Fanfic / Domovoi

Domovoi is a Fan Sequel to Pacific Rim by Kenya Starflight, first published on August 22, 2013 and completed on September 29, 2016; it was crossposted to Archive of Our Own on April 30, 2020. A sequel, Doppelgänger, was first published on February 19, 2020 and completed September 5, 2022; like its predecessor, it was crossposted to Archive of Our Own on April 30, 2020.

When the Kaidanovskys miraculously survive the battle at Hong Kong, it opens up all-new questions about the bond between Jaeger co-pilots... and the even more inexplicable bond between Rangers and their Jaeger...

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This fic contains examples of:

• Adaptation Expansion: The story explains the backstory of the Kadianovskys along with the thoughts of the sentient Jaegers throughout the movie.
• All Animals Are Dogs: Spike, Newt's pet Kaiju-louse. Possibly justified by how much time said louse spends in the company of Max, the Hansen's bulldog.
• Apocalypse Cult: The Kaiju cultists believe the kaiju are harbingers of the apocalypse and are to be treated as holy, and that their masters are gods who are punishing mankind because they deserve it. They also regard the rest of humanity as children throwing a tantrum instead of accepting "righteous punishment", and view the Jaegers as abominations. Consequently, they try to sabotage the PPDC's efforts, up to and including the Jaegers.
• A Rare Sentence: Thanks to Hermann.
  Hermann: None of us like the thought of putting a Jaeger down — a phrase I never thought I would have to say...
• Cargo Cult: There's one on an island in the South Pacific that worships the Jaegers, even before they turn out to be alive. When Striker Eureka's head turns up, they turn it into a shrine. He is not amused by this. Fortunately, their reverence of Jaegers means that when Crimson Typhoon personally asks for his friend back, they agree.
• Christmas Episode: Chapter 25 fittingly enough serves as a brief holiday interlude.
• Distant Finale: The epilogue takes place a year after the final battle and its immediate aftermath.
• Family of Choice: The Jaegers and their pilots generally regard one another as family. Cherno Alpha and Brawler Yukon viewed the Kaidanovskys and Caitlin Lightcap and Sergio D'onofrio (respectively) as their parents, Coyote Tango saw Stacker Pentecost as her father, Gipsy Danger and Crimson Typhoon each viewed their Rangers as their siblings, and Striker Eureka views Herc and Chuck as his father and brother, respectively. Mustang Omega didn't get to comment on the Rossis before their deaths, but has accepted Hermann and Newt as uncles.
• Gentle Giant: The Jaegers in general, but especially Cherno Alpha.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: Lance Rossi is killed just as he finally accepts that his Jaeger is coming to life. Lexie goes to her grave without so much as a Heel Realization.
• It's All About Me: Lexie Rossi's ego is about the size of her Jaeger.
• Jerkass: The Rossi twins. While Lance has some Pet the Dog moments, Lexie is an unrepentant bitch. Even when Lance realizes and accepts that Mustang Omega is finally coming to life, Lexie just tells him to shut up.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: A flashback showed that exposure to Cherno's radioactive core made Sasha and Aleksis unable to have kids, which is part of why they care so much about Cherno like a son.
• Like a God to Me: The Jaegers do this to Caitlyn Lightcap since she's the creator of the Jaeger project. Downplayed because they use it mainly for swearwords like "Lightcap-dammit". Cherno lampshades that she probably wouldn't be thrilled about it. Sure enough, she isn't.
• Mama Bear and Papa Wolf: Try and hurt Cherno Alpha. Go ahead, try.
• Mechanical Lifeforms: The Jaegers, by virtue of gaining sentience as a result of their interactions with their pilots over the course of their operational history.
• Not Quite Dead: SO. VERY. MUCH. Including in the aftermath of the final battle, when the computer cores of two Jaegers thought killed in the fight are recovered and transferred into new, smaller bodies, allowing them to survive as themselves. The epilogue reveals that a few other decommissioned Jaegers also have surviving computer cores and can be fully restored via the same technique.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: The higher-ups in the PPDC still cling to their beliefs that the Anti-Kaiju Wall is all they need and that the Jaeger Program should be shut down, and only reluctantly give the Hong Kong Shatterdome enough money to keep functioning for a time. Later, when they find out the Jaegers are alive and sentient, they immediately demand they be shut down and destroyed. When met with refusals and the discovery that far more people are in support of the Jaegers, they immediately pull Shatterdome's remaining funding. By the epilogue, said bureaucrats have been removed and replaced with a new group, who are in favor of the Jaegers and are doing everything they can to support them, including having the Wall of Life dismantled and the Shatterdomes refurbished and reopened.
• Open Secret: Every Ranger actually knew that his Jaeger was turning sentient, and suspected for the others. But they never spoke about it by (justified) fear of the PPDC's reaction if they learned it.
• Original Character: Several, most notably Team Mustang Omega, a brand-new Jaeger and its Rangers Lance and Lexi Rossi; Bailey Rossi, their younger sister and a technician for the Jaeger program; Ilya, Aleksis Kaidonovsky's superstitious great-uncle; and High Priestess Mikhail, one of the leaders of the Kaiju Cult.
• Sequel Hook: The epilogue ends with three cloned Kaiju slipping through a third Breach.
• Ship Tease: Gipsy Danger and Striker Eureka. The epilogue has Coyote Tango and Crimson Typhoon.
• Spaceship Girl: No literal spaceships, but the idea of ships and Jaegers being referred to by genders are discussed at one point. The Jaegers themselves are actually a mix of male (Cherno, Brawler, Crimson and Striker) and female (Gipsy and Coyote).
• Spared by the Adaptation: Also all over the place.
  • Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon, along with their pilots, are still alive and are brought back to consciousness soon after.
  • Gipsy Danger is revealed to have survived her sacrifice to stop the Breach, but in the process she was found by the Precursors and experimented on. When she makes it back to Shatterdome, she's traumatized by the events.
  • Striker Eureka and Chuck Hansen are revealed to have survived the final battle at the Breach and ended up on an island in the South Pacific, where they ended up being venerated by its inhabitants as a god and its high priest, respectively.
• Survivor's Guilt: Raleigh is quite broken by Gipsy Danger's death. Making her survival all the sweeter.
• Team Mom: Coyote Tango is a gruffer-than-usual-for-this-trope one.
• Theme Naming: Quite a few of the Kaiju created by the author are named after creatures and figures from mythology, mostly Russian (though Wendigo, Kali, and Ukupanipo take their names from Algonquin, Indian, and Pacific Mythology respectively).
• The Mole: Bailey Rossi, one of the mechanics, turns out to secretly be one of the Kaiju cultists, and tries to rig Cherno Alpha to explode. Fortunately, this plan is thwarted.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Brawler's reaction to the Precursor's organic Jaeger.
  Brawler Yukon: This ain't gonna be good.
• Title Drop: Ilya drops this in a flashback, believing one is currently in Cherno Alpha.
• Unwanted False Faith: The Precursors, surprisingly. When they learn (through the Drift) of the Kaiju Cult and its beliefs that they're gods, they are disgusted by their clinging to "barbaric superstition" and overload Priestess Mikhail's brain in retaliation.