"Requesting orders, quickly!"
The prior, almost relaxed atmosphere surrounding the fleet dissipated in an instant with Taihou's warning, and it only got worse when Hachi's voice came through the communicators as well.
"We've been ambushed, Nimu's sunk!"
A chain of "What?!" and other horrified responses followed, until the authoritative voice of the flagship battleship took over. "Everyone, calm down, we mustn't panic! Taihou, Hachi, I need details. What's the situation, where are you now?"
"A large enemy fleet has just surfaced, no incoming shelling, but they're all heading straight for shore, at this rate they'll reach land in a minute tops. On top of the Elite battleships and Wo-classes numbering in at least the thirties, I can see two Demon-Princess pairs, one's a carrier type I can't identify yet, the other I believe is Southern War Princess. Teruzuki and I've rejoined Hachi on the ground and are currently repositioning deeper inland. Enemy air force inbound, my own planes and Teruzuki will hold them back, but the enemy carrier force is too large for just the two of us, so enemy air superiority is inevitable."
"We were ambushed by an invisible enemy with homing torpedoes, Nimu was struck and sunk instantly by one. I managed to retaliate before I got out of the water, but I'm not sure how much damage I did. Must be the Submarine Princess…"
The two explained what happened respectively, followed by a brief moment of grim silence while the first gunshots and explosions of aerial combat rang out, a radio silence broken first by the eyepatched light cruiser.
"Well shit, three Princesses and an army of Elites… The kids and I aren't really hurt, but we're not at our best neither. Don't mean to be a negative nancy, but the odds aren't looking good here. We got those two Princesses and wiped their fleet already, so what's the call, Muts? Run or fight?"
"…We fight."
"S-Seriously?!" Teruzuki exclaimed among gasps and murmurs from the others.
"You sure about this, Muts?" Tenryuu too was surprised by their flagship's decision, but the member of the Big Seven was resolute.
"Such a fleet with such timing, this isn't a coincidence. The Admirals' hunches were right, the Abyssals have banded together into an organized coalition fleet, and they somehow found out we'd be here. I wouldn't be surprised if our own reinforcements were intercepted already, that'd explain why they never showed up."
"So what you're saying is these guys are here to kill us specifically?"
"I'd think so. Our mission here is to rid the area of Abyssal presence, even if these ones don't intend to stay they're still a lasting threat, now that they're here we should take the chance to eliminate them before they grow any stronger. The loss of poor Nimu-chan aside, Tatsuta only borders on moderate damage while no one else have suffered more than light damage, right? Besides, it'll be difficult for us to escape as is anyway, leaving by sea will require fighting through all of them, while our VTOL will take time to get here, not to mention it mustn't land while Abyssals are nearby or one shot could take it down. If we can't win this battle, then we must at least intimidate them enough for them to fall back and regroup, then use that brief period to escape. I doubt these ones are mad enough to rush blindly to their deaths, we can scare them back, as long as we not show weakness."
"Hmm, if you say so, Muts. Can't find anything to argue, you guys?" Tenryuu asked, but the destroyers with her all just shook their heads, and the responses from the others over the radio were much the same.
"The logic is sound." "Sounds fine to me."
"Then it's settled. Support team, make your way to my location. Extermination team, I need you to hold them back for us, since we have the prisoners to take care of and your overall land combat abilities are better than ours. Once the support team has regrouped with us we'll rejoin you and push them back together. That's all for now. No more deaths today, alright?"
"Aye!" "Y-Yeah!" "Of course. Ich hoffe es…" "No more for us, but we've got plenty left to dish out!"
"That's the spirit! Good luck, everyone!"
Having explained her plan and successfully gotten everyone's morale back up, Mutsu nodded satisfied, turned off the speaker, and wiped the sweat off her brow.
"Poor Nimu-chan…" Harukaze mourned with her head bowed, trying and failing to keep herself from weeping. "S-She was smiling so brightly… just earlier today…"
"Gone in an instant, the fragility of life…" The sobbing destroyer's sister sighed, patting her sibling on the back. She too was feeling pretty miserable, and not knowing the words to comfort either herself or her sister, Kamikaze kept them to a minimum. Instead, she looked towards the other person there, the battleship whose eyes betrayed a hint of anxiety in that moment before it vanished.
"Yes, life's fleeting in war. But that's why we fight, to end the war." The battleship turned towards the two destroyers with a hopeful smile. "What happened to her was tragic, but it's time to focus, so chin up, girls, and save those tears for Nimu-chan's funeral. We've got a fleet to go home to, understood?"
The battleship of the Big Seven was by no means weak of course, be it physically, mentally, or emotionally, but being one of the earlier members of the fleet, Kamikaze knew Mutsu well enough to know the battleship wasn't really as confident and fearless as she appeared, that was that hardhead Nagamon's territory. Still, whenever the tides were against them, Mutsu has always been able to put aside her own uncertainties to lead her charge as a shining beacon of hope, a steady pillar those around her could lean on. The destroyer has always looked up to her for that…
She remembered that time back when Harukaze was still a rookie, there had been an enemy ambush and Kamikaze herself had been severely wounded, among others. The situation was looking grim, Harukaze was heading for a mental breakdown, and even she herself was ready to give up. It was Mutsu who rallied everyone despite her own bad injuries, broken in body but not in spirit, and to this day the destroyer was still doubtless they'd all have sunk there if Mutsu hadn't pulled them back from despair. Now the odds were stacked against them again, but both of them have gotten stronger since then.
