Chapter 1
A blue clear day was about on the ocean, nothing could be seen on the surface for miles around. At least nothing of note, a small fishing trawler was taking up a few nets. A Japanese flag could be seen on the ship along with a clearly Japanese crew.
They were 10 miles off shore, the horizon barely hiding the Japanese coast. If one could simply look past the horizon they would see the Japanese naval base at Yokosuka. The once old and basic naval base now brimming with activity.
Ever since the dreaded Abyssals came in 2019 and ravaged the coastal nations of the world, a certain maritime force was created. This force consisted a new and revolutionary design that had not come from human hands. This design was the ship girl or as the Japanese called them, Kanmusu.
Within a week of the Abyssals coming from the depths the navies of the world were reduced to wrecks. Their advanced systems not being able to combat this new enemy the size of a person with a monster like body. Their faces were something out of a horror film yet they were armed to the teeth with WW2 era weapons.
The ship girls were the re-incarnated spirits of old ships who had been sunk or scrapped from previous times. Each of them coming back mysteriously in the form of a girl. Depending on the ship type would mean that their weapons, looks, and personality were all different.
Each of them had memories of their 'lives' past and each of them remembered their demise. At first glance one would think that they were normal girls but upon closer inspection one could tell they were different. Some had equipment protruding from their body but other than basic looks and that they were as strong as actual ships, they were normal girls.
At first, they were treated with suspicion, rightfully so. Yet as soon as they began attacking Abyssals and allying themselves with their original nations, they were taken in. Ship girls were treated like heroes and the governments used this to their advantage. A new-found spirit had spurred the people of the world into a new attitude, yet things were things were still changing.
Recently there had been a small development occurring in the waters of the world. Submarines had come into existence around the same time as the normal ship girls but there had been a recent change. Starting from the Gato class submarine there had been a single 'ship boy' for each class. This had continued even into the nuclear age with the USS Nautilus continuing up to the Skate class.
The United States had split their forces between Japan, Australia, and separate US bases. Now it had been 2 years since the first Abyssal attack and humanity had pushed back these monsters into the South Pacific Ocean.
The world was now concentrating their efforts on this massive piece of water yet was fighting stiff resistance. The Abyssals were determined to fight and they would not let go so easily, more blood would have to be shed.
For some reason Abyssal attacks in the last few weeks had all of a sudden died down, the people of Earth celebrated, an end to the war was near. Yet something was wrong and a few could feel it. Something big was coming and when it came it would flip everything upside down.
The same fisherman on their trawler knew the dangers of being on the water but they felt safe, most Japanese did. Today was just another normal day of fishing, at least it was until the nets caught something big.
The trawler began to tilt back into the water as the fisherman raced to see what was wrong. The riggers holding the nets were being pulled to the water and enduring an immense amount of stress, it was only a matter of time before they snapped.
Then out of the blue they simply stopped and ship jumped forward for no apparent reason. This scared the crew even more as they continued to run around, one of them looking towards the horizon with a pair of binoculars.
It all seemed clear until he saw something that could scare any sea hardened fisherman. A minor storm in the distance was approaching, fast! It was a clear day yet here was this storm moving at unholy speeds. This had been seen before and it could only mean one thing, Abyssals!
The spotter yelled out to the Captain who quickly ran onto the radio before switching onto the emergency frequency.
"This is the SS Ashigara, we are under Abyssal attack 10 miles off the coast of Tokyo!" Within seconds a response was received and a confirmation issued.
"Understood! Try to take back your nets and head towards port as fast as possible! Dispatching a Kanmusu force to your area!" The crew moved faster than they'd ever done as they quickly took up the nets before moving the boat. The diesel engine straining to increase the speed as the trawler made a beeline to port.
The storm continued to get closer and closer, the crew becoming more worried and worried by the second. They were beginning to worry that they might face the same horrible fate others had before them. This was until a certain noise reached their ears that made them all mentally think their position. An explosion followed by a shell soaring over their heads and into the storm.
The fisherman couldn't see the Abyssals in extreme detail yet but the ship girls coming towards them could.
