AN: Hi, I guess I'm kind of surprised that I'm posting this up. It's not even a real plot bunny so to speak since it's inspired by a "Pacific Rim - Kuroko no Basket" crossover called "RimFire" by pale rose fire. When I read that series of one-shots, I was also reading the novelization of Pacific Rim. At the time I really wanted to see what it might have been like if the story was to be presented in more novel-like form. Of course there wasn't anything like that as far as I could tell... so I ended up writing this... Now all I wish is to see what others think of my attempt. Honestly, I haven't written anything besides this first chapter and I'm not sure if I can even continue.

So I hope to hear your opinions on what I have written so far.

Disclaimer: I own neither 'Pacific Rim', nor 'Kuroko no Basket', nor 'RimFire'.

Chapter 1: First Drift

The kaiju alarm was distinctive and loud. There was no way to miss it, not when it was broadcasted everywhere, not when in the three years since the kaiju's first appearance they had all learned how to respond to it. But there in the shatterdome, the response was entirely different from the one outside of it. All the personnel was suddenly up and running, preparing for the deployment of the Coyote Tango; quite unlike the rush to get to shelters that was happening in the city.

Kuroko saw the pilots, already in their circuitry suits, running toward their battle mech. They were one of three pilot teams stationed in Tokyo; the only Japanese natives of the three. Unfortunately, the other two veteran teams were in no shape to pilot a jaeger. The little excursion was cut short and the Seirin basketball team was ushered into the battle auditorium by Kagetora, who stayed with them since his input as a trainer wasn't needed in the middle of a battle.

Kaiju code name: Spikeface. The first category II, ever.

Something cold settled in Kuroko's chest as he watched the footage of the impending battle. The kaiju was a gigantic and ugly thing, just like all the others before it, with rows of massive spikes jutting out of its head. It was walking on four legs, had spikes running down the length of its spine and its long tail. By the time Coyote Tango was able to meet it, the kaiju was already in the shallow waters just off the coast of the mainland. It had breached the Miracle Mile; now Coyote Tango was the only thing standing between it and the thirteen million people living in Tokyo. Kuroko's hands curled into fists against his knees as he continued to watch the video feed.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Kuroko felt a light elbow jab. He looked up quickly, for once the one startled, and found Kagami frowning at him. The crimson haired boy had been on the edge of his seat, an excited gleam in his eyes, already anticipating the battle of the giants; but now Kuroko could almost feel the excitement dampen because Kagami had noticed his odd mood.

"Something is wrong," Kuroko answered quietly, swallowing hard before forcing his voice to remain steady. It was bad enough even for his usual pokerface to slip. "I'm not like Akashi-kun, but sometimes… sometimes I can feel what's going to happen." He steeled himself for some kind of disbelief from his friend, because that was the reaction he had gotten from everyone else before; but there was none.

Kagami for his part was startled both by Kuroko's words and the fact that he didn't feel a shred of doubt in them. It was really strange how much he trusted the blue-haired boy sometimes; and what was even more interesting, was that Kuroko seemed to trust him just as much in return. But all that aside, he could feel his earlier excitement at the prospect of watching the battle here in the shatterdome drain away completely.

"And what do you think is going to happen?" Kagami hissed as quietly as he could, ducking his head closer to Kuroko. He didn't want others to overhear such an odd conversation.

"The pilots, they won't make it," Kuroko replied just as quietly, then he closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath. "It's going to reach Tokyo… but I can't see any further than that." The knuckles on his fists turned bone-white. "I really hope that I'm wrong about this."

"Yeah," he couldn't think of an appropriate thing to say in a situation like this, so Kagami left it at that. After all, what the hell could a bunch of high school kids do to change anything even if Kuroko was right?

So they continued to watch the fight, both tense and anxious as the kaiju forced its way onto the land. Aida Riko, the team's coach, glanced at Kagami and Kuroko as she swept her gaze over the team and did a double-take. Kagami, who had been almost savagely excited earlier, was now tense, an strangely alert and serious expression on his face. It was like he was afraid something awful would happen—no, like he knew that something was about to go terribly wrong. Kuroko was no better; his usually neutral facial expression was oddly similar to Kagami's. The way the boy's brilliant blue eyes studied every single detail of the footage made Riko shiver, because she trusted Kuroko's instincts.

Something was really wrong.

