Remember Pearl:
Two blinding flashes reverberated through my memory. There was no mistaking the force and mushroom cloud; two nuclear devices had been dropped upon the fleet. I felt sick; like my hull was just going to pull apart but fourteen inches of steel plate armor wouldn't buckle so easily. That was yesterday. I was pulled away from the main fleet for some reason and was just sitting in open water. A sudden explosion blew out my poorly mended side and left me open to the sea. The last of my strength gone I rolled over into the sea. "See you soon, Arizona…" I thought as I slipped beneath the waves.
(A considerable time latter)
I found myself awaking in something soft and comfortable. At first, I assumed it was just the sand on the floor of the sea but it felt more solid…and less wet. I groggily awoke and took in my surroundings. Many things stood out as wrong to me at once. I was in a room, I had blinked indicating either a glitch in my detection equipment or I have eyelids, I realized I was in a bed, and I had no idea where I was. All of these things except the last would've been normal if not for the fact that I'm a battleship.
My head felt foggy and unfocused. I reached up and rubbed my head before climbing out of the bed. The room was expansive and spacious in its emptiness. The only furniture was a bed and a large drawer. I looked over my body and decided it was distinctly human. I quickly realized the mirror on the drawer and walked over to it.
I looked over myself through the glass and inspected every detail.
"Gender male, age approximately 16, height 5'8, build slightly above average, hair type short and slightly curled, hair color cool brown, complexion pale white, eye color ice blue." I thought silently.
I immediately noticed the strange protrusions from my head that resembled two tripod superstructure towers in the form of an attached headset on the sides of my head, the small scar on my left cheek, and the outfit I was wearing.
I was wearing a sapphire blue sailor's jacket with black lines across the arms and collar that had a thin hood hanging out the back of the collar. On each of the black lines there was also a golden line about half the thickness. I was also wearing baggy dark blue and black lined slacks, and combat boots.
The material of the coat and slacks was quite soft while still feeling tough enough to last.
I caught a glance of a piece of paper tucked into the top right corner of the mirror and snatched it quickly.
"So, you're awake. That's great news. Honestly as it is you're taking more time than most to reawaken. You didn't even resurface until last year. It's kind of understandable considering your sinking was pretty much the opposite of peaceful. Anyway, first things first you probably noticed was that you're not as you were when you sank in more than one way. First of all, the human thing is hard to explain so I'll do it in person second we had to refit you back to your old configuration to save you from radiation poisoning from your contaminated components, we had to remove your dual 5in mounts. At a later time, we intend on refitting you again to modernize you. I want you to know that you're among allies here so you can stay calm. Second of all you've been gone for quite a while and the world has changed quite a bit. Third, everyone here is a ship…but you're relatively unique in a way that is fairly inconvenient. Almost ninety-nine percent of the ships here are female with few exceptions. Moving on from this, when you're ready to talk come to the main office on the first floor. It should be easy as there are signs everywhere. Anyway, if you again don't wake up today I will be writing you again tomorrow. Signed: The Admiral." It read.
"Who the hell's the Admiral…?" I thought aloud, hearing my own voice for the first time. It was fairly low but not overly so. It fit my height and build quite well.
I stuffed my hands into my jacket's pockets and pulled it forward with the hood covering the back of my neck. For some reason this calmed me a bit and I let out a slight sigh.
"Time to get some answers." I sighed.
I grabbed the doorknob and twisted it. Sure enough, after a decent turn a click signified the door opening.
I pulled it in towards myself and stepped back as not to hit myself...because that would've been smart...
I stepped into the hall and immediately saw a small sign on the wall with a right-pointing arrow. As I expected it read main office just above the arrow.
I turned and continued down the hallway following the numerous signs guiding me going down two sets of stairs before finding myself on the first floor.
I found myself in yet another carpeted hallway and ended up having to take another right turn to make it to the main office. Now in front of the door I mentally prepared myself to meet "The Admiral". I took a deep breath and knocked loudly on the door.
"Enter." I heard a man's voice call.
As instructed I pulled the door open and stepped into the room.
"Who-" I heard a woman begin to question.
Her hair was long and black like coal, she had dull red eyes, a similar yet vastly different contraption attached to her head, and she wore a white, black, and gold stylized Japanese outfit.
A man in a white navy uniform raised his hand to silence her. He looked up from his desk and looked right at me.
He had fairly short black hair, pale white skin, a slim but tall build, and cool brown eyes.
"He's awake." The man said with a wide smile.
"Nagato, would you give us a moment?" The Admiral requested.
"Of course, sir." She said before saluting and exiting the room, closing the double doors behind her.
