Update as of 8/31/2021:VERY minor correcting of errors in words
Gazing at my reflection. I stared at the girl in the reflection as I held a hand up and closed it before putting it back to my hips. Early. Maybe middle grade schooler in perceived age and size. Her silver, messy hip-length hair was still all over the place from sleeping. her face had a confused expression, and there was a cute lightning ikazuchi-esque hairpin which was a idea of mine... or either my latent magical device. The reflection hammered in to who I was.
I sighed and stretched before rubbing my chest a bit. "Smol Enterprise... As always... Well, At least you don't need to see everything beyond short distance being blurry anymore."
Personally. I still felt strange and many kinds of them at that. One part of me still viewed myself as Enterprise. The Grey ghost that had wasted the IJN's time and was the only operational carrier for some time. as well as having a collection of battle stars and being configured for nighttime at the late stages of the historical war. The other part of me on the other hand... Knew Enterprise as somewhat of a tired fighter. Shaken by the loss of Hornet and Yorktown and worse, acted in a way that was destructive to her and didn't even have a clue on how to be Little Enterprise If she had took control in my position as i was.
Simply because Enterprise, I...Uh... was a carrier who acted like.. Well. What a carrier does when she is alone, thrown into the deep end of a war and only seeing more neverending fights ahead. while in some fanfics and the official game the same events that led to the destruction of Yorktown and hornet repeated again?
Gauh! Two points of views are hurting my mind!
Even so...
I might be Enterprise CV-6. One of the most famous characters in Azur lane but that didn't mean I would stay on the scripted path to my eventual insanity and descent into some weird and deranged variant of Code G. No. I was given the chance and opportunity and the blueprints and schemes and estimated statistics of the top 50 arm manufacturers were backing me up. I would make a change, As to the implications. Time would only tell.
Acting on memory alone. My grip on my dress clenched a little more. And maybe out of a bit of satisfaction at that i am not dealing with such a flawed body anymore.
I stood up, Heading toward anything that served food as I held back a urge to emit a small green flame from my hands. Even If I was enterprise and even if I still remembered back being a boy not eating food (and seeing a parent ending up flushing the sausages and noodles down the toilet. something that I never got over and which meant my hunger returned with a vengeance) when staying up awake and sometimes not even eating normally. That still didn't stop my rampant need for anything. which carried over.
Authors. Especially these KMS shipboy chucklefucks at Wattpad. Truman, Halsey. Hayate... Nanoha... if you were here, What would you say?
I hummed quietly to myself as I approached one of the windows. taking a look out at the gardens and nature and in contrast the built-up infrastructure and buildings. Without any curtains there was enough light to the point I decided to keep my distance. but I still sat by and looked out, Memories came back to me. Of just going to playgrounds and watching kids play. knowing that someday they would become teens who vape. party. smoke. drink... and either end up in deadend degree jobs or get a fast-track promotion to daddy's company.
Still. I kept these thoughts at the sidelines. I may contemplate to myself. But now is not the time, Besides. I had a love for the outside and simply getting to explore the archituture of local urban centers ever since a friend pulled me out of isolation a long time ago. With the war against the Sirens (of in my case. Against the entire world and the UN) going on it was nice to be able to not have to fight in some sort of Madoka-esque situation. Just have Sakura Kinomoto-style fun with your colleagues and fellow kansens.
I yawned cutely and stretched my legs. deciding that I was getting bored of this, My past sleep schedule had not carried over. partly out of the need to follow a more... conventional daytime pattern for convenience's sake with my superiors and maybe it had something to do with the fact I was a child now, and that i likely slept more than on average. Still. I kept walking. turning around corners and passing other girls as I tried to distract my mind (who had nothing to do in the meanwhile. and Rein was Idling. i guessed) with anything. Just anything. really.
"E-Enterprise-chan...?" I heard a voice call from behind me. Knowing that one, I turned around a bit sleepily. the person who that voice belonged to was one of my close friends. And it would not do me good to avoid them right now...
