Hello everyone.
Thank you for pointing out my error in the origin of the work Jaeger. I probably should have checked first.
I don't own MHA or Pacific Rim.
"Mom, can I still be a hero?"
They could feel an unimaginable sadness, potent enough to break a person, well up and force its way out in the form of tears.
"His left side is so unsightly; it reminds me too much of him."
They stood hiding behind a doorway, looking up a a white-haired woman's back. She was oblivious to the young child's presence.
"Momma?" the boy asked. The woman turned on a dime and stared down at her child, eyes filled to the brim with an emotion that the boy could not describe. All he knew was he did not like it. A fear no child should know froze them in place as their mother slowly grabbed a kettle of boiling water off the stove and strode over to the boy. Then everything was overtaken by searing pain.
"Why don't you just take a swan dive off a roof?"
They saw Bakugo, less than a year before classes at UA began. He had the same arrogant demeanor he had become known for in 1-A. The vision became blurry as tears once again found their way to their eyes. As Bakugo gave a few more taunts, everything else swirled and faded away.
"Midoriya, are you All Might's secret lovechild?"
"It's your quirk! You can be whoever you want!"
"Decadent Rage, do you copy?" Kaminari's voice seemed to come from within the helmets the two were wearing. Izuku quickly realized that the previously empty platform had been completely overhauled in the simulation. Instead of a large room, the two now stood inside a cockpit that he assumed was an exact replica of Decadent Rage's cockpit. Several holographic screens came to life in front of the pilots. Some had silhouettes of the Jaeger, others had graphs and readouts, and one large screen in the center showed an ocean that was up to the Jaeger's thighs.
"Yes, we copy." Todoroki replied quickly. The teen held his arms outward and flexed his fingers, noticing his co-pilot was mirroring his actions exactly. "This is unnerving." His mutter was heard by Midoriya, who was further experimenting with the arms.
Neither of the two could comfortably say that they were the one in charge, nor could they say they were the one being led.
"Grab the controllers just above your heads. The calibration sequence will engage automatically before the simulation proceeds."
The two looked up and saw that a pair of thin, mechanical arms had lowered to give them said controllers and grabbed their respective semicircular gadgets in unison. Each device bleeped once and started blinking green.
"Calibration is good. Kaiju readings on your two o'clock."
Izuku and Shoto both turned almost completely to their right and scanned the screen. On a smaller circular display that reminded Midoriya of a sonar, a singular red dot came to life just above the center of the circle.
The two took a fighting stance Todoroki had learned from his father. One hand held out, one hand closer to the body. The artificial Decadent Rage copied the pose among loud recreations of straining hydraulics and clanking metal. A hump in the water in front of them began to rise, which quickly gave birth to a monster the two recognized.
"Is that Onibaba?" Midoriya questioned aloud. "The one that killed Godzillo?"
"Yes and yes. Beware the claws; they're more than strong enough to crush most segments of the Jaeger."
"Copy. How do we access the weapons?" Todoroki questioned. He knew for a fact that all Jaegers had a mix of ranged and melee weaponry, yet neither he nor his co-pilot could find any controls.
"Weapon systems have been removed from beginner simulations. The point of this test is to get an accurate reading of your teamwork and focus. Once you've had enough experience with the primary functions, you'll start dealing with more intricacies of piloting."
"So it's just our fists then. You've had plenty of experience with that, Midoriya," Todoroki mused, earning a light chuckle from his green-haired friend.
"Yeah, I suppose. Come on, let's see how this goes."
The two walked forward in perfect synchronization. Decadent Rage slowly began mirroring the actions as several tons of steel was forced to move. The simulated Kaiju turned towards them and approached. Two claws longer than school buses opened and slammed shut in a threatening display. Each time a thundering cracking noise shot out. Had it been real, the sounds would have been strong enough to feel even through the thick metal hull.
