Chapter 5: The Battle for Tokyo

"At sunset we will make our move, 400 of our sisters will launch a surprise attack against the Japanese city of Tokyo. Using the blessings of the Deep we can approach undetected, nullifying their radar facilities. Our fleet carriers will then launch a synchronized bombing run on the port facilities and any naval assets that are present in the harbor." The Battleship Princess paused as she changed the image on the Abyssal Equivalent of a projector. "Meanwhile the escort carriers will hold continuous CAP and launch strikes against any military assets in the bay left over from the initial strike."

The 'screen' changed, highlighting the mouth of the bay. "As we enter, a contingent of our fleet will launch a distractionary strike against the Yokosuka naval base. This purpose is not to destroy the base, and we cannot get bogged down lest we lose the element of surprise. A second contingent will be left at the mouth, securing our exit and providing an avenue for escape and resupply for the distraction force. This group will consist of 75 vessels."

The screen changed again. "When we begin our main attack, the battleships will form the center of the formation, shelling–"

The briefing continued, and as it went on my dread rose. Sometimes it was so easy to forget. The Battleship Princess was a brute and a zealot, but like all abyssal princesses she possessed a very keen tactical mind. This was supposed to be like the abyssal raids of old. Shock and awe, striking major population centers and plummeting the morale of the defending humans. So many innocent people were going to die, punished for sins committed by generations past. Was I the only one who saw that? The warhawks had eager looks on their faces, listening raptly and attentively. The moderates had grim visages, unapproving but too terrified to openly speak against the brute in charge.

"Should you need it, Wake and her supply fleet will be spread out amongst the armada, holding food and ammunition. Use their supply liberally, we want to cause as much destruction as possible, running out of ammo would hinder that," she finished with a smirk. There were some chuckles, some glances were thrown my way. I just stared impassively ahead.

I could only hope that the message I sent before coming here was taken seriously. I dreaded to think about what would happen if it was ignored. This wasn't going to be like Darwin. There wouldn't be any breaks as we checked for the dead and dying. Tokyo was immense, the attack would be constant. After this, any chance for peace would be dust in the wind.

I sighed as the meeting was finished and questions were asked and answered.

What was the point?

I remembered a long, long time ago, when a young marine was reading an old book he had brought along with him to Wake Island. It was October of 1941, he was done with his duty for the day, I think he was a cook? His book was about the origin of the American National anthem, there wasn't much I remembered, except for one thing that sparked the memory. When Francis Scott Key was aboard the British ship, and they attacked the fort, he described the noise as deafening, the cannon fire was constant and without relief.

I could only draw parallels to that as I watched almost 100 battleships constantly open fire on the city of Tokyo. The city was on fire, buildings were collapsing or shorn in half, the port was ruined, every ship in the harbor; civilian and military, were sunk or sinking. The constant drone of aircraft buzzed overhead, sometimes streaking towards the water when they noticed survivors, machinegun fire raking wherever they attacked. At the shore there were skirmishes between shipgirls and Abyssals, but it was a stalemate. The battleship princess wouldn't divert any capital ships to assist, and the humans had battleships that were being struck by ineffective cruisers or destroyers. It was a mess, and it got even worse as I heard thunder in the distance, towards shore.

I watched as a bronze-skinned Amazon with white hair wrapped in bandages single-handedly sink five cruisers. Musashi was on the field it seemed. That wouldn't end well if she decided to turn her guns on the immobile battleships.

There was some good news though…

"Torpedo!"

"Break right! 290 heading!"

KABOOM

I braced myself and raised one of my massive gauntlets as an enormous water spout erupted from the battleship nearest to me. I felt the water pattering off of my gauntlet and crashing all around me, and I heard the angry curses of the destroyer princess who was in charge of the destroyer screen.

"PIN DOWN THAT FUCKING SUB, I'VE HAD IT!" she screamed. I watched impassively as the battleship listed horribly, the crew trying their hardest to fight the flooding. This was apparently the 8th strike made against the battleships that went unnoticed by the screening ships.

