Forged in Fire, Chapter 25
Mako and Raleigh's hotel room
June 5, 2025
0937
Mako rummaged through her new clothes, concerned. "Raleigh, did you see a second blue bikini floating around somewhere?"
Raleigh shook his head. "Nope. I've only seen the one. Why?"
"I can't find it. Where did it go?"
As if on cue, a knock came from the door.
Mako sighed and walked over to the door and looked out. Jazmine was waiting there with a bag in her hand. Mako let her in, unsure of what was going on.
"Mako, I'm guessing you're looking for this…" Jazmine handed Mako the bag. Inside was the missing bikini.
"Why did you take it, Jazmine? It's too small for you."
"Look at it closely."
Mako did as she had been advised, and discovered some subtle alterations. "Jazmine… It's perfect."
Four tiny white Kaiju kill marks traced along the edge of the bikini top on the left side next to Mako's name, and a small Gipsy Danger logo graced the right.
Jazmine smiled broadly as Raleigh walked over to look.
Mako, however, snatched the bikini away from Jazmine and raced off to the bathroom, leaving a very confused Raleigh standing next to his sister.
"Okay, sis. What's this all about?"
"We're going to the water park."
"Uh, you sure Mako's going to agree to this?"
"Oh, I'm positive. You saw the weather forecast for today, right?"
Raleigh shuddered as he remembered. "42°C, and no cooling breeze tonight."
"Yep. So, time to head to the pools and water slides. Beside, you've never been. Mako hasn't either, right?"
"True."
"Then pack your towel and some sunblock. We're going to Sunsplash."
-.-.-
30 minutes later
Mako gaped as she saw all the slides and pools. "We can use all of this?"
Jazmine laughed. "Yes. They actually added some slides and pools during the war. More people to serve, I guess."
Raleigh smiled as Mako's excitement got the better of her. She grabbed Raleigh's hand and practically dragged him to the entrance like a child dragging their parent into a toy store. "Come on, Raleigh! I want to try that halfpipe slide!"
-.-.-
2 minutes later
Storage lockers
Mako pulled off the shirt she had worn over the bikini top, making sure Raleigh was in sight. She was rewarded by Raleigh stopping dead in his tracks as surely as if he'd run into a wall. The stupefied look on his face, however, was the icing on the cake. Jazmine was right. This did leave him stunned. Now, what else to do to poor Raleigh? This is fun! Mako looked up at the sun, and remembered that she had "forgotten" to put on sunblock. Hmm… "Raleigh, can you help me with the sunblock?"
"Sure. Let me put some stuff in the locker first, though."
"Okay."
Raleigh stored Mako's backpack, then retrieved the bottle of sunblock. "Where do you need help with?"
Hmm… "I didn't get any on before we left the hotel, actually."
"No worries. I'm sure you can get your face by yourself, though." Raleigh winked at her.
Mako blushed and mentally berated herself for forgetting that she and Raleigh shared their thoughts more and more as time went by. "Sorry… I forgot about…"
"Hush. Not here. There's already a couple of people eyeing your scars."
"Let them. I've earned it."
Raleigh laid out his towel on the bench, then gestured to Mako. Come on, it'll be easier to do your back if you sit or lay down.
Mako chose the former, and sat down, back facing her copilot. Make sure to get everything, Raleigh. She closed her eyes as Raleigh began to work the sunblock into her skin. "Mmmmm… Feels good."
"The chance to have a vacation, or me with the sunblock?"
"Can't it be both?"
Raleigh didn't respond, instead focusing on the task at hand. He gently worked the sunblock into Mako's shoulders, teasingly tracing her circuitry suit scars. "They look good on you, Mako."
Mako opened her mouth to respond, but a young voice interrupted her. "Whoa… Cool tattoos, miss!"
Mako had been looking the other way, but she made sure to look at the child, a boy wearing a Gipsy Danger shirt and a pair of Romeo Blue swim trunks. "They're not tattoos. They're scars."