Kaminari watched as the Jaeger pulled back a fist and launched it forward in a punching motion. The fist made contact and caused the gigantic crab-like Kaiju to stagger slightly. The punch was quickly followed up with an uppercut, then a hook to the side of the face. Onibaba lunged forward with a claw and grasped the Jaegers left forearm. Before the connected pilots could react, a horrible sound of screaming metal nearly ruptured their ears as the claw clamped down and sheared off the limb.
Midoriya felt the awful pain of having his arm sliced off, but he had done far worse to himself. Shattering every bone in his arm multiple times a week had a way of getting one used to pain.
"Kaminari, left arm's gone." Midoriya growled through clenched teeth. The suit was still sending waves of pain down his limb, as if trying to remind him of the damage sustained.
"Keep fighting. You may not have any other option when the time comes. Hold out as long as you can."
"Todoroki, looks like you're going to have to do most of the work now."
The biochromatic teen nodded, not daring to take his eyes off the simulated monster. The two regained their footing to account for the shift in weight and held up their right arms in a defensive position.
The simulated Onibaba tossed the metallic limb aside and let out a loud, unearthly chittering roar. Then it charged forward and slammed its massive weight into the mechanical titan. The devices holding Midoriya and Todoroki threw the two pilots around. A handful of yelps and shouts were caught by their microphones and broadcasted to Kaminari, who simply watched in silence.
"So, what's the plan when it's our turn?" Himari whispered, noting the struggle of her future co-pilots.
"We fight and learn. That's all we can do," Keiko replied bluntly.
The two observed the one-armed Jaeger try to fight back with little success. Finally Onibaba stabbed one of its claws into the Jaeger's chest, and the simulation ended.
"That was fatal damage. If that was real, the reactor would have been penetrated and likely suffered a meltdown."
Izuku, noting the fading yet still present pain in his arm, stepped off the platform and dejectedly returned to the others with Todoroki beside him.
"If it's any consolation, that was about average for a first time simulation. Arai, Suzuki, you're up."
The laboratory was surprisingly well-kept. Compared to a majority of the industrial styled Shatterdome, the lab was clean and in prime condition. Kaminari had never felt like he belonged in the lab, yet made it a point to keep up on any discoveries that might have been made between visits.
He simply hoped that they had more success than the four future pilots.
"Hey Lightning Boy!"
Kaminari turned towards the voice and was entirely unsurprised by the two yellow, crosshair-like eyes that were inches away from his own. Hatsume was just as eccentric and only a tad less hyper then she was in UA, but joining the research team had at least given her a single task to focus all of her chaotic energy on.
Also, living through the potential end of the world had a way of draining people's energy.
"Yes, Hatsume?" Kaminari replied. He had long accepted the fact that she was not going to remember anyone by more than nicknames, but had decided to let it slide seeing as she had pioneered much of the technology that made the Jaegers functional and played a key role in developing the Drift as well.
"We figured it out! Well, kinda. Not entirely but we found something to work with!" Without giving the pilot a chance to take in her statements, she had already begun dragging him to a line of computers. "This whole time we were under the impression that the portals were a rip in the fabric of reality. This is kind of true but it's also not. See, it's more like they're copying the...frequency maybe?...of our reality and simply overlapping that on top of theirs. It's genius really!"
Kaminari stood silent for nearly fifteen seconds, trying to parse the barrage he had been subjected to faster than anyone should be able to speak. "So let me get this straight. You're saying that they are somehow mimicking our...'reality fabric'... so precisely that they can access our world?"
"Yes! It's like...imagine you could take the door to your room and a little bit of the walls surrounding it and carry it around. Then when you need it, you could just put it somewhere and the door still leads into your room! Obviously it's not that simple but it's a simpler way of explaining it!"
Once again, the senior pilot stood in thought. "If that's the case, then why don't they just create a rift right inside the Shatterdomes or major population centers?"