"O-Oh. Iris~." Standing there was a shipgirl with blonde hair in a ponytail. distinctive earmuffs(Headset?). Green sleeves and a white undershirt complete with a black skirt and unusually enough among most sirens. Rare eye color.
Yes, You heard me right. Iris. The girl from Material sniper... Is somehow here as well.
How? Turns out that when your standard G.I and Kansen don't rely on historical shipgirls. You instead 'randomize' them like what you might find in RPGs! As far as my present knowledge goes. This allows for some crazy combinations-While white hair and gold eyes are the most common, There are actually sirens that have unusual and rare eye and hair colors normally found in the canon Kancolle or Azur lane shipgirls! Either that, Of maybe my designs were following me into Azur lane a bit too much...
"Well.. Enterprise, Good morning to you i suppose. Was your sleep any good?" Of course she would be more concerned given I was pretty much a kid. Ironic. Given I was supposed to be the actual Enterprise... But I suppose appearance does play a big role after all.
Just like that video of a woman marrying a kid. A boy. And noone gave a fuck. at all.
"Y-Yes. It was. Sorry, I've been just staying up a lot more lately. You?" Old habits still carried over I suppose. The blonde Siren shipgirl stood there frowning a bit before returning to her trademark look.
"Geez, You shouldn't do that so much. Little enterprise. No sleep is not good for girls who are growing. especially you! Since it's the morning. Why don't we talk this over potato chips?" 'Iris' smiled at me gently. I didn't need any skills to know what that gaze meant.
"Yeah. Sure~." I followed that up with a affirmative grunt as we began walking together. The first time we met, It was just like the bog-standard Azur lane neutral relationships... In the game. But then we started talking with each other, Trying to see who was better in what. and her understanding my struggle with trying to speak some words all contributed to her becoming someone who i can rely on.
Then again. Maybe rare eye color or hair color does make you stronger than the average after all.
"Hey uh... How has it been going so far?" Since i wasn't able to think up of anything so far. I decided to ask her how things were going, Damn stuttering.
"Hm? Well. Nothing interesting so far, Same good old day. Same things as usual." Unable to say anything further. I decided to go quiet for now as we kept walking toward our destination. My thoughts drifted back to Enterprise's dislike for lemons and Little enterprise's quotes confirming what the fandom thought... I liked lemon drinks, especially in cola form. That was the contrast between me and Enty. However, one thing I still had in common was just that i did not like to touch the actual thing myself.
Reaching my destination, Iris and I sat down quietly as I looked for my favorite food of mine. Ignoring the glances and stares from the other shipgirls around as I found it. There! This supreme pizza, A starter of spicy chicken wings and italian mini-sausage complete with waffles. plus pepsi and chicken mushroom soup would do!
Looking at Iris with a Moe bored expression as she kept herself occupied by looking around. I decided to ask her something. "Um. Iris, Do you typically eat this kind of spicy stuff that much?"
Raising a eyebrow. She looked over to me from her seat as we heard a few destroyers going at it again with gossip and rumors like what they usually did in kancolle fanfics. "O-Oh? Well... I don't mind eating these. Why?"
Smiling gently and cutely. I slouched over as I wouldn't wait to get my favorite food right now! "W-Well. I love these so much and aside from... Ehm... It's one of the few things I look forward to! Especially the soup which I really. really like!" That had gotten her thinking before she gave me her response.
Iris bought a hand to herself like that Little enterprise pouting picture I had seen. "Oh? Well, We can talk more about this once the dishes arrive. You really must like pizza very much!"
Considering a word of so. I simply decided to just pout softly as we waited... Waited... And waited. I heard more rumors about a defensive mindset. Building up forces before daring to go on the offensive, harassing and sinking naval trade as oil simply can't be just transferred by aircraft and the immense number of raw . I could feel Vita slumbering as... Wait... Vita?
Ah, Yes. Vita. That girl and one of the Knights. Who for some reason also had came with me, She was in the same situation as Rein was. But where Reinforce is my battle partner during a day of so... Vita's the other one sometimes, To say she's a cute tsundere is a understatement. Although given I ended up being Little enterprise instead of big enterprise and seeing as Vita in her franchise really wanted a big chest. I can't blame her for behaving like that. Then again, my lack of a device already meant things were even more unknown than they were...