Riko looked at her father, who was watching the battle with a critical eye, but without any extra worry. None of the others present in the battle auditorium were perturbed either as far as she could tell. She checked the rest of her team, only to find their attention riveted to the screen. Then she caught Kuroko's eye and the slight nod he gave her was all she needed to confirm her fears.

"Shit," Kagetora swore under his breath. Riko looked back to the screen and saw that Coyote Tango was taking some serious damage.

The battle auditorium went completely silent for a moment as Spikeface began to tear into the jaeger with more fervor, shredding it despite its resistance. And in the next instant the whole auditorium exploded with noise. Kagetora paid the panic no mind as he sprang out of his seat and rushed out of the room. He didn't see his daughter nor the members of her basketball team follow him.

"Yamato-sama!" Kagetora called as he arrived at the LOCCENT, finding it in the middle of a panicked rush. The man in question turned to look at him sharply.

"Aida," the Japanese head of the Tokyo shatterdome snapped. "Unless you have a solution to our current problem, I don't want to hear it!" Kagetora's mouth snapped shut. "We've already sent a distress-call to the nearest bases and deployed fighter jets. If you don't have combat-capable pilots, then get out."

"Sir—"

"He does!" Riko exclaimed, cutting off her father. All eyes turned to the new arrival.

"Riko," Kagetora said admonishingly, already catching on to what she was implying.

"You've done the preliminary tests yourself!" Riko argued.

"They are children and as untrained as they can be!" her father snapped. "Besides, there is no way anyone would allow this, even if any of them agree to do it!"

"Aida," Yamato cut into the argument, his voice bringing silence to the room. "Explain why this girl is saying that you have available pilots. I was told the other two teams weren't in any shape to pilot anything."

"They still aren't, sir," Kagetora answered and hesitated until Riko glared angrily at him. "My daughter was talking about a group of drift-compatible young people that is at the base right now."

"How did that happen?"

"My daughter proposed a theory about the drift to me a short while ago, and I saw merit in testing it out," Kagetora replied, fighting to stay collected. "They are here today to conduct a battery of tests used to check for drift-comparability. According to the results, we have five pairs of drift-compatible partners on the base right now… But they're all high school students."

"High school students?" Yamato repeated with a frustrated sigh. It was clear that he had considered Riko's words, even if only for a moment. "That's even worse than untrained pilots."

"But if we don't do anything, there won't be a city left outside by the time help arrives," a deadpan but eerily calm voice sounded next to Kagetora, making the occupants of the room jump in shock. "Besides, we want to help in any way we can—even if it means going out there to fight the kaiju ourselves."

The automatic demands about how Kuroko had managed to get into the room unnoticed died in the people's throats at the boy's words. The seeds of an insane idea began to take hold in many minds, even though they still hesitated to say so out loud.

"You're just children!" Someone argued, sounding appalled.

"So what?" Riko snapped angrily. "There are children like us dying out there as we waste time arguing!"

"We have family and friends out there too," Kuroko added in an icy calm tone. "Even if going out there will only distract the kaiju until help arrives—I'm willing to do anything and so are my teammates." The forcefulness in his words and the steely look in his eyes made Kagetora take a stumbling step back and the Marshal felt an uncharacteristic chill run down his spine. Riko looked at the pale blue-haired boy in surprise, she had never seen him this way before. Granted though, they hadn't been in a situation remotely similar to this one either.

"They are fully drift-compatible?" Yamato asked Kagetora after a seemingly endless pause as he stared down Kuroko who held the older man's gaze unflinchingly.

"Yes, sir."

"What about the compatibility with the jaegers?" Ono, the woman sitting at the controls of the various monitoring devices in the room asked.

"I wouldn't have suggested it otherwise," it was Riko who answered this time.

"And they are all volunteering to do this?"

"We are," Kuroko answered without a beat of hesitation.

The Japanese head of the program made a decision. "God forgive me," he said under his breath, and then louder, ". . . Let them try."

Riko was the one to make the call on who would be sent out, since she was the one who knew the boys capabilities best. In the end it was Kagami with Kuroko, and Kiyoshi with Izuki. Some of the people present were even a little intimidated by Kagami and Kiyoshi, with the way the two teens practically towered over even the adults, and their powerful athletic builds managed to impress some of those present. Izuki didn't raise too many eyebrows. And Kuroko had scared far too many people for them to voice any objections.

Perhaps the boy's ability would give the kaiju a heart attack, was a slightly morbid joke that formed at the time.

