//------------------------------// // Next in Line // Story: No Safe Haven // by Rexzilla //------------------------------// "So then Gipsy had to come in and save all of their asses." Kyle said setting his cup down on the table. The pilots of Western Belle had been introduced to Sugarcube Corner earlier that day. "So good 'ole Gipsy dropped in, beat some shit out of the gorilla, grabbed an oil rig, and went after Otachi". "Wow. I never would have imagined they are that strong". Twilight said in shock. "Well don't stop there! What happened to the other one"? Rainbow Dash said. As a mare of sport, competition, and over all winning, she couldn't stand having this story go unfinished. "Did your friend win?" "Yeah, but took some beating themselves. You see, the second Kaiju actually had wings. During the battle, it got a hold of Gipsy in its massive claws and took off. Took Raleigh and Mako way up almost into space. Their oxygen was running out due to battle damage and couldn't free themselves from". Kyle continued in a zoned out way. "So that means.... They died?" Rainbow's excitement was drained from her. "Ha, Nope." Jason replied with a smile spreading across his face. He had just gotten back from outside and had turned a chair around backwards to lean forward on the back of it. "You see lucky for Raleigh, his girlfriend was head of the old Mark III restoration program. And she had new weapons installed and everything. Chain swords including. They whipped those bad boys out, cut the bitch clean in half, fell back to earth, end of story". They had the full attention of the six ponies crowding around the table. And even Mr. and Mrs. Cake who were listening from across the little bakery. "Would have lost Striker, Cherno, and Crimson all in one night if it weren't for those two. Then it would have been all up to a few Mark I Jaegers. They can still put up a hell of a fight and lay on the hurt though. Hell, I heard one of them held off against a CAT IV Kaiju. But nothing like Leatherback and Otachi". Jason said tapping his fingers on the sides of the warm cup nervously. The cider he ordered was delicious, it didn't taste like plastic like earth cider. He glared down into the swirling, steaming liquid. It was relaxing. Nothing was this peaceful back at the Shatterdome. "A lot more peaceful than the Shatterdome." Kyle repeated as if he was reading Jason's mind. But after drifting with another person for a while, that sort of thing tends to happen. "So, what's this, Shatter-thing you mentioned?" A very curious purple alicorn asked. All the other ponies didn't seem to know what to say. They never encountered anything like this before, let alone actually meeting something with that kind of power. "Well, it's basically just a massive garage that can hold multiple Jaegers, and even serve as a home to the engineers, commanders, pilots and all." Kyle said looking up at Twilight. "You mean, you practically mass produced those things?" Asked an anxious blue pegasus as her eyes grew wide with exitement and surprise. "Well, define mass produced. We built around thirty Jaegers. And thats damn good amount for how long it took to build each one and how much money it costs." "So how y'all coming along in this war ah yours?" Applejack asked, slightly suspicious. Kyle sighed. He knew the truth, he hated to admit it. But there was no point in lying to them since they weren't even on Earth anymore. "Not too well ma'am," He said looking down and past the orange pony. "We were winning for a while. When they didn't expect us to fight back. But then eventually our Jaegers were dropping, one after the other. Lost quite a few friends. But thanks to them, the Precursors still think they're fighting older Jaegers. Which give our Mark three, four, and fives a fighting chance." "So what are your Jaegers out there?" Rainbow Dash asked as she stared out the window at the enormous machine that was standing over Ponyville. "Well, ours is a Mark three, built off of Gipsy Danger's blueprint. Then Anderson and Jay's Jaeger is a Mark five, also built off of another Jaeger called Striker Eureka." Jason said, after taking a sip of his cider. "So how do you just walk into it and start controlling it?" Rainbow asked, she seemed to be taking far more interest in the whole ordeal than any of the others. "Well, it's complicated. It would take a while to explain it and for you to understand it." Kyle said, still sitting in his chair. "No offense or anything, but it's just easier to leave it how it is." At this moment, the guards had specially equipped ponies cleaning up the Kaiju leftovers. All that was left by now was just the bones, which sat right outside of the town. Vertigo and her crew were out testing the repaired knee and making sure everything was where it was supposed to be. They maneuvered around in basic boxing stances and styles. The massive monster was drawing much