"SS Ashigara, this is the IJN Kongou, please continue on your course! Your girls have come dess!" A slightly accented Japanese voice came from the radio as the fisherman cheered, their saviors were here. Coming up on them was a small task force of 10 girls, 2 battleships, 4 cruisers and 4 destroyers.
A tall, pale girl in a white dress was charging towards them at full speed. Four 14-inch double barreled turrets protruded from her sides as she could be seen almost gliding along the water at speeds up to 28 knots.
The girls around her were wearing similar uniforms in terms of the color yet were equipped differently. Some had 8-inch guns while others were carrying oxygen torpedoes, all of them were very deadly and while the other countries of the world had their guns only the ship girls had proven to be effective.
"All turrets elevation 25 degrees, target 20 kilometers…fire!" She called out as the four turrets opened up once again. 14-inch shells were sent up to speeds of 775m/s as they began to fly towards their target, one of three light cruisers closing in on the trawler.
The shells flew through the air straight and true, after a small wait impacting onto their target with deadly precision. The smoke cleared in only a few seconds left yet nothing was there. Kongou knew she had destroyed her target and simply switched onto the next Abyssal.
This continued for a few minutes as the hell storm of shells erupted from both sides. The girls and Abyssals were all darting around to avoid each other's shells. Soon the cruisers were in range and their small 8-inch guns were firing at high rates. Every few seconds one of the girls would shoot their gray guns which they held like pistols.
The fisherman watching this spectacle in front of them with awe and horror. They had never seen something like this before in person and it truly was awesome. Within minutes though what was left of the small Abyssal force began to descend back into the depths.
The girls noticed this and rushed over the fisherman within seconds.
"Are you guys ok dess?" Kongou looked over the trawler in front of her with a care in her eyes. The fisherman's hearts all warmed up as they nodded yet none spoke. At least until the Captain gathered himself and walked towards the girls and snapped into a salute.
The rest of the crew saw his example and did the same before the girls returned the salute and began to head to base.
That was until a bubbling came up from the depths. The girls noticed it immediately as it was only 8 meters away yet a little larger than a full-grown man. They all rushed around it as the fisherman continued to head back to port. They wanted to get out of there no matter what was happening.
"What is that?" A short black hair girl asked. She was dressed in a blue and white school uniform more or less and had a look of confusion on her face.
"Not sure, my sonars not getting anything poi." The ships began to circle the area the bubbles as they tried to get a read on it.
"Whatever it is, if it touches my Kitikami-san it'll get a face full of lead!" An uneasy laugh went around the group as they continued to try and look into the depths. They were about to get one soon though as they bubbles began to increase in speed and size. Within seconds a figure burst into the air in front of them before falling back into the water.
The girls all shrieked before jumping back a step, their feet still gliding above the water as they looked over this figure in front of them, it's a boy!
"Yuudachi report this to the admiral now!" Kongou ordered as the blonde and pink haired girl immediately relayed a message back to command. Her rigging on her back full of antennas and weapons instantly transcribing her thoughts into an electric signal. Within seconds she received a reply and began speaking as if it were her own.
"Command says for us to bring him back to base, it's probably the new submarine poi." What followed next was something between joy and hate. They all wanted more forces to fight against the Abyssals but this was an American submarine.
"Do we have too?" Another destroyer asked, submarines and destroyers disliked each other with a passion. They knew it would be wrong to leave him here but they just didn't want to deal with it. 5 American submarines at base was enough to handle all ready.
"Yes, you do, now let's get a move on dess!" A groan was the only response by a few girls as they began to grab the guy, still unconscious and floating in the water.
1 Day Later, 1200h, Medical Department
The white room was devoid from life as an ocean of white cots could be seen in it. The walls filled with diagrams of the body, human and ship girl. All the medical staff were outside attending to various duties before one of them walked in.
A tall, black haired doctor with a white lab coat walked in before taking a look around and noticing one of the cots. A form was ever present in it with a slight blue glow emanating from the corner of the room. The doctor knew what it was and walked over, not saying a word.
