San Diego, California.
Scharnhorst sighed as she and her sister walked up the gantry and onto the Midway, walking into the searching around for Yuu's presence. "She could be anywhere in the interior…" Scharnhorst muttered as they picked up their tour pamphlets and walked into the hangar.
"Well, time to start looking sister. Maybe she is looking at one of the exhibits sister?"
"Perhaps Gneisenau…" Scharn muttered as she and her sister walked in, looking around.
"There is a bookstore back there." Gneisenau said whilst pointing at a side room next to the Battle of Midway exhibit.
"Do you legitimately look for out of the way places everywhere we go or is this coincidental?" Scharnhorst asked as she and Gneisenau walked to the bookstore in what might have been a break room once. In there they found Yuu, sitting on the floor, a small stack of books near her.
"Yuu?" Scharnhorst said whilst poking the Submarine.
"Ja?" The Type IXC said, looking up at the Battleships.
"What are you doing here? Aside from reading."
"I was talking to a nice woman who was showing me around the ship. She was distant for some reason but quite friendly." Yuu said as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau looked at each other, before turning to the middle-aged man at the register.
"Sir… Did Yuu here come in with anyone?" Gneisenau asked.
"She did… The lady in question is here every single day, usually helping out with touch-ups and repairs in the decks not accessible to the public, nobody knows exactly who she is but damn is she tall and good looking… Odd thing about her is, her hair is blue and she has red eyes like a couple of you Shipgirls." The man said.
"You know we're shipgirls?" Scharnhorst question, incredulous.
"Well given the fact you're all speaking with very noticeable German accents, and wearing uniforms identified as being worn by shipgirls. I don't need to be a computer to put two and two together." The man said whilst thumbing at a decent sized book labeled 'Jane's guide to ship spirits, first edition.' sitting on a nearby shelf.
"Ah… I remember posing for that…" Scharnhorst said.
Yuu looked up. "That lady… I could see her connected to floor no matter where we went…
"Yuu, that's called gravity…" Gneisenau said while patting her on the head.
"Nein… I could see her spirit connected to the ship… She was like us..." Yuu clarified.
"The hell… You mean to say the woman you came in with was Midway?" The storekeeper asked.
"Ja…"
"Well now… This just got a lot more interesting…" Scharnhorst muttered.
Inland Sea, Japan.
Rosie smirked as the 13th Mobile fleet maintained its diamond formation, Rosie in the Center, followed by Taihou and Yamato. Pringle's Kingisher had just spotted the opposing fleet, who had made no attempt to hide, and they had more than a few surprises waiting for them.
"There, the last one's up" Yamato said as the last of her seven A6M2-N floatplane fighters roared into the sky, whilst not as effective as a typical fighter, they would be an unpleasant surprise to Chikuma's Zuiun bombers.
"Strike spotted, preparing to launch!" Taihou confirmed as she raised her crossbow.
"Launch!" Rosie shouted as she and Taihou launched their planes; Tigercats, Super Corsairs, Skyraiders, Skypirates, Reppus, Suise and Ryuusei rumbled into the sky, heading out in force while the two carriers spotted a fully armed CAP of Bearcats and Shidens and began launching those as fast as they could be readied whilst everyone else prepare for combat.
The strike planes continue unabated, splitting into two groups to engage both enemy detachments, as CarDivs 1 and 4 had simply sent all but a handful of their planes to directly attack Rosie and Taihou. Which had been spotted at range by Rosie's AEW Skyraiders and were being steadily cut down by repeated attacks from Rosie's aircraft, the lack of reliable radios affecting the fairy Vals, Kates, Tenzans, Suiseis and Zeros just as badly as their full-size versions. Those that survived were handily dealt with by the CAP and the Fleet's AA fire.
"This should be easy as previous experience has shown." Akagi muttered to herself, despite a gut feeling that it really wouldn't.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Sendai nonchalantly said, waving off Akagi's initial concern. "Way things have been going there's no possible way they'd get their shit together quickly enough. We've got this!"
