Ichiro was struck still as he entered the warehouse. Initially he couldn't believe what he had seen when standing in the warehouse's massive doorway, only walking inside confirmed what he feared, or hoped. Nonetheless anyone, even the hardiest sailors at Sasebo would've fallen into the same state as he, due to the sheer unbelievability of what his eyes showed him.
This was made more apparent by the fact that Ichiro was the most qualified person in the world to be on this base and a slew of unbelievability was part of the job description. Heck, even the recruitment forms for the Circle programs listed 'ability to take unbelievable occurrences at face value' as a job requirement. That's how radical the sight was.
Where once the structure were steel frames sturdy enough to withstand the elements, backed by iron beams to support the roof and lights suspended from the ceiling, all of this was gone. Instead there was just space, empty, white and endless. As if the warehouse was in it's own separate dimension, a white void if you will. Ichiro couldn't tell the difference between the floor or the ceiling as there was just white everywhere, and not a shadow to be cast.
But what really took the cake was the literally dozens of large steel structures jutting out of the ground, or floor - he couldn't tell - ominously like the tombstones in a graveyard They went on forever, off to the right, left and endless horizon. Their shape was oddly familiar and he stepped closer to one just to confirm his thoughts. With the light shining of the grey steel, he could see a chrysanthemum atop it and that's when he knew, the structure before him, and every one everywhere, were ships' bows.
The admiral didn't bother identifying the significance of the structure before him, as tall as ten feet and oddly enough, it felt miniaturised. But something in the distance caught his eye, a glare of light reflecting off the object which was roughly horseshoe shaped.
Oh Shit
Ichiro walked, then jogged, then full out dashed towards the object in the center of all these bows, this madness. He didn't look anywhere else but forward and down, although there was practically nothing in the latter direction. Another bow caught his attention and he momentarily slowed down, just enough to make the white stencilled letters 'BB-61' on the bow.
Oh Fucking Shit
His jogging every morning paid off, as he stood before the structure in less than a few seconds. He nearly wept at the familiar sight of the squatting Gateway before him, it's obsidian rock entirely replaced by a glass, diamond like construct. And in it's center, was no more the picture of below the water's surface, but rather on top of it - like a ship girl - and the endless horizon spread beyond it. His tattoo, the new anchor, throbbed a bit all to familiarly and he knew what, who, would be hitting this base weeks too late.
"She's so strong!", squealed Fubuki as she and many other destroyers clamoured around Montana to watch her lift both Yuudachi and Mutsuki clean off the ground.
"Powerful, tall and beautiful. Montana-san is truly a real lady.", said Akatsuki as her sisters too watched the woman with glee.
Montana had just been walking out of the dormitory towards the dining hall when she was ambushed by the majority of Japanese destroyers on base, all clamouring around her like a swarm of reporters would to a celebrity. It didn't help much that she was bombarded with questions with barely time to answer before the next one sent her to think of an answer. But Montana was a battleship and she simply shrugged off the little destroyers.
"There you go.", she said as she deposited the two destroyers back on the ground. "Anyone else have any questions?"
"Me!", said Inazuma as she handed back Montana's umbrella. "What does it feel like to be a lead ship?"
"Hey! Inazuma.", hushed Akatsuki while elbowing her sister in the side and whispering. "Montana-san hasn't any sisters in any form."
"It's okay.", said the American. "Although I've only briefly met my sisters I can tell you they're an unruly bunch without me. Their names are Ohio, Maine, New Hampshire and Louisiana. And, although the chances of me meeting them again are slim I will say, I love them all regardless and as their oldest sister I will always stay by their side."
"That's amazing, poi!", said Yuudachi, her red eyes glimmering.
"It's what it means to be a lead ship.", nodded Fubuki.
"Hey! Hey! I have a question.", clamored Yuudachi, to which Montana nodded. "Which one of you is stronger, you or Yamato-san, poi?"
"You mean battleship Yamato?", pondered Montana. "I don't really know. Any ship can be stronger than any ship in any situation. Even you cheeky destroyers can easily sink me.", she pinched Yuudachi's cheek.
"Stop that poi!", complained the destroyer as Montana laughed.
"What's the big fuss I hear?", came a voice as the American approached.
In that instant virtually every Japanese ship girl assembled froze and confirmed the origin of the voice. Thereafter they all quickly scuttled and hid behind Montana whilst both American women stood perplexed.
"D-d-don't come any-anywhere near my s-sisters!", stuttered Akatsuki badly.
"If you want a night battle I'll give you one, poi!", boasted Yuudachi.