There was a mad scramble to find the correctly sized circuitry suits and battle armor for the boys on one end. On the other, there was a flurry of activity to prepare the two new JPUs for the drop. Kuroko flexed his fingers experimentally in the gloves of the circuitry suit, surprised that it wasn't as uncomfortable as it looked. A few stretches proved that he could move reasonably well in the suit, whether that would be the same with the battle armor on though was a different question entirely.

He caught Kagami's eye, and the taller boy sent him an excited grin. There was a hint of nervousness and apprehension in his friend, and Kuroko couldn't say it wasn't the same for him. He was nervous. And a little frightened too, not so much of the kaiju as of failing to make a difference and slowing Kagami down.

"Wow," Kagami said quietly when he and Kuroko were brought to the fitting room just outside the conn-pod of the jaeger. Somewhere not far from them, Kiyoshi and Izuki were being fitted into their drivesuits as well.

Kuroko studied the armor he was wearing. It wasn't very bulky, and had well articulated joints. The whole thing was a metallic grey color, with the PPDC logo on the shoulder pauldrons and the Japanese military insignia on the armor plates just under them. All right… he could privately admit that it looked really cool. An odd tingle ran up his body when the artificial spine was added to the battle armor.

They were handed their helmets and guided into the conn-pod. Once there, the techs with them gave them a fast and confusing run-down of all the various equipment inside. By the time they finished Kagami looked dizzy and Kuroko had only preserved his sanity by tuning the techno jargon out after he no longer recognized the words. Now he really doubted if he could do this. If piloting a jaeger was so complicated… what hope did they have of even getting it to move? A million other worries ran through his mind and just when he was about to panic—

The feeling of calm reassurance that washed through Kuroko at that moment was overwhelming and also achingly familiar. Like something important he had forgotten a long time ago, coming back to him only now. The jaeger was supposed to be an extension of his and Kagami's bodies, so he would feel everything that it was. Using the switches and buttons wasn't necessary as long as he could make the mech to do what was needed with thought alone. He could do this— they could do this.

"Kagami-kun," Kuroko turned to his partner with a slight smile on his face.

Kagami snapped out of his daze when he realized that Kuroko was impossibly calm and confident again. He took a moment to stomp out his hesitation and fear. He wasn't going into this alone—Kuroko was going to have his back, and Kagami was sure as hell going to do the same for his partner. He saw Kuroko hold out his arm, hand curled into a fist, and grinned before bumping his own fist against his friend's.

"Ossu!" Kagami said, suddenly feeling his previous excitement begin to bubble up again.

They put their helmets on when the techs instructed them to, before stepping onto the platforms with the pilot harnesses. One foot. Two. The boots were attached to their places along with the harnesses behind them. A pair of disks flew up, one for Kagami's right hand, the other for Kuroko's left (of the two of them, Kuroko was ambidextrous, while Kagami was right-handed). The techs did one final check before leaving the conn-pod.

Kagami and Kuroko were finally left alone in the small space. They stood side by side on platforms, control assemblies attached to their limbs. Moments later the holographic HUD (head-up display) appeared above the command console, filled with a large variety of stats and other information. The conn-pod was in the head of the jaeger, which was kept separated from the main body while the pilots were suited up. Once they were settled into the harnesses, the head would be dropped about dozen meters, where it would be attached to the body of the mech.

"Engaging drop." Speak of the devil. Normally, they would be the ones to do this, but since they had no idea how, it was done by external command this time. The whole cabin shook a little before their stomachs lurched upwards as they were rather abruptly sent plummeting down with a deafening boom and screech of metal. The two boys were shaken in their harnesses when the head of their jaeger finally settled into its place and the whir and clang of machinery told them that it was being secured as they rotated to face forward properly. Then the whole mech rumbled as the nuclear-powered central engine roared to full power.

"Hey boys, how are you doing?" Kagetora's voice came from the comm unit. It was a little distorted, but easily recognized nonetheless.

"We're all right Kagetora-san," Kuroko answered, calm and polite like always. Kagami smirked and chuckled at him, used to the shorter boy's antics. Someone cleared their throat on the other end before moving on.

"That's good," Kagetora told them. "Now you're going to be set down in the water just outside of the Launch Bay." And just as he said, they could feel the platform under the JPU moving, and there was even a small window showing their progress with simplistic visuals. Then, after a small warning, the jaeger was dropped into the water, sending tons of it crashing outward in waves. Kuroko let his breath out slowly and glanced at Kagami, who looked back at him excitement burning in his eyes. The comm unit crackled back to life.

