Cold Sweat

"We won't find anything that way." After three hours of searching, Mako voiced her thoughts.

"I'm starting to believe it too. I don't understand where he could have gone. This is exactly where the meteorite hit," Raleigh said.

Their Jaeger was standing in front of a giant volcano that was constantly spewing lava and black smoke into the air. According to the coordinates, this is where the meteorite fell. It is obvious that a fault in the tectonic plate formed in this place and now there was a volcano here.

"Can our sensors detect organic compounds inside a volcano?" Raleigh asked uncertainly.

Mako looked at her drifting partner with a strange look before replying, "You do realize that lava can't contain organics right?"

"Don't look at me like that. We are talking about Torterra, it can emit a temperature greater than the temperature of lava. I'm sure he could take a bath from the bench and he wouldn't even break a sweat."

"Turtles don't sweat."

"I know… So what can we do?" Raleigh asked in a low voice, mulling over the problem.

"In order for sensors to recognize organic materials, organic molecules must be in the air. Therefore, if we do not, we will not discover what is not there. But we can use an ordinary radio radar and direct it to the lava. He won't be able to see far, but that's something. We will need to walk around the volcano to get a good result." Mako shared her idea.

Raleigh agreed with her and they decided to give it a try. They had no other ideas. Having come as close as possible to the volcano, they turned on the radar.

It was hard to make out anything on the monitor and their AI didn't do well with object recognition. Raleigh suggested that Mako concentrate on the monitor while he watched where their Jaeger was going.

"Almost nothing can be seen here. The liquid lava mixes with the stones, creating some chaos," Mako complained.

"Our boy is quite big. I'm sure you'll see him. If he is here." Raleigh's last sentence was uncertain. He also began to doubt this search. He started thinking about the worst case scenarios. Mako thought about it too.

KREEEKKK

There was a crack under the Jaeger's feet, and one foot sank into the molten lava. Raleigh quickly sat down and put his hands on the ground to keep from falling. He pulled his leg out of the hole and slowly placed it back on the ground. Standing up, Jaeger took a few steps back to get away from this place.

"It's like walking on thin ice," he commented. The Jaeger's leg was covered in liquid lava that was slowly flowing from it. The Jaeger body can withstand this temperature, but the internal mechanisms and wires can melt.

BEEEP

One of the sensors started beeping saying it had found something.

"What it is? Did the radar pick up anything in the lava?" Raleigh asked Mako.

"No… it's a bio-sensor. He discovered organic molecules in the air."

Guided by the indicators of the sensor, they began to search. Their path led them away from the volcano. But the closer they got, the more organic materials were in the air.

After walking about one kilometer, they stopped.

"It's here. As we move away from here, the numbers go down. This is the place with the largest number of molecules of biological origin."

"But I can't see anything…" Raleigh scanned the area. There was flat land that had formed from the solidification of lava, and there were some rocks covered in ash. Noticing something, he directed Jaeger to one of the rocks and ran his hand over it.

The Jaeger dropped the ashes and they noticed spikes that resembled Torterra's side spikes. Silence reigned in Jaeger's cabin. They thought nothing of it, but Raleigh sensed the panic and depression that Mako was starting to feel.

They stepped forward and put their hands on Torterra's shoulder and shook him.

"Hey... why are you lying here?" Raleigh said. But they knew the answer to that question.

Shaking off the ashes, they saw the dead and broken body of the creature that had saved their lives more than once. He was lying on his right shoulder, and half of his body was under the ground. His eyes were closed, but his mouth was open and filled with earth.

His tail and arms were bent, indicating multiple fractures. Pieces of armor were missing in many places, and one could see a lot of dried blood mixed with dirt.

It seemed that the world had become empty. Raleigh and Mako felt the emptiness of loss. Once upon a time, a Titan walked the world - the strongest being in the world with a human mind and a with heart better than most people have. A worthy man who gave his life to save people.

"It is bad! What should we do now? The war is not over and without him we will have to fight against the clones. They are as strong as him, but they all killed people mercilessly. They do not see the difference between man and animal. We won't be able to fight both Kaiju and clones. What will we do when the clones want to destroy our nuclear power plants? How do we stop them?"

Kaiju are also coming out of the portal more and more often. And each time they have a new weapon. How are we going to deal with this?" Mako began to speak quickly and tears welled up in her eyes. It was a panic attack. She was already depressed by the recent events, and now, seeing the dead Titan, she broke down.

"Сalm down. We will manage. Don't worry so much." Raleigh tried to calm her down.

"You do not understand! Our world is turning into a world of monsters, and only he was our ally. Maybe not now, but in the future humanity will be pushed off the planet!!" Mako almost screamed. Her emotions got out of control and she covered her face with her hands to hide her tears.