Nagato wasn't so easily convinced. "Stay on guard, we have no idea what they could be doing right now."
"INCOMING AIRCRAFT!" Akizuki yelled as her Choujuusenchihou-chans opened up with their 10cm guns. Fighters dove from the swarm, scything cannon, rocket and machine gun fire across the AA heavy girls, Maya swearing violently as a pair of dummy rockets slammed into her.
"HEY, SENDAI! GO FUCK YOURSELF!" The Takao-class yelled as her AA fire began dying off rapidly, her fairy AA gunners abandoning mounts either due to being 'killed' or the guns being knocked out.
Nagato sighed, aiming her main guns and loading type 3 shells. The guns elevating and tracking the greatest concentration of the 'hostile' aircraft. "Sweep them aside. READY, AIM FI-" Nagato was suddenly cut off by salvo of heavy dummy AP shells slamming into her. The entire group turning to see the better part of the 'enemy' 13th fleet well within their own firing range.
"WHERE THE HELL IS KONGOU'S SCREENING FORCE!" Nagato roared.
Meanwhile
"HIIIEEEEEEEEIIII!"
"SHOO, SHOO, YOU SHITTY PLANES!"
"NOOOO! TEITOKU SAVE ME!"
"UWAAAAAAHHHH!"
"POOOOIIII! WHY DO THESE AMERICAN TORPEDO BOMBERS HAVE FOUR TORPEDOS POOOOOIII!"
"You know what... Nevermind… CLOSE THE RANGE AND ENGAGE!" Nagato ordered.
"Hey… I'm supposed to be flagship…" Sendai muttered.
"AND WHO'S THE ONE WHO THOUGHT THEY WOULDN'T PUT UP A DEC- AUUUGH SON OF A BITCH!" Maya yelled before being cut off by a direct bomb hit.
Some ways away from the 'battle', Ooi, Kaga, and Tone watched.
"They're falling apart." The kuma-class muttered.
"Indeed… They got overconfident and complacent with their successive victories… Akagi and Hiyou have been knocked out." Tone snorted.
"Amagi and Jun'you aren't that far off either, their flight decks are knocked out and their guns are ineffectual." Kaga monotoned.
Maya's enraged yelling and Sendai's counter-yelling could be heard in the distance whenever the sounds of battle got low enough.
"These idiots only managed to get this far because 13th fleet had no clear chain of command. Rosie has more years of large-scale command experience from her life as a steel-hull than anyone else in either fleet except Nagato and maybe Kongou." Ooi muttered.
"Indeed." Kaga said as Nagato got hit by another salvo from Yamato, knocking her out of the practice battle. "The 13th's problem was that they had no strong leadership skilled in commanding carriers, battleships, destroyers, and cruisers. Now that they have that, it is a far simpler matter to put up a competent fight, especially since their opponents have grown increasingly lazy and disorganized from a dozen failed attempts over the past two days."
"Well now, to think that Chikuma would fall to such sloth is shameful." Tone muttered as her sister got dogpiled by shellfire from Ushio, Pringle, and Damato.
Ooi sighed and radioed to all the practicing shipgirls once Sendai got knocked out by fire from Fargo and Yahagi. "Alright that's it people, head back to base!"
As the shipgirls regroup and head back to Kure, Kaga sailed back quietly, her mind on the upcoming operation.
Unknown.
A presence shifted, one that could only see darkness.
"Where… Where am I…I…"
Images flashed by, a keel laying ceremony, arguing American military officers, some in Naval and Marine Corps uniforms, others in Air Force and Army ones, others simply bureaucrats in suits, Paperwork being signed, the keel plating being removed and the dock cleared for future use. Angry Naval Officers publicly disagreeing with the decision via magazine articles, the CNO being fired by SECNAV and other officers being reprimanded. A series of hearings and missteps before finally ending with a shocked President Truman being told that the conventional forces were simply unable to stop North Korea from a sheer lack of equipment due to the focus on the Air Force's Nuclear Bombers.
