In the void far away from any worlds, a giant spaceship emerged from hyperspace. Its size rivaled a small moon. It had multiple rings around it, each ring holding many smaller ships, but it was the main ship that commanded them all.

Inside of it, in a depth of corridors, hangars, and prison cells, a round table was being set for an important meeting.

Twelve of thirteen seats were filled. A single seat remained empty. But not for long. A dimensional tear appeared, and someone unconscious was pushed inside. It was Ichiro. Someone winced when tried to look inside of the tear, before it disappeared again.

“Commander is finally here,” a youthful voice said from the other side of the table. “He has come.”

“He came, indeed,” another voice replied. More mature one, but also young. “But he has brought something else along. Do you feel it?”

“I do. Everyone, be careful.“

They sat in silence after that, waiting for the Commander to wake up.

***

Ichiro blinked his eyes open. He was staring at the metallic flat surface and was sitting in an awkward position. As if he was sleeping on the chair.

“Commander!”

A familiar youthful voice said with relief. To sit properly, he had to move his spine. He groaned in pain as he shifted his body, and his eyes shot open.

“Thank God, the commander woke up! We have an emergency, Commander!”

He looked around him and realized he was in a room with a metal ceiling. He sat at the round table in the spaceship...? People sat at the table, and they are... me?

‘What the fuck? Where am I?’ 

They looked like variations of him. All twelve of them were wearing a military uniforms with varying ranks, and when Ichiro looked at the reflection, he noticed he wore the higher-ranking uniform, while these… clones (?) had lower ones.

‘Ah, it’s just a dream... I guess I’ll just have to roleplay...’

Ichiro stood up from his uncomfortable chair and stretched out. It hurt. He just woke up in a strange place with little sleep at all and now had to act like he was a high-ranking officer. He probably had such a dream a few months ago, although he couldn’t remember the details of the situation.

“I’ve fully awakened. What is the emergency?”

Smarter-looking Ichiro with Lieutenant-rank and glasses did the anime-styled move of tipping his glasses up. He then pressed the button beneath the table, which filled it with various holographic boxes.

“Subject K-4531, also known as ‘Eldritch Gojiira,’ had escaped from captivity. Someone breached its prison and used the dimensional rift to bring the creature to the world in Sector 0. It is currently heading towards the city that local natives call Osaka.”

There were gasps among the people present. They were all shocked by what they were hearing. The only exception was the Commander, who was silent. 'Osaka? Gojiira? Yep, that was my type of sort sci-fi fantasy dream.'

The glasses one quickly scrolled through the holographic displays that had been replicated for everyone at the table. The first box displayed the image, the second described it, and the third showed how to deal with it effectively. And a few more, depicting the subject’s previous exploits.

 

 

“The natives’ medium arsenal would not be damaging; if they used their weapons of mass destruction, they would mutually destroy themselves. We have some ideas; would you care to hear them?”

The Commander didn’t answer right away. Ichiro looked at the all the data that was simultaneously gibberish and informative. He had a brilliant idea, since it correlated to this dream.

“Why don’t we call the Extrememan?”

The smarter-looking Ichiro was shocked for a second, but quickly recovered, maintaining his professionalism.

“He is currently unavailable. In the E-7910, Commander, he’s fighting against a similar but invasive species. The latest report states he would be unavailable for about 4 months. Against its weakness, sir, we have similar but less effective replacements.”

The real Ichiro was disappointed. “OK, show them,” he said, nodding.

Smarter-looking Ichiro called the holographic keyboard and typed the words. Few seconds later, four boxes appeared on a list. 

 

 

 

 

 

Ichiro examined the holographic boxes that contained brief descriptions and 3D images. He rejected the first right away because it lacked the basic firepower to annihilate. And I rejected the last one because it was excessive.

After deliberating between the last two options, Ichiro chose the second on the list. Its design was far more appropriate for the current situation. He opened his mouth and pointed at it.

“The second option. It looks cooler—ahem, it has far more capability than the other three in this situation.”

The others nodded in agreement. It was true; the mech was cool looking, powerful, and cost efficient. It had the same amount of power as the weakened archangel itself, but with far greater range and versatility.

Smarter-looking Ichiro adjusted his glasses and opened his mouth.

“Yes, sir, I believe that as well. I calculated a rough chance of winning and it came out to be 60%. If you, Commander, are in charge of the operation, it could be almost 100%, sir, depending on your strategy and tactics.”

“Very well. Can I become a pilot? It was something I had always wanted to try.”

“No, Commander. You’re too important right now, sir. You’ve caused far too many problems... recently. Allow the professionals to do their jobs.”

‘What the hell is this dream?’ wondered the real Ichiro as he nodded and opened his mouth. He probably could brute force his way, but he didn't know where it was, and killing his loyal looking clones didn't sound right.

“Alright. Let’s see how things turn out. At the very least, can I look at it with my own eyes?”

He chose the plan B. He will just enjoy this dream.

***

The emergency meeting ended abruptly as it started. Except for the smarter-looking Ichiro and the younger Ichiro, they all dispersed. The first one’s place of work looked it was here, while the younger one said he will accompany him until they reached the... hangar? Real Ichiro wasn’t sure of where they were headed, but he trusted his companion completely. He looked like him in the middle school days, full of energy and without much worries.

They walked out of the ‘conference room’ and down the corridor. The corridor was made of a metallic alloy and was painted a pleasant white. The light was neutral, and it shone in a long, straight line across the corridor. Ichiro looked left and right, but there were no doors or windows to be seen. Several Ichiro variants passed them as they walked. Old Ichiro, Middle-aged Ichiro, gender bent Ichiro, Solid Ichiro, Venom Ichiro, and many more all saluted the Real Ichiro, whom they referred to as Commander. They were all different from each other, but the common thing is that they were all him. Some of them were taller, some were shorter, some were muscular, and some were skinny.

