A/N: Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed/favorited/followed so far... But the real reason I'm here is just to say that Murasame Kai Ni is a gift sent from the gods.
Drake stood in the holding area of the USS Glorious Tears of Liberty, watching as his fleet of ship girls prepared for departure. Right now, only the battleships, Suzuya, and the carriers were getting their equipment on, as the rest of the fleet would launch later into the battle. Iowa and Saratoga also joined them, as they would be under Drake's command for this sortie, something he was grateful for since he was lacking in heavy surface firepower and an extra carrier never hurt.
A few minutes ago, the Abyssal fleet had finally surfaced in their expected formation, and Fleet Admiral Wei had decided to launch the attack plan instead of waiting for the Abyssals to fully prepare themselves. As discussed, the ship girl carriers would launch their planes first, and the Heavy Surface Attack Force, composed of the battleships and Suzuya, would then begin shelling the Abyssal fleet from a long distance before finally closing in once the USLN carriers started sailing towards the Abyssals.
That part of the plan still made him nervous. Though it was clear that Fleet Admiral Wei knew what he was doing, another close encounter with the Abyssals didn't exactly sound pleasant to Drake, who was still smarting from the Airfield Princess sortie and the wounds at Tangier that just refused to heal.
"Admiral, will you be all right?"
Drake was snapped out of his thoughts by Kaga's voice.
"Yeah, don't worry about me. Just focus on the battle."
Though Kaga still wore her same blank expression, Drake could tell that she was unconvinced.
"If you say so, sir. But if anything comes up, please call on me. I will sail back to your side immediately."
"Thank you. But I'll be fine."
Drake sighed to himself as Kaga went back to the rest of the fleet. I can't believe this. I'm supposed to be the Admiral, the leader of this fleet, and here I am making my own soldiers worry about me. Why do I have to be so weak…?
The rear admiral forced his inner lamentations down as he approached the fleet once they finished gearing up.
"All right, everyone. It's about time to set sail now, so remember the plan. I'll be in touch the whole time in case anything changes, so just let me know if there are any issues."
"Yes, sir!" Iowa yelled as she saluted cheerily, obviously pumped up at the chance to fight again.
"One more thing," Drake added, "we haven't been able to get any aircraft or ships close enough to confirm the exact nature of the Abyssal fleet, aside from their silhouettes that we can see from a long distance away. That means that though we know what class of Abyssals we'll be up against, we don't know exactly which types within that class we're facing. Basically, what we want to know about is if there are any Princesses present in their fleet."
Kaga and Akagi, having fought an Abyssal Princess before, tensed up at that.
"So you mean we might be facing another Princess on top of this already large Abyssal fleet?" Akagi asked, her expression darkening.
"We don't know for sure… But possibly, yes. Given that this Abyssal fleet is almost as big as the one at Tangier, which was their last major offensive, we think that just as there was a Princess back then, there might be one now. If the Abyssals are attacking a major American city like Los Angeles, then it would make sense for them to send at least one Princess to lead the operation."
"And was this taken into account during the planning for this sortie?" Kaga asked.
Drake nodded. "Fleet Admiral Wei didn't mention the possibility of a Princess during the meeting, but I am certain that he had that in the back of his mind. Either he thinks that this strategy will still work even in the presence of a Princess, or he has a backup plan in case we run into one."
"Er, sorry, but what's a Princess?" Iowa asked, grinning sheepishly.
Drake gave her an incredulous look. "Seriously? Did nobody tell you?"
"They did, but it must have slipped her mind," Saratoga supplied, frowning at her sister-in-arms. "Princesses are a class of Abyssals that are much stronger than the average one, Iowa. Though one ship girl is usually strong enough to take one multiple weaker Abyssals at once, a Princess is a different matter. It would take at least three or four of us just to stand a chance against one of them."
Iowa's starry eyes grew serious. "I see… It was that Abyssal with the black dress and red eyes back at Tangier, right, Captain?"
Drake nodded as the Battleship Princess' unpleasant stare resurfaced in his memory.
"Then it looks like we'll need to be on guard," Iowa stated. "I was only in her presence for a few minutes and it was years ago, but I'll never forget that feeling. There was just a different aura around her."
"Ehehe, I'm not feeling so good about this sortie anymore," Suzuya said with a nervous grin.
"Admiral, you have to have a plan for this, right?!" Amatsukaze demanded.
The rest of the ship girls then began voicing their own opinions, none of them positive. Drake frowned.
"Shut up, all of you," he commanded, causing them to fall silent. "I told you that the Fleet Admiral is aware of this, and you know I wouldn't send you on an unwinnable sortie. For now, just go out there and act according to plan. The carrier scouts will check out the Abyssal fleet for any anomalies, and we'll change things from there if we need to. Okay?"
The fleet didn't say anything more, causing Drake to rub his eyes in frustration. So much for raising their morale…
Either way, the door to the holding area opened, and the carriers and heavy surface forces were let loose.
Good luck, Drake thought. You might need it.
"Admiral, permission to launch our airstrike?" Kaga radioed after a few minutes of sailing towards the Abyssal position.
"Permission granted. Send everything you have at them. Once you do that, hold your position. The Heavy Attack Force will continue on towards the enemy… And let me know if you see any standouts in the enemy fleet."
"Yes, sir." Kaga then took out one of her arrows, notched her bow with it, and pointed it towards the sky. "All carriers, launch your airstrikes."
The four other carriers complied, the three IJN ships also preparing their bows while Saratoga aimed her gun-like launcher at the sky. After a few minutes of shooting, the air was filled with a huge squadron of Japanese and American torpedo bombers, dive bombers, and fighter planes. Kaga took a few more minutes to organize the massive airstrike into a cohesive formation before sending it off towards the enemy. The Admiral seemed fond of sending his entire airstrike at once, a strategy that had a high risk but also potentially high rewards. Though such a tactic had worked thus far, the bitter defeat at Midway where the IJN had used this sort of airstrike never left Kaga's mind. Still, she had trust in her admiral, and so she did not question his decision.
