AN: Must… Improve… Proofreading ability…

And Yes, we are ramping up the plot.

And in the last chapter I misidentified Central field on Iwo Jima as North Field… Welp…

EDIT: AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGHHH THE PROOFREADING ERRORS

EDIT 2: I've redone Kidd because there is a Historical basis for the Pirate behavior. Given that the Modern US Navy heavily frowns upon such "unprofessional" behavior it would stand to reason that Kidd, being a secretary ship in this story, would accommodate those concerns for the most part.

"You lost her…" Were the words that came out of the mouth of the Fletcher-class Destroyer USS Kidd as she glared at Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. One would have expected her to speak like a pirate except for one problem… It had honestly gotten really old really fast, particularly with the higher ups who held the Navy to a much higher standard of professionalism these days than back during the forties, the act of her accommodating this concern caused many of her sisters to label her a killjoy and jokingly proclaim the Kidd they knew was dead, even if she still got into her old act while drunk. "We took our eyes off her for only-" Scharnhorst began.

"She's a submarine, for god's sake that's all the window she needed!" Kidd all but roared at the two hapless Germans.

Gneisenau for her part remained silent until she thought of something. "Yuu wouldn't leave the immediate area around the base without good reason… Maybe…"

"Maybe what?" Kidd asked in a tone that indicated she wasn't appreciate of beating around the bush.

"Well, she might have decided to walk around the waterfront like we planned to a couple days ago but never did…"

"Oh, for fucks sake… then get your fat German asses out there and find her then!" Kidd shouted at the two Battleships who rushed off to find the small U-Boat.

"Holy hell I need a drink… No… Never again…" Kidd muttered to herself as she sat in her office. "That pirate act was novel back when I was a steel hull, but goddamn… I did kind of look like a massive idiot when I did that, even if it was fun as hell messing with people while like that." Kidd shook her head and chuckled softly to herself before returning to a stack of paperwork.

Rosie blinked as she sat amongst the various assembled shipgirls and human personnel in the briefing room of Kure Naval Base, wondering exactly what had happened for them to be summoned like this.

Nakamura stood at wall with his secretary ship, Kaga, both looking exceedingly serious, the mutterings amongst those who personally knew the shipgirl indicating how tense the situation was.

"Around 14:00 Hours yesterday all contact was lost with North Field on Iwo To, Iwo Jima for you Yanks among us. Simultaneously all contact was lost with Tinian island and Saipan is being evacuated as a result" Rosie paled at that statement as did everyone else who had either studied or were present for the later parts of the war. "Whilst the evacuation of Tinian Island had been completed six months prior, a number of people refused to leave and snuck back onto the Island from Saipan… Using a radio to contact for supplies from the main Island, Kaga let them hear the last transmission from Tinian…"

The carrier nodded, pressing something on her tablet, causing a heavily corrupted audio file to play. "Some- czzzht plea- szzzt they're ever-shhzt-ere" Rosie distinctly heard clanking treads in the background, her dread growing. "OH MY G-" At the sound of a tank cannon shot the transmission simply ends.

"As you can tell… the Abyssals have occupied Tinian island, and likely Iwo To as well… Undoubtedly to use for strategic bombing raids on Japan, Australia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and New Zealand… And with our lack of amphibious warfare vessels to stop them… We have turned to measures that I doubt many of you will approve of." At Nakamura's final statement a group of girls walked in, causing the IJN shipgirls to tense up visibly.

"WHO THE HELL INVITED THE FUCKING ARMY!" Someone, possibly Tenryuu, shouted, receiving glares from the JGSDF personnel sitting around the room.

"This was part of the Abyssal strategy no doubt, to tie up as many ships as possible and then take massive swaths of the Pacific. As such I order you to set aside any personal issues you have with the Army shipgirls, the USN cannot assist us beyond the forces present in Japan due to the need to re-capture Tinian and secure Saipan. Therefore, General Hayato Amachi of the JGSDF has loaned the Shipgirls under his command to aid in the retaking of Iwo To" Nakamura said.