Not knowing how to calm her down, Raleigh just stared at the creature he owed his life to. Most of the Jaeger pilots were saved by him. Every city he defended or every time he fought a Kaiju alone made people feel indebted. Despite the fact that he was not human, he was loved and respected.

Panic and despair spread as he saw Mako's thoughts. She imagined a future without Torterra. White Thorns will restore their population. Without the clones hunting the White Thorns, they would quickly recover, killing all life in the oceans and causing world starvation. After recovering, they will attack, and this time they will only be stopped by nukes, which will cause the clones to increase in strength.

By fighting the clones, the number of Jaegers will decrease, and the tired humanity will no longer be able to restore their numbers. After that, the Kaiju will fill the world, and humanity will not have a chance to close the portal. Even if the humans close the portal, the White Thorns are capable of creating great Kaiju, so even without the portal, the world will be taken over.

Watching Mako's thoughts, Raleigh's back was covered in cold sweat. He had no words to comfort her or ideas to avert the imminent disaster. Or not...?

"Wait! What if we try to resuscitate him? He's not human, so why not try?" Such a crazy idea came to Raleigh's head.

Mako opened her face to reveal a tearful face (she didn't go through a near-death experience like in the original story, so she didn't learn to deal with negative emotions). But this time there was hope in her eyes. "You have to dig it up first!"

After digging up the Titan's body, they laid him on his stomach. "Now we need radiation." Mako said.

"We did not take the radiation source! We have thousands of workers at the base and none of them suggested that we would need radiation. Useless analysts!" Raleigh was annoyed.

"We can use one of Gipsy's nuclear reactors! Help me get the battery out." Mako was enthusiastic and quickly took matters into her own hands.

They disabled the drift and disabled the Jaeger. Pulling out one of the portable nuclear reactors, they hauled him outside through the door at the back of his head. The nuclear reactor was very heavy and they had to work together to move it.

"If we drop it down, will it break?" Raleigh asked. Standing outside their Jaeger, they were both shivering from the cold and struggling to breathe through the ash.

"We'll have to break it one way or another to let the radioactive materials seep through the hull. So it doesn't matter. The only problem is if we can close the door in time for the Jaeger hull to shield us from the radiation."

"Then on the count of 3, I drop him on the ground and you close the door." Pulling the reactor to the edge, Raleigh prepared to drop it. Mako stood by the door.

"1… 2… 3!" Raleigh kicked the reactor and quickly ran to the door, which was already beginning to close. The reactor crashed into the Jaeger's back as it fell, and then fell to the ground between the giant robot's legs with a thud.

"What level of radiation?"

"It's normal. He survived the fall. We have to break it."

Taking their pilot's seat, they turned the Gipsy back on. Jaeger hummed as his pilots entered the flow. After taking a few steps, the robot bent down and picked up the nuclear reactor, gripping it with its fingers.

CREEK

As Jaeger increased the pressure on the reactor, it cracked and a faint blue light began to emit from it. Turning to Torterra's body, they placed the broken reactor near his head.

After 10 minutes, nothing happened.

"Perhaps it is necessary to start his heart?" Mako asked thoughtfully.

"We can hit him with a plasma rifle."

"It won't help. We need current, not plasma."

"It's a pity that we can't supply electricity to Jeager's hull. Even in battle it could come in handy, especially against the White Thorns." Raleigh.

"We can do something like that..."

"It's going to hurt." Raleigh said sadly after realizing his partner's thoughts.

The Jaeger was standing next to Torterra's body. He grabbed the index finger of his left hand with his right hand and twisted it hard, then tore it off.

"AAAAAH!"

The pilots screamed when they felt their finger being torn off. It felt like it was their own finger. They will feel phantom pains from this for a long time.

When the pain subsided, they did the same with the right finger. Both hands were left without an index finger. There was a stump where the finger was, from where the sparks came. The bare wires were live and the electricity flashed in arcs.

"Let's do it!" Mako smiled as she looked at Raleigh.

Jaeger walked over to Torterra and placed his hands on either side of his body. Without thinking long, they simultaneously touched his body with bare wires on their hands.

BOOM

Torterra's muscles contracted sharply under the electric current and his body shuddered. But he did not come to life. The pilots' faces turned pale. The hope they had been clinging to for the last half hour was shaken.

"Let's try again." Raleigh said quietly. They lowered their hands again and shocked both sides of the body.

BOOM

Torterra's body shuddered again, followed by silence. They stared at the dead Titan in anticipation of his awakening. The world seemed to freeze, also waiting for his awakening. Ash slowly fell from the sky, covering the face of the fallen Titan.

HWWOSHHHH

Torterra's nostrils flared and air escaped, then returned with a hiss.

"He's breathing! Yes! He is alive! Yes! I knew it! I knew he wouldn't die that easily!" Raleigh shouted with joy and waved his hands. But his back was cold and wet.

"Thank God he survived. Thank God." Mako started to cry again, but this time with happiness.

---

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