Leatherback

"Quick, move!"

"The kaiju is heading this way! Run!"

"Damn kaiju!"

"Run! Run!"

"I finally found a job, and now a kaiju's ruined it again!"

The kaiju attack alarm plunged the entire construction site into chaos!

All the workers scrambled to evacuate, fleeing the shadows beneath the Wall of Life's steel framework and fighting to climb aboard construction vehicles. Those left behind could only run on foot, throwing the scene into utter pandemonium.

Everyone living in this era knew how terrifying kaiju were.

They all knew what happened to anyone who ran too slowly at a time like this.

The collapsing Wall of Life alone could kill them.

Whenever a kaiju made landfall, thousands upon thousands of deaths inevitably followed. Humans were far too insignificant before their immense size. Even running for their lives, people could only watch as those enormous feet descended from the sky and crushed them into pulp, making them part of the rubble.

In this era, kaiju were synonymous with despair!

"Shit!"

"Why the hell did a kaiju have to come here?!"

"Didn't the news say it was attacking Sydney?!"

Miles, the shift supervisor, shouted in desperation. His section of the project was still unfinished. If a kaiju destroyed the half-built Wall of Life, he would never get paid!

"Get back!"

"All of you, get the hell back!"

"Just because the alarm went off doesn't mean a kaiju will actually come!"

Standing in the bed of a truck with a megaphone in hand, Miles shouted at the workers fleeing in every direction.

As the truck passed them, the running workers couldn't help shouting abuse at him. "Fuck you, Miles!"

"You're the first bastard running away!"

"Fuck you too!" Miles's truck was out in front, and the other workers' battered construction vehicles couldn't keep up. He stood in the truck bed, his face contorted as he kept shouting at the people behind him, "My life is worth more than yours!"

No one dared waste time at a moment like this.

Even the workers atop the wall slid down the steel reinforcement bars and joined the others fleeing this stretch of the Wall of Life nearest the coast.

"We need to run faster!"

"Trust me, kaiju are far more terrifying than you can imagine."

With his extensive experience facing kaiju, Raleigh had grabbed Natsuki and started running the moment the alarm sounded. They joined the fleeing crowd, and as he ran, his breath misting white, he spoke earnestly to Natsuki beside him.

Right now, he wasn't a Jaeger pilot, just an ordinary man.

He had no way to fight the approaching kaiju. All he could do was run.

"Okay."

"I hope this thing isn't as strong as Zetton..." Natsuki nodded and ran alongside Raleigh, silently hoping this kaiju wouldn't give him any extra work.

Transforming before he had even seen the kaiju clearly wasn't a wise move.

Besides, he had already learned from Raleigh that their enemy was immensely powerful.

He would put some distance between them first, observe the kaiju once it appeared, then consider transforming to fight it.

They kept running.

Suddenly, the sound of rotors and an engine rang out overhead, as though a helicopter was passing above them.

The familiar sound immediately caught Raleigh's attention.

He looked up and saw a black military Sikorsky helicopter fly over their group and slowly descend into an open area ahead.

The cabin door opened, revealing a face he knew all too well.

"Marshal?!" Raleigh exclaimed in shock. The newcomer was his former commanding officer, the man who had led the Jaegers in the counterattack against the kaiju, Stacker Pentecost!

"Why are you here?!"

He couldn't understand why Marshal Stacker had appeared before him at such a critical moment.

"I'll explain later!"

"Get in first!" Marshal Stacker waved to Raleigh, his expression urgent amid the wind and snow, motioning for him to board the helicopter.

Raleigh was crucial to the plans ahead. Nothing could be allowed to happen to him here, or the future of all humanity would suffer.

"Right!"

Raleigh also knew time was short. He exchanged a glance and a nod with Natsuki, and they ran together toward the waiting helicopter.

The fleeing workers' shouts, the piercing alarms, the roar of the rotors and engine, and the crunch of boots on the snow-covered road all mingled into a deafening clamor.

But a second later-

An immense sound overwhelmed every other noise.

Boom!

The waters of the Gulf of Alaska bulged upward as a colossal creature broke through the surface, sending towering waves crashing against the half-built Wall of Life.

Amid heavy, pounding tremors, everyone could see an enormous figure through the gaps in the Wall of Life's exposed steel framework. Its hideous head stood out with dreadful clarity, corrosive saliva dripping from its gaping maw.

"Rooaaar-"

The kaiju swiveled its six green eyes, fixing its gaze on the black helicopter behind the Wall of Life and Raleigh Becket, who was sprinting toward it. It let out a thunderous roar and raised its thick arms at the wall before it.

Boom!

Two punches shattered the unfinished Wall of Life, sending concrete and steel flying through the wind and snow. The wall humanity had pinned such high hopes on proved no sturdier than a sheet of foam!

"It's coming! It's coming!"

"God, please don't let it catch me!"

With the wall down, the people fleeing in panic could finally see the kaiju in full.

It crawled on thick limbs, its skin a deep green, every inch of it looking impossibly tough. Its tail churned the sea into surging waves, and its build and movements resembled those of an enormous gorilla. But its mountainous, humped back and its head, shaped like a mixture of seashell and coral, proclaimed its identity as a kaiju.

Leatherback (Category IV kaiju)

This was the Category IV kaiju Shatterdome Base had named [Leatherback]!

It trampled over the shattered Wall of Life and came ashore, advancing steadily toward the black helicopter. Every step seemed to land on the hearts of those watching, sending powerful tremors through them.

Seeing Raleigh draw closer and closer to the helicopter, it realized its target might escape.

"Rooaaar!"

Then, following a thunderous roar, its mountainous back lit up. This was the weapon it had developed specifically to deal with humanity.

After briefly charging, it released a powerful electromagnetic pulse with a hum, sending it spreading outward in a ring. Snowflakes swirled violently through the air, the collapsed Wall of Life suffered a second battering, and the helicopter carrying Marshal Stacker lost all functionality at once!

Even those who had fled farther away were struck by the shock wave and knocked to the ground. Fortunately, the attack targeted machinery and didn't take their lives.

Still, they weren't far from death. The Jaegers had yet to be transported here, and sooner or later, the kaiju would crush them into pulp!