27Author Notes: Forgive my lack of updates. It'll take too long to explain, but I'll try my best to keep up. To do so, I'll have to reduce the word count of the chapters and revive writing enthusiasm. It also continues to be a difficult story.
Now, on the ground, the earth shakes violently near Hoshizawa.
Now, the quake of Mogera!
(これから, モゲラの地震!)
April 7th. Two days passed after the attack of Yuchi. It was an easy conclusion.
Both forces agreed to aid one another in combat aid, logistics, and maintenance of all machines. Their enemy was mutual. It seemed like a rash act, or a strange twist of irony that an Earth organization established to face extraterrestrial threats would easily cooperate with an alien military. Before long, the press came to catch a story about this astonishing event, swarming the Hoshizawa HQ in Minato. The Chief of Staff, joined with Military Operations commander Goto and Strategic Innovation Executive Kaji (加寺), reacted promptly by meeting the press at the entrance. When he was pummeled with questions, he kept a tranquil face. A glassy stare made contact with anyone who offered a question, and there was not one bat of the eyes when a camera flashed.
"Earth is siding with aliens?!" One news article said. For some, including a few of Japan's lower political parties, the phrase created an interpretation that Earth's enemy had a hand in the choice. Still, Hoshizawa had the backing of the major Liberal party for the business-centric props. As for the reason: It was Chief Sugitani's "sense"?
"An ambiguous answer. Would the President say that?" Some would say, rebuking Sugutani in his stance of leadership. "Reckless execution of Hoshizawa" was another remark from papers; post forums on the net flared worse than the news as they were scathing and juvenile.
"This is not a joke! If Sugitani wants to kiss alien ass, it'd better on the rubber end of one of those action models." It all came with disapproval. Even Kaji expressed concerns of announcing intentions ahead of time, especially during a moment of great crisis. Not all decisions were black and white. At the same time, Sugitani's honesty was given plenty of nods. All the while, Hiori, Torahiko, and other members of the Shenbu crew were apprehensive over the next attack. They still couldn't determine what that flying snake was. The maintenance and engineering crew shared 1/144 scale models of SUJ units, and 1/25 models of ground and air units.
Now, there was another matter.
"The Kurogane is gone." The elderly Toriko Nechimoku approached the maintenance crew within the Hoshizawa hangars. Her grooved face changed into a scowl from hearing those words.
"Damnit," she said, letting out a sigh. "He's gone out on his little adventure. Who gave him the go?"
"Commander Goto of Combat Strategic Operations, on behalf of the Chief of Staff," replied a crew member. "However, he proposed that he go out because the Kurogane received a signal."
"For the Gods' sake, he can't go out on his own like this without telling anyone! We're in a war."
"There was a sign of strange tectonic shaking outside the metropolis, so a team is sent out to investigate."
"I'd say that this more has to do with his sense of curiosity than his sense of duty. Indeed, the Kurogane is good for a job such as recon. Still, I wanted to know how far the research went."
"Research? Should we really tell the Earth people?"
"Yes. It just might play a bigger role in this war than first thought. His family should have knowledge on the Soul Gem. All the papers said were that its variable potential energy."
"It's too bad that I can't reach China in you." While driving through Tokyo's rural outlands, a man sitting alone in his AFV rambled to himself even on an open com line. A cargo truck from the JGSDF had let him off, and time was measured by his growing boredom. Above his head were a couple of F-4 Phantoms, E-designated models built and sent to Japan for light combat. To compensate for that, they were fitted with various navi and com systems.
"What is it? Looks like you sense something." The tank driver looked over to a little cone-shaped device lodged into his dashboard. It began to flicker.
"'ey boys, we got a névmakite detection." He beamed, and looking ahead through a glass pane. The interior of his tank was built almost like a car. Against all standards, it was a single-seater, surrounding the driver with various instruments and functions.
A HUD popped onto the pane. At twelve-o-clock, coming straight towards the tank, was a giant mound of dirt.
"Let's analyze you!"