Shaolin Rogue moved!

"Hum-hum-"

Gipsy Danger's arm switched to its Plasma Cannon. Arcs of steadily building energy flashed through the Jaeger bay, and the surging shock wave looked ready to spread!

"Force-disconnect Mako from the Jaeger, now!" Cai Tiantong shouted urgently to the technicians beside him when he saw this.

Most of the base's technicians were in the command center, which stood directly opposite Gipsy Danger. Large numbers of maintenance workers and several Jaeger pilots were also standing on the catwalks in the Jaeger bay.

If that charged Plasma Cannon blast went off inside the base, they would all be done for!

"We can't! Her connection to the Jaeger is too strong. We can't forcibly sever it from outside!" Sweat had beaded on the forehead of the technician responsible for the neural connection as he stared anxiously at the unresponsive screen.

"Cut the Jaeger's main power supply!" Marshal Stacker ordered loudly in the midst of the crisis.

"Move!"

"Everyone else, evacuate!"

As the Plasma Cannon charged, the entire base descended into chaos. None of them had expected an accident like this!

Mako Mori's connection to the Jaeger was so tenacious that they couldn't even sever it!

Marshal Stacker and Old Hansen rushed straight to the front of the command center and found the power cables connected to Gipsy Danger.

Gipsy Danger's internal reactor hadn't been activated for this test. They were using an external power supply.

"Come on, come on... we've got to make it!" Old Hansen deftly removed the bolts on the cables, sweat beading on his forehead too.

They had to cut the power before Gipsy Danger fired.

And at that critical moment-

"Marshal, Shaolin Rogue has activated!" a technician suddenly shouted.

An unexpected turn on top of another caught every one of them off guard.

"What!?" Cai Tiantong looked toward the Jaeger bay, his eyes widening when he saw that the silver-white Jaeger had already begun moving.

"Why!?"

"We didn't activate it at all! How is it moving!?"

Something utterly beyond reality unfolded before them.

A Jaeger with no power source connected, physically in an inactive state-how on earth was it moving!?

"Who's inside right now!?" he demanded.

"It's... it's Mr. Xia!"

"He was waiting inside the Jaeger for his test!" the technician answered.

Shaolin Rogue strode through the Jaeger bay, sending tremors through the floor. Its movements were incredibly fluid, displaying a level of agility that scarcely seemed possible for a Jaeger.

With one swift stride, it reached Gipsy Danger. Under the eyes of everyone in the base, it grabbed the Plasma Cannon on Gipsy Danger's arm and raised it upward.

Then, under the influence of an intangible force, the energy inside the Plasma Cannon was compressed and extracted, forming a ball of blue light. The energy interacted with that force and unraveled.

"Bang!"

Finally, it scattered through the Jaeger bay like a burst of fireworks, the blue flecks of light gradually fading away.

Disaster had been narrowly averted.

At the same time, the command center had cut the power. Gipsy Danger lost all power and stood motionless.

"I told you, there wouldn't be any accidents." Natsuki's voice came from inside Shaolin Rogue.

Hearing his voice, Marshal Stacker let out a long breath.

Thank goodness...

Everyone in the base stared at Shaolin Rogue, the same question on all their minds.

How had this Jaeger moved?

"Xia? Is that you?" Inside Gipsy Danger, Raleigh removed Mako Mori's connectors and held her weakened body in his arms. He looked up at the enormous Jaeger before him and asked in bewilderment.

Shaolin Rogue still held its previous pose, gripping Gipsy Danger's wrist.

"Who else would it be?" Natsuki's voice rang out.

Raleigh was even more confused.

"How did you do that...?"

"And... why can I hear your voice? Aren't you inside the Jaeger?"

A Jaeger's cockpit had very thick walls. By all rights, there was no way he should have been able to hear someone speaking inside another Jaeger.

"I told you before, I know how to pilot a Jaeger," Natsuki said with a laugh. "As for my voice... that's called telepathy."

"But... making a Jaeger move when it hasn't been activated doesn't really have anything to do with piloting skills, does it?" Raleigh was baffled.

It was like someone making a car move without starting the engine, then explaining that they knew how to drive.

Are we even talking about the same thing?

"You don't understand. I have my own unique piloting techniques," Natsuki explained without so much as a blush or a flutter of his heart. "All you need to know is that I'm an expert Jaeger pilot."

Never mind whether the Jaeger was activated. Just tell me-did I make it move or not?

The moment Natsuki saw Gipsy Danger go out of control, he had forcibly taken control of Shaolin Rogue with psychokinesis, brute-forcing the whole thing.

With Ultra Psychokinesis upgraded to the intermediate level, his precision had improved considerably too. Controlling a Jaeger was a breeze.

As for why he hadn't simply used psychokinesis to stop Gipsy Danger directly? Well, he had to show off his superb "piloting skills," didn't he?

Marshal Stacker had lent him this Jaeger. He had to make himself look at least somewhat professional.

"All right, then." Hearing that explanation, Raleigh could only smile helplessly.

It seemed aliens really did have a knack for piloting Jaegers.

"I... I messed up." Mako Mori had come back to her senses by now. She slowly raised her head and saw Shaolin Rogue, which had stopped her, then the disappointed looks on everyone's faces in the distant command center. She realized how serious things were.

Marshal Stacker's expression was grim, as though he was ready to shoulder the blame himself.

The pilots of Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon stood on the catwalk, looking at her with disappointment in their eyes.

Old Hansen and Young Hansen seemed to be arguing in the command center. Young Hansen simply couldn't trust his back to a teammate who might lose control at any moment.

Dejection... guilt... Mako Mori, who had only just surfaced from the flood of memories, was once again engulfed by negative emotions.

She knew she had messed up.

She had betrayed her father's trust, and everyone else's too.

"No, this wasn't your fault." Raleigh immediately noticed how she was feeling and comforted her. "I was the one who had a problem first. I saw my brother... and that affected you afterward."

And that was indeed what had happened.

Both of them carried shadows in their hearts, and when those two shadows collided, the consequences were impossible to predict.

"Both pilots, leave the Jaeger immediately." The command center's voice sounded inside the Jaeger.

Hearing the order, they glanced at the people in the command center, sighed inwardly, and rose from the floor.

What awaited them next would hardly be a warm reception.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to [FishFishFishz] for the Superfan Certification gift! Thank you, boss!

After the debut, I'll post an extra chapter for the boss!