DISCLAIMER: See Chapter One.
This is BY FAR the longest chapter yet...and it just kept expanding and expanding.
Thanks to Necro-Pen for reviewing Chapter Nineteen, Generalfeldmarschall, Archangel12575, Krugger, Pyeknu, Lt. Cmdr. Jonathan Miller, Castigar0, and Wargrunt214 for reviewing Chapter Twenty, and Zone-Meister for reviewing Chapters Nineteen and Twenty!
Here's the first few months of peacetime...hope everyone enjoys it!
Chapter Twenty-One: The Aftermath II: Peacetime Chaos
By mid-August, Avers had managed to get approval for his plan. He was glad the JMSDF had finally given him clearance, as the following month both Mancini and Blaskewicz had made plans to return to the United States briefly to see their families. Ashigara was going with Mancini, and Tenryu and DesDiv 6 were going with Blaskewicz.
There were several new faces around the naval base; simply because the Pacific Abyssal War had come to an end did not mean new shipgirl summons would be halted. No new Japanese shipgirls had been summoned, but the other nations had gained several new faces. The United States had gained the heavy cruiser Chicago (CA-29), destroyer William D. Porter, and the famous ships of Taffy Three: destroyers Heermann, Hoel, and Johnston, destroyer-escort Samuel B. Roberts, and escort carrier White Plains. The escort carrier was on the same scale of adorable as DesDiv 6, while 'Willie D. and Taffy Three' were proving to be quite the mischief-makers, inadvertently causing chaos wherever they went.
Britain had gained three vessels. Probably the most notable summons had been battle cruiser Renown, who was the complete opposite of her sister ship. Where Repulse had a Cockney accent, used slang, loved her rum, and had a vocabulary that would at times make even the most veteran of sailors blush like a schoolgirl, Renown spoke like a young woman straight out of a Victorian novel, used proper grammar, despised alcohol in all forms, and hadn't spoken a single swear word since she'd been summoned. She'd made it her personal mission to reform her uncouth sister ship, but to say it was slow going was an understatement; Avers had seen continents drift faster. On the other hand, Akatsuki – her quest to become a true lady neverending - practically worshipped the British battle cruiser, following her around like a puppy. When Tenryu had tried to apologize, thinking Akatsuki was annoying Renown, the battle cruiser had waved her off, saying she was flattered by the hero worship and was glad to help the little destroyer in any way she could.
The other latest British arrivals were light cruisers Ajax and Achilles, both of whom tackle-glomped Exeter the second they laid eyes on her and hadn't been parted from her since. It really didn't help matters when the next shipgirl to be summoned happened to be their old River Plate adversary Admiral Graf Spee, with the other two Panzerschiffen following their sister ship out of the void immediately thereafter. Deutschland had assumed a 'responsible older sister' role when it came to the two 'Admirals', who were quickly being compared to Fred and George Weasley, as they loved pranks and were incredibly talented at them. Scheer was the doer while Spee – whose analytical mind was particularly devastating when it came to prank ideas and the feasibility of pulling them off – was the thinker.
Another comparison people made was that Scheer was Iku in heavy cruiser form; she partied hard – her alcohol tolerance level easily rivaled Junyo's – and the lustful thoughts swirling through her mind – which she frequently shared with anyone within earshot, sometimes just to see their reaction - would've caused a priest to make the sign of the cross and try to douse her in holy water. And she had a talent for writing as well; in the six weeks since she'd been summoned, she'd already written the first novel in a continuing erotica series entitled Tales from Lady Reinhard's Boudoir, which she'd sent off to Penthouse magazine in the United States. The first title in the series, The Virgin Countess, was set to be published in time for Christmas.
The rest of the naval base had first become aware of Scheer's literary talents when Ashigara caught her writing during class one day when she should've been paying attention. The heavy cruiser had read one paragraph, blushed redder than a ship's hull below the waterline, and handed the notebook back. No one knew exactly what she'd read, but Mancini had taken sick leave the following day (a Friday) and had come back to work on Monday looking beyond exhausted but with a mile-wide grin on his face.
It was also obvious who had been the inspiration for the title The Virgin Countess: the eponymous 'Lady Reinhard''s own sister, Spee. Spee preferred to spend most of her time with her nose buried in a book, whether it was a book on tactics written by von Clausewitz or one of Agatha Christie's novels about the adventures of Hercule Poirot. But she never failed to wholeheartedly support her sister ship in whatever she did, and Deutschland, being the responsible older sister that she was, encouraged this to continue. Then came the day when Spee found the manuscript for Scheer's novel and – being the bibliophile she was – sat down and read it. Deutschland came back from gunnery practice to find the prankster duo apparently acting out a scene from the novel – quite enthusiastically, from what everyone had heard – and nearly had a stroke. It was obvious she was still struggling to understand her sister ships' relationship, but it was plain for all to see that the prankster duo were now a couple.
Italy's new summons weren't warships at all, but to Akagi and every other shipgirl who loved to eat, they were a pair sent directly from heaven: liners Rex and Conte di Savoia. It all started when the two Italian liners walked into the commissary – where it happened to be Spaghetti Day – the day after they'd been summoned. About fifteen minutes later, Avers had walked in with Kongo to grab lunch only to be greeted by the sight of the culinary staff sitting at one of the tables, and indignant bursts of rapid-fire Italian coming from the kitchen…along with some of the most delicious scents Avers had ever smelled in his life. Thirty minutes later and the Admiral was eating the best spaghetti he'd ever had, Akagi was prostrate in reverence before the two liners as though she was having a religious experience after having tasted their version of the dish, and Hosho and Irako had two new partners in their restaurant. Said restaurant was now more popular than ever; after dinner there one night Mancini had stated their Italian food was the closest he'd ever come to his grandmother's own cooking, which – according to the Italian liners – was the highest compliment they could ever hope to receive.
"What'cha thinkin' about, sir?" Mancini's question brought Avers out of his thoughts.
Avers smiled. "Just recalling the first time any of us ever tasted Rex and Conte di Savoia's cooking."
His two companions grinned. "Talk about great memories," Blaskewicz murmured.
"Amen to that," Mancini agreed. "You know I've had to double my workout now after eating there because the food is so incredible?"
"Be interesting to hear their thoughts on Olive Garden if and when they ever go to the States," Avers laughed.
"Are you kidding me?" Mancini asked. "If they ever start their own restaurant in America, I've got a hundred bucks that says Olive Garden goes out of business within five years, tops."
"Changing the subject, sir, why are we meeting here?" Blaskewicz asked.
"The U.S. Navy wanted to speak with the three of us about something. Exactly what, I have no idea, but they specifically requested all three of us be present."
Seconds later, there was a knock on the door. Nagato walked over and answered it, admitting a U.S. Navy Captain into the room.
"Fleet Admiral Avers, I'm Captain Martin Browning, U.S. Navy Bureau of Personnel," the man introduced himself, shaking Avers' proffered hand, then greeting and shaking hands with Blaskewicz and Mancini as well.
"What can we do for you, Captain?" Avers asked. Browning came to attention.
"Sirs, I have been authorized, on behalf of the United States Navy, to offer the three of you the opportunity to return to service with our fleet. We believe your experiences here will be beneficial to the United States in the future, and we want you to train other officers to develop leadership skills like those the three of you have demonstrated for the past thirteen months."
The three Americans sat stunned at what Browning was saying.
"Captain -" Avers began, but Browning plowed ahead with what he was saying.
"All three of you will be compensated for returning to service with the U.S. Navy: if you choose to return to service under our flag, you will all receive promotions."
Avers briefly pictured himself wearing six-star shoulderboards and mentally cringed, but the vision was quickly dispelled by Browning's next words.
"Louis Mancini, you will return to service in the U.S. Navy at the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer; Edward Blaskewicz, you will return at the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and sir," he turned to Avers, "you will return to service at the rank of Captain."
"Where would we be stationed?" Avers asked.
"At Norfolk Navy Yard, sir," Browning replied. "We're currently in the process of setting up a large training center for accommodating naval personnel, as well as any shipgirls the U.S. Navy manages to summon."
"I'm saying 'no' right now," Avers replied. "Not only would I be reduced in rank by quite a bit, but I've got family here."
"But surely you have family back in America -" Browning attempted to protest, but Avers cut him off.
"I have no family left in America…every member of my family is here. It grows every time we summon new shipgirls."
"Sir," Browning began, "the shipgirls -"
"Are like family to me," Avers replied. "I'm not going to abandon them simply because the U.S. Navy has decided it wants me back."
"I'm saying 'no', too," Blaskewicz put in. "While I have a large family back in the States, my fiancée is here and I'm not going to uproot her."
"Your fiancée, sir?" Browning looked surprised.
"One of the light cruisers," the Supply Officer added. "She's got four of the most adorable destroyers I've ever seen under her charge, and as soon as she and I say 'I do' we're going to go about adopting them as our daughters. I'm staying right here."
"It's gonna be three for three," Mancini stated. "I'm dating one of the shipgirls, too, and I'm not about to leave her."
"What if Congress authorized bringing you all in at the ranks you're wearing now?" Avers bit his lip to keep from laughing as he practically pictured a lightbulb flashing on over Browning's head.
