Hiroshima, Japan
August 6th, 1945
It started just like every other day. Men and women walked down the streets, some rushing to make it to work on time. Children rode bikes, excited to get to school. Traffic bustled, and the sun shone. A young boy, Yoshi Tashada, walks with his mother, a large grin on his face. Today was his first day of grade school, and he was very excited. They made their way down the cobblestone sidewalk as they approached his school. His feet practically hop up and down as he sees it in the distance, a long one-story building on a hill. Yoshi's eyes glanced over at his mother who looked nervously at a wall. On it were brightly colored posters showing soldiers fighting Americans, the caption reading "Down with the Allies". He simply smiled and kept going. His father, who was a soldier, said the Allies were bad people who were trying to do mean things to the Emperor. Usually his dad was right, so he believed him.
The two carefully crossed the street and made their way up to the schoolhouse. Mrs. Tashada giggled as her son practically blasted through the school doors. She walked through timidly, thinking deep about something. Her husband, Shiro, had sent word of a rumor that the Americans would attack today. He didn't know where, but Hiroshima might be a likely target. Most likely, they planned for this to be a kind of revenge for the Pearl Harbor incident. Since both Italy and Germany were defeated last year, she was sure there would be no help for them.
They make it to Yoshi's room and walk in. The small boy quickly runs over to his friends, Yoko and Takeshi, as Mrs. Tashada begins talking to his teacher, Mrs. Gunpei. Within minutes, the two women were laughing and discussing recipes and tea ceremonies. Mrs. Gunpei looked at the clock and saw that it was 8:15, and that class must start. Yoshi ran over to his mother and gave her a long hug. Suddenly, the roar of jet engines passed over them. Unusual, as there were no scheduled flights that morning. Turning to look out the window, Mrs. Tashada's eyes grew in horror as she saw what she recognized as an American bomber passes over them. She grabs Yoshi and holds him tightly, hot tears streaming down her cheeks and onto his shirt.
The city arises in panic as they witness the bomber drop a large, round object from its metallic husk. Within moments, all of Hiroshima seemed to freeze in time as Little Boy, a 4,400 kilogram uranium bomb, turned it into a fiery Hell. A large mushroom-shaped cloud and the glow of the explosion could be seen for miles. Hiroshima's buildings crumbled into dust, and the bodies of its citizens became etched into the debris. Yoshi and his mother, seconds ago a mother and child spending their last breaths of life in each other's arms, now lay as two lost souls under a collapsed schoolhouse. This moment in time would be etched into humanity's memory as the beginning of the end of the second World War. Soon after this, the town of Nagasaki would also be obliterated, leading to Emperor Hirohito announcing Japan's formal surrender. However, it would still be considered one of the lowest points in the history of war, with so many innocent deaths.
These would not only affect the world on a geopolitical scale, but also an ecosystemic scale. Nobody realized what they had truly done that day. Nobody had realized what they had released… That night, the ground near the shoreline began to whine and crack. The earth rumbled as something large tore itself out of the ground. The form towered over everything in its vicinity, and slowly crawled onto the surface from its underground sanctuary. Its skin, once a dark, murky green was now almost charred black with red cracks showing damaged flesh. Amber eyes glowed in the dark, seething with pain and hatred. With a haunting roar, the creature made its way towards the sea, a thick tail dragging behind it. Large, jagged dorsal fins along the creature's spine wavered slightly as it crawled. Slowly, the beast began to rise up on thick, muscular legs and made its last few steps to the shoreline. It crashed down into the ocean and began to wade through the water until its depths were knee high, then dropped down and swam away, the large fins gliding through the glittering waves before disappearing. Nothing would be heard about this creature for another forty years, but when it happens...chaos erupts.
Odo Island, Japan
May 14th, 1984
A cold fog washes over the coast of Odo Island as workers stroll across the beach. Meters away from them is a large steel gate, over ten feet in height and almost half a foot thick. One of the workers pulls out a small walkie-talkie and begins to talk on it.
"Gate control, this is Hoshito, ID card 50926, requesting clearance," the man says as he looks up at the mirrored glass of the watchtower. In a few moments, he gets his reply.
"Hoshito, this is gate control. You're cleared for entrance, over."
Hoshito watched as the large doors squealed open, then him and his fellow employees walked into the facility. Since the 1960s, the Yamada Corporation had been the premiere source of nuclear energy in Japan. They now had a dozen plants scattered throughout the mainland and surrounding islands, each having a special task. Here, the scientists and engineers not only maintained power for parts of Japan, but also experimented with new materials. The employees worked on the south side of the island, which was energy containment. Basically, their job was to help the scientists who were running tests to conserve the energy they were using, or else a meltdown could occur. They made their way to various stations which contained large blocks of computer switches and buttons. Hoshito sat down at a large desk which had data running constantly about the energy levels being distributed. His eyes scanned the dials and panels, searching for irregularities. A computer screen near him showed graphs and camera feeds from the nearby laboratories. One feed showed the scientists spraying a group of roses with chemicals, then hooking them up to machinery and hit a switch. Surprisingly, the machinery began to run for just a quick second before shutting down, and the roses began to wilt. The feed then switched to a large factory floor where workers were building large pieces of machinery, like engines and coolant systems. What Hoshito didn't expect to see, however, was the warehouse camera beginning to shake violently, then suddenly shut off.
Alarms began to blare and the workers quickly made their way out of the facility. They exited out onto the mountain situated on the southern half of the island. From there they could see a large portion of the surrounding area, and what they did see frightened them. Although the dense jungle and hills obscured much of it, they could see the large, scarlet blaze that was the northern facilities, dense smoke billowing from it. This made no sense, Hoshito thought. No warnings had gone off, which means there wasn't a meltdown. So what happened?
In the distance, a very intense sound was heard, like metal scraping against glass. Many workers turned to look, and their jaws dropped in fright as they saw a large form disappear into the water, showing nothing but jagged rock-like formations trailing through the sea. Screams soon emitted throughout the island, as many tried to comprehend this new entity. Names were thrown about, such as a dragon, a god, or even some large dinosaur. Hoshito, however, had heard tales of such a creature from his father, who was a resident of Odo Island back when it was a small fishing village. He tried to remember the name they gave the beast, then quietly mumbled it as he stood there, surrounded by death and panic.
"...Godzilla."