"If you stay away we'll stay away too.", stammered Fubuki.
"Oh my, what's this? Are the Jap destroyers scared of a little Machine Gun Ship?", said Helena, grinning broadly. "If you all dash away from Montana immediately maybe I won't visit you tonight to sink you in your sleep."
At nearly 40 miles per hour every girl sprinted away into the dormitory and thus completely out of view. Helena cackled to herself in a way that made Montana wonder if the good guys really did win the war.
"May I ask as to why you had to scare away such adorable company?", said Montana whilst angling her umbrella so as to shadow one side of her face to show she was not elated at all.
"Really sorry about that Montana, but the Admiral wants all American ship girls to report in his office for the fleet's first debriefing.", explained Helena.
"I suppose that's good enough reason.", said Montana as she began walking besides Helena. "Now that the company is gone, you'll have to do for now. Tell me, what happened in the war that was to be my reason for existing?"
"Sorry, Montana. You're shit out of luck in that regard.", replied Helena, a bit more grimly than she'd wanted to.
"What do you mean?", asked the battleship with concern.
"The war started in 1939. We began fighting in late '41. And it all ended in '45. I was sunk in mid '43.", said Helena, her words were cold as ice. "By one of your adorable company."
The forms of multiple figures appeared in the gateway and for the instant Ichiro saw them they immediately appeared with a flash of light matched only by the ethereal glow the new warehouse provided all around. Counting heads made Ichiro choke inside as he tallied 9 total ship girls, more than ever had been able to be summoned in one go.
"Oh my, it looks like we're in heaven.", said one girl, in presumably an American accent and had quite a bit of height to go with her lithe frame.
"What kinda nonsense are you talking? There's a man here.", pointed out the shortest girl.
"Never seen a destroyer talk to a cruiser like that before.", said another girl, her height making her part of said class.
"Forget that, of course it's heaven. He's a good looking man and look how bright it is. Just like my crew described it.", said the previous girl.
"Do you talk? Or do you use that mouth for things other than talking?", joked a taller woman which made the majority of the group laugh in varying states.
"No I do in fact talk, and I'd like to know the names of the company tonight.", said Ichiro, his glee at seeing new ship girls evident enough that he didn't seem to remember that their nationality would have him most likely mauled. Yes, the welcome back present for the gateway had him summon 9 total American ship girls.
"His straightforward too. Definitely heaven.", said the first woman.
"Don't fire up you boilers just yet, buster. Your name first.", came the words from the tallest girl.
"Alright. I am Admiral Ichiro Yamamoto of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force. It's a pleasure to meet you.", said the Admiral, diving head first into what was probably the start to a very bad day.
A few seconds of silence and oddly enough the majority of the nine ship girls didn't show any signs of outright animosity or displeasure written on their faces. Heck, if anything they seemed pleased. This really caught Ichiro off guard as he totally expected to meeting American ship girls with their hostile approach being all but a given
"It's nice to meet you, Admiral Yamamoto.", purred the first woman flirtatiously, which made Ichiro's skin crawl.
"He's from the JMSDF. That makes him an ally and not a Commie.", stated another girl.
"Alright ladies let's cut the crap and give this gentleman a proper introduction. Since we're on earth after all.", said the tallest girl.
One girl of medium height stepped forward along with three others, and although she wasn't hostile by any means Ichiro did see a glimmer of slight annoyance on her face. She said, "You're looking at the lead ship of the most numerous and effective cruiser design ever built. I'm Cleveland, CL-55 and you can count on me to be effective."
"To stand beside my sisters is as much a gift as sinking enemy warships. I am 'Mighty Monty' USS Montpelier, CL-57 and you can count on me to sink anything.", said the woman on Cleveland's right.
"When my class is together nothing that flies gets close. I'm CL-92, USS Little Rock and you can count on me to shoot down anything." , said the woman on Cleveland's left. "Call me Rock, too by the way."
"Anything on the surface or above it won't stand a chance in hell. I'm CL-93, USS Galveston the 'Giant Killer'. And you can count on me to defeat anything.", boasted the final apparent sister.
The four Clevelands were virtually identical physically in facial and body structure but only differentiated in hair colour and style. Cleveland had her curly red hair hang loose whilst Montpelier had her smooth crimson hair cascade beside her head onto her shoulders. Rock's maroon hair was kept short with bangs partially shielding her eyes and finally, Galveston's crimson coloured hair was simply tied into a long ponytail with a few cowlicks here and there. Their outfits were mainly just Measure 12 style with haze grey splotches on predominantly navy blue and a unique number of gold stars above the left breast pocket. Cleveland and Montpellier had 13 stars each whilst Rock and Galveston only had a few, a sign of their relatively little participation in active combat.
