Cryptotrappers!

Cryptotrappers- Catfished!

Monday 23. After the last mission we were desperate for the weekend of rest. By the Monday morning, my tired bones had recovered, and the tired bones we left at the abandoned park were all over the news. Naturally, nobody could explain it, but the plan seemed to be to bury the dead and build a gym or something in the park's place. Typical.

Eva looked refreshed this morning as well. By the seems of it, the rest of the team had gotten through to her and forced her to take a break. But now everyone was well rested and we were looking forward to seeing what would be coming next.
"Kyoto is the former capital of Japan, about two hundred miles east of here. Nine kilometres from there is Lake Biwa, the largest freshwater lake in Japan. There's something big in the lake that causes earthquakes, and a big one's coming."
"Sorry," I spoke, interrupting Eva, "Sorry, but how can you tell that there's an earthquake coming?"
"Good question!" Eva responded, before walking around to a desk and picking up a fish tank. Inside, some sort of fish was flailing about in the water.
"This is a catfish, caught locally and it'll be returned to the local waters in due course. But do you see how it's flailing? Catfish are very electrosensitive creatures and are known to act up before earthquakes. But what exactly are they picking up? Signals from what's going to be causing the earthquakes. The giant catfish known as the Onamazu."

Once again, Eva approached the desk. Putting the fish tank down, she picked up a set of metal rods which she threw to all of us.
"This is called a Displacer. High power piece of tech, built for water. My own design, I'm pretty proud of it. There's eight of these rods which you'll need to place in the vertices of a cuboid within a hundred feet of each other. It will displace everything in the cuboid with the same in an area somewhere else, when a detonator is activated. The area in question is a comfortable little freshwater lake on a remote uninhabited island somewhere with all the right conditions for survival. Your job is to get the Onamazu in the displacement field, send it to the island for the period of the quake and then we'll bring it back afterwards."
"And if we fail?" Sid gruffly asked. Eva's expression turned grave.
"A massive earthquake rips through Japan. Countless deaths, destroyed buildings, bad time for us all. Please understand that this is a mission of great importance. And make sure you get the coordinates of the Displacers exact. If they're not perfectly in sequence, or if one is missing... I don't know what will happen."
"Got it." Sid responded, just as gravely.

Personally, I was just so, so glad that I was getting such a relaxing, low stakes mission after last mission's nightmare. The plan was for us all to head out, excluding Eva. Two rods each, simple task, stop the destruction of most of the region! Back in time for a cup of coffee before bed. It wasn't long before everyone else was ready to head out on the mission too. Just for the occasion, Eva had whipped us up a button to get us there and one to get us back; at least we wouldn't have to drive. So, supplied and ready, I left Seth under Eva's care and we all made the jump to Lake Biwa.

I had barely finished taking in the surroundings when Sid had grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to the ground. Though I couldn't see much, I heard heavy amounts of footfall from my position in the grass. Eva had told us already that we'd be on a section of the shore that wasn't touristic, so what was going on?
"We've found them." Sid whispered cryptically. Lucy and Randy seemed to be in the same situation as me, confused and dragged to the ground. Making sure we were all paying attention, Sid continued ordering quietly.
"To that tree there. It's big enough to hide behind. Move silently, do not stand up, do not look back until you are behind cover. Exo first, then Lucy, then me, then you Randy."
Silently as I could, I took the lead towards the designated tree. It felt like it took a millennium of crawling, but I could finally feel relief when I reached there. Before looking at whatever had spooked Sid, I waited until everyone was there.
"On the count of three, we look." I ordered, receiving three firm nods back. As I counted up, apprehension filled me, and as my head finally poked around the tree, all further words caught in my throat as I witnessed a full encampment of the Amber-Clad.