Harukaze wiped away the tears, and Kamikaze returned a willful little smile of her own before they both saluted.
"Understood!"
Tenryuu closed her eye and scratched the back of her head. "Ah geez, I didn't mean it like that when I said this was too easy…" She grumbled before fiddling with her comm unit to only reach the right person. "Hey Tats, you heard Muts, right? Normally I'd leave it up to you, but you're hurt already and these guys aren't playing around, so come back and regroup, yeah?" No answer on the other end. Tenryuu rolled her eyes. "Just hurry back, you can pout later."
"Is… Is this really okay?" Ikazuchi hesitantly asked as the eyepatched cruiser put away the communicator, to which the light cruiser shrugged.
"She's fine, I can see her moving around on the GPS. This is just what happens when she gets all pouty but doesn't feel like bullying people. Don't worry about ol' Tats, kid, she's crazy but not stupid."
"…She's really angry, isn't she?"
"Nah. Maybe a little angry. Rather I think she's just hurt right now, in the feels I mean. Don't tell her I told you this, but she's actually pretty touchy, she just expresses herself… differently. She actually really likes kids despite the whole creepy boogieman schtick, especially you kids, and I'm sure you can guess she's never been told-off much by anyone, so when a kid really rants off at her like that, the little angel no less… Well, that feels bad, man."
"Please stop calling me that nanodesu…"
"Sorry." The cruiser apologized while the other destroyers' eyes drew towards the one who's barely whispered a peep since the incident. "Like I said though, she had it coming anyway, even if it was… umm, a bit much. Someone had to tell her to take it down a notch, I sure couldn't, or she'd actually come after me! Point is, she deserved it and she's gonna be fine, she's not mad or at least she won't do anything to you, and you really shouldn't feel so bad about it, so stop acting like you just accidentally killed her and everyone she ever loved, alright? You're worrying your sisters." Tenryuu tried to console her, but it was like talking to a depressed statue. Seeing this, Inazuma's most dependable sister decided to step in too.
"Inazuma-chan, remember when we were getting ready, you said you know to rely on me?" Ikazuchi walked in front of her silent sister and gently took her by the shoulders, looking into the shameful eyes that were avoiding her own. "Inazuma-chan, please. We know something's been happening to you, everyone does, and no one's judging you for it. All we want to do is help you be happy again! Everyone wants to help you, but we can't do that when you keep hiding everything to yourself! Please, Inazuma-chan, you can rely on me! You can rely on US! Just tell us what's going on!"
Another moment of tense silence followed. Inazuma's lips stayed shut, eyes downward; Ikazuchi stayed where she was, facing her sister unyieldingly; Tenryuu looked at the two of them, then looked away and exhaled quietly, deciding to keep her promise; Verniy looked to the skies, watching the ensuing air battle that her side was slowly but surely losing, her gaze following an enemy plane that swooped past overhead and was starting to circle around; Akatsuki looked at each of them hesitantly, shivering from nervousness, lips opening and closing wordlessly, until she finally decided the eldest sister and a proper lady can't just stand by doing nothing-
"There's no time nanodesu. The Abyssals are here."
"Inazuma-chan-"
"When we get home, I'll tell you everything." Inazuma finally lifted her gaze to meet her sister's, dull resignation in her tired eyes that did not belong on anyone her physical age. "But not now nanodesu."
The staring contest went on for a bit longer, until Ikazuchi decided that answer will have to do and let go of her sister, stepping back.
"That's a promise, okay?"
"Promise."
The sky-gazing sister closed her eyes, the faintest hint of relief on her expressionless features. "The recon drone has been circling us. We've been spotted." The white-haired half-Russian remarked in her ever calm voice, causing Akatsuki to have a minor freak-out.
"R-Recon drone?! W-Why didn't you shoot it down, Verniy-chan?!"
"Nah, that suits us just fine." Tenryuu smirked and looked up at the drone as well just as one of Taihou's fighters chased it away. "We're supposed to get their attention, remember? Alright kids, got all your issues sorted out for now? 'Cus it's time to get serious!"
As Tenryuu unsheathed her blade, the four destroyers readied their guns as well, steeling themselves for incoming combat. Inazuma may have been stalling, but her excuse was perfectly valid.
"We're gonna have to keep them occupied until Muts is ready, so let's take the fight to them! Ready up, kids! Let's see what these bastards can do!"
The destroyers nodded and together they raced to intercept the support team's pursuers, ready to annihilate the first Abyssal they saw; yet when they finally came across one, none of them opened fire. Instead, they all stopped dead in their tracks and stared jaw-dropped (except for Verniy, who merely widened her eyes a little) as the lone familiar figure jumped off the house and landed on the ground in front of them, armored boots cracking the pavement.
