𝐈 𝐂𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐲 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝

𝐒𝐢𝐩-𝐘𝐮𝐤

7 months later

"Come on, Ranger Shin. You're better than this, again." Mentor Hwang advised Zalless during sparring.

Danielle had her on her ass, which was bizarre. Danielle's worst category is sparring with other rangers, whereas Zalless' best was both sparring and pilot simulation.

Her mind was anywhere but training today.

She's rank nine, just one away from becoming a backup pilot. But it's still a pilot. She ranks 5th in the fastest rangers to become pilots. That's if she succeed to rank up before the new year. But at this rate she looked like a rankless newbie on the padded floor.

"She's always focused, what's going on?" Yuna questioned Winter as they and their mentor watched Ryujin constantly get her ass kicked.

Her behavior was odd, every time Dani knocked her down she would get back up more and more frustrated and try harder and harder to focus. But whatever was on her mind was seriously fucking her up.

"Enough, Ranger Shin, I want you to take the rest of the day off." Mentor Hwang intervened, helping Ryujin up from the floor and taking her sparring stick away from her calmly.

"Mentor, I can continue, I just need five minutes." Zalless argued, but she was dismissed by her superior to return back to headquarters after stopping by the canteen for an early lunch.

"Ryujin, you've been working weekends and weekdays for months now, please eat and rest well for today." Winter stood forward, gently leading Ryujin off of the sparring mat.

Ryujin flipped her now black and blond hair. It was passed shoulder length and was accompanied with wispy bangs. She sat down on the floor to put her socks and boots back on before hugging each of her members, bowing to Mentor Hwang and leaving to eat at the canteen.

Eventually she learned to stop having lunch with Chaeryeong so often. She would never move on if she kept doing that. She figured the tattoo and finding her in the drift is enough.

Later that day, when the other members returned from the day's work, they spoke to Ryujin, questioning what's been bothering her so badly recently. They noticed this change in behavior slowly spark at the beginning of this month, December.

"Are you nervous to meet your parents for winter break?" Dani questioned, she knew Ryujin was nervous about that.

Ryujin sighed, wanting to either nod or shake her head to answer because she didn't feel like talking, but she couldn't answer without using words.

"That, but it's something else. I haven't gotten any letters from Yeji since the last one in November. It's been three weeks and I'm just... I'm wrecked."

"Three weeks..." Dani started, "wasn't the Mega Kaiju attack three week-"

"Dani!" Winter had to stop her.

"But Unnie, she's right. The attack with the three kaiju attack was three weeks ago. Should I see if I can get any updates from it?"

"...ok," Winter agreed hesitantly.

"What if Yeji Unnie-" Dani gasped and covered her mouth in worry.

Ryujin stared at her with broken eyes, she didn't want to assume the worst...

"Y'a! Stop that! She didn't! Her memorial would be in the Memorial Hall."

"When's the last time any of us have been there?"

They all answered, claiming they hadn't been there since November. Collectively, they all sprinted out of their living quarters to visit the Memorial Hall.

They ran around it in one circle trying to see if any new faces were added to the list. They did see some new faces, but they didn't see Yeji. They were relieved.

"Yeji's memorial wouldn't even be here." Winter voiced, remembering how the memorials worked.

"What do you mean?" Ryujin stood forward, getting closer to Winter.

"I mean... think about all of the pilots that have died in battle, all the rangers that lost their lives in this 3 decade old program. They can't have every single death in one memorial in every base. This memorial will only show veterans stationed here in Tokyo."

"So... Yeji might really be... gone? Can't we ask Marshal Kim? Winter?" Dani's voice waved as she spoke.

"My mom wouldn't tell us. But I can go into her office and take her laptop, we can look it up ourselves then." 

They didn't vocally decide to go with that plan, but in their heads they all knew that was the plan they would pursue.

They had to spot Marshal Kim first to ensure she wasn't in her office.

They found her walking in the hall, most likely to her office, so Dani did what she does best and stopped her to talk to her.

"Marshal Kim! I have a concern." She said to stop Marshal Kim in the hall.

"I'm listening, Ranger." Taeyeon responded, halting her steps.

"Well..." Dani went on to voice some nonexistent concerns she had. Allowing Winter to sneak into her office, grab her laptop and sneak back to their living quarters. "But I remember! I can just go to the Ranger Resources Center, sorry for wasting your time. Oh and the Combat Eye said she wanted to see you asap." Dani said once she saw that their mission was a success, guiding Taeyeon away from her office so she wouldn't go in and noticed her laptop missing.

She met with the others in their room, gathered on Chaeryeong's bed. Winter opened the laptop and got into it easily since the password is her birthday.

"Is there a way we can see a list of all of the rangers and their status?" Dani questioned.

"Yes, it's right here." Winter opened an open on the laptop, however it required a pass code that was both letters, numbers, and special characters. "Oh... I don't know the password to this."

"That's okay, just go to Safari and maybe the news will have more information on it." Yuna pitched. Winter followed her idea and opened Safari, searching 'mega kaiju attack' in the google search bar.

They read an article by a site created by the government, so it must be reliable.

"Ok, okay... On December 6th a second mega kaiju attack struck the US East Coast Rim, this attack featured the same three Kaiju we saw in Sydney earlier this year. Two massive category fours and a category five blah blah blah... Oh here's the list of Jaegers used in combat and their pilots, maybe it'll say whether they survived or not."

Winter went down the list, it went by Mark Generations, so Saber Athena was last on the list. However, it only gave the names of the pilots; Pilot Yeji Hwang and Pilot Lia Choi. But they kept scrolling for more information.

"Right there," Dani pointed and read off the screen, "Though the mission was a success, hundreds of civilians have been confirmed deceased, thousands injured, and millions of lives impacted. As for the pilots in combat, many died in combat or are in critical condition, few were able to man their jaegers after the attack. We can confirm the destruction of Cherno Alpha, November Ajax, Bracer Phoenix, both Gypsy models, Valor Omega, and Saber Athena, information of surviving pilots has yet to be announced."

Ryujin got up from the bed, angry. She just needs to fucking know if Yeji's okay.

"I wish there was a way for us to visit the base in Anchorage so we could see if she's okay." Yuna pouted.

"I think... I think we can." Dani stood up slowly, thinking deeply about a way they could make it possible. "Ryujin's parents are staying at their cabin in Anchorage, and she'll be visiting. Ryujin, you can visit the base there."

"They would never let me in alone, Dani. News about our relationship spread across all of the bases, Marshal Kim even told me that I wouldn't be allowed in if I tried."

"Then let's all go." Winter stood up after setting the laptop down on the bed next to her. "You said your family is rich, right?" She asked Ryujin, who nodded in confirmation. "How many bedrooms does that cabin have?"