Taskforce Fuji joined taskforce Kyoto in their interception of the enemy fleet. Their radars informed them of the range, and direction of the abyssal fleet but they had no information on how many abyssals there are. Yamashiro-san, Hyuga-san, Kongo-san, and Tosa-san launched their catapult fighters to gather information on their enemy.
High above the first attack wave is returning to their carriers to be rearmed and refueled for another mission. Their escorting Zeros were behind them and twelve broke away, they would provide escort for taskforce Kyoto and Fuji. There was no cloud cover so spotting abyssal aircraft wouldn't be difficult. This fact also worked against the catapult fighters as they wouldn't be able to hide in cloud cover to conceal their approach. Of course, if the abyssals have air search radar cloud cover wouldn't do them any good.
The floatplanes closed in on the reported position of the abyssal fleet and they scan the sea and sky for hostile contacts. Yamashiro-san's floatplane was at the head of the formation and was the first to sight the abyssal fleet. Long-range fire from the duel-purpose guns created flack bursts around the floatplanes but they didn't break off. The AA fire became increasingly accurate but they had already finished their mission and turned back. The AA fire eventually stopped and the four floatplanes would return to their home ships with no damage.
With accurate information on the number of the abyssals and their formation taskforce Fuji enters formation with taskforce Kyoto. The destroyers formed three line formations with seven destroyers each, the five cruisers formed a line off the port side of the battleships. Once the battle began the fleet would turn to port this would place the destroyers in a screening formation for the battleships and cruisers.
Time passed slowly as both fleets closed in. Tosa-san was looking forward to the engagement far more than anyone else was. She wanted to prove herself in combat, she wanted to regain her pride and honor.
"Enemy fleet spotted on the horizon."
The fleet turned to port and their range finders began to work out their enemies' range. The abyssal fleet fired but their shells fell short of the formation. Their next salvo was closer but still off the mark. The Japanese held their fire until their range finders had a solid grasp of the range to target. Their guns elevated... and fired.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM, BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Thirty-two 35.6 cm shells and ten 41 cm shells raced toward the enemy fleet. The concussive blast from the guns displaced the water below them and for a split second you could see a shockwave race across the surface of the ocean. Multiple hits are scored on four different battleships with the lead battleship taking the heaviest damage with two of its five twin turrets knocked out. The cruisers added their firepower but the destroyers' guns stayed quiet.
The third abyssal salvo had mixed results. Some of the shells fell short again but some landed close enough for splinters to hit Kongo-san and Hyuga-san. Tosa-san's guns reloaded and she fired sending ten 41 cm shells toward her target. She watched with a savage smile as eight of her shells found their mark. They destroyed secondary guns, AA guns, and started two fires; she watched in disappointment as the two fires were quickly put out. "Hmm, maybe these abyssals are worthy opponents."
She dodged the return shots but one of them hit her turret, it skimmed off the top and landed behind her. "Yes, this is what I was built for. Not shooting down planes, not escorting carriers, but engaging in fleet actions!" He guns thundered and she scored another six hits on her target.
"Hey! Tosa-san! How about we have a competition!"
"I'm listening Hyuga-san!"
"Let's see who can sink the most abyssals!"
Tosa-san chuckled, "I will win this challenge easily."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that!"
"Big sister I will defeat these measly dreadnoughts in this challenge and bring honor to our name," Yamashiro-san proclaimed.
"Who are you calling measly," Hyuga-san shouted.
"Yamashiro-san, I will crush you in this challenge," Tosa-san said.
"Oh no you don't Tosa-san! I am not going to lose this challenge to you or Yamashiro-san who has a sister complex!"
"I DO NOT HAVE A SISTER COMPLEX!"
"Tosa-san, Yamashiro-san, Hyuga-san stop fighting each other and fight the abyssals," Kongo-san ordered.
While Tosa-san, Yamashiro-san, and Hyuga-san competed against each other Mikuma-san, and Suzuya-san cut across Hyuga-san's stern to intercept a separate enemy force. Seven destroyers broke away from the main formation and arranged themselves in a half-circle in front of the sisters. Mikuma-san launched her Aichi E13A floatplane to gather information on the enemy.
Ten minutes later her floatplane reported back. The enemy formation consisted of two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and ten destroyers. The cruisers were in a battle line together and the destroyers formed a line off their port side. As the floatplane headed back it spotted a squadron of twin-engine bombers heading for the fleet. The pilot reported this to Mikuma-san who reported it to the Zeros, six broke formation and moved to intercept.
Back with the main abyssal force their destroyers broke escort formation and charged the taskforces. Kanmusu destroyers moved to intercept and soon the secondary guns of the battleships began to fire as the destroyers grew closer, soon a close-range melee started between the destroyers. High-explosive shells and smoke filled the air while torpedoes filled the ocean; they were fired in wide spreads and weren't aimed at a particular target but the amount of fish in the water ensured a few would hit. Three abyssal destroyers were hit and sunk with another two heavily damaged. Umikaze-san was hit by one torpedo and disengaged while her sister, Samidare-san, was hit by two, thankfully, one of them was a dud but the damage she received crippled her.
