At the beginning of the century, the world came under attack by a demonic threat of unknown origin. Humanity dubbed them the "Abyssals", and their sudden appearance into the world has caught Humanity completely by surprise. They were a totally alien threat with nothing like them ever seen before, and they appeared in the hundreds to maybe even thousands all around the world. Their appearances ranged from anything to large vaguely whale-like creatures to disturbingly humanoid demonic young women, all with weaponry and abilities similar to that of warships regardless of appearance. Without anything to provoke the mysterious Abyssals, they stormed the world's seas and quickly cut off all shipping lanes. Vital overseas trade was completely cut off as attempts to fight back against the Abyssals with conventional weapons have failed, leading to widespread panic of the very real possibility of Humanity collapsing in on itself in the chaos. To make matters worse, entire nations have already fallen to the Abyssal threat as their corruption spreads, throwing the world into even more panic.

Then, just as suddenly as the Abyssals themselves arrived, the Kanmusu appeared. Kanmusu, or Fleet Girls in English, were the world's last and only hope of fighting the Abyssals. The Fleet Girls themselves were young women imbued with the spirits of warships from an age long ago, and now it's their duty to take the fight to the demonic Abyssals and regain control of the seas for Humanity. The whole world watched as Japan deployed the first Fleet Girls into battle, and were stunned to see how effective they were against the world's greatest enemy. Soon hundreds more Kanmusu were deployed against the Abyssal threat in the wake of these successes.

As the war with the Abyssals started dragging out longer than expected, certain things about the Fleet Girls became apparent. First, it was obvious from the beginning of their existence that the Fleet Girls behaved much like regular Human girls of anywhere from young children to young adult women, but it wasn't quite understood how exactly Human they truly were. Then it became obvious that they were very Human. Granted that some of them can eat way more food than what is physically possible for a normal Human among other unusual feats that were thanks to their warship spirits, but at the end of the day they were little different from normal Humans. Which also meant they were prone to everything Humans were.

Including getting sick.

Sickness, the one thing that the magical healing baths they called 'Docks' can't heal them of. At first nobody took the threat of a mere cold that seriously, but that all changed when out of nowhere half the Fleet Girls were left unable to fight after coming down with the common cold. This was only last month and thankfully no major Abyssal actions happened in that time, but this was completely unacceptable. To ensure that this does never happens again, infirmaries are being established in every base to ensure that the health of every Kanmusu was in top condition.

The infirmary was finished only yesterday and the person assigned to it arrived earlier today. Speculation and then rumors spread quickly about who was being brought in to run the "Sick Bay" as some of the girls already dubbed it. Sendai thought it was going to be a foreign girl from Europe while Tone said it was going to be a Fleet Girl from a different district among many other theories and thoughts by the various girls stationed here. However, all the speculation was laid to rest when Akatsuki and many others claimed to have seen a man they've never seen before enter the Sick Bay only an hour ago. Speculation shifted to rumor when it was revealed that the newcomer was a man, and somehow the girls tricked themselves into believing that he was some kind of stereotypical terrifying mad doctor despite knowing nothing about him. All the girls knew that every single one of them was gonna have to meet him eventually, but some of the Destroyers were so curious to find out more about the newcomer that they couldn't wait. None of them actually wanted to meet him first though due to being afraid, and so they drew sticks to decide who will go say hello to the newcomer.

The poor girl who drew the shortest stick was Inazuma of the Akatsuki-Class Destroyers.

Young Inazuma stood alone outside the recently built infirmary of the Naval District. She was afraid. One could even say deathly afraid of meeting the person on the other side. Her entire body shook as if she were made of jelly, and her legs were having a hard time keeping her up let alone allowing her to walk forward and open the door. Inazuma was always known to be timid, but this was something that may be scarier than going out to battle for her. She was alone outside what she thought was scarily dubbed the "Sick Bay" by the other Fleet Girls, and worse yet was that she had to go in there and meet the new arrival on the other side. The only comfort she sorta had was that her sisters and a few other Destroyers were watching from behind a short wall nearby.

"Don't be afraid! Real ladies are not afraid to meet new people!" Akatsuki, her sister and name ship of the Akatsuki-Class (obviously), shouted as encouragement.

"You can do it, Inazuma!" Her other sister Ikazuchi chimed in.

In hindsight, maybe sending Inazuma in alone wasn't such a good idea even if she did get the short stick. Didn't seem to matter how much encouragement she got from the other girls, she was too afraid to even touch the door. The shivering girl stood there for another good minute before the others got tired of waiting.

"Hmmm... This is boring..." Shimakaze yawned. She was a girl of energy and excitement, and she would've gone in herself if she was not also afraid of the stranger. Which is why she's gonna force someone else to go with Inazuma. "Hey..." She gave Akatsuki a little poke to get her attention. "Go in with her."

"W-what!? B-but a real lady doesn't uh, meet men she hasn't been introduced to yet!"

