"Enemy carrier force spotted heading South at twenty knots. Coordinates are as follows..."
"Launching now."
The six carriers readied their bows and loosed an arrow that exploded into a squadron to torpedo bombers, they loosed another arrow that exploded into a squadron of dive bombers. Shokaku-san and Zuikaku-san launched their Zeros to fly ahead of the torpedo and dive bomber squadrons while Zuiho-san and Shoho-san launched a small number of their Zeros to cover the dive and torpedo bombers; The Fifth Carrier Division would form the first attack wave while the Sixth Carrier Division formed the second attack wave.
Ahead of both attack waves, Zeros scanned the skies for any sign of abyssal fighters. One of them would dip their wing every few minutes to make sure they weren't below them. The skies are clear so spotting them wouldn't be a problem, of course, that goes both ways. As they close in on the fleet's last known position one of the Zeros reports dots off its right-wing. At the current range, it's impossible to identify them so six Zeros break away from the formation. As they close in more details became apparent; they are too large to be a single-engine aircraft so that rules out a carrier-based fighter or bomber. A few seconds later they ID them as land-based twin-engine bombers. There are eight of them in formation and there is no fighter escort. With their current heading there is a high probability they could spot the fleet's position and report back. They devise a plan, three Zeros will provide top cover while the other three attack.
Tracer rounds leap from their machineguns and cannons tearing one bomber apart and turning another into a fireball. They dive under the formation and split up; the bombers split their fire between the three Zeros as they come back around. The rearmost bomber has its tail cut off and it enters a flat spin while another bomber has its left-wing set ablaze, the wing snaps off and it enters an uncontrollable spin.
It was then that four black dots are spotted at a range of four kilometers. The Zeros flying top cover alert the other Zeros attacking the medium bombers; the four black dots are identified as land-based fighters and they are rapidly closing in. They dive on the attacking Zeros which turn into their dive, while the abyssals are focused on the second group of Zeros the first group continues to climb. They stop climbing and start to circle looking for the perfect time to attack. That opportunity presents itself when the abyssals start to dive. They pull up after a failed attack run and unknowingly put themselves in the gunsights of the Zeros. Three-second bursts rip three of the abyssals apart and send the fourth spiraling toward the ocean. With the fighters dealt with the Zeros follow the bombers' heading. It didn't take long for them to catch up and shoot down the four remaining bombers. With the fleet's location still a secret the Zeros turned and continued heading South.
The Zeros from Shokaku-san and Zuikaku-san arrive at the last reported position of the abyssal fleet. Unsurprisingly the fleet isn't there and they follow the given heading of the enemy fleet. A few minutes later they spot ten dots above them and to the right of their formation. Seconds later Twenty dots are reported directly ahead and closing fast. Six zeros break off to engage the fighters climbing off their right-wing while the rest of the formation enters a slow climb.
Back with the fleet, the atmosphere is tense. The destroyers are focusing on their sonar listening for any indication that a submarine is near while the cruisers, battleships, and carriers scan the skies. Everyone is tense none more so than the carriers.
Shokaku-san pressed her hand to her ear, she listened to the report from her CAP and her eyes narrowed. She looked to the skies and nodded, "Understood." Her movements didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the division but they kept quiet.
A few minutes later Kagero-san picks up a contact on her air search radar but it disappears a second later. She watches her radar closely for the next few minutes but the contact doesn't reappear. A minute later four contacts are picked up by her radar; thirty seconds later the four contacts become twelve and then double into twenty-four. Kagero-san uses her searchlight to alert Shokaku-san but since she is at the front of the formation she alerts the fleet as well.
"Looks like the abyssals know we are here."
"Yeah, the question is how?"
"Submarines most likely. Keep radio silence with the Third fleet I don't want to give away their position."
"Roger that."
She looked at her radar but the contacts had merged into a single large contact so she didn't have any information on how large the formation was. Behind her, Zuiho-san and Shoho-san readied their bows and loosed their arrows launching the remaining complement of their Zeros. Seconds slowly ticked by as they waited for visual contact. Zuiho-san tightened her grip on her bow, "We know you're coming show yourselves."
"Relax yourself sister. They will show themselves in time, and we will make them regret it."
Zuiho-san looked at her sister who was meditating. She slowly opened her eyes and looked toward a specific point in the sky, "There they are."
Zuiho-san followed her sister's gaze but didn't see anything. She narrowed her eyes and focused... after twenty seconds she could clearly see the formation despite it being fifteen kilometers away.
"It would seem your training is bearing fruit."
She turned to her sister who was smiling at her. She smiled back, "Looks like it. Thanks Shoho."
"It's my honor, big sister."
