When I was a child, whenever I felt small and alone, I would always look up at the stars and imagine whether life existed at the far end of deep space.
But later, I learned that I had been looking in the wrong direction.
Distance was merely a ruler in God's hand. It had never truly prevented extraterrestrial life from arriving—
True extraterrestrial life came from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
They emerged through a wormhole between two tectonic plates in the dark seabed. That place was the Breach.
At 7:00 a.m. on August 11, 2013—exactly thirty years ago today—the first kaiju made landfall in San Francisco.
This enormous monster, as massive as a hill, passed through the wormhole and arrived on Earth.
I had not yet been born then. Now, I could only find scattered fragments of information in the memoirs of my mentor—Raleigh Beckett.
Back then, tanks, aircraft, and missiles bombarded it for six days before finally bringing it down. Three cities within a thirty-five-kilometer radius were destroyed, and tens of thousands lost their lives.
Humanity used three tactical nuclear bombs in that battle. Although the third successfully killed the monster, most of San Francisco Bay would no longer be fit for human habitation for the rest of this century. Have you heard of the "Graveyard of Forgotten Souls"? Even after all these years, it was still there.
Fortunately, the monster was ultimately destroyed, and people finally breathed a sigh of relief.
We mourned the dead, designated a day to commemorate the catastrophe, and then went on with our lives.
But only six months later, Manila suffered the second wave of attacks. The monsters' blood contained an acidic toxin, and after it was destroyed, that toxin polluted nearly the entire South China Sea.
The third wave struck Cabo Frio, followed by the fourth, the fifth...
People gradually came to understand that none of this would end. It was only the beginning.
The crisis of survival drove all humanity to a shared consensus—put aside old grudges and unite against a common enemy.
Nations around the world began working together, pooling their resources to defend humanity's home. To do that, we needed a new weapon, one capable of fighting kaiju.
Against that backdrop, Project Osprey was born.
Project Osprey aimed to build massive combat Jaegers to fend off kaiju attacks—these would be our own monsters.
At first, the project failed repeatedly. A single pilot could not withstand the Jaeger's neural sensory system, so we adopted a dual-pilot system: one controlled the left brain, the other the right. Once they used Synaptic Link technology to merge their thoughts into one,
those colossal steel beasts were finally conquered by us.
People fought more bravely with every battle and gradually turned the tide. Fully armed Jaegers crushed the kaiju, their fists connected to high-voltage circuits easily shattering monster bone and striking straight at the core.
The crisis became a publicity topic, while kaiju became toys in children's hands.
But as the kaiju grew stronger, the Jaegers went through a difficult period. Jaegers were being destroyed far faster than they could be built, so world leaders began questioning their performance. They withdrew funding one after another, and large numbers of Jaegers faced dismantlement and destruction.
In the end, everything took a turn in 2025—eighteen years ago.
At the 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 cover of Eureka Striker's self-destruction, they successfully destroyed the wormhole and wrested the entire world back from the jaws of the kaiju.
From that day onward, humanity's celebration lasted a full year.
Yet at the same time, a concern began spreading among the frightened populace...
Would the kaiju return?
When they came again, could we still win?
The facts proved that this concern was justified. That great victory brought only seven years of peace—
Seven years.
In 2032, a sixth-generation kaiju more than two hundred meters long appeared once again in the Pacific Ocean. But... heh.
This time, it would be their turn to cry.
Because as early as 2030, we had already completed development of the 6th Generation Jaeger in preparation for the future.
In 2025, we collected a vast number of kaiju samples from the kaiju Gipsy Danger defeated: Knifehead and Otachi. Otachi's recently deceased offspring was even successfully replicated through cloning technology. Yes, only a year later, we mastered the core technology of the Semi-organic Jaeger through its body.
The bodies of silicon-based organisms formed the main framework of the new generation of Jaegers, saving us more than seventy percent of the steel. We hollowed out their internal organs, installed miniature nuclear reactors inside, and encased them in heavy armor. Their brains were completely formatted as well. From then on, we no longer needed that manpower-wasting dual-pilot system. A pilot only needed to 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 6th Generation Jaeger—Peacekeeper.
My mentor's wife piloted the second unit—Doombreaker.
Amid gathering storms, the black-and-white Jaegers tore apart at least forty kaiju in a single day. Nearly one-tenth of the Pacific Ocean was dyed dark blue by monster blood. Twelve Ford-class aircraft carriers stood by a hundred miles away, and their mission was nothing more than cleaning up the battlefield.
Although the appearance of the seventh-generation kaiju eventually reversed the situation, and both Jaegers fell as a result—
their sacrifice was not in vain.
They showed us our own strength and made us understand that humanity could not be defeated.
Even today, the smoke of war still lingered. We already possessed sixth-, seventh-, and even 8th Generation Jaegers. Thousands of Jaegers rolled off assembly lines, loaded with ammunition, and headed for the Pacific coast.
Tens of thousands of teenagers poured into the PPDC, scrambling to become honorable Jaeger pilots.
Hundreds of millions sang in unison, raising a funeral dirge for the kaiju.
The kaiju could no longer withstand our offensive. Our fury boiled the seas, our iron fists shattered mountains, and their defeat was imminent.
What we did best was win.
And I could not miss this carnival either.
Of course, I was not alone. I also had my one-of-a-kind steel partner: China's Seventh Generation Jaeger—J35X Kunlun.
(This work is a derivative fanfiction based on the film "Pacific Rim." I believe many people have heard of this mecha sci-fi film. Those interested can give it a watch.)