"This place is actually pretty nice," Drake observed as he walked through the streets of Hachijo-jima.
The island town had a peaceful, rural feel to it, and everywhere he walked, he could see dense island vegetation creeping over the stone walls lining the streets. It was early morning and the sky was overcast, but in Drake's opinion, that only made the scene more beautiful. The weather was surprisingly warm considering it had just snowed in Tokyo a couple days ago, and it actually felt a lot more like spring or summer than winter.
The Espiritu Santo had docked on the side of the island farthest from the Abyssal advance, but instead of staying aboard the ship, Drake and his fleet had opted to disembark. There were a couple reasons why Drake had done this, one of which was that since the Japanese marines had been preparing for an Abyssal attack ever since the Bethlehem incident, they had managed to set up a decent command post on the island. Drake had been invited to command from the island if he felt so inclined, and the marines had told him that they even had advanced equipment such as high-quality cameras that overlook the ocean set up around the island, so if he worked from the island's command post, he would have better access to the ensuing battle. Another reason why Drake decided to command from the island was because it would raise morale among the marines and islanders if they saw the admiral on the island with them, which would be necessary given the type of strategy he had planned…
"Have all the islanders evacuated?" Shigure, who was walking with Drake, asked. When Drake had gone out to walk around, Shoukaku insisted that he take an escort with him, so he chose Shigure. Drake still remembered the look in her eye when he visited her in the hospital, so he wanted to know if she would be all right to sortie today. So far, she seemed fine.
"I don't see anyone on the streets…" the destroyer noted.
"Some of them have probably taken the ferry to Tokyo, but most of them are still here, I would guess," Drake answered. "People generally don't like to leave their homes, even in the event of an Abyssal attack. The presence of our fleet and the marines has also made them feel safer, so they're probably still on the island, just inside their houses."
Shigure frowned. "But isn't that dangerous? What if the Abyssals shell the island?"
Drake shrugged. "Let's hope that doesn't happen."
"Um, Commander… "
Drake and Shigure turned around to see Fubuki emerge from around the corner of one of the streets.
"Colonel Ichihara would like to see you," Fubuki told him.
Colonel Ichihara was in charge of the Imperial Marines on Hachijo-jima, so Drake nodded and followed Fubuki back to the headquarters with Shigure in tow. The HQ building was nothing more than a small, repurposed convention hall, though now it was stocked full of military equipment. When the trio arrived, a man with gray hair and glasses dressed in combat fatigues greeted them.
"Admiral Drake. It appears the enemy has started to move."
Drake nodded. "How long until they get here?"
"An hour at minimum," the colonel provided. "But… Are you sure about this strategy? We've set up everything according to your plans, but I must warn you again that this seems very dangerous."
"It's not as dangerous as a straight up fleet battle on the ocean would be, I can tell you that," Drake countered.
Colonel Ichihara sighed. "Admiral… I realize that you have been given command of this mission, but I must reiterate that I am against this. This plan may be safer for your ships, but it puts civilian lives at risk. If you do that, you are defeating the purpose of even having a military in the first place."
"You're wrong there, Colonel," Drake shook his head. "I did not develop this plan just so that I could preserve my ships; I developed it because it has the greatest chance of success. If our naval defense fails, this island is as good as lost, and then everyone here will die. So technically my plan puts the least lives at risk if you think of it that way."
Colonel Ichihara was clearly unconvinced, but he relented. "Fine. But you will take responsibility for whatever happens."
The colonel then walked off to discuss final preparations with some of his men in the command center, and Drake rubbed his chin as he sighed internally. Doesn't look like we'll be getting along, I guess…
The rear admiral then scanned the room, looking to see if any more of his ship girls were here. Since the Abyssals were only an hour away, it would probably be best to prepare for battle now.
"Fubuki, do you know where Kaga or Shoukaku is?" he asked, turning to the destroyer.
"Oh, uh, Shoukaku went over to the sushi shop next door. I'm not sure where Secretary Kaga is…"
Drake nodded. "All right. You two should get down to the beach and prepare to sortie. I'll try and find everyone else."
The two destroyers saluted and left towards the beach, and Drake headed out of the command center and walked into the small sushi shop next door. Because of the presence of hungry marines right beside it, the sushi place remained open and capitalized on this chance to make some extra money. Drake walked through the curtains of the entrance and saw two of his ship girls at the counter, busy stuffing themselves with sushi. Shoukaku stood by them, trying to convince them to leave.
"You two can't be eating right now…" she said, shooting disapproving looks at Zuikaku and Suzuya, who certainly looked like they were having a good time.
"Hey, c'mon, we didn't have any breakfast or dinner," Suzuya complained between mouthfuls.
"But there was fuel on the ship," Shoukaku said.
"This tastes way better than fuel!" Zuikaku parried. "Why don't you have some, Shoukaku? That might change your mind!"
The white-haired carrier opened her mouth to refuse, but her eyes seemed to tell a different story as they stuck themselves to the freshly-cut sushi. Drake decided that he should probably intervene at this point.
"The Abyssals will be here in an hour," he said, causing the three of them to jump in surprise at his voice. "You all should probably take your positions."