The good news was that it looked like they heeded my warning. The entirety of Yokosuka's shipgirl element was in the harbor, and the submarine pens nearby had been emptied. Systematically they were launching strikes against–

I pulled a hard turn, causing a torpedo to brush my foot rather than explode. Was that a Type 95? Oxygen torpedoes, fuck… Oxygen torpedoes could break the backs of most battleships in a single hit, causing massive damage or outright sinking them.

Bad news, the Japanese took my warning. It was ironic wasn't it? Warning my enemies to prevent casualties put me in the line of fire. Not unexpected, but ironic to me nonetheless. Also, the Battleship Princess was furious. This was supposed to be her magnum opus, and instead it was turning into a costly siege. We had done considerable damage to the shipgirl forces and Tokyo itself, but we were taking losses as well. Casualties increased with each report that came in. Some were from my fleet, and each name I recognized was a knife wound to my "heart."

"Wake Island, Shikishima. Come in," came a staticky voice from my radio station.

"Wake Island, Shikishima. I read you. What do you need?" I responded. As much as I didn't want to answer, I needed to keep up appearances.

"I sent some destroyers on a reconnaissance mission some time ago and I haven't heard back from them."

Recon? During the actual fight?

"I'm heading the resupply efforts, is there someone else you can send?"

"Negative, you're the closest and the most well equipped. I'm counting on you, their mission is vital and I need them back."

"… Roger, send me their last known location and I'll see what I can do." I reluctantly replied before closing the channel. I turned to Indiana, my second in command, "I have to investigate something. You have the fleet."

Something was off. Their location was supposedly onshore, near a bunch of warehouses. What "vital" mission could abyssal destroyers be conducting that had to be onshore in enemy territory? After the battle had started as well?

…

Was this a trap?

No, that couldn't be it. I've just been really paranoid because of recent events. The Battleship Princess was bold, but not stupid. A handful of destroyers didn't have a chance in hell of bringing me down. That wasn't me being vain either, it was just statistically impossible.

So what the hell…

I shook my head. I'd find out soon enough.

(-)

In the distance I heard the thunder of naval artillery and the impacts in the city. The battle was raging with no signs of slowing down.

And for my 'mission?'

There was nothing here. Absolutely nothing.

Radar was clear, there was nothing on any open channels. My scout aircraft reported no abyssal signatures except for me. I wasn't actually at the location yet, but there should be something. I kept walking for minutes on end, even checking the warehouses but everything I did yielded the same result.

Wait…

There!

In the distance, there was something laying on the ground. Signature came back… a destroyer! I-Class.

I ran over to the girl laying on the ground, she was mangled beyond belief but maybe there was still a chance that–

I barely had seconds to react. Whoever put the corpse here has rigged up a pressure sensor hooked to an entire ship-load of explosives. Damn it, idiot, fool, and a thousand other curses went through my mind for being so reckless and foolish. As soon as I had my gauntlets in front of me, everything went white.

Indiana was honestly getting bored. Other than dodging the odd torpedo here or there she was doing nothing except for shelling the poor city. So much in fact, that in a few more volleys she would have to replace some of her barrels. Her princess had also left towards shore, going on some "mission."

Anything else that might have gone through her mind however, was replaced with shock as an enormous explosion erupted from shore.

Wait…

That was where her princess had gone! What the hell happened?

"Arcania!" She called out to the carrier a few hundred yards away. "I'm investigating that explosion, take command of the supply fleet while I'm gone."

She heard a brief "roger that!" before she was steaming towards shore at 34 knots.

What… the hell.

Damage diagnostics were coming slowly, my crew was shaken and still recovering from the blast.

Radar: damaged.

Radio: destroyed.

Long range communication was out, and if my radar was damaged that would explain the ringing in my ears. The radar wasn't destroyed, but I could definitely tell the difference.