Finally. the dishes arrived as I didn't even give Iris the benefit of just taking it slow as I was already beginning to...grind... Black pepper all over the soup to the point of it getting on the edges before I eagerly began drinking from it. My friend doing so at a slower pace and without using so much pepper like i did as I tore into a piece of chicken.
Stirring up her soup a bit. Iris took a drink before continuing as she responded quietly. sighing gracefully. "You know, Enterprise. I always wondered why you like this so much. Given you've just a cute girl. But I think I know why you like this so much. It's delicious as far as things go!"
Still speedily drinking from it. I paused to talk to my friend of so as I looked like a cute girl downing her food-And my clothes only added to the appeal. "E-Ehehehe~. I eat this everyday! Sometimes two bowls of so!"
Bringing her other free hand back to her lap. My friend decided to make a comment as she looked happy for me. Then again, Given at least I wasn't picky about this one... "That's all the better for you then. But still, I think you may be eating too much of that. you know? Just like these rumors about MREs and you?"
"T-That doesn't matter!" That sentence had just caught me partly by surprise. I had to admit, I just gave her a unhappy look as she patted me on the head of so. getting a cute noise of so from me before we went back to our usual routine.
Finishing our soup. Iris started slicing the pizza up as she gave me a chicken wing of so and a sausage as well, Even when I was Little Enterprise. I was still very lazy and reliant on others if i could avoid the effort... That didn't change here. and having so much power combined with having to do tasks only made me even more reluctant to do so.
"Hey... Enterprise, About your refresher training. Has it been going well so far?" Ah... Yes, That. Just like pretty much everyone I knew before I got shoved into the body of a shipgirl. I had no combat experience so far... Well, I did. If playing Command Modern operations and Hearts of Iron with debug on and trying to erratically apply ideas of Soviet Deep battle titanic pushes and Superior Firepower's well-balanced focus on all three branches than just tanks or a continuation of World war 1 tactics counted.
"Well... I am still not paying attention sometimes, But for the most part. I am... Uh.. Concentrated so far, And I've familiarized myself already." Having Enterprise's memory and dreams helped, But the problem? I liked and was still quite lazy, In part because of my disgust and hatred at the failure of automation to deliver the UBI or reduced work promise which was instead capitalized and financialized away to the super-rich. Being a ridiculously powerful magical girl (In theory, I was still a useless level one green rookie by Madoka/Sailor Moon standards despite Reinforce and Vita being my partners) also didn't help. either.
"Well, I am sure when you come out young and not like what you expected. You sure must be getting very easily distracted!" Huh, She was right about original me of so... Looking at city architecture was a hobby of mine to prevent me from becoming bored when walking randomly around urban towns... Enemy of not. This was still in effect for me. and much to my cute reaction, I was indeed reverting to the behavior of curious boy me.. Though I still had shown my more calculating adult side of so on some occasions.
"Y-Yeah. There's just so much thought put into the design of all of these buildings and.. and.. Um, I am sure there must have been a reason behind them!" I finished chewing on a pizza slice as I settled to eating sausages and potato waffles, preferring not to get sticky with the chicken wings.
"Oh, Don't go on. You like to talk a lot when you get into that mood! Anyway, How's your training so far?" Thinking about that for a sec of so... I stopped chewing before I formulated something.
"Hm... I am fully done of so~! They say I am ready for any missions that might be expected of me. Although they said they are putting a lot of hopes in me given I am pretty much the only working example of a modern shipgirl that anyone has seen so far!" Losing your jets and having to familiarize yourself with Wildcats and zeroes was to... some extent not that useful, Seeing as I already was familiar about their strengths and weaknesses from games. Still, I supposed resiliency and ability to use non-standard equipment would be critical.
"Oh? Well, You have magic! I am sure you can overcome anything and if you can't, You blast them away with missiles! I mean. just look at me, I am just another shipgirl with no magic or jets like you! Hahaha..." Laughing a bit also in response, I wondered if she would make a good partner if she too had also Magical girl powers?
