Prologue: Smoke Rises Again

When I was a child, whenever I felt small and lonely, I would look up at the starry sky, wondering if there was life at the far end of deep space.

But I later learned that I had been looking in the wrong direction.

Distance was merely a ruler in God's hand; it didn't truly prevent alien life from arriving—

The real alien life came from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

They broke through from a wormhole between two tectonic plates in the dark depths of the seabed; that was the breach.

August 11, 2013, 7 AM, exactly thirty years ago today, the first Kaiju landed in San Francisco.

This colossal monster, like a moving mountain, passed through the wormhole and arrived on Earth.

I wasn't born then, and now, I can only find fragmented information from the memoirs of my mentor, Raleigh Beckett.

It took tanks, planes, and missiles six days of relentless bombardment to take it down. Three cities within a 35-kilometer radius were destroyed, and tens of thousands of lives were lost.

Humanity used three tactical nuclear bombs in the battle. Although the third bomb successfully killed the monster, most of the San Francisco Bay area became uninhabitable for the rest of the century. Have you heard of the "Graveyard of Forgotten Souls"? Even after so many years, it's still there.

Fortunately, the monster was eventually eliminated, and people finally breathed a sigh of relief.

We mourned the dead, set aside a date to commemorate the catastrophe, and then continued with our lives.

But just six months later, Manila suffered a second wave of attack. The monster's blood contained an acidic toxin that, after its demise, nearly contaminated the entire South China Sea.

The third wave struck in Cabo Frio, followed by a fourth, a fifth...

People gradually understood that it would never end; this was merely the beginning.

The existential crisis united all of humanity—setting aside past grievances and standing together against a common enemy.

Nations began to cooperate, pooling resources to defend humanity's home. For this, we needed a new weapon, a weapon capable of fighting the Kaiju.

It was in this context that "Project Osprey" was born.

"Project Osprey" aimed to build massive attack Jaegers to defend against the Kaiju—these would be our monsters.

Initially, the project failed repeatedly. A single pilot couldn't handle the Jaeger's neural-synaptic system, so we adopted a dual-pilot system: one controlling the left brain, the other the right. When their minds merged through Synaptic Link technology, we finally conquered those colossal steel beasts.

People fought with increasing courage and gradually turned the tide. Fully armed Jaeger pilots battered the Kaiju, their fists, connected to high-voltage circuits, easily shattering the creatures' bones and reaching their core.

The crisis became a propaganda topic, and the Kaiju became toys in children's hands.

But as the Kaiju grew stronger, the Jaeger pilots also faced a period of hardship. Jaegers were destroyed much faster than they could be built, leading world leaders to question their performance. They withdrew funding, and many Jaegers were dismantled or destroyed.

Finally, in 2025—eighteen years ago—everything changed.

At that time, only two Jaegers remained in the world: the third-generation "Gipsy Danger" and the fifth-generation "Eureka Striker."

Gipsy Danger was jointly piloted by my mentor, Raleigh Beckett, and my mentor's wife, Ms. Mako Mori. Under the self-destruct cover of Eureka Striker, they successfully destroyed the wormhole and reclaimed the world from the Kaiju's grasp.

From that day on, the celebrations lasted for a full year.

But at the same time, a sense of unease spread among the relieved crowds...

Would the Kaiju return?

When they came again, could we still win?

As it turned out, this worry was justified. That great victory only brought seven years of peace—

Seven years.

In 2032, a sixth-generation Kaiju, over 200 meters long, reappeared in the Pacific. But... ha.

This time, it was their turn to cry.

Because as early as 2030, we, having prepared for the worst, had already completed the development of our sixth-generation Jaegers.

In 2025, we collected numerous Kaiju samples from the monsters defeated by Gipsy Danger: "Leatherback" and "Otachi." A recently deceased young Otachi was even successfully cloned. Yes, just one year later, from it, we mastered the core technology of "Semi-organic Jaegers."

The silicon-based biological body formed the main structure of the new generation of Jaegers, saving over 70% of the steel. We hollowed out its internal organs, installed miniature nuclear reactors, and then covered it with heavy armor. Its brain was completely reformatted. From now on, we no longer needed that labor-intensive dual-pilot system. The pilot only needed to establish a Synaptic Link with the Kaiju's blank brain to achieve complete single-pilot control.

Just as the sixth-generation Kaiju appeared, my mentor piloted the first unit of the sixth-generation Jaeger—Peacekeeper.

My mentor's wife piloted the second unit—Doombreaker.

Amidst swirling winds and surging clouds, these two Jaegers, one black and one white, tore apart at least 40 Kaiju in a single day. Nearly a tenth of the Pacific Ocean surface was dyed dark blue with the monsters' blood. Twelve American Ford-class aircraft carriers stood by a hundred miles away, their only task being to clear the battlefield.

Although the appearance of a seventh-generation Kaiju ultimately reversed the situation, leading to the demise of both Jaegers—

Their sacrifice was not in vain.

They made us understand our own strength and humanity's invincibility.

To this day, the smoke of battle still lingers, and we now possess sixth, seventh, and even eighth-generation Jaegers. Thousands of Jaeger pilots roll off the assembly lines, fully armed, and head to the Pacific coast.

Tens of thousands of teenagers flock to the PPDC (Pan-Pacific Defense Corps), eagerly aspiring to become glorious Jaeger pilots.

Hundreds of millions of people sing in unison, composing a mournful dirge for the Kaiju.

The Kaiju can no longer withstand our onslaught. Our rage boils the ocean, our iron fists shatter mountains. Their defeat is imminent.

Our greatest strength is victory.

And I, too, cannot miss this celebration.

Of course, besides me, there is my one-of-a-kind steel partner: the Chinese-made seventh-generation Jaeger—J35X Kunlun.

(This work is a fan-fiction derivative of the movie "Pacific Rim." I believe many have heard of this mecha sci-fi film. Those interested can go watch it.)