I think I'm getting back into the swing of things. Longest chapter I've written for how many chapters now (broke 3000 words)? Anyway, this is probably the fluffiest, feelsiest, darkest chapter I've done (odd mixture but it works, trust me). I think you guys might want to kill me by the end of this one...or the villain...one of us (or both). As for the weakness? Let's just say, no one, not even the Jaeger it happens to, knew about this.

Oh, and I guess Baby Kaidonovsky is going to be named Anya? Seeing as that's what most of you want her to be named. She'll possibly be making her debut next chapter or the chapter after this one...just to lighten things up a bit. What do you think?

Chapter 38

"A beautiful day," Gipsy started.

"Sure is," Striker agreed.

Both Jaegers looked at each other before shrugging and going back inside.

"I swear there's nothing to do here," Crimson groaned, flopping on the couch, "I mean, the only thing we get to do is play video games which Striker always wins or annoy the heck out of Newt and Hermann…"

"Actually, I think Cherno is the reigning champion," Tacit corrected, "He certainly put the hurt on Striker yesterday,"

"And enjoyed every minute of it," Cherno snickered as Striker shot him a black glare.

"I still say ya cheated," he growled.

"And I say you sore loser, Striker,"

A chiming sound came from Crimson's pocket and he picked up the cell phone, reading the text…and hurriedly slipping his hoodie over his torso.

"Something wrong, Crimson?" Gipsy asked.

"Mei's coming," he replied, trying to flatten his hair.

"Well that's not so bad," Tacit shrugged, "She knows about…"

"Yeah, but Natasha doesn't,"

"Natasha?" Cherno asked, perking up, eyes sparking happily.

"Here!" came a female voice from the doorway.

Cherno shot up to his feet and immediately went over to the pixie-like brunette, picking her up and carrying her in.

"Cherno…you don't need to carry me, I can walk," she protested.

"Da…but I like doing this," he chuckled, making Natasha close an eye.

"Are you all ready?" Mei asked, coming next to Crimson while said Jaeger wrapped his flesh and blood arms around her.

"Ready for what?" he asked.

"The group Date? The one that'll prove to the other kids that you six aren't robots or something?" Natasha supplied, ignoring the uncomfortable looks that all six Jaegers were giving her…even Cherno rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Wait, you mean Miss Mori and Ms. Becket didn't tell you?"

Five pairs of gold or blue eyes locked onto Gipsy who threw her hands up in the air in surrender.

"I had no clue about this," she protested, "You want answers, ask Mako and Jazmine not me!"

"Ask me what?" Jazmine asked as she walked in and saw the group of teenagers in front of her, "Oh…yeah, Natasha is picking the location for your guy's group date thing. I've got everyone's things packed for you…"

"Why couldn't we pack it?" Coyote asked.

"Because I want it to be a surprise," Natasha answered, "Now come on! I want to get there before it closes!"

"Before what closes…" Cherno started but Natasha cut him off, patting his arm.

"You'll see,"

"Nyet," Cherno growled, backing into the car as he saw the sign, "Am not going in!"

"C'mon, Cherno, it's not going to kill you," Mei tried but she stopped as the heated gold gaze pinned her down.

"I don't understand," Natasha started, "You asked me where my favorite place to go is and I told you…you said you'd like to see it,"

"You not say it was water place," Cherno corrected, grabbing the car door handle and trying to open the already locked vehicle.

"There's a reason it's called a water park, Cherno," Natasha replied.

"He didn't tell you?" Gipsy asked.

"Tell me what?"

"Cherno…he doesn't like water. At all," Gipsy tried to explain.

"More like he's terrified of it," Striker added, ignoring the Russian Jaeger's daggered glare zeroing in on his back.

Natasha frowned and then she closed her eyes.

"I had no idea," she admitted, "Cherno…why didn't you tell me?"

"Because did not want you to worry," Cherno growled, yanking on the door again, "Gah! Blasted door! Open!"

"It won't open until we're getting ready to leave," Mei answered.

"I ready now," Cherno snapped.

"Jazmine's already taken the twins and she's the one with the keys," Coyote stated.

"Then I stay here," Cherno said stubbornly.

"But what if a Kaiju attack happens?" Natasha asked, "You'd be out here unable to defend yourself and they'd shut the gates so you couldn't get in,"

She didn't quite get why the six Jaegers and Mei were laughing hysterically.

"I be just fine," Cherno replied after he calmed down a bit, "But am not getting in water,"

"You don't have to get in the water," Natasha tried again, "You can stay on the paths,"

Cherno closed an eye.

