A/N: The last time I played Kancolle was like 9 or 10 months ago, still a noob. I have a bunch of scraps of plot, I'm struggling on connecting them and creating a good beginning.
Into The Abyss - Chapter II
Middle of the Ocean
"Are we there—."
"Minne, if you would, please."
"Got it." She glided over and covered Laffey's mouth. "Are you doing this on purpose?"
She got a muffled "Maybe." as a reply.
Minneapolis sighed, then pointed with her other hand. "Look Laff, the base is right there." She removed her other hand from her mouth. Without a word, Laffey sped up.
"Hey! Laffey, wait!"
"I'll try catching up with Laff." Cleveland said as she too, sped up to match the destroyer's speed.
"Sorry for slowing you guys down." Arizona said from the back.
"Don't worry about it. I feel pretty safe with three powerful battleships escorting us." Minne looked over at the other two battleships.
"What happened to her?"
"Well…" Washington was carrying South Dakota over her shoulders. She relayed what had happened.
"So let me get this straight…" Arizona pinched the bridge of her nose. "You accidentally chopped her neck instead of slapping her back?"
She saw Washington slowly nod.
"Pfft." Chucked the carrier, which lasted for a solid two seconds then reverted back to normal.
"Holy shit, your stupidity made the cold E laugh."
As they got closer, they could see Cleveland and Laffey talking to some people. Probably Japs. By the way they were dressed.
"Weren't you at Cape Esperance?"
"And Midway?"
"And Guadalcanal, poi?"
Laffey was behind Cleveland, clutching her jacket while peeking her head to look at the girls questioning her.
"Now, now, girls. You're overwhelming her." Cleveland said to get their hyperactivity down.
"Oh wait! We should introduce ourselves."
"I'm Mutsuki. Let's work together!"
"I'm Yuudachi, a Shiratsuyu-class destroyer. Nice to meet you, poi."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Fubuki!"
"Laffey already introduced herself, so It's my turn. I'm Cleveland, the lead-ship of my class!"
The rest of the fleet finally reached land. Yuudachi looked over. "Is she okay, poi?" She pointed to South Dakota.
"Yeah, don't worry about it. She'll be up again after—."
"AARGH." South yelled and tipped over backward off from Washington's shoulder. The destroyers jumped a bit, startled. Dakota slowly sat up, rubbing the back of her neck.
"One word, screw you."
"That's two."
"Exactly. I don't give a damn about you enough to bother."
"I'll go check in with the Admiral as the flagship." Ari stated. "Minne I'm leaving you to deal with them."
Minne sighed and grumbled in response. "Fine."
"Do you want me to guide you?"
Arizona put her hand up. "No, it's fine. I have a map." she said as she held it up and then turned around to start making her way to the main building.
"That one who just left was Arizona. This one's Minneapolis." The destroyers turned back to Cleveland. She continued. "Those two are battleships Washington and South Dakota, best of friends."
The two were currently shouting insults at each other and things looked like they would get physical. Fubuki and Mutsuki backed up a bit.
"This is our one and only carrier, Enterprise."
The carrier gave a short polite bow. The destroyers looked up in awe at the legendary ship, which made her feel a bit weird.
"And I think that's it."
Suddenly they heard a sound coming from behind them. "Hehe. It is I! The stealth submarine, Albacore!" She said as she rose from the water. "I see none of you could detect me." She giggled smugly.
Albacore had dark blue, almost black-like messy hair that was into two ponytails and sea blue eyes. She wore a simple black skin-tight bikini. Over that, was a black loose half-shirt with red sleeves and a simple thick white line comforted by thin twin goldens one down the middle of her shirt. It had left her stomach area exposed. Her feet were dressed with high black socks with a single red line traveling downwards and tough black duck boots, her gloves dawning the same features.
"The heck?! Did you get lost? You're supposed to be at the Alaska operation."
"Well, so much for that. The operation got canceled."
The code breakers over in America somehow were able to hijack into an Abyssal communications line. It seems they were planning to make a great assault on the state of Alaska. Except, the Abyssals knew they were found and canceled.