"Yes, sir!" Shoukaku quickly said, blushing slightly. She then turned to glare at Zuikaku and Suzuya. "I told you two!"
"Hey! Want some sushi, Admiral?" Suzuya asked with a grin, waving her chopstick at him.
"I'll pass, thanks. Hurry up and get in position," he said before turning around and stepping out of the shop so that no one could hear his stomach growl.
Drake spent the next few minutes searching around the streets by the command center to see if there were any other stragglers. He didn't find anyone, so he assumed they were all at the beach. He had told them beforehand to get in position around this time as well, so most of them probably followed orders and were already down there. Drake decided to head down himself for some final checks.
When he got down to the beach, he saw the marines' impressive array of shore guns lining the sands. He felt bad for the marines who would be manning those guns as they would be put in the most danger, but it was part of their job in the end. He doubted the shore guns would be much more effective than if the IJN had just sent coastal defense ships, but shore guns were definitely less expensive and required less manpower, so he supposed that was their reasoning. In fact, the IJN sent no naval vessels aside from the ship girls to defend Hachijo-jima, and Drake guessed it was because they didn't want to risk it given the recent destruction at Bethlehem. Either way, that meant that he and his ship girls were on their own for the most part.
A group of ship girls were standing around by the water, preparing to get into their specified combat positions. Drake also noticed that many of the marines were milling about by their shore guns, and most of them were watching the ship girls with great interest. The marines seemed to snap out of their daze when Drake approached, and they began entering their guns and readying for battle. A few of the ship girls also turned around when they saw their admiral arrive.
"Sir," Kaga saluted. "We were just about to get into position."
Drake gave her a nod. "All right. I was just checking to make sure there were no problems."
"None, sir. However, due to the weather today, air power will likely be limited as our planes will need to fly low and may be shot down more easily. That goes for the enemy as well, however."
"Yeah," Drake agreed, looking up at the gray, cloudy sky that was only broken in a couple spots by Hachijo-jima's two volcanoes. "But the enemy's trump card is their Submarine Princess this time, so that's what I'm more worried about."
"Our planes will be ineffective against her, so unfortunately I won't be of any use there," Kaga told him, her tone slightly bitter.
"If you can damage their surface fleet, that'll be good enough," Drake assured her. "Where are the destroyers?"
Kaga turned and called to the fleet's seven destroyers, who quickly hurried over. They all had their equipment on by now, and they saluted as they lined up before Drake and his secretary ship. Currently, the destroyers were the only ones equipped with ASW equipment, so they were really the first and last defense against the Submarine Princess. Even so, Drake wasn't very confident that they could defeat her. The four from the Seventh Fleet who had been utterly crushed at Bethlehem looked understandably nervous this time around, even the normally-stoic Shiranui. As for his regulars, Yamakaze looked like she was about to faint, and though Fubuki wore a determined look, Drake could see that she was trembling slightly. Amatsukaze was really the only one who didn't look apprehensive about the upcoming battle.
"You all look nervous," he noted with a smirk, voicing his thoughts out loud.
The destroyers glanced at each other but didn't answer him, which pretty much confirmed what he said.
"It's seven of you versus one Abyssal. There's no reason to be scared."
"Um, those Princesses aren't normal Abyssals, sir," Murasame piped up, having had firsthand experience with one. "They can sink us in one hit…"
"Then don't get hit," Drake simply replied. "There're seven targets she would have to choose from, so it's not as if you're just sitting ducks. The Kido Butai nearly killed a Princess by themselves, and there were only four of them. You're telling me that seven of you can't do the same?"
"But… They're the Kido Butai…" Fubuki said, briefly glancing at Kaga.
"And? Are you saying you're all just a bunch of no-name destroyers who're too weak to have any impact on the fight?"
Fubuki's gaze fell. "N-no…"
"Well, that's what it sounds like you're saying to me. All those hours you spent training, did they mean nothing? Did all of you just waste your time?"
"Hell no!" Amatsukaze shot back, startling the other destroyers. "I'll sink that bitch myself if that's what it takes to prove that I'm not weak!"
"You're enthusiastic…" Shiranui dryly noted.
"I agree with Amatsukaze," Shigure spoke up, albeit a bit shakily. "I refuse to be defeated again…"
Murasame smiled. "Well, if Shigure's going to say that, then I guess we have to too, right, Yamakaze?"
"Um, y-yes…"
"We won't lose, Commander!" Asashio declared as she perked up.
Fubuki nodded. "Yes. I'm sorry, sir. We will do our best no matter the circumstances!"
Drake nodded and patted her on the head. "That's more like it… But even though you've said all that, I'm hoping that you won't have to fight her at all. The reason why we're setting up this close to shore is to draw the Abyssal fleet in and neutralize the Submarine Princess since she can't fight in shallow water."
"What if they refuse to fight unless we come closer?" Kaga asked, still slightly unsure of the plan.
"Then we keep bombing them with airpower until their entire surface force is destroyed. If they try and turn this into a siege, they're going to lose, and they know it. We can resupply from Tokyo as much as we want, but they can't do the same."