Closely monitoring the position of her planes, Kaga waited intently as the airforce got closer and closer towards the enemy. Soon enough, the Abyssal formation came into sight, and the enemy began opening fire with their anti-air weapons. Towards the back, Kaga could see some of the enemy carriers also launching their own airstrikes.
Hmm… Their airpower does not seem to be augmented by the presence of someone like the Airfield Princess, she observed. If there is a Princess in that fleet, then it certainly isn't one with air capabilities.
As the massive air battle unfolded, Kaga kept surveying the enemy fleet with the planes that remained undamaged. Though she scanned over the battlefield multiple times, she couldn't find anything suggesting the presence of a Princess.
"Do any of you see any signs of a Princess?" Kaga asked the other four carriers.
Akagi shook her head. "I've been looking, but I don't see anything."
"Yeah, I'm not seeing anything weird either," Zuikaku said.
"No Princess sighted by my planes," Shoukaku added, and Saratoga shook her head as well.
"... That is strange," Kaga said, narrowing her eyes at the fleet in the distance. "Perhaps it may be a submarine type of Princess? Or maybe she is still submerged…?"
"Er, sorry to interrupt, but have you seen the enemy Princess yet?" Haruna sounded through the radio, speaking through the fleet-wide communications channel.
"Nothing on the surface, no," Kaga replied. "Admiral, could she be underwater?"
"Sonar's coming up empty. Fleet Admiral Wei confirmed that the entire Abyssal fleet surfaced, which is why we decided to attack now."
"Then… There is no Princess at this battle?"
"I guess not, no," Drake responded. "It's kind of unexpected, but I'm not going to complain."
Though she yearned for the opportunity to get her revenge on the Airfield Princess, Kaga felt a surge of relief at the Admiral's words. Whether she liked it or not, she had taken quite a beating during that sortie, so facing one or multiple Princesses now would most likely be very difficult.
"Continue as planned, in that case," Drake concluded. "Is the Heavy Attack Force in position yet?"
"A few more minutes, sir," Haruna answered.
While the carriers continued to monitor the air battle from their position far away from the Abyssal fleet, the battleships and Suzuya sailed onwards until the enemy came into sight. A series of dogfights mixed in with flak bursts filled the sky above the Abyssals, and it was clear that the carrier airstrike was doing its job.
"That's a big fleet…" Suzuya observed as the sleek, black Abyssal figures appeared in the distance.
"Luckily most of them are only destroyers and light cruisers," Haruna said. "It should be all right."
Bismarck glanced out at the enemy fleet with a bored expression. "Well then, should we begin firing?"
"Hey, Jerry, want to have a contest on who can hit the most Abyssals?" Iowa asked with a grin as she nudged Bismarck.
The German shot a cold glare at her. "My name is Bismarck. I suggest you use it, filthy American."
"Oho! Lighten up! I know you people are only happy when you're massacring innocent Jews, but try and take it easy, okay?"
"Ah, so is that how it's going to be?" Bismarck growled, gritting her teeth and turning to face Iowa.
"Y-you two, stop it, please!" Haruna interrupted, trying to get the battleships back on track.
"Haruna, are you in position?"
Thankful for the Admiral's intervention, Haruna quickly responded. "Yes, sir. We can fire whenever you are ready."
"Okay, then fire now. The Abyssals are engaged with the air battle right now, so they should be vulnerable."
"Uh, Admiral, couldn't we get like a smokescreen or somethin'?" Suzuya asked, nervously eyeing the enemy fleet. "I mean… They outnumber us by a lot, so if they decided to fire back on us…"
"Won't be necessary. Like I said, they're busy fighting off the planes, and while some of them will undoubtedly fire back at you, the battleships and the heavy cruisers are towards the middle of the enemy fleet, so you'll have plenty of time to see their shells coming, and they won't have a good lock on your position, so you should be able to dodge them with ease. The enemy destroyers and light cruisers may have a better shot at hitting you, but even if that happens, none of you are going to be very hurt by getting hit by one of them. A smokescreen to obscure your position would probably only hurt you because it wouldn't let you see the enemy battleship shells coming."
"'Kay, got it," Suzuya replied, seeing that her commander was probably right.
"All right. Fire now."
Haruna echoed Admiral Drake's order, and the Heavy Attack Force's guns boomed as they launched their shells in the direction of the enemy fleet. Since the Abyssals were so numerous, the ship girl shells had a high chance of hitting the enemy. The ship girls also aimed their shots towards the front of the enemy fleet, both because it would allow them to be more accurate and because just one hit from a battleship shell could sink or at least heavily maim an Abyssal destroyer or light cruiser.
The heavy ships reloaded and launched another volley before the Abyssals started firing back. Sure enough, they could hear and see the enemy battleship shells coming from far away, and therefore it was relatively easy to dodge them. A few of the destroyers and light cruisers also started firing back, but their shots were off-target and weak to boot. However, as the quartet launched their third set of shots, they noticed that a significant number of Abyssal planes were heading towards their position.
"What the…" Iowa muttered as she narrowed her eyes at the approaching aircraft.
"Huh? Weren't the carriers s'posed to take care of the planes?" Suzuya asked, frowning.
Haruna swallowed nervously as the sizeable airstrike approached their position. She then reached a hand up to her ear to contact Drake. "Admiral, there appear to be enemy planes approaching our position."