"A Fletcher succeeder and next generation destroyer!", beamed the smallest of the ship girls who had previously pointed Ichiro out and had somehow sneaked behind the Admiral scaring him out of his skin. "I am DD-731, USS Maddox of the Allen M. Sumner-class of destroyers. Forget those Gearings for a bit."
"It's nice to meet you Maddox, and I'm sure Laffey would be happy to meet you.", said Ichiro as he patted the girl on the head which along with the news of her sister's existence made the destroyer practically melt with happiness.
"Keep up with the good news and head pats and there won't be any incidents.", she said lazily, although emphasising on the word 'incidents' which the oblivious Admiral really knew nothing about.
"My barely 20 minutes and he already goes after the littlest of the group.", said the tallest girl again in that flirtatious voice that truly made Ichiro question to whom his loyalties lie.
"Technically speaking she's over seventy years old, give or take.", he retorted, which made Maddox grumble and the tall American chuckle.
"Why don't we just introduce ourselves already?", said the woman, nodding at the three others besides her who were presumably her sisters. "I am CV-9, USS Essex, lead ship of the most effective class of capital ships ever built. You can call me 'Essie', but please don't go with saying how 'Essex' spells 'Sex', I've really heard a lot of it in my service life."
"Wouldn't even dream of it, Essie-san.", managed Ichiro in what he knew was awkward pronunciation. The lead carrier had hair so blonde, the colour was only beaten out by Enterprise's golden hue and otherwise she had a few facial differences that split her apart from Intrepid.
"If I was the previous Lexington I would've killed you where you stand, but instead I took up E's mantle and became the 'Blue Ghost'. CV-16, USS Lexington, take me to any war and I'll come back with more than just peace.", said the one woman, her blonde hair seem to have originally been dirty blonde but have now been dyed blonde.
"Always ready for a battle, I'm CV-36 USS Antietam, nineteenth Essex laid down and long-hulled to boot! Don't call me 'Ant', though or else you'll regret it.", stated the ship girl rather bellicosely, her light jet black hair tied into a long ponytail.
"No war goes unseen by me, I'm CV-34 USS Oriskany the 'Mighty O', seventeenth Essex laid down and long-hulled to boot.", stated the American in a similar tone to her younger sister. Oriskany also sported the same colour hair as Antietam albeit her style was in a single side ponytail not too dissimilar to Kaga, only much longer.
"So I've got so far, four Cleveland's, one Allen M. Sumner and another four Essex's. Quite the impressive line up I must admit.", stated Ichrio honestly.
"You just know how to get to a woman don't you?", said Essex, a small grin adorning her face.
"So let me guess, we're here to take on the Abyssals right? In ship girl form no less.", said Lexington correctly whilst giving herself a good look over.
Ichiro nearly collapsed from disbelief that a newly summoned ship girl knew that despite their memories ending just around the time they are either sunk, taken out of service or scrapped.
"Don't be so surprised Admiral Yamamoto, I was sunken around the time your girls fought on the front lines.", stated Lexington.
"You know Lex, it wouldn't sink you just to explain to your amazing sisters just what are you talking about.", said Essex, her sisters and virtually every other ship girl being woefully confused at Lexington's statements.
"Slow your screws big sis. I'm sure Admiral Yamamoto here will explain everything to you all. His quite the famous guy around these waters.", said Lexington again, to which every girl proceeded to stare holes into the Admiral's body but all the time Essex was just amused.
"Lexington, you'll need to assist me regardless.", ordered Ichiro, to which the carrier agreed. "So here's the big deal-"
"Don't start without us!", came a voice suddenly enough to make Ichiro jump slightly from fear.
"Wow, you guys are just as late here as you were in the war!", laughed Oriskany and Antietam.
"Can it, flattop.", replied the lead girl followed by three others.
"Check this out, this man is a Japanese admiral, and his so young!", stated Essex, although the man in question felt like he was being hung from a noose.
"Is that so?", said the lead woman. And then the all too familiar hostility crept in as she scowled at Ichiro, her sisters seemingly less so.
"I've been introduced to this vibrant group of post-war women. May I know the names of you four?", asked Ichiro.
"Since I'm guessing I'll only be able to wring answers out of you if you know me and I know you I'll proceed to, then.", said the woman. "I'm USS Baltimore, CA-68 and lead ship of my class of heavy cruisers."
