A/N: (10/22/2019) Hey all, here is that rewrite of the first chapter, If you all were keeping up to date with a few of my newer works you understand I had recently joined the Army, I am currently on Medical Leave and have the time to actually dedicate to these works, I am hoping to use the finer knowledge I have on the Military, US Military, in particular, to help keep the story accurate, or as accurate as I can manage as I do not know how the UK works with Foreign Governments in a military capacity, but I have a rough idea of how we do it here in the states. A small thing I overlooked completely in the first rendition was the actual talks between the two countries, sending an operative in any capacity to back up a country without at least getting an idea of how the deal was made and furthermore what the deal itself was, did not help with the stories overall structure. I kind of just dropped him in there and said deal with it. As the Anime and Manga themselves have been attempting to keep as close to reality as possible, at least by showing the power difference in modern and ancient tech and how modern society works in contrast to ancient society. Plus the politics and diplomacy take a large area in the Manga and Anime so I cant simply skip something so important to the series in the Prologue. Either way here is what I hope to be the much better rewrite of the Prologue and a much better start to a series I am going to enjoy writing.
Edit: (9/4/2020) Hey so I've once again rewritten this so as to include other elements, The decision the Ministers made is an obvious one but the reason for them are vague, aside from referencing a "record that speaks for itself" there is little reason to have picked him in particular as, after all, many soldiers in the UK have illustrious records and are considered highly skilled and qualified, I am going to include a rewritten portion where he was involved in the massacre in Japan as a tourist who got caught up in the assault, his inclusion especially with him being from a foreign military would have been announced to the public since the Media is always hunting for those types of stories, this itself would bring him to the attention of the two Ministers. As well as establish a reason for his good relationship with some of the soldiers he will work with. Another thing to keep in mind is a small change inside of the original writing to reflect that fact so rereading that portion might be encouraged if you should wish it.
Prologue: How'd It Come To This
Harry's POV
He breathed a soft breath of air as he enjoyed the bustling sounds of the nearby shops and cars rushing by. He hadn't even really considered ever traveling but if there was ever one thing he could thank Luna and Hermione for it was pressuring him into taking a little vacation abroad. Of course, his location of choice was Japan, central Tokyo. His primary reason for choosing his vacation spot was after Luna had gotten him hooked on Anime and Manga, of course, it could have been the added help of Hermione's own love of the literature that got him easing into it. So here he was walking around the busy streets of Ginza, desperately reading a Japanese language book and hoping to make heads or tails of where he was going. Supposedly there was a massive convention going on and while he had made this trip randomly he really wanted to take a look and find new awesome merchandise to buy. It wasn't as though he was hurting for cash so he could splurge on things he didn't really need but wanted.
Of course, Hermione and Luna would expect something as a souvenir. So he couldn't really go back empty-handed. The language wasn't that hard to pick up, or well for him it wasn't, he was a linguist after all, but he still struggles since what little understanding he had before didn't really help establish a foundation for what he now needed to know. Basic sentences and common understanding was what he could manage now, but complex work and being able to translate signs on the fly was out of his reach for the moment. His interest in learning the new language was partially a hidden desire to learn new languages, what with dealing with the french once before in the tournament and of course meeting a few tourists from their own nations, and lastly it was his love of Anime and Manga that lead to him wanting to understand the language since he would have access to more of those works. He wasn't a closet Otaku or anything, he wore his love for it as much as the net guy.
He tried to ignore the looks, females and males cast looks towards him as he passed idly reading the book as he kept an eye out. He cast an impressive figure and it intimidated some but he could see a smattering of blushes in multiple female's faces. He blinked and ignored that more than the rest, trying not to let his mind talk him into utilizing what little teaching Sirius had given him about the female race. His eyes turned towards one of the road signs and stared for a moment as he tried to work out the name looking towards his phone in his hand as it showed his current destination. He blinked as a small rustling in the wind was heard. It wouldn't have been heard by most, especially over the noise of the busy streets, but he wasn't a regular person, multiple battles had thought him the heavy use of his senses, and he could almost identify the sound from a memory that played in his mind.
'A dragon?' He thought in mild confusion before screaming was heard.
He turned to look back down the street his eyes scanning the surroundings, nobody was moving much for the moment and as it quieted down he heard the shifting in the air again. He tensed, once might have been nothing but now he heard it for a second time, and sadly he didn't have any weapon on him to even hope of putting up some kind of defense. He saw police rush into the street and start directing people causing the calm to break as the rush of panicking people threatened to overwhelm the officers. He turned to look into the air seeing a shadow pass behind a skyscraper and narrowed his eyes. He dived to the left as it came speeding around the buildings and scrapped the ground running headlong into a car. He winced as the massive carcass had crushed the two officers underneath it, as well as three civilians. He turned to the strangely armored man who was thrown off the dead dragon. He watched the man stand before shifting back to didge the wild swing of the blade.
