#its a little tough tho since its a modern setting. i couldnt think of a way to isekai suho. so i didnt lol.

[sunflowercider]

As penitence for making everyone sad about a hypothetical tragic ending for TGED, here's my entire Pacrim AU that I sketched out for funsies but don't think I'll actually write out the whole thing 💖

Javier was rescued by Arcos back when he briefly piloted the early single-pilot jaegers. Arcos quickly retired as a pilot and worked as an exec, but Javier followed him and became a young protege. Not directly raised or trained by Arcos, but certainly under his wing. Javier is now a genius pilot… mostly. He could pilot the single jaegers like a dream if they were viable, but he only mildly gets along with other pilots. He can drift fine with most people, but never the enough to really make him the top pick. (mirrors him being stuck on the Asrahan Core Technique when lloyd and he first meet.) Tends to be self-sacrificing.

Suho - His family lost their home years ago to kaiju, and they never really recovered financially. Then he lost them to another attack two years ago. Not even to the kaiju itself - [somehow related to being poor - Neglect in rescue efforts? Worse Kaiju panic rooms in the slums?] Poor people are still poor people in pacrim, and he needed cash to live. He joined the wall-making half the time, and the jaeger program basic training program to get him access to more lucrative construction tasks at a Shatterdome. His talent for strategy and adaptability is noted by the program, but isn’t exemplary enough to catch anyone's attention. Suho isn’t planning on selling himself as a pilot anyways. He’d like to live please.

During a college break, the System (for organizing the database of jaeger prospects) mixes up Suho and the now dead Lloyd, and Suho is sent to the Frontera city for mandatory training. Suho is not pleased being yanked around but resolves to find work in Frontera until he can get back to Seoul.

Javier is once again being tested to find a good partner, and Suho ends up on the list. They don’t get along at first, but… they work surprisingly well together in the training grounds. Suho did not think he’d be compatible with the mildly famous prodigy, and is a little panicked at maybe being chosen to pilot. Him deciding that “defeating all the kaiju is definitely the way to finally get a peaceful life” is a very funny idea to me lol. Over the course of a month, they end up working together, both of them opening up; javier looking past suho’s survival mechanisms to see a good man, and suho seeing that javier has a fun personality under all the ice.

Arcos is an exec, more managerial guy. Strategy Room is Sir Bayern. Julian is in school in Seoul and not seen much this fic. OG!Lloyd is dead even without the body swapping, whoops, sorry. “Queen” Alicia is a famous pilot in Korea (seoul might be too far west for pacrim?) with her partner “Knight” Kyle (who will accidentally get brain-touched by a kaiju, go mad, and then try to kill Alicia).