Adventures of an Employed Planeswalker

(Matt's POV)

It's a crisp and cold morning here in Alaska. Just like every other day I've been here. 

"So we're doing this... we've been fighting with them for so long without retaliation."

Raleigh looks at Yancy and seems ready to say something, but we hear our operator saying we're clear to 'suit up'. While they go towards the newly repaired Gypsy Danger, I see Carina and James climbing Victorian Nemean and two other pairs of pilots climbing atop their Jaegers.

Pentecost is not pulling any punches, since if this operation succeeds, they'll get even more support from the military and their oh-so-holy funding. I'm all for it just so I can stick it to the General's face. Prick.

Oriental Menace is a much shorter Jaeger than its counterparts, standing at 50 meters (164~ feet) in height, with as much armor as its diminutive and speed-focused form could allow. It had a cannon as most of the Jaegars do, but its focus was its speed and dual short plasma cutters.

Hawaiian Comeuppance is a bulky Jaegar. It seemed to give up most of its speed for armor and more mechanical ways of exerting force, especially blunt power. It stood 89 meters tall (291~ ft), the tallest, meanest motherfucker around.

When they all finally get in their Jeagers, with the guest pilots glancing at me more than a few times, I also suit up and wait for them at the end of the access bay.

"Alright pilots, focus up! You have the payload ready and we got the signal: the Rift of the Gulf is opening. The signal is the same as last time: at least one category-3 Kaiju is to be expected. You have to neutralize them and then secure the payload inside the rift and detonate it. Am I clear?"

"""Yes sir!""" 

As we descend into the Pacific Ocean, I observe these Jaegers. One of them, Oriental Menace, is piloted by Miko Maritawa and Kanna Shirakami.

The other, Hawaiian Comeuppance, is piloted by brothers just like Gypsy Danger. Phill and Kelani McCardy. Looking through their information, the McCardy family adopted Kelani after the disaster in Hawaii due to some previous connections between their families.

Even without studying these Jaegers, just by noticing the pattern by which the pilots are chosen, an astute observer would notice how important the connection and affinity between them are. Knowing exactly why is even more important: they need to share the burden of controlling the Jaegers between both their minds.

That means that the connection they have while piloting these Jargers is deep and intimate and not everyone can pilot together.

That being said, Hawaiian Comeuppance being a tank like Victorian Nemean and Oriental Menace being a quick assassin type of flanker seems like a common matchup.

Everyone is tense, we are carrying a tactical nuke after all. But this thing has so many failsafes that it won't even blow up without being activated first. 

It's an ingenious little trick that introduces a mechanical activation failsafe; not very useful for long-range attacks, but particularly good when it's to be planted in place... or in this case, delivered to a target that is on another side of a Rift in space by a bunch of giant robots.

Still, its utter destruction will spill the contents of the bomb, polluting the environment with concerning amounts of radioactive material.

"Signal fluctuations stopped, the Rift is stable. They're coming out now." The operator informs us.

"This is it... you know how it is: Vic and Hawaiian go up front and intercept them. Menace will flank and dice them while we provide long-range support." I noticed how Yancy speaks a lot when he's nervous. The problem is that he also talks too much normally, so it's hard to say how he's feeling.

"Remember: just hold them long enough so I can blast them!" I don't need them, but they need to feel necessary. 

From the start, this didn't have to be a team effort. I could solo these Kaiju easily with Caby here as my main man and Symby's tentacles as an assist if needed. But if I just went and solved it all, they wouldn't appreciate it. They'll take it for granted and eventually, they'll keep asking for shit...

They need to be involved up until I solve this Kaiju problem. I need time to figure out and develop all my powers, build up my body as much as possible, learn all I can, and improve the Jaegers.

So, I stay with them as long as I can benefit from their company.

"Target up ahead." Said a focused voice from Hawaiian, already setting itself in an upright and firm stance in preparation for battle.

The Jeagers all set their stance from their underwater travel mode to normal uprightness and each prepared in their positions.

The Kaiju this time are two behemoths comparable in size with the last two. One of them has a bigass mouth with sharp and serrated teeth and looks a bit like a crocodile. The other seems very gecko-like and has ... a deformed back?

Oh, it's a cannon.

... A CANNON!?

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(3rd Person POV)

Just as the squad of Jaegers got into a reasonable range of the Kaiju and spread themselves in their positions, much to their shock, so did the Kaiju.

The big-mouthed one dashed as quickly as its body allowed and was upon Hawaiian in no time. The pilots didn't manage to dodge in time but did grab it in a clumsy chokehold. 

The stalemate did not last as long as they wanted as the Kaiju seemingly slithered out of their grasp and bit down on their shoulder.

The whole squad was shocked as they didn't expect such a nimble Kaiju with such a size. Before Croc-a-Smile could do more damage to their frontline, Oriental Menace dashed in and sliced it up.