He threw his arm up blocking the man's arm into the air before throwing his other forwards into the man's neck getting a strangled choke to sound out. He reached up pulling the arm down and forwards letting the man collapse forwards off balance and twisted his arm catching the knife as it dropped. He pulled the man back and dragged the knife quickly across his throat blinking dispassionately as the blood burst from the severed artery. He let the body drop and palmed the knife into a normal grip moving over to the downed dragon and searching for the bodies casting a faint hope they might have lived. He sighed softly as the bodies were obviously no longer among the living and looked over them for a moment before his eyes caught on the weapon the officer had. He quickly grabbed the small revolver and felt a little more relaxed knowing he had ranged options now, even if the limited ammo would be a problem. He slipped the knife in between his belt and pants and patted his back pocket where his wallet was.
If anyone had any issues his ID should help calm things down. He moved towards the loud crowds rushing by as several were stopped by a few of the strangely dressed soldiers. He didn't hesitate, raising the gun quickly and firing several times. The shots echoed off the walls and stunned several civilians nearby but the placement was great and the two dropped new holes in one's head and another finding his armor had done little more than ricocheting the bullet into his neck. He glanced over the downed soldiers and took a good look around, they were somewhat near the Imperial Palace, at the moment the few people still alive would need someone to move them there, at least to get them behind some solid walls. He turned to the people who looked on shocked and grimaced. He calmed himself and focused for a second.
"Please follow me." He said shocking them out of their stupor. He watched them all nod one babbling to him for a moment before flushing red as he looked at her in confusion.
"I apologize I do not speak much Japanese." He said getting understanding nods from the group.
He turned and moved into a slow jog allowing them to keep up with him as he moved through the now empty streets. It hadn't taken long at all to find himself standing a good way off from the palace and the massive crowd outside the walls made him frown slightly in mild worry. He looked around sighting in on a police box blinking in surprise as a man in an orange shirt argued with the two officers. He moved over quickly and nearly stumbled back as the officers raised their weapons at him. He looked down and blinked in surprise as he realized he still held the gun. He slowly lowered it and let go as he raised his hands. The two barked a small word at him and he focused a bit trying to make sense of it.
"Ah, Found on dead officer. Saved a few people." He said speaking the language a bit broken and saw the small look of surprise on their faces as one took the weapon and both decided to simply leave it at that for a moment.
"Who are you?" one asked letting him sigh slightly as they spoke it slow enough he could get it quickly.
"I apologize, still learning language, here is ID." He said pulling the wallet out and handing it over.
He watched them shrug as they looked through the wallet only for the one to drop it a clear look of surprise on his face before the man scrambled to pick it up and hand it back nodding slightly in respect. He was going to say something as a phone rang and the other answered quickly. The short change was lost on him as they were forced into the palace to wait out the end result. It wasn't a few minutes later that the familiar sound of an Aircraft gun sounded out outside the walls and he knew whatever was happening was little more than an annoying clean up for the forces here. He relaxed a bit hoping to get through this quickly, he only had little more than three more days of his vacation and he really wanted to enjoy it before the news reached home and he was hounded for weeks on end.
'Oh who am I kidding, this shit will reach home by tomorrow.' he thought hanging his head slightly.
Ambassador's POV
It was the sound of a soft whine of a jet engine shutting down that broke the silence of the Secured International Hanger at the Narita International Airport. After a few short moments and the fast-paced movements of the work crew outside the Airstair was in place and the door was opened quickly. He stepped to the door and was stopped short by the three vehicles waiting in the hanger. It was obvious that the four people waiting at the bottom of the stairs weren't your average welcoming committee.
"Welcome Ambassador, Prime Minister Hojo and Defense Minister Kano are both expecting you." The one closest to the stairs said calmly.
He glanced over the only woman among the group and took note of the slight accent in her English. It was impressive how well she spoke his own language, he knew very well that accents can be very difficult to eliminate when speaking a foreign language but to have worked so hard to separate their accent from their speech was impressive. He nodded slowly and climbed into the Limousine waiting as a single man and the woman climbed in and sat across from him.
He worriedly checked his watch for a moment knowing he was to check into the Embassy in little over an hour and whatever possible meeting was happening right now wasn't on his planned agenda, especially since a direct meeting between an ambassador and a head of state wasn't the proper procedure. The ride was quiet and in contrast to the normally bustling roads, the route they took was suspiciously devoid of vehicles.
"We took the liberty of closing our route to avoid any suspicious elements from interfering in this meeting, as well as to eliminate lost time and allow you to continue to the embassy." The woman explained slowly making him relax a bit.
