Not just Richelieu, the design for all the new ship girls of this event is fire, yo.
Chapter 23: Awakening
"Sis!" seeing her dear sister turned into a soulless puppet, by her senior who she thought was her comrade no less, Zuikaku's entire being trembled with rage. She immediately lunged at Akagi and was intercepted by Shoukaku.
"Sis, snap out of it! I don't want to do this to you!" biting her lips, Zuikaku sent out her last two fighter squadrons against three squadrons of Shoukaku's own. However, their clash could hardly be called a battle for after only two exchanges of blow Shoukaku had already pressed Zuikaku into a defensive state.
Being sisters that have always sailed and fought together, the two knows how the other fight better than anyone else and perhaps even themselves. And despite that, while Shoukaku was formulating four to five steps ahead with at least two alternatives to each step for her attack, Zuikaku was having a hard time trying to counter what is in front of her.
Attacks coming at her than she could read them, the last of Zuikaku's fighters were then taken out as Shoukaku moved in for the finishing blow. Dive bombers from above and torpedo bombers from below, it was a combined attack leaving the opponent no room to evade.
With an explosion so big that it shook the atmosphere and pushed all the petals dancing in the air away, Zuikaku had taken the full brunt of the attack.
"Man…never knew…you were…this…stro…ng, s…is…" she muttered weakly and fell forward when she was caught by Hyuuga and Ise.
"Fufufu, splendid work. Seems the Fifth Carrier Division wasn't all bark and no bite after all. Now let us return." Akagi complimented Shoukaku before turning on her heels and walked off, with Hyuuga and Ise following behind while dragging Zuikaku along. A short while later, Shoukaku also followed suit.
Walking in the very back of the group, none of the three had noticed her trembling hands or the tears trickling down from the corner of her eyes.
Siren's Research Facility.
"Sister has returned. Then, I'll be taking my leave for now, Commander-sama." Through the two paper familiars that she set up as surveillance, Kaga was immediately notified the moment Akagi's fleet entered the dockyard. She then bowed at the giant floating sphere before leaving the room.
The place once again fell into silence. The three rings of light continued to turn and the six paper familiars carried out their duty of resolving the popping up irregularities, when all of the suddenly came to a halt.
In an instance, the entire room was flooded and all sources of light that isn't the Wisdom Cube inside the sphere was engulfed by darkness. In front of the cube, space was distorted and tear apart as a rift in space then opened up. And from inside the rift, Observer Alpha made her appearance.
"A month ago when they brought you here, you were no more than a mutt left to die on the roadside. But now, look just how fine of a specimen you've turned out to be." Observer said with an elated smile as her tentacles caressed along the surface of the sphere. Despite sprouting from her Rigs, the tentacles are clearly organic in both appearance and movement.
"Hehehe, what I wouldn't give to have you dissected, atom by atom. And that Wisdom Cube of yours, such a blinding but entrancing radiance. How I crave to have it gouged out from your flesh~." With an elated smile on her face, Observer's tentacles suddenly started to attack the sphere.
At first the surface made of countless semi-transparent hexagonal pieces would not budge, but gradually the tentacles were able to slip in-between the cracks and pried the sphere open with brute force.
Eventually a hole big enough for Observer to comfortably put her hand in and reach for the Wisdom Cube was opened, all the sudden the tentacles just stopped and retracted. With the invading force retreated, the semi-transparent hexagonal pieces then linked back together and the sphere returned to its original shape.
"While I'd love to have your radiance all for myself, that'd not bode well with the wish of the Creator and I'll undoubtedly get punished for it." Observer said while placing a hand onto the sphere. Then she turned around and returned into the rift.
"But isn't this impulse of mine such a human thing? Once upon a time, you human attached false wings to your back in an attempt to conquer the sun. Unbeknownst of consequences, you flew straight toward the blinding radiance only to have your wings burned away as you fell to your doom."
"Hehehe, though I must admit, it's not so bad to act on impulse every once in a while." Observer then disappeared and once it closed off, light then returned as time seems to started flowing once again.
"Where…is this place?" opening her eyes to see but there is nothing to see, the place Zuikaku has found herself in is an endless void.
Around her there is only darkness but she could still see herself clearly. Whenever she breath, bubbles of air come out of her mouth.
"Am I underwater?" thinking that, Zuikaku tried to move her limbs and while there is clear sensation of liquid, beside that not much else. She doesn't feel cold nor is she suffocating or drowning. She is simply floating in endless darkness.
"Ah...this place is weird. I need to find Shoukaku…" yet despite all that, she isn't feeling in the least scared. If anything, right now is probably the calmest she has ever been in her life. Zuikaku then set off, and despite there not being a 'ground' beneath her feet, somehow she was still able to move forward by walking.
