"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed. A few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu Scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.' I suppose we all thought that... one way or another."

- Robert J. Oppenheimer commenting on the Trinity explosion.

2034

The ocean is one of the most expansive places on the planet. There are still areas yet to be explored and discovered, even more than space. That alone makes it the perfect place to hide. For deep beneath the depths was a leviathan. The beast, in and of itself was a mystery; born and sculpted by nature but transformed and wounded by the sciences of mankind. For a long time it had dwelt underneath the waves, its wounds healing from humanity's defiance, dreaming of the day it would finally have its revenge on those who left it in this state. However, in the otherwise, dark, light-starved depths, something caught its eye. Turning its colossal head, the leviathan spotted several objects, none of which could have been made by nature. Well, its revenge had to start somewhere after all.

Minato Asuna used the manipulator claws of his diver mech (which resembled a cross between an old-timey diving suit and a submersible) to scoop up the rock samples, taking a picture of a passing dragonfish, causing it to swim away in blinded shock. The thirty-five year old man smiled as the picture developed inside of his machine. Kuro's gonna flip when he sees these. he thought, thinking back to his now five-year-old son, looking at him with that crushing expression after he told him he wasn't going to make it to his birthday on the video cam. He considered it a belated present.

"Hey, Minato." chirped up Roji, a younger colleague of his, as he drifted down to meet him, "Found anything interesting?"

Minato did a 'so-so' gesture with his manipulator claw, "I snapped a photo of a dragonfish for my youngest, though I think I might have given it permanent blindness. Aside from that, nothing else but a bunch of rocks."

"Hey, speaking of which, how's the wife and kids?"

Minato flashed his friend a mock scowl, "None of your business," he added a laugh, "I'm just kiddin'. Kuro's about to start kindergarten and Mayu's now in the first grade. As for Hinata, well it's kinda the same." He then switched over to a near perfect impression of his wife's voice, "'Kuro, please don't go out there for once, what if you suffer an implosion or get crushed by an undersea rockslide during an earthquake, or get eaten by a giant squid or drift into a volcano?'"

Roji shook his head with a slight smile, "You know she's just trying to look out for you, right?"

"I know, I know, but there are just days she goes overboard with worry and- whoa whoa whoa, what the-?"

"What is it?"

Minato stared at his radar as something massive was heading their way.

"I'm picking up something."

Roji noticed the serious tone in his friend's voice, "Same here. Whatever it is, it's big." He then shrugged, "Probably a pod of sperm whales hunting for squids."

Minato shook his head, "No way. It's way too big."

Just then, whatever was heading toward them started to circle around them like a predator sizing up its prey. Something neither Minato or Roji had any intention of becoming. "Let's get out of here before we end up on this thing's menu." the former announced, something to which his friend agreed. However, the moment they took their first step, the anomaly made its first move... and chaos erupted.

All around them, underwater cliffs began to crumble into a marine rockslide as boulders the size of convoy trucks barreled down toward them. "Roji, hurry!"

Both men ran as fast as the crushing depths could allow but might as well have been performing a marathon in thick, gooey molasses. "This is Minato Asuna, my partner and I are caught in an underwater avalanche. Sending coordinates for our location for retrieval!" Minato yelled into his radio, hoping to God above someone heard him. "Copy that, Asuna, sending retrieval team, hang tight. ETA in two minutes."

Minato didn't know whether or not to be relieved someone heard him or frustrated at the fact they had to wait two minutes to escape. He sincerely doubted he and Roji could even last 30 seconds. All they could really do right now was avoid getting crushed like the plumber from the original Donkey Kong game except with boulders as opposed to barrels. Just then, a blue light caught the attention of Minato from the corner of his eye. What n-? Before any of them could react, an explosion like an underwater nuke burst forth, sending undersea soil and rocks toward them.

Minato was far ahead from the blast when he noticed a boulder the size of his two story house falling toward them... Roji closest to it.

"ROJI!" Minato cried at the top of his voice. Roji turned around to see his doom just meters away from him. He looked upwards, his back turned on his colleague about to utter his last words in this life. "Oh, shi-"

BOOM!

The shockwave created by the rock hitting the undersea ground sent Minato flying into the side of a wall, the cracking sound indicating his suit had been damaged. So far, it wasn't serious, but if he stayed here, it would be. Just then, the diver mech's artifical female voice gave news he really did not want to hear in the slightest. "Alert alert, oxygen tank damaged. Air at 99% and dropping." Not good. Definitely not good. If he didn't get crushed to death, chances are he would suffocate. At least getting turned into a human pancake was more merciful than a slow death like air loss. He attempted to move his legs but a sharp pain pierced his entire body. It was then followed up by a strong coppery taste in his mouth. Great, he now had to chalk up broken bones and internal bleeding to the list of things he was in danger of dying from at the moment.

Good news is, it's been two minutes. Now, where the HELL is that retrieval unit?

Suddenly, something moved in the far-off horizon. He could only catch a feigning glimpse of a long, sweeping tail, an upright reptilian body... and three rows of jagged spikes with a fading blue glow to them.

No. he thought in sheer horror. I thought he died!

At the moment, like a God's send, a glaring light pierced through the darkness as he felt his exoskeleton lifted up as his eyes closed up, welcoming the sweet embrace of unconsciousness. Just then, he could hear the sounds of beeping, while the strong scent of disinfectant filled his nostrils. Opening his eyes, Minato found himself in bed inside of a room filled with monitors and an IV stuck in his arm. He was in a hospital. Outside his door, he could see the rough figures of four humans talking about something, the only words he could make out being "Accident", "Life support" and "Long". Just then the door opened and in walked his wife and children. Kuro was the first to run in, along with Mayu, the former planting a big hug on his father, who winced in pain.

"Kuro, give your father some space." Hinata scolded her youngest.

Minato gave his wife a weak smile, "I think my suit's camera still has your son's birthday present."

Hinata gently placed her hand on her husband's cheek, tears of joy visible behind her glasses. "I'm just glad you're alive." She then gave him a kiss on his forehead.

"Mommy, is Daddy going to be okay?" Mayu asked.

"Daddy's going to be fine, sweetie. He's just going to be on support for a long time." Hinata replied.

However, Minato knew better. He may have come back to his family, but Roji had now left behind a wife and son, and if he saw what he thought he saw, nothing was ever going to be fine.