"…Boys, this is Marshal Yamato Kisuke," the man's voice was steady as a rock now, and uncompromisingly authoritative. It was actually reassuring. "Prepare for neural handshake."

Inside the conn-pod the holographic display in front of the boys began to show a representation of two brains, and the thousands of links between them and the jaeger's motor systems. A shiver of excitement thrummed through both boys. This was the incredible thing experienced only by jaeger pilots, something the public was never going to understand, and now they were going to experience it for themselves—the cornerstone of the jaeger program.

"Starting in four… three… two…"

Just as they heard "one," the boys glanced at each other again. Kagami opened his mouth to say something, but it was lost as they exploded into what they had only heard of before — Drift Space.

Memories.

They said that when two people Drift together, they share memories with each other. Of course saying it, wasn't nearly enough to describe what it was like.

Suddenly they were experiencing events from each other's lives for themselves. Sights, sounds, smells, and emotions swirled around and through them in the Drift.

Family. Kagami living in America, alone and ostracized because of his foreign appearance. Kuroko living with his grandmother until she died, then by himself, parents never in sight; alone and so easily overlooked.

Friends. Kagami's brother Tatsuya, and the broken bond. The ring he wears to this day. Promises. Kuroko's teammates from Teiko, the Generation of Miracles. Aomine, a Light who left his Shadow behind. A team that tried to so hard to stay together that it tore itself apart. Goals. Redemption. Forgiveness. Seirin, where they share the most memories.

Basketball. The sound of feet pounding against the wooden floor. Sneakers squeaking loudly at sudden turns against the polished floor. The sound of the ball being dribbled back and forth. The swish of the net as a basket it made.

Basketball. Street-ball. America. Japan. Elementary school. Middle school. High school. Competition. Thrill. Joy. Winning. Losing. Standing up again.

It's Tokyo, 2017. Spikeface was tearing their home apart. The present came crashing back down on them. The Drift.

Kuroko and Kagami opened their eyes and took a deep breath, unconsciously moving as one already; they looked down at their hands, flexing them. There was an odd duality in the sensation, but not really. They had one body, and it was thrumming with energy, every fiber of it was fine-tuned into being a killing machine, a monster. Everything looked so small now, and even their perception of the world had become something else, the different sensors combining into a much more extensive awareness of their surroundings.

Why had they ever worried about remembering the things the techs had shown them earlier? It was all here. They knew every single thing this body could do; knew each and every weapon; knew what they were. All the different commands and protocols were their reflexes, and performing any of them was as natural as breathing.

Excitement. Thrill. Their on-court chemistry had become something else here in the Drift, and they both reveled in it. A memory of a jaeger pilot giving an interview came up. There are things in this world that you can't fight, acts of God. You see a hurricane—you get out of the way. But when you're in a jaeger… Suddenly, you can fight the hurricane, and you can win.

"This kaiju is toast," Kagami said, grin threatening to split his face. It was savage, all teeth and unusually sharp canines.

"Yes," Kuroko answered even if they didn't need to speak out loud.

Back in the LOCCENT, incredulous stares were being exchanged between all the veteran members. Riko, as proud as she was of her boys, was shocked as well. Because the readings she was seeing were not something that was supposed to happen; not when two untrained boys were put in control of a giant immensely complex machine. Hell, she hadn't even known that it was possible to flood the Drift monitoring devices with so much data.

Yamato ordered Kagami and Kuroko to stand by and wait for Kiyoshi and Izuki's jaeger to drop next to them. At least he wasn't looking the gift hose in the mouth; though the incredulous look on his face, showed that he was just as surprised as they all were. Originally, they were supposed to reprogram the jaeger AI to take over a lot of the functions the pilots normally controlled, but they had started on Kiyoshi and Izuki's jaeger first. Now, the technicians were left wondering about just what the hell was going on inside JPU-06.

"How are Kiyoshi and Izuki doing?" Yamato asked Kagetora.

"Neural handshake has been completed and is staying stable," Kagetora answered not looking away from the displays. "We've just finished adjusting their jaeger's AI and minimized the amount of commands they have to give to control the jaeger. They won't be using any of the weapons aside from their fists any time soon, but they're good to go, sir."