"Really? I see… So the enemy must have held their bombers in reserve when the carriers launched their airstrike, meaning that they only sent fighters out to shoot down our carrier planes. They're now sending their own bombers out, and our carriers can't stop them because our fighters have already been shot up… You'll have to brace for air attack. Our actual fighter jets can't do shit to those small Abyssal planes, so you'll have to shoot them down using your anti-air guns. I'll also send the carriers up to add to the anti-air fire, and it doesn't really matter if they get hit now since their runways have fulfilled their purpose."
Haruna turned to the three other heavy ships. "Looks like we will have to fend off this airstrike ourselves for now. Please prepare yourselves."
Iowa grinned. "Not really how I'd prefer to fight, but I guess I can try my hand at sharpshooting."
Bismarck said nothing and just prepared her Flakvierling for action. Her loss to Kaga still stung, and she wasn't about to be outdone by carriers once again.
Suzuya wasn't looking forward to the prospect of having to fight off a fleet of bombers. "This is goin' to hurt, isn't it…?"
A few moments later, the airstrike arrived above the four heavy ships, and bursts of flak began filling the air. Haruna's eyes shifted from the planes she was aiming at to the aircraft in the back that had dropped torpedoes into the water, forcing her to split her attention between the air and the sea. She also had to keep moving in order to avoid being hit, so it was very difficult for her to properly aim her anti-air weaponry. One of the bombs landed near her portside, drenching her in water. Though the shock wasn't painful, the slight sting of the salty spray reminded her of when her engine had been hit on her first sortie and she had been set on fire. The unpleasant memory caused her to pause briefly, but that short moment was all one of the enemy bombers needed to position itself directly above her. With wide eyes, Haruna watched as the plane released its bomb, but she then felt herself jerked to the side, and the bomb exploded in the seawater where she had just been standing. Turning to her right, she saw Bismarck grabbing onto her sleeve, evidently having pulled her out of harm's way.
"T-thank you," Haruna managed.
Bismarck merely nodded lightly in reply, then boosted off in a different direction to avoid giving the Abyssals a stationary target. The German continued to fire her anti-air guns, hitting the enemy planes with deadly accuracy. Ever since her defeat on her first day at the Tokyo Bay Base, she had trained her anti-air fire even harder than she did before, and as a result, she was able to take out many of the planes with her Flakvierling before they even had a chance to come near her. As she stopped briefly to take out a pair of particularly persistent Abyssal planes, Bismarck noticed Iowa sailing straight towards her at a relatively high speed. When the American ship showed no signs of stopping even as she got closer and closer, Bismarck narrowed her eyes in confusion.
"What do you think you -"
Her sentence was interrupted as Iowa leapt high into the air, the American battleship's strong legs catapulting both her body and her rigging. Before Bismarck could even utter another word, Iowa planted her feet on Bismarck's shoulders and pushed off, causing the German to stumble forward.
Bismarck turned around and prepared to let Iowa have it, but she was surprised to see the airborne American swing her fist into the side of an Abyssal dive bomber that had been behind Bismarck. The bomber flew through the air after being struck by Iowa, hitting another Abyssal plane and ending both their bombing runs in a fiery mid-air explosion. Iowa then landed back on the water, the waves splashing a bit from the impact.
Iowa turned her head slightly to grin widely at Bismarck as the explosion unfolded, and Bismarck merely frowned and turned back to the battle. Though she was annoyed that Iowa used her body as a springboard, Bismarck had to admit that the American had saved her from a potentially extremely painful hit from behind.
"Hey, the carriers are finally here!" Suzuya called out, and sure enough, the fleet of five carriers had arrived.
"Heya!" Iowa greeted as she waved. "You guys finally here? You're a little late! We're just about finished here!"
"Doesn't look like it to me…" Saratoga noted as she glanced worriedly at the sky, which was still swarming with a fair number of Abyssal aircraft.
"The Admiral has ordered you all to stay behind us," Kaga told the Heavy Attack Force. "We will handle this from here on."
"It's going pretty well down there," Fleet Admiral Wei said with approval as he looked at the large radar screen inside the bridge of the USS Glorious Tears of Liberty.
Drake nodded. "I thought it would be a lot harder than this. Things would have been different if the Abyssals had sent a Princess."
"Ah, we caught a break didn't we?" Wei chuckled, as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Strange that they didn't send one," Admiral Belle said. "Was this not a serious attempt to attack Los Angeles?"
"Well, it could be that they were still waiting for their Princess' arrival when we started the battle," Wei posited. "They've been marshalling their forces for a quite a while now and haven't attacked, and we basically had to make the first move. That might mean that they were waiting for the Princess to arrive before actually taking on our fleet. Or they could have been waiting for… Nah, never mind. Either way, it doesn't really matter. We've got the advantage now."
"Still, this is a pretty big force they've gathered, comparatively speaking," Drake said. "Why would they send a fleet like this out just to lose? Why waste so many of their soldiers? Do they have some sort of secret weapon they're hiding?"
"Perhaps they just didn't know that Rear Admiral Drake's fleet would be arriving to reinforce us," Admiral Belle suggested.
"I wonder about that," Wei replied, smiling mysteriously. "But to answer your question, Drake, I don't believe they have something up their sleeve for this battle. Abyssal soldiers aren't like our ship girls. As I'm sure you've noticed, an individual ship girl can usually take on multiple Abyssals all by herself, unless it's a higher-class Abyssal. As you can see, there are almost none of those at this battle, so even if the Abyssal fleet is completely sunk here, the Abyssals as a whole wouldn't suffer too much."
Drake frowned uneasily. "But if their entire fleet was destroyed, that would be terrible for Abyssal morale and momentum. It's been a while since they had a significant victory in this war."
Wei sighed softly. "That is true, but it's also possible that they wanted this fleet to lose here."
Admiral Belle raised an eyebrow. "Why would they want that?"
"That's what I don't get either… " Wei admitted as rubbed his chin.
