally, we see highlights from the Kaiju's memory. We can see one Kaiju being assembled by what appears to be genetic construction. This proves Newton's theory correct, they are indeed copies. Different sets of copies. We see several copies of Knifehead, the Kaiju that Gipsy Moon fought in Alaska, arranged on what resembles an assembly line. Then we see the alien creatures behind their construction, who were known as the Precursors. They are described as a race of colonizing aliens. As this information wasn't already generous enough, we see even more highlights showing who and what these creatures are, as well as where they were from, the Anteverse.
Sometime later, Hermann walked into the research lab and saw Newton twitching and jerking uncontrollably, like he was having a seizure.
Hermann: Newton. Newton! What have you done?!
He shuts down the machine and takes the helmet off of Newton's head. At that point Newton wakes up almost immediately, but is shaken up rather badly by the test procedure.
Newton: G-g-get the Marshall right away!
He manages to bring a weak smile to his face.
Newton: J-j-just wait until he hears what I have t-t-to t-tell him.
Meanwhile, Rini was lounging in her room when she hears a knock at her door. She walks up to the door and opens it and she sees Darien and Mina standing at the doorway, both with light smiles on their faces.
Mina: May we come in Rini?
Without saying anything, Rini lets Mina and Darien inside the room.
Rini: Did Hotaru send you two here?
Mina: As a matter of fact she did.
Darien: She wanted us to tell you that everything is all set.
He gives Rini a small shoe that she remembers wearing when she was younger, back in the days of 'Sailor Moon'.
Darien: Get ready.
Rini's eyes light up upon hearing Darien say this. Meanwhile at the mission control room, Trista makes some last minute preparations prior to conducting simultaneous test runs of both Gipsy Moon and Gipsy Mini Moon.
Trista: (to an unnamed technician) These transmitters are non-operative, I need them fixed right away.
While this goes on, Serena gets everything set up inside her Jaeger suit while technicians stand by to start the APU.
Serena: Setting interface for test mode, waiting on second Jaeger suit.
A few seconds later Rini arrives at the test chamber and gets everything set up for testing her Jaeger suit as well. She was essentially wearing the same suit as Serena's, except it was Pink instead of Navy Blue. From outside Gipsy Moon, we can see a heavy gauge cable connecting the Jaeger suit to Gipsy Mini Moon.
Gipsy Moon AI- Two Jaeger suits connected.
Serena: Okay Rini, I'm all set on my end, so I'm ready to go whenever you are.
Rini: Sure.
There is a pause as Serena notices Rini in her Jaeger suit for the first time and smiles.
Rini: Are you going to say anything?
Serena: Probably no need. Both of our suits are connected so we may end up seeing inside each other's heads. That's a good look for you by the way.
Rini smiles at the compliment that Serena gave her.
Back at the control room, Trista, Mina, Hotaru and Darien prepare to start up the two Jaeger suits while Amara and Michelle look on from behind them. Amy, Raye, and Lita meanwhile look on from the elevated walkway that runs about chest height on Gipsy Moon and about eye level on Gipsy Mini Moon.
Darien: Stand by for Neural Synchronization.
Trista: Standing by for Neural Synchronization.
Trista flips some switches on the control panel to start up the APUs in Gipsy Moon and Gipsy Mini Moon, and then energizes their main reactors. Blueish-white flames burst from their nuclear vortex turbine housings on the chest panels as the reactors are energized and then change into an orange-yellow glow once their reactors have stabilized.
Serena: We're not in a simulator anymore Rini. Remember, don't chase the RABIT; Random Access Brain Impulse Triggers, memories. Just let them flow, don't latch on. Tune them out, stay in the Sync. The Sync is silence.
Gipsy Moon AI: Neural Synchronization, initiated.
Serena and Rini then close their eyes as the Neural Synchronization procedure begins.
Serena and Rini: (in a flashback) Moon! Cosmic! Dream ! Action!