"Ha! I am sure you make a great and skilled magical girl like me! We make explosions and fire deadly lasers everywhere!" With more giggling from the both of us, It took some time for us to calm down although that smile didn't leave her face, I was serious about it however... Iris was a close friend of mine, So to some extent and childishly from Little Enty me. I did want her to be a Magical girl, But alas. That might not happen...
Enjoying our food in quiet. I was already finishing the rest of it, chewing on a pizza as I greedily consumed every single drop of pepsi. There were a lot more shipgirls now likely from how much time had passed. meaning more of them were awake. My friend on the other seat at that moment thought it was a good idea to say something as I talked and fantasized to myself...
"Jeez. I know children like soda but... You really like it, do you?"
"Of course i do! I practically drink the stuff everyday of so!"
"Whoa, I think you should cut back on it. You are still growing. after all!" Again pouting. Iris seemed to be getting better at what exactly pressed my tsundere buttons as Rein... well. didn't say anything, Not really. Still, I shot her another expression of annoyance before we finished the rest of our food.
"So with that done, You want to head to where they want you? Sure must be important today." Ah, I forget. Rein's words back when I was waking up. Ugh, Stupid me!
"Y-Yeah... But can you come with me? I don't like it too much when I am alone for too long..." Tugging on her shirt, She just rubbed my head before taking my hand as we left. ignoring a few shipgirls that were chatting about us.
"I don't see why not, If that's what helps you keep things off your mind." Beginning our walk. It was lively now, I had to say. Most of the girls here were not night fighters at all. But seeing as night battles aren't something you think about when fighting defensively, I don't blame them.
During our walk. I had stopped a few times to look out despite her reminding me I still needed to do something, Sometimes. I asked her questions about what that fountain over there was for. The offices, and such. Some of these resulted in a fun talk of so but ultimately. We had to do something still, and that had to be done right now.
Waiting just outside, I looked worried as Iris picked up on what I was feeling. patting me as she comforted me. "It will be all right, Enterprise. I wait outside if i don't come in."
"I.. I am just... I am just worried about speaking to a superior of mine and... Your presence helps me feel.. better." I said out with a sinking feeling as my friend hugged me gently.
"Don't worry about it, Just answer what they want you here for and you be fine... Now go on. You must do this."
"I.. I will." Sighing and steeling my eyes, I opened the door as I walked in...
One thing I thought is that anyone on a uneducated guess would have thought this room would have a... typical evil design, Symbols regarding the fate of the world. globes. conquests. You name it, This wasn't anything like that. Instead. There was just carpentry, a few figures. pictures and a photo of a siren i can't dientify. The orange light casted a gentle light which would have made sense in the night... But that was out of place during the day, Hell. Even the girl behind the desk was adding to the atmosphere. giving me a smile as she stood up!
"Enterprise! Please, come sit down." The usual procedures... Still, A bit of social interaction is something I can handle as I did what she said. walking over and sitting down as I had to take into account my small body size. "You made it in time. I expected nothing less!"
"Oh, It was no problem." I answered. looking over the surroundings. "So I see you called me up and out of reserve training?
"Well, The record says you are good enough now. isn't it?" The woman replied. shrugging as Reinforce Eins decided it was the time to make herself known as she walked onto view and watched. "There's a few bad runs there and you did have some moments of... childish behavior, Now I understand if you don't like me doing this. but..."
"Oh, We're talking about that now!" I spoke. raising my head as Reinforce decided to not say anything and watch for now, "Actually. I suppose I've been wanting to see some action, I just... wasn't expecting it so early. At least not so fast."
"Well, This was rather important. They want you to go and engage the First carrier division. Akagi and Kaga?" She spoke rather bashfully. For a battle that was going to literally involve me going up against two elite carriers... "They believe you would be the best for this kind of thing, since you would have access to magic and your arsenal of jets and guided weapons!"