At a steady pace, Zuikaku wandered this strange plane. She walked and walked, but regardless of moving forward, taking a turn, or going backward, there is still nothing but a veil of darkness. With no solid ground beneath her feet and nothing to act as a checkpoint to gauge her distance, Zuikaku was unsure if she even made any progress at all.
Another thing she noticed is that even after walking for so long, she doesn't feel in the least tired which can be considered a good thing given the circumstances. Thus, putting this limitless stamina into good use, she continued walking. And was then when the belief of 'she is the only being in this place' that Zuikaku has established was proven wrong.
From within this endless darkness's equivalent of the sky, a white crane then landed not too far from her. Just like Zuikaku, the crane's body seems to be glowing which is the only reason the two of them was even able to see each other.
"You're…" when Zuikaku took a step toward the white crane, it then took fly to the sky and circled a few times above her head before flying off toward one direction. Zuikaku took that as the crane telling her to follow and so she did.
While Zuikaku continued walking, the white crane flew ahead and maintained a certain distance with her. The long trek into the void then continued, but this time they have found for each other a companion.
After what seems like an eternity of walking, the white crane finally stopped and started circling around in the air. Zuikaku looked down to the spot where it is circling around and saw…light. Illuminating, warm, and also flickering.
She approached this strange light and indeed, it was a small flame. She reached out touch it, and the moment she did the endless void surrounding her was lit up, but she then wished that it never did.
A familiar scenery, the entire Sakura Empire engulfed in a blazing sea of fire and before her is the naval base, hers and all her sisters' home, also suffering the same fate. And it was then when it hit her.
Even when seeing the place that she holds dear being reduced to ash, Zuikaku's expression did not change in the slightest. It's not that she's trying to keep calm, she's simply unable to express emotion. Like a puppet, like Akatsuki, Nowaki, Hyuuga, Ise and Shoukaku.
No longer able to stand, the naval base collapsed under its own weight as the flame blazed up and spread toward Zuikaku. It was then when the white cranw glided down from above and shielded her with its own body.
"AAAAAAAHHH!" with a high-pitched shriek, Zuikaku sprung up like a springboard and fell down, her forehead hitting the floor below in the process.
"Ouch ouch ouch…" rubbing her forehead, Zuikaku scanned her eyes on the surroundings to get a grasp on the situation. A big strange room, furnished with machineries she has never seen before, some even look alien in nature. One good thing is that nothing is burning in the close vicinity, so Zuikaku heaved a sigh of relief knowing the harrowing experience she just went through was only a bad dream.
But then as she got up and turned around, she immediately felt that another bump in her forehead wouldn't be so bad if it means waking up from this horror.
The two companions she thought had been killed by her own hands, Akatsuki and Nowaki, the two of them were confined inside two large semi-transparent chambers each with three rings of light floating and rotating parallel to each other.
"So you have awakened. Did you have a good sleep, my dear junior?" too dumbstruck with what is in front of her, Zuikaku didn't even notice the presence of someone else until they were right behind her. She then turned around and the owner of the voice was exactly who she wanted to see right now.
"Akagi-senpai, and even Kaga-senpai…" she called their name, her voice trembling, Before her stood the nine-tailed fox duo, along with Shoukaku.
"Why…just why!?" without any forewarning, Zuikaku had lunged straight at Akagi with killing intent. Throughout the process of bettering herself, Zuikaku has also picked up different martial arts, both by studying under other Ship Girls and self-taught, so even without her sword and her Rigs she isn't exactly completely defenseless.
Unfortunately for her, the same also applied to Akagi.
"Right when we of the Sakura Empire need each other the most, you chose now of all time to betray us and allied yourself with the Siren!" With her fingers curled up, Zuikaku delivered a palm strike at Akagi's abdomen which the latter easily avoided.
"While you're indeed my cute little junior, I must say often time I find you to be somewhat dull-minded."
Sidestepping to the right, Akagi caught Zuikaku's wrist and using her backhand, struck Zuikaku on her forehead before using her own momentum to throw her at an empty chamber.
While not particularly powerful, being hit on the forehead had stunned Zuikaku momentarily and disoriented her perception on the surroundings. Standing on wobbly legs like a newborn calf with one hand pressed on the empty chamber to support herself, the Zuikaku the entire world is spinning like crazy.
"So, have you cooled your head down yet?" crossing both arms before her chest, Akagi calmly approached Zuikaku.
"You expect me to calm down after witnessing the kind of atrocities you have committed? Shaking hands with the Siren, even allowed them to conduct whatever bizarre experiments on your own comrades!?"