(Cue Super Sailor Moon and Super Sailor Mini Moon Transformation theme from the CWI dub)
Just like before, the two of them undergo a 'Magical Girl' transformation as their minds are synchronized with their Jaeger suits, similar to their transformation into Super Sailor Moon and Super Sailor Mini Moon respectively. Because their Jaeger suits are connected, we can see highlights not only from Serena's memories, but Rini's as well. These highlights include the time when Rini dropped in on Serena and Darien's romantic date, and the time when Rini made friends with Hotaru for the first time. We also see highlights from more recent memories. Rini was apparently with Hotaru when Hotaru lost her father during a Kaiju attack in Tokyo. We also recall Serena's fight against Knifehead over 5 years before.
Young Hotaru: (in flashback, tearfully) Papa! (sobs)
Mina: (in flashback) Serena, listen to me! Serena, listen to me!
Serena and Rini now open their eyes. The Synchronization procedure is now complete. They are now officially Gipsy Moon and Gipsy Mini Moon respectively.
Gispy Moon AI: Right hemisphere calibrating. Left hemisphere calibrating.
Gipsy Moon takes a brief glance at each of her arms to see if they are functioning as well as they should, then holds them up in a 'Street Fighter' stance, where she holds both of her fists at about chin level at shoulder width with her left fist in front in relation to her right. WHIIIRR! CLUNK! Gipsy Mini Moon looks over at Gipsy Moon and simply mimics her stance. WHIIIRR! CLUNK!
Gipsy Moon AI: Ready to activate the Jaeger suit.
Trista looks at a holographic display showing both Gipsy Moon and Gipsy Mini Moon's stats and vital signs.
Trista: Ok Gipsy Moon and Mini Moon, lining up nicely.
She turns to Darien and the others.
Trista: Better get ready.
Gipsy Moon AI: Operator to Interface connection complete.
Shortly after, Hermann rushes into the control room.
Hermann: Marshall! Marshall! I need to talk to you.
Darien: Not now Mr. Gottlieb. I'm sure you can appreciate how important this moment is to me.
Hermann: Newton rigged a neural bridge from spare parts and Synced with a Kaiju.
Darien, Mina, Hotaru, Luna and Artemis look back at him with surprised expressions on their faces.
Mina: Say what?!
Hermann takes Darien, Mina, Hotaru, Luna and Artemis back to the Research Lab where Newton is seen sitting in a chair, still jerking and twitching some, but it is not as bad as it was earlier.
Hermann: I found him prone, he's sort of dazed. I don't know exactly know what to do.
The others are surprised to see Newton conscious after conducting such a risky experiment. Newton manages to look up at Darien with a weak smile on his face.
Newton: Well, I made it work, just like I promised.
Luna: Yes you did.
Artemis: But you could have told us that you were going to conduct your experiment earlier than we expected.
Newton: I know, but you know me. Always easily excited to get started on new projects and stuff.
Darien: So we hear. Well, what did you see?
Newton: It was only a fragment of a brain, so really all I was able to get was, like a series of uh, images, or impressions. You know like when you blink your eyes over and over again all you really see are like, frames, it was emotions.
Hotaru felt that she wanted to help him out somehow, so she turns to Mina and makes a gesture by motioning her head and hands asking if she could let him talk to her. Mina gives her a nod of approval, so she grabs a chair nearby and sits down in front of Newton.
Hotaru: Newton. Newton. Okay. Newton.
Newton: Yes ma'am?
Hotaru: Newton, look at me.
She does the best she can to make eye contact with Newton and try to show that she was ready and willing to listen to him.
Hotaru: Now just calm down, and tell us as everything that you can. Okay?
Newton does calm down some. He apparently seemed more comfortable talking to a very attractive lady like Hotaru.
Newton: Okay. Okay. Well I don't feel like they're just following some sort of animalistic urge, you know just hunting and gathering. I think they're attacking us under orders.
Hermann: That's impossible.
Newton: Is that impossible?
Hermann: It's impossible.
Because of the neural surge that Newton experienced during his Sync experiment, his brain is temporarily, if you would "glitching", making him rather irritable, and he starts arguing with Hermann.
Newton: You know what? Why don't you try Syncing with a Kaiju?!
Hermann: (overlapping) I mean the way they act, they mo-
Hotaru start to become very irritated by this. Not only was Hermann being rude to her and Newton by interrupting them, his arguing with Newton subjects to a sensory overload as well. She closes her eyes, her hands ball up into tightly clenched fists and a small "anger vein" appears on her forehead. She also taps her foot quickly but lightly as one of several repetitive motions she does for self stimulation, often referred to as fidgeting or stimming, as a way of coping to the sensory stress that Newton and Hermann were unknowingly placing on her.