"While they might okay it for these two," he indicated Mancini and Blaskewicz, "they'd never okay it for me. And on the miniscule chance that it somehow got approved, I'd never accept it."
"Why's that, sir?" It was obvious that Browning's frustration at not getting a positive answer was growing.
"There's absolutely no way in hell I'm even close to being on par with Leahy, King, Nimitz, Halsey, and Spruance," Avers stated. "If I were to accept that rank it would be a dishonor to their legacies."
"With all due respect, sir, Admiral Spruance was only a four-star," Browning corrected Avers.
"He should've gotten that fifth star," Avers snapped. "Not my fault people were too damn stupid and political to see the forest for the trees."
Browning sighed, obviously realizing his errand had been a major bust. "I'll inform the CNO that the three of you have declined the Navy's offer. Thank you for your time, sirs."
The American officer hurried out of the office without waiting for Avers and company to rise to their feet. Avers watched Browning go and sighed.
"I think the three of us just shot our wad with the United States Navy," he stated, then grinned at them. "On the plus side, I just remembered Conte's Chicken Alfredo is the Special of the Day at Hosho's restaurant…my treat, gentlemen."
"You don't have to ask me twice!" Mancini got to his feet eagerly. The three officers grinned and headed off for lunch.
Three days later, Avers was surprised by a visit from Admiral Fuchida.
"Admiral Fuchida," Avers rose to greet the JMSDF Chief, "to what do we owe the pleasure?"
"Just a quick visit to inform you that the Rengō Kanmusutai is no longer a part of the JMSDF," Fuchida announced, causing Avers and the four shipgirls on his staff to start in surprise.
"Instead," the Admiral stated, "it is now part of the World Kanmusu Fleet, of which you have been named Commander. Congratulations."
"Come again?" Avers didn't know what to say.
"The major nations of the world have decided to come together to form a coalition that will place all the shipgirls into one organization. You will have an Admiral from each nation who commands his country's shipgirls, but you will command the Admirals. Right now only Japan, the United States, Britain, Italy, and Germany are in the coalition, but at least thirteen other countries are all setting up infrastructures so that they'll be able to hit the ground running when shipgirls from their countries are summoned."
When it appeared Avers didn't seem too pleased about no longer being the Admiral in charge at the naval base, Fuchida smiled and added, "You will, of course, retain personal command of the Rengō Kanmusutai…I don't think anyone would want to break up a winning team."
Avers inwardly breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. "I'd like to name my own XO, if that's all right."
"Certainly," Fuchida replied. "Since the United States currently has the most shipgirls – those who are warships, that is," he amended, "it's been decided that the United States Admiral will be your second-in-command." He produced a list from his uniform jacket pocket. "Here's a list of possible candidates that were emailed to me this morning."
"The XO position should be a four-star slot," Avers commented, and Fuchida nodded again.
"I don't think your Congress would have a problem with doing that."
"You'd be surprised," the Admiral replied. "If those fools would do something as stupid as continuing to fund sanctuary cities, not voting in Kate's Law, and passing Obamacare, then I wouldn't put it past them to try and block something as simple as this."
He scanned the list of names Fuchida had provided and was pleased to note there was one name that stood out above all the rest:
VADM Marcus Robertson
Avers circled the name and handed the list back to Fuchida. "There's my choice," he stated.
"I'll send your pick to Washington," the JMSDF Chief confirmed, bidding Avers a good day before departing.
Avers watched him go, figuring it would be at least six months before he heard any more about the matter. As it turned out, he couldn't have been more wrong, for not five days passed before Nagato was announcing that his former ROTC instructor was waiting to see him.
"Send him in," Avers replied, quite surprised at how fast results had been produced. He rose to his feet and smiled widely as Marcus Robertson walked in, the new four-star shoulderboards on his summer whites gleaming in the lights of the office.
"Welcome to Japan, Admiral," he greeted, extending his hand for his former CO.
Robertson returned his broad grin, grabbing his hand and shaking it.
"Thank you, sir," he replied.
"None of that right now," Avers replied. "Take our ranks off the table for the moment."
"Sure," Robertson replied. "If that's the case, then…" he trailed off, using the handshake he was currently involved in to pull Avers in for a hug. "God, I'm proud of you," he murmured. "Janice is, too…she sends her best, by the way."
"Give her mine the next time you talk to her," Avers replied, referring to Robertson's wife. "Were you surprised to get this assignment?"
"More than I could ever say," his new XO informed him. "I was figuring on putting in another eighteen months or so and then I'd be on the beach. Then lo and behold four days ago I'm summoned to Washington, were I'm told of my new assignment and then I get a fourth star pinned on me, which is something I certainly never expected to happen. I thought I was extremely lucky when I got my third. Congratulations on making O-5, by the way," he added, and when Avers looked at him questioningly he elaborated. "When you were named Commander of the Shipgirl Program and transferred to the JMSDF, the U.S. Navy promoted to you full Commander. At least, that's what it said on the last promotion list I saw with your name on it."
Avers sighed. "Thanks, but I'll probably never wear an American uniform again…they wanted me back, but I'm not going to leave the life I've made for myself here; there's just too much at stake." He glanced at the clock on his desk and grinned. His XO had arrived just in time for lunch, and he knew just where he wanted to take him. "Come on," he rose to his feet. "We can talk while we eat…my treat."
"My word," Robertson sat back in his seat, "I don't think I'll ever be able to eat at Olive Garden again…their food isn't even in the same ballpark as the meal I just had."
"Helps to have two shipgirls from Italy doing the cooking, huh?" Avers grinned, taking a sip of Pepsi.
"Cruisers?" Robertson inquired.
"Liners," Avers replied. "Ever heard of the passenger ships Rex and Conte di Savoia?"
Robertson nodded. "Italian superliners from the 1930s, weren't they?"
Avers nodded and told his XO of the Italian Line duo's first time cooking.
"I don't know if I'm going to be able to stay here six months if we eat like this all the time," Robertson laughed. "I'm going to weigh 500 pounds by the time I go back to the States."
"The trick is to only come here once a week," Avers replied. "It gives you something to really look forward to."
During the meal, the two had worked out a plan for Avers' new command. Robertson would stay in Japan for six months and get acclimated to his new position before going back to the States sometime in March of the following year and assume his regular posting in Norfolk. All the non-Japanese shipgirls would be going with him when he returned to America.
"So how many shipgirls will I be taking back with me?" Robertson asked.
"As it stands right now, forty-four," Avers replied. "Although," he amended with a grin, "I might try and keep two of them on here."
"Let me guess which two," Robertson laughed, before scanning the list of shipgirls that would be going back with him when he returned.
"There's a lot of illustrious names on this list -" he cut himself off when two names in particular caught his eye.
"Are you serious? Lusitania and Titanic both?"
Avers relayed the story of how the six British liners had been summoned, and Robertson laughed.
"Those four sound like they're quite a handful!"
"They've quieted down over the last six months or so," Avers spoke up in defense of the Kongo sisters.
"And is there a specific reason for that?" Robertson grinned, seeing Avers refusing to meet his eyes.
"The name-ship of the class, Kongo, and I have been together since last Christmas," Avers confirmed.
"I'm glad to hear you've found someone," his XO smiled. "And you're in love with her, too…I can tell. I had the same look in my eyes after I met Janice."
Avers laughed. "Kongo drives me crazy at times, but I couldn't imagine my life without her now. That's why I said 'no' to returning to service with the USN…she'd have to come with me to Norfolk, as she would probably refuse to be parted from me. And she also refuses to be parted from her three sisters, which means they would probably have to come with us." He shrugged. "Easier for me to stay in Japan than it would be to uproot four fast battleships and take them all the way to the East Coast."
"I noticed there are two Japanese submarines on the list as well," Robertson stated. "Any particular reason why they're going to America?"
"Two reasons, actually," Avers replied. "The official reason is because as of right now Japan is the only country that has summoned a submarine, so Japanese submarines are the only submarines available to us."
"And unofficially?" Robertson asked.
Avers sighed, then grinned. "Unofficially, I picked those two submarines because they're both dating American shipgirls and I simply don't want to deal with the fallout of separating those couples."
Robertson laughed. "I can understand that."
"Come on…back to work," Avers announced as he rose to his feet. As the two Admirals approached the door to their private room, however, screams erupted from the main dining area. Concerned, Avers pulled open the door and stepped out into the hall; he could only say one thing to the scene that greeted him.
"What the hell?!"
She had been swimming for months, her sense of direction – like everything else – skewed by recent events in the Marianas Area. She'd been saved only because she'd turned off her link to the hive mind and slept in that fateful morning; if she hadn't…well, best not to think about that. She'd awoken to find herself alone, in more ways than one. Attempting to activate her link to the Creator had produced nothing but silence, so venturing in close to the Australian coast had resulted in her finding out what had happened…why no one was answering.
No one was answering because they were no longer there. They were all dead…killed due to their hive mind links to the Creator, who was herself destroyed by a massive bomb blast.
The hive mind was designed to help us better coordinate in battle with the shipgirls…and in our darkest hour it became the source of our complete extinction, the Seaport Princess thought. And now I am the only one left in this ocean.