Nenohi-san along with her sister, Ariake-san, engaged four abyssal destroyers who were trying to sneak around them to engage Umikaze-san and Samidare-san. They focused their fire on one destroyer to reduce the number of guns as quickly as possible. Their high-explosive shells tore into the thinly armored destroyer and knocked out its engines and disabled its steering gear. Umikaze-san and Samidare-san engaged as well and the kill went to Umikaze-san as one of her high-explosive shells hit a torpedo launcher. The following explosion split the destroyer in half.
Ariake-san received multiple high explosive hits in rapid succession. Her crew rushed to put out the fires and patch the holes in her as quickly as they could but they couldn't keep up. She held formation and fired her torpedoes forcing the abyssals to take evasive action. She waited until they started their turn to launch two more salvos putting a total of nine torpedoes in the water. Eight of them missed but one found a target; it didn't sink the abyssal outright but it rapidly lost speed and turned away.
Her head jerked sideways when three high explosive shells hit burning and tearing skin away and forcing her left eye shut. Damage reports painted a bleak picture; her crew is patching holes as quickly as they can but she is literally being shot to pieces and a fire near her stern guns is slowly spreading. She activated her smoke generator and tried to break contact. Her sister continued to engage and after a brutal gunnery duel sunk a second destroyer but she also had to disengage. The third abyssal attempted to press the attack but was sunk due to the combined efforts of Umikaze-san, Samidare-san, Nenohi-san, and Ariake-san.
Mikuma-san's force started to engage the second abyssal force and the first hit went to the abyssals when a 20.3 cm shell impacted Suzuya-san; she fired back and scored two hits in return. Her 12.7 cm guns started to fire as the twin-engine bombers reported by her floatplane entered firing range. There are eight of them coming in at wave top level; four of them are heading for her while the other four head for her sister. Their 25 mm AA guns started to fire and one bomber took a direct hit from a flack burst but it didn't appear to be affected. A second bomber was hit but unlike the first its tail was torn off and it gained altitude uncontrollably before it entered a flat spin and crashed into the ocean where it disappeared.
The sisters prepared to take evasive action as the bombers closed in. They closed to one kilometer before they dropped their torpedoes. Each bomber carried two torpedoes so fourteen in total were launched. Mikuma-san dodged the torpedoes aimed at her but her sister was hit by one. Her speed slowed to thirty knots and she started to list. Her crew sealed off the flooded compartments and halted her list.
"Sister, are you alright?" Suzuya-san waved off her concern, "I'm still combat-capable." She nodded and turned her attention back to the abyssal force in front of her. Off to her Port the medium bombers banked left and a second one was shot down by AA fire followed by a third. Amagiri-san, who was off Suzuya-san's port side, looked behind her when she heard the frantic calls from her spotters. Her eyes winded in fear when she saw three medium bombers heading for Suzuya-san. "Suzuya-san turn to starboard!"
She didn't hesitate and turned hard to avoid the suicidal attack. AA fire from the fleet shot down one of the attackers but two are still heading for Suzuya-san and she won't be able to avoid them. Just then, tracer rounds tore into the lead bomber turning it into a fireball! The second bomber dipped a wing to avoid the first and was shot down as well! Six Zeros roared overhead and started to climb. Amagiri-san nodded to them and refocused on the battle.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
"YES! I got the first kill!" Hyuga-san glared at Yamashiro-san and switched targets. Her next salvo was aimed at a heavy cruiser that was not expecting to be fired upon by a battleship. Her first salvo hit its citadel and the cruiser disappeared in a massive explosion, "Ha! We're even!"
"That's cheating! Cruisers are much easier to sink then battleships!"
"Hey, the challenge is to sink as many abyssals as possible! We didn't say it had to be a specific type of abyssal!" She fired a salvo at another cruiser which avoided most of the shells and those that did hit caused little damage. Yamashiro-san followed her example and switched fire to the cruisers. This redirection of fire meant that one battleship was no longer being targeted. The abyssal noticed this and switched its fire from Hyuga-san to Kongo-san who was unpleasantly surprised when three 38 cm shells slammed into her belt armor. "Hyuga-san what are you doing!? Engage that battleship!"
"Shit!" She turned her guns back on the battleship and fired but not before the abyssal got a second salvo off. Two shells hit, one ricocheted off the top of her turret but the second one penetrated her turret front and set off its ammo. The explosion that followed blew the turret hundreds of meters into the air and Kongo-san started to fall out of formation.
"Kongo-san!" Hyuga-san's guns thundered sending twelve 35.6 cm shells toward her target, she scored five hits and drew the abyssal's attention to her. Yamashiro-san fired upon the battleship engaging Fuso-san and scored three hits but it continued to engage Kongo-san.
"Tosa-san do you copy?"