"Huh? I thought you were further… Okay wait, first off, please don't shoot me!" The nervous Abyssal raised her hands as if in surrender and glanced back the way she came to make sure she wasn't followed, before dropping one hand and waving with the other, an awkward but friendly grin on her face. "Anyway, umm… Hey, it's been a while. Remember me?"
Beat.
"…Mizuki-san?!"
"Phew, we made it!" Teruzuki barged into the house along with her fellow support team members, where Mutsu and the two Kamikaze sisters awaited. "That bomb was too close! If that'd landed on my torpedoes…" She took a few deep breaths, bent over with her hands above her knees, and her two animated turret companions chittered with similar relief.
"We made it here in one piece, but this is no time to rest." The armored carrier was less quick to take a breather and fired her crossbow a few more times skyward, expending more of her dwindling drone supplies to stave off enemy air superiority for that much longer. "Mutsu-san, what are our orders now?"
The battleship nodded and began explaining her plan. "When we rejoin Tenryuu and the others we'll blindside the Abyssals and help Tenryuu's team escape. We take their place holding the enemy's attention, and after they feign retreat they'll loop back around and do what we did. Hopefully two ambushes will weaken the enemy enough for us to push them back completely. We should also stay close enough to this house to rush back if something goes wrong, so we'll be gradually falling back to around here while it's our turn to fight. In the meantime, Hachi-chan, I'll need you to stay here and keep an eye on those two, call us if they start waking up or any nosy Abyssals get lucky."
"Verstanden." The bespectacled submarine saluted.
"Everyone else, let's go let 'em have it! We'll send them all back where they came from!" Mutsu proclaimed with pride and pumped her fist in the air, a rallying motion copied by several others of the fleet as they all filed outside and prepared for combat. That left only Hachi, who waved good bye and watched them go before going upstairs into the bedroom where the two captives were kept.
Sitting down on a rickety chair, the blonde glared resentfully at the two Abyssal Princesses that were piled on each other, sleeping soundly as if nothing wrong was going on nor had happened, even if they were bound in chains. That Mutsu left them on a bed too, that's way more than these monsters deserved. Hachi looked around the small room, staving off certain depressing thoughts with other depressing thoughts. Dirty and lacking in luxuries the house may be, it was still someone's home, probably a whole family, and now its residents were probably dead because these monsters decided they were bored.
She'd punch one of them just to relieve some anger, but it probably wouldn't do anything to them other than risk waking them up. Thus the submarine Hachi sighed and looked back at her torn book, trying not to relive the image of her friend disappearing forever into that mass of bubbles and fiery light.
"Should've figured, the other one's Southern War and all. How did Taihou not recognize you though…" Tenryuu pinched the bridge of her nose, grumbling.
"She was disguised in the photo, different look." Verniy made a guess, and the light cruiser figured it was good enough.
"Guess so. Still doesn't explain why you're here." The eyepatched girl half-glared at the Abyssal, annoyed it had to be her of all people but also glad to see her, "What, you joined that Abyssal coalition fleet thing and they sent you to kill us?"
"No- I mean what coalition fleet? You mean the three- uh two of us? Not much of a coalition I'd say!" The nervous Hornet tried to handwave it away, but Tenryuu just looked unamused.
"Huh. Sure. So what brings you here then? You don't look like you're looking for a fight."
"That's because I'm not!" The Princess was quick to assure again, "We just heard there's other Princesses around so we came looking. We weren't expecting-"
"Uh huh, just looking for new friends, that's why your third Princess friend who totally doesn't exist didn't just ambush our subs and sink one, and your carrier friends are flooding the skies with fighters and bombers, to look for new friends. You're a really bad liar, you know that?"
"I… uhh…" Hornet stuttered for a bit, then slumped and sighed. "Okay fine, everyone else wants to kill you guys and I'm not supposed to be chatting it up right now, but when my recon plane spotted the couple of you of all people, well… I can't bear to watch someone I know get swarmed and killed, okay? Even if you tried to kill me before, or at least that lunatic you had with you. …She's not here, is she?"
"She's… around." Tenryuu shrugged and lowered her blade, but not her guard. The four destroyers also lowered their weapons, though Akatsuki and Ikazuchi remained nervous, staying back while Inazuma walked up beside the light cruiser, Verniy keeping an eye on surroundings. "And what did you mean by that? You ran ahead just to help us escape?"
"Sort of. I told the others I had a personal grudge with you guys and not to interfere. Last I checked, no one followed me. You guys came by helicopter or something, right? We can just pretend to fight for a bit, then I'll let you escape, and you can run to your ride and fly inland where we can't get you."
"Well isn't that nice of you. Shame we can't-"
"Mizuki-san." The diminutive girl beside Tenryuu interrupted, taking a step forward and looking up at the perplexed Princess.
"Yeah? Ika… Ina… Sorry, which one were you?"
"I'm Inazuma, but that doesn't matter right now nanodesu. Mizuki-san, can you tell us? What happened between you and Harusame-chan?"