Then suddenly it came to her.
No…there is another!
It had been that innate sense of wanting another one of her kind around her that had brought her here. She'd had to swim the entire way; once the Creator died, so had any equipment and weapons she'd built for her children, so the only way the Seaport Princess had to get around had been her aquatic skills.
It had been a roundabout voyage, having to stop and rest on the various tiny unnamed islets that dotted the Pacific Ocean. It also didn't help that with her navigation aids gone she really had no idea where she was, yet another reason it was a roundabout trip. But now…now she was hauling her exhausted form onto the sand of the very island the – former? – enemy inhabited. After a four-hour rest among the tall grasses on the edge of the beach on the western side of the island, she began picking her way across the island to where she sensed the other of her kind.
She didn't bother concealing herself any longer once she found where the other Abyssal was – incidentally, inside a building that had the most delicious scents emanating from it – and simply went up to the main doors, threw them open, and staggered inside.
As she entered, the delicious scents hit her full-force, and her stomach gurgled and rumbled so violently she nearly doubled over. But she was desperate to find the other of her kind, and so pressed onward, staggering now from both exhaustion and hunger. The fact that some of the restaurant's employees were now taking notice of her – at least, she thought they were, judging by the screams of several people – was of little concern to her at this point, and she figured any minute now an alarm would be sounded.
Let them do their worst, she thought despondently. I am unarmed and no longer able to fight. I only wish to lay eyes on my fellow survivor, and then death may take me. It will be a blessing.
A woman appeared at the back of the building, and next to her, clinging to her hand and skirt was…
The other!
"Darwin-Hime?" she heard the other of her kind utter her name, surprise evident in her voice.
With the last ounce of strength she possessed, the Seaport Princess reached out a hand.
"Hop-po…"
Her knees finally gave out, and she collapsed to the floor. As darkness took her, she heard the sounds of chaos around her, along with another voice saying quite loudly,
"What the hell?!"
Avers gazed at the collapsed form of an Abyssal lying on the floor of the restaurant. Of all the things he expected to see when he opened the doors, this certainly was not one of them. Chaos caused by Sparkly Magical Shipgirl Bullshit? Yes. An Abyssal that somehow survived the mass extinction caused by the destruction of their leader? Not on your life.
The silence was broken by the owner of the restaurant.
"The poor dear…she's exhausted!" Hosho ran over to the Abyssal and knelt down, placing the girl's head in her lap. Hoppo-chan knelt beside her and grabbed onto one of the unconscious girl's massively-deformed hands and pulled; Avers was surprised to see that the hands were actually coverings that came off easily, revealing perfectly-normal human hands underneath.
"Bring me some water! Hurry, please!" Hosho ordered one of the servers, who nodded and ran off and quickly returned with a large pitcher of ice water and a glass. Hosho poured some of the water into the glass and then sprinkled some more on her hand, running her fingers over the Abyssal's face. The effect was instantaneous; scarlet eyes shot open and the girl struggled to sit up. Hosho gently took hold of her shoulders and forced her to stay down while Hoppo-chan took hold of her hand.
"It's okay…you're safe," the light carrier soothed. At the sound of her voice and upon hearing the word 'safe', all fight seemed to leave the enemy being, and she relaxed once again, weakly accepting the glass of water from Hosho's hand and draining it in seconds.
SAFE?! A little voice inside Avers' head shrieked. Since when did this naval base become a haven for displaced enemies?! Initially, the Admiral was inclined to agree, but when he got a closer look at the new Abyssal, he found himself changing his mind. The girl in Hosho's lap looked to be not a day over seventeen, and had a large circular scar in the middle of her forehead. Inwardly, he heaved a great sigh; by the maternal look in Hosho's eyes, Avers could see that Hoppo-chan was probably going to gain an older sister out of this scenario.
"Darwin-Hime…your horn!" Hoppo motioned to the scar on the girl's forehead. "What happened to it?"
"It broke off that fateful morning," the girl looked down, saddened. "It was something that made me who I am, and now it's gone." Avers privately thought that once the scar vanished, the girl was beautiful enough that she could make a killing as a supermodel…as long as she didn't reveal she was once an Abyssal.
"How'd this happen?" he asked, addressing the girl directly for the first time. "You can tell us," he added when the older Abyssal appeared hesitant to answer. The individual in question sighed and finally spoke.
"I slept in the morning of the battle," she stated softly, her voice having a musical lilt to it. "When I went to sleep the night before, I'd switched off my link to the hive-mind, which apparently saved my life. When I woke up and switched it back on, all I heard was silence."
"So no one else thought to do what you did?" Avers asked. "I'm asking because I need to know if anyone else is going to show up here out of the blue."
The girl lowered her gaze and shook her head. "We are the last two," she stated sadly. "I initially thought I was the last, but then I sensed there was one here. I left my post at Darwin and headed here."
"It still shouldn't have taken you nearly three months to get from northwestern Australia to here," Robertson entered the conversation for the first time. "How do you explain how long it took you to get here?"
"When the Creator was destroyed, anything mechanical she created immediately ceased to function," the girl replied. "This includes propulsion abilities. I had to journey here manually."
"You mean you swam here?" Robertson gaped, and the girl nodded tiredly.
"The poor thing…no wonder she's exhausted!" Hosho exclaimed. Avers was highly inclined to agree.
"I had to rest on various islands along the way," the girl replied. "Hence why it took me so long to get here." She kept her gaze on the ground, figuring that once Avers had heard her explanation he would either exile her from the naval base, turn her over to a higher authority, or have her executed.
Upon hearing her explanation, Avers knew the Abyssal was now in the same situation as Hoppo-chan: virtually helpless and no threat to anyone. He sighed and looked at Hosho. "You've adopted her, haven't you?"
Before the light carrier could answer, there was a tug on his pants leg and Avers looked down to see Hoppo-chan giving him puppy eyes full-blast. Nagato would be on the floor in convulsions with blood pouring from her nose right now, the Admiral thought, and knew what his decision was going to be.
"What's your name?" he asked the girl.
The Abyssal met his eyes for the first time, a glimmer of hope in them. "I was the Seaport Princess," she replied, "but I'm also known as Darwin-Hime."
Avers turned to Robertson. "See what I mean? Never a dull moment around here." He turned back to Hosho and sighed. "This big family seems to expand by the day, doesn't it?" he asked, before squatting down and placing his hand on Darwin-Hime's shoulder.
"Welcome to the naval base, Darwin-Hime," he greeted. "You're safe here."
The hugs he got from both Abyssals told him he'd made the right decision.
That evening, Avers stood on the stage on the parade ground and gazed out at the assembled shipgirls. He'd called an informal meeting – albeit with mandatory attendance – to inform them of the latest goings-on. Once Nagato nodded to him that everyone was in attendance, he raised his hands for silence.
"Thank you all for coming," he greeted. "I apologize for making this meeting mandatory, but I wanted to make sure everyone heard about it. I have planned an exercise for tomorrow. It will start at 0600 and go until probably around midnight. This will involve not only you shipgirls, but anyone else you might want to involve, so get a list of names together if you have non-shipgirl personnel you wish to invite."
Avers withheld a grin when he saw the curious looks he was getting, and continued speaking.
"This exercise will be a test of your endurance, ladies…a test to see how much fun you can have before dropping from exhaustion. Iku, please don't say anything," he added, when he saw the lewdmarine get a naughty grin on her face and open her mouth as though she wanted to add something. His catching her caused several destroyers to giggle and Aiya to wrap her arms around Iku from behind and kiss her hair.
"Ladies, I am ordering you to have as much fun as you possibly can on this exercise," he stated, the grinned and dropped the bomb on them. "After all, it's not every day we have total run of Tokyo Disneyland."
Bedlam ensued following his announcement. Avers grinned as he saw DesDiv 6 bouncing up and down, Akatsuki tugging excitedly on Tenryu's hand and Ikazuchi and Inazuma excitedly asking Blaskewicz if he'd heard. Avers raised his hand for silence again.
"Now, I understand if spending a day at Disneyland isn't exactly your thing, so if you choose not to attend and just go off on your own, that's fine, too. Just please, for the love of all that is holy, keep it within legal means, okay? Those of you who wish to attend the park, give Nagato your name so that she can make a list of who all's going, and we'll meet at the main docks at 0530 the day after tomorrow. That is all."
Avers stepped off the stage and found Kongo waiting with her sisters.
"We're going to Tokyo Disneyland, desu!" she exclaimed, throwing herself into her Teitoku's arms and laughing excitedly.
"I take it by your excitement that all four of you have decided to go?" Avers looked at the four fast battleships.
"Yes!" Kongo giggled. "I want to go on all the rollercoasters and sit on the front row!" She paused for a moment, thinking. "Are you going, too, Teitoku-des?"
Avers nodded. "I have to…I'm the leader of this little expedition, remember?" He grinned embarrassedly. "And besides, I never got to go to Disneyland as a kid, so I figured I should make up for it now."
The ecstatic squeal and hug from his girlfriend let him know how much she approved of the plan.