Runway: damaged.

Hangers: destroyed.

No planes then. Normally in a pinch I could launch my own air cover, but my runway was cratered and everything inside of the hangers was slag.

Generators: operating at 65% efficiency

I could feel it too. I was sluggish, a bit unsteady. Moving took a lot more effort than it should.

Ammunition depot: nominal.

Armaments:

Anti-Aircraft reduced to 42%

Shore Batteries reduced to 20%

Artillery batteries reduced to 0%

So most of my guns were ruined in the blast as well.

Rangefinders: nominal.

Secondary systems: damaged.

As I got onto my feet the world spun and I fell back down. I closed my eyes and counted. The ringing was getting better, and when I opened my eyes nothing was spinning anymore. Shakily I stood up and took stock of myself.

My left gauntlet was practically fused and turned to molten slag. When the blast hit, it took the brunt of the explosion. My right gauntlet was better. I dispersed both with a thought, I wasn't fighting yet and they wouldn't do me any good yet.

My bare legs were torn up. Brackish red oil and blood ran down them from a thousand cuts and shrapnel wounds. My left calf was more muscle than skin, dark red sinew torn and bleeding. My shirt was ruined, obviously. At this point it was more shredded rags than shirt. If I wasn't an Abyssal I'd probably die from embarrassment. As it was, my bikini was the only thing truly keeping me decent.

My left arm was similar to my legs, pissing blood and oil from a hundred different cuts and totally bare. The sleeve from my shirt was just gone. My right arm was actually the best out of everything. There was only a shard of metal sticking out of it, and the sleeve was perfectly intact. Gripping the metal, I tore it out with a grunt, tossing it away. Oh. And I was covered in soot and dirt.

My glasses were lost in the explosion, probably why my radar was damaged too. As I took a few experimental steps I felt my entire body throb with discomfort. Everything I took note of however, was superficial. My chest and stomach were fine, so my bunkers and my armored facilities were relatively undamaged. The equivalent would be a battleship's citadel. I must have looked like quite a sight to anyone else, but I wasn't out of the fight. Perks of being an abyssal princess, we're monstrously resilient.

Now that my self-diagnosis was done I looked around. My maps were horrifically out of date, and in the explosion they were launched across the command room. Without a functioning radar, and without those maps, I had no idea where I was. The destruction didn't help either. My guess was that I was in some kind of commercial district, and judging by the sound of the battleships I was a fair distance further than the docks. Just how far was I launched in that explosion?

I steadied myself on a streetlamp as my vision spun again. I really needed those generators up, if I got into a fight it wouldn't be pretty.

And as if the gods heard that specific thought, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Centuries of combat experience kicked in, I summoned my right gauntlet and pivoted to the right just as something impacted my gauntlet with a loud clang!

Newton's Third Law was a bitch, and unfortunately I continuously forget that.

I flew through the air, hitting the remnants of a building some 50 yards away, causing the wall to crack and crumble. I grunted in exertion as I stood back up, lowering my fist to get an idea of what had just hit me with the force of a battleship. That broken radar was really biting me in the ass.

"What… the hell?" I muttered in astonishment. I was expecting… Honestly, I don't know. A battleship would've made sense, a heavy cruiser; maybe. Hell, a tank would've made sense. Not… this.

"Abyssals… your kind are a stain on the ocean." Said the… man?

I was looking at the bastard child of a killer whale and a human being. He must have been about 7 feet tall, and for whatever reason he was wearing a white business suit. A hero? Quirks were odd…

With some effort I stood up straight and advanced a few steps. That's when I saw the others show up. There were maybe 20? All wore black skintight suits with white kinds and shoulder pads. Their masks had 6 lenses, and they all had some kind of gauntlet on.

"This… is certainly a first," I muttered to myself. I didn't have time for this shit.