"I see," Kaga replied. "I know I've already said this, sir, but if we draw the Abyssals in too far, they may be able to bomb the island."
"The command center is far enough inland that shells can't accurately reach it."
"And the civilians?"
Drake frowned. "I've already said what I had to say about that. The Abyssals will be too concentrated on fighting us to attack the island."
"... As you say, sir."
He could tell that Kaga, like Colonel Ichihara, didn't really approve of the plan, but both of them were rational enough to understand that it did have a good shot at victory, so they didn't complain too much. Either way, Drake was really hoping that the Abyssals wouldn't do too much collateral damage.
This reminds me of Tangier, Drake thought uneasily, recalling how his strategy back then also resulted in severe civilian loss of life. At least this time he wasn't intentionally using the civilians as pawns, and any damage done to them would be mostly incidental, but it was still a fact that his strategy endangered their lives. Perhaps if they knew what Drake's plan had been beforehand, more of the civilians on Hachijo-jima would have chosen to evacuate to Tokyo.
Eh, can't be helped, he decided as he walked back up towards the command center. Thinking about things like that would only distract him during the battle. When he reached the command center, he found it bustling with activity as the marines prepared for the fight. There were three large screens set up in the room, one of them showing radar and sonar readings and the other two providing a view of the ocean where some of the ship girls were now taking their place. Also inside the command center were the engineers, medical personnel, and some barebones medical equipment normally aboard the Espiritu Santo. If any of the ship girls were to be severely injured, they could be returned to the command center and stabilized until they returned to the base.
"The enemy will arrive soon," Colonel Ichihara told Drake. He then turned to the other marines in the room. "Everyone! I would like to take a few minutes to go over the battle plan one last time so that everyone knows his or her task."
As the group gathered around a table which had a big map of the island and the surrounding waters, Colonel Ichihara nodded to Drake, who then began explaining the plan from the top.
"All right. As you know, this plan is designed to draw the Abyssals nearer to the shore to reduce the effectiveness of their Submarine Princess. In the event that the Princess does decide to attack anyway, she will be severely limited in her motion, and I have seven destroyers equipped with anti-submarine weaponry who will sink her. That is the most important part of the plan, but the rest of it is designed to take advantage of the island's natural geography."
Drake pointed to a few spots on the shoreline.
"I have stationed my aircraft carriers in these four locations along the shore. As you can see, they will be fighting from land, which is possible because they are ship girls and no longer just ships. They will be able to launch their planes from the shore, and since they will be hidden away in these select spots, it will be difficult for the enemy to accurately deduce their location, basically giving them immunity in this battle. The rest of the fleet, consisting of light cruisers, a heavy cruiser, and battleships, will be out on the water and will engage the enemy's surface force. I will be watching over the battle from here and changing the plan if necessary, so I would appreciate it if we could keep a UAV presence at all times."
The Japanese marines nodded as Drake finished re-explaining the plan, and then Colonel Ichihara clapped his hands together and ordered them back to work.
"Well, for better or worse, I suppose we're going with this plan," Ichihara said. "Let's hope it works."
Amatsukaze stood atop the warm sea as she glanced out at horizon. The sea breeze was almost nonexistent, and though the clouds hung heavily overhead, it hadn't rained all morning, and according to the weather forecast, it likely wouldn't for the rest of the day either.
"They're coming…" Kiso said seriously as she sailed up beside the destroyers.
Fubuki clenched her 12.7 cm guns more tightly as she nodded. "You can see them in the distance now."
Sure enough, when Amatsukaze turned her gaze back towards the horizon, she spotted the silhouettes of the Abyssal fleet approaching. She patted her repaired Rensouhou-kun by her side, though she figured that her depth charges would be more useful in this fight. She, along with the other destroyers, was also equipped with a sonar, which would allow her to sense the approach of the Submarine Princess, and after a few more minutes, that's exactly what she did.
"She's huge…" Amatsukaze breathed, her eyes widening. She turned to the other destroyers, who also wore similar expressions on their faces.
"The Princess?" Kiso asked, a scowl on her face. "At least if she's really big, she won't be able to approach this close to the shore."
Amatsukaze was still a bit unsure of that, but surprisingly enough, Kiso turned out to be right. Though the main Abyssal force continued onwards, the large sonar signature stayed behind. Looks like the Admiral's plan is working so far…
"The Princess is staying behind," Amatsukaze said to the rest of the fleet, also making sure to tap her earpiece so that the Admiral and the carriers could hear.
Bismarck crossed her arms. "Hmph. Cowards."
"That's good to hear," Haruna said with a smile. "One less enemy to worry about, right?"
"Heh. I knew she'd be too scared to come out and face me," Kiso then said, her prior serious tone reverting back to her signature cocky persona.
"This is kind of a relief," Murasame chuckled. "I guess the Admiral was right after all."
"Don't relax your guard," Kaga's voice suddenly cut in through the comms, as if she knew exactly what the fleet on the ocean was saying. "There is still the rest of the Abyssal fleet to contend with, and they appear to have brought stronger fighters this time. If your mind is dulled, you will sink."
"Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Mother," Sendai replied through her earpiece.
Kaga didn't say anything back to that, but Amatsukaze could guarantee that the carrier was frowning deeply. Either way, the enemy fleet was drawing closer, and so she prepared herself for battle, now assuming that her actual guns would be put to use instead of her ASW equipment.
"Carriers, launch your planes," Admiral Drake ordered. "This won't be like the other sorties, though. Launch bombers with fighter escorts, and make sure you each attack from different directions. Strike hard and fast, then recall your planes. Send out another air force when I give the order… Also, watch out for the Tsu-class. Try to avoid them if you can, but make sure to drop a fucking bomb on them if they're distracted. Getting those things out of the way will allow our planes to move much easier, especially since the enemy only has two carriers to our four."
"Understood," Kaga responded.
At this point, the Abyssal fleet was clearly visible. Amatsukaze spotted worm-like Abyssals with large, spherical heads jumping in and out of the water, and she was able to identify them as Na-class destroyers thanks to the Abyssal identification pop quizzes they were occasionally given during training. Behind them, she saw a few bipedal figures with enormous glove-like hands, and an impressive array of anti-air guns lined them. These were the Tsu-class light cruisers. Also present were the Ne-class heavy cruisers, which had short, white hair and a black mask which covered one of their glowing cyan eyes. Extending out of their back was a disturbing-looking gun emplacement which contained a pair of turrets, looking almost like a scorpion's stinger. And then of course came the Ru-class and the Re-class, both of whom looked as bloodthirsty as ever. The Wo-class carriers sailed at the back of the enemy formation.
Amatsukaze's golden eyes narrowed as she looked at the Re-class again. The way the other Re-class had tossed Amatsukaze aside like an afterthought still stung, and the destroyer was more than willing to take revenge on one of the now-deceased Re-class' sisters instead.
"Admiral, can we attack?" Bismarck asked into her radio, eager to begin shelling the enemy.
"Hold on for a bit. The Battleship Princess said she would personally command this sortie, so I'm not expecting her to just send her fleet in blindly, especially now that her Submarine Princess has been taken out of the fight."
The fleet held their fire, and as the Admiral predicted, a few Abyssals began to move away from the standard formation. In particular, the Tsu-class light cruisers had drifted from the main fleet and headed out back behind the Abyssals, more towards the side of the fleet.
"Why are they moving backwards?" Kiso asked, raising an eyebrow.
"All carriers, stop your planes!" Drake suddenly said over the comms. "Heh, how stupid… She's moving her anti-air defenses behind her fleet and to the sides because she doesn't see our carriers anywhere. She thinks that since they're not here, my carriers are going to try and flank her from around the islands… Let's show her how wrong she is. Carriers, launch ALL your planes right now and aim straight at the Abyssal fleet! Forget about attacking from different directions, just get there as fast as you can!"
The carriers gave their various affirmations, and soon enough, Amatsukaze heard the faint buzzing of the plane engines as they flew overhead and rushed towards the enemy.
"Haha! So much for this airstrike being different from other sorties," Zuikaku laughed.
"Looks like the Tsu-class are realizing their blunder," Drake then said as the enemy light cruisers began rushing back towards the center of the fleet. "Didn't expect me to hide my carriers on land, did you, you bitch!"
Amatsukaze and the rest of the surface force watched from afar as the friendly airstrike descended upon the enemy. The Wo-class carriers tried to hurry their own air forces in order to counter, but the huge mass of planes seemed a bit too much for even them. Anti-air fire came from the Abyssal fleet, shooting some of the planes down, but most of them were able to hit their mark. The ship girls cheered as they watched their bombers land hits on some of the Abyssals, and one of the Ne-class heavy cruisers even went up in flames as she wildly flailed her arms. A couple Na-classes had also been hit by kamikaze strikes, and they exploded in a flurry of fire as well.
"Okay, the Tsu-classes are returning," Drake cautioned, "call back your planes for now."
The surviving planes broke off from their engagement with the Abyssal aircraft and began heading back, leaving a good portion of the enemy fleet smoking and sending a few of them to the bottom. However, as Amatsukaze watched the air show with a satisfied smirk, she suddenly felt something very large and fast approaching on her sonar.
"What the -"
Before she could even finish her sentence, Amatsukaze was interrupted by a huge underwater explosion only a few meters away from her. The enormous ocean spray blinded her as the force of the blast sent her flying, and she coughed and sputtered as she frantically tried to regain her bearings.
"Aaaagh!"
Amatsukaze whipped her head around to see Kiso lying on the surface of the ocean, her bottom half completely blown off and organs spilling out of her body cavity and into the water. The speedy destroyer immediately stood back and rushed over to the injured light cruiser.
"Kiso!" she cried as she knelt to inspect the damage more closely, which turned out to be a bad idea. If Amatsukaze had eaten anything in the last few hours, it would no longer be in her stomach.
"Ufff…" Kiso feebly managed, the light in her only visible eye slowly dimming.
