It had been a rough 4 hours. Ever since the sky turned bright white, the US Embassy in Tokyo has been busy trying to address numerous daunting problems. With US Ambassador to Japan Francis Woods giving the memo to everyone that the entire country of Japan and everything on it had been transferred out of Earth, everyone's worst fears about the event had been made real. Some of the embassy staff had been trying to contact their friends and relatives back home in the States. Some had even broken down crying. Others were in a state of shock or denial at what was happening. As embassy staff tried to cope with the situation, the embassy had been flooded with countless American citizens wondering why they could no longer contact their friends and relatives back home. It started to seem like the expression "we're fucked" is an understatement in describing what was happening. As bad situations piled one after the other, two men in a certain office were gathered around the phone talking to Ambassador Woods, who was in transit between meetings.
"So that's what's going to happen with the USFJ. We're not entirely sure what the Japanese want us to do but for now, our hands are pretty much tied so we just have to play along."
As Ambassador Woods spoke on the phone, the man sitting on the office chair behind the desk replied "I see." as he drank his hot, morning coffee from a mug. His blonde hair glistened in the early morning sunlight hitting him from behind. His blank expression likely held in a lot of thought and emotion as the events played out. His eyes, tired yet on the hunt, darted to the other man sitting in another office chair opposite his desk. The other man looked at the phone with a worried expression which betrayed his usually calm disposition. Separating the two physically and in terms of rank was a plaque on the desk that read out 'Daniel G. Walker' with the words 'CIA Station Chief' under it. As the two men pondered on what to do next, another voice on the phone spoke up.
"So what's going to happen to us Ambassador? You're essentially our acting commander in chief and president but without any funding whatsoever, we are all done for aren't we?"
"We at the Embassy will meet soon regarding the establishment of a government in exile. We still don't know for sure if this phenomenon is temporary but just in case it isn't, we will have a command structure in place. As for you, Michael, and the boys down at the NSA Far East Division, we will probably merge you into the USFJ as military intelligence so that you can keep doing your jobs while money pours in from the Japanese."
"Sounds sound, Ambassador."
As the conversation died down, probably due to the tire screeching that could be heard in Ambassador Woods's end, the blonde man, Danny, spoke up.
"So me and Tim here will assume that the same thing happens to us?"
After a slight pause, Ambassador Woods spoke once more.
"Yes. As part of the deal I mentioned earlier, the Japanese may be giving you orders on what to do for them. However, also according to them, you will still be reporting to us, at least after the new government has been created. In the meantime, you do you with continuing your duties in cleaning up your mess there at the office like everyone else. Things change and when they do, I will have you boys do work."
"Got it."
"Will do, Mr. Ambassador."
Turning off the call, Danny stood up from his chair with his mug in hand and faced the window behind him. Earlier, he saw private cars still moving across the street with some people. Now, there were more people panicking and running around with more police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks populating the streets than private vehicles. The sounds of sirens, people shouting and crying, telephone rings, and general anarchy didn't go well with the otherwise great, satisfying coffee that he brewed that morning.
"This will be the norm for the next few days or months, I guess."
"Damn right. Finish your coffee and sightseeing, we got a mess to fucking fix."
As Tim stood up from his seat to head back to evaluating what's left of the CIA, Danny finished the rest of his coffee and followed him.
50km south of Tokyo Bay, ~6:00"Fuck! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!"
Tatatatatatatatata
The constant sound of popping from multiple guns, screams from grown men, and the loud splashing of water coming from bullets hitting the water and massive tentacles flailing around permeated the otherwise cool, breezy morning to the south of Tokyo Bay. This situation, with slight changes in circumstances, has become a common sight all along the oceans close to the Japanese islands. As the bright white sky gave way back to the night sky, calls to the Japan Coast Guard regarding attacks of massive, unidentified creatures on merchant vessels and fishing boats skyrocketed. While the Japan Coast Guard had numerous ships, dealing with all of the incidents that had popped up in a short amount of time was next to impossible. With the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism's announcement that outgoing sea travel was now prohibited, the Japan Coast Guard could now keep every non-government vessel from venturing out into the sea. However, there were still numerous cases of ships and boats being attacked, especially those that were returning back to their ports. One such incident was when a large container ship returning back to Tokyo Bay was attacked by a massive creature with tentacles just 60km out from the mouth of the bay. Reporting to address the problem was the Akitshushima, a massive patrol boat that had just disposed of a different sea monster that was attacking a fishing boat. Having scared off the tentacle monster, which was clinging onto the port side of the container ship, the Akitsushima was escorting it back to port when the monster returned to attack the Akitsushima itself. Seeing the tentacle monster charging at the ship from the starboard side, the Akitsushima's guns turned towards it and opened fire. However, the monster didn't deviate from its course, even as it suffered obvious, fatal-looking wounds.