attention from the town's populace. Most were standing on a hill watching it move with its own natural flow. The vents on the back of Vertigo opened every time it made fast movements in order to keep the inside at a low temperature. Blue and red lights glowed on the chest of the Jaeger and caught the attention of many of the ponies. "Alright, lets try the bay doors." Anderson said. The two pilots widened their stance and pulled their hands down next to their mid torso. Immediately afterwards, the doors on the Jaegers chest moved out and down exposing large metal gears that rolled out six launch barrels. "Look fine to me." He said as he looked over at the ponies standing on the small hill. _____________________________________________________________________ "Is it ready to go?" Chrysalis asked Sombra as he stared up at the hellhound that was bashing itself against the cave walls trying desperately to break free. The layer was built into the side of one of Equestrias largest mountains. It was positioned about five-hundred kilometers away from Canterlot which was the priority one target. The inside was lit by massive fires conjured by magic from the servants who served the leaders. Sombra had a bandage wrapped around his horn as it slowly healed from the clash with the Jaeger. The two looked satisfied at the demon that was clawing furiously at the walls of the containment area. "You know we will take our revenge. We will destroy everything in our way. Only then, will we reclaim what was ours." Chrysalis continued. They turned around and walked out to the small platform the rested just below the mountains top. They gazed out across the land at the small mountain just barely visible on the horizon. "They should be here any minute. When they arrive, we let him go." Sombra said as he moved his wounded shoulder to a more comfortable position. ____________________________________________________________________ The next morning, the four pilots were asleep in their conpods. The sun was just peeking over the horizon and the morning birds were already singing their songs. The early warning system Vertigo possessed rang the alarm inside of the Jaegers head. Lights flashed through the conpod as the Rangers hopped to their feet and almost instantly began throwing their pilots suits on. What was usually a multi person job, had to be done by only two. One helped the other. Once they both got there black suits on they stepped into the braces and locked themselves in. They looked over at the accompanying Jaeger to see it calabrating itslef with the pilots. Vertigo quickly followed. "Loccent, what category is this one guys?" Jason asked over the com link between them and Vertigo. "It's not saying!" Jay quickly replied as the behemoth duo turned out away from the town. "But he's a big bastard." Out in the distance they could see not one, but two moving figures. They moved in rapidly destroying everything in their path. The Jaegers advanced out farther to increase the distance between the fight and the town. The two Kaiju were close enough for the pilots to tell they were bipedal. They had sharp edges of hard skin on an arrow-like head. They had long, thin arms each ended with large thick claws. Their tails spanned out with a "T" shape at the end with sharp ends. The stood tall and slowly advanced toward the town. "You guys take the one on the left, we got the other one!" Anderson ordered as Vertigo dug itself into a defensive fighting stance, bringing its fists up to its upper torso area. The first Kaiju closed in on Belle and immediately began lashing out at the Jaeger. The Rangers shrugged off the hits as the backs of the arms were thick enough to deflect any major damage. They hit one of the Kaijus arms away as they connected a hard uppercut at the bottom of its jaw. It retaliated by swinging its sharp tail around, penetrating the side of the Jaeger. The iron monster stumbled sideways and through a right punch at the Kaiju. The blow caught it off guard as it was hit by another hard hit from the Jaegers other arm. Belle proceeded to grab the Kaijus neck, squeezing it as hard as it could. The giant amphibian dug its rear claws into the front of Belle. It tore downwards, ripping off chunks of the armor. The monster threw the Kaiju into the ground. "Elbow rocket, engage!" Kyle shouted out as the rocket in the monsters arm rammed the fist into the Kaijus face with twice the original power. The Kaiju fell backwards onto its back unconscious. Delta lunged at the second Kaiju and tackled it like a football player. It picked the Kaiju up over its head. The pilots then tossed it into the side of a nearby mountain and stomped the side of its head in. At that same moment, the first Kaiju jumped back up at Belle, grabbing onto its right shoulder. It used its legs to push at the Jaeger, cutting into its armor and with its arms, ripped off Belles arm just above