After a quick look at the vitals monitor in front of him he looked over at the boy. A Mediterranean tan mixed in with the boy's light brown hair and blue eyes. He was only 5'7" yet his body was built like a swimmer. If the doctor didn't know any better he might have said the boy looked like a tan, short Michael Phelps. He had a certain look to his age however that might confuse a few at first glance, the doctor knew what it was though. This submarine looked 17 and, in all honesty, he probably acted that way, if he was to continue the trend of the American Kanmusu.
It wouldn't surprise him though as he knew exactly what this boy was, a submarine. Not just any submarine though, with the evolution of submarine designs in the world this boy had to be a certain class, a Skipjack.
This blue glow began to glow brighter and brighter as the monitor began a to beep. The doctor knew what was about to happen, he had been part of the Kanmusu program since the beginning, he took a step away and looked expectantly.
Within the minute his eyes shot open for good and the boy launched into an upright position. He looked around at his surroundings which an expression of shock. Thoughts raced through his head as he tried to comprehend what was happening. The doctor didn't want to leave anything to chance so he began speaking in English first.
"Hello, I'm Mr. Shunichi Ito, the Yokosuka naval district's head doctor. Do you know what your name is?" He got straight to the point as he looked directly into the blue eyes of the boy who was still darting around towards his surroundings. The boy then realized the doctor was talking to him and with an expression of nervousness began to speak.
"SSN-591, USS Shark, Skipjack class! Why am I like this?" The general feeling of the room began to slowdown as the doctor pulled up a chair beside him and sat down.
"You are a Kanmusu or as your country, the United States of America calls them, ship girls. You were summoned by a force still not understood to help combat the Abyssals, a race of monsters hellbent on the destruction of humanity. This is the body you were put into, now you will retain all of the abilities of your former life. You will be given a rigging and taught how to fight before being sent out on missions against those monsters. Anything else?"
"Yes, what do I do now?"
"Well first let's try and stand up, get used to this new body." Shark tried to stand up and was met with the success of falling flat on his face. He grunted before carefully grabbing onto the cot and pushing himself up.
As soon as he got up he looked down at his body, the reactor in his chest glowing bright and the board shorts over his lower half. He reached down and felt them before running his hands along his body. This feeling of touch was new to him, so was everything else.
"Alright, time to walk." Shark took his first proper steps as he guided himself along the wall, the doctor watching him the entire time. After a few more minutes of walking and began to jog and then short sprints across the room.
Shark was smiling the entire time as he moved along. A familiar spark then hit him, he wanted combat. In his previous life he had never gotten a chance to do so, just spying on Russians and vice versa. This was his second chance, his time to truly protect the nation he loved and he wouldn't let it go.
"Good job! Well you seem to be in proper shape and everything seems normal so we're going to hit you up with a guide and a tour. After we get you properly clothes of course. If you would follow me we have a massive storage unit right behind that door for clothes!" The doctor walked up to a door in the back of the room before just standing there and glancing at the knob.
Shark knew he wanted him to open it so he carefully made his way over, careful not to fall. Shark moved his palm towards the knob before giving it a good look. Placing his hand on the black, metal knob he felt the cold texture. Turning it and pulling the door open he was greeted to the sight of hundreds of racks in front of him, each with different pairs of clothes.
"Do I just get to pick a pair?"
"Yep, just go out and be back here within a few minutes!" Sharks face lit up in excitement as he jogged among the clothes before picking a few pairs and trying them on, anything he was found not to like was put back.
Within a few minutes he had come back wearing his newest pair of clothes. The doctor laughed when he saw him, what else did he expect. Shark came out wearing a soft washed Caribbean blue tank and tan Santa Cruz board shorts with a pair of Conservation International Beige Havaianas. In his hand was a pair of black aviators.
"Ready!" The tank only made Shark look even more fit and well what he was wearing was a stereotypical outfit one would wear at a beach. The doctor had an idea as to what he was he was going to be like. He now looked like a stereotypical American, he couldn't wait to see what he'd be like.
