This is the Pacific Rim fanfic I never knew I needed so badly.

Ugh, this is the feels and it hits me so hard. And I read this after the other Generation K fics so it hits me harder. And I now don't want Yancy to die in the beginning of the movie! Noooooooo.

(Continuation of my previous comment, that got too long for a single chapter)

Also also, I watched the battle against Knifehead on YouTube again. Yancy's death never hurt so much, because I barely knew him, but this time... it hurt much, much more. His dying scream, to which I hadn't really payed attention before (by now, I've seen millions of people going out with a scream in films) kinda broke my heart all of a sudden. All because of this story. And it isn't even official canon! Well, it is to me.

Finally, just a tiny remark: I don't remember exactly where it happens (I think during the Becket's first visit at the Shatterdome where Yankee Star is, or after the Yankee Star crew goes to visit them), that the Rangers hear about the wall project for the first time. In the same scene, or one scene later, someone makes a Game of Thrones reference. So... come on, you missed the perfect opportunity to make some kind of pun that compares the North Wall to the Pacific Rim wall!

Ugh, I never run out of tiny remarks, don't I? Because I just remembered something else: Does the MCU exist in this universe? Becaaaause... if so, then who plays Heimdall in the Thor movies? You know... 'cause Idris Elba is busy not existing because he's Stacker Pentecost.

(Sorry for not always posting reviews below the right chapters, I just can't find them)

Here, destroying cities seems to be a much higher priority to the Kaiju than in canon. Didn't you notice that in the movie, once a Jaeger showed up, nothing else mattered to the Kaiju than to destroy it? It definitely wouldn't run away to destroy more buildings. Yeah, Otachi chasing Newt was an exception, but they were exceptional circumstances. And once Gipsy showed up, even Newt lost any importance to her.

I remember there was a battle, I think the second real one, where the Jaeger got knocked onto the ground and the Kaiju ran away to destroy more buildings. That's... kind of a classic villain mistake that Kaiju's don't usually make. If a Kaiju knocks a Jaeger onto the ground, it will jump on it and pound it to pieces. THEN it will go on destroying landmarks. Destroying the Jaeger is always top priority.

Jeez, all this criticism really needs some positive comments to balance it out. So, let's focus on the stuff you did right: I love how good you are at character development. You can actually feel the characters changing over time. And not just changing, either: they're actually getting more mature. Which is a specific kind of change kinda hard to nail. It's easy to make your characters change over time. But what many works do is that, first, the change seems a bit arbitrary, and second, the motives are fuzzy or don't receive enough attention, so when we finally realize that the character changed, we're like "huh? What happened to change his/her mind?" Well, here it's not like that. The Beckets are growing up, developing in a way that feels natural. And you don't only know the exact motive for each change, you can understand it and empathize with it. Once again, that's not an easy task.
Oh, and I love your dialogue. It flows so naturally, and is always funny, what with the characters constantly snarking at each other. Love it.
I also like your original characters a lot.
Last but not least, and connected to the point about character development: I can't help but be amazed at how you picked the versions from Raleigh and Yancy we see in the prologue of the film (and the book), and created younger and less mature versions of themselves. And it feels completely believable. When I look at how they are "now", and how they are in your story, I totally believe that these are the same people in different states of maturity. Granted, they had a few cameos in the prequel comic, but that's still very little information to go by.

Not sure if this is the right chapter, but I'll just post it here. I noticed something: You kinda glossed over things people living these situations normally wouldn't. This story is focussing on the important moments of the Becket's academy life. Which means, it probably follows something like the memory pattern of a person. You know, we always remember the moments that leave a bigger impact on us. Thus, I feel like you glossed over a bit too quickly on the beginning of the Jaeger simulations. I mean, just imagine it! Entering a simulator like this for the first time, probably with cool sci-fi suits, watching awesome blue and orange holograms light up in front of you and feel and control the body of an enormous robot while an enormous beast charges at you, roaring. Doesn't matter it's not real, I just feel like it would definitely be a scene worth noting.

Also... remember the first launch scene from the movie? Me too. How could I forget it? Watching all that stuff happening for the first time... Raleigh and Yancy donning the cool sci-fi suits mentioned earlier, entering a badass looking conn-pod that just gets more badass as the holograms, then dropping onto Gipsy Danger and watching her move forward, all with Ramin Djawadi's epic score... that just sticks with someone. And leaves him breathless at the moment. Now if you were one of the people in those suits? Even without the epic music, it's ten times cooler. Just getting into the lift to go into the suiting bay, getting into the suits, walking into the conn-pod... if I was living that experience, I would be aware of every single moment, if you understand what I mean. That would translate into describing the scene with much more detail in the book.

Yeah, I guess all of this is because I'm still a teenager who's a real sucker for action scenes and sci-fi stuff, but well, all of this still is an important part in the main character's lives and thus shouldn't be ignored. And... yeah, this is Pacific Rim. Jaeger vs Kaiju battles are simply part of it.

This chapter kinda made me realize what's missing most in this story.

Pacific Rim is great for, mostly, three things: A solid story, deep character development, and epic Jaeger vs Kaiju battles. But this book only delivers on the first two. I do realize this is more of a personal drama, that it's about the characters, but the characters are only half the reason I love Pacific Rim. A good pacing is a about the right interplay between action and drama, especially when the action serves to ENHANCE the drama and character development. That's what the movie is good at. And this story would have the perfect pacing, if only you described some of the simulator battles, and occasional real battles, in more detail, like the one in this chapter. Because this battle was really just awesome. Loved the way you described it (even though there still could've been more detail). Also, it wasn't one-sided like the previous ones, thus adding more suspense. I really wish there were more like this one.