To the squad's relief, it did not seem as armored as many others they faced and got sliced, although superficially. The tricky thing was that as soon as it hissed and snapped its jaws at them, they noticed the blue build-up of energy coming from their side.

"INCOMING!" 

They were about to dash out of the way when a small speck of blue and black stood in the way of the projectile and extended a barrier from its hands. The blast collided with the barrier and... vanished as if it didn't exist.

"Leave this one to me! I'll finish as soon as possible to provide support!" Came Matt's childlike voice.

"Victorian, on me! We'll need all the help you can give to pin this bastard down. Gypsy, Menace, you know what to do." Said one Phill McCardy from Hawaiian's cockpit.

Croc-a-Smile was not in the mood to wait for their planning, however. Swimming their way, it seemed to look at Gypsy Danger, something like a glimpse of recognition darting across its beady eyes. 

It deliberately feinted a charge towards Victorian Nemean, which was already preparing to stab and hold it in place. It snapped its body with incredible flexibility, giving the big robot a tail slap to the face and pushing itself away from it towards a very surprised Gypsy Danger. 

Surprised or not, the Becket brothers brushed too close with death recently and decided to train in the simulator for as long as possible. While not any more proficient in Jaeger piloting, they were sharp and ready for danger.

Engaging their own plasma cutter and their energy cannon, they pulled a dirty maneuver on the deceiving Kaiju. Pointing their cannon towards the Kaiju, it used its unbelievable flexibility to twist its body out of their aim and kept gunning for them.

The Becket brothers smiled as they saw this. Aiming their cannon toward the ground, they fired it while using their foot boosters, effectively leaping over the Kaiju as it fiercely shut its jaws where their head would be.

As it recovered from its failed attack, Croc-a-Smile turned to look for the Jaegars, and it felt a sharp pain coming from its side. There was Menace once again stabbing it repeatedly and using its cuts like a ladder. It opened its mouth and tried hissing the annoyance away. As it prepared to once again shake its body to get rid of the annoying robot, it felt the top of its head burn.

Looking up it saw Gypsy Danger slowly gaining speed towards the ground now that their boosts were off, with its cannon shining and shooting. It knew it couldn't be pinned or it would die, so Croc-a-Smile disregarded Menace and pushed against the sandy ground toward Gypsy Danger.

Although not expecting that decision, Gypsy quickly engaged its boosters again and shot a clawed arm that the kaiju used to defend itself from the fire. Menace kept climbing its back but scampered to the side to avoid the booster fire. 

Croc-a-Smile knew it had to take care of these pesky pieces of metal and fast if it wanted to live so getting its arm burnt was a sacrifice it was willing to make if it meant tearing one of the fast ones apart.

Unfortunately, it didn't have the luxury of tunnel vision as its long-range ally was occupied. Victorian Nemean and Hawaiian Comeuppance closed in on Gypsy, by now knowing the Kaiju was thirsting for it, and grabbed it for either side.

Hawaiian activated its piston-like elbows and started hammering away while Vic stabbed it deep in the midsection. Menace climbed up to its head and sliced both sides of its neck while Gypsy finished it with a charged energy blast to the top of the head.

"Wow... ok, Mr. Crocodile must have been a very nasty lizard to deserve such a beating." Yancy, as always, tried to break the tension with what he thought was a witty remark.

Nobody else thought it was a witty remark.

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(Matt's POV)

|Analyzing... pure energy, concentration: lacking, amount: lackluster, quality: subpar. Conclusion: poorly designed cannon and energy-gathering systems.|

Still, that thing can shoot energy! There's no other report of anything like that.

Getting closer to the Kaiju, I see it's big but it remains with its four appendages on the ground. Its head and shoulders seem to aid in the aiming of the big cannon on its back. The energy might be lackluster and whatnot to Caby, but it would pack quite the punch against the Jaegers. Besides the cannon, this creature seems... fragile.

As I approached it further, it seemed to stop gathering energy on its cannon and quickly turned transparent. As Caby goes through a few visual spectrums I notice these creatures emanate heat but much less than expected. Maybe a less advanced heat sensor wouldn't be able to catch it.

'These guys sure are tricky, huh.'

I dash over to it and immobilize it with my tentacles, having one of them penetrate the base of its neck and sever its spine, ending its life. 

I look over to the Jarger platoon and see that they seem to be handling themselves well enough (Why is Gypsy shooting the ground though?). 'I can say this one was hard to find.'

I proceeded to fire my tentacles at several spots on the ground to make it seem like I was struggling to find it.

'While that happens, Caby scan it, please.'

Holy shit.

Ok, I thought it was maybe a difference in biology that made these things bleed toxic blue liquid that turns to mist, but this... isn't even biology per se anymore. Not the conventional one at least.

The Kaiju are machines.