"Shokaku-sama we have spotted the formation bearing 2-8-0; twenty-four fighters are escorting thirty dive bombers."
"Understood, excellent work."
Zuiho-san and Shoho-san's zeros now have an altitude advantage over the abyssals. As they close in twenty-four dots break away from the formation and start to climb. Half of the zeros enter a climb while the other half position themselves to attack. Suddenly, ten abyssal fighters appear out of literal thin air and most of the zeros break formation and go evasive. Three zeros press the attack; they only have one chance to do as much damage as they can. Tracer rounds raced up from the dive bombers and damaged a zero's engine forcing it to dive away. The two zeros press on and tracer rounds leap from their MGs and cannons; two bombers are quickly shot down and a third joins them as they roar past the formation. Both zeros do a split S as two abyssal fighters fire upon them.
They pull out of their dive turn towards each other. They fire at the other's pursuer and one abyssal explodes into a fireball but while the second takes some hits its not enough to bring it down. The first zero enters a climb turning it's speed into altitude while the second dives for the deck. Puffs of black smoke start to appear around it as the destroyers start engaging. They get a little closer and the cruisers, battleships, and carriers start to fire. The lone fighter is quickly shot out of the sky and the zero begins to climb once again.
With the first group of zeros, they have shot down three of the 'stealth' fighters but have lost six of their own. They have the ability to turn on a literal dime giving them agility far surpassing the zero's but they have two flaws: they have no durability a few shots from the 7.7 mm machine guns could destroy them and they have no endurance. Only sixty seconds after they appeared they began to fall out of the sky, unfortunately, fourteen fighters showed up and reinforced these 'bursts' as Zuiho-san called them.
By this time Zuikaku-san's CAP arrived over the fleet just as their dual-purpose guns open fire showing them exactly where the attack wave is. They only have time for one attack run so they must make it count. They don't have time to set up an attack from above so they head straight for them. They gain a little altitude to put them above the formation and then they pick their targets and dive. Machine gun and cannon rounds tear into the lead formation; two of the zeros break off and dive past the formation but the other four pull up slightly and target the rear elements of the formation. MGs and cannons tear into the bombers and the four zeros start to climb. They roll over and position themselves above the formation but before they can attack the bombers enter their dive.
Flack fire was constant once the bombers entered firing range and between the fleet's guns and the fighter attacks, fourteen of the thirty bombers had been shot down. As they grew closer the 25 mm AA guns opened fire; they grew closer and the 13 mm machine guns opened fire. Hundreds of tracer rounds filled the air and ten kilometers away the Third fleet and Sixth Carrier Division can see it all.
The bombers entered their dive and all of them have their sights on Shokaku-san and Zuikaku-san. The sisters take evasive action, AA fire shoots down three more bombers and sets another two ablaze. One aims its self at Tosa-san while the other aims for Shoho-san.
Shokaku-san avoids the bombs aimed for her but not without a few near misses; her sister also managed to avoid the bombs aimed at her. Meanwhile, Tosa-san blew the bomber aiming to crash into to her out of the sky. One of her 7.62 cm guns scored a direct hit on its nose and the resulting debris landed harmlessly in the ocean. Shoho-san's guns blow the tail off the bomber coming for her and it enters a flat spin; further hits from her 25 mm guns tear one of its wings off and it starts to roll while flat spinning. Seconds later it crashes harmlessly into the ocean.
"More radar contacts! Bearing 3-5-1 and 0-5-8 with eighteen and fifteen contacts respectfully! Range eighteen kilometers!"
"Shoho-san, Zuiho-san can your zeros intercept?"
"Unfortunately no; more of those 'burst' fighters just appeared. It will be at least sixty seconds before our zeros can safely disengage."
"Understood."
Unknown to Shokaku-san Hosho-san's CAP was following the second group of fifteen dive bombers. They had spotted them on their patrol but a fighter escort prevented them from attacking. They reported the sighting and following engagement to Hosho-san and asked for orders. She ordered them to pursue so they followed their last known heading. They were just about to turn back when they spotted them; it took them a minute to set up the attack but now they are in position and are just waiting for the signal.
The lead zero wiggled its wings and entered a dive. The rest of the formation followed and tracer rounds raced to their targets. Machine gun and cannon rounds tore into the formation sending five bombers spiraling toward the sea. Ahead of them a group of 'burst' fighters appeared and shot down one of the zeros, two more were rammed and the remaining three Zeros dived for the deck.