"But besides that, why are you here?" Laffey cut in.
"I wanted to tag along and begged-, I mean successfully obtained the Admiral's permission!" She stretched her arms. Albacore turned towards the cargo ship and put her hands on her hips. "Hey, come out! We're on land!"
There were some sounds of rummaging before a petite figure came out and fell flat on her face. "You tuna bastard."
The girl was wearing a large dark gray coat with white buttons and clips. Near the neck was a white jabot coming out of the top of the coat while the rest of it was buttoned. The ends of the long coat covered her blue shirt with a single line running through the bottom. She wore big boots, going all the way up to her knee area. On top of her brown hair that was in a half ponytail, was a tricorn that had white highlights.
"How was the trip?"
"Shut up. Want to explain to me why you shoved me in there and locked it up?"
Albacore turned her back towards the girl. "You said you wanted to go. Plus it saved oil cause there wouldn't be enough to get you over here anyway."
"I broke the lock midway through the trip, in the smack middle of the damn ocean."
"Yet you didn't make your move. Though that was smart. I didn't want to deal with Arizona too, O'Bannon."
O'Bannon looked at the fleet, then at the Japanese destroyers. "Hey, there. Who are you guys?"
"Fubuki, Mutsuki, and Yuudachi." Cleveland said.
"Ah, I see." She walked closer to them and held her hand out. "I'm O'Bannon, or known as the potato destroyer."
Around The Same Time, Main Building
The battleship walked up to the office door and knocked for a bit. "Come in."
"The Admiral doesn't have any upcoming appointments, so what's your business with her?" A tall and intimidating woman said.
"Hello, I'm here to inform you that the American reinforcements have arrived safely. I am the flagship of the fleet, USS Arizona BB-39."
"Apologies if I came off as rude. I am Battleship Nagato, pleased to meet you. The Admiral is currently off to who knows where."
Arizona handed Nagato a small piece of paper. "Those are all our supplies and resources we could bring."
"The Admiral will be overjoyed, the American government is generous alright."
"Along with that, we brought the following ships; Washington, South Dakota, Enterprise, Cleveland, Laffey, Albacore, and I. However, I believe our submarine snuck someone along with us. Most likely a destroyer."
Albacore sneezed.
"Are you catching a cold?" O'Bannon asked.
Then she sneezed as well.
"Could say the same to you."
"Didn't you say E was here? I don't see her."
Nagato handed Arizona a piece of paper in return and a box of keys.
"Those are all your dorm rooms. Please do keep it down and get along. On there is also a schedule for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You're free to eat in the mess hall at those times, but you can just eat at the cafe or dorm cafeteria anytime."
"Alright, thanks."
Early Morning
Kaga woke up at the same time as always, 0500 sharp. Something or someone was missing, namely the other carrier of the first division. She went along with her typical routine, leaving for the range once she was finished. Everything was going normal, could be even better than usual.
Breakfast was from 0600 to 0900. Lunch was from 1130 to 1330. Dinner was from 1600 to 1800. Cooking your own food was an option, the cafeteria was always open. The times were when they were serving food.
The arrow glided through the air, making a satisfying sound as it struck the wooden targets. Kaga let out a puff. Today was a decent day. She took a glance at the clock.
0900 already?
She wanted to keep going, and it seemed like she was in the right mood for practicing. Just then, the door of the range was opened. Kaga didn't face the newcomer. While still looking at the targets, she caught a glimpse of the person who entered. The way they were dressed caught her interest, that and she didn't recognize the other. Undoubtedly American.
She turned to get a better view, then their eyes met.
"Ah." they said at the same time.
"I thought most of the navy left." the American spoke. Kaga couldn't read her tone. It was blank, empty.
"Most, not all."
The American girl nodded. "Wouldn't they dedicate all their carriers for such a big sortie?"
"The Admiral wants to keep two in reserve in case of an enemy ambush."
"How long have you been training?"
"Since 0600, three hours." She said and continued launching arrows and squadrons. This conversation was pretty dry, she had to admit.
"Nice pilots."