"I'm going to say this once, and only once. All of us have better things to do right now, so how about we go our separate ways and forget this ever happened?" I asked hopefully, shrugging and putting on my best smile, or at least the best one I could while looking like I got into a fight with a polar bear. I had a feeling though, the kind you get when you know that something won't end well. They couldn't see it, but I was loading what remained of my guns. The moment they moved, I'd fire two 5 inch shells straight at them.

"Forget this ever happened?" He quoted, "you, the embodiment of evil on the seas, are laying siege to the place where so many innocent people live their lives. You bring fire and pain to people just trying to be happy. No, so I have an offer for you," he pointed at me, "surrender now, and you won't perish."

I gritted my teeth as he spoke, to most it would seem that I was angry at them, arrogant, hating that they'd dare refuse. Once upon a time I might've, but now? I agreed with him, I shared his anger. This attack was pointless, it was only an act of terror. But I couldn't surrender. If I gave up, there was nobody left to stand up to the Battleship Princess. She would have total control with no opposition.

"I don't think you realize who you're facing. I am an Abyssal Princess. One of the most powerful entities on the waves, entire fleets have quaked and broken before my wrath. I have been fighting since the advent of this war, you don't stand a chance." I tried to lay on the pressure, bringing out my "admiral's voice." I really didn't want to do this…

If he was moved or concerned at my revelation he didn't show it. Some of the others did, they looked around backed up.

"Stand firm shrimps!" He told his subordinates. "Maybe I don't stand a chance. Maybe this fight will be my last. But I would spit in the face of everyone I know, everyone I fight for, if I simply let you go. If I die protecting the innocent and helpless then that is a death that I am happy with. The same goes for everyone under my command. How can I call myself a hero if I simply curl up in defeat when faced with overwhelming odds. I, Gang Orca, will not bow down to a squid like you."

He took a step forwards, "besides, there is one thing I have that you don't. You stand alone, I have my men and women, and more pro heroes are on their way as we speak."

I closed my eyes and exhaled. "So be it…"

When I opened my eyes I shot out my gauntlet and two cracks of thunder echoed through the streets. Two 5 inch shells raced towards the crowd, and a sonic pulse met them before they reached their targets. The sonic pulse must have activated the fuses, as they exploded early, sending some people flying but not doing nearly what they could have done.

All at once his sidekicks opened fire, shooting… concrete? I saw it sticking and hardening around me. If I got hit it would take time to break.

I punched the ground with my gauntlet, causing the road to splinter and rise, creating a pseudo shield in front of me. I danced out of cover and fired two more shells, this time into the ground to create more cover I could utilize. What remained of my AA opened up, forcing them into cover.

It went on like that for a few seconds. I shot the ground and advanced, cover to cover, while avoiding return fire and suppressing everyone I could. They became more frantic the closer I got until eventually I was upon them.

I blocked some shots with my gauntlet before punching the ground, creating a shockwave and sending the group around me flying in every direction. I ducked under a punch from Gang Orca and hit him with a left hook, staggering him and letting me follow up with a kick that sent him flying a good couple of yards away. From there it was a battle of attrition, blocking and dodging while incapacitating whoever I could. I didn't want to kill them if I didn't have to.

I bit back a curse as I felt something hit my foot, one tug and I knew that I had been hit by their concrete launchers. Blocking with one hand I threw a punch at my encased foot, freeing myself. That small moment was all it took though, because suddenly I was being hit by some kind of sonic wave. It was obvious who was making it, but I couldn't hit Gang Orca from here. His crew were rallying as well, forming a firing line at the sides of their leader.

I panted as I crouched, hunkering down behind my gauntlet, using it to take all of the incoming fire. I felt my generators straining, damaged as they were. I couldn't afford a fight like this. I would, and was, losing a fight of attrition. Normally I'd be more than a match for all of them, but this wasn't a normal situation. More and more concrete was hitting my gauntlet, making it heavier and heavier. It also had the extra effect of clogging the barrels of precious few remaining guns. Every second I spent here made me run out of whatever options I had left. Guns were rapidly winking out of existence, pretty soon I'd have to disperse my right and only undamaged gauntlet, if I kept fighting I ran the risk of burning out my remaining generators. No aircraft, no friendlies, and if the walking orca was to be believed soon I'd have even more "friends" joining the party.