"Do you recall your name?" He inquired.
"No…When I think of it I can just remember a weird combination…BB-38." I said trying hard to connect the combination to something meaningful.
"I'm sorry to do this…but what do you imagine when you hear 'Pearl Harbor'? What does it make you see?" He asked with a sad sigh.
"…" It hit me like a train.
"…Pain." I said holding the scar on my cheek.
"The loss of friends and family…Fire everywhere…burning over the water…" I said absentmindedly.
"What about when I say 'Pennsylvania'?" He asked.
"I don't know…wait…I am USS Pennsylvania." I said recalling my old name fire still flashing in my eyes.
"Good. I'm sorry to bring up painful memories but it was the only way. Now let me introduce myself and explain our situation to you. I am the Admiral of a fleet comprised of humanoid spirits from warships long since destroyed, forgotten, or decommissioned regardless of nationality or former loyalties." He explained.
I tensed a bit at the thought but tried to stay open-minded.
"You must be confused as to how all of this came about and to be honest we don't know the entire truth. One day a fleet of monstrous ships rose from the ocean and almost succeeded in driving mankind from the sea. They attacked merchant and military ships indiscriminately and shot down any planes attempting to cross the sea. Things were looking dark for us and then you came along. Long since destroyed warships rose from the sea to defend their countries. Initially all the spirits were girls so we called them War Girls but then and again rare male ships would appear so we changed it to Warships. Over time all the world's nations came together to fight back the pitch-black monstrosities which we named the Shades. You have been reawakened to fight off the Shade threat." He explained.
"I'm not about to pretend like any of what you just said made any sense but a threat the America is an enemy to me. You can count me in…just one thing." I said.
"What is it?" He asked curiously.
"How will I do that…with none of my guns? Call me crazy but I don't think my main battery will fit on this small body" I said skeptically.
"Of course you'll have access to your weaponry. Your division mates will show you how to equip them." He explained.
"My division mates?" I repeated.
"Yeah, I've enlisted you into Battleship Division 1 subdivision of the Heavy Gunnery Division. Battleship Division 1 is also a part of the 1st Vanguard fleet. As a Super-Dreadnought you should fit right in." He went on.
"So who's in my division?" I inquired.
"You know them quite well already. I'm certain you remember your old division mate Nevada and your sister Arizona but as an extra addition I also added your old pal Oklahoma into the 1st Battleship Division." He explained.
"Arizona…and Oak…are here?" I said stunned.
"You seem shocked." He pointed out.
Two tears streamed down my cheeks. "No...It's just that's the best damn news I've heard in about seventy years." I said wiping my eyes.
"So you know the date?" He asked.
"Yeah, kinda hard not to when calendars are literally littered against some walls." I pointed out.
"Good point." He stifled a laugh.
"Your room is located in the second dorm building; room number Is B-38." He said with a slight smirk.
"Clever." I remarked.
"I thought so." He said leaning back in his chair a bit.
"You should get going. The rest of your division will be returning from battle soon. Seeing you up is sure to brighten up their day." He encouraged throwing me a card with the simple words "room key" printed on it in bold lettering.
"Thanks...for everything." I said with a quite salute.
"Don't mention it." He said resting his eyes.
I turned, walked out the door past Nagato, and stuck my hands in my pockets. I immediately felt a weird object in my right pocket and pulled it out. It was some strange device with a map and note strapped to the back.
I opened the note and it pretty much just explained what a cell phone is and the map was for the entire base. Three points of interest were circled in red marker.
They read in order of 1 to 3 "Launching bay, Admiral's office/guest building, and the dorm buildings."
I quickly made my way out of the building and up the long road-like walkway to the dorm buildings.
There were several people around walking and talking with friends who even occasionally glanced my way. I didn't make any effort to keep their gaze and solely focused on getting to the dorms so I could finally see my friends again.
I made my way through an area with strange pink leaved trees on either side of the walkway and up to the buildings that were built within close proximity to the launching bays.
I quickly glanced at the buildings and ran up the stairs and in through the doors of the number two building before remembering that I had no idea which floor room B-38 was on. Lucky me, a sign with just that information hung in the small entrance room. It read "First floor rooms B1-B20, Second floor rooms B21-B40, etc."
I quickly made my way up to the second floor and slid my card into the slit under the lock. The door clicked open and I stepped into a fairly spacious room almost like the one I woke up in just slightly messier and more full of stuff.
I glanced around and quickly noticed the one and only bed that was completely kept neat with a reserved sign on it. I sat down on the bed and looked around the room. It was decently arranged with beds spaced out to give each ship enough room. There was a noticeable rectangular piece of ground around my area that had no trash past it. I don't know why but this almost tugged on my heart.
