Hydraheads

Chapter 1: Kogarashi

The soft and warm air woke Riamu up. His eyes blinked for a moment at the bright blue sky. There were only a handful of pristine white fluffy clouds.

Riamu moved his fingers and clenched the soft material around them. It was sand. He glanced at the waving palm tree to his right. Seagulls squawked and mewed somewhere.

He sat and looked around. There were people further inland on the beach. He stood up and walked.

"What is happening here?" mumbled the teenager.

These were military personnel. Soldiers with the typical khaki tunic uniforms and sen-bou field caps, officers in dark green or white with matching service hats and swords on the side. They were chatting before suddenly looking at Riamu.

He froze in discomfort. He gulped before realizing that they were looking at the ocean behind him. Riamu turned around just in time before the blinding flash of light engulfed the sky.

Riamu fell on the sand. Tremors and strong winds caught him. He could hear his own heartbeats.

On the horizon, the gigantic ball of fire grew into a pillar. Riamu knew what that was.

The speakers gave a speech. "The world has changed. Most people would think that there is only one option with it: adapt or die. Today, we have proven that there is another option. We don't simply adapt."

Riamu's mouth began to follow. "We instead evolve on par with the world."

The speaker towers continued. "With this weapon, the Japanese Empire and its Greater East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere no longer need to shy away from striking a balance with the German Volksrepublic as an equal superpower!"

Riamu's breaths were getting shorter. Something was not right. He didn't notice the serpentine shapes rising to disturb the atomic mushroom cloud. He did notice the seawater that started to flood his hands.

The ocean was approaching. Riamu glanced back at the officers who continued their discussions and mutual toasts seemingly unimpeded by the changing environment. He looked at the waves again and the strange movements in them.

Then the tsunami released its hidden hitchhiker as the head of a massive sea dragon attacked. It chomped at Riamu's entire leg, making him scream in pain. He tried to claw the sand, but the monster pulled him into the water.

As the beach was replaced by the watery vortices, Riamu's clawing hands felt and grabbed something. Without further thinking, he used it to stab the dragon's eye. He let go of the object when realizing that it was the katar dagger.

The dragon's other eye gave him a piercing glance. It opened its mouth again, this time swallowing Riamu whole.

Riamu woke up again gasping. He tried to inhale as much air as possible. Considering his nightmare of being dragged into the ocean, it was understandable.

"You got me worried for a moment there," said the soft voice across the tatami room. It was Kanon who reclined sitting against one of the big cabinets. To her right was the tokonoma alcove where a sword was displayed.

"Where am I?" Riamu looked around him. It was a typical Japanese room with sliding doors and paper screens. "Am I at your place?"

Kanon snorted as she approached him and knelt. "You wish. You're at our secret lair. You're at the home of the Hydraheads."

Riamu's eyebrows rose. "Looks pretty normal to me."

"Well, Rao adapted the place to be more familiar to humans. Specifically, to a bunch of high school teenagers from Hiroshima-2," replied Kanon with a shrug. "Can you get up?"