They headed for the fleet hoping their AA fire would blow the little bastards out of the sky. Flack rounds began to explode around them but the 'burst' is a small and fast target so the duel-purpose guns struggled to hit their target, they also have to avoid hitting their Zero. The Zero turned hard and climbed putting its self and the 'burst' in front of the fleet. Every AA gun in the fleet seemed to open fire on the lone abyssal and it was ripped apart tell there was nothing left. A second Zero roared over the fleet with another 'burst' abyssal on its tail. It came under concentrated fire from Zuiho-san, Shoho-san, Shokaku-san, Zuikaku-san, Oyodo-san, Nachi-san, Haguro-san, and eight destroyers. It crashed into the ocean and the water it kicked up crashed into Suzuya-san.
"Argh, I'm going to have to wash my hair now, thanks for that," she glared at the spot where the abyssal crashed. The third Zero managed to maneuver kill the third 'burst' fighter by doing a split S. When the Zero pulled out of the dive its belly was meters from the ocean. The 'burst' was hit by flack so its maneuverability was impaired and its speed worked against it sending it crashing into the ocean where it disintegrated upon impact.
The three Zeros started to climb and the two groups of attackers came into view. The first group consisted of ten dive bombers while the second group consisted of eighteen torpedo bombers.
"Target the torpedo bombers; they are the greatest threat."
"Understood."
Shoho-san and Zuiho-san's Zeros finally dealt with the 'burst' fighters and moved to intercept the torpedo bombers; they had an escort of their own which broke off to engage the Zeros. The three Zeros from Hosho-san continued to climb and banked toward the dive bombers. If they can destroy the dive bombers that would reduce the threat to the carriers and they could focus on shooting down the torpedo bombers.
The Zeros avoided the torpedo bombers' escorts and made an attack run shooting down six bombers. They broke formation and turned to make a second run but were forced into a dogfight with the abyssal fighters. Once again the duel-purpose guns of the fleet opened fire.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
Hosho-san's three Zeros now had an altitude advantage over the dive bombers. As they prepared to attack six fighters were spotted heading straight for them, they pressed on with the attack. One Zero is quickly shot down and a second Zero is set on fire, it aims for the lead bomber and crashes into it. The third and final Zero shoots down one more bomber before it's set ablaze. It aims for the rearmost bomber but its fuel tank ignites and it disappears into a fireball.
The dive bombers are closer to the fleet than the torpedo bombers so they are focused down. Two bombers are shot down and a third suddenly breaks formation and falls out of the sky, the remaining five bombers enter their dive and aim for Shokaku-san. AA fire hits a fourth bomber and it veers off course; Shokaku-san takes evasive action as the four remaining bombers drop their bombs.
One bomb slams into her flight deck while a second bomb lands just behind her conning tower. The fifth bomber leveled out and headed for Shoho-san, it's met with a hail of tracers from her AA guns.
BOOM!
"AH!"
"Shoho!"
"I'm- I'm good... argh... that hurts."
BOOM!
"AHHHHH!"
"SISTER!"
The two-hundred and twenty-five-kilogram bomb exploded starting multiple fires; her crew rushed to control them before they could set off fuel and munitions stored in the hanger deck.
"Zuiho-san, what is Shoho-san's damage!?"
"Torpedo bombers inbound!"
Tosa-san had seen the wounds inflected on Shokaku-san and Shoho-san and turned toward the torpedo bombers with her eyes full of rage. "Your carriers may escape my wrath, but you will not be so lucky!"
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
Together with Fuso-san she created a wall of water in front of the abyssals. Three of the abyssals crashed into the columns of water but the other seven avoided it. By avoiding the plums of water their attack angle was thrown off, five of the bombers dropped their torpedoes and broke off. The remaining two press the attack and drop their torpedoes at the closest target they find.
The first torpedo misses but the second is on track to hit Tosa-san. She doesn't change her course or speed so the torpedo finds its mark. Her torpedo defensive system held so the impact did minimum damage. With no imminent threat, Shokaku-san worked on repairing her damage and Zuikaku-san asked, "Shoho-san, what is your damage?"
"Hanger deck was hit... my crew is still... getting the fires under control. I won't be launching or... landing anytime soon," her voice is strained and she winces when she pauses; Zuiho-san watches her with worry.
"Alright," she paused and raised her hand to her ear. She nodded with a smile, "Just got a report from our pilots they sunk one carrier and heavily damaged another."
"Just as I expected," Shokaku-san said, "The second attack will finish off the crippled carrier."
"Indeed. Are you alright big sister?"
"My flight deck has been repaired I can continue air operations."
"That is not what I meant."
She sighed but smiled at her sister, "I'm fine."
"I hate to break up the moment but we have surface contacts inbound bearing 3-3-0."
Tosa-san cracked a smile at this, "They will feel my wrath."
"Taskforce Kyoto, break formation and intercept!"