Fletcher learned that this base wasn't as occupied as the American bases she was used to. As Mutsu directed her around the buildings during the tour, she noticed that there were far fewer kanmusu that she expected. It wasn't bustling full of men, or ships in this case, but calm and really too spacious for her liking.
"We're a small base recently." Mutsu had told her when the destroyer asked about the lack of presence after the tour had ended. It was by the time it had finished, the sunset basking everything in rays of yellow and orange. "There was a joint mission for all of the kanmusu bases in Japan against a large group of Abyssals. We lost a lot of forces in the fight but we're starting to rebuild our forces."
Abyssals? Fletcher then remembered back to Akihiko mentioning something about a war. Could these Abyssals be the enemy of this supposed war? She needed to find out more about them.
"Mutsu, what are Abyssals?"
"The enemy that we're fighting. They appeared from the sea and have been terrorizing humanity ever since; we were called upon by people like Admiral Sakai to face them but...it hasn't been easy. We've lost a lot of people in the fight, some more personal than others."
The atmosphere in the air shifted as Mutsu's eyes lowered and unknowingly wrapped her arms around herself. Something these Abyssals done must hurt Mutsu, she guessed and even though she's only been in this human body for so long, it was as if her heart was telling her to fight these Abyssals even if she has never seen one. She wanted to press further, ask her about her sudden shift in emotion but something told her not to.
Eventually, the two had made it to the destroyer dormitories. "This is the destroyer dormitory. This is where you'll be living from now on. You'll start school and training tomorrow so it's best that you go to bed early. There should be some pajamas on your bed in your room." Mutsu then smiled. "I hope you have a good time here, Fletcher."
"Eh? Oh, thanks Mutsu. I'll try my best!" Fletcher said with a quick nod.
Mutsu then took her leave, heading off to whatever needed her help at the time and Fletcher turned towards the doors of the dormitory. 'This is my new life huh? I'm no longer a body of a ship but the body of a human and plus Mutsu said I had training tomorrow. I've been inactive for so long...how is that even going to be like?' Fletcher thought. 'Oh well, I'm the Fighting Fletcher and no challenge is too big for me! I'll have to tackle it like I did all those battles back in the war! Though I feel like I'm forgetting something...'
It took her three whole seconds to realize it. She didn't know where her room was. The only kanmusu she knew around here was Mutsu. Uh oh.
"MUTSU!"
It was a miracle that Mutsu hadn't left too far away from her and was able to direct her to her room. It was now night which meant lights out for the kanmusu on base. She was very grateful that the admiral had given her a set of pajamas to call her own. Sleeping in clothes that she was summoned in doesn't seem like the best bet.
She was the only one inside of the room but when she stepped in, she noticed that it could hold about three people total. Climbing into the top bed, Fletcher tried to maul over what had happened so far. She's an American kanmusu, one of only two American kanmusu in existence, and going to start working for a base that's stationed in Japan and ran by a Japanese admiral. She didn't know whether or not her sisters could be summoned or even her other American comrades.
"At least, Iowa is on this base." Fletcher said to herself. She went back to her giddy starstruck expression she had earlier when Admiral Sakai first mentioned that she was on the base. Iowa was one of the most famous battleships America had, not to mention she was around with Iowa even after World War 2 ended. She couldn't wait to meet her if she got the chance!
Images flashed through Fletcher's mind as she thought about what Iowa might look like in her human form. A tall woman with long black hair, that wore a trenchcoat dress and thigh-high boots that matched the colors of the famous ship, who knew how to stay calm in the heat of battle. Or maybe a woman dressed in regal clothing, fitting for royalty, that carried a stick, no, a scepter with her! Or maybe a tough as nails admiral who had tons of experience behind her! Then there was the fact that she could potentially see Iowa's guns in actions, those beautiful 16 inch cannons roaring once again!
Fletcher let out a squeal and she quickly calmed herself down. She couldn't meet Iowa if she didn't get to sleep. After laying down in the bed, it wasn't long before the little destroyer had fallen asleep.
The next day, Fletcher's morning began with a face full of boobs. It wasn't like she was expecting it; she groggily woke up, got out of her bed, and then turned face first into soft fleshy mounds. She was not used to the sight of female bodily organs when she was a ship.