Other than that, of course, everything's great. Still loving the book.

And to balance out the negative paragraph in the last review, here comes this:

Consider me mindblown. I didn't finish the chapter yet, but my god, it's awesome. The description of the first drift was incredibly well-crafted. I was a little afraid you would keep the description brief, since you often glossed over details I would've liked to read more about, but this clearly wasn't the case. The description of the drift was really vivid, and it also felt very real. You took some inspiration from the way the drift was portrayed in the novelization, but you didn't straight-up copy it, either, instead expanding on it.

I also loved how you addressed something I had actually wondered about: when you drift with someone, he gets to learn every little secret you had. Worse, any... well... intimate moments you had with someone, he might actually experience them from your point of view, reading your thoughts, and all of that with a huge sense of realism... that's kind of a scary thought... and well, you sure addressed well what people would think and feel before their first drift, and what kind of things they would have to worry about. Well done!

Oh. My. God. This chapter was so incredibly powerful. Left me a real emotional wreck after reading it, which I guess was very deliberate. You couldn't even let it have kind of a hopeful ending! Goddamn... you evil genius. xD

I really felt Raleigh's dilemma. He could either go the way of pure awesomeness or do the right thing and stay because those who should be responsible for them had messed up. I just don't understand why he got sent away all the time. He was 17. I'M 17 right now, and I'd be old enough to handle something like that, right?

Well, maybe not... because if I were in Raleigh's place, I wouldn't have gone away. I wouldn't have limited myself to a quiet "not enough" to this terrible dad. I would have said exactly how I felt about him leaving us like this. How much of a monster he was. Damn, I can tell I'm still an emotional wreck. xD

I just feel like Yancy's personality isn't quite right with the canon material, even though we get to see very little of him. I know the opening of the movie portrays him as completely unexcited about everything and grounded in reality, but you can tell that when they're suiting up, he's starting to get excited and cocky about it as well. Also, the ridiculous amount of military-grade respect he shows towards authorities isn't quite right either, as he doesn't hesitate to go against Pentecost's order when the boat is in danger. Also also, the way he's portrayed, being the protective big brother, doesn't quite match up with the fact that later on he hooks up with Naomi even though she clearly fancied Raleigh, and the other way around.

So far, I'm loving this story! You fill in blank spots in the lore that really make sense, you clearly did your research about the topic, your original characters might just as well have been lifted straight out of cannon, and the story itself is so good and fits the lore so well that I constantly have to remind myself it isn't cannon. Well, in my eyes, it might as well be.

The only complain I have is the slow, not-very-catchy start. I would've kicked the story off with the Kaiju attack flashback where Raleigh witnessed Brawler Yukon taking on Karloff, it would've made for a much better start.

But as I said, only a small flaw in an otherwise great story. Looking forward to read the rest!

I loved this story! To the point that I've spent every moment of the last Three days not at work or sleeping reading it. Well Done. Having only the movie to go off of, I loved this prelude to it.

LOVED THIS!

I loved this so freaking much I can't even describe.
Thank you so much for writing something so amazingly awesome!

Great story, brilliant interactions, yay seeing Raleigh and Yancy together pre Knifehead and the story finishing before that so that there is a happy ending in this story for Raleigh and Yancy.

Yancy and Raleigh's brotherly relationship is great and shows how much they both mean to each other and to show how horrendous it must have been for Raleigh after Knifehead after loosing the one person who had supported and believed in him from the beginning. Also brilliant was showing that while Yancy looks like the better pilot on paper Raleigh earned his place on his own merits and Gipsy Danger wouldn't have been as good as she was then without both of them. Also great for not making anybody the villain with regards of Yancy, Raleigh and Jazmine, none of them are perfect but neither of them are completely at fault they just were put in an awful situation.

Hey Jocelyn. I've been coming back to Pacific Rim fanfiction, and I stumbled upon this delight. I can't even call it a "masterpiece", because it's so real and touching and inspiring and depressing and gratifying, all at the same time. I started probably a week ago, and I've just finished. Let me tell you right now that this is probably the BEST fanfiction up here. If you ever read this (hopefully you do; I saw you update Aurora Australis recently), I just wanted to let you know how amazed and proud I am of your work. One aspect that I think separates this fic from some others is the realism. I'm also a big fan of Pacific Rim: New Chance (and its incomplete sequel, for that matter), but this one just feels so grounded, like touching after drift-shock (yes, I know, haha). There's so much foundation to this story, and I know that there is an insane amount of headcanon that had to occur before anything like this could be created, but because it's done so well, I feel like I'm in another world. I find myself wishing so badly that I lived in this fantasy world. Jocelyn, I just want to say "thank you" for doing this. You really deserve it. You deserve WAY more than it. But it's the least I can do. 3 Messy. :D

I'm only through chapter nine, but you should know you've derailed my evening of exercise just so I can keep reading!

Great story overall, looking forward to reading your other stuff, well done!

I loved the cinematic masterpiece that was Pacific Rim; instant classic.

Your fic is good and I am enjoying reading it even without having the extra background from the novels. In particular I like how in the case of the Pentecost and Herc Hansen you get the characters EXACTLY right, great job!

On a totally unimportant point; have you ever been to Ireland around St Patrick's day...? It turns into 3 day party at least, and thats in every single city and town in the country. Its the most insane thing I have ever experienced. Its like the whole country turns into a giant music festival. So yeah the Irish do in fact celebrate St Patricks day .