"But didn't you say real ladies aren't afraid to meet new people?" Ikazuchi said, making Akatsuki get flustered a bit. The Akatsuki sisters minus Hibiki and Inazuma for obvious reasons then got into a full blown argument while the other Destroyers watched. Shimakaze however was getting quite fed up with this.

"Why don't you all go? You're sister ships after all."

"Khorosho." Hibiki the little stoic nodded. She then vaulted over the short wall to join her sister as if she wasn't afraid at all.

"E-eh!? Hibiki!?" Akatsuki shouted after her.

"Come on, Akatsuki! He can't be that scary if all four of us meet him at once! Besides, you're a real lady aren't you?" Snarked Ikazuchi before she too joined her other sister ships. That little remark was too much for Akatsuki to not take. Of course she was a real lady! All she had to do was say hello to the newcomer. How hard could that possibly be?

"Fine! I'm going too!"

Now that all the Akatsuki sisters were together, the task of going inside the Sick Bay didn't seem so terrifying all of a sudden. Strength in numbers, right? The sisters still hesitated a little at the entrance of the place, but that changed when Hibiki walked right in which led to her sisters following her in as well. The Destroyers outside waited, and waited, and waited for something to happen. So far nothing has happened. Some of them at least expected to hear some bloodcurdling screams as soon as they went inside, but nothing scary like that happened at all. Just plain silence while they waited for them to come back out.

...

"Do you think they're okay-"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Bloodcurdling screams DID happen! Emanating out of the Sick Bay as if the building was a portal to a dark dimension, the screams of the Akatsuki sisters were loud and clear to the Destroyers waiting outside, and it horrified them. They were so scared that none of them knew whether to storm in and save them from the monstrous man or to run and get help from the older girls. What they didn't consider was the third option of simply running away and never looking back. Which was the route the Akatsuki sisters decided to go down when they darted straight out of the Sick Bay and ran away so fast that they were practically flying, screamin in sheer terror all the while.

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Screamed Akatsuki who wasn't so ladylike all of a sudden.

"Run for your lives?" Shimakaze echoed the screaming girl.

While the others wondered why exactly they should, the doors to the infirmary burst open. Out of those dreaded doors came the very monster that the Destroyers feared was in there. A mad doctor. He stood within the building holding the doors open, and for whatever reason it was dark in there so it was impossible to make out any details about him. All the now completely horrified Destroyers could see were two white glowing eyes with no pupils, and a shadowy figure only barely being lighted up by the Sun as if he were a creature of darkness.

"YOU MAY RUN NOW, BUT YOU VILL BE BACK! ZE DOCTOR VILL BE VAITING FOR YOU!"

Roared the monster in a voice that sounded like it wasn't meant to ever speak with how strange but creepy it sounded. The shining eyes of the figure stared after the running Akatsuki for a bit, but then they turned on the other Destroyers upon noticing them. Getting noticed by those fear-inducing eyes was enough to make a chill go down each of their spines.

"Oh, hallo zer! Vould u like a checkup as vell?" The same voice asked the girls in a creepily friendly way. Complete with a chill-inducing smile of creepiness that shined clean white off the shadowy figure that matched his shining white eyes. All a classic formula of a monster trying to lure victims in with false friendliness...

The girls' answer to his question would have to be a big fat NO.

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Screamed all the remaining Destroyers at once as they scattered and scrambled away like a school of fish startled by a shark. As for the shark himself, he made no move to follow them. The shadowy man merely shrugged and went back into his lair. No doubt waiting for more victims who dare enter his domain...

...

"H-he was hundreds of feet tall!"

"He lives in a big dark cave filled with pointy stuff!"

"Big scary fangs!"

"Evil glowing eyes!"

"And he had a terrible growling voice!"

"And hairy black fur!"

"He can breathe fire!"

"He hides in the dark and he tried to catch Hibiki and eat her!"

The childish Akatsuki sisters kept running their mouths on and on about their description of the so called doctor who was supposed to "help" the Kanmusu. While some of their descriptions were quite ridiculous and far too outlandish to be true, the other Destroyers who watched them run before running themselves could confirm that the man was an inhuman creature of dark origin. Word spread quickly that an evil madman was walking around the base as a result. The younger and generally more impressionable Destroyers felt a sense of dread upon hearing the news as it seemed like the rumors were true. On the other hand, the older and generally more mature Cruisers and Battleships weren't quite as paranoid as the younger girls were. It would be a lie to say that they weren't at least a little shy to meet him since newcomers were rare, let alone a man, but they were sure that there wasn't a thing to worry about. The Admiral had more than enough common sense to NOT hire a madman to "take care" of the girls under his command, right?

Among the few Destroyers who personally didn't understand what was so bad about the newcomer was Fubuki who also happened to be the name ship of her class of Destroyers. With her fellow Destroyers scaring themselves silly over the story told by the Akatsuki about the new man, her best friends Mutsuki and Yuudachi included, nobody seemed to notice that something was awfully off here. Save for Fubuki that is.