Stumbling backward while letting out a yelp of surprise, she had landed hard on her bottom. "Ow, ow, ow, owww..." She moaned, rubbing her behind.
"Oh! Are you okay?"
Wait a minute...That was perfect English. 'Does that mean...?'
Fletcher looked upward and standing in front of her was a woman with long blonde hair and grayish-blue eyes. She was wearing a corseted bra that proudly showed off her well-endowed cleavage with the number 61 written on the right with a black n' white miniskirt and tights that were painted in the colors of the American flag.
"Wh-Who are you?"
The woman then giggled, giving a salute. "Hi~! I'm the Iowa class battleship Iowa! You must be Fletcher, right?"
What. This woman was Iowa? The Grey Ghost? The Big Stick? The famed lead ship of the most famous American battleship class in modern times? This blonde bimbo was the Iowa?
All of Fletcher's previous fantasies shattered simultaneously in one fell swoop. Clearly, this was a prank. This had to have been a prank. There was no way that this was Iowa! Or at least, this wasn't how she thought this would be Iowa! She thought the world's most famous American battleship would dress like fancy, not like a pin-up girl that you find on planes!
A strange noise that sounded like a cross between a squeak and choking came from the destroyer as she suddenly froze like a statue in front of the battleship.
has shut down. Please wait warmly as it reboots.
Iowa still looked at Fletcher while the destroyer tried her hardest to restart her mind and come to terms with the fact that someone she had been dying to meet in this now human form was not what she intended.
"Helloooo?" Iowa inched a finger towards Fletcher's face but the destroyer smacked it away before it could touch her face.
"I'm alright!" She snapped before rising up to her feet. "Ar-Are you actually Iowa?"
"That's right! I'm Iowa!" Iowa said. "Lead ship of the Iowa class battleships and your trainer for today!"
Oh, how she wished that it was a joke.
[ship]
As a new member of Admiral Sakai's forces, Fletcher had to know what was this war and who were they ever fighting. So far, the only thing she knew was that the enemy was called Abyssals and that they were obviously the bad guys; she didn't know what they looked like or how they fought.
That's where Iowa supposedly stepped in. The head battleship said that she herself had encountered Abyssals and would be able to give her a through lessons about them however Fletcher could barely concentrate on that. She was more concerned with how Iowa got to walk around with such a large rack and not get hurt at all by it. Then again, Mutsu was also walking with her midriff exposed.
Fletcher scrunched up her nose. What, are bullets hitting your chest not a daily fear for people around here?
The school building for the destroyers (and presumably all kanmusu) was roughly the size of an average library and was a nice blend between western school buildings and classic Japanese ones. In order to keep the destroyers who were stationed on the base, Fletcher was given a separate classroom where she could learn from Iowa and also because, even if Fletcher could understand it, the amount of Japanese could possibly be overwhelming to the newly constructed destroyer. Better have an English speaker show her the ropes from the start.
"Right so, you need to learn about the Abyssals!"
"Yep." Fletcher said, sitting at one of the wooden desks. "The ad-mir-al wants me to learn about these Abyssals and get to used to working my weaponry before I can be put out into sorties but..." She then scratched her head. "So what's the deal with them being named Abyssals? Ain't the Abyss that deep part underwater?"
"It's because they came from that very same place, Fletcher." Iowa said with a wink. "It's our job to destroy them before they destroy us. They'll stop at nothing to make sure that we and humanity are nothing but dust under their boots. We Kanmusu are the only weapons that can put a large dent in their forces currently."
"What do these Abyssals even look like?" Fletcher questioned. "And how come we're the only ones who can fight them? I'm pretty sure that we were around when America had those fancy-shamy destroyers with the missles and stuff. Couldn't those do anything?"
"I was hoping you said that."
That's when Iowa got off the table and moved to the chalkboard. She then grabbed down the handle of what looked to be a pull-down map and tugged, revealing what is a diagram of monstrous creatures...at least that's what Fletcher could think they were.
They all had the same bleak color scheme of black, grey, and blue but their shapes were different. Some of them looked like large sea animals with monstrous teeth; some were a ugly cross between human and machine; and then there were some that looked completely human but it was clear from the appendages that they had, and the teeth it carry, that they belonged in the same group as the others.