The following day was probably the busiest day the Walmart in nearby Kure had had since its opening. Crowds of shipgirls flooded the store, buying up supplies for the trip. Blaskewicz was ready to tear his hair out when they made a wrong turn and DesDiv 6 spotted the toy department. Thankfully, Tenryu managed to corral the girls back to the task at hand without much fuss, reminding them what was in store the following day and that they all had to be prepared for it.
Avers had also come to the mainland to shop for supplies; he and the Kongo sisters were stocking up for the following day as well, but had quickly found all the items on their respective lists and were now simply browsing. Well, Hiei, Kirishima, and Haruna were browsing in the women's clothing department while he sat on a nearby bench, minding the baskets, and Kongo sat next to him, cuddling.
"Deep thoughts, desu?" she asked, noticing Avers had a far-off look on his face.
"Hmm?" the Admiral was jarred from his thoughts by her question. "Oh, no," he replied, noting she was watching him. "Just remembering how I would go to Walmart sometimes in high school and just sit on a bench in the store and people-watch." He smiled. "I would always ask my mother if she needed anything, and it would always be on Saturdays, too…that way when I finally got home a couple hours later and they asked me why it took me so long to get two or three items I could always blame it on no parking and long lines."
He sighed, and then said what he'd been gathering up the courage to say. "I've decided to go see my parents," he stated, and Kongo sat up, looking at him in surprise as he continued. "I know I've said in the past that I had no interest in ever going back there, but I need to close out that part of my life in order to move forward."
"I understand, desu," Kongo murmured softly, looking sad that her Teitoku would be leaving her for at least two weeks.
"Hey," Avers tilted her chin up so that she met his eyes. "You didn't think I was going alone, did you?" When Kongo looked uncertain, he smiled. "If she can clear her schedule, I'd like it very much if my beautiful girlfriend came with me, so she could see where I grew up."
"Go to America?" Kongo's eyes widened and she smiled happily when Avers nodded. "YES!" she threw herself into her Admiral's arms and hugged him tightly.
The tender moment between admiral and fast battleship was interrupted when Iku and Aiya stumbled out of a nearby dressing room – from the same cubicle, incidentally – giggling and looking very pleased with themselves. They looked quite disheveled, as though their clothes had been put back on in a hurry, both had fresh bite marks on their necks, and the unmistakable scent of sex wafted out of the dressing room behind them. The pair stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Avers sitting on the bench. Kongo gave them a knowing grin while Avers looked like he wanted to scream.
"Um, hi…" Aiya trailed off, knowing her career might very well be on the line.
"I don't want to know why you two were in the same cubicle," Avers informed them.
"Saving space?" Iku grinned, causing Aiya to suppress a smile. Avers glowered at her, then whipped his gaze to Kongo when he heard her stifle a giggle. He sighed loudly and turned back to the other two.
"Kindly don't interrupt me," Avers spoke in a clipped tone. "As I was saying, I don't want to know why you two were in the same cubicle, although judging by your appearance I have a good idea as to what you were doing in there."
Both lewdmarine and NCO bit their lips to keep from collapsing into giggles.
Avers sighed. "You two are fortunate I'm feeling generous right now…I'm going to pretend I saw you come out of separate cubicles and that you were merely in there trying on clothes, not having wild monkey sex in public. Now get out of here."
Iku seemed to realize they should take advantage of Avers' benevolence; she grabbed Aiya's hand and dragged her off, both of them calling their thanks back to the Admiral as they left. Avers watched them go, and then leaned back on the bench with an exhausted sigh. He turned to look at Kongo and found her giving him a look that said she had an idea and wanted to do something he more than likely would not approve of…and the fact that she'd spared the time to give him that look meant that she wanted him to somehow be part of said idea, whether he was willing or not.
"What?" he asked suspiciously.
"Dess!" Kongo grinned mischievously and nodded to the dressing rooms.
It immediately clicked in Avers' mind what his girlfriend was thinking.
"No…absolutely not!" Avers categorically refused to even consider the idea, no matter what the little devil on his shoulder – who, he was disturbed to realize, sounded quite a lot like Mancini – was saying.
Kongo's response was to lean in and murmur a beyond-filthy suggestion in his ear, punctuating it with a little giggle. There was really only one response Avers could give when faced with such a tempting offer.
"Have your sisters watch our basket and meet me by the restrooms at the back of the store."
Mancini pushed his and Ashigara's cart along the aisle, watching the pleasant view of his girlfriend bent over looking at the various sunscreens. The heavy cruiser glanced back and caught him watching her.
"Enjoying the view?" she asked, smirking.
"Immensely," Mancini grinned, causing Ashigara to roll her eyes and shake her head in mock-exasperation.
"Pervert," she giggled, placing a bottle of sunscreen in the cart.
"One of my many redeeming qualities," Mancini joked, wrapping his arms around Ashigara's waist and giving her a kiss.
"This was fun," Ashigara smiled at him.
"Tomorrow's gonna be fun, too," Mancini added, and his girlfriend nodded in agreement.
"Did you ever go to Disneyland as a child?" she asked, and the Training Officer shook his head.
"Nah, Dad was always too busy with the Navy. The closest the Mancini kids ever got to Disneyland was going to Coney Island one summer." He sighed. "I know for a fact I'll always make time for any kids I might have."
"I think you'll make a great father," his girlfriend smiled, snuggling into his chest.
"WHEEEEE!"
The romantic moment was ruined by an ecstatic squeal. When the couple went to the end of the aisle and looked around for the source of the sound, they found that the American destroyers and White Plains had discovered the toy department. Taffy Three, Willie D., and White had commandeered sets of roller blades and were now enjoying them to the fullest, Heermann and Hoel with ropes around their waists, pulling White Plains, who was giggling wildly. The entire group was being chased by a raging Iowa and a mortified Arizona, whose demands that the group stop what they were doing going completely unheard and unheeded in the chaos.
"Thanks!" Willie D. called to Johnston, who'd reached out and pulled her away from an imminent collision with a bouncy-ball display. The group whizzed past the German and Italian shipgirls; Scheer and Spee were cheering them on, Prinz was laughing so hard she could barely stand up, Deutschland looked horribly embarrassed, and Bismarck was giving the German and Italian destroyers a look that said they had best forget any ideas about joining in the fun.
By this time a manager had caught up to the group and was berating Iowa in Japanese, while the American battleship fired right back in English, stating quite plainly that she had no idea what he was saying – not that he understood her in return – and that she didn't speak or understand 'moon-moon'. Arizona, meanwhile, had managed to corral the six little murder-balls and was now in full-on lecture mode as she marched them back the way they'd come. She gave them over to Iowa while she attempted to communicate with the still-irate manager. Iowa, seeing Nachi, Haguro, and Myoko passing by, waved them over in an effort to get a translator, and therefore completely missed Sammy B. trying to sneak off.
"Sammy, where are you goi-WHOOOAAA!" Willie D. lost her balance and began rolling again.
"WILLIE!" the other members of Taffy Three yelled, catching Iowa's attention; the battleship swore a blue streak and tore off after the accident-prone destroyer.
Too late, as it turned out, for Willie D. was once again headed right for the same bouncy-ball display…and this time there was no Johnston nearby to save her.
"EEEEEK!" the little destroyer squealed, covering her eyes after seeing what lay ahead.
"Ooh, this ain't gonna be good…" Mancini warned Ashigara, who shook her head in agreement.
Avers and Kongo strolled out of the restroom, the Admiral with a dazed look on his face and Kongo walking funny, but beyond-pleased with herself.
"More later, Teitoku-des," she purred, nuzzling Avers and nipping his neck.
The Admiral was jarred out of his stupor by a shriek in another part of the store, followed by a resounding crash and then a scream of frustration followed by a burst of angry, rapid-fire Japanese.
"Somehow I just know that's a result of something one of our people did," he murmured.
As if to answer his question, the store-wide intercom crackled to life.
"Mic check! One! Two!" an all-too-familiar voice announced. "Kongo onee-sama, would you and the Teitoku please report to the front of the store? Also, all kanmusu have five minutes to gather what they still need and then make their way to the front to check out…we need to leave as soon as possible. Arigato!"
Avers face-palmed and groaned as Kongo collapsed against him in giggles.
Avers returned to his office later that afternoon to find Robertson looking at his computer screen and chuckling, Oyodo and Niyodo wiping tears of mirth from their eyes, Mutsu lying on the couch laughing so hard she was gasping for air, and Nagato staring at the screen as though she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Avers walked over to his desk and looked at the screen, only to be greeted by the sight of Willie D. shrieking and plowing into the bouncy-ball display, followed by the sounds of the manager's meltdown.
"I hate YouTube," Avers muttered darkly, causing a fresh round of giggles from the two light cruisers, Robertson's chuckles to progress to full-on guffaws, and Mutsu to convulse in laughter until she accidentally rolled off the couch and onto the floor. When Kirishima's voice was heard over the intercom, Oyodo and Niyodo started laughing so hard they sounded like a pair of braying donkeys, Robertson had tears in his eyes, Mutsu began beating her fists on the rug, and even Nagato cracked a smile.
"Laugh it up," Avers growled, opening a drawer and drawing out The List for the first time in months.
25) Unless it is a national emergency, all kanmusu are hereby permanently banned from Walmart.