"So it's entirely possible that Rear Admiral Drake or I am right, and that you're wrong," Belle deadpanned.
Wei shrugged. "It's possible, sure, but… I think you're both wrong, and that the Abyssals had a legitimate reason for sending their fleet out like this. I mean… While we're fighting battle after battle just trying to survive, the Abyssals have been lurking in the depths, thinking strategically about this whole war. Right now, as much as I hate to admit it, they're probably many steps ahead of us."
Admiral Belle shook her head in frustration at Wei's answer. "Fine, believe that for all I care. As long as we win this battle without getting too bloodied up…"
Wei smiled. "Yeah, we should probably focus on the battle for now. It's about time for our own carriers to head out as well."
Drake felt a pang of nervousness at the fleet admiral's words. As usual, he was not looking forward to fighting the Abyssals at such close ranges again, despite what he may have said to Kaga before the sortie.
"Don't look so uptight, you two," Wei chided as he shot them another lazy smile. "I'm sure we'll be fine."
With that half-assed assurance, Wei then turned to communications and contacted Vice Admiral Jockey, letting him know that the two carriers would begin moving out. After a few minutes of back-and-forth communication between Wei, Jockey, and Sterrett, Drake felt the carrier pick up speed underneath him, and the task force was off. As planned, the two carriers split off and went in separate directions, coming up on both sides of the Abyssal fleet.
As the carrier got closer to the actual battlefield, Drake could see that the air battle had been concluded, and trails of smoke and fire emerged from within the Abyssal fleet.
"What is the status on the Abyssal dive bombers?" Drake radioed in to Haruna as he stepped away from the bridge.
"All enemy planes have been eliminated. Our fleet has taken minor damage at most," Haruna answered.
"Good. Fleet Admiral Wei's Carrier Task Force is moving in now, so prepare to sail into the Abyssal fleet when I give the order."
Drake then turned to glance out the window as the Abyssals grew nearer. So far, the operation was going very smoothly, which honestly surprised Drake. Part of their success was due to Wei's strategic ability, no doubt, but Drake also felt that the Abyssals had been woefully unprepared for a battle of this scale. They had the numbers, sure, but this wasn't like the first year of the Abyssal War where the Abyssals could just go in with a fleet of lesser ships and expect to completely destroy the humans. Did the Abyssals really underestimate the power of the ship girls this badly?
"Launch our airstrike now," Wei commanded as they pulled up beside the enemy fleet, his tone deadly calm.
That was also the cue to have the battleships charge in, so Drake gave the order.
"Heavy Attack Force, sail towards the enemy and crush them in a frontal attack. Carriers, sail behind them but don't engage the enemy. Watch for any stray enemy planes and destroy them if you can."
Drake then quickly headed back down to the holding area, where the ship girls and their equipment were. Now that the carrier was close enough, they could sortie the remaining ship girls into the middle of the Abyssal fleet and cut them up from inside while the battleships and Suzuya attacked from the front and the planes from above. All the ship girls were on this carrier, which meant that they would all be attacking from one side. Initially, Drake was expecting that they be split up between the two carriers so the ship girls could attack the Abyssals from both sides, but Fleet Admiral Wei explained that it was better to have them charge from one side because then it could cause an entire flank to collapse, making it easier for the ship girls to penetrate the Abyssal fleet.
"Sir," Yahagi, the appointed leader of the Light Attack Force, saluted as Drake entered. "Is it time?"
Drake nodded. "Prepare to sortie. Now that we know that the enemy carriers have basically exhausted all their planes, we're going to focus on eliminating the battleships and heavy cruisers. The planes will do most of the damage, but you all need to provide enough of a distraction so that the Abyssals can't shoot down our pilots. So basically, you don't have to sink them, but you do have to annoy them."
"W-we have to fight battleships…" Yamakaze moaned softly to herself, but the American admiral heard it anyway.
"You've trained for this exact scenario numerous times during fleet maneuvers," he pointed out. "It really shouldn't be that hard, especially considering that most of these enemies are just run-of-the-mill Abyssals. I'm sure you'll all do fine."
Sendai pumped her fist, clearly excited. "Yeah! I'm going to give them a night battle they'll never forget!"
"It's the middle of the day, though…" Fubuki corrected.
"Do you have some sort of disorder that forces you to mention night battles every two seconds?" Amatsukaze asked with a frown, still not amused by Sendai's antics.
"All right, you have permission to set sail," Drake cut in. "Get out there and let me know if anything comes up. Our carrier airstrike should be in the air by now, so don't leave them hanging."
"Yes, sir!" Yahagi saluted one more time before leading the five other light ships out of the carrier's holding area and into the water.
As the last of the ship girls began the sortie, Drake headed back up towards the bridge, wondering if he could get a better view of the battlefield from there. When he got there, he noticed both Wei and Belle staring out at the Abyssals on the starboard side of the ship. Planes began taking off from the carrier as well, and the noise of their engines added to the cacophony of the battle. Drake watched from the main bridge windows as the Super Hornets took off from the flight deck, accompanied by a few Seahawk helicopters.
Once the planes took off, Drake joined his superiors at the starboard window of the bridge, waiting to see if the Abyssals would turn their cannons on Glorious Tears of Liberty. The carrier had reduced its speed at this point, so it was entirely possible that the surviving Abyssals not currently engaged in battle with the Heavy Attack Force would try and sink the two carriers currently on either side of them. However, they evidently weren't fast enough or were too distracted by the sight of the approaching planes to fire upon the USLN carriers. Soon enough, Drake's destroyers and light cruisers also came into view as they followed the planes and sailed towards the Abyssals, firing their guns all the while.
"Looks like everything is still going according to plan," Admiral Belle noted, giving the enemy fleet a hard stare.