He wouldn't normally trust someone on their word alone, but in this case, he didn't have much of a choice. The vehicle stopped slowly in front of the government building and he found himself quickly escorted inside before having to suffer through the standard security checks everyone was forced to deal with upon entry. The trip to the conference room was surprisingly short but in contrast to the calm cool facade the four had it seemed to be gentle smiles from both of the men inside, and he found himself alone with the two as well.
"Welcome Ambassador, I have been anticipating your arrival for a few days now, it's likely you have seen the news on what has happened here in Japan, our Ginza Incident, it has seemed to have made large waves in the international sphere." Prime Minister Hojo said as he took a seat.
"Yes, I managed to catch a glimpse of it on my Television at home, is the reason for this surprise meeting related to that?" He asked slowly getting a small sigh and nod as the two men schooled their expressions.
"Right to business it seems, yes your presence here has much to do with this discovery and incident, for a good few years now your government has provided our nation with a high level of assistance in the Internation community, we thank you for all the help over these years." Prime Minister Hojo said calmly making him smile a bit.
"We accept your thanks, We would also like to thank you for the healthy growth of both our economies by accepting our deal all those years ago." He said getting a small smile and nod.
"With your help, our proposal for overturning Article 9 is moving along swiftly as well and our community is backing the proposal by a good majority it seems, however, that isn't the main reason for your presence here today." Prime Minister Hojo explained after a short moment of silence.
"Yes that much I managed to realize, after all a personal meeting right off the plane is rather odd isnt it?" He asked getting a small chuckle and nod.
"Too true, you've heard the declaration from the President of the United States?" Prime Minister Hojo asked his tone shifting to serious.
"Yes, it seemed a little suspect." He said getting a slow nod.
"On top of that many in our intelligence section have detected an increase in activity in the militaries of both Russia and China, it's not a proven fact that they may be targeting the gate here in Japan but it seems hard to believe it was happenstance, so soon after the Gate's introduction to the world." Defense Minister Kano cut in making him lean back a bit.
"That is a worrying thought, You will have the full support of the people of the United Kingdom, our declaration from two years ago will be followed by our government." He said getting a small sigh of relief.
"It is reassuring to know that a country out there has some honor, this move from the Americans is suspect especially since they had no care over the many different natural disasters that affected our country over the years, now at this moment they are willing to support us, it speaks of deception." Prime Minister Hojo said his hand slamming against the table in front of him.
"So what is that you would like to do?" He asked getting silence for a good few minutes.
"We are going to continue with our plans but the American's are going to get restless without allowance into the special region, we've had plans to rely less on them for a while, with your assistance we have made great strides, with that in mind having another member of the community send a military Liason with our forces could calm international tensions a little." Prime Minister Hojo said making him blink in surprise.
"You want a member of our armed forces to accompany your forces through the Gate?" He asked getting a small smirk.
"That sounds like a great idea." Prime Minister Hojo said sitting back in his chair.
"How many people are we talking here?" He asked getting a serious look.
"For the moment? A single man, we need to show the people that a joint effort like this can work, and we need to assure our military leaders that a joint operation will remain under their control. We can discuss increasing the number of liason troops when necessary. We've already taken the liberty of selecting several well-known soldiers for you to select from." Defense Minister Kano said sliding over a file.
"I must let you know that odds are you will have the one man for quite a while, with the involvement we have worldwide and the general unease the citizens will have with sending some of our own into a world we know nothing about I can only guarantee, and that's tentative, the involvement of one man, mostly because we can explain that away as a Diplomatic issue." He said flipping the file open.
If he had been drinking at the time it was highly likely his drink would have been spit out all over the floor in surprise.
"Are you alright Ambassador?" Prime Minister Hojo asked as he coughed softly.
"Yes, I am just surprised by what I saw, You realize who you have chosen?" He asked getting a small grin from the Defense Minister.
"We know exactly who is on that paper, if you give it a little thought He could be the best choice for this overall, his record speaks for itself." Defense minister Kano said slowly making him lean back as he glanced over the record again.
"There is more than that however, I doubt you have seen the newest broadcast but perhaps I should explain, this soldier here, was on the ground and involved with the Ginza incident." Prime Minister Hojo said softly making him blink in surprise.
"I will be frank, We had no knowledge of his involvement." He said trying to head off a misunderstanding.
"You need not worry, after a short interview it was determined he was on vacation, However after his involvement and with what our intelligence agency has gathered, we feel he is the best for the position. If only because the support of the people will help ease the news, and his involvement will shed a more positive light on the move." Prime Minister Hojo said making him sigh and nod as he leaned back.
"I'll bring it up with my superiors, but until I know more, I can't say for sure if he will be involved." He said getting a nod from both men.
"Thank you for meeting with us, I will have the escort come back around and take you to the Embassy." Prime Minister Hojo said standing slowly and shaking his hand.
It was several days later that he got word back from London. "He is not going to take this well." He said looking over the approved marker on the request.