It didn't end with the Kaiju, not by a long shot. They themselves may not have graced the sea, but the aftermath was too much. The Jaegars were gone, but they had used up so many resources that nations, long bonded by an internecine threat, now went at each others throats to secure the last deposits of oil and coal. Coupled with the corrosive effects of Kaiju blood, fisheries suffered, and countries struggled to feed their people. The countryside was soon covered with pastoralists, and if you weren't a farmer/herder, you were military. Like me. I ran to my military locker in Fort Lilo, Hawaii, scrambling to mobilize. We had gotten word that 400 miles off the coasts, 8 Japanese warships were grouped together with heavy ordinance. Our job as Navy Seals was to slip in quietly, figure out why they were there, and then take over the ships.

5-18-9.

My locker flips open, and I put on my heavy wool sweater that my sister made me. Uh, it was so itchy. But it meant a lot to me that she wove it by hand and then paid for it to be sent when money was so tight at home. Rations were being cut more and more daily, worse than in the Kaiju Wars. Luckily we farmed and managed to store a little before they would come for the food, it's what kept us through winter. But work these days in the US was either the mines or military, and when ma had to amputate an arm after a British bomber attacked the Veteran Hospital she worked at, I had to help. Military paid the most, so here I was.

I had hoped being at Hawaii would keep me from combat, I had no anger with the British, with anyone. They were just men and women like me who were following orders to protect their own families. Love thy enemy was my motto. I shut the locker with a solid slam and rush over to the weapon rack, where our CO( Commanding Officer) was passing out A22 Amphibious Assault Rifles. It was the Pacific, you'd be a fool to not have water gear. Ha, we were fools for going.

Black wet suits with Night Vision Goggles on, we headed for the motor boats. "Daniel Squad is on Boat 1, Leonidas on Boat 2, Echelion on Boat 3, Chiron on Boat 4, the rest of you ladies are on guard duty of the island. Let's rock kiddies, I want this quick and clean. I want three Der Grosbe on the prowl with us. Adrian," I perk up as my name is called, "Destua, and Kalokio, you three are Taming. Let's roll ladies. Mechas will catch, get on those boats." The CO thunders.

I jog over to my mecha, where a whole team of engineers are running final diagnostics for me. The Der Grosbe, German for Wolf, is a much smaller version of a Jaeger. Running on dual Tritium cores and plated with three inches of Carbon Nano-Steel, the US had some of the toughest out there. After seeing such majestic machines walk and fight, little men waving firecrackers just didn't do it anymore. I haul myself up on a leg piston and then climb into the open chest cockpit. My Neural Link headset is waiting, looking more like a Swat Helmet than a 2 million dollar jumble of wires and conduits. My feet tuck under foot holds, and I initiate the Jaeger with a button on my touchpanels. We don't get cool names like the Old days, but If we did, I'd call myself the Midnight Cheetah. I hook my arms into the straps, and tap a couple buttons on my console, bringing up the HUD. Crystal clear at 100 megapixels and 1080p resolution, I make out the horrible paint job that Wolf 2 had done. The wax is half gone on the leg, and the leg itself is starting to lose its red and white stripes. No time, the base is nearly empty except for us now. I put the Headset on, and dive into the Void.

It's wet. I know, very observant of me, but until you've been in the storms of the Pacific, a shower doesn't even begin to describe it. Because we are so much smaller, it only takes a C-17 Cargo Plane to carry the three of us. I'm carrying a Heavy Duty AIG that fires 900 rounds a second, as well as a grenade launcher for blowing open bunkers and dispatching other Der Grosbe. At the 2- mile mark, we jump; the Japanese will detect us if we get any closer. The C-17 opens the rear ramp, skimming 30 feet above the water. The magenta colored liquid betrays nothing of its depths, and a fine spray makes me dream of water- skiing off the back of this thing sometime. "Jump now." Our FO( Field Overseer) commands back at base. I jump, and descend into the depths.