"Best of the best." This girl was certainly intriguing. "What's your name?"
"I'm Enterprise. A carrier of the USN."
Kaga stopped. Of course they would send her, who else? "You're lucky. I just thought about finishing up for the day."
As she almost left, Enterprise asked. "What's yours?"
"IJN Kaga, of the Kido Butai." With that, she left the carrier range.
"Kaga." she tried saying to no one in particular. She then looked over to the spot where the carrier was training.
BANG!
The sound of gunfire coming from the range startled Shoukaku. She hesitated to open the door and just waited outside for the time being, contemplating.
Taking a few breaths, she gently opened the door.
Enterprise turned around to see Shoukaku standing there. "Who are you?" she spoke calmly.
"My name's Shoukaku, what's yours?"
"I'm Enterprise, sixth carrier of the USN." she said with a short bow.
Shoukaku became very nervous but tried her best to hide it. "O-Oh is that so? I'm pleased to meet you—."
"I know you're probably scared of or hate me. Besides that, I look forward to working with you." Her voice is unchanging, yet not cold.
The Japanese carrier somewhat calmed down. "If you could put your grudges aside like that, I'll try my best to." She paused and took in another breath. "We aren't enemies anymore, we have enough Abyssals to fight, no need for more infighting."
Enterprise walked closer to Shoukaku and then did a full 90-degree bow. Shoukaku was taken aback by the girl's action.
"I'll be in your care. Please take care of me from now on." she stated.
Shoukaku took another deep breath to calm herself. "Stand tall." She smiled. "Friends don't need to bow like that to each other."
The American complied not before adding a small comment. "We're that close already?"
"Eh? Oh-er, if you don't want to…"
"Apologies, I'm joking. You're too nice." she said with a small smile. "Shall I call you senpai now too?"
"Eh? B-But aren't you older than me and—."
"Haha. I'm only joking, please calm down."
By the way she said that, one could hardly tell if she was joking or not.
"Were you going to train as well?"
"Yeah, I finished my duties for today. I'm not sure what else to do."
BOOM!
Shoukaku was startled by the loud sound, while Enterprise, on the other hand, was calm, almost too calm.
"Well, I apologize in place of my fleet mates. Something bad probably happened. Do you want to come help sort this out?"
A word to describe this was chaos. Would chaos be an understatement? Shoukaku wouldn't know. The most chaotic thing that happened on the base was when Kongo was scheming something probably bad and backfired instead. It also came with a lawnmower chasing a lot of people.
She has never seen battleships go at it at each other like this, nevertheless from the same country. Even if this was a mock battle, it looked too dangerous to be one. The two raging battleships firing their guns at one another, a cruiser chasing a submarine and a destroyer while another destroyer was just laying in the smack middle, sleeping and another cruiser sitting next to her. Fubuki, Mutsuki, and Yuudachi just stood there off to the side with surprised expressions. Despite all of that, Enterprise seemed unfazed.
"The main problem…" she said with air quotations. "…Are the battleships over there. Even though they are always like that."
"What…"
"What the hell happened here…" Arizona said as she just came back.
Pinching the bridge of her nose, she closed her eyes angrily. "I was gone for a couple minutes. I swear those two. I have a plan, one second."
She put her rigging on and started gliding to the two battleships brawling. They were about to punch each other in the face until Arizona silently came up to them. She grabbed their heads and slammed them together.
"You two never lose your energy, even after a long trip." She then proceeded to drag them back to shore. When she was on land again, she just dropped them on the ground.
O'Bannon, who was running from Minneapolis, crashed into Arizona. Albacore, who was also being chased, stopped in her tracks.
"Oh hey, Ari."
"I kind of expected this to happen."
Cleveland came over where everyone else was carrying Laffey under her arm. "Er…So what did the Admiral say?"
"We got our room numbers. Go get your luggage and get settled in." Arizona pulled out the piece of paper she got from Nagato.
The fleet scanned for their names and looked at the designated number next to them to pick up their keys.
"Basically we all are sharing the same rooms in our respective ship-classes. Well, except Enty and Tuna. All sub dorms are one person per room. I think the carrier dorms are a mix."