The following morning, Avers and – as it turned out – the majority of the fleet made their way onto ferries to the mainland, where they boarded five specially-chartered Shikansen trains for Tokyo Disneyland. Only a few kanmusu had decided to stay behind, and Avers chose not to dwell on the fact that both Yubari and Akashi were among them and merely sent up a most-fervent prayer that no chaos would be caused while he was away. Admiral Robertson, who was in command while the rest of the fleet was at Disneyland, promised to keep them in line, but that by no means allayed Avers' fears.
As they got closer to the park itself, Avers noticed that Mancini seemed to get more and more nervous, so after they got through the main gates, he pulled the Supply Officer aside.
"What's up?" He asked Mancini. "You're about as jittery as a guy who's a couple hours away from a date with the electric chair."
"I've got a surprise planned for Ashigara," Mancini replied, "but I need some help in pulling it off." He explained what he needed, and Avers agreed to help him. Once the Admiral agreed to help, Mancini appeared to calm down considerably, and the pair rejoined their respective girlfriends. Avers briefly watched Mancini head off with Ashigara and the other Myoko-class ships before turning to follow the Kongo sisters.
Hopefully that's the only bump in the road today, he thought, then idly wondered if he hadn't just jinxed himself.
"Disneyland!" DesDiv 6 – including Hibiki, who had apparently abandoned her normal stoic persona in favor of succumbing to the lures of the Most Magical Place on Earth – cheered and ran off ahead of Blaskewicz and Tenryu. The light cruiser glanced around, noting that her sister ship and her girlfriend were lagging behind, and looked back to see Tatsuta and Kiso staring longingly at Splash Mountain. She smirked and nudged Blaskewicz, motioning for him to look back as well. The Supply Officer did so and grinned at the sight.
"If you two wanna go do your own thing, that's fine," he called back to the two light cruisers.
"Really?" Tatsuta looked at him, surprised.
"Sure," Blaskewicz replied. "Go on and run wild…Ten and I'll keep an eye on the kids."
Tatsuta looked at Kiso, who grinned and shrugged as if to say, 'I have no problem with that!' The two light cruisers then proceeded to remove the light summer dresses they had been wearing, revealing bikini tops and board shorts. They stuffed their dresses in the backpacks they were both carrying before heading towards the ride.
"Good thinking on their part," Blaskewicz commented. "Splash Mountain would've probably turned those dresses they were wearing into see-through wraps."
Tenryu nodded, but couldn't shake the feeling there was another reason behind the duo's sudden change in clothing.
Tatsuta and Kiso walked over to the storage lockers near Splash Mountain and paid for two lockers. Before putting their backpacks away, they pulled out the telescoping surfboards Akashi had made for them, unfolded them, and locked them in place. After storing their backpacks, the duo clanked their surfboards together and nodded to each other.
"Let's rock," Tatsuta grinned.
Kiso smirked. "Hell yeah, babe."
After a brief kiss, the pair headed into the queue.
Iku and Aiya were walking down the main thoroughfare when Aiya nudged the lewdmarine.
"Be right back, babe…gotta use the restroom."
As Iku watched her jog off towards the bathrooms, the little wheels in her mind began turning, and an idea formed. With a naughty grin on her face, she headed over to the bathrooms herself and then strolled inside behind her girlfriend.
While no one thought anything of two females going into the ladies' room together, the moans that came from the same restroom not five minutes later were definitely cause for concern. The two occupants of the restroom subsequently slipped into the crowd outside after exiting separately and loudly proclaiming it was quite awkward performing one's ablutions while having to listen to two other women having what sounded like a very good time. By the time two female park security team members got there, they found only empty stalls, and Iku and Aiya were now well away from the scene, Iku with a shit-eating grin on her face and Aiya - while sporting a similar grin – vowing to get even before the day was out.
Colonel Iida Hiroshi, JGSDF, smiled proudly as he watched the brigade of tanks advance across the proving grounds. The success of this exercise would – he hoped – go a long way towards his upcoming qualification for Major General. He picked up the radio receiver to give the lead armored units permission to open fire on the nearest targets…
…only to duck as the shriek of incoming ordnance roared over his head. Seconds later, explosions obliterated several targets on the firing line. Enraged, Iida pressed the 'talk' button on the receiver.
"WHO THE HELL TOLD THE REAR ELEMENTS TO OPEN FIRE FIRST?!" he screamed.
"It wasn't us, sir!" came the voice of Major Takasu, the senior officer overseeing the rearmost elements. "It came from behind our forces!"
"Find out who the hell is operating to the rear of us!" Iida snapped to one of the junior officers standing nearby. "This area is supposed to be completely secure, and we're the only group scheduled to be here! Let me know who's responsible so I can have his nuts for a necklace!"
A very loud roar boomed over the proving ground, freezing everyone in their tracks.
"The hell…?" Iida muttered, looking around in an effort to find the source of the noise.
The roar sounded again…closer this time.
"Gojira!" a Corporal standing outside lost it completely and made a run for it, only to be clotheslined and knocked out by a nearby Sergeant Major, who rolled his eyes at the junior NCO's behavior and yelled, "STAND FAST!" to everyone else.
The roar sounded a third time, now just over the horizon, followed by another blast of firepower. More ordnance shrieked overhead and obliterated some more targets on the firing line. Seconds later, the head of what appeared to be a huge robotic dinosaur rose over the horizon. It was truly massive, and appeared to be carrying another robot, this one just as massive, on its back.
The only thing the JGSDF personnel could do was stand there and gape at what was coming.
"Aw HELL yeah!" Akashi cheered as she saw the results of the second weapons test. "Come GIT some!"
She looked over at Yubari and grinned as the light cruiser giggled and gave her a thumbs-up from her own seat nearby.
Colonel Iida was speechless…he couldn't even begin to fathom how to write up the report for this one; his CO, General Onoda, much less the JGSDF General Staff, would probably say the stress of command had finally gotten to him and recommend him for an early retirement. Unless…
"TAKE PICTURES!" he screamed to those around him. "Those of you with camera phones, start taking photographs of whatever the hell that thing is!"
"Ultimate Daizyujin!" Iida's Personnel Officer, Major Taneda, breathed in awe.
"What are you babbling about?" Iida snapped, watching as the huge contraption rumbled through the proving ground.
"It's from a TV show I used to watch as a kid," Taneda replied. "Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger."
"I thought I recognized that thing from somewhere!" Sergeant Major Hosomi, the Brigade NCO, put in. "My grandchildren watch that show all the time." He chuckled. "They'd go nuts at the chance to see it for real."
By this time, the massive construct had made a complete circle of the proving ground and was now rumbling off, back the way it had come. A few minutes later, and it was out of sight. Everyone was still frozen in place when Lieutenant General Onoda Takezo, Iida's direct CO, strode into the command bunker five minutes later.
"Impressive indeed, Colonel!" Onoda stated. "Your men completely annihilated the targets we'd set up for you! And in record time, no less!"
"But sir…we didn't do that!" Iida protested. "Look…we've got proof it wasn't us!"
Major Taneda gave Onoda his cell phone and played a video he'd taken of the massive robot moving across the proving ground. Onoda watched the video and laughed.
"Come now, Colonel…don't be modest! You expect me to believe that something from a show my grandchildren watch suddenly sprang out of the television and decided to play war on this parade ground? Nonsense!" he laughed. "But I'll say this: it was a very creative attempt. As I'm sure you know, creativity and the ability to think on one's feet are very good things for a prospective General to have. Again, well done!"
"I -" Iida began, then looked out at the proving ground briefly before catching Taneda's eye. The Major shrugged helplessly as if to say, we tried to tell them. What the hell, Iida thought to himself. Not my fault they don't believe me…at least they don't think I'm crazy.
Tatsuta and Kiso were quivering with excitement as they finally reached the front of the queue for Splash Mountain. As the last few patrons in front of them climbed into the plastic log, the two light cruisers shouldered past the attendant closing the gate and stood on the water.
"Um, you can't -!" the attendant tried to protest, but the two shipgirls merely brandished their surfboards and flashed him threatening smiles.
"We can't what?" Tatsuta asked sweetly, thrusting her bikini-clad top out suggestively.
"Never mind…" the young man seemed to forget what he'd been about to say and wandered off, a vacant smile on his face, causing the two cruisers to giggle.
They followed the log as it went up Splash Mountain, holding onto the conveyor system. Once at the top, they waited for the log to float out of sight, then dropped their surfboards and began paddling through the flat section, commenting on the landscape and characters throughout. When they reached the first drop, they hopped on their surfboards and grinned to each other.
"Ready, babe?" Tatsuta asked, the gleam of anticipation prevalent in her eyes.
"Fuck yes…let's do it!" Kiso enthused.
They kicked off, speeding down and then through the indoor section, blowing past the various musical numbers, and then finally headed down the last drop, whooping wildly as they picked up speed, and both shipgirls made sure to throw up victory signs for the camera.