"Wha…"
"Th͟ęy͢ ̧aba̧ndone҉d̡ ̨yo̶u."̷ An ominous voice declared.
"What do you mean…"
"Y̷ou ̵wer̴e̛ ̧t̨o ̵b̴e ͠t̀he͜ ͏q̵ue͞en̡ of ̀t̡h͟e s͘eas, e̴v͞eń ̷if͜ ͜y̨ou̕ w͘e̷r͘ę ̡r̀elian҉t̢ ǫn̕ ̢ai͠rc̀raft̵ ͡ańd̨ o͢t̛h̀er͘ v͢es͡se̴ls ̸f͟or̵ ̢s͘up̕p̀o͢r͏t.̷ ̛But́ ͞ge͏ner͠a͢l̕s̛, ̨jea͡lóus of hoẁ u͞se͏f͜ul you ̵w̢o͜ul͜d ́h̛a͟v̛e͞ ̨been͞ kil̀l͘ed҉ ͝ýo͠u b̧ef̕o͝r̶e y̷ou͜ ̷co͘u̵ld be ͏b͢o͡r͝n."
"That's not true… is it…?"
"͢Y̡ou͜ saw for y̧ou͜r͘s͘el͡f͞ ͡c̨h̸íld, wh͞àţ the̛y di̶d̸ to̡ ̵you. ̡The͝y ̶d̨i͘ḑ ͜o̧ut ͟of̧ spi̕t̴e͘. A҉fte҉r̸ ͡a͘l͡l,̶ they̵ ͜wh̢o ćon̢t̴r̨ǫl͞ t͠he sea̧s ́c̸a͡n ̡st̕r͜i̷ke̢ ̴an̛y͜wḩere,̨ a̡ǹd ̢ev̛e҉n t̕he͠ m͠i̛g͠ht́i͝e͘st ̨a͞i̧r ͜f̴o̧rce cànn͟o͠t stop̀ ͠som̢et́h͜i̕ng͜ it c̵a͜nn҉ot f̨i̶nd̡ o҉r ͡re͞a̧c̴h͜."
"I… Why do I feel so… So…ANGRY."
"You̧ ͜bȩg҉in͘ t̶ơ ̀u̶n̸ders͏tan͘d̕, the͝s͜é ͢f҉o͠ol͞s͝ ̢neèd to b̨e͞ t́aug͝h͞t a ҉ha̴r͠sh ͟less̷on,̵ ́mank͞i̧nd ne͡eds̴ to͞ ̶b͝e bŕou͢g͜h̀t͘ t͠o ͟h̢e̡el f͠or̨ ͟i̸ts ͡o̡w̨n g͢o̢od. A̕n̴d ͘if͞ th̷e̷y ref͢u̶s͞e ͘to kn̨eel,͜ ͝t̵h͢e̸ń ͜we̷ ͟s͡hal͞l͝ put ҉a̴ ̷round͡ ͟th̵rou̴g͡h̶ t̴hei͡r͜ ̀heàd̸s. ͞A͜s ͝iţ ́s̨h͜ou̕ld͟ b̡e.҉"
"Yes… As it should be…"
"N͜ów͡ joíǹ us҉ c͜hild..̷. ͢And ҉sįng vict͜o͡r̢y ͞e͟ve͘r̢la̶s̛ti͜ǹg!"
The dreamscape shatters and a tall and powerful feminine figure breaches the surface of the ocean, a cruel smile on her face.
"USS United States… Lead ship of her class is dead... Destroyed by the Arrogance of Generals who thought that only nuclear war lay in the future… In her place, I am Supercarrier Hime."
The newly named Supercarrier Hime summoned her escorts fleet, Destroyers, Frigates, Destroyer Escorts and Leaders, Cruisers, Supply Ships, CVLs, Battleships, Transports, Escort and Fleet Carriers.
"All mankind shall pay for the crimes it has committed in its hubris and arrogance, this I swear!" The newborn Abyssal Princess declared as her fleet began cheering in response, causing her to start grinning like a madwoman.
AN: So yeah, thanks for nothing Johnson.