The Gun Line:
By Colin Salt
With a deep sigh, Shelly looked at the Pokemon that she would soon be controlling. They were almost all water types, and they were diverse as night and day-giant Wailords and Gyarados, small Seakings and Staryus, even some oddballs like Squirtles and Slowpokes. They looked eager and ready to obey their trainers, and that was what Shelly feared.
The Pokemon didn't know that at least half of them would not return from this sortie. They also didn't know exactly where they were going. As she prepared to send them on their way, Shelly wondered if the American soldiers and sailors they were fighting felt the same way.
This latest swarm of Pokemon was not a supply run to a besieged island, nor was it a wild goose chase searching for Task Force 58. No, this swarm was going to support the islands in a different way. They were going to hit the gun line of battleships that was continually pounding the islands. The theory went that this was a win-win situation. Even if the battleships and their escorts weren't sunk, they would be thrown into confusion and be distracted from their bombardment, granting friendly forces on the island a reprieve.
At last, the commander gave the signal. Shelly sat down, closed her eyes, and began to focus. Her own sight gradually left her, and soon she was seeing through the 'eyes' of her Starmie. The Pokemon's own psychic power enabled it to act as a conduit for transmitting commands to the other members of the pack. Using psychics to control Pokemon in that fashion was very useful on land to keep the trainer out of danger, and absolutely essential in naval operations where the trainer couldn't be present.
The first command she gave to the pack was "Go." And off they went in a flurry of fins, flippers, and stingers. Some of the smaller Pokemon who lacked the endurance of their larger cousins would hitch rides until they got close to the American ships.
In the conning tower of the battleship USS Ohio, Rear Admiral Jack Baron took a moment to laugh at how fate could smile on some and frown on others. The four Montana class battleships under his command were the newest and most powerful battleships in the entire Navy, but they were reduced to bombarding the shore alongside ancient Great War-vintage dreadnoughts. Built to take on a threat that no longer existed and too slow to escort the carriers, they were boondoggles right from the get-go. But they were powerful boondoggles, and even the cruisers and destroyers that accompanied them could pack a punch. In fact, in certain circumstances, the smaller ships could beat the giant battlewagons at their own game. Faster-firing guns would wreak havoc on a field army better than a few giant shells, and said giant shells were not the most accurate artillery pieces in the world.
Still, they could make enormous bangs, and that's what they were there for.
An action alarm shocked Baron out of his brief moment of pondering. The destroyers had picked up something coming, and the Navy had soon learned that in this world, there were no innocent schools of fish.
He relayed an order from Admiral Reardon to zigzag, and then braced himself. I hope the boys in the destroyers can do their job.
Through her Starmie, located comfortably in the rear of the pack, Shelly could see what all the Pokemon in her pack saw, which included a group of Mantines flying through the air with Remoraids under their wings. From them, she could get a good view of the American fleet, though she knew that it wouldn't last very long.
Drop the Remoraids when you're close enough, she ordered, even as the many, many guns were starting to fire on the unfortunate Pokemon. The majority of the Mantines simply died before they could even shake their wings to drop their cargo, and the rest met their demise soon afterwards. Only two Remoraids survived to seek their targets-but now she had an image of how the fleet was arranged.
Break through the little ships to get to the big ships.
The American destroyers were now pinging their sonar like crazy, revving up to full speed, and dropping depth charges. Shelly aimed the entire pack at the closest squadron.Hit them with everything.
It was hardly the most coordinated attack, but still a powerful one. All sorts of beams, water blasts, and charges game from the pack, smashing into the group of four destroyers. One of the destroyers simply blew apart, reduced to a shower of metal. Two other ones were luckier-merely suffering countless underwater hits, they sank in time for several fortunate crewmen to escape in time. The fourth was the luckiest of all-it not only turned away from the pack's frontal assault, but managed a counterattack.
Over a dozen small "hedgehogs" were shot into the water. Intended to hit large submarines, only a handful of the Pokemon in the pack were struck. Still, they were the first casualties in the battle, and the terror of explosions could often break up the cohesion of a pack. Shelly had seen too many packs freeze up and then be cut to pieces by the enemy. Determined to not let that happen, she quickly ordered the pack to break into two groups and attack both ends of the first line of big ships. Her Starmie would move quietly between the groups in a position where she could contact both.