Eventually, they reached the end of the line. Tatsuta hopped out of the water first, then pulled Kiso up as she reached the end as well. No sooner had Kiso gotten her feet on dry land than Tatsuta threw herself at her girlfriend, fusing her mouth to Kiso's while she reached down and grabbed her ass. Kiso responded instantly, wrapping one arm around Tatsuta's neck and pressing their lips together even harder, even as she wrapped one leg around her girlfriend's waist and ground her crotch into Tatsuta's pelvic bone, causing Tatsuta to groan loudly into Kiso's mouth.
"God, that was fucking awesome!" Tatsuta breathed once they were forced to break apart for air.
"I know, right?" Kiso agreed and then smirked. "The surfing wasn't too bad, either."
"You're such a bad girl," Tatsuta giggled, then flashed Kiso a sultry grin. "I love that about you."
"I think the attendant agrees with you," Kiso giggled, motioning to the control booth, where the attendant seemed to be catatonic after their erotic display. Tatsuta took one look and joined her in laughing delightedly.
She then turned back to kiss Kiso again, but the light cruiser pulled back and shook her head. "Save it for later, babe. For now, though…Round Two?" she gestured back to the waterway.
Tatsuta grinned. "Oh, hell yeah," she confirmed, and the duo hoisted their surfboards and headed off.
Around noon, Mancini decided to put his plan into action. He called Avers, who – along with Kongo – met him and Ashigara at the cable car ride.
"Remember," he reminded Avers, "When I call you on your cell, have the operator stop the ride, okay?"
"Yes, I think I can remember that," Avers quipped, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I didn't earn the Gensui badge by being stupid." He held out his hand to Mancini. "Good luck."
The Training Officer grinned and shook Avers' hand. "Thanks," he stated before running off to join Ashigara in the queue.
"Dess?" Kongo looked at Avers questioningly, her head tilted cutely.
"You'll see," Avers replied before walking over to the ride operator and showing him the five hundred-yen note Mancini had slipped him before heading off to join Ashigara. The teenager's eyes locked on the money and widened considerably.
"This is yours if you stop the ride when I tell you to," Avers stated, and the teen nodded eagerly.
"You got it, man!"
Avers watched as Mancini got into one of the cable cars and helped Ashigara in as well before the ride attendant gave the all-clear. By some miracle, the couple had been the only people in line at that time, so stopping the ride would not create too big of a problem. When the cable car reached the halfway point, Avers' cell phone rang, and he signaled the operator, who immediately hit the kill switch, causing the ride to immediately stop.
Mancini watched as Ashigara took in the fantastic view around them with an excited smile before pressing the 'call send' button on his cell phone. Seconds later, the cable car halted with a slight jerk, causing Ashigara to look around in surprise.
"What's the matter? Why did the ride stop?"
"Dunno," Mancini played dumb as he glanced around, then turned to his girlfriend and grinned. "But as long as we're up here…" he trailed off suggestively, waggling his eyebrows.
Ashigara immediately caught on and burst out laughing. "You pervert!" she smacked his shoulder playfully. "I am not having sex with you in a cable car!"
Mancini got a mock-offended look on his face. "That never even entered my mind," he replied, although Ashigara could easily tell he was lying through his teeth. "I was really thinking of something a lot more serious."
His girlfriend looked at him strangely. "What are you talking about?"
The Training Officer sighed, gathering his courage. "It's like this," he began. "Ash, I love you with all my heart, and I know we haven't been together all that long, but I honestly can't picture my life without you in it, and if you're amenable, I'd like to make that permanent." He slid off the cable car's seat onto one knee, and Ashigara's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small jewelry box, flipping it open to reveal a beautiful diamond solitaire. "Will you marry me?"
Mancini quickly found that proposing to one's girlfriend was a sure way to get said girlfriend to reverse her position on having sex in public places.
Avers rolled his eyes when he saw the cable car containing Ashigara and his training officer start to sway back and forth slightly, and he had a feeling it wasn't because of a strong wind.
"Dess?" Kongo came up beside him, then looked up and saw the cable car moving.
"Ahhh!" She nodded, smiling in understanding. "They wanted you to help them secure a unique place to express their BURNING LOVE!"
Avers was about to inform the fast battleship of what had occurred when he noticed a Mickey Mouse mascot running through the park. Normally the employee dressed as the famous character would be walking around and offering to take pictures with people, but right now he was running like a bat out of hell. A sense of foreboding washed over the Admiral and he braced himself for yet another round of insanity.
He was not disappointed in the least.
"Come back here, you rat bastard!" Tenryu roared, hot on Mickey's tail and brandishing a toy lightsaber. "I've seen your cartoons! I'm not gonna let you do that to my girls!"
"Tenryuuuuuuuu!" Akatsuki, Ikazuchi, and Inazuma wailed in embarrassment as they ran after their mom-boat.
"Ten, honey…stop! It's okay! He's harmless!" Blaskewicz followed behind the three destroyers, lugging everyone's prizes and souvenirs. Hibiki was last in line; she was walking at a much-slower pace while taking small sips from her ever-present flask, and appeared to be quite content to let the family crisis pass her by. She might be the youngest of the group, Avers thought to himself, but sometimes she seems more mature than all the others combined. As Blaskewicz hurried past the cable car ride, he saw Kongo leaning against the wall from a severe attack of the giggles and his CO wanting to pretend he didn't know any of them.
"Aw, jeez…" he muttered, and continued on.
Ooi sighed happily. The relationship between herself and Kitakami-san was stronger than ever; they'd come through the major battle without a scratch and had celebrated long into the night, and now they were on a date at Tokyo Disneyland and having a great time. They were currently waiting in line to have their pictures taken with Aladdin and Princess Jasmine; not something Ooi personally cared to do, but if Kitakami-san wanted to do it, then that's all that mattered. As they waited in the queue, they saw DesDiv 18 leaving and Ooi happened to overhear part of the conversation.
"The guy playing Aladdin was cute!" Kagero giggled, and Kasumi nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, he wasn't too bad, but he was a little too touchy-feely for my taste," Arare put in.
"Shiranuhi was uncomfortable in his presence," Shiranuhi murmured.
Ooi privately thanked the destroyers for the advance information as they reached the front of the line. Princess Jasmine greeted them, while Aladdin seemed to take quite a bit of interest in Kitakami, smiling conceitedly and complimenting her. The torpedo cruiser in question blushed awkwardly, but didn't say anything. As the photographer got them posed for the picture, Aladdin put his arm around Kitakami – it was per the photographer's instructions, so Ooi forced herself to allow it – and then had the audacity to lean down and murmur in the cruiser's ear.
"Hey, I get off-shift in a couple of hours…wanna meet up somewhere in the park?"
A red haze descended over Ooi's vision, while at the same time Aladdin looked over at her and his flirtatious expression immediately changed into one of pure terror.
Mancini and Ashigara wandered aimlessly through the park, Ashigara alternating between gazing lovingly at the beautiful ring that now adorned her left hand and gazing even more lovingly at her new fiancé. They weren't making much progress due to Ashigara's apparent need to stop and passionately kiss Mancini every fifty feet or so, not that the Training Officer minded in the least! The couple were headed towards the area where characters posed for photographs, as Ashigara wanted to get her picture taken with the various Disney princesses.
A sudden commotion over by the section for Aladdin and Princess Jasmine caught their attention.
"Wonder what's going on over there?" Mancini asked, and Ashigara shrugged and shook her head, unable to see anything due to the growing crowd of people.
"HOW DARE YOU PROPOSITION MY BELOVED KITAKAMI-SAN!" a voice roared.
"Uh-oh…" Ashigara and Mancini chorused, and took off towards the crowd. They managed to shoulder their way to the front of the crowd, and their jaws dropped as they took in the sight before them.
Ooi lay on the ground, having twisted Aladdin into a human pretzel using a move known as the Anaconda Vise, the favorite submission move of her favorite wrestler, CM Punk. Kitakami stood off to the side watching the scene as though this sort of thing was an everyday occurrence. Princess Jasmine looked traumatized, while the photographer seemed to be having a small stroke.
"WHERE IS YOUR GENIE NOW?!" Ooi screamed as she increased the pressure on her helpless victim as he screamed in pain. "LET HIM COME TO TRY AND SAVE YOU! HE WILL COWER BEFORE THE MIGHT OF MY 61-CENTIMETER QUAD TORPEDOES AND BE DESTROYED!"
"Damn…violent, much?" Mancini muttered, having absolutely no idea how to handle the situation.
Avers sat with the Kongo sisters at one of the park's many restaurants. He was picking at a large plate of chicken nuggets while watching an unofficial burger-eating competition between Akagi, Yamato, and Shinano. Haruna was also watching the burger competition, while Hiei and Kirishima pored over a map of the park, contemplating on where the group should head after lunch. Kongo was snuggled against him, contentedly sipping tea and occasionally swiping a chicken nugget from his plate.
It was just about the most peaceful moment the Admiral had had since the fleet had assembled at the docks that morning, so of course said moment had to be interrupted. Avers cringed as his cell phone buzzed in his pocket.
"Oh, crap…what now?" the Admiral muttered before pulling it out. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it wasn't a phone call alerting him to more chaos, but merely a Facebook alert.
Gino Mancini is currently live.
What the heck…let's see what he's doing, Avers thought, and hit the link to Mancini's live feed.