"Do not have to get wet?" he asked.

Natasha shook her head and walked up to Cherno, putting a hand on his bare arm and making him shiver at the tingles that ran up and down his frame as she did.

He gave a sigh.

"Da…but am not getting in pool,"

Natasha laughed. At least he was going.

"Are you boys ready?" Gipsy asked as she, Tacit, Natasha, and Mei came out of the dressing rooms.

The boys turned towards their respective others…and all four of them froze.

"Y-Yeah," Striker stammered as Gipsy came up to him in a dark blue two piece swimsuit that exposed her midsection and much of her pale skin.

Gipsy gave a smile, "You like it? Jazmine picked it out,"

Striker gave a mute nod. She looked…stunning…

"Striker…" Gipsy started, gesturing towards her face, "Eyes up here,"

Crimson and Coyote started snickering as Striker's face turned bright scarlet.

"I didn't know you had a tattoo," Natasha started, coming up to Cherno.

The Jaeger looked down at his right collarbone at his call sign. He wasn't the only one who had one. All the Jaegers had them. Striker's on his shoulder, Gipsy's right above her heart, Coyote's between his shoulder blades, Crimson's in the center of his chest, Tacit's on her upper left arm.

"Da…had it for long time,"

"I take it you don't like swimming either?" Natasha asked Crimson, who jumped as she addressed him.

He had changed into swimming shorts, but he still had his upper body covered.

"Um…I swim…but I don't like people seeing…well…" Crimson stammered, looking to the others for help.

Thankfully, Mei came to his rescue.

"He's shy," she explained, "I don't mind at all,"

"Thanks," Crimson whispered.

"You owe me Crimson Typhoon," was her reply as she poked him playfully in the chest, "Late night swim,"

"Gotcha," he grinned.

"You all have scars and bruises," Natasha noticed, tracing a big one on Cherno's lower arm, "What do you guys do?"

The six looked at each other and then at Natasha.

"We have Rangers for siblings and parents," Tacit deadpanned, adjusting the strap on her white and red suit, "I think you can figure it out,"

"Kwoon Combat Room," Striker shrugged, "An' then most of us aren't too graceful on our feet,"

"Like you have room to talk," Crimson snorted, "You're the one who tripped over a flat surface,"

"Oh, and then up the stairs," Gipsy added.

"Gipsy!" Striker protested, "I thought we agreed not to tell anyone!"

"Uh uh, you said not to tell Herc and your brother," Gipsy corrected, "I agreed to that,"

Striker growled darkly before giving a wicked grin and lunging forwards, scooping Gipsy up in his arms. She gave a squeal of surprise as he ran down the path to a pool…

She screeched as he threw her in the water.

Gipsy came up sputtering, her red streaked hair flopping in her face, water dripping down her nose as she glared at her significant other…who was laughing so hard he was snorting.

"Very funny, Striker," she growled…and then she gave an evil smile, sinking down into the water before surging upwards, grabbing Striker by the ankle and yanking him in with her.

Striker gave a yell and scrambled out of the water.

"THAT'S COLD DANGER!" he roared as he shook his head like a dog.

"You deserved it Eureka!" Gipsy retorted, splashing him.

He growled and jumped in, grabbing her around the waist.

"Gotcha!" he cackled…and then dunked Gipsy under the water.

She came up spluttering, her golden eyes burning as she tackled him in the water.

A whistle blew.

"Break it up you two!" a lifeguard ordered.

"Sorry!" Gipsy called, "I slipped!"

The lifeguard closed an eye, but he turned back to watching the other kids in the park.

Striker glared at her, "'I slipped' my a…"

"Striker…" Gipsy warned playfully, "we're around kids,"

"I hate ya, Gipsy,"

"I love you too," she smirked, reaching up and kissing his cheek.

"Ugh, break it up you two!" Crimson groaned.

"Shuddup, Crim," Striker sighed, rolling his eyes as he hauled himself out of the pool, "Like ya don't kiss Mei every so often,"

"Or try to eat her face," Gipsy supplied as Striker pulled her out as well, making Crimson turn a shocking shade of red.

"Why don't we get away from the subject of people's romantic lives and go try out some of those slides?" Coyote suggested, "They look fun,"

Striker cocked his head and Coyote pointed to one of the slides.

The Australian Jaeger looked up slowly and paled as he saw how high up they were.

"N-Nope," he stammered, "Look's dangerous to me,"

"Well, guess you're lucky that Danger's my name," Gipsy grinned, pulling his arm and leading him to one of the slides, "C'mon!"