My command faeries were running around frantically, looking for anything I could use to get out of this. Nothing came to mind. I had no options left, not even surrender.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!"

My ears rang as I heard a titanic boom erupt from above me. The ground shook as the street between the heroes and I suddenly erupted into explosions, sending everybody flying away.

I struggled to even kneel before I was yanked up and onto my feet. Purple eyes and a shark-like grin met me. To this day I don't think I've ever been so happy to see this specific battleship.

"Indiana!" I cried out in relief, staggering as she tried to steady me.

"Heya boss, long time no see, yeah?" She said, looking me over with a worried look. "Deep, you look like shit."

I deadpanned her, too tired to respond to the jab.

Across from us I saw shapes moving in the smoke left behind from the explosion. My new friends were fine, it would seem.

"We need to leave," already I could feel my remaining generators damaging themselves from the constant overclocking.

"Yeah, you do." She said, tail swaying in anticipation.

"I do?.."

"Radar's not looking good, we have more than a few heroes Enroute to our position. Head directly south down this road, it'll take you straight to the harbor. The destroyer princess is holding a corridor open but it won't stay open for long."

She gave me a hard look. I didn't like it when she gave me those looks. She was much better with her cocky smiles…

"We're pulling out; tits-for-brains decided we've done what we set out to do. They're pulling out ASAP."

There was no way she was saying what I thought she was saying. "You're pulling my leg Indie, there's no way I'm leaving without you!"

"We can't both go. They'll hound us all the way to the harbor, no way they'll just let us go. Not enough time to fight ''em all off, not enough time to hide and wait," she shoved me away in the direction of the harbor. "but if I make enough of a fuss, you can get away scott free without them noticing."

"No… no abyssal has ever been taken hostage, you know that!" I screamed. "I'm not leaving you here..." I couldn't, I'd already lost too many friends in this war. It wasn't fair. First the Pacific Princess, now this?

"Indiana I–" before I could say anything else a red feather buried itself in the concrete between us. We both looked up, there was somebody with wings flying around and firing feathers at us. Right after concrete blobs started flying towards us from the rapidly disappearing smoke.

"Go!" AA erupted from Indiana towards the new target and her six 16 inch cannons fired again towards the smoke. "You are the only person who has a chance at fostering peace between humanity and our kind. If you die then we really are doomed to oblivion!"

"Indiana…" I held an arm out but she pulled away. Damn it… "You better not die here. That's an order, you hear?"

"Got it boss!" She said before running off. The last I saw of her was her using her tail as a springboard to launch herself into the air, twirling upside down and firing into God knows what. Then she was gone, and all I heard was gunfire and fighting. Figures moved through the smoke, but I couldn't tell who they were.

Another few feathers buried themselves into the ground around me, knocking me out of my stupor. I started running south as fast as I could, ignoring the sharp pain I felt in my shoulder as a feather buried itself there. As much as I wanted to deny it, Indiana was right. If I died here, countless more would suffer in the future. I had to do something to end this war. I didn't know what, but soon I would end this.

But there was one thing I knew. My friend was gone, and there would be hell to pay.

Shipgirls, the ones allied with the humans that is, had made a breakthrough pretty early into the war. They called them "repair baths," and from what we understood they functioned as dockyards that repaired injured and damaged warships. They were a boon that had seen many ships we thought sunk back in the fight in days. It was a relaxing dip in a hot-spring from what I heard.

Abyssals never made that breakthrough…

I kept my breathing even as Abyssal repair ships welded my injuries shut. My legs and arms were the easy parts, patching metal only required welding in new parts or closing wounds. The scars would fade over time, but it didn't make it any less painful.