"Immediate second in the class and second to none, except Baltimore, I'm USS Boston, CA-69.", stated the woman proudly affixing her monocle.
"No use playing around with your glasses like a nerd Boston, before your refit you were a total punk.", stated Essex, much to the shock of the woman in question. Her embarrassment was given away by the light red tinge that developed in her cheeks and the sheer quietness that suddenly overcame her.
"Can it, flattop!", said Baltimore, again to no use.
"I'll be late every now and then, but I'll always be prepared. USS Albany, CA-123, reporting for duty.", said the ship girl as she played with her braid.
"You can call me late, but better to be late than never! I'm USS Chicago, CA-136 here to clean up the rearguard.", she said, whilst doing arm stretches.
"That's dark, sis. Couldn't you have come up with something better and more patriotic?", stated Albany, much to Chicago's dismay.
"We're sisters so I'm not inclined to hole you like the skies after my deployments.", she countered.
"Oh please, you're clearly not keeping proper tally if you think your deployments are holing the skies.", retorted Boston abruptly, having seemingly broken free of her flustered state.
"Maddox, that's you isn't it?", called out Albany, which slightly startled the destroyer in question. "Which one of us are more effective with those missiles? Me, Boston or Chicago?"
"I'm not really sure. I mean I did spend a good four hours shooting at ghosts with Turner Joy back in 'Nam after the Tonkin incident so I can't keep score well either.", admitted the destroyer sheepishly.
"I say Baltimore is the best gunner among you four!", stated Cleveland from a good few feet away although she was practically completely disjointed from the argument at hand.
"Thank you, Cleave. Only gunships like me and you can understand.", replied Baltimore.
"And me!", interrupted Montpellier.
"Can it, CL!", yelled Boston.
Explosions rocked their fleet with return fire more erratic than the most violent car accidents. Those explosions were misses however, throwing geysers taller than houses up which the enemy weaved between.
And the senders of the shells that made the fleet dread their presence seemed less inclined to reciprocate that dread. No what scared them more than anything was their enemy never showed a hint of fear.
Any member of the fleet might have thought them insane and envied them for their comraderie. But at this point of the war there was a lot known about the enemy, their ranks and exactly how to defeat them. Time and time again however, they'd get defeated simply because their enemy was just better.
Being a purpose built seafaring fighting machine tend to mean that your experience at naval battles was practically infinite. This fact alone meant the fleet could not always defeat their enemy.
One member had just fired off a salvo, before being br return fire from multiple enemies, her screams carried over throughout the fleet. A carrier had half her side burnt black from high-explosive shells fired by the enemy destroyers. The cruiser had seen the event and her comrade's screams chilled her spine. But now, she was steely silent.
The cruiser dodged and weaved through the enemy fire, her own guns ceaseless. She would not go down today having already seen battle multiple times. The enemy was on the horizon, their gun flashes and subsequent billowing smoke much larger than themselves - battleships. The cruiser watched as the shells arced high overhead before landing among her fleet.
She braced and covered her face with her arms but the salvo was not meant for her. It landed among the burnt carrier, holing her body in multiple places including her face. The carrier slipped below the waves motionless, silent and ultimately uncaring.
The cruiser was enraged as she pointed her guns skyward to defend herself from the marauding enemy planes that dove practically suicidally towards them, launching torpedoes, dropping bombs and strafing machine guns.
A long burst clattered against her armour and singed her skin, which she could tell was incendiary ammunition. Normal bullets had no effect, except that particular type and everything above. Despite their only carrier sinking, the friendly planes continuously fought off the enemy planes, only to be picked off by them.
If the enemy vessels were ruthlessly efficient as a fighting force, their air power was much more so and the fleet feared it. The cruiser could only watch around her as the sky began to darken, not because of Abyssal weather but because of the sheer amount of smoke produced from the neverending smoke from fires and firing.
Overpowering explosions came from everywhere and all that could be done to end it was to just die and never hear it again. The cruiser watched around her, at every member of the fleet that she could recognise and kept her gaze on the notable ones.
The battleship who was this fleet's flagship and had been bracketed earlier had only one gun turret operable, the others blown off with the rest of her right hand and the rest of her right side showed a rash of metal splinters.
Their fleet originally had four cruisers besides herself, now only one remained, half sinking and raising herself up at such an awkward angle the cruiser wondered if she lacked a spine. The dozens of destroyers too had completely disappeared from the battle, their participation in it at least had, since their dead and mauled bodies littered the seas. The cruiser never honestly knew what happened to the corpses since in most cases they were completely irrecoverable.