"I wondered the same thing, but something like this would require a lot of energy and might be unstable. By opening the rifts deep in the oceans, the water both cools the rifts enough for the Kaiju to be able to get through and the immense pressure probably keeps the rifts compressed. This is all just a theory but it might be what we needed to know to start coming up with a plan to counterattack!"
"Good, good. Keep up the work." With just a quick thumbs-up, Kaminari walked away before she could get into the hardcore bits of her research. Just some of the words she used alone could give him headaches.
"Sato?"
One of the chefs that was facing away from the hungry residents turned around, looking for the one that called his name. It was hard to miss the familiar hair of his former classmates and gave a wide smile when the recognition hit. "Midoriya! Todoroki! It's good to see you guys again!" The man with comically large lips reached over the glass covering the food and offered a fist, which the two bumped with their own.
"Good to see you too. So you're a cook at the Dome here?" Midoriya replied. Todoroki meanwhile was scanning the options, and notably deflated when he could not find any cold soba.
"Yup. Been here for a while now. It's actually funny how many of us live here. Uraraka works in Jaeger maintenance, and I've seen Momo as well as Monoma and Kodai from 1-B around."
"Really? We knew about Uraraka and Momo, but the others are news to us."
"Yeah. From what I've heard, general communication is still slow in the civilian sectors. Only the pilots get any real mentions, and even then it was weeks after Kaminari and Jiro started before they were recognized on the news. Anyways, you should probably eat. If you see anyone from our class, tell then I said hi."
"You too," Midoriya offered. The two left the line and searched for seats among the lines of tables. The setup reminded them of the cafeteria UA had. Only a lot more depressing. Thankfully for them, two open seats were being held not too far from them. Suzuki had been waving to get their attention, and gestured them over once she had it.
"You guys know Kaminari, right?" Suzuki asked. Midoriya and Todoroki, seated across from their fellow pilots-in-training, both looked up from their meals.
"Yes. He was a classmate of ours when we were training to be heroes. Why?" Midoriya responded. Something in his gut warned him that the conversation might get a little deep.
"Was he always such a hardass?" Arai asked, not bothering to sugarcoat the question in the slightest.
"No. He used to be lively and energetic. He wasn't what you would call 'smart', but I guess no one has been the same since the Kaijus started appearing."
"Really? What about Kendo?" Suzuki followed up with.
A different voice answered, this time from behind Todoroki and Midoriya.
"She was also at UA. Only she was in 1-B instead of 1-A."
Behind them stood a woman that exhumed an aura of elegance. Long black hair tied into a bun, gray eyes, and a body no guy could ever forget.
"Momo?" Todoroki and Midoriya asked in unison.
"Yes. I heard we had some new recruits but I never guessed I would see more old classmates. And I assume by your attire you're pilots in training?"
"Yep. Just had our first simulation. Did not go well," Todoroki responded.
"So about Kaminari, what caused such a change in personality? I get that everyone's been heavily effected by the war but not many people that I know have changed as much as it sounds like he has."
Yaoyorozu took a recently emptied seat, a look in her eyes told all four that she was contemplating something. She opened her mouth to speak, but said nothing for several seconds. "Kirishima and Mina." The names quickly got her former classmates' attention, which was noticed by the other two pilots.
"More classmates?" Arai assumed aloud.
"Yes. He was friends with all of us, but Mina was his 'Bottom of the Barrel Buddy' due to their abysmal grades. Kirishima was a bit smarter but the three had one thing in common: they were all rather loud and, I suppose 'meatheads' would be an apt description. Believe it or not, Kirishima and Mina were pilots a bit before Kaminari. He just rose through the rankings faster than they did. The two were very close to him before the war, and being pilots really strengthened their bonds. They piloted Knuckleduster on a handful of successful deployments..." Todoroki and Midoriya almost immediately understood what was coming; both had seen the footage. "But one time they were sent against a kaiju that was just too tough for their Jaeger. They thought they killed it, and when they let their guards down it punctured the hull and dragged them under water."