"Hmm. I guess your plan does end up surviving first contact with the enemy occasionally," Fleet Admiral Wei mused. "To be honest, I was expecting our carriers to be at least targeted by a few shells. Guess we got lucky, huh?"
"This is almost too easy," Drake remarked, hoping that he wouldn't jinx himself.
"Their planes are so big…" Kashima glanced upwards as the USLN air strike moved towards the Abyssals.
"And they look so sleek too," Amatsukaze said, shielding her face from the sun as she also stared up at the Hornets.
"They have helicopters as well," Fubuki noticed. "I don't think any of our carriers can launch those, right?"
Yahagi also couldn't resist taking a look at the American air group. "It seems technology has improved quite a bit since World War II, which is no surprise. Even so, those new and powerful planes will still be destroyed if we do not do our part here. Everyone, prepare to attack!"
The fleet took aim and opened fire upon the center of the Abyssal formation, causing the enemy ships to turn their attention away from the air strike and face the immediate surface threat.
"Wow, there's not that many of them left," Amatsukaze said as she looked out at the sea around the enemy fleet, which was littered with burning parts of former Abyssals.
Kashima nodded in agreement. "Seems like the carrier airstrikes were very effective…"
A Ru-class battleship flashed her blue eyes as the ship girls got closer. "Die!"
With that short battle cry, the Ru-class fired her 16-inch guns, causing the ship girls to split up in order to avoid the volley.
"Remember how we practiced during training!" Yahagi yelled as they went their separate ways. "Weave in between them and strike from their flanks or rears! Do not engage them in one-on-one fights! Stay away from their cannons!"
The black-haired light cruiser then sailed up to the Ru-class that had just fired the shot, seemingly going against her own orders of not fighting the Abyssals head-on. The Ru-class scowled as her guns finished their reloads, but before she could position her weapons to eviscerate the approaching light cruiser, Yahagi suddenly stopped, sending a spray of water into the Ru-class' face.
With the Ru-class momentarily distracted, Yahagi ducked underneath the Abyssal's legs and twisted her guns to fire at the Ru-class' kneecaps. At such a close range, the shots immediately brought the Abyssal to her knees, and the Ru-class squeezed her triggers in pain, causing her shots to completely miss Yahagi. As the spray of the Abyssal's shots soaked her back, Yahagi pushed the falling Ru-class off of her. Yahagi's guns reloaded faster than the battleship's, and so she turned and finished off the prone Ru-class with a well-placed shot to the head.
That wasn't too bad, Yahagi mentally commended herself as she sailed away from the sinking Abyssal. After having seen almost no action during her first sortie, Yahagi was eager to prove her worth, and now that she had taken out an enemy battleship on her own, her confidence surged. Despite this, she was determined not to let it get to her head, and she maintained a cool calm as she continued inside the Abyssal formation, the sound of explosions echoing around her.
However, to her surprise, she noticed another Abyssal plane emerge from somewhere.
The Admiral said the Abyssal carriers had used all their planes. And this isn't the section of the enemy fleet where the carriers were said to be…
Nevertheless, Yahagi turned to shoot the plane down and fired a small flak burst in the direction of the Abyssal fighter, which was flying towards one of the carrier planes. Unfortunately, Yahagi's shot missed, and the light cruiser bit her lip in frustration as she watched the Abyssal plane fire at the Hornet, lighting it aflame after a short burst.
Though the Hornet was clearly finished, the pilots selected for this mission were the best of the best, and so he had a keen enough eye to see that a friendly ship was firing anti-air on his position, and he was able to eject in time. As the pilot parachuted out, Yahagi fired another shot, this time taking out the Abyssal plane. The pilot seemed to be drifting back towards the area where Yahagi and the rest of the fleet had just come from, so he should be relatively safe since there were no Abyssals left there. Yahagi debated going back to deliver the pilot to an even safer stretch of water, but she was prevented from doing so by a voice that caused her to turn around.
"Huhhh… So that fucking human managed to escape, did he?"
Yahagi turned to see a relatively short Abyssal clad in a raincoat-like garb with the hood covering her short, white hair. Her blue eyes followed the burning Hornet as it crashed to the ground, and she wore a savage grin on her face. However, her most striking feature was the large, muscular tail that she possessed. The tail was black and armored, and it was fixed with three sets of guns and sharp, jagged teeth.
"Ah, man, and I could have had a decent pre-cooked snack if he hadn't," the Abyssal, which Yahagi now recognized as a Re-class aviation battleship, continued. She then turned to Yahagi, and her eerie smile widened. "And you must be the bitch who shot my plane down."
Yahagi narrowed her eyes at the new enemy. This sort of battleship was one that was rarely encountered, and was generally seen as a greater threat than the more common Ru-class.
The Re-class tilted her head. "Not in the mood for talking? Then I guess I'll just have to kill you and be done with it. At least make this fun, all right?"
Before the Re-class even finished her sentence, Yahagi was already sailing away from the tail's cannons at full speed, and therefore managed to avoid the initial volley. As she skidded to a stop, warily eyeing the tail's snapping jaws as it reloaded, she held up a finger to her earpiece.
"Admiral, I've made contact with an enemy Re-class. Your orders?"
"A Re-class? So I guess they didn't send a fleet full of complete fodders… What's the situation around you? How many enemies and allies?"
"The rest of the Light Attack Force is busy engaging other enemies at the moment, and the Re-class appears to be the only hostile in my vicinity," the Agano-class cruiser answered. "The Heavy Attack Force also has not arrived yet."
"Okay… Looks like our airstrike is just about finished as well, so you girls are going to be on your own for a while. Can you hold her off for a bit? I'll think of something to sink her for sure if you can last for a few more minutes."
"Understood, sir."
Yahagi then turned her attention back to the Re-class. The Abyssal licked her lips as her tail gnashed its teeth wildly.