"Shit! It's gonna collide with us! We won't be able to avoid it!"
One of the crew looking out towards the monster from the bridge reported. Captain of the Akitsushima, Fukatani, shouted into the radio.
"All hands, brace for impact!"
As the guns continued to fire at the monster, the crew all held onto something to brace themselves for the monster that was about to collide with the ship. With the monster now close to the ship, some of the guns stopped firing as it ventured outside their allowable arc of fire. Moments later, a violent shock reverberated across the Akitsushima from its starboard side, throwing a lot of objects from their containers and the containers themselves being freed from their binds. The collision was strong enough to force the Akitsushima back. With the force from the collision having dissipated, Captain Fukatani quickly regained balance and issued orders.
"Give me the damage report!"
"Several crew members have suffered minor injuries, Captain!"
"Captain! There's a breach in the waterline but the flooding is being mitigated by the monster, which has embedded itself in the ship and is now plugging the breach!"
"Is it still alive?!"
"It's unresponsive, sir! Since it isn't actively trying to get itself out of the ship, it may already be dead!"
Captain Fukatani quickly returned to his thoughts. Since the creature was unrecognizable, it was possible that it was a whole new creature, which meant that it would be difficult to judge whether it was already dead or not. Getting his crew to make contact and rid the ship of the creature was out of the discussion since it meant exposing his crew to potential dangers regarding the unknown creature. There was also the possibility that bringing the creature back to Yokohama would just unleash a dangerous creature within Tokyo Bay. However, there was little they could do with the embedded creature this far out in the ocean. Captain Fukatani then turned back to issue new orders.
"Inform port authorities that we have an unknown creature embedded into our hull that we can't remove."
As the crew of the Akitsushima exercised damage control protocols to keep the flooding under control, the ship continued to escort the large container ship back to Tokyo Bay. As the Coast Guard patrol boat entered port, the port authorities that were prepared at the dock couldn't contain their shock at the massive, unknown creature that the Akitsushima brought along in its starboard side.
A certain port, Yokohama, ~7:00With further damage examinations on the Akitsushima still underway, the crew, which had been evacuated to the port, were talking with one another about what happened.
"Looking more closely at it, it seems like a giant octopus, right?"
"Yeah, it sure as hell does."
"Man... Who knew that we'd get fucking isekai'd. The entire country! I didn't believe the announcement but with these sea monsters showing up around our coastline, I guess there's no denying it."
"Yeah. It'll be a bad time for us in the coming months. Even if we had all ships recalled back to the harbors, there will always be that sucker that will go out and get attacked by a sea monster. Just look at what they can do to a several thousand ton ship! Those small-ass trawlers ain't gonna last long."
"Forget about work. I still haven't had breakfast! Looking at that octopus makes me think of takoyaki..."
"That's not a bad idea... If it weren't for the fact that it might be poisonous or deadly!"
"Yeah but what if it weren't? With all the sea monsters the Coast Guard has killed in the past few hours, that's already several hundred tons of octopus for takoyaki! It just might solve our impending food crisis!"
"Shut up, dude. I doubt that the food crisis would be solved that easily..."
As the crew of the Akitsushima talked, spouting grand ideas about opening a sushi restaurant to capitalize on the possible loads of seafood coming in, the massive corpse of the sea monster that had embedded itself in the hull of the ship was still in the process of being examined.