"You look good, now your guide is just outside this room. Since all of our checks are done you're going to be introduced to the base by him. It's noon so you'll have plenty of time to get to learn the place, bye!"
"Bye Doc!" A smile came across both of their faces as Shark opened the door leading out of the medical room. The halls were all still white with the occasional medical and or picture of the ship girls. Shark took time to look at all of them before continuing to walk.
All of this new information for him had been processed but he still had a myriad of questions. Hopefully his tour guide, whoever he was, could answer them for him. He passed a few more medical personal and even though they gave him glances no one said a word.
He saw a set of doors in front of him and began to speed up before arriving. Taking a deep breath and rubbing his face his mind began to race once more. Alright Shark, your about to get your first view of the world and no else aside from the Doc knows who you are…give em a show!
Pushing the doors open he walked out into the mostly empty lobby. Mostly empty being the key word as aside from a receptionist and another figure in the room, there wasn't a soul in sight. The figure was a blond, pale boy, about 5'4" wearing a brown naval trench coat. A plane white t-shirt, a black swimsuit, along with a captain's hat and dog tags from his neck.
Shark looked at this boy for a few seconds before walking up to him, this had to be his tour guide. He was about to open his mouth to speak before the boy looked him directly in the eye and extended a hand. Shark took it and both the boys grinned at each other, the light blue glow emanating off of Shark reflecting off of his dog tag.
"SS-257, USS Harder, pleasure to meet you…what's your name?"
"SSN-591 USS Shark, great to meet you brah! I'm assuming you'll be my guide, right?"
"You know it! So, you're a nuke, right?"
"Yep, Skipjack class capable of 33 knots under!"
"Damn dog that's insane!"
"So, when do we start?"
"Start…oh yeah! Follow me, the base is huge so were gonna hop on a jeep and begin to make our way towards the American submarine barracks. Now we have our own little section of the base as American submarines cause well, most of the Japs here still have nightmares about us."
"Damn! Other than that, is everyone else together?"
"Yea, actually there all in different dorms according to class but don't matter what country you are." They both walked out the doors as Harder started the Willies Jeep in front of them. Its engine roaring to life as they both took a seat and began to drive into the district.
The sight of different buildings passed them, red, green, blue roofs all surrounded the pair as they continued to drive. Girls of all different kinds could be seen as Harder took a hard corner. He was smiling the entire way and his eyes could be seen looking at the different girls.
"So, the girls here what should I know?"
"Well the destroyers here from different countries probably won't like you although most others are friendly regardless of class. Like I said earlier you might receive a bit of flack for being American."
"Huh, do you guys report to an admiral?"
"Yes, we do, we have a Japanese admiral around base who doesn't like us very much. We also respond to an American liaison, Captain Christopher Brown. Dudes a fuckin' beast, used to be SF before he got hurt and went to work with the US Ship girl program."
"Damn, by the way what's been happening lately stateside before the Abyssals came? Sorta been out since 1995 so anything you can tell me would be great."
"Well long story short in 2001 there was a terror attack that destroyed the twin towers, killed a few thousand people. America got pushed into a war with a bunch of terrorists and after about 20 years we've finally gotten the problem fixed. Bunch of new presidents and private companies in space, the next goal is a man on Mars."
"Damn, any major wars with official countries."
"Besides some shit with Iraq in 2003 there really hasn't been anything major, sorta just a massive ass staring contest with the Chinese and Russians."
"Got it so like my time, by the way any Russians here?"
"Not really, a little white-haired Japanese-Russian destroyer named Hibiki but I know some Russians are coming next month."
"Got it cause that might cause a few problems."
"Why...oh shit yea I forgot." Harder laughed as he looked into Shark's eyes, remembering that he was a Cold war sub.
"Also, what's it like being one of the only guys on this base?" Harder looked up into the sky, obviously in thought before coming up with a response.
"It's fuckin awesome, well aside from the Japs and occasional crazy lesbians. Everyone treats you differently based on country and God knows there's some funny ass pranks you can pull."
"Like what?"