The reminder of the beloved Shiratsuyu sister's murder brought back the easing tension twofold, and all eyes were on the supposed murderer. While all the attention would've normally made the Abyssal fidget and stutter, the topic just made her sigh with sorrow.
"Oh yeah, Harusame. Everyone thinks I killed her, huh."
"You sound like you didn't." Tenryuu noted, and the Princess shook her head.
"Nope. You're probably not gonna believe me, but it wasn't even an Abyssal that did her in. One of her own fleetmates torped her when she wasn't looking, under orders from their bastard admiral."
"…Elaborate."
So Hornet did. The Princess briefly explained what'd happened, how Wolf had been captured and they raided the naval base to save her, what she learned from interrogating Travis Gray, how Harusame had mercy-killed Wolf and was sent on a suicide mission with extra precautions to make sure she'd never go home alive. The Fleet Girls listened on, their suspicion slowly giving way to grief and anger, though not directed at the storyteller.
"…and that's what happened." Hornet finished off with a sigh and waited for her audience's response. She expected them to look a lot more skeptical, but it seems they thought her more trustworthy than expected, if their silent grim faces were anything to go by, with the two more innocent kids particularly horrified by the truth.
"That'd explain why Tsubaki was so pissed after that meeting. She found out and just never told us." Tenryuu shook her head in disgust at the true cause of Harusame's death, then turned back towards the Princess. "Normally I'd be more suspicious with what an Abyssal tells me, but like I said, you're a bad liar."
"It sounds like what she'd do too, even if I can't claim to know her too well nanodesu. Probably knew she'd die for it even. Nonetheless, even if it would've still been self-defense otherwise, I'm glad you weren't the one who killed her." Inazuma smiled bittersweetly as well, "The others may find it hard to believe, but I for one will do my best to convince them of your innocence nanodesu."
"I doubt that'd stop them from trying to shoot me on sight, but that's good to know." Hornet shrugged, but smiled nonetheless. "By the way, how's Kisaragi? Did she get her eyes back?"
"The nanite baths took good care of her, she's been up and at 'em for a long time now!" The eyepatched cruiser grinned as well, the tense atmosphere gradually lifting, "Actually, why don't you go see for yourself? I'm sure Ki'd love to see you again!"
The Princess blinked in confusion. "Huh? See for myself? What'd you mean?"
"I mean you should come with us back to base! You were going to do that back then anyway, right? We even went back to Roc Island to look for you as soon as Ki healed back up, but you already ran away by then. Now that we've bumped into each other again, why not continue where we left off?"
The Abyssal was quite taken aback by the sudden proposal, instinctually taking a step back as her eyes widened in surprise and her jaw fell agape. "W-What? But I can't just… You guys ended up trying to sink me last time!"
"I'm sure Tats wasn't going to sink you, she just…" Tenryuu scratched her cheek and silently cursed her sister for making things so difficult with Mizuki, "Look, I'll make sure she doesn't get twitchy with the glaive this time, okay?"
"Yeah, you totally didn't give in to her last time…"
"Ugh, fine, if you don't trust me there's still Muts and Inazuma, they stopped her from dismembering those two Princesses we caught just earlier, you'll be fine!"
"Even if you say that… Oh that's not even the point! I was gonna go with you guys that time because I had nowhere else to go! I have friends now, I can't just… betray them like this!"
"But your 'friends' will only keep making you fight and kill…" Inazuma was the one who spoke up this time, her soft voice carrying a certain sense of pleading, "I know that's not what you want, but you have no choice if you want to stay with them, otherwise you wouldn't have lied to them so you could come here and help us flee nanodesu. I understand your attachment to your new comrades, but do you really want to live like this?" The destroyer asked, channeling her inner Houshou, "With an Abyssal like you on our side, we may finally find a peaceful solution to this war, your friends will be safe, and you won't have to kill people ever again nanodesu! Isn't that what you want?"
The Abyssal Princess hesitated, but shook her head vigorously. "Yeah, I do want peace, but not like this! Even if I go with you, the war's not gonna end just like that! Fleet Girls and Abyssals will still keep killing each other, and no matter how much I hate having to hurt people, I can't just sit by twiddling my thumbs while people I care about are out there dying! I've already let Wolf get tortured to death because I wasn't there to protect her, I'm NOT letting it happen again!"
Both Tenryuu and Inazuma paused, finding it hard to argue against the drive to protect one's friends, until a certain half-Russian decided to join the verbal fray, stepping forward and away from her other two sisters who could only stand aside in silence and watch, too nervous to butt in.
"An admirable cause to fight for, but are they really worth your protection?"
Before an indignant Mizuki could argue, Verniy held up a finger to pause her. "Look around you." The white-haired destroyer requested, half-closed eyes and quiet tone as impassionate as ever, and the Princess did so, looking around at the smoldering houses, the cratered roads, even the half-exploded human corpse sprawled upon the grass off to the side. "Your allies fight to protect those who did this. Do you think this right?"