"Done with your phone call yet?"
Yahagi responded by firing her guns, causing the Re-class to maneuver her tail in front of her, tanking the damage from the shells.
"Is that it?" Re-class taunted as she taunted Yahagi with a twisted smirk. Her expression then became more serious. "Tell me, ship girl. Are you afraid of death?"
Thinking that the Abyssal was taunting her again, Yahagi didn't answer. The Re-class, however, just laughed.
"You can try to hide it, but I can see it in your eyes that you are. That is the difference between the ship girls and the Abyssals. Do you know how we came into existence? Our two species?"
Yahagi remained silent again. She did not know, and she never had time to think about it. She knew her old warship self had been created by humans, but she wasn't exactly sure how she got to this world in this form other than she suddenly appeared out on the ocean.
"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter in the end," the Re-class simply said. "But as I was saying… That is why the Abyssals are not afraid to die, and that is why we will win. I wonder, these feelings that we Abyssals bear… Can you ship girls ever match them? Our resolve is far beyond yours, and I would gladly sacrifice my life to advance our cause. Can you say the same?"
Still refusing to give into the Re-class' provocations, Yahagi merely resumed sailing around the Re-class, preventing the Abyssal from getting a lock on her position. Even so, Re-class did not seem worried, and she merely regarded Yahagi with an amused smile. However, that changed as a volley of shells broke into their duel and smashed into the Re-class' chest, causing her to cry out in pain and surprise.
"Yeah! Direct hit!" Sendai cheered as she sailed onto the scene, accompanied by the rest of the Light Attack Force.
"Hmm? She seems different," Amatsukaze observed as she scanned over the Re-class.
"It's the Re-class aviation battleship," Fubuki supplied warily, gripping her guns more tightly. "The Admiral said that her tail is her strongest asset, and that she's more powerful than the standard Ru-class. We should be careful."
"Oh my. But can she really beat all six of us?" Kashima wondered.
The Re-class coughed as the smoke from the explosion died off. Her mostly bare chest was covered with dark burn marks, and her previous cocky expression had been replaced by one of wrath.
"Oh, so you think you're slick, huh?" Re-class growled. "Even if it's six on one, I'll kill you all the same. And trust me, it will be very painful. I'm gonna tear your asses apart!"
The Re-class then fired a flurry of shots in Sendai's direction, causing the light cruiser to yelp and jump to the side, avoiding the shells but getting drenched in seawater nonetheless. As Sendai struggled to rebound from the close impact, the Re-class rushed towards her, the monstrous tail roaring intimidatingly all the while.
Knowing that Sendai would likely be finished if that tail got its teeth on her, Yahagi took action and fired into the Re-class' back. However, the Abyssal was prepared this time, and the tail merely twisted around to block the shots even as the Re-class herself barreled onwards. Yahagi cursed inwardly. In spite of all her CQC training, there was no way she could stand up to an Abyssal with superior strength as well as superior maneuverability, so she was forced to wait for guns to reload before she could do anything else.
Luckily, the rest of the fleet also opened fire, and with four sets of guns concentrating on her, even the Re-class was forced to pause. Despite this, Yahagi knew that the damage to the Re-class wasn't significant, and that the Abyssal could easily wreak havoc while they were reloading unless she did something. Deciding that the last simultaneous attack had been enough of a distraction to prevent the tail from spotting her, Yahagi took the risk of rushing in and attacking from close range. The Agano-class light cruiser charged towards the Re-class, willing her guns to reload as quickly as possible and hoping that the Abyssal and her tail wouldn't suddenly turn around and absolutely wreck her. Unfortunately, before Yahagi could completely close the distance, the Re-class' tail emitted a ferocious snarl and moved to protect its master, twisting around the Abyssal's body and positioning itself to intercept Yahagi. Gasping in surprise, Yahagi tried to backpedal, but the tail's surprisingly fast striking speed proved to be too much, and Yahagi winced as she felt the appendage's teeth rake across her stomach.
The tail could have done much worse and torn out Yahagi's insides if not for Sendai, who finally picked herself off the ground and fired her guns again. Since the tail was occupied, the Re-class was forced to handle the shots herself, and so she jumped away, simultaneously forcing the tail away from Yahagi and allowing the ship girl to escape having her intestines ripped out.
That was close, Yahagi thought to herself as she sailed a safe distance away from the enemy. Her stomach was bleeding from the brush with the tail's razor-like teeth, but the wounds were shallow and posed no serious threat at the moment. Even so, if that happens again, I might not be so lucky. I hope the Admiral sends reinforcements soon…
"Annoying pests," Re-class growled. "You all keep flitting about like flies, but ultimately that's all you are. I wonder how much longer you can last?"
The Re-class, still facing in the direction of Sendai, suddenly twisted her tail around her body and fired her guns at Amatsukaze, surprising the destroyer because the tail's cannons had initially been pointing in the opposite direction. Not having the time to dodge, Amatsukaze shifted her stance so that her guns took the brunt of the impact. Even though the maneuver was successful, the force from the blast still sent her flying. Amatsukaze skipped across the ocean, getting a mouthful of salt water at one point and almost choking on it. When she finally came to a stop and gingerly rose to her feet, she noticed that her Rensouhou-kun guns were severely mangled, essentially taking her out of this fight.
"Fuck…" she groaned as she eyed her destroyed weapon and tried to withstand the immense pain of being bounced across the surface of the ocean. Before she could even fire more than one shot, she had already been nullified. At this rate, I'll never catch her…
Amatsukaze then heard the sound of a jet approaching, and she looked up to see one of the American Super Hornets flying by itself, back towards the direction of the Re-class. She then also heard a faint whistling sound which grew louder every passing second.