I just stared for several seconds remembering our peaceful days at Pearl Harbor. My memory cut from a peaceful exercise with my friends to the general quarters alarm raising me from my early morning slumber.
The morning light was harsh and bombers started descending through the clouds towards the harbor.
I lost four friends that day of which only two were ever repaired.
"Cassin and Downes...I wonder if they're here too." I thought aloud.
That's when I looked up and saw the picture mounted on the wall. It was a black and white picture of me, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Nevada lined up in front of the picture.
Funny, I remembered that picture being back when we were just ships but we were all in human form.
Despite not having seen my friends in their human form I recognized them immediately. I was on the far right and glancing sideways at the camera with my hood covering half my face. I realized that somehow my headset was formed over the hood despite it literally being attached to my head but I didn't question it.
I had a smile on my face, the scar on my left cheek was missing, and I could almost see the calm peacefulness in my one visible eye as I held a (most likely) matching captain's cap in my right hand. That was before the war.
Arizona had her arm rested on my shoulder, a bit of a strange sight since we're the same height. She looked exactly how I pictured her. Basically me in girl form. Her hair is long to the point that it reaches almost halfway down her arms, her eyes looked exactly like mine as far as I could tell in black and white, she wore a casual-ized (that's definitely not a word) navy outfit consisting of a loose sailor jacket and baggy slacks over black combat boots, and she was spinning a small female CPO combo cap on her left hand's index finger as she smiled into the camera.
Oak and Nevada were almost identical except the fact that they wore their hair parted in different directions and from what the picture told me their eyes and apparel seemed to be different shades, Oak's being a bit lighter than her older sister.
They stood about an inch and a half shorter than me and Arizona, had shorter almost shoulder length hair, and were wearing a long-sleeved navy officer jacket, baggy slacks, combat boots and, a cap very similar to Arizona's.
I didn't realize I was crying until a drop landed on my hand pulling me back from deep thought. I shook my head and brought myself back to reality.
I tried not to think about it but with my mind set on a track the next things I remembered was Arizona engulfed in flames as her forward tower was launched almost thirty feet in the air and Oklahoma's side being ruptured by eight devastating explosions and her rolling over in the sea.
I shook my head harder. "Don't. Think. About. It." I willed myself. I wiped my sleeve over my eyes and looked away. I fell back onto the bed and stared at the roof. It was then I heard the faint sound of falling boots on the wooden floor outside.
They were talking laughing and generally celebrating what I assumed to be a rather great victory. When they opened the door they were still laughing but stopped in their tracks when the saw me.
"Hey guys...It's been a while." I said with almost a hint of guilt. In person all the feelings I had felt earlier alone were amplified by ten. "I-"
I went to say but before I could get the words out they all tackled me in what I think was supposed to be a hug.
I fell back onto my bed and was practically pinned by my friends."Ouch." I said sarcastically.
We just laid there silent for what seemed like an hour but I didn't mind in the least. Eventually they pulled back and looked over me. I looked Arizona in the eyes and all at once all emotion I felt was dissolved into calmness. I remembered now how calming being around my little sister always was.
"I can't put it into words how much I've missed you three." I said with a wide smile crossing my face.
"It's good to see you again, Penn." Oak said, her emerald green eyes practically glowing.
"I have to admit my rather short life after you left was quite boring." Nevada shrugged.
"I'm so sorry!" Arizona said tearing up and hugging me even tighter than before.
"Whoa! What for little sis?" I said holding her and patting her on the back.
"Nevada told us all about how you changed after Pearl. I didn't want to leave you. It's just-" She went on.
"Shhh. No. I don't care who or what you are. Nothing is indestructible. It just as easily could've been me. Plus can we just...not talk about that day? I really just want to put it behind us..." I intercepted. She was silent for a second before she pulled back and looked me in the eyes.
"Yeah!" She agreed.
The tears on her face were like a blade to the heart. I didn't ever want to see them again. I would make sure they would never appear again. I took my sleeve and wiped her tears away before giving a genuine smile. Something so pure and genuine as a real smile is rare among beings like us. It must've been contagious because soon we were all smiling.
"I'm not fond of long reunions but it's good to have you back Pennsylvania." Nevada smiled.
"So tell me what I've missed." I said taking a seat on my bed getting ready to listen to a long story.
"Settle in for a long one then." Oak said walking over and falling back onto her bed.
"Yeah, it's no short story." Nevada nodded.
"Well it just gives me another reason for me to spend hours catching up with my friends." I said situating myself.
"Sounds good to me!" Arizona said excitedly.