Meanwhile up North of Manila, very, very close to the Battlebase Chrysanthemum...

"Captain, the phantom island has been spotted. It sounds man-made; in fact I think I could hear humming, constant humming...that of gigantic engines. It certainly is not seismic, despite its massive draft."

"I see. Maestro, play some instrumental music. We can't risk their SONAR detecting us. Sonar man, can you still hear the phantom island properly...no? Very well, Navigator, try putting us within periscope range of the vessel. I'd like to see this vessel for myself."

"Yes captain." The crew got on to work, but with the sonar man quickly adding "By the way Captain, we have names you know."

"I know you have names, but seeing our chances with this giant vessel I'd suggest you start forgetting other peoples' names as well. Makes death easier, that way."

Mortified by the morbid remark of the captain, the crew still worked, not with bright enthusiasm, but the grim determination to do their best in the face of danger. To rub it in further, the Maestro plays Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On on his handicraft bamboo flute, since that song is the only one he really mastered.

A few kilometers away lay the vessel that sank the mood of the crew. It was the Battlebase Chrysanthemum, as the captain of the Lapu-Lapu vessel from the previous chapter had confirmed to High Command. It seemed to be sailing quickly towards Manila Bay, but the captain insisted on doggedly stalking the giant vessel in case it does a sharp turn northwards towards Lingayen Gulf instead. The Lapu-Lapu captain was confident in the ability of the song in hiding his puny vessel from the gigantic Battlebase, and perhaps he was right. No one noticed the vessel as it raced towards the bow of the vessel, hidden from Japanese SONAR by the Maestro's instrumental music. The Weapons Girl for the submarine was delighted: she could now rest her vocal cords after hours of hiding the ship with her singing, and if ever she is to sing again at least she would have an accompaniment. The captain noted how close he could actually approach the Battlebase, and let the Weapons Girl sleep early; her singing is to be reserved for an actual attack since the instrumentals could already suffice in anti-SONAR duty.

On the Battlebase, at the prow, the sonorous song from the Filipino vessel beneath the waves broke out of the water and into the air. At that prow, Commodore Dohson looks at First Mate Bara as she runs towards him, with Japanese troopers watching both of them from the ship windows. It is an open secret that First Mate Bara's position as the 'first mate' towards the commodore meant more than mere military rank, and somehow the sea breeze, the tropical skies, the setting sun, and the distant love song faintly audible in the background makes even the most trained soldiers of Japan romantic. Not to mention that the Allied Dolphins in the front of the ship have been swimming for dear life for the past six hours, and are already skwee-kingly tired.

"Isn't it romantic here Captain? You could almost...hear a love song even from this distance. You know, I just looooove tropical getaways, I talked to Miss Toyama once and she also said she had the same ideas with her commander, going to the beach, walks on the sunset with sand between their toes, though she says her CO is rather, how shall I put it, slow on those things..."

"Miss Bara, what is that?"

"Oh, you mean Miss Toyama's commander, Commander-"

"No, the sound. It almost seems like a...song."

"Ah, it's My Heart Will Go On. A perennial classic in KTV bars all over."

Captain Dohson looked at Ms. Bara's eyes, and just when she thought it was some sort of romantic tension as in the movies...

Some Japanese officer ran across the bridge, destroying the moment. "Captain, we picked up traces of what is seemingly artificial a kind of sound over the SONAR."

The captain quickly ran off towards the bridge, leaving the first mate alone on the prow, together with a bunch of Dolphins succumbing to exhaustion getting sucked up by the massive engines of the ship.

The captain looked over the log. "This segment, cut it and fragment it to components." The Chrysanthemum's computer bank then isolated a sound, a different sound from the ambient sound of sea, sky, and dolphins being ground into pieces by the ship engines.

He looked to the sonarman. "Do you recognize this tone?"

The sonarman listened to it for a few minutes. "The isolated tone captain? Sounds like My Heart Will Go On, on a crappy flute. But what's it doing out here?"

"So it really was man-made. Scramble some Yaris; we can't let intruders put our operations in peril now. But tell them to be careful, we're still trying to keep to schedule."

The Yaris were launched from the Battlebase's massive torpedo tubes now designed to fire whole submersibles, hunting by buddy system as per patrol.

The Filipino submariners have detected the Yaris as well. "Evade them. Fight them off if necessary!"

A pair of Yaris have detected the Lapu-Lapu almost immediately though, giving the Filipinos no choice but to fight. The two scout submarines fired their torpedoes while the captain prepared his voice as well, since the Weapons Girl was asleep and couldn't man [or wo-man] the Sonic Disruptors. With an electronically amplified commanding bellow he disrupted the torpedoes aimed towards his ship, and then hung on as the submarine swerved violently to avoid collision with the two suicidal Yaris, which then crashed into the Battlebase with little effect to the behemoth.

"To the rear of the ship Navigator!"

The Lapu-Lapu's navigator, too busy to fret about his name being left unused, quickly steered the submarine along the contour of the Battlebase as the puny Mozu torpedoes slammed into the Battlebase's torpedo belt one after another, barely missing the Lapu-Lapu. The Weapons Girl, awakened by the rough underwater sailing and the concussive blasts so close to her bunk, then ran towards her post, giving vocals to the poor flute-playing guy. Imperial soldiers ran up to the deck to the railings, following the action by chasing the Yari torpedo hits on the Chrysanthemum. Finally, with a brave dive the Lapu-Lapu attempted to evade the pursuers, relying on their better pressure hulls compared to the cheap Yaris. Sure enough, three Yaris followed foolishly and their cockpits immediately buckled in, crushing its sailors.

Unfortunately, the Lapu-Lapu's pressure hull, weakened by the Yari's torpedoes exploding too close to the ship-shaped-submarine, began to crack in a few places. The captain was forced to make an emergency blow, upon which all the rest of the Yaris committed their lives for a Last Voyage attack on the single enemy. Wrong move, they all instead rammed into the Chrysanthemum's propellers, crippling the Battlebase's main propulsion system and leaving it with nothing more but tiny bow and stern thrusters. As the Lapu-Lapu sped away with numerous holes from the Imperial Japanese troops spectating, pursued by Tsunami Tanks deployed from the numerous ramps of the Chrysanthemum, the Japanese on board the Battlebase were then herded back to their bunks as the Wave-Force triguns are brought to bear on the pesky Filipino ship.

"Crash dive now now now now now!"

The Wave-Force hit the pursuing Tsunami tanks instead, as the rest of the amphibious tanks were doggedly attacked by the submerged Lapu-Lapu with impunity, as the Battlebase limped onwards, but at much reduced speeds.

Captain Dohson looked at the officer beside him. "You know, it was probably oversight. These vessels were designed to be floating fortresses, so they didn't bother making the propulsion tougher. Still, pesky enemy those were. We have to stop for repairs for now...this vessel is more important than the schedule for now."