Huh? The Re-class is an aviation battleship. She'll shoot that plane down easily, Amatsukaze thought, wondering why the hell a single plane was trying to take it on.
However, to her surprise, the plane, instead of continuing on towards the Re-class, suddenly changed direction. Before the plane retreated, something jumped off of it, landing with a crash of seawater in front of Amatsukaze.
"All units, step away from the Re-class," Drake's voice then sounded through the fleet communications.
The confused destroyer blinked as the spray died down in front of her, revealing a tall figure with long, messy blonde hair.
"Yo," Iowa greeted with a grin as she turned to face Amatsukaze. "Sorry I'm late."
Before Amatsukaze could even reply, a flurry of explosions sounded near where the Re-class was located, sending pillars of water into the air.
Iowa gave a low whistle. "Looks like that's my cue. See ya!"
With that, the American battleship charged off in the direction of the Re-class. Iowa raised a hand to shield her eyes from the sun as she approached, noting that the Japanese destroyers and light cruisers had formed a circle around the Re-class and were dumping all their fire on the stunned Abyssal. The spray from Bismarck's and Haruna's shots had died down around the Re-class, and the Abyssal appeared relatively unscathed, so it seemed like the shots had missed taking her out for good.
Eh, they still did their job, Iowa thought as she arrived on the scene.
The Japanese ship girls looked surprised to see her there, but their expressions quickly turned into ones of relief.
"Finally!" Sendai cried.
"Reinforcements?" Fubuki said breathlessly.
Yahagi nodded at Iowa. "So the Admiral sent you… Please lend us your assistance."
"Hmph. Sure thing!" Iowa grinned once more as she flexed her muscles in preparation.
The Re-class frowned as her tail moved away from in front of her, having blocked the majority of the shots. "Who the fuck are you supposed to be?"
Iowa gave a hearty laugh as she opened fire, prompting the Re-class to sail away as fast as she could. Realizing that these shots were far more powerful than those of the previous ship girls, the Re-class grew serious.
"So that's how it's going to be…"
With a guttural cry, the Re-class charged at Iowa, her tail gnashing its teeth hungrily. For her part, Iowa merely smiled in anticipation as the Abyssal approached, not even bothering to move from her spot.
"Is she going to take that thing head-on!?" Amatsukaze wondered out loud as she returned to the battlefield.
"Those Americans really are crazy!" Sendai cried out in disbelief.
"Iowa is a battleship," Yahagi replied. "She has far more strength than we do. Let's leave this to her, and support her when we can."
The Re-class led with her tail, and like an angered cobra, the appendage struck forward with lightning-fast speed. However, since the head of the tail was so large, Iowa was able to grab it by its gun emplacements, stopping the attack as quickly as it started. Iowa held the tail in place even as the teeth snapped open and shut mere inches from her face.
"W-what!?" Re-class cried out, gaping in disbelief.
"Haha!" Iowa laughed, her voice tinted with exertion, "don't underestimate the horsepower of an Iowa-class battleship!"
With her biceps and triceps straining against the tail's muscular body, Iowa bent the two guns on the side of the tail's head downwards, causing the tail to cry out in anger. It roared mightily, vibrating the air around the battlefield, but Iowa was unfazed. The battleship then let go of the tail with her right arm for a brief second, only so she could wind up and deliver a savage uppercut to the side of the tail's head. In an impressive show of strength, Iowa managed to momentarily stun the tail, giving her ample time to slightly turn her body and fire her now-reloaded 16-inch guns into the tail's side. The shot sent the tail flying, dragging the Re-class along with it.
Iowa immediately followed up on the shot by charging after the downed Abyssal. As the Re-class groaned in pain, Iowa grabbed her by the head, placing a hand on either side of the Abyssal's skull. With her starry eyes burning with bloodlust and her body pumping with adrenaline, Iowa pushed her hands together, causing the Re-class' head to explode in a burst of cyan blood and bone. With this killing blow, the tail also went limp, and Iowa panted with exhaustion as she let the headless corpse drop onto the water, where it slowly began to sink.
The rest of the fleet stood by in muted awe at how quickly the battleship managed to finish off the Re-class, though the silence was quickly broken by Sendai's cheering.
"Wow! That was amazing!"
Iowa grinned tiredly. "Thanks!"
Yahagi let out a breath of relief, then reached for her earpiece again. "Admiral, the enemy Re-class has been defeated."
"Right," Drake responded, switching his communications so that the whole fleet could hear him. "Rear Admiral Sterrett's forces are also engaging the remnants of the enemy along with the Heavy Attack Force, and based on our radar readings, it looks like the center and rear of the enemy formation has been almost completely destroyed. Hunt down and sink any stragglers, and this battle should be over soon. Good work."
The next few hours were spent finishing off the last of the Abyssal forces and getting the fleet formation back together once that was done. Yahagi, Amatsukaze, and a few of the carriers were also treated for light wounds, and the ship girls had a chance to resupply as well. As night fell over the Los Angeles coast, all the admirals, officers, and ship girls gathered together on the bridge of the USS Glorious Tears of Liberty.
"All right, everyone!" Fleet Admiral Wei began. "For the final post-action report, it looks like we managed to eliminate every single Abyssal in the vicinity. As for our casualties, we lost one Super Hornet, but other than that, there were no deaths and only a few minor injuries. I think it's safe to say that our sortie was a resounding success!"
The officers and ship girls cheered and clapped at this, and Fleet Admiral Wei smiled.
"So, now that that's out of the way, you all have the rest of the night off. And to celebrate…"
Wei clapped his hands once, and the doors to the bridge opened, revealing a group of sailors who pushed in carts containing food and drink. There was even a cart full of alcohol, which caused a few of the officers to whoop in excitement.
"Please enjoy yourselves! Trust me, nights like this in the Navy don't come around often!"