"Mistress, If things come to worse. I will assist you in battle if needed." Reinforce replied back as my superior looked curiously before turning to look at me. I decided to speak up since I wasn't too entirely comfortable about this... "Um, Wasn't it that I just came out of refresher training and.. I am still not up to standards as I would be?"
"O-oh. Well, You will be provided with anything you may need to eliminate one of them. They say it doesn't matter how you do it, You just need to catch them off-guard seeing as they may be planning a attack on something." I gave a small nod as she stared at something before looking toward me as she continued on.
"Does it matter If i have a escort of not?" I asked her this question as she gave a thoughtful look before responding to any worries i might have had in that moment. "Oh... Well, A few cruisers and destroyers will be around to protect you and escort you to where we believe the First carrier division may be. After that, It looks like its entirely up to you as to how you proceed with it."
"I suppose its a yes then?" I asked curiously as Reinforce Eins just stood there staring stoically. making the girl look a bit nervous before recomposing herself as she nodded. Looks like this may be my first engagement ever since I stopped responding to Azur lane orders...
Nodding, She looked down again at her desk before resuming her stare as she leaned back in her seat. "Yes, that is all. Just.. Stay safe out there, will you? Don't get overconfident. please."
"Mistress, I recommend the same as well." Even Reinforce Eins had to chime in. Geez.
"I..I will." I turned around as I walked out of the office which prompted Rein to disappear out of sight. closing the door behind me and giving a cute stretch as Iris took my hand.
"That... Went well... I think?" Asking in a anxious tone, My friend looked happy for me as we walked away. navigating the hallways.
"It went smoothly, That's for sure. Enterprise!" Iris looked reassured as I knew I was taking a march to my first deployment. I knew i had these powers, But would it help. given I was still getting used to being a shipgirl and as Enty? "When you come back safe and sound, We should play with each other. Promise?"
"I.. promise!" Making a childish response. She just quietly nodded as we made the trip in relative silence. It was likely going to be my first official battle... And a lot of things could go wrong, From being spotted to getting attacked by a submarine or just running straight into a big fleet... To one of my systems malfunctioning or just my powers flat-out refusing to work.
Still, I am a Magical girl. Even if i am not a Defender of the world anymore. With Reinforce and Vita as my partners. Even if it may be a long and difficult fight, I must press on... So that Enterprise... may be safe and sound... And so I don't end up suffering Sayaka's end just because of straight-up failure to pay attention.
End Chapter report:
Darkness Level:0%/Perfect; "Your Field generator crystals remain a pure sparkling blue. You're pure!"
Reinforce Eins is now the main supporting partner for now. As such, The Tome of the Night Sky trait is active and Enterprise/Laffeychan will learn skills specific to Reinforce at a faster rate as well as being better at massive and unwieldy attacks.
Magic potential:Even though you may be stronger than all 4 of the CPUs in NEXT forms or the entire cast of Madoka or Sailor moon in possible strength. You've still a rookie and even worse, most of your potential is not out yet. You have access to basic magical girl abilities for now.
Little Enterprise/Laffeychan should now exactly be at Level one for Magical Girls.
Little Enterprise/Laffeychan hasn't joined a squadron yet.
Little Enterprise has unlocked the achievement 'Not even the young ones shall be spared!' for being deployed as a child soldier in appearance. with all the implications it brings for the Azur Lane side.
Little Enterprise/Laffeychan has unlocked the achievement 'That Heroine from The Anime' for progressing from inactive carrier and magical girl-controlled by self insert to activated Self-insert main shipgirl!
Well, after days upon days of having fun on a game plus doing something and capturing ads. I am back with the actual chapter 2 of Purple Shift!
As it stands, I believe I would still be sleepy and with a heavy tendency to be lazy as well and it doesn't help i am Little Enterprise. although if something's on the line for me then that's going to make me get serious. For now, Vita's not doing anything but she may come out in the next chapters of so!
A basic set of shooting projectiles. simple barriers and healing plus the obligatory sixth sense/newtype/psychic/whatever powers as usual. As well as learning Rein's semi-unique skills at a faster than normal pace.