"Well once I went around the Japanese cruiser barracks and stole all their panties. Didn't turn out too well in the end though…although with you here might want to do it again."
"Sure, just let's not get caught because I don't want to deal with the backfire this early on."
"True, true. Look there's one of the American destroyer escort girls now."
"Hey Sammy!" He pointed towards a short red-haired girl with pigtails who simply smiled before running towards them.
Harder instantly stopped the Jeep without warning causing Shark to fly forward before catching himself on the seat with a laugh. Sammy was wearing a short cut Marine uniform and sailors hat. The bright smile on her face bringing out her pale, freckled face all the more.
"Hey Harder I was just looking for you…who's this?" Her eyes were trained on Shark as she scanned him over.
"SSN-591 USS Shark ma'am, who might you be?"
"DE-413 Samuel B Roberts, most people just call me Sammy. Hey by the way before we say anything else what's that glow on your chest?"
"Oh, it's essentially my nuclear reactor, since I'm a Skipjack class and I've been told we all have these."
"Damn your nuclear, that's so cool! By the way Harder I wanted to find you so can I come with y'all?"
"Sure, hop on!" Sammy quickly jumped onto the back of the jeep before Harder took off speeding again. Ship girls were looking at Shark the entire time, most likely trying to make out what he was. None of them tried to talk though as they kept walking past.
"So Harder what have you told Shark here?"
"Well I've told him about the history and I know he already knows about the Abyssals. Oh, and I gave him the basic rundown about the ship girls on base."
"Nice but Shark I gotta say one thing. Your aviators are looking fly right now!" Excitement streamed through her voice as she once more looked Shark up and down.
"Thanks! So, Sammy were you one of the ships at Samar?"
"Yep, Johnston and Gambier Bay are also here, we sure gave those Japs hell."
"You guys really did some incredible stuff back then."
"Thanks, some of the Japs are still scared of us although Gambier has more of a scaredy cat personality."
"Got it!" Harder continued to put the petal to the metal as he sped down the paved roads. They were still passing buildings as they went over a 50' bridge and towards a small shack of buildings on a little island.
"Shark if you look over to your right you'll see the port that we all launch out of. That's also where all your equipment is stored, tomorrow after classes we'll get you a kit. I'm sure they already know you're here and there's a little reception for you tonight."
"Classes? Reception?" Shark had a visibly confused look washed over his face causing the other two to laugh.
"Yep you're gonna be introduced to the entire base tonight whether you like it or not! Also, classes start at 7 so make sure you're up, it'll be just like your back in school but with the rest of the subs on base, American or not." Sammy explained as the jeep came to a stop inside of two poorly drawn white lines. Directly in front was a green island, barely a half mile long with various little shacks dotted around.
Aside from a small make shift parking lot there was a clear area with hammocks in between palm trees. The shacks were surrounding an American flag which was directly in front of the only formal building Shark saw. He figured that it was the sub dorms, as he looked around what would be his new home he noticed a peculiar sign.
Sub Island No Jap Destroyers Allowed! He laughed as soon as he saw this, they weren't kidding about the whole Jap DD's not being liked. Sammy and Harder both wondered what he was laughing about before following his gaze and chuckling all the same.
"All right Shark I gotta talk to Sammy about some stuff so you head right over to those hammocks. Our commander should be there so introduce yourself, fare warning though she can be a bit crazy sometimes." Shark simply nodded before making his way towards the hammocks. His mind was still racing with thoughts about his surroundings, the feeling of grass for the first time. His feelings about the few people he had met and who he was about to meet.
Shark spotted a hammock which slumped towards the ground further than the others, clearly in use. Walking over to it he began to speak hoping he could get the attention of whoever was inside.
"Um…hello?" The hammock shifted as a girl began to sit up. A girl about the same size of Harder with blonde hair and silver eyes. She immediately looked over towards whoever was disturbing her nice relaxing slumber.
What she didn't expect was Shark and her expression clearly showed that.
"SSN-591 USS Shark reporting for duty!" He snapped into a salute at what he was hoping was the ship girl in charge.