The group immediately broke off in order to gorge themselves, Akagi of course leading the way. The bridge soon became filled with the chatter of the officers and ship girls, and someone even began playing music from one of the speakers in the bridge. All in all, it felt as close to an actual party atmosphere that one could get on a warship.
"Are you sure this is appropriate?" Admiral Belle asked Wei, eyeing the festivities with a strange look.
"Ah, sure it is!" Wei assured her. "Don't you think everyone could use a reward for a job well done? I know I'm tired as hell, for one."
"That's because you stayed up watching those Japanese cartoons last night, not because of the sortie," Belle parried, causing Wei to wince.
"I d-did not!"
"Ooooh! Are you one of those 'weeaboo' people, sir?" Sterrett excitedly asked.
"No! If anything, Drake's the weeaboo here! He literally lives in Japan!"
"NANI!?" Drake replied, causing both Wei and him to burst into laughter.
Belle sighed. "Well, I guess one night won't hurt, though I'd advise you all to go easy on the drinking."
"Like hell I will!" Wei said before rushing towards the party. Sterrett joined him with a grin, and Vice Admiral Jockey merely shook his head as he followed as well.
The rest of the night was filled with merry cheer, and even Drake found himself loosening up after a few drinks. Currently, he had taken off his coat and was engaged in an arm-wrestling contest with Iowa, and though there was no way he could ever beat a ship girl in something like that, in his inebriated state, he for some reason still decided to take her on.
"I'm… About to win… I can feel it!" the rear admiral said between clenched teeth as his muscles strained to push Iowa's hand onto the table.
"Oh? Yer gettin' close, Cap'n!" Iowa, who was also slightly drunk, encouraged, though her lazy stance indicated that she was not putting in any effort at all.
"Yeah! Go, Admiral!" Suzuya cheered from the sidelines. "Show us that those big biceps aren't for nothin'!"
Iowa's arm gave way a bit, causing Drake to grin victoriously. "Y-yes!"
However, the battleship slowly began to push back, shifting the tide of the contest slowly and turning Drake's smile into a frown.
"No! Not like this!" he cried out as his hand approached the table, eventually hitting it as Iowa decided to finish him off.
"Sorry! Better luck next time! Ahahah!" Iowa laughed, as she leaned back and took another swig of her drink. "Now who's next!?"
Drake sighed in defeat, then went over to the main windows of the bridge where Bismarck was standing by herself, a beer in hand.
"Bismarck!" Drake called out as he slung an arm around her shoulder. "Havin' fun yet?"
The German battleship frowned at the physical contact. "If I say 'yes,' will you leave me alone?"
Drake returned her frown with one of his own as he let go off her. "Don't be such an ass. You did well for your first sortie with this fleet, no? No reason to be so uptight."
"Perhaps if I had something other than this cheap American swill to drink, I would feel better."
Drake laughed. "Maybe! Ha!"
Weirded out by her admiral's unnaturally cheerful behavior and because she saw Kaga approaching, Bismarck decided to make her exit. The aircraft carrier was still as serious and sober as usual, and she spared Bismarck a brief glance before heading over to Drake.
"Are you all right, sir?"
Drake leaned against the window as he looked out onto the deck."Yeah. I guess I'm a little drunk, though."
Kaga nodded, then joined him at the window for a few moments before heading back. Though she didn't say much, Drake felt oddly at calm by her presence.
Is that why I wasn't so afraid during this sortie, even though we brushed dangerously close to the Abyssals?
Though this time he had Fleet Admiral's Wei's strategy shielding him and the rest of the combined fleet for his protection, Drake for some reason still felt like there was something else that made him feel a lot safer during this sortie.
Her words before the sortie… It couldn't have been that, could it?
Drake was snapped out of his thoughts as another figure approached, though this time, it was Fleet Admiral Wei.
"Yo! Checking out the Pacific at night, huh?"
"Yeah. It's pretty."
"That it is," Wei agreed as he too looked out the window. "Pretty dangerous as well, though."
Drake noticed that the fleet admiral still had a strange look in his eye, despite the cheery atmosphere around him. He doubted Wei would give him a straight answer if he asked directly, so he tried to bait it out of him.
"Today's sortie was pretty easy, right? I guess I was worried for nothing."
Wei smiled, still staring out at the sea. "Yep, we got really lucky… Though I still think…"
"Think what?"
Wei scratched the back of his head, then turned to Drake with another lazy smile. "Nah, it's nothing. I just feel like the Abyssals went easy on us for no real reason."
Drake nodded. "Yeah. But they would never do something for no reason, right?"
"Yep. That's what's been bothering me. I just feel like… Maybe this attack wasn't meant to be a decisive Abyssal victory," he said, echoing his earlier thoughts.
"So this attack was more of a practice run? Or a distraction?"
"Yeah, a distraction." Wei's eyes turned cold as he looked back at the sea. "And if that's true, then we fucked up somewhere. We fucked up big time."
The sickening sound of slick blood and tearing flesh filled the stormy air as the Battleship Princess pulled her hand out of Kongou's chest cavity. The normally-cheery battleship looked down in horror at the hole in her torso, then coughed up a spurt of blood and collapsed onto the ocean's surface.
As the rest of the ship girls stared in shocked silence, the Battleship Princess licked the blood off her hand before kicking the supine Kongou back in the direction of the ship girls.
"Weak," the Princess merely stated as she smiled softly, her red eyes flashing devilishly.
She then turned around to face the rest of her comrades. Thirteen other Abyssal Princesses were lined up behind her, their expressions ranging from bored indifference to lustful hunger. Behind them, an enormous black pillar slowly rose from the choppy waves and into the dark sky.
"Now, my Princesses," the Battleship Princess began, "please show them the true power of an Abyssal!"