GIPSY DANGER " TRIAL RUN"
08:00 HOURS
People were hustling and bustling about as it was Gypsy Danger's "Trial Run", an important event to show off the new and improved Mark III Jaeger.
"These transmitters are non-operative" Tendo said to an engineer, "I need them replaced".
Meanwhile, in Gipsy's head, Raleigh waited for his new co-pilot. He was disappointed it wouldn't be Mako, but he would have to deal with.
"Setting harness for test mode. Waiting for second pilot" Raleigh said into his comm.
"Two pilots on board" Gipsy'd AI said
"I'm gonna take this side if you don't mind. My left arm's kind of shot." Raleigh said as the pilot entered.
"Sure" a female voice said. Raleigh recognized it. He looked and it was Mako, wearing pilot armor suit. Raleigh couldn't help but smile.
"Are you gonna say anything?" Mako asked.
"No point" Raleigh replied, "In five minutes you're gonna be inside my head. You look good". Mako then smiled.
Meanwhile, Stacker had just enter the control room, followed by the Monarch Team and Herc. This time, Chen was with them.
"Oh, I can't wait" Rick said, "I've always wanted to see a Jaeger up close".
"Seeing how old you are, good to know there is still a child in you" Sam joked. Rick then shot him a glare.
"Pilots on board and ready to connect" Gipsy's AI said.
"Prepare neural handshake" Stacker said.
"Initiating neural handshake" Tendo said.
Catwalks moved to the side as Gipsy was revealed in her full glory. Her engine roared to life. Her turbine spun in her chest and her lights turned on. Raleigh and Mako were all suited up
"Okay. We're not in the simulator now, Mako" Raleigh reminded Mako, "Remember, don't chase the rabbit. Random Access Brain Impulse triggers memories. Just let them flow, don't latch on. Tune them out. Stay in the Drift. The Drift is silence"
"Neural interface Drift initiated" Gipsy's AI said. Then, the Drift came. Mako's and Raleigh's memories meshed together. Then, as soon as it had begun, it was over, and reality came back.
Mako lurched back as she came back, but held it together.
"Right hemisphere calibrated. Left hemisphere calibrated. Ready to activate the Jaeger" Gipsy's AI said. Now being connected with Gipsy, they got into a fighting stance and Gipsy copied their movement.
Together, the 3...were 1. It felt good to Raleigh to be back with Gipsy again. It was like being reunited with a long, lost friend again.
"Okay, Gipsy. Lining up nicely." Tendo said.
"Awesome" Rick said in awe.
"Better get ready" Tendo said.
"Pilot to Jaeger connection complete" Gipsy's AI said.
"Marshal! Marshal! I need to talk to you" shouted a voice. They all turned to see Gottlieb.
"Not now, Mr. Gottlieb" Stacker said. "I'm sure you can appreciate how important this moment is to me."
"Newton created a neural bridge from garbage and drifted with a Kaiju" Gottlieb said. That immediately caught everyone's attention.
"He did what?" Serizawa said.
Newt raised his arm to take a drink of water, his entire body shaking, his nose bleeding, and eyes bloodshot. Then, Stacker, Gottlieb, and the Monarch Team.
"I found him prone and he's sort of dazed. I don't exactly know what to do" Gottlieb said.
"I told you it would work" Newt said.
"Yes, you did" Stacker said.
"Well, what'd you see?" Rick asked.
"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" Newt said.
"You do research on Kaiju anatomy?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, it's, uh, kind of my thing" Newt replied, "So anyways, like I was saying, it was like when you blink your eyes over and over and over again all you really see are, like, frames. It was emotion".
"Newton, Newton. Okay, Newton. Newton, look at me" Stacker said, calmly, "Now I want you to take your time..."
"And be very specific" Serizawa said, finishing his sentence.
"Okay. Okay" Newt said and he took a moment to think. "Well, I don't feel like they're just following some sort of animalistic urge you know, just hunting and gathering. And I think they're attacking us under orders.
"That's impossible" Gottlieb said.
"Is that impossible?" Newt replied.
"It's impossible" Gottlieb said.
"Why don't you drift with a Kaiju!?" Newt yelled at Gottlieb, having enough of him.
"You! Shut up!" Stacker yelled at Gottlieb, having enough of it and Gottlieb shut his mouth. "You, keep talking" Stacker said.
"These beings" Newt continued, "These masters, they're colonists. They overtake worlds. They just consume them and then they move on to the next. And they've been here before in sort of a trial run. It was the dinosaurs. But the atmosphere wasn't conducive, right? So they waited it out. And they waited it out. And now with ozone depletion, and carbon monoxide, polluted waters...well, we've practically terraformed it for them. Because now they're coming back, and it's perfect. See, the first wave, that was just the hounds. Categories 1 through 4, it was nothing. Their sole purpose was to aim for the populated areas and to 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".