The relentless pinging and shooting continued as the two groups moved towards the gun line.
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Baron could see, or rather, hear the destroyers reporting the two packs moving closer to the cruisers. Hedgehogs and depth charges were being dropped everywhere, and several guns had started firing.
The main guns were too clunky for an operation like this, but every five-inch and smaller gun on the battleships was ready to fire at any critter that poked its head up from the water.
When what looked like a giant sea snake did poke its head up from the water, it promptly disappeared in a flurry of shell splashes.
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Now was the time when micromanagement was crucial. Shelly had sacrificed one of her Gyarados to give the other a clear shot at the first row of one of the big ships. It followed her orders quickly, building up speed and slamming through the bottom, crashing its way out the top.
What Admiral Baron and the others saw briefly boggled their minds. One of the other giant sea snakes had torn its way through the bottom of the cruiser Fort Wayne, and was ripping through the insides. The next cruiser in line, the Madison, was turning and raking the creature-and the Fort Wayne- with its light anti-aircraft guns, its captain apparently too afraid to use anything bigger at such a close range.
The sea snake, bleeding from countless wounds, tore free of the Fort Wayne and leapt away-before dying and floating peacefully on the water's surface.
It could have been a lot worse for the Fort Wayne. The snake had missed the magazine, and the crew had kept their cool and flooded it, avoiding a catastrophic explosion. Still, there were huge gashes torn in the side of the vessel and the engine shafts had been wrecked. The Fort Wayne was still condemned to the depths, but at least the majority of its crew would survive. As the Madison pulled alongside the Fort Wayne, it too suddenly went dead in the water.
Hoping to imitate the success that she had with the Fort Wayne, Shelly had ordered the remaining Pokemon to crash into the ship beside it when it conveniently stopped next to it. Sadly, not all of the others were as powerful as a Gyarados, and while they hurt the Madison, ramming through the hull had caused more than a few to lose their lives.
The first pack had been all but wiped out. The second pack had received a change of plans from Shelly. Rather than all go after one or two ships, each Pokemon would be assigned to one target and wear it down from underneath. It seemed like a good plan, but apparently the Americans had gotten wind of it, for the first row of big ships were turning away and running away at flank speed, with the fastest ones moving at a pace the pack couldn't keep up with.
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Baron received Reardon's commands and ordered his Montanas to do the same thing. The other battleship division commanders did so likewise. There was the problem. The cruisers could overtake all of the battleships, so unless the destroyers got their act together, the critters would catch up and nibble away at the slowest ships in the fleet.
Sure enough, the large, ancient battleship Kansas was reporting damage done underwater. The critters were mobbing it. Thankfully, Baron saw that the crew of the Kansas wasn't completely helpless. Not only were marines lining the deck with guns shooting shapes in the water, but they were also pulling the pins on grenades and dropping them like homemade depth charges. He didn't know how effective they were, but at least the Kansas wasn't just lying down and taking it.
Shelly could see a disturbingly large number of her Pokemon dying, and the remaining ones starting to panic from the fight that the bigger ship was putting up. With a sigh, she moved her Starmie back and ordered the survivors to pull away as well.
After the pitiful remnant of the pack had returned, Shelly eased out of focus and returned to her own body. Her throat was raw with thirst and her clothes were drenched with sweat. Gulping down the contents of a water bottle, she saw that barely a tenth of the pack remained, and what was left consisted of absolutely terrified Pokemon.
She knew what would happen next-the Pokemon would have their memories erased and folded into another pack ready to go out and be commanded by a psychic like her for another go at the seemingly endless American fleet. She didn't know when it would end.
The Fort Wayne and three destroyers had been sunk. The Madison needed several months of repairs and the Kansas required a touchup, but both would return. The primary death toll was four hundred sailors killed. Admiral Baron didn't know if the enemy would run out of critters or the Navy would run out of ships first. All he knew was that this war was going to be a bloody one, with both the navy's casualties and those of the Army and Marines on the islands running up. Privately, he shuddered. If taking a few islands was this tricky, how great would the death toll be when they finally got their airfields up and invaded the mainland?