"These are Abyssals, Fletcher. They'll be what you're going up against." Iowa said. A gloved hand moved towards one of the photos, the one that reminded her of a large sea animal. It's body was shaped like a mechanical fish with two eyes and a bulging brow on its head much like a whale. "This is a I-class destroyer."
Iowa's finger then moved to the next one: twin turret guns stacked on top of each other ontop of what appeared to be a human girl, her whole head covered by the upper jaw of a large creature. In fact, she seemed to be sitting in the mouth as her hands were sprawled out over the lower jaw. "This is a Ho-class light cruiser."
Next photo was one of the most human like creatures: A girl with pigtails with large guns for hands and wearing nothing but a black bikini. "Ri-class heavy cruiser."
The next photo, another humanoid girl with long black hair, sporting a black tank-top, pants, pauldrons, and armed with a pair of cannons that were quite large and 4 turrets on her back. "Ru-class battleship."
Next, a photo of another one of the humanoid creatures; a girl with snow white hair, a black hat with teeth and tentacles, wearing a white and black bodysuit, gloves and a easy to recognize cane. "Wo-class aircraft carrier. These are some of the most common Abyssals you'll meet. There's so many of these creatures, you're bound to meet them when you sortie."
"Speaking of that, how am I going to sortie?" Fletcher asked. "I don't got any of my weapons that made me a ship! If these Abyssals are as bad as you and Mutsu say they are then how can I get rid of them before they kill people?!"
"I was hoping you say that~."
[ship]
Fletcher learned that her weapons came along with her when she became human. It was just that they become accustomed to her new human shape. Instead of large, hulking guns that would certainly fit on her when she was a huge ship made of steel, Fletcher's armament, known as "rigging" according to Iowa, was designed like a backpack.
Her smokestack and mast on her back while her torpedo tubes were attached to her thighs with one of her 5 in guns are attached to her right arm and one in the form of a handheld gun. Her anti-air armament, depth charges/K-guns, and the rest of her main guns were scattered around in her backpack arrangement. All of her guns, now neatly packed in this design.
"Are you sure you can handle this?" Tone said, hesitantly. As one of the few heavy cruisers on base, she was assigned to be the trainer of any and all new kanmusu due to her experience. This was also why she was slightly skeptical of letting the American battleship try and train Fletcher as Iowa still a rookie on the base. Not only that but Tone was very much aware of Iowa's personality.
"Of course, I can handle it!" Iowa said, giving Tone a thumbs up. She was on the waters of the training grounds right besides Fletcher. Her rigging dwarfed Fletcher's by a large margin which was expected as she was a battleship, an Iowa-class at that.
She then looked to Fletcher who was standing on the waters waiting for commands...okay, she was trying to balance and stand correctly on the waters.
This was different than her past life. In the past, she was a boat and thus was built and controlled by humans in order to stay afloat on the waters and they sure as hell knew how to do their job because they kept her afloat for decades.
Now, she was in a human body and unless their name was Jesus Christ, humans couldn't really stay afloat like a boat would.
Instead, Fletcher had to use boots which had her propellers attached to them that allowed her to stand and skate across the waters and since she used to be a boat, she didn't know the first thing about skating. Coupled with the fact that she had to get used to maneuvering her own gear rather than letting humans do the work and you have a difficult challenge for the destroyer to overcome. The fairy crews did help a lot though.
"Now, Fletcher, this is where the training really picks up!" Iowa said, turning to the destroyer. "It's no good to have all that knowledge about Abyssals and not know how to fight."
"But you barely taught me anything." Fletcher deadpanned.
The lesson with Iowa in the classroom was...short. Whether this is attributed to the fact that Iowa was just as new was Fletcher was or because Iowa wasn't one to sit and constantly drone on is unknown. What is known is that it left the destroyer a bit miffed because she was certain there was more to the story than what Iowa told her, especially with the way Mutsu acted when the Abyssals were first brought up.
"Don't worry, you won't need much when you first start out."
"I'm starting to think you don't know much about Abyssals, Iowa."
"Anyway, let's get started with the real training now!"
'She ignored me completely...'
"Fighting Abyssals is a lot like how it was when we were ships. We all get in certain formations and shoot at each other, just like in the good ol days?"
