BIONIC Rim
Chapter 6
Jaller roamed the halls in solitude. After the Searing Tsunami Debacle, Lhikan asked neither him nor Hahli to pilot a Jaeger. Yes, there were still Kaiju attacks, huge ones, but none the two Matoran were called for.
It was probably for the best, though. Up until this point, Kaiju had rarely gone past Category 3. Now, there were Categories 3 and 4 roaming the entire Silver Sea. The most recent was a Tarakava Nui near Odina. A Dark Hunter named Spinner and another named Lariska, who was essentially the Dark Hunters' equivalent of Hahli, took the prize for the killing.
Jaller felt depressed. These Matoran had trained a good deal of their lives to pilot a Jaeger. The dreadful waterfall of emotions was second nature to them. But why call a first-timer like him? Were there really no better options? Jaller questioned all these things.
He passed the Skakdi leader, Nektann, and decided to address him. "Sir Nektann, the Skakdi have a history of being short-tempered. And yet any experienced Jaeger pilot will tell you great control is needed to pilot a Jaeger. How do you do it?"
"The answer is long and complicated," Nektann began. "We never had any intention of joining BIONIC Rim, but Kaiju began to attack our island and we needed to retaliate. I was the one who got the technology from Xia and held instructional courses on controlling your temper. Very few Skakdi followed in my footsteps, but the ones that did survived. They just had to be willing enough to try and pilot the Jaeger."
Just had to be willing enough, those words echoed in Jaller's mind. Did he want to pilot the Jaeger enough? He certainly wanted to accomplish something. He wanted to emerge from the forge and do his assignments. If that meant defeating a Kaiju, then yes, he was willing enough.
He went directly to Toa Lhikan's chambers. "I want to try again," he announced boldly at the BIONIC Rim's overseer.
Lhikan looked down at Jaller, "We're sorry. There is no market for a Matoran Jaeger at the moment. The BIONIC Rim has already planned its next order of deployment, and Searing Tsunami is not on the list."
"But I can do it," Jaller assured. "I am willing enough to control my emotions and experience the barrage."
"Great sentiment, but I've worked with about a thousand pilots of various races, and every one of them said the exact same thing. Only a few meant it."
"But I know what went wrong, I CAN do it!" Jaller tapped Lhikan's shoulder to get his attention.
"I have just two rules of conduct," Lhikan replied sternly. "Number one: Don't touch me again, and Number Two: DON'T TOUCH ME AGAIN!"
He stormed from the room, leaving behind a flustered and disappointed Jaller.
"What type of operation do you run here, exactly?" Nuparu asked sheepishly. Mavrah and the two scientists walked to Mavrah's chambers, where Mavrah's coworkers said he kept a living brain.
"This is the medical profession. Every piece of the Kaiju has some purpose. Bones are a stimulant, fertilizer, and enhanced strength elixir. Blood realizes elemental energies and polishes armor. Parasites are being treated to cure illness. The list of uses goes on and on."
"I get that," interjected Avak. "But why are you the one to operate this?"
"I love the Kaiju," responded Mavrah. "Such magnificent beasts they are. To think they survived this long without any detection. I want to learn more. I have my archivists travel the universe taking dead samples from the best Jaeger pilots in BIONIC Rim, and we examine them here. The best way to honor a dead beast is to put its body to use, and this is why I dealt in the Black Market."
He opened the doors to his room. A crimson throne behind a crescent desk dominated the cramped quarters illuminated only by a greenish glow. Nuparu turned and saw the source of the glow was a brain jar, nearly identical to the one he himself had used not one day ago.
"Yes, thank you. It's just what I need," shouted Nuparu. He lunged for the brain but Mavrah held out an arm.
"No, stop!" Avak stormed to Nuparu's defense. "You see, he scanned the brain already. But he needs another. As crazy as it sounds, he was able to bind with the creature and we did get information.
Mavrah gasped and stepped back. "YOU DIDN'T!"
Nuparu wilted. "Yes, I scanned the brain of a Kanohi Dragon."
Mavrah got angry and flew into a tirade. "Scanning a brain is the worst thing anyone can do. The Kaiju know when their systems have been tampered with."
"Well, have you tried it?" Nuparu asked.
Mavrah removed his eye covering to reveal a startling sight. His left eye was bloodshot, like Nuparu's, to the point where nearly the entire eye was red. The right eye was covered with an unsettling black film, obscuring the iris entirely.
"Once," Mavrah answered. "Same way you must have."
"What did you see?"
"I saw the Kaiju plans to take over, and also their shared bio-functions. They can recognize the brain waves of their species. If you read the brain, you are now a target."
A distant alarm blared. Nuparu knew the sound well. It was the alert of a Kaiju attack. A moment later, the ground shook.
"Yep. Another Kanohi Dragon," Mavrah at last announced. "I have to thank you, Nuparu. You are just what we needed. With your melding to one of its species, you lured the beast right here."