"Hey... where's Hibiki?" Asked Fubuki once she realized that out of all the Akatsuki telling the story of first contact with the man, the blue one was missing. Somehow, the fact that Hibiki was missing completely flew past the girls' heads while they were frantically warning the others of the monster in the base. Clearly they forgot about their own sister in their haste to get the Hell out of that evil place known as the Sick Bay.

"HE DID EAT HIBIKI!" Cried a panicking Inazuma.

Panic was an excellent word to describe the state of the Destroyers right now. Not only because one of them literally never came back out of the Sick Bay, but it was also because they knew that they all have to face him soon. Checkups for all the Kanmusu in the base were to be scheduled as soon as the doctor was ready for them, and there was no doubt that those checkups were going to come far sooner than any of them would like. The older girls tried their best to calm down the Destroyers, but similar to Inazuma earlier, nothing was working to soothe their nerves.

"Wow. Everyone's really scared of the new doctor, huh?" The cheerful Kongou, name ship of the Kongou-Class Battleships, scratched her head as she also didn't understand why the Destroyers were in such a state of panic.

"Tell me about it..." Sighed Fubuki. "Everyone's overreacting!"

Panic was not a valid concept to Kongou, and neither was fear. Even if the chance that this man actually is a monster was true, she'll simply get her guns and blow him up like anything else that dares to face her. "Humph! EVERYONE! CALM DOWN! I am not scared!" Shouted the mighty Kongou with enough authority to get everyone to stop and look at her. The Battleship girl awed the younger girls with her bravery, and then even more with what she said next. "I'll find Hibiki and prove that this man is no monster!"

"Woooooow..." The Destroyers went.

Then Kongou grabbed Fubuki's hand, much to the girl's surprise.

"Come on, Bucky! Let's go!" Said the cheerful Battleship as she began dragging her along.

"E-eh!? Wait! You're going too fast!"

...

Cut to a few minutes later, and Kongou and Fubuki found themselves standing before the Sick Bay. Again, just like how the Akatsuki were not that very long ago. Also similar to the events of earlier, the Destroyers gathered to watch them from a safe distance. The older Kanmusu also came along this time, but they weren't hiding like the fearful Destroyers were.

"Hmm... this doesn't look like a cave..." Shrugged Kongou with a smile. She then opened the door to the infirmary where a near pitch black interior was there to greet them. The only sources of light were slight cracks in the closed windows and the wide open door they just came through. "Oh. Definitely dark though... Well, let's go Bucky!"

"O-okay..." Stuttered Fubuki where Kongou dragged her in before she even had a chance to move by herself. She found out the hard way that saying you're not scared of going somewhere is a different story from actually going there. Fubuki has seen her fair share of battles so far and this should be nothing to her at all, but it would be a lie if she said she didn't at least feel some fear creeping into her.

The inside of the Sick Bay had no lights on for some reason. Fubuki tried flicking on the light switch, but the lights in the lobby/waiting room wouldn't turn on. "Guess the lights are out then..."

"Hello? Helllloooooo? Mister Doctor? Are you in here? Why is it so dark?" Kongou said into the darkness. Suddenly, a crashing noise came from down the hall leading into the doctor's office. The noise was enough to startle Fubuki into letting a yelp slip out while Kongou faced the direction of the sound without fear.

"VERDAMMT!" A male voice shouted in a language neither girl understood, echoing throughout the building. The sudden hearing of another voice in this dark place sent a chill down Fubuki's spine, making her entire body tremble for a moment. Kongou on the other hand was actually excited by the sound since that meant the doctor was in!

"It came from that way! Come on!" Kongou beamed, once again dragging a now significantly more unwilling Fubuki with her.

The Destroyer and Battleship came up to the closed door to the doctor's office where they could see rays of light peering out from underneath it. With Fubuki scooting up just a bit without making it obvious that she was trying to hide behind Kongou, the Battleship took hold of the door handle and opened it.

"Hello?" She said as she peered in.

"Hello." A certain stoic Destroyer greeted back.

With a big satisfied smile, Kongou opened the door all the way to reveal Hibiki alone in the doctor's office. The lights installed in the room appeared to be out as well since there was a couple of candles that are being used to provide light. Hibiki was sitting on top of the examination table where she was enjoying a large and colorful lollipop, but she noticeably had a band-aid on a bump on the side of her head.

"See? I knew she was alright."

"What happened to you?" Asked Fubuki when she noticed the band-aid, even pointing it out.

"My sisters and I got scared by the doctor, and I hit my head on something when we ran in the dark. The doctor took care of me after that." She explained simply in her deadpan tone.

"Well, I guess that makes sense... Um, where is the doctor by the way?" Asked Fubuki in a much more wary and worried tone this time.

Hibiki didn't even need to answer that question when the other door in the room opened. The sound of a man groaning was audible from the other side, and the door slowly opened to first show a hand holding a candle. It was here that Fubuki and Kongou became the next in line to witness the true face of the so called monster.

Right then. So I think it's pretty obvious who the doctor is if you're aware of Team Fortress 2 and the playable classes in it. This story here is an attempt at a longer, actually story set in this world. Hopefully, it'll turn out well.