"Of course not… But that's not even why we're here! We're not here because we support slaughtering innocent civilians, we just came here because we heard there's Princesses and a large Abyssal fleet here! The point was to come here, recruit them, and get them out of here before they kill even more random people, or at least before you guys show up to kill them!"
"And to assassinate us." Tenryuu added.
"Well that too, which I don't approve of neither, but at least you're actually a threat to us… Urgh, that's not the point…" The troubled Princess sighed and adjusted her collar, looking for the right words. "The point is, I'm not this one-in-a-million saint you think I am, I'm not that nice a person and everyone else aren't evil incarnate! I personally know plenty of us who'd be just fine with living in peace without killing people too, not all of us granted but most, it's just no one else sees any better alternatives right now than sinking every Fleet Girl until humans have no choice but to discuss peace on our terms! I know there has to be some other way, but me joining you guys isn't going to convince them of anything other than that I'm a traitor!"
"…She has point." Verniy shrugged after a bit.
"I mean, be honest, you just want to stuff another Princess out of the way somewhere while you guys keep hunting Abyssals like usual, don't you?" Hornet crossed her arms over her chest and half-glared at Tenryuu, who looked uncomfortable as she tried to counter that accusation.
"Well, no, but..."
"Not intention, but same results." "Verniy, this isn't helping…" Inazuma gave her white-haired sister a disapproving glance, but couldn't really deny it neither. Much as she doesn't want it to be that way, in reality Mizuki would probably be flown off to E.A.R.O. with those two captured Princesses and suffer similar (if slightly better) fates. Maybe the pacifistic Abyssal's knowledge could eventually result in some form of breakthrough, but until then it'll be back to the usual…
"Hmm. A comrade's words hold more sway than traitor's. Perhaps there's merit in her staying?" The half-Russian continued, and the other three thought it over. Before the debate could continue though, one of the bystanders hesitantly interrupted.
"U-Umm… Everyone? Thought occurred…" Ikazuchi spoke up with increasing worry, "If Mizuki-san's here alone… Where are all her friends?"
As all the Fleet Girls (even Verniy) were stunned from the revelation, none of them noticed the figure that jumped from the nearby rooftop, aiming to land on the increasingly uncomfortable Hornet glaive first, until said figure was blasted away by a barrage of cannonfire. The would-be assassin drew everyone's wide-eyed stares as she landed behind the destroyers and skidded to a halt, weapon held in a guarding position; smoke emanated from the sturdy shaft, and the now bloodied dislodged shoulder.
"T-Tats?! When did you- wait, who shot-"
"I should've just let you get shanked you dumbfuck hippie, but I guess we still need you alive!"
"I thought Tenryuu was supposed to have cut them off! Why are they all here?!" Teruzuki squealed as she narrowly evaded another energy shell while her turret familiars returned fire, having to brake hard to avoid yet another one that streaked past in front of her.
"I don't know, but at least the Princesses are absent!" Mutsu shouted back over the sound of cannonfire, lifting the heat from the anti-air specialist with a few shots of her own. The attacking Abyssal battleships scattered and changed positions, but there were always others ready to fire whenever some had to change cover.
The original plan had completely fallen through. Instead of Tenryuu's team keeping at least the majority of the enemy fleet busy, the horde of grunts had all run right past Tenryuu straight to the rest of the fleet while the two Princesses occupied the extermination team, and now all the Fleet Girls could do was run and return fire as the enemy overwhelmed them by sheer numbers. It wouldn't even have been that bad, if more than half the Abyssal fleet of thirty-plus weren't composed of elite battleships that everyone present except Mutsu would have a hard time killing in a straight duel, much less with all the Abyssals quickly adapting to cover-based urban combat, making hitting them an even harder task.
Kamikaze shielded her sister from an incoming shell with one of her energy planes and sent the rest of them arcing around enemy cover, smashing into the back wall of a house and bringing the half-collapsed structure crashing down. The attack successfully flushed the few Abyssals hiding there out into the open, and the fleet opened fire. "Just what are those slackers doing?" She complained, "I understand their opponents are Princesses, but even two shouldn't have kept them fully occupied like this! They didn't even tell us!"
"I haven't been keeping track, almost all of my recon planes are down already!" Taihou called out, perched on a roof. The armored carrier took aim with her crossbow and opened fire; at the same time as the energy bolt pierced an unlucky Ri-class center mass, a Ta-class leapt up from behind her, ready to strike. Her legs wouldn't move fast enough, so Taihou had to resort to the part of her equipment she hated the most and opened fire with the row of mini cannon mounts on her back rigging. The firepower was minimal, but it was enough to take the Abyssal battleship by surprise and surround her in a smoke screen, letting Taihou slip off the roof. One shot from Mutsu blasted the disoriented enemy away with a new grievous injury.
"Nice one, Taihou-chan! By the way, have you been eating-"
"Finish that sentence and I'll shoot you." Something threatening about that deadpan tone shut Teruzuki up quickly, as the armored carrier silently cursed herself for the umpteenth time for ever thinking Mexican food was a good idea. "Mutsu-san, I still have one more recon plane active, I've kept it hidden low-profile for now. Shall I send it to take a look?"