Somewhere in the Principality of Qua-Toyne, ~10:00With the Myhark airspace violation incident still fresh, the meeting between the members of the High Council still continued on as they awaited reports from the group of ships they sent northwards to find the unknown flying object or its origin. As they waited, the discussion had been in an endless circle of presenting theories, valid and absurd, regarding the origins of the object. Seeing that the meeting had devolved into a chatter of conspiracies and delusions, Senior Advisor Kanata looked down in dejection and loss as he failed to quell the ramblings of his fellow council members for the 5th time. Just as he thought of dismissing some of the more boisterous council members, he felt a strong, distinct sense of presence suddenly manifest in the atmosphere. Recognizing it, he immediately looked to the entrance of the meeting chamber to find a woman clad in a simple, yet elegant white dress with touches of green along the seams. Despite her relatively short stature, she commanded an aura of authority and grace, which either came to be felt by others through looking at her or feeling her inherently strong magical power. An unimpressed expression dominated her face and eventually the chamber, silencing the other council members which had also felt her presence. Realizing who she was, all the council members patted their clothes to straighten them as they hurriedly stood up and bowed towards the woman.
"Your Highness!"
All of the council members shouted in chorus. Unimpressed by their display of respect, she flicked her wrist outwards as if shoo-ing a disobedient dog. The council members, feeling the air change from the flick of her wrist, disengaged from their bows and looked at her eyes directly before looking away. The meeting chamber, which was in an opening of a grove surrounded by water, was lit up quite brightly despite the chamber being enclosed by a tree canopy above. The bright light emanating from unknown sources reflected out of the woman's white dress and blonde hair, which in its shortness revealed her characteristically long ears.
"I have been informed by my ladies and maids that a certain incident happened in Myhark earlier today."
The council members all gulped after hearing her voice. However, they gulped exactly at the moment she mentioned the words 'incident' and 'Myhark.' Whether by gross incompetence or sly intention, none of the council members had informed the Princess, Llanfair of Qua-Toyne, about the incident that happened in Myhark.
"A grey, inorganic flying object flew over Myhark hours ago! By the gods it scared everyone! The garrison couldn't keep up and none of our wyverns were in sight until after it left!"
Llanfair mimicked the high-pitched voice and quick speech mannerisms of her maid as she recounted what she was told. As she did this, she approached the council member tasked with managing military affairs, who was now visibly trembling and sweating. Stopping next to the side of the council member who hung his head low, Llanfair spoke once more, this time in her regular voice.
"I do not doubt the state of readiness that the military is in right now but..."
Snapping at the statement, the council member cried out.
"I-I-It won't happen again! The object was simply too fast-"
Before he could finish his statement, he felt the princess's gentle yet firm hand press on his right shoulder. He controlled himself just as he was about to shriek in fear.
"I didn't come here to listen to your excuses."
On the verge of crying from the immense psychological pressure and physical pressure from the princess's hand on his shoulder, the council member stopped before saying "I'm sorry!" Ignoring the council member's apology, she swiftly turned back to the rest of the council members, who were now sweating from witnessing what was happening.
"I'll ignore this blatant breach of protocol... for now. Give me the reports on this intriguing flying object that dared to graze the skies of Qua-Toyne."
Taking her seat at the round table, the other council members followed suit and started to give the princess the reports that they've been able to get from the witnesses in Myhark, the garrison there, and the wyvern knights that managed to spot and follow it before it zoomed out of their airspace. As she listened to the reports, the expression on her face grew more worried. The description of the object and its purported capabilities reminded her of the inorganic flying machines that have been developed in the Mu continent and the Holy Mirishial Empire following their geopolitical struggles. However, the reports mentioned an emblem painted on the wings of the object: a bright red circle. To her knowledge, none of the countries that employed similar flying objects bear such symbols. Even if the other countries that don't use such objects did procure them, the emblem matched no such country, ruling out the possibility that the object was from Louria. If anything, the emblem was strikingly similar to the glistening red sun that the Emissaries of the Sun God from the tales of old bore. The Emissaries were told to have possessed divine flying ships of iron. If so, how are the Emissaries back? Did they come to save them from Louria? Such a trivial matter doesn't compare to the near-extinction threat that their ancestors faced from the Demon Lord. Why are they here once more? As she pondered, she felt a new presence emerge in the meeting chamber.
"Your Highness! Your excellencies! Important message coming from the Myhark Naval Garrison!"
The council members, realizing that a breakthrough from the fleet of ships they sent north must have occured, immediately had the messenger bring in the message. What the messenger conveyed shocked everyone in the meeting chamber, save for Llanfair, who felt that the answers to her questions seemed to be within sight.