Stacker took all of this in, along with the Monarch Team.
"See, the reason that I found the identical DNA in the two separate Kaiju organs is because they are grown!" Newt said.
"Newton, I need you to do it again" Stacker said.
"No, we need you to do it again" Serizawa said.
"Yes, we need more information" Vivienne said.
"We could be embracing the end of the world as we know it" Sam said.
"I can't do it again" Newt said, "I mean, not unless you have a fresh Kaiju brain lying around". He looked at everyone, but Stacker didn't budge. "Do you?" Newt asked.
Meanwhile, Gipsy was still doing her trial run. She then smashed her fists together and everyone clapped. Up in the control room, Herc was overseeing it all, and he was joined by Chuck.
"Pretty impressive" Herc said.
"Yeah, he remembers how to turn it on" Chuck said.
"Oi, show some respect" Herc said. "When his brother died, he survived a Kaiju attack that tore his Jaeger apart. I've known one other pilot that's survived a Kaiju attack"
"Yeah, he survived all because one of those Titan things killed that thing for him, and he was too much of a wimp to put up a good fight" Chuck said and Herc glared at him.
Meanwhile, Stacker was with Newt and the Monarch Team.
"Now, there are certain individuals whose business is the preservation and exploitation of Kaiju remains" Stacker said as he put in an advanced tape into a super computer and a holographic screen appeared.
Gottlieb typed in the information.
"Uh, yeah, right, um, black market dealers, right?" Newt said.
"Yep. They're in and out in a matter of hours. They neutralize the acidic factor of the blood and they harvest what they need" Stacker said.
On the holographic screen, building materials and consturction equioment moved about a dead kaiju, and within seconds, it was stripped to the bone. But, it was just fast forwarded. The real time frame it takes is a couple of hours.
"So, it's like how people in olden times used Titan remains for survival" Rick said.
"Except it's used for money" Chen said.
"Right" Rick replied.
Then, the video pauses with the Kaiju almost cleared out and a man stands in front of where the camera would be.
"Now, this guy, this is Hannibal Chau. He runs the Kaiju black market here in Asia. When our funding ran out we turned to him for help and in return I gave him exclusive rights to all Kaiju remains in the region".
"You did that?" Gottlieb asked.
"Last days of war, gentlemen. Go to the corner of Fong and Tull. Show them that card. Look for that symbol" Stacker said, as it was a symbol of an eagle, "And a word to the wise, do not trust him".
Back with Gipsy's trial run, it was going smoothly. She then enters another fight stance.
"Calibration complete" Gipsy's AI said.
Raleigh then looked over to Mako, but instead of seeing Mako, he saw Yancy and himself.
"The hull! It went through the hull!" Raleigh said.
"Raleigh, listen to me! You need..." Yancy said before the roof was ripped off and Yancy was thrown off into the night. It was just a memory, but it effected Raleigh and Mako as their neural handshake began to lose control.
"Pilot out of alignment" Gipsy's AI said.
"Both out of alignment" Tendo said.
"Both of them?" Herc asked.
"Both of them" Tendo replied.
"Gipsy, Gipsy! You're out of alignment!" Tendo said through the comm, "You are both out of alignment".
"I'm okay. Just let me control it" Raleigh said.
"Out of alignment. Code red" Gipsy's AI said.
"You're stabilizing. But Mako is way out" Tendo said, "She's starting to chase the rabbit!"
"Mako, don't get stuck in a memory" Raleigh said, "Stay with me. Stay in the now. Don't engage in a memory. Mako. Mako! Listen to me. Mako?"
But, no matter how hard Raleigh tried, he couldn't get her to snap out of it and back into reality.
A young Mako walks through the streets of a destroyed city. In the distance, an alarm goes off. She sobbs as she's all alone. She carries her right shoe in her hand.
Then, suddenly, from overhead, fighter jets fly in, firing at something behind her. A groaning roar is heard as a giant claw swipes a jet out of the air as it explodes.
Then, another jet hits the other claw as it was raised up. Then, the owner of the two claws is revealed. It was a giant crab Kaiju named Onibaba.
The creature has 2 hornlike protrusions above its head and 4 glowing eyes. Onibaba looks down at the little girl before letting out a shrieking roar.
Young Mako runs for her life as Onibaba smashes against a building, causing it to crumble. The Kaiju wades through the buildings, trying to reach Mako. Mako cries out in terror as she runs.