"Might as well!" The flagship nodded, firing another barrage through the pink smoke screen Harukaze had just created for them, collateral damage be damned now. "In the meantime I'm gonna call them and get a sit rep! Oh my, I hope they're alright…"
Hornet spun around to face that familiar, grating voice. Sure enough, there she stood on the rooftop, cannons smoking and that smug leer on her face.
"Sonya? What the hell are you-" She began, only to reach a sudden realization. "Wait, you shot-" She spun back around to look at the haloed woman who had popped out of nowhere, and the glaive that would've shish-kebabed her if it wasn't for that timely intervention. "…You just saved my life."
"Yes I did you fucking hippie, even though you don't deserve it!" The Southern War Princess scoffed, "Seriously, Miss 'Let's hold hands and sing about friendship!'," she mocked in a falsetto voice and pretended to sprinkle pixie dust from her fingers, "has a personal grudge to settle on her own? What d'you think I am, fucking stupid like you? I knew you were gonna try that diplomacy schtick and get yourself sunk, so I sent the goons after the other bitches and followed you, and guess what, you were trying your diplomacy schtick and almost got sunk!"
Hornet would've argued that things were going just fine before Sonya showed up, but she did almost get skewered…
Meanwhile, Tenryuu was seeing to her sister and making sure she wasn't too busted up. "You okay there, Tats?"
"D'aww, my little Tenryuu dear is worried about me~" The haloed cruiser cooed in her honey-sweet voice and pinched her sister's cheek.
"Ow. I'll take that as a yes. How long have you been here?"
"Hmm, awhile~ I needed to wait for the right moment or you would've stopped me!"
"So you remember we don't want her dead, but you tried to kill her anyway?"
"Of course not, I was only going to knock her out, I swear~ She wasn't going to comply anyway, it was for your own good you sweet but naïve little dear~"
"Ugh, how many times do I have to tell you I'm not your baby!" Tenryuu grunted in annoyance and rolled her eyes, then remembered they have other extra company. "So, friend of yours, Mizuki?" She frowned as the four destroyers quickly moved between the cruisers and Princesses, guns drawn and ready.
"I wouldn't call her a friend, but she did just save me from yours…"
"She's not my friend neither, just my sister."
"Aww, how harsh, Tenryuu dear~" The haloed cruiser cooed and pinched her sister's cheek again. Hard.
"O-OW! This isn't the time for this!"
While the two light cruisers continued their banter for a moment, Hornet continued facing her fellow Princess, getting a bad feeling all the while. "So… did you really follow me just to keep me safe?"
"Of course not!" cackled the Southern War Princess, "Saving your sorry ass was just a spur of the moment! I'm here to do your fucking job for you! Now stay out of my way!"
"My job?" Hornet blinked, then it clicked. "WAIT, DON'T-"
The Fleet Girls came to the same conclusion as they overheard the non-secretive conversation, but as both cruisers readied their blades, the destroyers aimed their guns at Sonya, and Hornet reflexively reached out to stop her, the Southern War Princess simply stood there with an ever growing leer. At the same time, the mighty echoing roar of a Demon could be heard close by, an impossibility that puzzled everyone but Sonya herself as they were on land. The roar was even getting louder, as if-
Then they saw it.
For a second, time almost seemed to slow as they all looked up at the airborne monstrosity, the triple thrusters on its back firing at full throttle, its clawed fists raised in the air, the remains of what was once a house falling away from it. The metallic creature managed to barely clear several houses, not the last one judging by the trajectory, but if the debris was any indication, it won't matter.
After that second of shock and awe, the Fleet Girls realized it was heading right for them.
"…Блядь."
It didn't take an order for them to scatter, narrowly getting out of the way as the Demon's fists and entire body slammed down, cratering the ground where they stood a second ago, and continued skidding past for a bit, its fists spinning it around to face its prey at the same time. The dust cloud hadn't even settled, and while everyone was still recovering from the ambush, the beast's mistress was already making her own move. None except the target could see what happened; a pained grunt, the rapid clangs of steel against steel, then a volley of cannonfire followed by more metallic impacts and scattered explosions.
Tenryuu was the first to rush towards the source of cannonfire and slash with her katana, the blade clashing against aura-shrouded steel before Sonya forced it back with a flick of her arm and jumped back. Rather than chasing after the Abyssal, the sword-wielding light cruiser shrouded her own blade with whispy aura and slashed the air, sending thin blades of wind forward through the dust with each slice. Coincidentally, the other side returned fire at the same time, and the attacks clashed in mid-air. As she crouched to avoid the remaining shots, Tenryuu counted the number of explosions; three, one less than her air slashes. Shortly afterwards, six more thundering cannonshots came from the Demon's direction; the light cruiser kept a keen eye out for that signature red glow of incoming fire and dodged as needed, easily sidestepping the one shot that went at her.
Meanwhile, the four of the 6thDesDiv who had dodged the other way from the two light cruisers had largely been neglected as the Princess and Demon tried to focus down the bladed duo first. Their white-haired unofficial leader immediately took that breather to strategize.