"And to think you're Commander's closest aid. Not just the Sakura Empire, you've betrayed even his trust in you-" before Zuikaku could finish her sentence, with one hand Akagi had grabbed her by the throat and pressed her against the empty chamber. Her expression also did a complete shift as it is now full of malice and murderous intent.
"And this is why I asked you to cool your head down, for if you continued with this attitude or mention Commander-sama one more time, my hand might slip which would result in some unfortunate 'accidents'." Zuikaku could feel the grip on her neck tightening. At the same time, six blazing paper familiars also appeared around Akagi.
After a short while, once she deemed that her message has gotten across, Akagi let go of Zuikaku as the latter collapsed on her knees while gasping for air.
"Right, now that our cute little junior here has finally calmed herself down, allow us to catch you up on the current state of thing. After all, that is the sole reason in the first place."
"First and foremost, reality is just as you can see, we have chosen to ally ourselves with the Siren, everything we do is for the future of Sakura Empire."
"You've also seen it, no? That dream. Well, that is going to be us the Sakura Empire in three years, felled at the hand of no other than the accursed Eagle Union." When Akagi mentioned 'dream', the scenery of the naval base engulfed in crimson flame immediately came to mind. But the fact that Akagi is adamant about it becoming a reality is what surprised Zuikaku the most.
"During the last battle with the Azur Lane, Commander-sama was struck with the very same vision and ever since, he has been pouring his all into finding a way to avert such tragedy, even disregarding his own wellbeing."
"And the answer he arrived at was to eliminate the Eagle Union, but that would also mean going to total war with the Azur Lane. Casualty will undoubtedly rise and the Crimson Axis as a whole will never agree to something as baseless as a 'vision of tragedy'." Stopping a brief moment to collect her thoughts, Akagi then continued while walking back and forth.
"Thus, with Commander-sama becoming bedridden, we have taken upon ourselves to resolve this matter. The biggest factor currently preventing us from freely acting is power, unrivaled power. And who better to seek such support from but the Siren."
"Like the old saying goes, 'enemy of my enemy is my friend'. In fact, once you get to know them the Siren isn't as bad as you've thought, and they're definitely, infinitely better than the traitorous Azur Lane."
"But make no mistake, not even for a moment have we forgotten who is it that we serve and pledged loyalty to. While we indeed agreed to let them conduct experiments on our sisters, it is only under the condition no harm shall come to them. Furthermore, these devices you see around you, they're meant for healing the wounds sustained during battle. You may clarify that with your own body."
Now that Akagi mentioned it, the large wound on Zuikaku's right hip is no more, and her body no longer aches like crazy every time she moved. But she was still not convinced.
"Then how do you explain about Ise, Hyuuga and my sis? Is brainwashing them also part of the deal?"
"A temporary failsafe until we've got everything under control and once we do, we fully-intended to explain everything personally. Which brings me to the matter at hand which involves you." Akagi then stopped and turned to Zuikaku which put her on guard. But the next gesture wasn't quite what she had expected.
"Join me, Zuikaku." Akagi had reached out her hand, not with malice, but to deliver a genuine invitation.
With her voice alone, Akagi can't possibly get all the Ship Girls to understand even when her cause is just, especially after committing such a taboo. But if she can gain more allies to her side her voice will carry more weight and credence then with that as the springboard, she will surely achieve her goal.
"No. I will not join you."
"You may think the result justified the method, but Akagi-senpai, if your method of obtaining power is to sacrifice your own honor and dignity then that is something I cannot condone."
Both sides have voiced their opinion and made their stand. Now that both parties have made clear the line they will and will not cross, that same line has now become the very existence that tear them apart.
"I see. Truly regrettable, it is." Retracting her hand, Akagi then snapped her fingers as a rift in space then appeared.
"You may do with her as you pleased now, but just keep in mind to abide by the terms." As Akagi finished her sentence, from the rift appeared Tester Beta.
"Hehehe, told it's useless to reason with someone as stubborn and thick-headed as her. Well girly, seems you're going back into the pot." Tester grinned widely while her two torpedo pods began charging up energy. A cluster of electricity was then released straight at Zuikaku but she managed to jump out of the way at the last moment.
"Cursed, what about Akatsuki and Nowaki!?" she suddenly remembered that those two are still confined inside their chamber and quickly turned around. The cluster of electricity after making contact with the empty chamber had exploded, but there wasn't as much as a scratch in the paint. Of course, this is their technology after all, it is natural they'd have way to avoid causing collateral damage.