They finally arrived at the lift after some time. When the younger one pressed the button leading down, it arrived almost instantly. They entered the lift, and it began moving downwards. The lift first moved down for a minute, then went to the left for about five minutes. The scenery remained unchanged, and it moved neither slowly nor quickly. When lights flashed on his back, he turned around and looked behind him. It revealed a window through which a scene from science fiction could be observed.

The mech was surrounded by futuristic scaffolding. It was the one he had selected, Mechangel Gabriel Mk.0. It was standing in the center of the platform, as if waiting for him. A giant humanoid that had a golden body and big mechanical golden wings.

Massive drones circled it, and Ichiro assumed they were maintenance drones. Its core body, however, was hidden behind the scaffolding and could not be seen as much. Small people run around on the ground, doing their jobs.

Ichiro looked at the mech. It was enormous and exceeded his expectations. He felt a sense of awe when he saw a machine that was large and powerful. He had never seen a mech of such height before in his dreams.

The real Ichiro had a lot of questions. Oh, there were so many. But he couldn’t ask them, because he was the commanding officer. What commander asks about the location he commands? He had to act like he knew what he was doing.

“Does something bother you, Commander?”

“No, not at all. I’m just thinking about how this place feels familiar somehow.”

“It’s because you’ve been here before, Commander. This place is the one you liberated from the beings of chaos.“

Ichiro had no memory of that, though. Probably it was one of the many dreams where he fought with horrifying beings. For him, what his younger one said was probably another Tuesday or something. He nodded.

“Commander, please let me know if anything bothers you! You’re the backbone of this entire operation, after all!”

Ichiro thought about that. He was the backbone of the operation? He had to think about it more.

Once the lift reached the bottom floor, the doors opened. The Ichiro-workers saluted the real Ichiro, who nodded at them with an expressionless face. The technician Ichiro approached him and offered him the tour, to which the real Ichiro agreed.

Three of them toured the mech from the inside. They passed through various sections, such as the pilot section, the main generator section, the armament section, and so on. While walking, the guide explained. Real Ichiro enjoyed it.

This went on for about 20 minutes until the broadcast system on the mech announced its completion. It was ready to fight.

“Commander Ichiro, please return to the main deck. Repeating, Commander Ichiro, please return to the main deck.”

The speakers in the ceiling repeated the message again. Younger one showed a watch that blinked and pressed it. He teleported away, and real Ichiro followed.

Both were transported to the ‘main deck,’ which had three layers of terminals of varying heights, already filled with many holographic displays of various sizes and colors. There were several dozen of the same holographic keyboards floating in the air as well, with more than half of them occupied by people typing away furiously.

A large terminal in the center that was looking different was empty. Ichiro walked up to it and sat down. He was the Commander, after all. The younger one simply stood behind him, concealed behind the hologram boxes, acting as a bodyguard.

Following that, there was a planning phase, which Ichiro found so boring after five minutes. He skipped it by saying the first plan that came to mind. He wanted to shoot the person who started all of this farce, which was himself, though he was unaware of it.

Most of the personnel agreed, and few minutes later, they concluded that they would follow Commander Ichiro’s plan.

The video of the escapee was shown on everyone’s monitors. It was in the shallow ocean, creeping to the location in the dark. It was occasionally bombed by something invisible, but the damage was quickly regenerated.

“The enemy has been located. It’s heading for Osaka.”

The holographic display showed the image of the giant creature that was causing all this commotion, while a voice told everyone its name.

A few seconds later, a second display appeared, showing the Mechangel in all his glory, as the futuristic scaffolding was being removed. The drones in the distance were carrying a large golden spear with a crest on the other end of the tip. The tip looked like more of the sword than a typical spear.

 Someone levitated, no, flew into the pilot’s cabin. It was an angel. The angel was wearing golden armor with a crown on top of its head.

Ichiro looked at the monitor in front of him. It displayed a live feed from the camera mounted on the angel’s helmet.

“Who is the pilot?”

Real Ichiro didn’t expect an answer, but it was given anyway.

“Sir Galadriel. He was one of the Gabriel’s many cousins, and when he heard the mech would be used, he volunteered to be its pilot. Don’t worry, Commander, he’s worked with this mech before.”

Ichiro nodded and looked at the countdown that had appeared while they were talking. It showed 3 minutes and was steadily ticking down. When 1 minute had passed, a box appeared, requesting that Commander Ichiro need to send Universal Energy for the upcoming operation. It was only 37% filled, and it needed to be 100% filled. The real Ichiro poured the energy by imagining it going in a certain direction, and he topped it off at 115 percent just in case. After that, he felt groggy. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling at all. He could barely keep his eyes open.

“Commander, Commander... Are you okay?”

He nodded and closed his eyes. The feeling faded away after a while, and he opened his eyes. He looked around the room and saw everyone staring at him. The closest one spoke up, after seeing real Ichiro regaining his senses.

“Everything is in order, sir. We require your approval, Commander.”

“Go ahead. I approve.”

The screen in front of him changed. The angel was now sitting inside the cockpit and the scaffolding had disappeared completely. All that was left was a giant humanoid mech standing in the middle of the platform. A golden dimensional rift appeared out of nowhere, large enough for the mech to enter. Mechangel Gabriel rushed inside, holding the spear in both hands. The subjugation of the Eldritch Gojiira started!