"Alright Miss Rose, we're setting down now. Welcome to the Shatter-dome, Jaeger Pilot." Ruby nodded to the helicopter pilot, grabbing her bag and climbing out as soon as the chopper landed. Her uncle was the first greet her at the edge of the helipad, standing in his Pilot uniform with a blank, militaristic expression.
"Uncle Q-I mean, Commander Branwen. Good to see you." Qrow smirked, breaking his facade and putting his hand out towards Ruby, who quickly shook it. "I don't care if you call me your uncle, Ruby. Gods know we need you here, though. Thought you weren't supposed show till next year?"
The crimsonette adjusted her bag while she spoke, the pair starting towards the inner section of the Shatter-dome. "About that. The Board told me to tell you that they're cutting funding to the Jaeger initiative, unless you show results. So, I'm the last Pilot they're sending." Qrow, of course, scowled at the Board's decision, muttering things like "results my working kidney" and "we're the reason humanity's survived till now", though he quickly calmed down.
"Alright. They want results, we'll give them results. Come on, time to get you partnered up, and into sim training." Ruby nodded and followed her uncle, staring in both awe and excitement at the Jaegers the two passed on the way through. They walked past Dragonslayer, Piloted by Yang Xiao Long and Jaune Arc. Black Sun, Piloted by Blake Belladonna and Sun Wukong. Thunderbolts, by far one of the more famous ones, Piloted by Nora Valkyrie and her AI, Penny Polendina. And of course they had to stop by White Rose, the Jaeger that Ruby was supposed to Pilot with her mother, Summer Rose.
"We've been keeping her ready, for when you got out of training. Time to meet who you'll pilot her with." Qrow started walking off, and Ruby followed after looking at White Rose again with a sad smile. The two walked in silence for a while, until they walked into a lab. Three people were already inside, a man with black hair and a pink streak in it, who was busy checking a woman with white hair's vitals, and a woman with bright red hair and green eyes, who was frantically rushing around, making sure things were all the right places, and everything was neat and orderly. Everyone stopped what they were doing when Qrow cleared his throat, making his presence known.
"Commander Branwen, I still don't know why you're making me do this. I'm not compatible with anyone but Winter, you said so yourself." Ruby, being the massive nerd she was, immediately knew who this was. Weiss Schnee, one of the Pilots of Ice Queens. The other was Winter Schnee, Weiss' sister. No one had seen Ice Queens in months, everyone thought the Jaeger Pilots were dead. Turns out it was only one. She was brought out of her thoughts by Qrow putting his hand on her shoulder.
"You hear me, Ruby? You're gonna try drifting with someone. This won't be like in training, you-." Ruby smiled and cut him off, "Can't chase the rabbit, I know. Drilled that into my head in training." Everyone but Qrow was appalled at the fact that Ruby cut Qrow off mid-sentence, the Commander just chuckling. "Well, trust me. It's a lot different when you're actually drifting. It's harder to let the memories flow than it is to stay in them. I know from experience, kid."
Ruby nodded in acknowledgement of Qrow's words. "Alright. Miss Nikos and Dr. Ren will get you two set up for a test drift. Let's hope this works, cause we need both of you ready for action ASAP." Weiss sighed but complied, getting up and walking over to the drift test beds. Ruby walked over as well, holding her hand out.
"Here's hoping? Name's Ruby." Weiss didn't return the gesture, batting Ruby's hand away and laying back into drift-bed. "This isn't the academy, Newbie. Don't get your hopes up."
The crimsonette just sighed and did the same, slowing her breathing to clear her mind. The less she thought, the easier the drift. One of the first things she'd been taught.
"Alright. Vitals are looking good, brain activity is normal, they're ready, Lie." Ren nodded, rolling his chair between the two women.
"Okay. Now, I know you've heard me say this a million times, Weiss, but this time it's more towards Ruby. When the drift starts, just let it go. Don't get caught in a memory. It's rare that people who aren't siblings drift well, so we need these readings to be as accurate as possible. We good? Good." After the amazing pep-talk, Ren rolled back to his desk, typing a few things. As she felt the drift take her, her only thought was, 'please let this work.'
YOU ARE READING
Pacific Grimm
Fanfiction2089. The year everything went to hell. We called them Grimm. The public called them Kaiju. It didn't matter. They decimated our cities, killed thousands. They were monsters. So we made our own monsters. The Jaegers. Man-made monsters controlled by...