He gave a whimper as Gipsy pulled him to the top.

"Wow, we're really high up," Gipsy mused, "Look! The guys look like little hu…I mean ants!"

Striker shuddered, his throat gone dry as he saw the others at the bottom. Gipsy was right, they looked as small as a human compared to a Jaeger. Like an ant.

What Gipsy didn't know is that Striker didn't like heights. Like Cherno, he never saw any reason to tell her.

"It's our turn, Striker," Gipsy said, pulling his arm again, "C'mon,"

"I…I don't think this is a good idea…" Striker stuttered.

"You're probably right," Gipsy shrugged as she sat down on the raft, waiting for Striker to get on behind her.

His limbs were frozen, he couldn't move. The assistant gave him a gentle push, helping him get onto the raft.

"Backwards or forwards?" the man asked.

"Backwards!" Gipsy chirped.

"Forwards!" Striker yelped at the same time.

"But Striker, it's more fun going backwards!" Gipsy whined.

"First time?" the man asked Striker.

Striker nodded.

"Well…we'll let you go forwards first," he said and Striker relaxed as the man gave them a shove…

And flipped the raft backwards.

"Giiiiippppssssyyyyyy!" Striker wailed as they went down the slide backwards.

Gipsy screamed in delight as they went through myriad twists and turns before finally coming out into the pool.

"That was awesome!" Gipsy squealed, her amber eyes lit up in joy as they got out of the pool, "Let's do that again!"

"I'd rather not," Striker shuddered.

"You ok?" Gipsy asked, "You don't look so good,"

"I…I didn't care much for that ride…let's not go on it," Striker explained, "It's…too high for my taste,"

Understanding dawned on Gipsy's face.

"You're afraid of heights," she said.

"Pfft! What?" Striker laughed nervously as he sat down on a bench, watching the others play in the water or watching them laugh as Crimson got dunked by Coyote, Mei, Natasha and Tacit (Cherno), "What makes ya think that?"

"The fact that you're shaking like Raleigh when he sees a snake,"

"Hey, at least I'm not screamin' like a little girl,"

"He does have a girlish scream when a snake comes up…doesn't he?" Gipsy snickered as she sat down next to him, her hair dripping.

She put a hand on his wet, tanned shoulder.

"Striker, I didn't know. If I did, I wouldn't have forced you on that ride," she said, "I'm so sorry,"

He shrugged it off.

"I never did like heights…only time I was airlifted was when we went to the Breach, and we know how that ended…"

"We both got blown up," Gipsy muttered, "I wasn't a big fan of coming here either actually,"

"Why?"

"I don't care much for water either…but I'm not scared stiff of it like Cherno is," Gipsy admitted, "It…it reminds me of the first true memory I had. I mean, I was awake a few times before, but the time I stayed Awake for good, when Raleigh says I broke the barrier…"

She put her head in her hands.

"What is is, Gips?" Striker asked, "When was it?"

"When Yacy died," she finally said, looking up at him, her golden eyes dim with tears, "That was when I became Awake. I felt him hit the water, I wanted to get him out…he was still alive then. His Drivesuit dragged him down and his visor broke…he drowned…I was never more scared or angry or sad in my life then that day. My first memory and it's of my eldest pilot dying,"

"'e's comin' back though, Gips," Striker offered, "'e promised,"

"I know," she sighed, giving a sad smile, "But on the subject of memories…what was your first?"

Striker gave an awkward laugh and rubbed the back of his copper-red head.

"Ah…well…the one that really comes to mind was when I was at the Shatterdome," he admitted, "I uh, it was about six/seven years ago,"

"That'd be around the time Raleigh quit," Gipsy nodded, "Wait…that was when I was brought to the Shatterdome…"

She looked at him.

"Yeah," Striker muttered, "My first memory was when the staff brought in a torn up, blue, Mark III American Jaeger into the Dome. I remember thinkin' 'now there is a fighter. How's this one not dead yet?' My second thought, after I found out your name and found out ya were a girl, was 'even though she's ripped into pieces…she's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen',"

"And then a few years after that I was the 'hag that was going to get us all killed'," Gipsy growled.

"I was mad," he shrugged, "Y' nearly blew up the Shatterdome and Raleigh had just beat the crud out of Chuck,"

"When did it change again?" Gipsy asked.

"When you were lying in the infirmary after we got you back from that Kaiju basta…"

"Striker…"

"I'm not sorry," he growled, eyes hard, "I'll kill 'im if 'e touches ya,"

"I wouldn't put it past you," she agreed.