He immediately wished he hadn't; the screen showed one of his torpedo cruisers applying a very painful submission maneuver to what appeared to be one of the Disney characters and calling loudly for the appearance of a genie. He pointedly ignored the fit of giggles Kongo had apparently been stricken by, and concentrated on the happenings onscreen.
"Hey, everybody…Gino Mancini here live at Tokyo Disneyland," Mancini was saying. "As you all can see, it's proving to be quite the eventful day. Fleet Admiral Avers, sir, if you're watching this, I dunno what else to say, except 'I'm sorry'."
The giggles of all four Kongo sisters – the other three had been waved over to watch by their sister ship – turned to outright cackles when Avers' name was mentioned, followed by Mancini's very nervous-sounding apology. And then Karma decided to pour gasoline on the already-raging bonfire; a park employee in a blue mascot outfit appeared from one of the back rooms.
"Why?" Avers asked plaintively, looking up at the ceiling, causing a fresh round of hysteria from his four attractive companions.
"Oh, no…" Ashigara's voice was heard off-screen.
"AH, GENIE-SAN!" Ooi yelled upon seeing the blue character. "HAVE YOU COME TO SAVE YOUR MASTER?! YOU WILL HAVE TO GET THROUGH ME FIRST! COME, FEEL THE WRATH OF A TORPEDO CRUISER!"
She released Aladdin from his pretzel-like state; the poor employee immediately began frantically crawling away, sobbing piteously, as Ooi leapt to her feet and stalked towards the Genie.
"Aw, crap…" Mancini was heard muttering before the video feed cut out.
Avers lay his phone in his lap and began lightly banging his head on the table as yet another round of giggles began around him.
By the time early evening rolled around, Iku was feeling quite pleased with herself. Aiya hadn't had an opportunity all day to get her back for earlier, and it seemed as though the lewdmarine was going to win the little extra-friendly competition they had going. As they got on a boat in the Tunnel of Love behind Nagato and Mutsu and set off, Aiya turned to her and grinned.
"You've been waiting all day for me to get you back, and I haven't even tried once today." She giggled. "But I knew we'd be riding this ride this evening, so all I had to do was wait. And now," she gestured around them, "I've got you right where I want you…on a twenty-minute ride with nowhere to go."
Iku returned her girlfriend's grin, even as she felt the bikini bottoms she was wearing grow damp with anticipation. "And just how do you plan on getting me back?"
Aiya's grin turned downright filthy as she opened the large purse she'd decided to carry that day and tilted it so Iku could see inside. "Take a look, babe."
The second Iku looked inside, her grin mirrored Aiya's.
"I'm glad you agreed to come with me today, Nagato-nee," Mutsu purred as she snuggled up to her sister ship. Nagato, meanwhile, looked as though she was very uncomfortable with her surroundings; she sat rigidly in the boat, staring straight ahead with her hands clasped in her lap.
"I-I enjoyed spending time with you, Mutsu," she murmured. "It's not often we get to spend time with each other outside of our duties."
Mutsu giggled. "What about the weekend you discovered I was part of that calendar shoot? Or how about the time we went to that anime convention?" she smiled and leaned in, murmuring in Nagato's ear, "I seem to remember having quite the enjoyable time with you on both occasions." She punctuated that statement with a playful nip on the battleship's earlobe, and smiled widely when Nagato emitted a soft whimper and gave in.
"AHN!"
The sharp cry from behind them broke them out of what was proving to be a very fun few minutes.
"What was that?" Nagato looked around, but was soon distracted by Mutsu licking her neck.
"I don't know and to be honest I don't really care," the battleship murmured, raking her tongue across Nagato's jugular, sending a bolt of energy right down to her core. "You're a much-more fascinating subject to me at the moment."
"UGH…IT'S SO BIG!"
"You like that, bitch?" another new voice joined the first one.
"Mutsu…" Nagato moaned, torn between her sense of propriety and a white-hot flare of lust at the erotic commentary.
"OH, GOD…FUCK ME!" Iku's voice screamed.
"My, my…she took the words right out of my mouth," Mutsu giggled, nuzzling Nagato's cheek before finding that one sweet spot behind the battleship's ear and tickling it with her tongue.
She was pleasantly surprised when Nagato suddenly took control, pressing her sister ship back into the seat cushions and covering her body with her own, and for the rest of the ride everything else – including the ecstatic screams from behind them – faded into the background.
"FUCKING POUND ME WITH THAT THING!"
In the boat behind Iku and Aiya, Akagi and Kaga sat transfixed at the live porno show that appeared to be going on in front of them. Akagi was blushing redder than the sash on her outfit, while Kaga's expression – as per usual – was a blank mask.
"A-Are you all right, Kaga-san?" Akagi was concerned for her girlfriend, as Kaga hadn't moved a muscle since the first cry had come from the boat in front of them.
"You like this, don't you, you nasty slut?" Both parties appeared to be very much into what they were doing.
"COME ON…THAT'S IT…YES!" The cries from the boat ahead were becoming more and more enthusiastic, causing Akagi's blush to deepen even further.
"I-I regret that we're being forced to listen to this," Akagi murmured embarrassedly, "but I also have to admit I'm very aroused by it as well."
"Akagi-san…" Kaga trailed off.
"Tell me right now: do…I…win?" The question in the boat up ahead appeared to be phrased so that each of the last three words seemed like a question; whatever was happening, it also seemed to be the catalyst for Iku losing her mind completely.
"YOU WIN! YOU WIN!" she screamed.
"Good girl!" Aiya's voice purred. "Now here's your reward…"
"HOLY FUCKING SHIT! AHHHHH!" The ear-splitting shriek of ecstasy from the boat ahead caused Kaga to turn to Akagi; the fleet carrier was surprised to see a wild look in her girlfriend's eyes.
"No more talking, Akagi-san…time for action now," Kaga stated, and leapt on her girlfriend.
By the time of the nightly fireworks display, Avers could feel the stress of the day slipping away. After Ooi's confrontation with Aladdin & Friends, there had only been a couple minor incidents to further mar the day. Titanic had had a small argument with the proprietor of a scientific souvenir store when he informed her that the intricately-detailed, eight-foot model of her ship form was for store display purposes only and not for sale. The liner had not been pleased to hear she could not purchase the model, but settled for the business card of the company who had made the model in the hopes that she could possibly have an identical piece built for her own quarters.
The other incident involved Repulse going on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and using a toy lightsaber to challenge the pirate actors to 'put their buccaneer skills to the test against the might of the Royal Navy'. The audience had watched in awe as the British battle cruiser went toe-to-toe with the pirate captain, the battle ending when Repulse used the man's momentum against him, causing the pirate captain to tumble overboard into the water with a resounding splash, whereupon Repulse raised her lightsaber and roared in victory as the audience – her sister Renown included – cheered wildly.
And the entire event had – despite being on YouTube for less than four hours - thus far accumulated more than 3,500 views.
After viewing that footage, Avers didn't know whether to drink himself silly or burst into tears. One thing he did know was that taking the shipgirls to Disneyland was definitely proving to be one of the worst decisions he'd ever made in his life; it seemed as though it was akin to flashing a neon sign at the heavens that read, 'CHAOS STRIKE HERE!'
Thankfully, Kongo had decided to take her Teitoku on a nice, relaxing ride on the Tunnel of Love, during which she used her talents to make sure all of Avers' troubles magically melted away. As they got off the ride, Avers could've seen Ooi taking on Walt Disney himself in a street fight and not batted an eye. Kongo had merely smiled knowingly, surreptitiously wiped the corners of her mouth off, and went to pay for a copy of the photo of them that had been taken during the ride. She definitely wanted a keepsake of that memory.
Now the couple was standing close together in front of Cinderella's Castle, waiting for the fireworks to start.
"Did you have fun today?" Avers murmured in her ear, as a group of male Petty Officers who walked past behind him, talking excitedly about a live girl-girl pornographic show on the Tunnel of Love and how they wished they could've heard it live and in person Avers briefly considered calling them over for more information, then chuckled inwardly and mentally shook his head. Surely I misheard them…yes, that's it…it's gotten so bad that I'm apparently looking for chaos now.
Kongo turned to look at him and smiled widely. "Yes!" she laughed. "I'm so glad we came here, Teitoku-des! Thank you for bringing us!"
"You're welcome," Avers replied. "I thought we all needed a break from our duties." Some of us appear to have taken advantage of this more than others, he thought darkly.
Further thoughts were halted by the start of the fireworks display, and the Admiral alternated between glancing up at the impressive display of pyrotechnics and the childish excitement on his beautiful girlfriend's face. It was at that moment that he decided to put a plan of his own into action.
"Kongō, watashi no tenshi," (1) he murmured, switching to Japanese temporarily.
"Hai, Teitoku-des?" the fast battleship murmured back, still concentrating on the fireworks display.
"Watashi wa itsu made mo anata ga hoshīdarou," (2) he stated, and Kongo smiled and reached down, squeezing his hand in between both of hers.
"Watashi wa anata ga tsuneni hitsuyō ni narimasu," (3) he continued, gazing at her. Kongo turned to him and kissed him lightly before resuming watching the night sky.