"Ah, your room is right across from mine."
"Eh?! Since when were you here?! Also who are you?" Washington questioned.
"I came here with Enterprise."
Dakota turned to the other carrier. "What? You left?"
She nodded.
"I'm Shoukaku, the first of the Shokaku-class carriers."
The fleet tensed and the tension rose. "At ease. Remember the Admiral's words." Arizona said to try to calm everyone down.
Minneapolis tried to change the topic. "How 'bout we unpack everything and relax. It's been a long journey after all."
Albacore was already gone, who knows where that submarine ever goes. Everyone started making their way to their own dorms, specific to their type. The two carriers headed to the carrier dorm. Enterprise was carrying her luggage without any struggle, regardless of how it looked.
The first floor of the dorm was the common area. The carrier range, the living room, kitchen, and cafeteria were placed on that floor.
The second floor, third floor, and bedrooms with bathrooms. The second floor was half single and duo dorms, while the other half were trios. Almost all the rooms on the second floor were taken.
"Room 106…" mumbled the American carrier.
"My room is 118."
They reached her room, Enterprise's being a bit diagonal from her room, almost straight across. She unlocked her room and placed her belongings in her room.
"Do you want to come over for tea?" She turned back around to face Shoukaku.
"Sure, but I want to look around the base for a bit."
"In that case, let me give you a tour." She stopped. "How am I talking to her so normally like this?!" Shoukaku internally screamed to calm herself.
"If that's okay. I don't want to bother you though." Enterprise said in her usual deadpanned tone.
"I don't mind. Where do you want to go first?"
O'Bannon sighed. When they broke apart from everyone else to get to the destroyer dorms, Laffey decided to sleep again. So the other destroyer was carrying her and all their luggage.
Minneapolis and Cleveland were walking over to the cruiser dorms without any problems, making small talk.
Arizona on the other hand was dragging both battleships while they dragged their belongings. She was pretty much used to their antics but not sure how the Japanese would deal with them.
The battleships got to their shared room and settled down. South just put everything down next to her bed and fell asleep.
"Wash you should learn from SoDak and know when to shut the hell up."
Washington sweatdropped. She then thought about the carrier she saw earlier.
"I wonder if it's that easy to make friends…"
"Hey, Ari." The said battleship turned to face her.
"What will you do when this war is over?" The question was thrown around a lot. She's asked a fair share of people but never asked the serious battleship.
"Didn't we already talk about this?"
"No, that was someone else. I don't think I had the guts."
The older battleship put her hand on her chin and thought for a bit. She closed her eyes like she was deep in thought, but she actually wasn't. "Even when this war is over, it's not like we'll be able to do anything we want."
The younger nodded in agreement. "After the Abyssals are done with, the world will just go back to fighting each other. We'll be needed again. However, to fight, not protect. I plan to sink before that happens."
"Every battle, we do need to prepare if we sink. Yet, is that what you really want?"
"Of course I wouldn't want to leave everyone behind, but there are some times where we need to know when we're too tired and quit."
"Just sleep if you're so tired." came a response from a seemingly asleep South Dakota.
"Pfft. She's just as stupid as ever." complimented Washington, after all, they are best friends.
"She has a good heart but a loudmouth. Same could be applied to you." Arizona chuckled as she said that while the other blushed a bit. "I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to rest. E's served for a long time, I'm sure she wants peace every once in a while."
"She's served longer than all of us. Three lives. Reusing her steel and metal every time to make another Enterprise."
"Mhm."
"Speaking about Enterprise, no offense, I thought she would be the last person to befriend someone." The fleet had been with her thick and thin. Most of them shared plenty of battles during the war.
"Well, I can see why you would think that I was surprised too. Especially since it was Shoukaku, but it could've been worse."
Washington closed her eyes for a moment. "Knowing E, she won't really pay attention to grudges, but I know a lot of Japs won't be the same. I'm glad there's at least one that I could forgive."
"Oh yeah, quick reminder." Wash looked at Arizona questionly. "Don't call them Japs in front of their faces."