the elbow. The dismembered arm fell to the ground and crushed anything underneath it. The Kaiju continued to dig its legs intot he side of the Jaeger as Kyle screamed in pain every time it ripped parts off of Belle's side. Jason swung the right arm onto the back of the Kaiju's neck and attempted to pull it off. Vertigo turned to face the incident but was met with a giant multi-headed beast. Cerberus. It growled and snarled with saliva dripping from each of its three mouths. The heads glared directly into the Jaegers conpod with a hatred that only the devil himself could posses. The crazed monster snarled at the Jaeger. "Air missiles, now!" Jay yelled as the pilots widened their stance while the chest plates moved out and folded downwards exposing the six barrels. Before Cerberus could react, massive school bus sized shells slammed into its center head and upper chest. It roared as the fur on its middle head burned off exposing the burning flesh. It then charged towards Delta and bit down on both of its sides with the two outer heads. Each one took turns biting into the Jaegers thick armor. "Belle! We could really use your help over here!" Jay shouted over the radio as each of the three heads bit into the machine. "Hold on Delta! Be there in a minute!" Jason responded as he moved his hand outwards deploying the plasma cannon. Jason moved hi arm over to the back of the Kaijus head while the energy caster grew brighter by each passing second. "Jason! Kill it, now!" Kyle shouted to his brother. Belle released the charging energy blowing the back of the monsters skull out exposing the insides. The pilots released another shot. And another. And on the fourth shot, the Kaijus head was nearly missing. The only chunk left of it twitching and gurgling while it sprayed blood onto the ground. Jason shoved the monster off of the side and watched as the cannon twisted and retracted back into the hand that formed the weapon. "Hold up! We're coming!" Jason said. Belle turned around to see the hound ripping out one of the chest plates off of Delta. The left head ripped off one of the thigh plates chewing it in half before it was cut from the leg. The head on the far right whipped almost completely around, revealing its long, dirty snout. It backed up off of Delta, shoving the brawler backwards. "Alright Kyle, better us than them, right?" Jason said as he watched his brother nod in agreement. The one armed fighter moved its left arm horizontally out in front of its lower chest. The hell hound rushed the threatening Jaeger with its heads roaring an snarling. The pilots held their ground and pulled the arm back right as the hound got within striking range. The slugger's fist came crashing down on the dogs center head, knocking it out cold. The other head grabbed the fist in its mouth and shook violently trying to shred the other arm off. "Adjusting the torque!" Jason said as he punched the buttons on the control panel. The machine twisted its entire upper torso, using the extra force Jason pulled the dog back as it was flung through the air watching it crash to the ground just below where Canterlot is propped up on the mountain. The machine was not in any way authorized to fight at this point. The legs were giving out and Kyle was beginning to black out, but that made little difference to them. "Stick with me Kyle! We have to finish this!" Jason urged his brother. The beast slowly crawled back onto its giant paws and shook off the dirt from its black fur. It slammed its front claws into the ground as it showed its rage. Jason could feel the turbine grinding and clunking around indicating something was obviously wrong. Just then, Kyle blacked out. The right side of Belle went limp and Jason struggled to keep his side up. The monster bore down on the helpless pilots. With the Jaeger down on one knee, the hound stood just barely under eye level with the forward visor. Jason watched as it began grabbing the iron monsters chest and tore a large armor plate off of the left side. The opposite head grabbed one of the rear head plates and yanked it down over the conpod. With his last bit of strength, Jason took his arm and grabbed the dogs neck and watched as it began to choke. They other head, however, was still clamped down on the right side directly under where the arm would be. Jason used the leverage to lift the right side of the dog up using the other heads bight as the fulcrum to flip the dog onto its back. As he let go the Jaeger collapsed and rolled over the hound only to rest beside it. "Come on Belle, don't give up now, we have to kill this ugly bastard!" Jason thought to himself. He lied there pressing every button he knew could start some kind of weapon or even the reactor. The beast rose over the top of the conpod blocking out all the sunlight. With a large front swipe, it dislodged the dangling conpod sending it rolling away across the fields.