"Good," Yamato nodded before giving Kiyoshi and Izuki the orders to go back up Kagami and Kuroko. JPU-05 dropped down in the bay next to JPU-06 and the two jaegers set out toward the kaiju rampaging through the city. The differences between the two teams became clear immediately. JPU-06 piloted by Kagami and Kuroko didn't have so much as a hitch in its movements, and it was almost possible to believe that it was being controlled by a veteran crew. JPU-05 piloted by Kiyoshi and Izuki wasn't nearly as nimble, and was moving with much less confidence. Clearly, the boys were still trying to get used to operating the mech.

"I've never seen anything like this," Ono said going through the feedback from Kuroko and Kagami's jaeger again. "It's not supposed to even be possible to synchronize that much with the jaeger because of its AI!" Yes, the combined minds of the two pilots were supposed to form an organic super-computer… but she had never imagined that it was possible for them to absorb the information from the Jaeger AI directly, treat it as part of them.

"Marshal, JPU-06 has made contact with Spikeface!"

Everyone's attention was immediately redirected toward the footage of the—battle, because that's what it was. The Jaeger fought like a street brawler, formless, but dangerous because in its unpredictability. That was Kagami, Riko thought, recognizing the aggression. But when the JPU pulled a frighteningly familiar punch, she was just about ready to yell at the boys to take this seriously—an Ignite Pass was not a combat move.

Except it was.

"Holly shit," Kagetora whistled blinking a couple of times to see if he had been imagining things. "Wasn't that Kuroko's Ignite Pass?" The punch had been done classically, with the heel of the hand, but with the Jaeger's monstrous strength behind it, the move had been turned into a technique capable of crippling even a kaiju. The force had smashed the kaiju's ribs, leaving the area caved inward; and must have snapped its spine as well because the hind limbs and tail were limp now.

"What did you just call that?" Moir (a Canadian shatterdome technician) demanded. "And what the hell was that in the first place?"

"Ah…" Riko began nervously when attention was turned to her. "That was a special passing technique Kuroko invented. You see, he's the passing specialist on the basketball team… and the Ignite Pass is what he uses to accelerate the pass. Normally, he can make the basketball travel the length of an entire basketball court in a couple of seconds."

"He uses that in basketball?" Ono asked flatly. "Is that even legal?"

"As long as it's done with the heel of his palm, there's nothing technically wrong with it," Kagetora answered. "Though now I get why everyone besides Kagami and Kiyoshi dread to be on the receiving end of that pass."

"Eh, Kagami's crazy enough to be on the receiving end of an Ignite Pass Kai," Riko snorted, shaking her head at the ace's idiocy. "Anything else is tame in comparison."

"Ignite Pass Kai?" Yamato asked arching an eyebrow at the father-daughter duo.

"Oh," Kagetora said faintly as he stared at the video feed. "That just now was an Ignite Pass Kai." Riko sighed resigning herself to the fact that insanity was bound to follow her boys around, no matter where they were; especially Kagami and Kuroko.

Everyone else could only stare incredulously at the screen, because Spikeface lay dead in the midst of a destroyed neighborhood, its head twisted grotesquely and only connected to the body by a few pieces of its hide. JPU-06 was standing victorious over the kaiju's corpse covered in dents and scratches from the fight, but other than that, it was remarkably intact. A little ways behind it was JPU-05; it had helped keep the kaiju from leaving the area, but it had clearly been Kagami and Kuroko's fight from the start.

The comm unit crackled to life.

"Oi, is anybody here?" Kagami's loud and brash voice startled them from their stupor. Rude as always, but he was followed by the impeccably polite Kuroko.

"Marshal Yamato, the kaiju Spikeface has been taken down," Kuroko said in his familiar deadpan tone, as if he wasn't talking about a kaiju he had just killed. "What are we supposed to do now?" That was the final push needed to get people moving again. They were in more familiar territory now that the battle was over; cleaning up the aftermath was at least something they could do without stressing too much.

"All units head back to the bay," Yamato ordered crisply. "Helicopters will pick you up there and take the jaegers back to the docking port."

"Understood, sir." Was the reply from the four boys. She could practically hear the grins in their voices.

AN: Yeah, so please tell me what you thought of this bit of writing. Was it too confusing, or too much at odds with either of the fictional universes? Also, I hope if you found this interesting that you will read the story that inspired this, it's called 'RimFire'.

Thank you for reading, please please review!