"Ikazuchi, clear the dust with Thunderclap. Once vision is clear, Akatsuki, flashbang. I'll shoot first, then Inazuma, finish her."
The other three nodded, Inazuma albeit hesitantly, and the plan was set into action.
The first to bat, Ikazuchi grabbed her rigging's anchor and took a running jump while the others fell back and hunkered down, shielding themselves with the rectangular shield-like plates fitted to their left arms. The destroyer landed, crouched, and used her legs like springs to launch herself high into the air; at the apex of her jump, she hoisted the anchor overhead with both hands as it began sparkling with cyan electricity.
"Here I go! THUNDERCLAP!"
With a mighty shout as warning to her allies, the diminutive teenage girl crashed back down to earth and slammed her weapon into the ground, resulting in a deafening thundercrack and a radial shockwave that blew away the dust cloud and would've done the same to everyone else if they hadn't braced themselves for impact and only skidded a few inches back as a result. Sonya wasn't quite so prepared and was knocked off her feet, even though she quickly rolled into a recovery.
With the dust cloud out of the way, the results of the initial exchange could at last be seen. Four fresh, deep and bleeding cuts had appeared on Tatsuta's right arm, yet even combined with the dislocated shoulder on the same arm, she wielded her glaive readily as if nothing's wrong, the only sign of pain a slight drop in serenity of her usual blood-chilling smile. Multiple grooves were cut into the Southern War Princess' gauntlets, plus a horizontal cut over her throat, the red haze that saved it from being lethal dissipating away. Before either cruiser or Princess could do anything though, the next of the renowned 6th Destroyer Division followed up.
"DAWN'S HORIZON!"
The Akatsuki class' namesake aimed her glowing barrels and opened fire, sending a yellow flare-like shot at the Southern War Princess. Sneering at the slow and weak-looking projectile, the twintailed Abyssal didn't notice her foes all shutting their eyes tight and turning away until it was too late. Before it got close enough to be swatted away, the shot exploded mid-air in a flash of light rivaling the sun; the blinded Sonya howled in pain and covered her eyes, as did her Demon, and while she staggered back, the next two destroyers made their moves.
Finding no need to use her own power, Verniy simply charged her cannons with Aura and opened fire, easily hitting her target's stomach and making her double over in pain, even if it did little actual damage. At the same time, Inazuma grabbed her own anchor and charged forward, her entire body crackling with electricity; running so fast she was practically a blur, she dashed right up to the Southern War Princess and, at the last second, dropped her weapon and brought her electrified fist up into Sonya's face, the destroyer's little fist uppercutting with battleship strength and sending the Princess reeling, staggering backwards again. Just as the Princess caught her footing, she was immediately paralyzed by the constant stream of voltage arcing from the destroyer's fingertips (and the rest of said destroyer for that matter), screaming bloody murder while scorching lightning coursed through her veins and overloaded her entire nervous system.
"TENRYUU!" The living generator called out, and the light cruiser knew what to do. Yet, as the she raced forward blade drawn, and Inazuma allowed the azure lightning that completely surrounded both she and her target to fizzle out, leaving the Southern War Princess still paralyzed and twitching, all of them forgot one important factor. A factor who had overheard everything Verniy had said, had shielded herself from the flashbang, and would've chased down Inazuma if the destroyer hadn't practically teleported up to Sonya's face, but was still fully capable of interfering with the next strike.
So it was that Tenryuu found sparks flying as her sword clashed against the laser bowstring of a mechanical longbow, wielded by none other than the pacifistic bystander who had boost-jumped herself between her fellow Abyssal and the Fleet Girl.
"M-Mizuki? What are you doing?!"
"Sorry, I don't like her myself but I can't just let you kill her neither! Just run already while you have her stunned!"
"I wasn't going to kill her, I was gonna knock her out with the blunt side! Look!"
Hornet looked. Sure enough, the side of the sword currently pressing (and slowly starting to melt) against her energy bowstring was the back. "…Oh. Oops."
"Yeah. Oops." Tenryuu growled as she finally stopped reflexively pushing her sword forward, "Now get outta the way before she-"
An earthshaking roar interrupted her. The Demon had recovered enough from the flashbang to get its bearings and defend its summoner.
"Oh come on!"
Tenryuu, Inazuma and Hornet all narrowly dived out of the way as the beast's rocket thrusters fired up and propelled it straight at them, earth and debris flying past in its wake instead of water. A giant hand snatched up the paralyzed Sonya and the Demon dug its other claws into the ground, spinning around while skidding to a halt and opening fire indiscriminately at everyone it could see.
"Please, is it that hard for you to just run away?" Hornet rolled away from an energy blast that was shot at her in the beast's blind rage, still pleading with the Fleet Girls to just abscond and be done with it.
"We didn't come here alone, you know this!" Tenryuu shouted back, dodging another shot and sizing up her giant opponent, "You're not leaving your pals, well we aren't neither! If anyone should be running away from this it's you! Look, we'll try to take her alive but we're fighting for our lives too here, we can't risk ourselves for some bloodthirsty psychopath! Some people just have to die in war, you need to- Oh shit, TATS!"