Down and down we go, waiting for the pressure buoys to activate. After 100 feet they deploy, sending us soaring to the surface. As we break and liquid rolls down my HUD, I begin my butterfly stroke, bringing me ever closer to the Japanese Warship that's...where is it? "Umm FO, I have a negative sight on the warship over." I say.

"Wolf 1, which Warship?"

"All of them. No one's here, including our men. Over."

"Scour the area Wolves, we have a signature saying eight warships are now 1.43 miles out."

"Roger, Wolf 1 is checking." I repeat back. The other Wolves keep silent, the mere task of piloting a Der Grosbe way too much for them to multitask. I keep with stroke, ignoring the growing sense of wrong that's making my skin crawl. "Wolf 1 to FO where the hell are our Seals?" I ask through strokes. There's a long pause before the reply, "They are engaging those ships now pilot. Get to those boys pronto!"

"Where the hell is the ship over?! Because on my minimap , I'm at the Goddamn coordinates, and the only thing I see is more ocean!

"The Japanese are employing EM shields, keep moving. Wait, negate last, descend 1200 fathoms. Hostile submarine in the area."

I rolled my eyes and contained my anger. Invisible ships and now a submarine? I smelled deceit. I should have turned back, demanded a real answer. But my sister and mom needed me to help them afford the rising land tax on the farm; they needed to be safe on the East Coast. I was doing this for them. I deflated the buoys, and descended into the dark.

I hit the floor with a muffled crunch, hydraulics of my 6 ton Der Grosbe recalibrating. My pressure sensors begins squealing, and I worry a little. Last thing I wanted to do was die alone down here. I advance to keep myself calm, stirring up mud and rock with every step. "200 yards till intercept with submarine, although I'm not getting anything on sonar. Visibility is 1%, switching on UltraBeams." I relay. I flip two yellow switches to the right above my head, and the view in front of me goes from black to a strange purple/ illuminated gray combo. Hot smokers of several hundred meters tall extend above all around me every few feet, making me feel like I'm in a forest that spews out pollutants. A quick glance at my sonar. Wolves 2 and 3 are behind me at 15 meters, or the first ring. "FO, how are we going to find a submarine in all this? Better yet, how do we take it down. We don't have any torpedoes, and a grenade down here will bring a ton of rock on our heads." I ask through my walking.

There's slight static. "Wolf*static* There is*static* watch out!" My instincts shoot off as I suddenly get a massive energy surge. Almost EMP caliber. The force knocks me back, but I say on my feet. Unslinging my AIG. Fear coursing. The Ultrabeam light dims. I pray for the first time. "Wolves move up." The comms suddenly utter. Perfectly clear too.

"Sir what the hell is going on? I just got a massive EMP spike."

"Dear god..." Our FO says.

"What? What's wrong? Should we pull out?" I ask, sweeping my rifle. There's a ping on my sonar, last ring, 120 meters out. But in the stacks, I can't see the cause.

"Wolves, get out of there now!" Comes the order. I smash the buoy button and begin to rise when massive eel breaks through the smoker forest. Teeth strike me first, slashing at my glass as its face, a beautiful array of blue and green, flips me backwards. "Get some!" I challenge, letting my gun fly. Bullets tear through the rock, each trail traceable until it's out of my illuminated range. I frantically glance back at the sonar. No pings. "Damn it! This thing's too fast." Wolf 2 and 3, on me. Yet I only read Wolf 2.

Meaning Wolf 3...