She then runs into an allyway as cars fly through the air behind her. She then hides behind a dumpster. Raleigh is also there. He sees Mako hiding behind the dumpster.
"Mako, this is just a memory. None of this is real" Raleigh said. Then, stomping is heard. Mako looks out as one of Onibaba's legs come into view.
Then, seeing Mako, the Kaiju roars and tries to get her. Mako screams and holds out her hands.
In real life, Mako holds out her hand as it triggers for Gipsy's plasma cannon to activate.
"Weapons system engaged" Gipsy's AI said, "Plasma cannon powering up".
"Oh, no" Tendo said coldly as on the screen, it said, "CANNON LOADING".
Then, Gipsy's right arm transformed into the plasma cannon. Everyone grew anxious as it began charging.
"Weapon system engaged! Go to fail-safe!" Tendo shouted.
"Fail-safe not responding. There's a problem with the neural blocker! Her connection's way too strong!" an operator said. Tendo tried pushing a red button, but it didn't work.
"Fully charged" Gipsy's AI said.
"Everybody out of here, now!" Tendo shouted in Cantonese, "Everybody out of here, now!"
Back in the memory, Raleigh is still trying to convince Mako to snap out of it.
"Mako!" Raleigh said, "Mako, listen to me. This is just a memory. None of it is real"
Onibaba tries to reach in and grab Mako, but fails to do so as it was too tight.
"The power line! The power line!" Herc shouted, "Get the main power line!". Tendo tried to pull the plug, but he was struggling.
Back in the memory, Mako and Raleigh faced Onibaba. But then, the sky begins to glow. Mako and Raleigh look up and so does Onibaba.
The glowing grows and pulsates before something breaks through the clouds. It was a giant moth. Raleigh recognized it. It was one of the Titans: Titanus Mosura, or Mothra, the Queen of the Monsters.
Mothra screeches aggressively coming at Onibaba. Mako and Raleigh watch as Mothra shoots a web from her abdomen. The web pins Onibaba against a building. Onibaba struggles to break free.
Mothra screeches out as she circles around. Then, she lands on top of a building as the Onibaba breaks free. The Onibaba faces its new opponent. Mothra spreads her wings and shrieks.
Onibaba responds with a shrieking roar. The Onibaba charges, smashing through the building Mothra is perched on. Mothra takes to the sky again, flying high into the air. Onibaba looks up at Mothra.
Mothra shrieks before she dives towards her opponent. Mothra collides with Onibaba into the side of a building. Mothra then flies back into the air. Onibaba swats its claws at Mothra, but misses.
Then, Mothra's antennae begin to glow before two laser beams shoot forth from her antennae.
The beams scorch the shell of Onibaba as it roars in pain and dust is stirred up as it collapses against the building from the blast. Mothra then lands on another building, letting out a screech in victory.
Mako and Raleigh come out from their allyway hiding place then looks up at her. Mothra then looks down at Mako. Even though Raleigh's not in the dream, it feels like she's looking at him.
Mako couldn't help but feel satisfaction as Mothra had a caring appearance. Raleigh felt the same way as well. But then, all of a sudden, a chunk of building is thrown from the dust.
Mothra luckily dodges, but however doesn't dodge a second one. It hits Mothra and Mothra falls to the rubble with a shriek in agony. Onibaba appears from the rubble with a shrieking victory roar.
Then, its attention is turned back to Mako. Onibaba roars and Mako and Raleigh retreat back to their hiding place as Onibaba reaches after them. But then, from above, a Jaeger is transported overhead.
Then a deep horn is heard as Onibaba is pulled back. The commotion causes Mako to turn around and cover her ears. The commotion was loud as Onibaba and the Jaeger fought.
Back in reality, Stacker has just arrived on the scene.
"Take them offline!" Stacker shouts, "Take them offline!"
Finally, after much struggling, Tendo manages to pull the plug.
"I just did" he replied. Then, Gipsy's arm slowly lowers and the plasma cannon powers down.
"Weapon system disengaged." Gipsy's AI said.
"Mako!" Raleigh said. He quickly takes off his helmet and rushes over to her. He catches her just as she falls into his arms. He comforts her as she snaps back into reality.
"It's okay. It's okay" he said. Her expression was like she had just seen a ghost.
"Neural bridge exercise in valid" Gipsy's AI said, "Drift sequence terminated".
Stacker and everyone else lowered their heads in relief.
Author's Note: And there you have it! Raleigh wasn't the only one who witnessed a Titan before. Mako saw Mothra.
Next chapter, or the chapter after, the Big G is right around the corner. Along with one more Titan who will appear in this story.
Stay tuned for more! See you all next time. Until then, Dinopony2580 out.