"Eyes ahead, girly!" more energy clusters were then shot out. Knowing she cannot consistently avoid them all, Zuikaku utilize the fact those energy clusters cannot harm the Siren technology to her advantage while at the same time made her way to the exit.
"I'm sorry, sis. I will definitely come to save you, but right now, I need to warn everyone!" once out of the room, Zuikaku finally found out that this facility where she was brought to is deep underwater. It's just like one of those aquarium that she once read about in a book, but this isn't the time to be admiring fishes and sea creatures.
Running around for a good 3 minutes or so, she came upon the central shaft which is the only way to reach the surface. And after another 2 minutes of fiddling with the control panel, she finally got the elevator platform running.
Since the underwater facility being where all of the experiments take place, logically the facility on the surface should be where combat personnel are stationed.
But as the elevator platform passed the halfway point, from the deep dark ocean multiple Sirens came charging at the elevator shaft with their jaws bared wide.
With three Sirens, estimated Heavy Cruiser-class, came charging at full speed at the elevator shaft, in an instance their fangs had breached and broken the shaft into two as easily as snapping a dry twig.
Lucky for Zuikaku, their assault missed her entirely and also not so lucky for her, sea water gushing in from outside had washed her away along with the current. But it seems fate has dictated it is not yet her time to kick the bucket.
Still searching for Zuikaku among the debris, the three Sirens failed to notice she had long since reached the surface facility by following the remains of the elevator shaft.
And indeed just as she had deducted, her Rigs was being kept in one of the room, fully repaired like brand new at that. Smoothing sailing so far, but she's not yet out of the woodwork. For there is still yet one last hurdle she must overcome.
"Sis…" Zuikaku muttered. Before her stood Shoukaku and an entire fleet of Siren. Staring at her sister with soulless eyes, Shoukaku raised her hand as the Siren fleet then swarmed forth.
"Must we really do this!?" shouting a desperate war cry, Zuikaku then dispatch five fighter squadrons, both bomber and escort fighter to intercept the Sirens.
Staying back while the one-sided battle between the Siren fleet and her sister unfolded, the Shoukaku who was placed under the effect of mind-control has begun to notice the abnormality in herself.
For starter, whenever another one of Zuikaku's plane got shot down, she could feel her shoulders trembling slightly. And whenever Zuikaku is hit with even just the geyser created by an exploding shell, her hand would instinctively reach out. She should not be able to feel emotion, then just what is these symptoms she's having?
After a short while, both Ise and Hyuuga then also joined in on the fray, making the battle even more one-sided. Salvo after salvo of artillery fire continued to rain down upon Zuikaku and with each time, Shoukaku's legs started to move forward on their own.
"Zuikaku…Zuikaku! Zuikaku!" the name kept resounding inside her head and for a brief second when her gaze landed on her little sister's face, in that instance Shoukaku switched from standing still to running full speed ahead.
With all her fighters deployed and the entire enemy rank turned away from her, Shoukaku delivered a devastating saturation attack and after breaking through their encirclement, grabbed Zuikaku's hand and retreated to safety.
"Sis!" with tears of joy rolling down her cheeks, Zuikaku cried out.
"I promised I'd always protect you, didn't I? And sorry, you came all the way to get me yet I made you waited for so long…" Shoukaku bit her lower lip while apologizing.
"No, I am partly at fault for not being there for you when you needed me the most. But the most important thing is that you're you again!" reunited once again in the midst of adversary, the two crane sisters felt a newfound strength overflowing in them as the two made a beeline toward the storm barrier. As long as they have each other, they will make it through no matter what.
On the way, the Siren's pursue has gotten much more intense as more and more Siren fleet began to emerge from underwater, rapidly closing in on the two. Reaching the final stretch, the two made a leapt for the storm barrier with an entire swarm of Sirens still right on their tail. And it was then a strange phenomenon happened.
From the sky, multiple fighters enwreathed in blazing golden flame then dove down and repelled the pursuing Sirens. As their flaming wings cut through the air, the atmosphere became rapidly heated up and exploded into a towering wall of golden flame that immediately reduced any Siren coming into contact with it to ash.
At least hundreds of Sirens were kept at bay by the wall of golden flame, and thanks to that both Zuikaku and Shoukaku was able to escape though they do not know who their mysterious savior was.
Meanwhile, Siren research facility, the Sphere chamber.
Illuminated by the same golden flame, the giant floating sphere created by countless semi-transparent hexagonal pieces were evaporated in an instance as the entire monitoring system went complete haywire. Then as the flame subsided, a lone silhouette of a man donning a kimono could be seen in the very center.
"Now listen here you little shit." basically sums up Akagi and Zuikaku interaction in this chapter.