Amatsukaze still knelt beside the light cruiser, a horrified expression on her face. However, she then noticed another body lying a fair distance away. It was Fubuki, and though she didn't have injuries as bloody as Kiso's, her limbs were bent in all the wrong directions, and she was rapidly sinking beneath the waves. Luckily, Bismarck rushed over and picked up the disappearing destroyer before she could fully sink.
"Light cruisers! Get over here and tow these two back to shore!" Bismarck yelled urgently, her blue eyes focused on the advancing Abyssals even as she held Fubuki's broken body beneath her arm.
"What the FUCK just happened!?" Drake demanded to know. "The Submarine Princess?! How the fuck…!"
"It appears she attacked while everyone was distracted by the air battle," Kaga supplied, evidently having watched the whole thing from one of her planes. "Even though she is far away, she is still capable of launching very destructive torpedoes at extremely high speeds."
"Fuck!" Drake cursed again. "Yura and Kashima, get Kiso and Fubuki back to shore immediately and then return to the battle. Destroyers! Keep an eye on your sonar and call out whenever there's another one of those! Everyone else, concentrate on the advancing Abyssal fleet!"
Amatsukaze gulped as she tried to prepare for battle again, her senses especially focused on her sonar this time. Sure, we were distracted, but still… That Submarine Princess attacked so quickly!
When the Abyssals got close enough, the shore guns back on the beach began to fire. However, the Ru-class and Re-class hung back for a bit and shot their own shells back, and after a few minutes and a series of explosions, the guns fell silent. Amatsukaze didn't need to look back to know that the shore guns had been destroyed and that the marines who were manning them were all dead.
"They're coming! Prepare for attack!" Bismarck yelled to the fleet as the enemy began turning their guns on the ship girls.
Amatsukaze joined her fleet in firing her own cannons at the remaining Abyssals, but at this distance, the enemy proved difficult to hit. Amatsukaze did manage to land a shot on the Re-class, but the aviation battleship merely smirked and swatted the shell away with her hand. She heard her admiral order out another airstrike over the radio, which might be able to help. However, it would take a minute or two to arrive, and her sonar was once again signaling bad news.
"Torpedo!" she called out, pointing in the direction of where it looked like it was coming from.
The path of the projectile headed directly towards Bismarck, so the blonde battleship quickly sailed to the side. However, when she did that, a shell from the Ru-class smashed into her torso, causing her to choke in pain and ending her momentum. The torpedo exploded not a moment later, and Amatsukaze shielded her eyes from the spray. Though she managed to avoid the torpedo, Bismarck was still sent into the air by the blast, and as the German flew one way, the carrier airstrike flew the other and headed towards the enemy.
"Uh, is Bismarck all right?" Drake asked.
"Guh… I'm fine, sir…" Bismarck replied through the radio, and Amatsukaze could see her slowly rising to her feet in the distance, though her chest area was burnt and bloodied.
"Okay. Fleet, concentrate your fire on the Tsu-class."
Amatsukaze did as she was told, positioning herself so that her Rensouhou-kun could get a good shot at the huge-handed creatures. Her shot hit, and the enemy light cruiser reeled in pain, but then a Na-class leapt out of the water, its maw open and its 5-inch gun pointed right at Amatsukaze.
"Fuck you!" Amatsukaze screamed, ducking and sailing forward as fast as she could.
Though she acted mainly out of frustration, Amatsukaze was saved by her superior speed, which actually allowed her to duck under the shot and reach the Na-class. She ripped it out of the air as it descended into the water, and she grabbed its tail and swung the enemy destroyer around her head a few times before bashing it against the surface of the ocean. The thing was heavy, but the adrenaline and anger in her veins fueled her strength, allowing her to continue smashing the spherical Abyssal onto the waves. The Na-class flailed about, but it didn't appear to be taking much damage. This pissed Amatsukaze off even more, and so she grabbed the destroyer's mouth cannon with one hand and twisted it just like she saw Iowa do in the last sortie. The Na-class screeched in pain, and Amatsukaze then swung her hips to blast the Abyssal right in the eye with a shot from her Rensouhou-kun. A hit from such a close range easily ended the Na-class' life, and Amatsukaze dropped the dead Abyssal unceremoniously into the ocean.
However, since she was caught up in her brawl with the Na-class, Amatsukaze forgot to check her sonar, and her heart stopped as she noticed another torpedo sailing right towards her. Even with her speed, there was no way she could dodge this one, so she braced for a devastating impact… But all she felt was a slight disturbance in the waves as the torpedo merely passed underneath her, evidently heading for someone behind her.
"Watch out!" Amatsukaze yelled as she whirled around, hoping that whoever was behind her would be able to heed her warning. Whether or not her callout was successful was uncertain, because the torpedo immediately exploded and obscured everything from view with the ocean spray. Amatsukaze was knocked onto her ass from the force of the explosion, but she quickly got back up, desperate to see if the torpedo had hit anyone.
When the spray cleared, she saw Shigure standing there, her arms covering her face. The Shiratsuyu-class destroyer slowly lowered her arms and noticed Amatsukaze.
"Are you all right?" they both said at the same time, then exchanged awkward chuckles.
"Sorry, I threw a depth charge at that torpedo and forgot you were standing in front of me," Shigure apologized.