"Yes ma'am."
"You're right though. If there's one that has the ability to forgive, I'm sure there are others as well."
"And if they don't we just gotta make 'em." she said as she put a fist in the air like she was punching an invisible force.
"I heard that the rest of the base is coming back soon. That's going to be fun." She said sarcastically.
"I think I'll turn in for the day in that case. That's tomorrow's problem." She walked over to the beds. She was in between the middle bed and the bed Dakota occupied before she collapsed with her face on the middle bed.
"So you were worn out." muttered Arizona.
SoDak rolled over and fell off her bed, and reached out her hand to grab something. In the process, she dragged Washington down with her into a piled mess on the floor. Arizona sweatdropped. They were tangled and on top of each other yet slept so soundly.
"I'll take a page out of your book for this one, that's tomorrow's problem." She said with a chuckle and simply just picked them up and plopped them onto the bed South fell off.
Arizona sighed as she could feel her stomach growl somewhat quietly.
"What time was lunch again?"
Cruiser Dorms
Minneapolis was asleep on her bed. Cleveland was looking at her phone. "They gave us the WiFi password, nice!"
Not much else was happening. They were all relaxing and calm.
Destroyer Dorms
Laffey had already set up her console and connected to the internet. She held up another controller. "Wanna go?"
Laff looked at O'Bannon, who was passed out on the desk, sleeping peacefully.
"Party-pooper."
Carrier Dorms
Shoukaku and Enterprise had just finished their tour of the base. "Are you tired? We don't have to have tea today."
"Don't worry, I'm fine."
The Japanese carrier had gotten the gist of the American's personality. She just naturally almost always had a deadpanned tone and expression. Although she's not stoic like Kaga. Then it hit her again. She wondered how they became like this. She was at first scared and weary of her, but now they can nearly make idle chatter without being awkward, well, her being awkward.
"What kind of tea do you like?"
The carrier in question sat on her knees at the tea table. "Whatever's good. I don't drink that much tea."
Shoukaku brewed just some plain green tea and set it down on the table.
"It's still hot, be careful."
"Ah wait, how rude of me." She took off her hat and set it next to her.
"You don't have to do that, it's fine. Shall I get some sweets?"
"No, it's alright. You can just sit down and enjoy the tea."
There was a moment of silence where all that was heard was the light sound of sipping on tea.
"What's Zuikaku like?"
"Zuikaku. Hmm…" Shoukaku thought and was finding the right words to describe her hot-headed sister.
"She's very hot-headed and eager to prove herself. Past all that, she's a great sister and cares about the people she loves a lot. I wouldn't change a thing about her." She smiled as she thought about her sister. "What about your sisters?"
"The more I think about it, the more they remind me of you and Zuikaku."
"Really?"
"Mhm. Hornet is hot-headed, loud, outgoing. Yorktown is calm, collected, too nice, motherly…sometimes she cares about us too much."
"But how can she not? Younger sisters are adorable."
"As a middle child, I could see where you're coming from on that one." agreed Enterprise. "However sometimes I think it goes too far."
Shoukaku was thinking about her sister when she remembered what she had asked Zuikaku. "Ah, Zuikaku said that if you were coming she wanted to have a duel with you."
"A duel?"
"Yeah, she's like that all the time with someone she respects. She's very persistent; she may already see you as her rival."
"Why would she want to with duel me?"
"I think it's because all the times you've come across each other during the war, she finally wants a fair chance at beating you. Mou, sometimes Zuikaku can be—."
The door of the dorm room slid open. "Hey, I'm back sis—." She caught sight of the American carrier. "Uh, hello. Am I interrupting anything?"
"Oh no, don't worry." Shoukaku replied. "We were just talking over some tea, nothing important."
"Well, in that case, allow me to introduce myself. Second of the Shoukaku-class aircraft carriers, the younger sister Zuikaku."
The other carrier stood up and held her hand out. "An American carrier, Enterprise."
Completed: December 14, 2020
A/N: I may or may not have thrown those two characters last second. But hey, why not? Well, not literally last second.