I kept still, gritting my teeth as a full ten seconds passed for one particularly long cut. How welders worked this deep in the ocean was beyond even me. This went on for an hour or so before they moved onto the gun part.

You see, injuries are a representation of what kind of internal damage a ship has sustained. A shipgirl with a missing leg might mean missing propellers. Scratches and cuts would be superficial or minor structure damage. A deep wound or a collapsing organ would mean some serious damage, like a boiler explosion or a citadel penetration. But back to missing limbs. Humans were easy, you could do some reconnecting and see back a lost limb.

Us? We were a bit more complicated. Most ships were built in parts, so that if we suffered some kind of damage they could simply take off the damaged piece and fit on new replacements. They just had to… cut away the damaged piece. How does that translate to us you may ask?

I felt my newly repaired generators speed up, or my heart beat faster if you will, as I heard an industrial saw being powered up. Even if my left arm looked fine without the gauntlet, it would never be properly fixed if left alone.

I held my left arm perpendicular to my body, breathing deeply. I closed my eyes, not wanting to watch. I heard it get closer and closer, until eventually I felt the saw bite into my bicep.

I screamed

You wouldn't think that I had just gone through hours of intensive surgery. I looked like I did before the battle, pristine, with a few new scars here and there. My left arm was sore, it didn't quite feel right. That was always the case though, I'd get used to it.

I fixed my glasses and put on my headphones as I walked into the war summit. It was boring. A debrief; what we did right, what we did wrong, our accomplishments that were totally falsified, casualty reports, and before I knew it the summit was over. Everyone filtered out one by one except for me. I had a…conversation I needed to have with our "leader."

One hand on the surprisingly tough red feather I had taken as a 'souvenir' I walked up to the Battleship princess and socked her in the jaw as hard as I could. Not expecting the punch, she was sent reeling and nearly fell over.

"That was for Indiana you megalomaniac bitch." I jabbed her in the chest, meeting her death glare with one of my own. Deep red met electric blue, a spark formed between the two warring colors as neither of us broke eye contact.

"I will forgive this transgression, as I understand that I am partially at fault for her demise. But don't think for a moment that I will let you perform another you–"

I cut her off, "you'll what? Kill me? Like you murdered our leader? And then what? Who'll be next? What will the others think of you if you kill not one, but two major ranking Abyssals?" I was letting it all out now. "Damn it, she was writing a declaration of peace! All of this could have ended!"

"You think this was a victory? All you did was wake the entire world up! We've been living on borrowed time for centuries. We are stuck with outdated equipment from a war that happened centuries ago, and some supernatural abilities that a kid could have at random! Did you even think what a retaliation might look like? You really think we can stay hidden and strike from wherever we want?" I screamed at her, not caring who might hear, "WAKE UP. Say we do invade Japan, hm? How are we going to get past all the heroes? This," I held up the feather, "punched straight through my bunkers. A fucking feather."

I shoved the red feather into her chest. "Keep it, look at and see what we've lost today. You may be powerful but you have proven to be a horrible leader. I lost supply ships that were supposed to be under your guard. If I'm going into combat with you I can't be sure if my fleet's coming back home with me. I'll supply you Enroute but from now on you're on your own when it comes to any more attacks like this."

She stared at me in shock. "What's that supposed to mean?"

All I did was turn and walk away. I heard her call my name, demanding I return but I ignored it. In the halls of the Abyss I saw lots of ships, some were floating but the prevalent emotion I saw was fear. Nobody was certain of our future now. Apparently my conversation was louder than I thought.

On my way out I made small talk, giving orders here and there and just simply being there for the fleets. Princesses functioned as admirals, so the fleets looked up to us as idols and sometimes godlike figures. Being among them was enough to brighten their spirits, if their leaders looked strong they could find hope. I only wished I could share in it.