Crimson spluttered as he came up from the water, glaring at Coyote, who was doing a short victory dance.

"Coyote Tango: 1, Crimson Typhoon: 0," Tacit snickered.

"Say it loud enough for the whole park to hear you, Tacit Ronin," Crimson spat heatedly.

"Aw, there's no one around, Crim," Tacit dismissed, "Natasha went back to Cherno…who's sitting on the bench,"

"And I'm the only one who knows," Mei added.

"There's nothing for you to worry about," Coyote continued, "Everything's just…"

He stopped, blinking rapidly for a second.

"Fine…" he finished.

"Coyote?" Tacit asked, "Are you ok?"

"I…I don't know…" he started, "I feel…strange…something's…not right…"

"Maybe we should get you out of the sun," Mei suggested and the Mark I nodded, starting to wade out of the pool.

Coyote stepped out of the water, his legs shaking as they tried to hold his weight. Tacit got out and stood beside him…

Right as Coyote grunted, clutching his chest as he fell backwards…into the deep end of the water.

"COYOTE!" Tacit screamed, "NO…HELP! SOMEONE HELP!"

Something shot past Tacit and a splashed into the pool. She whipped around just in time to see Cherno hauling Coyote out of the water, water streaming from his fair hair.

The Russian Jaeger lay the stricken Mark I on the concrete, ramming his fists into the Japanese Jaeger's chest, trying to get him to breathe.

"Breathe, comrade," Cherno snarled, slamming down again, "Breathe!"

The lifeguards came over but Cherno shoved them away with a low growl. He was not going to let them touch Coyote.

"Crimson, call Shatterdome," Cherno ordered as Coyote coughed up a bunch of water, but he didn't rouse any more than that, "Get Pentecost, something not right,"

Tacit knelt next to Coyote, her long black hair hiding her face as she sobbed, holding her fellow Mark I's limp form.

"Is he going to be ok?" Tacit demanded as Stacker and Tamsin came out of the infirmary.

"We don't know," Tamsin replied, trying to keep the tears out of her voice but failing.

"What's wrong with him?" the white Jaeger snapped.

"The doctors say he has a bad heart," Stacker said softly, "His core leaked when he was still a Jaeger, that's why Tamsin and I were both diagnosed with cancer. We didn't know that he still had it. That was something the physicals that we had all of you take should have shown, but it didn't,"

"But why?" Tacit murmured, "Why now?"

"My guess is that whatever war we're caught up in…the enemy is seeing that we're not breaking," Tamsin shrugged, "Only Stacks and I knew about Coyote's core…so how would they know?"

"I don't know," Stacker admitted, "But I don't like it,"

Tacit looked longingly at the doors and Stacker gave a soft smile.

"Go on," he said, "He's not awake, but he's…stable…for the moment at least,"

Tacit was gone in a blur.

She knelt by Coyote's side, taking his hand and rubbing little circles in it with her thumb.

"R-Roni?" a soft, weak voice asked.

"Coyote!" Tacit breathed, gripping his hand as Coyote's tired blue eyes locked onto her, "How are you?"

"Hurts," he croaked, "They said I have a bad heart…it's…Roni, I'm scared,"

"It's going to be ok," Tacit murmured, kissing his forehead, "I promise, they won't hurt you,"

"Roni?" Coyote asked softly and Tacit looked at him.

He weakly cupped her face in his palms and he kissed her back on her lips, weak as it was…Tacit could still feel the love behind it.

"I'm going to find whoever did this to you," Tacit swore internally, "And I will make them pay,"

He was not as happy as he should have been. It had been a good weakness that had been exposed.

It wasn't the Jaeger he was hoping for though.

"Well…we'll just have to try again, won't we?" he hummed to himself, "Fear hasn't worked. But anger? Hmm, this one…this one will be quite…explosive,"

When would it come?

Even he didn't know.

But he hoped it would be soon, with a new life coming into the world in a few short weeks, months…what did it matter? It would be coming soon.

With that new life, the danger would grow and someone would snap.

So little Anya is going to be in trouble then, huh? And Coyote...he'll be out of a lot of things. He might go and fight a few times before he won't be able to. THEY WILL GET THIS FIXED DO NOT WORRY (This is my peace offering!) It'll just take a little time before they can get the new core ready.

Anyway, hope you liked it. If you did, please let me know!

Qui vállë tóquetë, ván tecë (If no review comes from y'all; no story comes from me)

Máriessë ar mára tecië

Farewell and fair writing

Elhini Prime signing off.