We were here.

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We crossed into Vietnamese waters the next afternoon, black clouds overhead as a light drizzle pelted the water around us. Thunder could be heard in the distance as we approached the mouth of the Mekong Delta through the Western channel. Countess had finally filled her holds, after draining another barrel of fuel and eating another five ingots of abyssal steel. I'd given her a chocolate bar from the human food storage to top off with, and I was treated to the first smile the woman had ever made in her new life. She hadn't taken to her new turret mounts particularly well, we had to reinforce her lower holds to keep her from gaining metal fatigue, Chitose had the wonderful idea to give her back her Wo-cane (apparently they were standard issue?) which helped her move around far more quickly than without it.

"Abysmal weather out there huh?" I said, coming up to Chitose as she gazed at the riverbank.

"Abyssal weather, more like." She said. "Major activity tends to conjure up unnatural storms, no one's been able to explain it, but major Abyss fleet actions almost always happen during a storm." We stood silently for a minute, leaned against the rails, protected from the rain by the extended roof. My rigging seemed to enjoy it at least, the wonder-twins twirling in the air as they continuously dove under and jumped over the ship, making little dolphin-clacking noises as they went. I'd never been on a river before, being able to see land on both sides was a little disconcerting. Thunder rumbled gently again in the distance.

"Hey, you normally live on a base in Tokyo, right?" Chitose nodded."What's it like? living on land I mean. I don't think I've stepped foot on actual dirt since I Woke-Up." Chitose looked down, in thought before speaking.

"It makes you feel small, vulnerable. Like you've been beached and are going to tear your keel out on rocks if you so much as move." At my expression she giggled softly, leaning down and putting an arm around my shoulders. "Ah, don't worry Georgia, it's only really bad when you first step onto land, the feeling fades quickly with time. Though it will never truly disappear, you'll always be drawn to the sea, no matter what happens or how long you stay on land." We stayed in silence for a minute, before I made an observation.

"What's with all the trees? They are all dead." It was true, the trees were skeletal black things, branches stabbing up at the sky, bare bark rotten, what few lived were clearly dying, leaves mostly limp and discolored. There was very little grass either, leaving the reddish mud to run into the river, staining the water a rusty, browning red.

"I don't know, but it cant be natural, it may be January, but with how far south we are there should still be plenty of vegetation... maybe there was a forest fire? That wouldn't explain the grass though." Chitose hummed. Hakone came out of the cabin then, talking to Countess about how to direct her crew, probably to fix something that had gone wrong or check up on something. "I never would have thought that was possible, you know." I looked at her as she continued. "She's, alive! I know I smacked you for it, but she's really alive... all those times we had to leave someone behind to re-summon them, all those times I had to watch someone sink because they were 'too far gone'" She grinned sardonically, looking back at me. "But that didn't seem to stop you, did it? Even though it was kind of a hack-job-"

"Hey!"

"-You did well, she's alive and cognizant, able to move, maybe even fight! and that's really more then anyone could hope for." I shrugged at that, I'd gotten another friend with cruiser grade weaponry out of a couple days worth of dinking-around with ship-girl bits. The fact she needed to be taken care of a bit more was irrelevant, didn't stop me with Chitose when she was blown damn near in half, wouldn't stop me here. Chitose made to continue before we heard engines far off in the distance. all four of us gathered at the portside rail, only to be disappointed, the clouds and rain were far too thick to make anything out at that kind of range. I checked my radar.

" A couple of slow-moving air contacts, no IFF... looks like they are on a course to pass over us," I said. Chitose stepped back into the depths of the wheelhouse while I raised the contacts on the radio. "This is the Abyssal ship USS Georgia, you are coming in on intercept course, over the river, come in, over." The engine noise slowly grew louder as I started to make out lights in the clouds. "Get your AA guns, ready girls, just in ca-"

"This is ALLCB 084, we are on a spray run due north of your current position, at ease, over." Huh, I turned to Hakone. "Any idea what a 'spray-run' is? She shook her head, still watching the light grow closer, and closer, until the Abyssal planes became visible. They were colored a light puke-green, main canopy split into three parts revealing a single large optic behind, it, much like Chitose's planes, was a mouthy ball, but had bomber wings sticking out the sides, complete with little propellers.

"...Someone told me long ago, there's a calm before the storm..." Was that... music? "I know! it's been coming for some time, when it's over so they say, it'll rain a sunny day-" The aircraft passed over us, and I could see small megaphones sticking out of their undercarriage."-I know! shining down like water!" I shared a look of confusion with Hakone, as Countess merely gazed upwards into the drizzle. "I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain" The craft began to leave our sight, flying into the dark cloud cover, the odd music trailing them. "I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain, coming down on a sunny day..." Chitose came out from the wheelhouse, looking just about as confused as the rest of us.

What an odd place this was.

And so our adventuring party enters the next leg of their adventure. As a famous internet person once said: WELCOME TO THE RICEFIELDS MOTHERF-
...ahem.