The boy's eyes bugged out as he realized just who he was talking to. "No. Way. The guys won't believe this." He eyed the burn scars again. "So, that's from Gipsy? During Pitfall?"
Raleigh stepped in by simply pulling off his own shirt, revealing his own scars. "Yeah. Circuitry suits aren't meant to relay the agony of having an arm ripped off of your Jaeger."
The boy gulped. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bother you…"
Mako smiled. "It's okay."
The boy's mom walked up. "Matthew, where have you… Oh. Hello. I hope my son has been polite."
"No worries, ma'am. He's been a gentleman."
Matthew mother smiled. "I'm glad to hear that."
Raleigh looked at Matthew. "Do you have any other questions?"
"Yeah. What brought you guys here to Sacramento? I thought that there weren't any PPDC facilities here?"
"We're on a bit of a vacation, and my sister lives here. So we decided to pay a visit. She wanted to go swimming today, so we came with her."
"Come on, Matthew. We're meeting Alex, remember?"
"Oh yeah! See you guys, and enjoy your vacation!"
Mako and Raleigh both waved and smiled as the boy and his mother walked off towards the far side of the water park.
"Okay, Mako. Your turn to do my back."
-.-.-
Mako and Raleigh finished with their sunblock, then decided on the first ride to take. Mako insisted on the halfpipe, so Raleigh grabbed a two-seat tube and they went to the start of the line.
-.-.-
5 minutes later
Splashdown pool for Stealth halfpipe slide
Raleigh looked at Mako, laughing as she slowly released her death grip on the handles of the two-seat tube. "What'd you think?"
Mako, to her credit, had managed to keep her screams to a tolerable level. "Watashi wa futatabi sono jigoku no sōzō ni notta koto ga nai shite imasu." I am never riding that infernal creation again.
Raleigh just laughed harder.
Mako scowled. "Glad to see someone enjoyed the ride."
"I didn't enjoy the ride. I just enjoyed your reaction."
Mako didn't have any response to that, so she flipped the tube, dumping Raleigh into the water with a yelp.
Raleigh came up spluttering, but with a grin plastered across his face. "Okay, I earned that one."
"That you did. Let's try something a little more… sedate. Like the wave pool."
Raleigh simply scooped up the raft and gave it to a little girl and her friend. "Enjoy your run, but don't go on Stealth."
"Why not?"
"It scares a Ranger who's fought Kaiju."
The little girl paled, clutched the raft closer, and nodded. "Stay off Stealth. Got it."
Raleigh, you're terrible.
You know you love it.
Mako rolled her eyes and waded into the wave pool and began to swim towards the deep end.
Raleigh followed closely behind her, matching her stroke for stroke… until the waves started. Raleigh dove under a wave, then accelerated towards Mako while underwater.
Mako sensed him coming as she rode out another wave. You know I know you're coming.
Raleigh surfaced next to her. "Spoilsport."
Both Rangers looked up at the sound of a shriek of delight. Jazmine. They looked at each other, then swam towards the exit from the wave pool, intent on riding whatever Jazmine had been riding.
-.-.-
1830
Mako, Raleigh, and Jazmine walked out the gates, headed back to Jazmine's car. Mako was sunburned and tired, and happily leaned into Raleigh. "Jazmine?"
"What's up, Mako?"
"How do I treat a sunburn?"
"Ride it out. Wait for it to heal."
Mako looked at her arms, frowning at them. "I thought that the sunblock would keep me from getting burnt."
"Not quite. You'll still get fried, just nowhere near as bad."
Raleigh decided to make Mako's life a little easier. "Mako, I know of something that will help with the sunburn, no matter what Jazmine says."
His copilot turned to him. Please, tell me more.
"You ever heard of Aloe Vera extract?"
"No… Why?"
Jazmine scoffed. "Aloe? It's not going to remove the sunburn."