Wolf 2 arrives, and I can see fear behind that glass. "Jump!" I order, kicking off the ground. Wolf 2 leaps up with me, and we almost make it to the surface when the monster strikes again. We spray into it, but the two inch rounds bounce off it like marbles on iron. With a snap, its mouth closes around Wolf 2 leg, tearing into it. "No!" They yell. I grab their hand and let my gun go. "I won't let go." I promise, not sure if I've ever felt so helpless. We both get pulled towards the bottom when I reactivate my buoys, pulling us back up. Wolf 2 begins to yell, their arm slipping. No...no! I pull with both arms. We're almost at the bottom again, the eel reaching now with its hands. They grab Wolf 2s chest, digging into the glass. Water pours in, and I get to watch my fellow soldiers, who came from worse lives than me, drown. With a final tug the creature pulls, and I'm left with only an arm, as Wolf 2 is dragged to the bottom of the ocean.

"What the fuck was that?!" I roar when I make it back to base. Everyone, all the squads, boats, everything is in place and dry by the time I return, soaking and furious. When my FO comes out to greet me, first thing I give him is my fist. I go for another punch when his training kicks in. Grabbing my fist, he leans in and smashes his palm into my nose, driving me back. I get grabbed before I can retaliate, and end up breathing heavily through my mouth for a minute.

My Field Overseer tries to remediate. "I know this is bad-"

I laugh in his face. "Bad?! No, bad was the Kaiju Wars. At least people didn't fucking serve each other up to Kaiju like fish dinners! You sent us out there, you lied to us, 2 men died! You-" I couldn't continue, I was overwhelmed. I'd been lied to, but not like this. Never like this. Everyone was quiet, looking at me with pity, or away with shame. I shook myself free. "Why the fuck did you send us after Kaiju?!" I asked more collectively. My FO finally looked as young as he actually was; 26 years old. His face was freshly shaved, and his cap tilted downwards to cast a shadow over his face. "We've been getting readings for weeks of a possible portal reopening. The same one the Gypsie Danger and Striker Eureka sacrificed themselves to close 30 years ago. We couldn't afford to send anyone to investigate in the form of a ship because a submarine was too slow. So we fabricated this lie...Wolves 2 and 3 weren't good drivers, they could barely talk and pilot! And so, they were to be sacrificed so you could get out. And now we have positive confirmation the Kaiju are back."

I began hyperventilating, and fought to steady it. "You sent us out there...knowing we would die by Kaiju?" My FO looked like he was in agony, probably was. But at the time I couldn't see that. He tried again. "Look they weren't good pilots and-"

"They were people!" I bellowed, spit and fury flying. "They were people and you'd sooner kill them then get them out of the problem. You sacrificed us like cattle, and if you want to continue feeding me that worthless bullshit, find another pig, because I'm not going to forgive this. Fuck this I'm out." I turned and walked away. My FO's voice carried from behind me.

"Private Sanoski, if we weaned them off the Neural Link, they would have died from withdrawal. Their minds got so into the bond that it became a permanent part or their psychology, their brain synapses. We had no choice." I scoffed, turning around for the last time. "40 years ago we scraped together 250 foot tall Jaegers in 14 months. Don't tell me you can't fix the minds of two people. They were just 'acceptable losses'."

I left, ready to take the next plane to New York. There it was rainy, depressing, just like Kawaii. I approached the plane teller Thursday morning. The twin roars of jets boomed through the glass of the airport, those guys were flying low. It unnerved me, but I shook my head. I was just paranoid. That Kaiju was still in the water. Hence why I was flying. "One ticket to New York." I said as I reached into my pocket to pay with cash. $1789 USD. I turned back to her, but she only stared back at me. I inclined my head. "Did you get the ticket?" I asked with a chuckle. The girl frowned.

"Sir do you read newspapers?"was her question.

I smiled. "Nah. Don't so much reading these days."

"You should." Her hand beckoned to my left. "Next!" she called as I got got out of line. I read some of the choices. The Collector, USA Today...where was the New York Times? Then I saw the Headlines of the other two. I budged back into line. "Miss, what is this?"

I ignored the complaints of her previous customer. "What?"she asked annoyedly. I looked back at the paper. "Why does this say New York is destroyed?"

The girl looked at me like I didn't know how add.

"Because it is. Next!"