"No, it's okay. It's my fault for not noticing it," Amatsukaze said, slightly impressed that Shigure had managed to act so quickly.
"Shigure, are you all right?" Drake asked. "I see you're still standing?"
"Yes, sir. I used a depth charge to blow the torpedo up," Shigure responded into her earpiece.
"Oh… Really?"
"The enemy is advancing! We will need to fall back!" Haruna then called out, flinching as a battleship shell landed next to her.
Amatsukaze glanced back out at the enemy fleet. Almost all of the Na-class destroyers had been sunk, probably as a result of the two air attacks. The Tsu-classes were still alive, unfortunately, but one of them was smoking heavily while the other was bleeding from its side due to the hit Amatsukaze scored on it earlier. One of the Ne-class heavy cruisers had been sunk from the first airstrike, but the other appeared relatively unharmed. The pair of Wo-classes were heavily damaged after fighting off the air attacks, but the two battleships were unhurt.
"Kill those Tsu-classes, or our airstrikes can't stay for long," Drake insisted even as the fleet retreated a bit.
"Admiral, I'm running low on planes," Akagi notified through fleet comms.
"Me as well," Shoukaku added.
"I think that can be said for all of us carriers," Kaga said. "Sir, our airpower is diminishing everytime we send out an airstrike. The third one may be the last."
Drake's frustration was palpable through the radio. "Is it that fucking hard for you girls to sink those Tsu-classes? Get them out of the way already!"
"Another torpedo!" Shigure suddenly called out, pointing in the direction of the underwater projectile.
The fleet dove out of the way, and the torpedo exploded but was not able to injure anyone. However, the spray from the burst did a good job at blinding everyone, as the torpedo had blown up in the middle of the formation. When the spray died down, Amatsukaze looked up to see a flurry of black planes and shells heading towards them.
"She used the torpedo as cover for the shells and remaining planes," Drake growled, but at that point, there was nothing the fleet could do.
A dive bomber dropped its load nearby Amatsukaze, but the fast destroyer was able to dodge it. The sleek Abyssal bomber then tried to use itself as a bomb, but that too failed as Amatsukaze outsped it yet again. Unfortunately, the rest of the destroyers weren't so lucky. A battleship shell landed next to Shigure, throwing her off balance and allowing an Abyssal bomber to clip her. The explosion tore into her right arm, blowing off a portion of her shoulder. Though the destroyer looked to be in great pain, she still managed to stand up and continued to fight. Asashio was hit directly by a bomb, and Amatsukaze looked away from the mangled destroyer whose entire chest had been torn open and its contents splattered across the ocean, even as Yura bravely rushed to recover her. Shiranui was also clipped by a bomb, but she only suffered mild burns on her back and was still able to battle through the pain. Murasame lay face-down on the water, and Amatsukaze momentarily thought that she was dead, but the twintailed destroyer slowly got to her feet, revealing that she didn't actually suffer any major damage and had just been knocked down. Yamakaze also avoided a severe hit, but one of her arms had a deep gash running through it, spilling blood onto her uniform.
The rest of the fleet didn't fare too well after the joint attack either. Haruna was breathing heavily as she pressed an arm to her side, which was quickly becoming stained with blood. Bismarck had taken either a bomb or kamikaze hit, but it looked like she managed to block it with her right arm, as that limb was blackened and burnt. Suzuya had taken a hit that did some sort of internal damage, as she was bent over and coughing up blood quite noisily. Sendai was on all fours on the surface of the ocean, groaning in pain from something or another. Yahagi was in Kashima's arms, and the Agano-class light cruiser was doused head-to-toe in blood, and it was obvious that she was no longer breathing, though it looked like her head hadn't taken any major damage, so she could still be repaired if they acted quickly. Kashima herself wasn't hurt aside from a bleeding cut across her face, so it appeared she and Yura would be returning the dead to the shore again.
"How the fuck is she still using that Submarine Princess to cause so much damage even though we were supposed to have neutralized it?" Drake asked no one in particular, anger evident in his tone. "Aside from Asashio and Yahagi, is there anyone else who can't fight?"
The injured ship girls made no comment, indicating that they were still able to go on. However, Sendai and Suzuya were still in their respective positions, seemingly unable to answer. Amatsukaze wondered if she should say anything about them, but she figured that the Admiral could see them from where he was as well.
A shell then landed in front of her, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked ahead to see the Abyssals rapidly advancing.
This isn't good… We lost too many ships, Amatsukaze thought, wondering if they would be able to fight off the remaining Abyssals. A small grace was that the Wo-class carriers seemed to be retreating, so Amatsukaze assumed that they had used up all their planes in that last attack and were now irrelevant to the battle.
"Fuck this," Drake spat. "All carriers, consolidate your remaining planes and throw them at the Re-class."
"Um… But what about the Tsu-classes, sir?" Shoukaku asked.
"Damn the Tsu-classes! Full speed ahead!"