"We of the Im… Ground Self Defense Forces are honored to be here sir." The lead shipgirl, a very pale girl wearing an old style IJA Uniform said as she and her small entourage saluted.

"And we are honored to have you here, Akitsu Maru, I just wish the circumstances could have been better" Nakamura said as he saluted back.

"Now if all is said and done, you are all released until the initial preparation phases for Operation Suribachi. Dismissed!" At that the shipgirls and human personnel filed out, Rosie sticking close to Yamato who had agreed to show her around earlier. The two shipgirls march out of the building before walking around the base facilities.

"So… What's there to do around town?" Rosie asked.

"I… Am not allowed off base except for special occasions… By order of the Ministry of Defense…" Yamato responded after a moment of hesitation.

"Jeez… They treat you like you're a fancy sports car instead of a person…" Rosie muttered.

"I do… not understand the metaphor…"

"It means they keep you hidden away gathering dust half the time until they want to show you off to the neighbors, neighbors being the rest of the planet in this case."

"I see…"

Rosie smiled softly at Yamato. "Hey, don't feel down… Maybe we can head out sometime and spin it as a PR stunt? I mean to the average Japanese person you have to be this aloof figure."

"Indeed… I am viewed not dissimilarly to the Imperial family at times…" Yamato admitted.

"Well… That's a bit of a pickle… You can barely even think of involving the Emperor in media works without pissing someone off."

"Hai… It's just… Sometimes I wish I had never been named Yamato… Anything but the pressure this name brings upon me, there are those who do not even feel I am the Yamato and am unworthy to wear the imperial seal…"

"For what it's worth… You did the best you could during the war, it's not your fault the dumbasses running your nation ran it into the ground… Nor is it your fault that the Europeans and my people were arrogant in thinking ourselves superior before the war…" Rosie said, muttering the last part out.

"That is not your fault either… I do not believe the sins of the father should be those of the child unless the child dares to willingly commit those same sins themselves." Yamato said with a measure of finality.

"We still droppe-"

"And the most likely alternative was the deaths of millions on both sides in a full-scale invasion… The fanaticism of the few would force countless innocent lives to their deaths just for the sake of wounded pride and bloodlust…" Yamato said, cutting Rosie off.

Both remained silent for a while after that.

"We were ready to commit biological warfare upon your nation's civilians out of desperation… had the surrender not happened when it did…"

"Hell… The boys landing on the home islands would have only seen red if your people had pulled that, we'd have used our extant chemical weapons stocks and the Sarin and Tabun nerve gases we took from the Germans after they capitulated…"

"Hai…"

"Ya know, we got way too morbid there… let's talk about happier things okay?" Rosie said, trying to change the subject, Yamato nodding in agreement.

"So… What the hell is a Gundam? I know Star Wars because that was a thing before I was scrapped, but people were occasionally talking about how it's one of Japan's flagship anime and I honestly don't care about people screaming for thirty minutes whilst throwing energy beams and punches at each other, Insane Ninja shit, glorified slaughter fests involving people being eaten alive, or kids cockfighting with fictional creatures they capture in some backwoods field."

"Gundam… Well… I do have some DVDs and Blue Ray discs…"

"Well… Then let's go watch them… I wanna see what all of the fuss is about" Rosie said as she and Yamato walked back to the latter's room, walking rather close in the cold December air.

Iwo Jima

"Soon… Sister, you will return to us… And we shall sing victory everlasting…"

A single figure floated on the waves near the Island's northern shore, flanked by dozens of abyssal rank and file, mostly elite and flagship designations.

"And nobody shall stand in our way then…" Battle Carrier Oni smiled ferally, sending shudders down the spines of the two Wo-class Kais directly to either side of her.

"I can't wait for you to come back to me big sister~!" The former USS Coral Sea laughed madly as she sat there, waiting for the counterattack she knew was coming.