Finally, I departed with my fleet and made a course for Wake Island. Home…

It was near midnight when we arrived. I dismissed my fleet, giving them the night and next day off. On the pier I was met with a tired looking Dione.

"I heard," before I could say anything she grabbed my hand and pulled me into her office. I didn't even get a chance to do anything before she brought me into a tight embrace. "I don't blame you… I would have done the same in her shoes, and you would've done the same for us."

I felt tears well up in my eyes. Somehow I was fearing this, Dione was Indiana's sister. Both were Iowas. One was a carrier and the other was an aviation battleship, so you wouldn't see it at a first glance. I was responsible for the death of Dionne's sister. And here she was, hugging me. Forgiving me. I couldn't help it, I returned the hug and broke down, going limp. Dione brought both of us to the floor, rubbing small circles on my back and just holding me. I wasn't afraid of her seeing me like this, Dione knew me better than anyone.

"We'll get through this. I know it." She whispered.

"How?" I whispered back in despair. "I'm the princess. I'm supposed to lead the fleet. If there's a path out of this I can't find it. I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel, I don't know what to do!"

"Maybe you just haven't walked far enough. I believe in you. All of us do." She pulled away and held me by the shoulders. Yellow met blue. "Go to sleep. We'll figure something out tomorrow."

"Ok… thank you, Kentucky."

The carrier, my friend, smiled at me. "Anytime Wake Island."

"You did good, Keigo, beyond what we could've hoped for. You said you can still feel the feather? Can you point it out to us on a map?"

The teen nodded, pointing towards a specific part of the ocean, near the Mariana Islands.

"Challenger Deep? Surely not."

"We've checked before. Deep sea vessels explored the entire trench!"

"Murmurs of disbelief ran through the small crowd. Navy and HPSC members were gathered in a secure location in Kyushu. The prodigy has revealed that he managed to get a feather on one of the Princesses, and mentioned that at some point they would probably go to the Abyssal's home base. When it had stopped moving entirely, he knew that he'd been right.

"We need to be absolutely sure."

"I have faith in Keigo, he's never been wrong before."

There were still mourners in the crowd, all except for one.

"Admiral? What do you think?" Asked the blond woman, the head of the HPSC.

"What the hell. This is the closest we've ever been, the navy can provide the delivery system. Contact David Shield on I-Island, have him cook up something that'll wipe it out. Meanwhile I'll start work on drafting an official operation. Sound good?"

There were consenting nods and exclamations. Soon, the Abyssal menace would end. There would be peace on the waves. Keigo kept quiet about the conversation he heard. The argument. He waited until the meeting was over, and waved the admiral down before she left.

"Hey kiddo, what's up?"

The admiral was an odd woman. At one point she could command an entire room, no matter who was in it. The next it was like she was a kid at his own school. He liked her, he decided.

"What would you do if the Abyssals offered peace?" He asked.

"Woo, deep question there. Honestly… I'm not sure. I don't know how many people would be willing to forgive them. Why do you ask?"

He put up his front, an easy smile finding its way onto his face. "Just curious, I heard some Abyssals talking I think. Wondering about the war, why it was still going. Won't matter pretty soon anyways. Sorry I took up your time, peace!" He gave a faux salute and walked away. The admiral called her own goodbye and left.

He had quite a bit to think about. It probably wouldn't matter, but what would a world look like with the Abyssals suing for peace?

Wow, the longest chapter by far! A pretty heavy one too. Don't worry, it's gonna get worse, hehe. Poor Indiana too, but it's a pretty good matchup between her and Gang Orca. Killer Whale vs shark!

I have big plans coming up, we're not quite to the point of the main plot, but don't worry! More familiar faces to come, and actually we're getting pretty close to the end of this entire arc. We're getting to the fluff, don't worry. It's there, if ya squint.

Hopefully I don't take as long with the next chapter. I've been dealing with my health, as well as personal issues, but I haven't forgotten about you guys.

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