BIONIC Rim
Chapter 10
Every Jaeger was armed with a deadly failsafe. The self-destruct button was located in a special section of the cockpit, where the pilot could see it, but was just out of reach while drifting the robot. Pilots were instructed only to use it when the Jaeger had sustained damage beyond practical repair. Jaller had been told this may be the only solution to the Kaiju problem.
As the largest gathering of Jaegers ever assembled marched through the Matoran underworld, Jaller and Halhi both felt the heat rise within Searing Tsunami. An Ice Bat-winged Jaeger stood at the forefront of the portal area. The fleet had been told Makuta's brother in this realm would be of service to them. He had fought Kaiju before, but needed a full fleet to destroy the portal. At their meeting with him, the fleet launched themselves at the black hole, where they were greeted by hundreds of Kaiju.
"All Jaegers online," The communication had been taken over by a Ga-Matoran named Macku. With all the leaders absent, the lower decks had to give orders for the mission. "You know the drill. Attack the Kaiju, fire all energies into the portal, and leave on your merry way." It sounded so easy. Too bad it was not.
Nuparu stormed into the room as fast as he could. He and Avak had almost killed themselves during this last scan, as the information came so fast it could have overloaded their brains. But this revelation was stunning. If Nuparu could redirect the mission based on this, it could save the lives of thousands.
He shoved the Ga-Matoran administrator aside furiously. "Stop!" Nuparu screamed into the microphone. "You're headed for your deaths! The Kaiju are too strong now. You don't stand a chance."
"Why are you shouting this, Nuparu? We had a plan, we cannot redirect."
"You don't understand." Nuparu's brown companion entered the conversation in Nuparu's defense. "The Kaiju planned for this just as you planned for them. The Zivon will be directly in front of you and wipe all of you out quickly. Your only hope now is to close the portal with one of the Jaegers. Someone has to go down with the ship."
"Stop shouting such nonsense. The brain scan was brilliant enough to direct us to them," Lhikan retorted.
"Exactly, they baited you!"
"Nonsense. That was just your—hold on. What is that thing? It's radiating energy from its stinger. What is this? I need a Category estimate. Anyone?"
"Category 5, Toa," Nuparu said in a dead tone of voice. His eyes widened to the size of the Great Temple. "You are looking right at the Zivon, the King of Kaiju."
The King of Kaiju. Jaller could not believe what he heard or saw. The Destral Kaiju, who had only been encountered once, stood before all the Kaiju, dwarfing even the Tahtorak. A giant spinner on its back whirred ferociously. Had it opened the portal? This seemed logical. Jaller could only watch as the Zivon sent spinners at the other Jaegers, knocking them out one by one. Jaller wanted to redirect, but he and Hahli were too preoccupied with the Tahtorak pinning them to the rocky ground. Hahli launched the Energy Cannon, felling the beast, but there were still dozens more in Categories 3 and 4 to tackle.
"To sack the Zivon, someone else is going to have to make a sacrifice," Nuparu instructed. "I'm sorry, I can't think of any other way."
Nektann took a hit of the Zivon's spinners. "Man down, Man down," Jaller heard faintly through the intercom. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Flaming Fury on the HUD approaching the Zivon. Its Flame Sword glowed in the darkness of Karzahni, slashing through all the lesser beasts.
"No," Vira's cry sounded in all communicators. "Don't leave us, Nidhiki. You have so much to live for."
"No, no," Nidhiki consoled the Matoran. "You were a good wingman, but Lhikan and I have one mission: To serve the greater good. And the greatest good we can serve right now is by destroying the Zivon."
"Take care of the Matoran for me, Jaller," Lhikan whispered into his microphone. Then Flaming Fury was picked up by the Zivon, who held Spinning Saber in another claw. Flaming Fury slashed, but simultaneously began to glow a golden hue. Seconds later, Flaming Fury became a burst of color, flowing bright gold across the whole pit, bathing everything in light.
Once the display had ended, Spinning Saber stood alone, but all that was left of where the Zivon stood was a pile of smoldering ash. The Kaiju, now leaderless, scattered, making them easy pickings. Without Zivon to coordinate the attack, they had no idea how to confront the heavily armed, strategized Jaegers.
"Zivon is gone," Nuparu acknowledged in disbelief. "But one must still go in and blow up the portal."
Jaller studied the wreck. Toa Lhikan, his idol and mentor, had just given his life to save an entire universe. He had pulled the ultimate sacrifice. And his last words to Jaller: Take care of the Matoran. If Jaller were to do that, his life was the greatest thing he could do to take care of not just Matoran, but ALL BIONIC Rim races. Skakdi, Vortixx, Makuta, Dark Hunters, and Matoran, needed him to follow through with the mission equally at this point. He knew what he had to do to live up to Lhikan's orders.
"We'll do it," Jaller said boldly. Hahli trembled in her post, but Jaller motioned to her. "Come on, don't be afraid. You were the one who boosted my confidence and got all of us this far. It was a pleasure serving with you, now I'm going to save the universe with you."Hahli nodded, but still shook in her position.
Searing Tsunami charged into the void and tripped over the mouth, falling headlong into the bottomless pit. As Jaller fell, he beheld a wondrous sight. The bright aura of Karzahni illuminated the Zone of Darkness enough to see Kaiju of all shapes and categories flying around him. There were the usual suspects, of course, but also strange Kaiju with multiple eyes, tentacles, and resembled no Rahi ever before seen. Jaller stared with wonder, but remembered he had a mission, so he bashed the self-destruct button at the center of his freefall.
"Self-destruct sequence in sixty seconds," the AI alerted.
Hahli immediately rushed to the ejector seat. "You coming, Jaller?" She asked timidly.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll make it." Jaller tried to leave, but the hold was on too tight. "It's always something," Jaller said in frustration as he ripped furiously at the strap.
"Forty-five seconds."
"Just go, I'll be fine!"
"Okay," sobbed Hahli. She took off without so much as a look back and rocketed towards the surface. When she finally did look down, she saw a mushroom cloud of burning orange and a rapidly shrinking black hole.
The black escape pod emerged in the Silver Sea just off the coast of Metru Nui. The door slid open, and Hahli crawled out, tired and dejected.
"Alright, you made it," called Nuparu from his set. As he said this, dozens of pods belonging to the other survivors popped from the Protodermis, revealing many pilots just happy to have survived. She saw Vira, Both Makuta, Lariska, Roodaka, Tuyet, and even the elusive Shadowed One survived, but still no sign of her copilot. Many a great leader was lost, but the Kaiju threat was gone. And it seemed unlikely it would come back for the foreseeable future.
"Wh-Where's Jaller?" Nuparu asked faintly through the microphone.
"I don't know," Hahli answered. She stared deep into the water, looking for him, but presuming the worst.
Jaller had done it all. He was Halhi's definition of a hero. He overcame a personal handicap and managed to save the world in spite of it. Conquering his fear, he threw all caution to the winds, as he charged into the abyss despite even Hahli's hesitation. He was prepared for defeat, but still went in expecting victory. That, Hahli thought, made him more of a hero than she could be. If Jaller could give his life to save all others, then Hahli could continue without him.
Just as she turned away, one last pod came from the water. Jaller's broken, but still breathing figure, hauled himself from the capsule. "Last-second escape," he breathed. "I got out just in time. So, did we win?"
Hahli just smiled at him. That one beautiful smile told Jaller all he needed to know. Jaller fell into Hahli's arms, only happy the Kaiju were defeated, that he was alive, and that his friends were still around to support him.