Nagato eyed the bloodied corpses of the Abyssal force floating on the water's surface, with a grimace.
They had been ambushed by a small force consisting of a single Wo-class, an Ta-class, and a gaggle of I-class destroyers.
Seriously, what the heck were they attempting to do, ambushing a fleet of three battleships, two cruisers, two fleet carriers, and half dozen destroyers?
Needless to say, it wasn't a clean fight; Akagi had taken a bomb and required half a day's docking, Kaga even longer, no thanks to the torpedo she took.
Right now the undamaged girls were busy rifling through the corpses's pockets for blueprints, intel or anything that might be useful.
"Boss!" Silver haired destroyer Nowaki called out from her spot by the downed Wo-class "This one had this on her!"
Nowaki then held up a... coffee can?
"Ara, how unusual. A coffee can." Mutsu rested her hand on her cheek.
Nowaki shook the can. "It's heavy too. It's gotta be something important!"
"Give it here." Nagato ordered.
Nowaki pulled alongside and handed off the coffee can to the battleship, then went back to inspecting the corpses
Mutsu drew close to Nagato to inspect the object, "Nagato-nee... the label's kinda readable. I can't make the words out though..."
Nagato narrowed her eyes, "It's in English, Mutsu. Let's see..." The battleship turned the can over slowly, reading the large, embossed letters.
The letters were intact, except for one badly scrubbed and scratched out letter.
"ST*RBUCKS COFFEE. What the heck is a STRBUCKS?" Nagato mused out loud.
"Sounds like a fancy coffee place, Nagato-nee." Mutsu then snatched the can out of Nagato's hands and started pulling the lid off. "Let's see what's inside!"
"Mutsu, what if it's booby-trapped?!"
"Oh, come off it, Nagato-nee. It isn't THAT heavy. If it was seriously booby trapped, no amount of explosives stuffed in something as small as this would harm our battleship armor!..." Mutsu then mumbled in a lower tone "...Unless it was inside my third turret..."
"Above water, sure, it wouldn't do much harm. But if you dropped it underwater...!" The elder battleship warned.
Mutsu puffed her cheeks as cutely as she could. "Geez, Nagato-nee, I'll be careful I promise."
"Still, it's pretty unusual for Abyssals to carry around a coffee can." Nagato wondered out loud as she assumed a thinking position.
"Ugh this thing's on tight!" The younger battleship grunted as she added more of her impressive shaft horsepower to the task of opening the damn thing.
"..." Nagato's frown deepened before realization hit her!
"Mutsu," Nagato tersely called out to her sister.
"WHAT?!" Mutsu all but shouted in her fustration. This damnable thing was resisting all 80,000 of her horsepower!
"Quick, throw that thing away! It's a..."
*pop*
The aromatic scent of freshly ground coffee beans wafted into the air surrounding the battleships.
Nagato facepalmed. "Fuck."
"Nagato-nee?"
"Mutsu, it's an summoning medium. You activated it when you opened it, I think."
Mutsu blinked "Summoning medium as in...?"
"Yes, Mutsu, summoning medium as in those things that call out to our fallen, yet un-summoned brethren and bring them back to this world, or something else since you forced a summoning without proper preparations."
The wind howled, and the calm seas became choppy.
Nagato tensed as she brought her cannons to bear. "It's happening."
Without any warning, something erupted from the water, barreling right at Mutsu, and snatched the coffee can out of the battleship's grip!
Mutsu stumbled back a step "Wha?!"
Nagato spun and leveled her heavy rifles at the sudden intruder.
Mutsu brought a hand to her mouth as she gasped, the thing... or person, or shipgirl... heck, they weren't certain what it was at first glance. Upon closer inspection, the intruder looked like an teenaged, destroyer-sized girl.
Said girl was crouching on threes, while gripping the coffee can to her chest like it was the most precious thing ever, her mouth pulled into a menacing snarl.
The battleships stared at the girl, every turret on their rigging pointed directly at her, ready to blow her to kingdom come lest she pulled any funny moves.
Mutsu slowly pointed at the hunched girl and whispered, "Nagato-nee... you see those markings on her legs...?"
"DD-557... she's a destroyer... but she isn't one of ours." Nagato raised her brow as she read the girl's legs.
Mutsu took note of the girl's features. "She doesn't look... right."
The unknown destroyer had unkempt sandy hair, wild bloodshot eyes, and her rigging was a complete wreck. How she was still floating was beyond them. The ratty remains of what once was a white serafuku covered the girl's important bits but nothing else.
"I've seen this sort of thing before. It's an improperly done summons, Mutsu." The elder battleship let the 'improper' hang in the air, weighting on the younger battleship's conscience.
The malsummoned girl let out a low grumbling noise as she slightly shifted her postion.
"She's doing something!" Nagato shouted!
The strange destroyer slowly stood to her full height and her snarl slowly morphed into a cutsey kitty smile as she rubbed her cheek against the coffee can.
"My precioussssssssssss... yes... I, Johnston, finally found you, my preciousssssssssssssssssss coffee... yessssssssss preciousssssss...!
Nagato and Mutsu both blinked incredulously.
"Nagato-nee...?" Mutsu tugged on Nagato's skirt.
"Yes...?"
"Does the I.S.E. Program cover this? She IS a foreign kanmusu."
"Uh..." Nagato became flustered. She was at a complete loss here. "I... think?"
=/=/=
AN: USS Johnston, DD-557 was born (launched) in Seattle, and that certain coffee chain aswell. Two different time peroids, same place, but alas. Coffee.