That was the end of that short conversation, but the fleet had no time to rest as the Abyssals came within prime striking range. The Abyssals shrieked various battlecries as they approached, and Bismarck and Haruna quickly moved to intercept the enemy battleships despite their own injuries. A Tsu-class light cruiser slid past Amatsukaze, and the destroyer tried to turn and eliminate it, but she then saw the Ne-class heavy cruiser heading towards Suzuya, who was still caught up in her coughing. Deciding that preventing Suzuya from dying was more important than attacking the Tsu-class, Amatsukaze speedily sailed over to the two heavy cruisers and shot the Abyssal in the back of the head with her Rensouhou-kun. Unfortunately, the shot didn't kill the Ne-class, and the enemy ship turned around to glare at Amatsukaze, her single blue eye burning with fury.
"Shit…" the destroyer muttered.
Amatsukaze darted out of the way of the Ne-class' initial salvo, and she quickly fired her own guns again. However, this time, the Ne-class raised one armored leg and kicked Amatsukaze's shell out of the air with surprising quickness, causing the destroyer to curse again. Deciding that she needed to take a different approach, Amatsukaze raced towards the heavy cruiser and ducked behind her, surprising the Ne-class with her speed. Once she was behind the Ne-class, Amatsukaze fired her guns at the part of the Ne-class' body that connected to her scorpion-like turrets. The force from this shot made the Ne-class almost tip over, and Amatsukaze gave her an extra push by putting her hands on the Ne-class' ass and pushing forward, attempting to fully tip the Abyssal over. However, Amatsukaze underestimated how heavy the Ne-class would be, and the Abyssal refused to tip over. Growling angrily, the Ne-class sent a kick back towards Amatsukaze just like a horse would. The steel boot slammed into the silver-haired destroyer, making her cry out in pain as she ended up being the one sent to the ground instead.
The Ne-class then turned around and aimed her 8-inch triple gun mounts right at Amatsukaze, and since she was still sitting on the surface of the ocean, Amatsukaze couldn't rely on her speed to save her here. She raised an arm to feebly block the enemy's shots, but luckily for her, the Ne-class never managed to fire as a series of heavy-duty shots smashed into the Ne-class, blowing off her head. Amatsukaze let out a relieved breath as she stood up and watched the Ne-class sink beneath the warm waves. She then turned to thank Suzuya, who was the one who fired shots that saved her.
"Thanks for the - are you all right…?"
Though Suzuya's cannons were smoking from the shot she just fired, the heavy cruiser herself did not look to be in any sort of fighting shape. Her coughs had degenerated to wet-sounding gasps, and as Amatsukaze got closer, she noticed that Suzuya had a sizeable hole in her chest.
"I-it's all right," Amatsukaze consoled as she patted Suzuya's back, but the heavy cruiser continued to make choking sounds, and Amatsukaze could only watch helplessly as Suzuya choked to death on her own blood.
After letting out a raspy rattle from her throat, Suzuya closed her eyes and collapsed. Amatsukaze caught the green-haired ship girl in order to prevent her from sinking, but Suzuya was not much lighter than the Ne-class, and so Amatsukaze had trouble moving around with her. She looked around desperately, hoping that someone could come to their aid before they were both sunk by an Abyssal who saw an easy opportunity to score two kills. Fortunately, Yura and Kashima sailed over and took Suzuya off Amatsukaze's hands.
"We'll take her," Kashima said, her expression clouded with sadness. A trembling Yura grabbed Suzuya's other arm, and the two light cruisers headed back in the direction of the shore, moving much faster than Amatsukaze ever could if she had still been carrying Suzuya.
Wondering how those two returned to the battle so quickly after removing Asashio and Yahagi, Amatsukaze briefly glanced back at the beach. She noticed that Zuikaku and Shoukaku were standing on the sands, evidently there to take the bodies and haul them up to the command center. She assumed that Kaga and Akagi were also down there and were the ones who brought Asashio and Yahagi to the command center from the beach. She guessed that the Admiral had at some point ordered the aircraft carriers to go down and assist with the bodies after they launched their final airstrike.
Speaking of that last airstrike, it had finally arrived, and a sizeable cloud of planes began descending towards the Re-class, as per the Admiral's orders. The Tsu-classes were currently engaged in their own firefights, one of them dueling Shigure and Yamakaze while the other was facing Shiranui, so they couldn't defend against the planes.
"H-hey, what the fuck?!" Amatsukaze could hear the Re-class shout in the distance as the Abyssal noticed the airstrike heading towards her. Bismarck, who had been fighting the Re-class, gladly backed off as the planes rapidly descended towards their target, some of them dropping bombs and all of them kamikaze-striking the Re-class, regardless of whether they had a bomb or not.
The Admiral's aggressive carrier tactics had again proven to be effective, as the Re-class couldn't shoot all those planes down by herself and was hit with many of them as a result. After a series of explosions, the smoke cleared and revealed the Re-class to be prone atop the surface of the ocean, her black tail limp and her body rocking softly with the waves. Since she didn't sink, the Re-class was probably still alive, but she was definitely out of the battle and there was a good chance that she would sink on her own in a few minutes.
"Our bauxite stores…" the Admiral moaned. "At least the Re-class has been dealt with…"
Amatsukaze then noticed her sonar ping with alarm. "Haruna, torpedo!"