"There's more than that!" Tone called out through her megaphone. "We can't just stand like sitting ducks anymore like when we were ships! We have lighter bodies now so we have to dodge any shots the Abyssals send towards while giving out our offense as well!" The heavy cruiser then exhaled a breath. "I'm going to get Admiral Sakai so he can observe Fletcher's progress, alright? Please don't get too wild."
"That would explain these skates." Fletcher noted as Tone left. She then let out a surprised yelp as she hurriedly caught herself from landing in the water, her legs very close to doing a split. Yeah, this skating was going to take a while for her get used to.
Iowa watched the destroyer struggle with her balance and then an idea had popped right into the battleship's head. "Hey Fletcher! I have a way for you to get used to skating better!"
Fletcher looked up at Iowa, curious. Sure, Iowa wasn't what she expected but she was still one of America's finest ships so she supposed any help from her would be beneficial in the end. "Y-You do, Iowa?"
At that, the battleship grinned. "Yep and I'm sure it would work!"
[ship]
"So Fletcher has started her training now?" Akihiko asked Tone as they walked to the training grounds.
"Yep." Tone said with a nod. "I left her with Iowa on the training grounds. I'm a bit worried about it, since its Iowa, but I'm certain that nothing too wild will happen."
"A-Admiral!"
In came running two of the Mutsuki class destroyers, Mutsuki and her sister Kisaragi. Akihiko raised an eyebrow as they put their hands on their knees, exhausted from running. "Mutsuki, Kisaragi, what are you doing here?"
"We-Well it's because..."
The thunderous sound of battleship guns quickly cut Mutsuki off and Tone and Akihiko looked at each other with skeptical looks before turning back to the destroyers. "Rest here. We'll handle the situation."
[ship]
Fletcher was currently running, er, skating for her life.
When Iowa said she had a plan that would help her get adjusted to skating, she didn't expect for her to literally start a sparring match! Sure, destroyers had the capability to take on a battleship, I mean just look at O'Bannon and Laffey who helped out in beating down Hiei, but she was so fresh to this style of fighting that it was a personal hell for her! She can barely move out of the way of the shells and every time she did, her legs buckled, she lost her balance, and she threatened to fall head first into the water!
"Eep!"
Fletcher hurriedly made a hard left as she tried to skate in order to dodge the volley of hot shells from Iowa's 16-inch guns. Another hard turn was made, nearly avoiding running into one of the geysers of water that had risen up when they had hit the water; that hard turn resulted in Fletcher spinning around and around and around until she finally came to a stop, her world spinning.
She has to give some kind of offense or else she'll be toast! Damn it, she was Fighting Fletcher, she shouldn't just let herself be shot to the bottom of the sea by her own ally!
She tried to turn on her heel in order to face Iowa...just as the battleship was ready to fire another round at her, causing the destroyer to widen her eyes. 'No. come on, Fletcher! You're the Fighting Fletcher! Lucky 13! If aggressive Japanese soldiers can't sink you then you can't let one of your own allies do so!'
Frightened, she closed her eyes...aimed...and yelled out the first thing that came into her head.
"FREAKIN' TITS!"
The sound of both Iowa's guns and her own ringed in her ears painfully as shells flew into the air.
Along with the shells, she flew in the air.
The recoil of all of the guns going had blown Fletcher backwards and launched her right into the air. The destroyer was skipping and rolling across the waters like a rock thrown across a lake until she landed headfirst into the clear blue waters, geysers of white rising up where missed shells landed.
Iowa tilted her head as she watched Fletcher go from skating to sinking pretty quickly. The American battleship slowly moved close to the spot where she had landed in and looked downward. "Huh? Fletcher, are you alright?"
Bubbles started to form and then multiply in the water and then suddenly, out popped Fletcher like a newborn child just being introduced to the world. The destroyer coughed and sputtered as she frantically swam over to the sidewalk, climbing onto it.
"Ju-Just what the hell was that, Iowa?!" She snapped, glaring at the battleship. "You could've killed me!"
It was a miracle that she could be able to swim to the sidewalk. Her clothes were so thoroughly soaked that, added with her rigging, could've dragged her down to the bottom like a rock. Even if she was a so-called kanmusu, she doesn't know much about having a human body.
"Oh, I wouldn't have killed you~." Iowa said, giggling. "You're my ally, after all. Besides, at least it worked. You skated across the water!"
"Ally or not, you don't just fire onto people and-Huh?"