"USS Flasher, I'll be your captain while you're with me. Who showed you around, Harder?"
"Yes, Skipper although I don't really know the place too well. He said he would show me around the docks tomorrow."
Flasher rubbed some hair out of her face before continuing to speak.
"Well I want you to get settled in at the dorm, we have an empty room at the very end of the hall so go ahead and take it. You'll be right next to Harder and a few other girls like Tang and Wahoo."
"Got it Skip, anything you think I should know?"
"Well we do have one other nuke transferring here, she's the USS Skate. Really nice girl, only about an inch shorter than you. Brown hair, blue eyes…come to think of it she kind of looks like you." Her pause was followed by a quick laugh before she continued on explaining what was happening.
"Where is she?"
"I think she said she was going out with the cruisers, not really sure."
"Well unless there's anything else you want to tell me, permission to get settled in." He didn't really have any clothes or anything like that to his knowledge.
"Sure, although you don't seem to have anything to your name." Her look was something between confused and laughing as she looked over Shark.
"Yea…about that where can I get stuff?"
"Well there's a NEX here so you can go to that."
"Thanks, should I drag Harder around with me?"
"You know probably wouldn't be a bad idea to take him although you might want to be careful if you see any Japs. I'm sure he's told you but they're still scared of the subs."
"Ya…I've been told that a lot lately, I'll make sure to keep an eye out for him."
"Good, well I'm going to hit the sack so peace!"
"Thanks Ski…oh." Within seconds she was fast asleep on the hammock causing Shark to grin. He decided now was a better time than ever to go look around the dorms so he walked over.
In front of him was the dorm. A building around 200 feet long with a blue roof and tall white walls. A single white door invited him in as he tried to look through the tinted windows, to no avail. Shark knew that he should probably try to be quick so he quickly opened the door. Inside was a giant American flag stretching along the back wall and next to it was a wood carving of the sub dolphins.
Shark's eyes were met with even more posters as he walked along the hall. Sports teams were hung up along the wall, some modern and others old. Walking down the hallway he saw all of the light brown wooden doors had a plaque on it with the current occupant's name.
He continued walking before towards the end of the hall, his new room in sight before a door swung open.
"Harder!" Two girls jumped out and attempted to tackle Shark. They quickly found out this to be a stupid idea as they both fell to the floor soon after.
"The fuck, Harder has never been able to do that!" Both the girls were laying on the floor and rubbing their heads. They felt like they had just hit a brick wall or something equivalent to that. None of them bothered to look up as Shark spoke.
"Are you guys ok?" He was clearly snickering at their failed attempt no matter how hard he was trying not to.
"We're fine…you're not Harder!" The first girl, a blue haired red head looked over him in confusion.
"SSN-591 USS Shark!" He instantly snapped into a salute to which the girls lazily returned before laughing.
"You knew here?"
"Yep just woke up!"
"Damn well I suppose you know which room you're staying in, right?" The second girl with reddish blonde hair and brown eyes stood up before looking over him like the other.
"Yep end of the hall. Who are you guys?"
"USS Tang and USS Wahoo ready to party!" They both cheered as they slapped him in the back with a smile. They were clearly energetic, it didn't surprise him as from what it seemed the subs knew how to have fun.
"Great to meet you guys. I'm just gonna take a look at my room before going out to get clothes and shit."
"Ooh can we help with the clothes, it'll be great to get to know you more!"
"Yeah Tang's right it'll be hella fun too!"
"Sure, I'll be out in like a minute!" Shark finished off by smiling and turning around before walking into his room. Tang and Wahoo were both laughing to each other before whispering. Thanks to the advanced equipment he had as a Skipjack class he heard it all, they were talking about his butt. He looked over his door, it looked brand new with a place to put a plaque on. Taking a deep breath, he walked into the room.
It had a single bed with a mirror, closet, shelves, and a desk on the other side of the room. Other than that, the room was bare aside from a ceiling fan and window. The room was perfectly clean at least. Shark thought to himself that by the end of all this he would have this room looking fresh. For now though he had to get clothes and get clothes he would.