(Early Authors Note: Greetings one and all. For those of you who don't know me, TaleBearer42Day is the name, and telling Tales is my game. Now, for those who do know me, I assure you I will get back to my other fanfics soon. I just made this as a little 'test' so as to see whether or not I should continue with this current story. Now without further ado...enjoy...)
Ah, Earth.
The world of the Free.
The world of the Brave.
The world currently attacked by aliens known as Sirens.
"Don't make a fool out of me, man."
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And also the founding place of a school that puts the Byzantine bureaucracy and Skaven and Hobgoblin politics/schemes (from the hit video-game Total War Warhammer 2) to shame.
That very person who said that was Michael Ulrikson, a (definitely 'not' sneaky and backstabbing) student of Azur Academy, the school for those who (on the good side of things) want to aid the new Azur-Axis Alliance, and (on the bad side) just want to accumulate power for powers sake.
Michael was somewhere in between. Mainly because his sneaky and backstabbing ways accumulate to hair-brained schemes that only work through sheer luck.
His luck (rather funnily) being one of the reasons he's so high up on the favor-chain.
Therefore, he is currently going after people's loyalties, making sure they are on his side. To that end, he cheats in bets, then goes after the loser and presses them for the owed money which he then uses to pay off people's loyalties.
Talk about a (unfortunately overcomplicated) strategy.
Speaking of which, he was dealing with someone who owed him money right now.
And (as always) he had his Scourge-whip with him. He simply called it 'Pain' because he wasn't into too extravagant names for weapons and such, just names that got the point across.
"P-please, don't hurt me! I have it with me this time! Double, actually! Hehehe." The student pathetically whimpered.
Michael just 'hmphed' and said "Good. Don't forget again."
You see, Michael is really a good and quiet person. He just has this nature to protect himself and his friends from the others at this (downright shady) institution of cutthroat schemes, and sneaky dealings.
Something else of note is how 'Pain' was another huge benefactor in his gaining-of-power.
It's really surprising how people will cow-tow to your every whim after one well-aimed strike.
By now you're probably thinking 'how is this place even allowed to operate?!' The answer is that the higher-up command of Azur Lane commissioned it.
They thought that the student that could rise to the absolute top would be the perfect commander for the new Azur-Axis Alliance.
And Michael was that perfect commander.
The real gist of it was: If you butter-up the higher-ups more (and better) than anyone else, you'll be the first getting a commission.
However, he wouldn't leave behind his friends. So, after some string-pulling, he and his five friends set out for the Azur Lane Base.
Mason Karlson (Michael's closest and longtime friend) was declared First Lieutenant.
Caleb Dwight was declared Second Lieutenant.
The Schim Twins (who were Sebastian and Salzen, respectively) were both Captains.
And Joe Lebenin was the Secretary (meaning he covered all the boring paperwork that they would all most likely have to do).
Before all this, of course, these six 'scoundrels' nearly died on their first day. There have been some literal cases of backstabbing, after all.
Ever since narrowly surviving that fate, they swore to rise to the tippy-tippy top, and see where they go from there.
And boy, did they get lucky.
They had more schemes and plans of their own work better than anyone else's. In time, saboteurs soon came into the scene.
They were mostly just brats who thought they could get an easy score by ruining someone else's plan for success.
Unsurprisingly, they failed terribly.
Soon enough, their rousing successes gained the eye of Azur Lane Command, and so was born the 'Greatest Leaders who ever lived'.
At least that's what they call themselves.
Now, here they are, sailing to the Azur Lane base. Truth be told, it was a rather long (and boring) trip.
"UGGGHHH! Will this boat-ride never end?!" Caleb wails.
"Could you please STOP WHINING already!?" Joe says.
Those two had been bickering back and forth since they met. No fights had ever broken out, but there were some really close times.
Matter of fact, though the trip was taking a while, it was only a precaution in case any Sirens came.
None did, of course. Much to Michaels frustration.
He really hates Sirens. More so than should be normal, actually. He was hoping for a chance to kill one.
The Twins (and Mason, for that matter) just stayed out of the quarreling and tended to their own things.
Michael just read his books.
Wonderful books, mind you.
He never brought the originals with him whenever he went somewhere, just copies. He just sat and read, until (when he could no longer ignore it) he yelled at Caleb and Joe to quit their arguing.
That shut them up quick and proper.
After that, it was all quiet until the ship-driver said "We'll be nearing the base in a few minutes, best get ready you lot!"
Once they finished scrambling for their fancy-formal clothes, they all stood at-the-ready at the place where the door would open and the ramp would be lowered. They were all rather excited at the thought of finally being in command of something.
Not to say they didn't have any other forms of power.
They actually had a much larger group of friends who trained (to some degree) with weapons. Mostly Siren-tech, but hey, it's really advanced and powerful, so that's a plus.
Their plan was to sneak them onboard their own transport ship, but decided to just send for them instead.
And no, none of them ever had any 'ideas' about what to do with these ship-girls.
They all may be deceivingly smart and such, but they are entirely polite. So such things never really once crossed their minds.
As they were waiting, Salzen said "So, this is it, eh? Finally moved up in the world. Power at last."
"Power at last." The other five said.
"Oh, we should have the perfect first-impression entrance. Don't ya think?" Michael asked.
And so, they all got into perfect line formation, Joe at the front and Michael at the back, all with stern faces.
Out they walked and looked upon all the faces before them.
At first the ship-girls were excited at seeing their commander, but when he turned aside for another (who turned aside for another) they were getting confused. Until finally, the kid at the very back (who was the tallest of all of them) stepped in the lead.
"I am your new Commander."
The shocked and strange faces that the ship-girls had was too much, so Michael and his friends all burst into laughter.
That 'line-up' joke of theirs never got old.
Now, here they are, laughing after pulling a (rather immature) joke on every single ship-girl there.
Talk about a 'grand entrance' am I right?
(Ending Authors Note: Well? Should I keep going with this one? I'll leave it up to you lot. See ya (hopefully) next time!)