A whining sound jolted her and she quickly weaved sideways as a heavy bomb landed in her previous position moments before. She knew it was a heavy bomb because she'd escaped the explosion in time but metal splinters now stuck into and out of her skin. It stung and she'd cursed how inconvenient fleshy bodies were, preferring to have a steel body like in her previous life. A previous life she could barely remember.
The retreat order was sounded among the fleet by the flagship. And many heard it despite the murderous hellfire of explosions and machine gun fire. The fleet gradually disengaged, firing as the turned around completely, hiding their intentions behind a ruse of rallying.
Finally, they completely slipped away from the enemy or had the enemy actually showed mercy and let them get away? The cruiser didn't care as the nagging pain of her splintered torso and left arm and leg beckered more off her attention. The sea water didn't really help her open wounds and burnt open skin. For this pain, the loss of half of her fleet and the utter humiliation of retreat, the cruiser swore revenge.
"So it wasn't a phenomenon after all. They exist.", stated Tosa, her guns smoking from the previous firefight.
"And they do run.", said Haruna.
"That's new?", asked Tosa
"They've never tactically retreated before in a large scale manner.", added Kaga
"I think it was Warspite's division who reported the first serious tactical withdrawal of enemy forces.", recalled Kongou
"Remember the name of the division? Queen's Ladies. That's classic.", laughed Mogami.
"You won't be laughing hard when Queen Elizabeth arrives on base though. Now that I think about it, it makes sense she used Queen's Ladies since she's part of the Queen Elizabeth class of dreadnoughts, hence she's a Queen's Lady.", stated Kongou.
"My, I'd have never thought about it in that way at all.", said Fubuki.
"Obliviousness is deadly in combat, Fubuki-san.", said Kaga.
"Although the f is over, poi?", asked Yuudachi
"We're still in an active combat zone, Yuudachi-chan.", replied Mutsuki.
"The Abyssal presence makes the entire Pacific Ocean a frontline.", came Kaga before angling her flight deck so her planes could land.
She'd lost a few birds in the battle but since fairies were attached to the individual ship girl they never really went into the drink and had to be rescued like normal human pilots. They just returned. The same could not be said for when their ship girl lost her life, however.
"Well, regardless of who they are or where they came from they're my new enemy and if fighting them gives me reason to live I'll see to it they always lose.", said Tosa.
"That's the spirit, TOSA-SAN!", exclaimed Kongou, preparing to make a move that was quickly blocked by Kaga's stare which made the battleship laugh nervously and back off.
"Tosa-nee.", called Kaga. "How did your first gunfight feel?"
"Feel? Oh that's right, sorry. I forgot you too were once a Battleship. It was truly exhilarating although I took some minor damage.", said Tosa, motioning at the bottom of her kimono shirt where there was a clear rash of holes at least the size of a palm.
"Are you ok?", asked Kaga rather worryingly.
"Oh sure, just a little blood and some shell splinters but my repair crew are doing a great job and the wound is closing up nicely.", said Tosa.
"Admiral always made sure to equip us with the best equipment if we go into battle. He says it is expensive but a necessary expense much cheaper than a loss of one of us.", said Kaga.
"Such a caring man. I've never had much of a crew and the men who were in such a position were there to witness my construction and my munitions testing. Personally I don't really trust people that much, Kaga.", stated Tosa.
"Because of what they did to you?", conjectured the carrier.
"Yes. I cannot put into words how much I wanted to sail on my own power and fight with my own guns. Although my status was necessary to develop weaponry intended to defeat the enemy, I was never on the frontline to see them firsthand.", said the battleship.
"Is that why you don't hold any resentment towards the Americans or British and their Allies?", asked her carrier sister.
"Honestly I think that may be the reason. Don't think I'm not thinking about what they did to you I know it was horrible and it was equally agonizing when I received the news but could do nothing to avenge you. I had a lot of time thereafter to reflect and decided to better approach them peacefully, because in my peaceful state I figured that peace is always the less costlier option.", explained Tosa.
"That's amazing, Tosa-nee.", stated Kaga with a rare smile adorning her face that no doubt the entire fleet felt blessed to see in person.
"Honestly, though I never thought that 70 years down the like I'd actually get to see and converse with you like this. The gateway is truly a blessing.", said Tosa.
"It's always temperamental and completely unpredictable at times, but yes, it is a blessing for those of us here.", agreed Kaga, her smile broadening even further which prompted the majority of the fleet to have their lookouts and onboard recorders to capture the moment.