(In anime, this "anger vein" often appears on a character's forehead or any part of their head, as a way of showing that a given character is angry or frustrated. Many comedies and kid's shows often use this for comical reason.)
Mina: (under her breath) Oh boy.
Despite Hotaru's best efforts to cope with the sensory overload she was feeling, she was already reaching her limit. After a few seconds, Hotaru cuts Newton and Hermann's argument very short.
Hotaru: (to Hermann) YOU! SHUT UP!
This startles everyone except for Mina, who anticipated that Hotaru would end up having an outburst like this. Hotaru immediately realizes what she just did and an expression of guilt comes across her fac. She covers her mouth in embarrassment, anticipating that the others would scold her or even shame her for her outburst, like what sometimes happened in her younger years, which she tends to remember like they happened yesterday.
Hotaru: (quickly and worriedly) Oh, geez I'm so sorry! I am so sorry! I am so sorry!
To her surprise however, even underneath her distressed emotion, Mina approaches her very calmly and comforted her in the way Mina knew was the best way to calm Hotaru down after she has Sensory Overload, sometimes referred to as a meltdown. What Mina does is that she places her hands around Hotaru's obliques, or her sides and then clamping down firmly like a pair of C-clamps, but not too firm, and then relaxing for about a half second each. This rhythmic pressure on the shoulder's has a very calming effect on Hotaru, something that Mina learned from support meeting she attends specifically towards providing support for Autistic children and adults alike.
Mina: (calmy) Shh, shh shh shh. It's okay. It's okay, it wasn't your fault.
Newton, who was witnessing all this as well, couldn't help but notice how amazingly calm Mina was with handling the situation.
Mina: (to Newton) I've had a lot of practice.
Newton: I can tell.
Thanks to this technique, Hotaru was able to calm down very quickly, though she was somewhat fatigued, as Sensory Overloads tend to drain her mental stamina. Hotaru is even further surprised when Mina slaps Hermann across the back of his head as if saying "That was really uncalled for" as she went back to Darien and the cats.
Hermann: (puzzled) Why was I the one to get slapped when she was the one having the tantrum?
Mina: Well one, because you were the one who started it when you interrupted her and Newton. And two, that was NOT a tantrum she was having, that was Sensory Overload, also caused by you!
Mina understands very well that while Hotaru can empathize and interact with machinery like second nature, doing so with other people was still a bit of a struggle. Mina is also well aware that Hotaru is doing the best she can. Thankfully, Hotaru does recover rather quickly, as if it never happened, she then turns her attention back to Newton.
Hotaru: (calmly) You, keep talking.
Newton: These beings, these masters, they're colonists. They overtake worlds, they just consume them, and then they move on to the next.
Hotaru nods as Newton explains his finds to her, as a way of showing him that she's listening very attentively to him. Newton does notice that Hotaru was still somewhat fatigued, as she seemed to avoid eye contact with once more, though Newton understands this very well.
Newton: And they've been before as a trial run. It was the dinosaurs. But the atmosphere wasn't conducive, right? So they waited it out, and waited it out.
Hotaru nods again.
Newton: Now you know, Ozone depletion, Carbon Monoxide, polluted waters? Well we practically terraformed it for them. Because now they're coming back, and as Goldilocks would put it, it's just right.
Hotaru nods once more.
Newton: See the first wave, that was just the hounds. Categories I through IV, it was nothing. Their sole purpose was to attack the populated areas and take out the vermin: us. The second wave, that is the exterminators, and they will finish the job. And then, the new tenants will take possession.
Hotaru then looks up at Mina and Darien with a concerned expression on her face. Darien paces around the lab, feeling uneasy with what Newton just revealed to them.
Newton: See the reason I found the identical DNA in the two separate Kaiju organs is because they are grown!
Darien: Newton, we need you to do it again. We need more information.
Newton: Well, I-I can't do it again. I mean not unless you happen to have a fresh Kaiju brain lying around.
There is a pause as the others look at Darien, and then at each other.
Newton: Do you?
Now things were getting interesting.
End of Chapter