"Little busy Shokaku-san!" She fired a salvo to illustrate that.
"My Zeros just reported an abyssal force moving to reinforce the one you are engaging. Is consists of one battleship, two battlecruisers, twelve cruisers, and twenty-one destroyers. I have vectored a squadron of torpedo bombers to assist and Zuiho-san has vectored a fighter squadron to provide air cover."
"Understood Shokaku-san. More abyssal reinforcements are incoming! One battleship, two battlecruisers, twelve cruisers, and twenty-one destroyers! Mikuma-san, you need to regroup with us abyssal reinforcements inbound!"
"I heard Tosa-san. We have driven back the force we engaged and are heading back now."
"Understood," she ended the transmission. "Alright you abyssal bastard this if for Fuso-san!" Ten shells exploded from her turrets and six found their mark. The abyssal staggered to starboard and snarled at Tosa-san. Eight 38 cm shells flew from its guns and three found their mark but Tosa-san didn't flinch. Directly behind her Yamashiro-san engaged her target while Hyuga-san scored five hits against her target and didn't take any in return.
To their Port Kongo-san turned to starboard and started to engage. She had three guns operational and focused her fire on the cruisers. She scored two hits on one and it smocked up. She winced as high-explosive shells started raining down on her knocking out AA positions, and wrecking her superstructure. Two fires are quickly started and with the damage she had already taken her crew is spread thin and unable to effectively fight both fires.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
One of the light cruisers was hit by six 20.3 cm shells and a flash fire blew its A turret into the air. The flash spread to its B turret and it was launched into the air by a gazer of blue and orange fire. Kongo-san gave a nod of thanks to Haguro-san but she didn't see it. Oyodo-san is engaged in a fight with a second light cruiser that she is easily winning. The abyssal's rigging is destroyed and two fires are slowly consuming it but it's still fighting. Two explosions rock the cruiser and it falls out of formation with an increasing list to Port, Oyodo-san sinks it with the next three salvos. While this is happening the abyssal destroyers tried for a second time to breakthrough and launch torpedoes; they lost five destroyers trying to do so and fell back.
"Mikuma-san! torpedo boats approaching off our starboard side!"
"Torpedo boats? When did they get here?"
"Doesn't matter," she fired. Her target avoided the shells but Suzuya-san anticipated this and fired. Her high explosive shells found their mark and obliterated the torpedo boat. Their escorts opened fire but their maneuverability allowed them to avoid the shells easily. They scored some hits and sank another four but five boats got close enough to launch their torpedoes, three boats launched and turned around but two continued to close. They easily avoided the torpedoes and sunk one of the boats charging them but the second managed to launch its torpedoes just before it was sunk. Suzuya avoided one but the second slammed into her.
"GAH!" Her list started to increase rapidly and her speed dropped. Her crew controlled the flooding but she had a fifteen-degree list to starboard and her top speed was only fifteen knots. "Sister... go." Mikuma-san shook her head, "I'm not leaving you. Amagiri-san take three destroyers and engage the boats try to get them to launch their torpedoes at you."
"Understood. Alright! Follow me!"
"Shokaku-san there are eight PT boats heading towards us and Suzuya-san is heavily damaged. Requesting air support."
"Understood. I've ordered the six Zeros to engage ETA is sixty seconds."
"Copy that. Air support is inbound! ETA is sixty seconds!"
Amagiri-san and her squadron engaged the PT boats intentionally getting close to try and get them to launch their torpedoes. They sank one boat and succeeded in getting four to launch their torpedoes which the easily avoided. They focused their fire on the three boats that didn't launch their torpedoes but quickly had to switch their fire to four PT boats which were trying to ram them.
Four Zeros dove out of the sky and strafed the three PT boats sinking two of them, the last one was destroyed by Mikuma-san's guns. With support from the Zeros, the remaining four PT boats were quickly sunk.
Back with the main fleet, the situation had gotten worse. The abyssal destroyers attacked for the third time and they were driven back but they managed to sink Umikaze-san and Samidare-san, heavily damage three more destroyers, hit Hyuga-san with two torpedoes, and hit Oyodo-san with one. Hyuga-san had a ten-degree list to starboard while Oyodo-san was practically dead in the water. To further complicate matters the abyssal reinforcements Shokaku-san reported had arrived. If they formed up with the original force they could easily sink taskforce Fuji and Kyoto. Luckily, they have not and seem content to just sit back and watch.
Kongo-san looked up to see torpedo bombers and Zeros flying overhead. She smiled and watched them dive on the abyssals. The Zeros strafed the destroyers trying to set off their depth charges and torpedoes while drawing the AA fire to them. The torpedo bombers closed in on the battleships and dropped their torpedoes; they took no AA fire even as they flew over their targets. Three abyssal battleships are sunk within seconds of each other. Two heavy cruisers and four destroyers quickly follow them. With airpower now in play the abyssals shroud themselves in a black mist and when it clears they're gone.
"I want everyone's status! Now!"