Island of Itbayat, Rapang cliff, Northern Philipines.

A pair of Abyssals, a Ri-Class Heavy Cruiser and Ka-Class Submarine, sat on the cliff overlooking the Southern Bashi channel, posted as lookouts by their Captain, they mostly just used the job as an opportunity to get smashed off of stolen human alcohol they'd stashed nearby while waiting to be rotated out.

The Ka-class smacked the Ri beside her, "Hey, Shirene, you see that?" She pointed her pale arm towards the horizon, where plumes of smoke gently trailed off from the North-East.

The Ri gave the Ka a good shove back, nearly tipping her off the cliff, before bothering to look where indicated, she squinted off into the distance. "Yeah, looks like ships on the horizon, a lot of them too. We don't have anyone out that way, do we?"

The Ka shook her head, "No Captains are out that way, last time we hit Taiwan for grub was a good week ago. You don't think it could be another fleet moving in on our surf, do you?"

The Ri responded as she got one of her floatplanes ready, "No damn clue, I'll send a spotter on recon to see what we're dealing with, you get the fish together, amount of smoke they're putting out? Not something we can deal with without the whole crew, any luck and it's another dumbass human convoy we can kick over."

With the Kanmusu:

"So you learned Japanese watching Anime? That explains quite a bit actually." Kongou said, still talking to the American Battleship.

"Hey, I learn better when I'm actually enjoying myself, what can I say? The abridged series are hilarious, especially liked Hellsin- Enemy aircraft spotted, due South South-West." Iowa's head swiveled like a turret, looking off into the horizon.

Kongou turned to look, and was just barely able to make out a single black dot, rising from a landmass barely distinguishable from the horizon. "Good eyes dess! Any idea what it could be?"

Iowa shrugged, even as Nagato called a temporary halt to their formation. "Radar is Radar, eyes don't have much to do with it." She turned inwards for a minute, asking her Captain what she thought of the radar contact. "Signature matches a Flying-Fish variant, probably a floatplane from a Cruiser or Battleship." Iowa turned to Nagato, "You're more in the know when it comes to the Philippines than I am, what Abyssals are around here worth worrying about?"

Nagato regarded the distant dot, arms crossed sternly, "In the North? Not much honestly, Abyssals raid up and down the coast in small parties, but don't congeal around any Princess that we know of, nearest one that is positively identified is the Depot Princess that we drove from Manilla a while ago, but recent intel puts her in North Palawan in a defensive posture. So It's very likely we are dealing with small-fry commerce raiders here." Nagato turned to the Cruisers, who had come over to hear the situation, "Be that as it may, I don't want anyone slacking off, treat this like any other high-stakes mission, we can't afford to lose anyone to chaff because you got complacent, understood?"

Yuubari and Tenryuu saluted hurriedly, "Yes Maam/Sir!" They cried simultaneously. Houston followed along a split-second after with her own salute.

Nagato nodded, "We'll keep to our current formation for now, though I want a wider ASW screen from the Destroyers, stray orphaned elements of the former Palau Submarine Princess's fleet have been known to operate in the area alongside the local raiders, and I don't need the first warning of enemy Submarines to be cries of 'fish in the water'" Nagato turned to the Carriers, "Increase your running CAP, and put out some recon planes, make sure to look over the islands carefully. We all know how the more clever Abyssals like to hide on landmasses to avoid our spotters.

"And the recon plane?" Akagi questioned, gesturing towards the aircraft now lazily circling East.

"Chase it off or shoot it down, we don't need eyes tracking our movements."

Akagi nodded, already knocking her bow.

With the Abyssals:

"Shitshitshitshitshit!" The Ri continued her mantra as she sprinted into the sheltered cove her Captain was using as a base of operations. Her plane had been shot down, but she'd had enough time to catch a glimpse of her attacker through her pilot's eyes.

Mitsubishi Zero's, Kanmusu were here.

She ran past buildings created out of the scrap taken from the few villages the island had once supported, structural integrity reinforced by the hulls of captured steel-hulled vessels turned upside down to act as roofs. She ran onto the wharf past several moored Destroyers, heading to the Captain's house, held out of the water by strong wooden trunks that stabbed out of the water. She burst through the door without knocking, instead simply bellowing, "Captain! We have enemy stacks on the horizon!"

The Captain, an old Wo-Class Carrier, slowly stood up from the card game she'd been having with her Lieutenants, "You'd better not be fucking with me Shirene, where, who, and how many?"

"North-East, Kanmusu, had a flying fish shot down by zero's, why the Japs left their little island fortress, no clue. All I know is there were enough stacks on the horizon for an entire fleet."

"Fuck, just what we need, hold on a minute." The Wo-class raised her ships through her general frequency, "All ships! This is Captain Roga, we have enemy warships on the horizon, this ain't a drill! Get your keels in the water, I repeat, get your asses out of your drunken stupor and get in the damn water!" She turned to the Ri-Class, "Wheres the damn Submarines?"

"I sent Frinnie off to get them when I launched my recon Captain, she should show up with the rest soon."

"Good."

Any further conversation was halted by the sound of engines overhead. The Captain poked her head out of the especially large nearby window, tentacles from her Rigging supporting her head as she looked out. There was a type-zero reconnaissance plane, cresting the ridge to fly over their sheltered cove.

The Wo didn't bother speaking any further, simply swiveling the Bofors connected to her head-Rigging into position and opening fire out of the window as the Abyssals started to scramble, Destroyers quickly detaching themselves from the docks as their foot-possessing peers stumbled out of their shacks.

With the Kanmusu:

Chiyoda's eyes widened, as she avoided the fire directed at her plane, what had to be 40mm rounds whizzing by perilously close, she made for the ridge again, and onlyjust made it, her recon plane now missing a fair chunk of its left stabilizer. Confident now that she could let her pilot take over for a minute, she came back to the world around her, to see Gambier looking at her worriedly.

"I'm fine, I was concentrating on one of my planes that was taking fire, It looks like we stumbled onto an Abyssal raiding base, I saw several structures before I had to take evasive maneuvers."

Iowa came over the radio then, from where they could see her zeroed in on a location in the far distance. "Looks like we poked the hornets nest! I'm seeing Abyssal fighters coming out of the woodwork over the trees, and ships coming around the rock formations!"

Nagato turned to the Carriers, her face a cold mask of professionalism. "Kaga, Akagi, move to intercept those fighters, wait till the main force is engaged before flanking with your torpedo bombers. Chiyoda, keep up the surveillance and have your Zuiun on standby, Gambier, Shinano-"

The named Carriers jumped at their names being called.

"-I want you replacing Akagi's CAP while they head-off the enemy assault, begin launching, now."

A head surfaced nearby "What do you want us to do Maam?" Nagato flinched slightly, before regarding I-401 cooly.

"Take your Submarines and circle the enemy fleet at a safe distance, be mindful, the enemy may have submarines of their own. If you find your approach unopposed, I'll give you priority targets, otherwise, you may pick your own, just stay clear of the enemy Destroyer screen."

I-401 nodded, arm breaching the surface to offer a salute, "Caaaan do, Nagato!" She disappeared under the waves.

Iowa nudged Nagato, who turned to look at her, "Looks like their main force cleared the island, I have range on 'em if you want me to start blasting."

Nagato turned to look where the Iowa had indicated, squinting her eyes and rangefinders to get a bead on the enemy. "Hold fire, wait until Kangou and I are within range as well, we don't want to spook them out of easily targettable formations with early bracket-fire."

The American Battleship shrugged, disappointed but understanding as she watched the enemy fleet get into position to face them.