Iowa giggled again while Fletcher looked like a deer in headlights.
"Oh, Fletcher, I would never kill such a cutie like you. I was only trying to get you adjusted to skating and nothing gets people moving and their instincts going like an enemy attack! You were moving so fast!"
"You could've at least warned me!" Fletcher whined, shaking her fists at Iowa. "How would you like it if you were soaked all the way through with water, huh?!"
"Fletcher! Iowa!"
Both of the American kanmusu looked to see Admiral Sakai and Tone running up to the scene. Tone then immediately pointed a finger at Iowa.
"Iowa, what the hell is going on here?" Tone exclaimed, flabbergasted. The battleship merely made an hand sign, her finger touching her thumb to make an open circle, and grinned.
"Nothin'." She replied. "We're just training right, Fletcher?"
Slowly, Fletcher's breathing regulated and she looked at the group before sitting upright. "Ye-Yeah...It was just training."
Soon, it was evening and Fletcher was walking through the hallway of the main building on her way to the admiral's office, now with dry clothes. Training went smoothly once Tone came back and watched over Iowa with a watchful eye and while she didn't have to shakily skate across the water in order to dodge literal shells, she still moved across the water like a newborn lamb trying to walk.
Finally making it to the admiral's office, Fletcher opened the door. "Admiral, I'm here! You wanted to see me?"
"Oh yes, Fletcher." Akihiro put down the papers he was looking at and greeted her with a slight nod of his head. "I want to discuss your training today. Seems that you had quite the eventful day with Iowa, seeing how she decided to throw a sudden practice sortie on you."
"Huh?!" Fletcher was taken aback, eyes widening on the spot. "You know about that?!"
"It's not hard to tell when Iowa is using her guns plus you were soaked to the bone, Fletcher." He then chuckled a bit. "Though I do commend your spirit. Participating in a practice sortie and then continuing practice afterward is quite a feat for a newly summoned kanmusu, I would say."
"Uh...Uhhh...Well, I mean that's my job, right?" She tried to hide her awkwardness by laughing it off, putting a hand behind her head. "I mean I'm the Fighting Fletcher, after all. Me and my sisters caused havoc on the Japanese and their ships so we were built to take tough hits!"
"Yes, I do know that but I think that you should get out of that mindset. Remember: This isn't the 1940s and the same ships you were made to fight against are now your partners."
"I know, I know, ad-mir-al." Fletcher then stretched a bit. "Speaking of, when are any new ships coming? Mutsu told me that this base was super small but it's huge! Huger than Pearl probably! There's plenty of space for people like me!"
"I think what Mutsu meant is that the base is small in number, not size. Another thing Fletcher: Realize that the larger the size of our base, the more supplies will have to be rationed which means you might not get as large of a portion that you do now." Akihiro then relaxed, his serious look becoming a small grin. "However, we should be getting new ships soon enough, either through the way of transfer or by construction so stay patient."
"Fine, Fine, I guess I will, admiral." Fletcher said, crossing her arms.
"FLETCHER~~!"
The door swung open with a loud bang and the sound of Iowa's voice filled the room as she pulled the destroyer into a hug, the poor girl being mashed inbetween the soft mounds that were Iowa's breasts. "Oh, Fletcher, I was looking all over for you! Are you done talking with the admiral?" The battleship squeezed more, sending Fletcher deeper as she let out a squeal. "I know! Let's go to Mamiya's! After all, you need to have your first traditional Japanese dinner!"
"I already had one before! I was summoned yesterday, not today! Now let go of me!"
Fletcher could yell into Iowa's breasts or flail her arms as much as she could but it wouldn't stop Iowa from dragging her away with little difficulty, the battleship chatting away as she exited the office with the destroyer in tow.
The room now quiet (for once), Akihiro went back to the papers he was looking at. Reading the contents that were typed on the white sheets, he raised an eyebrow in the middle of his reading.
"So we'll be getting four new ships this week and the process should follow in that order until all of the developmental tools have been used..."
Perhaps it would be a good thing that the base would soon be filled. Other than the fact that most of the buildings and weaponry wouldn't be sitting around and collecting dust but also more kanmusu meant more supplies and more supplies meant less complaining.
"May God's divine grace keep this base from falling apart if my hunch is correct."