"Soshite, watashi wa watashi ga subete de anata o aishite inai hi ga arimasen," (4) Avers finished, reaching into his pocket for the item that he'd carried around since before the final battle with the Abyssals.
Kongo turned to ask her Teitoku why he'd decided to say such romantic words all of a sudden, but the question died in her throat when she found him on one knee beside her, presenting her with a box containing a beautiful ring. Around them, other shipgirls had noticed what was going on, and were nudging those close to them excitedly and pointing over to where Kongo was standing. Hiei, Kirishima, and Haruna were among them; Hiei was literally vibrating in place with excitement.
"Anata wa watashi ni watashi no ai to kekkon shimasu ka?" (5) Avers took Kongo's hand in his and gazed into the fast battleship's eyes.
"YES!" Kongo shrieked, and tackle-glomped her new fiancé. Hiei let out a squee that was so high-pitched Avers was surprised it didn't crack the lenses in Kirishima's glasses, and the shipgirls around them erupted into cheers and applause.
As Kongo showered him with giggles and kisses and various shipgirls crowded around to convey their congratulations to the newly-engaged couple, Avers smiled to himself and thought, Today might have been filled with chaos and a shit-ton of stress, but I don't think it could possibly have ended any better.
The following Monday, Avers sat in his office and looked back on the weekend with a smile. Only four light cruisers, a submarine, and one human NCO permanently banned from the park after this past weekend…compared to what I was expecting, I'd say the trip was a resounding success!
He was jarred from his thoughts by Nagato coming and handing him a large, thick manila envelope.
"What's this?" he asked.
"Pictures from the previous weekend, sir…Tokyo Disneyland sent them over."
Avers thanked her as he opened the envelope and flipped through the pictures. He smiled at the pictures of DesDiv 6 hugging the various characters from Winnie the Pooh, setting them aside for Mutsu to show Nagato, as he knew she got a kick out of her sister ship's reaction to incredibly cute things.
Next came the photos from various ride cameras. He did a face-palm when he saw the first ten photos were of Tatsuta and Kiso surfing down the chutes of Splash Mountain; he made a mental note to speak to the two light cruisers about that later on that day.
Last in the package came the photos from the Tunnel of Love. Many were sweet, showing various shipgirls cuddling and holding hands. He studiously ignored the photo taken of himself and Kongo – actually, more like the photo taken of himself with Kongo's head in his lap – and flipped to another picture. He was quite surprised to see a pic of his normally staid Chief-of-Staff lying on top of his Fleet Adjutant, the two of them kissing passionately, and he called Nagato over and handed her the photo.
"I don't know if you have a copy of this already, but if you don't, I thought you might like one."
Nagato looked at the photo and blushed heavily.
"What are you talking about, sir?" Mutsu came over to them and looked at the photo in Nagato's hands.
"Oh, goodness," the battleship flushed prettily, "that was a fun ride, wasn't it, Nagato-nee?" she giggled as Nagato sputtered awkwardly.
"A-Admiral -" she began, and Avers waved off her attempted explanation.
"I don't need to hear anything," he informed her. "Not that it's any of your business, but if I were to lecture you about proper behavior on this ride, I'd be the biggest hypocrite in the world."
The two battleships gaped at him and what he was inferring by that comment. Avers flipped to the next picture as though nothing was wrong…and then groaned when he saw it was a picture of Akagi and Kaga making out heavily, with Kaga's hand down the front of Akagi's shorts.
"Yeah, like I wanted to see that," he muttered, putting the picture through his paper shredder, figuring that neither of the fleet carriers would want a copy of it.
He glanced at the last picture in the packet, then did a double-take. And then a triple-take. And then he simply gaped at it, scarcely believing what he was seeing.
"Oh, dear God…" he moaned. "That's what that group of NCOs meant when I overheard them talking about a live porn show on the Tunnel of Love?!"
"What are you talking about, Admiral?" Nagato looked up from the paperwork she was scanning, and Avers wordlessly handed her the photo. His Chief-of-Staff took one look at the photo and began sputtering wildly at the sight of Iku on her back, arms clawing at Aiya's shoulders and her feet locked in the small of the other girl's back as her lover used a sex toy on her while Aiya's face was buried in her neck. The picture had been snapped at what appeared to be the exact moment Iku climaxed, for the lewdmarine's back was arched, her eyes were clamped shut, and her mouth was open in a silent scream of ecstasy. Neither appeared to be wearing a stitch of clothing.
"Nagato-nee…what's wrong?" Mutsu took the photo from her sister ship, looked at it, and blushed tomato red.
"Oh, my…" she giggled. "That certainly goes with what we were hearing behind us, doesn't it?" She asked Nagato, who continued to sputter incoherently.
"You heard this?" Avers asked his Adjutant incredulously.
Mutsu nodded. "We figured that as loud as those two were being, they must have been having a very good time." She glanced at the picture again. "And judging by this picture I'd say we were one hundred percent correct." She burst out giggling as she handed the picture back to Avers.
"Get Iku and Petty Officer Komura in here ASAP," Avers growled.
When the duo in question arrived, Avers handed them the picture. Aiya took it, and the Admiral was surprised to see a gold ring glinting on her left hand.
"Nice ring," he commented.
"Thank you, sir…she put it there," Aiya grinned. When Avers turned to Iku, the lewdmarine blushed and held up her own left hand which featured an identical ring.
"Congratulations," Avers stated. "When did this happen?"
"Saturday night," Iku replied. "We were heading back to catch the ferry back to the naval base when we got the idea and just figured 'what the hell?', so we found an officiate in a red-light district in Kure and went ahead and did it."
She glanced down at the picture Avers had handed her and burst out laughing.
"Oh shit," she gasped, "there's one for the family album, babe!" She turned the picture so Iku could see it, and the submarine grinned widely.
"Definitely," she laughed, but the couple stopped when they saw Avers didn't share their humor.
"Sorry, sir," Aiya muttered, fully expecting for them both to receive a royal ass-chewing.
Avers sighed, knowing that, after his and Kongo's own little voyage on the same ride, he couldn't rip them a new one.
"Take this picture and kindly make sure no one else sees it, and don't let anything like this come to my attention again, understood?"
"You're not gonna yell at us?" Iku looked surprised, while Avers was surprised she had the audacity to ask such a question.
"Do you want me to yell at you for this?" he asked, and both young women rapidly shook their heads.
"Nah…we're good," Aiya replied, and Iku seconded the statement.
"In that case, you're dismissed," Avers waved them out of the office, and the newly-married couple departed after thanking him one last time. The Admiral watched them go before reaching into his desk and pulling out The List, adding yet another rule to the paper:
26) A visit to Tokyo Disneyland or any other theme park is not a valid excuse for fleet-wide insanity.
"Um, Admiral…" Mutsu trailed off nervously, her voice breaking into Avers' thoughts. The Admiral glanced at the battleship to see her looking at something on her phone.
"What's up?"
Mutsu smiled apologetically. "You need to check the news, sir…apologies in advance for possibly ruining your day."
A sense of foreboding washed over Avers as he brought up Japan's national news webpage.
POWER RANGERS EXIST, JGSDF COLONEL CONFIRMS!
ULTRAZORD SPOTTED IN JOINT EXERCISE WITH MILITARY FORCES!
Avers temporarily lost the power of speech as he recalled a conversation he'd had in the not-too-distant past:
"If you two somehow manage to pull this off, I won't care if you build Ultimate Daizyujin in your spare time, and then test its weapons in war games with the JGSDF."
He whirled towards the window, opened, and stuck his head out.
"AKASHI! YUBARI!"
Iku exhaled in relief as she and Aiya slid into a booth in Hosho's restaurant.
"Jeez, we sure dodged a bullet there," she laughed softly.
"I know, right?" Aiya nodded, pulling the picture out of her purse so they could admire it yet again.
"One of the best times we've ever had," Iku giggled.
"Hell yeah," her wife grinned, then froze as she sensed someone beside her. When she saw who it was, she knew there was trouble.
"Babe? What's wrong – oh, shit," Iku muttered upon seeing Darwin-Hime standing beside their table, gazing at the picture with an expression on her face that said she was filing away information for later.
"Um, hi…" Aiya trailed off laughing awkwardly as she hurriedly put the picture back in her purse.
"Order, please," Darwin-Hime pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil, noting that the two customers seemed to exhale in relief when she didn't ask about what was taking place in the picture. Humans were strange creatures indeed…living with them would definitely be an experience.
"Mother, is it customary for humans to mate in public places?"
Hosho barely refrained from choking on her lasagna at Darwin-Hime's completely out-of-the-blue question, and turned to look at her eldest daughter, who was gazing at her with an inquisitive look on her face as though what she'd asked was a completely-normal dinner conversation topic. The light carrier sighed inwardly; it looked like she was going to have to give her children The Talk a lot sooner than she'd originally thought. At least Hoppo-chan seemed to be completely occupied with her chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese; this was one conversation she was definitely too young for.
TRANSLATIONS
1) Kongo, my angel,
2) I will always want you.
3) I will always need you.
4) And there will never be a day when I do not love you with everything that I am.
5) Will you marry me, my love?
UP NEXT: Family reunions and confrontations on the trip to America!
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