Raleigh laughed. "No, it won't. But it will make it more tolerable. Especially if it's been refrigerated first."
Mako looked at Jazmine, her eyes begging.
"Okay, we'll stop by the store and pick some up."
"Thank you, Jazmine!"
-.-.-
2000
Mako and Raleigh's hotel room
Raleigh pulled the bottle of gel from the hotel room's minifridge. "Ready, Mako?"
Mako nodded and pulled her t-shirt off.
Raleigh squirted a little bit of the aloe gel into his hand. "It's nice and cold. Should feel real good."
"Then what are you waiting for?"
Raleigh smeared it across Mako's shoulders.
Mako gasped as Raleigh slathered on the clear, cold gel. "It feels so good."
"Not used to sunburns, are you?"
"Not really, no. How'd you find out about this?"
"Lima Shatterdome medical team. Yancy and I spent an afternoon on the beach and got fried. We looked like lobsters."
Mako sighed as the heat of the burns ebbed away. "Wow… that stuff works."
"Well, the cold takes the heat off, but the Aloe allows the skin to rehydrate some. Helps it heal."
"I could care less how it works. The fact is…" Mako trailed off as the Aloe dried up. "Okay… that feels weird." She shivered.
Raleigh chuckled. "Yeah, it does feel kinda strange, doesn't it? Just move around a bit, and wear a shirt. It'll wear off."
Mako grabbed the first shirt she saw and slipped it on. It was only after she found out she was practically swimming in it that she realized that it wasn't hers. She opened her mouth to make a joke about it, but shut it as Raleigh's phone rang with a familiar ring tone.
"I come from a land down under…"
Raleigh took the call and put it on speakerphone. "Good morning, Herc. How's Australia?"
"Great, considering its winter here."
Mako sat on the bed and lay in Raleigh's lap. "How'd that personal task go?"
"Wonderful. I'll go into more detail later, but we're going to be picking up another person for the Senior Staff. Now, Raleigh, did you tell Mako about that briefing I gave you before you left?"
"No, sir. I wanted to relax for a bit."
"Fair enough. Mako, be nice to Raleigh. I totally understand where he's coming from."
Mako scowled as she looked at Raleigh. "No promises."
Raleigh smiled. "So, when will you be here?"
"Sunday. We'll spend Monday getting settled, then go to Oblivion Bay on Tuesday."
"Sounds like a plan. Anything else, sir?"
"No, that's it. And Mako? I'm sorry in advance for not telling you what Raleigh's going to share, but I also wanted to make sure you had a chance to relax. And I want a promise, on sensei's honor, that you won't jump straight into designing a solution to the problem."
Mako gritted her teeth. Raleigh, you know how much I hate being left in the dark.
Sorry, Mako. I wanted you to relax first.
"Okay, Herc. I promise."
A female voice rang out in the background on Herc's end. "Right, I'll see you guys Sunday."
"See you soon, sir." Raleigh ended the call.
"Okay, Raleigh. What's the big issue?"
"Mako… the Kaiju aren't gone for good."
"I would have been surprised if they did stay gone. How soon do we need to have a new fleet of Jaegers?"
"Two years."
"No problem. We just need… oh. We need a place to stage them and build them."
"And we need to know where to stage them. No one knows where the next Breach will open. For all we know, it could open in Central Park."
Mako's face fell. "So how do we keep them from coming back?"
As Raleigh began to explain the revelations that Newt had received from his Ghost Drift, he could feel Mako's brain jump into a creative overdrive. Mako… We need to get Pan Pacific Industries up and running first. Jot down your ideas, and come back to them later.
Mako responded by doing just that. Sorry, it's just that when the ideas start to flow… It's hard to stop them.
"Then perhaps this will help." Raleigh pulled out his new tablet. "Apartment hunting?"
Mako finished jotting down her thoughts, then lay back down next to Raleigh. "I was thinking a studio apartment."
"Sounds good. Let's see what we can find…"