The woman's face turned sorrowful in remembrance of two of her fallen classmates. "Drowning is supposedly one of the more peaceful ways to die, but I'm sure that it was anything but for them."
The five sat in an uneasy silence for what felt like too long.
"Then...Jiro."
"Jiro? wasn't she relocated?" Todoroki questioned. He had seen Kaminari and his girlfriend speak multiple times on what television interviews they were allowed to do, but had heard that for unexplained reasons Kaminari's co-pilot had been assigned to a different Shatterdome.
"No. You see, the two of them and Freelance Centauri were a strong symbol of hope in the war. I'm sure you know that very few other Jaegers have as many kills as they do, so any news that could bring a loss of belief in the Jaeger programs is heavily modified." Momo faced Arai and Suzuki. "Kyoka Jiro was yet another one of our classmates. She and Kaminari had a bit of an odd relationship at first, with him trying to impress her any chance he got and her pretending to think he was the idiot everyone else thought he was. But after a little while the two became close and started dating merely weeks before Trespasser's arrival. The two eventually became pilots, and were naturally gifted. But on the last mission, they faced a Kaiju that was codenamed 'Orochi'. Centauri took substantial damage, especially towards the cockpit."
Momo took another deep breath in an attempt to calm herself.
"The monster tore out a massive chunk of the cockpit, and she was dragged out with it, leaving him to try to pilot Freelance Centauri alone and kill Orochi. He actually succeeded and even got back to land before he and his Jaeger's systems finally gave out. And, yeah, he was never the same after that. I think he wants to toughen any potential pilot up so they don't end up dead like our classmates."
"I kinda feel like an asshole now," Arai muttered quietly.
"Wait, if Kendo and Tetsutetsu are still piloting Decadent Rage, why are we practicing in that Jaeger? Why not Knuckleduster if no one is piloting it?" Midoriya asked, trying to steer the conversation to a less depressing topic.
"If what I've heard is true, the two of them will be training move into Freelance Centauri, which will leave two of you to take over Rage."
"So Kaminari won't be returning to piloting?"
Momo turned to Todoroki. "No. He hasn't been back in a Jaeger since Jiro died, and even tried to leave the program. The higher-ups did not want to lose his talent, so they negotiated and designated him as a trainer but promised he would not be asked to pilot unless absolutely necessary."
Monoma watched as technicians worked on Freelance Centauri. The most debilitating damage had been repaired; all that was left was wiring in the replacement parts and finishing touches.
The blonde rubbed the three bracelets on his right wrist. Each was made with hair from Yaoyorozu, Uraraka, and Kodai. The three girls had the most important quirks when it came to building and repairing Jaegers. Momo's ability to create any necessary part at a small scale combined with Kodai's ability to enlarge them greatly reduced the costs of maintenance. Uraraka's quirk then made it possible to move the enlarged components without the need of cranes or heavy machinery.
Before the war, he would have been repulsed at the thought of keeping DNA of two 1-A brats on him at all times.
But this wasn't UA. And he could no longer afford to be repulsed by matters that were, in hindsight, incredibly shallow.
He knew all of the Jaegers were absolute miracles of engineering, but it felt good knowing he had helped bring back the best one in the Shatterdome. The titanic humanoid machine took much out of him, especially before he learned to consistently create parts the right way.
He had to admit a hundred times over that Momo's quirk was a lot more complicated than he had given credit for.
The roaring sound of Centauri's nuclear reactor starting roused him from his thoughts. A bright orange light in the chest grew in intensity as lights on the Jaeger's head and shoulders turned on.
Cheers from halfway across the floor echoes in the vast chamber. Monoma could tell by the excitement that Freelance Centauri was once again fully operational.
The blonde sighed in relief knowing he would not need to produce more parts.
Maybe Kendo and Tetsutetsu were having a better time than he was.
A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update. Hopefully this chapter was decent.