Seeing the eyepatched girl scream and point behind her, Hornet got the message just in time. The Abyssal spun around to block the glaive that would've lopped her arm off, only for her attacker to launch into a furious combo, twirling the deadly polearm about in a blade dance that Hornet could barely keep up with. After six or seven hits, Hornet finally managed to disengage and spring herself backwards, but not before the glaive nicked her arm.
"AAAHHHH!" She couldn't stop herself from crying out in pain, clutching the wound. It hadn't been too bad a cut, just a flesh wound, and yet it was hurting as if her entire arm got sliced off and the wound doused in acid!
The haloed sadist wasn't letting up neither. "So you've shown your true colors at last~ You should've been a good girl and surrendered before, now the naughty Abyssal has to be punished~" Tatsuta's sing-song voice said as she twirled her glaive again, the crimson aura-shrouded blade looking even more wicked than before.
"Tats godDAMMIT, why are you so obsessed with her?!" Tenryuu yelled in increasing frustration, but she didn't have time to stop her sister.
"Tenryuu, the Southern War Princess is recovering." "Oh she is not happy…"
"Great. Just great." The light cruiser heeded Verniy and Ikazuchi's warnings and glared back at the Princess-Demon duo who were poised for another round. "I'll get Angry Twintails over there. Inazuma, with me. Everyone else, get that big bastard. Mizuki… I'd run away if I were you."
"Tenryuu, this is Mutsu!" The battleship called over the radio, returning fire at the enemy horde all the while, "What's going on, the entire enemy fleet is on us right now!"
"Yeah, thing's got kinda complicated over here!" The light cruiser's voice answered back. Cannonfire, explosions and screaming of all sorts could be heard in the background. "Keeping it short, Mizuki's that other Princess and we ran into her. Got distracted trying to talk her into coming with us like we wanted before, and then Southern War showed up and crashed the party, oh and she brought her Demon on land, don't question it, no time! Anyway, we've got a pissed off Demon and Princess on our hands and Tats just made it her life's mission to put Mizuki's head on a pike. Point is, our hands are full right now and we probably need a new plan!"
"Oh my…" The battleship muttered worriedly. She wasn't expecting a Demon to get on land, a Princess with her familiar at her side would indeed be several times harder to fight. "You'll have to hold on for now, we'll come help as soon as we've whittled these ones down enough, though that may take a while."
"How long 'til our ride even gets here?"
"Two to three minutes maximum, but like I said, we can't have it land until the Abyssals are well away! A few planes it can survive, but one shot from a battleship and it's over!"
Meanwhile, Taihou was manually piloting her last recon plane and was glancing at her communicator's screen to check the feed. "I can see them, Mutsu! They're-"
"I know. Demon on land?"
"Demon on land."
"Hmm. Taihou-chan, bring the plane back this way, see if we can get a better view on our own opponents. We've got to have disabled a good few of them by now…"
"Yes ma'am!" The armored carrier nodded and began steering the recon drone towards her own position through her psychic link. As the drone turned though, it caught a brief view of the horizon, and what's looming over it. Unsure of what she just saw, Taihou circled the plane around again to catch a better look. She almost tripped and fell. "Uh… Uhh…"
"Taihou-chan, what's wrong?"
"…I passed the feed to you. See for yourself."
"I don't have time to look! What is it?"
The words that came out of Taihou's mouth next made all her allies' hearts plummet.
"…Enemy reinforcements."
Without a word, Mutsu looked at her own comm unit. There, on the horizon, was another Abyssal fleet approaching fast, this one the same size if not greater than the one before.
"E-Even more?! Is that why these ones have been fighting so defensively, they were stalling!" "T-T-There's more of them?! H-How many?! What do we do?! I don't wanna sink like this! !" "Mutsu-san, what should we do? There's no way we can fight them all off!"
"Calm down! I have an idea. Just stay calm and follow me! We will survive this!" The battleship's assurance helped stave off the destroyers' panic. As her younger fleetmates clung to her words as a beacon of hope, Mutsu hoped none of her own doubt and desperation seeped through. All they need to know is that she has a plan and their odds for survival exist; they don't have to know how low those odds were.
Without another word, she made a beeline for the house where their captives were kept.
A/N: Goddamn this chapter took ages. After my college Finals, a LOT of rewrites, rethinking, and re-procrastination I still don't know if I'm fully satisfied with what I've got. I suppose this is the problem when you already have a target outcome planned but then you realize the original route to the outcome kind of really suck while walking down it and then have to backtrack and find some different convoluted way to reach the same thing. All the roadblocks also make the writing slower paced and my goldfish attention span ends up drifting elsewhere half the time and that's another day gone. Writing a long story's hard, or I'm just a lazy piece of shit. Or both.
Anyway there was supposed to be more, but I decided to cut the rest to next chapter because I really want to get an update out before the end of the year. I have a half decent idea on what I want to do with it this time at least so hopefully it won't take another two months.
Hope you've all had a good 2016 and I'll see you in 2017!