Haruna nodded as she heard the call, but she looked to be in very bad shape. Blood painted the entire left half of her uniform red, and she appeared to be on the brink of collapse. Despite this, she still managed to lunge at the Ru-class she was fighting. The Abyssal battleship, not expecting a move like this, was snared by Haruna's maneuver, and the Kongou-class ship girl used the Ru-class as a shield even as she sped backwards. However, the time it took for Haruna to capture the Ru-class ended up costing her, and the torpedo exploded fairly close to her position.
Amatsukaze watched as the gruesome explosion completely eviscerated the Ru-class, sending parts of her body and rigging all over the battlefield. Haruna herself had been saved from the brunt of the explosion by the Ru-class, but the close proximity of the blast still did a number on her. When the spray cleared, Haruna had both her arms blown off from the elbow down, and the front of her body was badly burnt. She fell to her knees and slowly began sinking, but Bismarck rushed over and recovered her before she could slip beneath the waves.
"Bismarck, bring her to shore," Drake's tired voice ordered through the radio. "Only the Tsu-classes are left, so we don't need your firepower right now."
As the bloodied and bruised German made her way off the battlefield with Haruna in tow, Amatsukaze turned to assist with the disposal of the Tsu-classes, who frankly did not pose much of a threat by themselves. Since the one facing Shigure and Yamakaze was closer, Amatsukaze decided to shoot at that one as well, and as coincidence would have it, her shot from behind synced perfectly with Shigure's and Yamakaze's own shots, and the Tsu-class found herself blasted from three different directions at the same time. The volley of shots apparently set off an explosion within the Tsu-class' rigging, as the enemy light cruiser was immediately lit on fire. Amatsukaze frowned in distaste as the Tsu-class screeched madly, desperately trying to put out the fire but failing miserably. Soon enough, the Tsu-class crumpled as she continued to burn, and it would only be a matter of seconds before she was swallowed up by the water.
Amatsukaze then looked to see how Shiranui was doing against the final enemy, and she found that the destroyer had been joined by Sendai and Murasame, and that the three of them had already finished off the Tsu-class. Amatsukaze met up with Shigure and Yamakaze as they sailed over to the three remaining fleet members.
"Admiral, the Tsu-classes have been eliminated," Amatsukaze said through the earpiece, just in case the Admiral didn't see it for whatever reason.
"Good work. Now -"
Drake was interrupted by Sendai, who suddenly fell to her knees and hacked up some blood.
"Er… Can you return to shore by yourself, Sendai?"
"Uugh… Yeah, I think so," Sendai answered back, slowly rising to her feet. The light cruiser nodded a farewell to the rest of the fleet with a pained expression, then sailed towards the beach.
"All right, so now all that's left is the Submarine Princess. She can't really do anything to us at this point, so we might as well just leave -"
"Torpedo!"
The remaining five destroyers quickly leapt in opposite directions as the torpedo exploded underwater, sending ocean water flying everywhere. When the spray cleared, it looked like nobody was hurt.
"Jesus, can I finish at least one sent -"
"Another incoming torpedo!" Amatsukaze hurriedly shouted, a bewildered expression on her face. How?! The Submarine Princess has never fired two torpedoes this rapidly in succession!
However, as the ship girls prepared to jump out of the way again, they hesitated as they noticed that the underwater projectile was moving slower and was bigger than torpedoes normally were. Before they could make sense of what was happening, A huge, black whale-like creature emerged from under the water and grabbed hold of Yamakaze's leg with its dull white teeth. The green-haired destroyer managed a short scream before she was dragged underwater.
"What the fuck!" Drake yelled, snapping the destroyers out of their numb shock.
"Yamakaze!" Shigure yelled, immediately setting off to follow the underwater signature on her sonar. Murasame joined her sister.
"Commander, the Princess is trying to bait us back into deeper waters," Shiranui quickly cautioned.
"Yeah, no shit," Drake replied. "I can't just leave Yamakaze, though. Go after them."
The two destroyers complied, chasing after the Shiratsuyu-class and following their sonars. Amatsukaze had a sinking feeling that Yamakaze may already be dead and done with, but she had to follow orders nonetheless. Seeing that Abyssal's massive beast emerge from the waves did frighten her a bit, though, and she really hoped that their Admiral had a plan.
"Commander, what do we do now?" Shiranui asked, echoing Amatsukaze's thoughts.
"Give me some time to think," he replied. "Depth charge it for now. It shouldn't be moving very quickly in shallow waters. Shiranui, you and Amatsukaze need to position yourselves so that you can prevent it from going out too far, okay? Be out in front of it and cut it off if necessary."
"What if we hit Yamakaze with our depth charges?" Amatsukaze asked nervously.
"I don't know what to tell you! Just do what I said for now."
It was obvious that their Admiral was frustrated that he couldn't think of a plan quickly enough, so Amatsukaze decided to leave him alone. However, the Admiral was right in saying that the Submarine Princess' mobility would be reduced in shallow waters, and she could see that the Shiratsuyu-class destroyers easily caught up. Just then, the black beast re-emerged from the ocean and spat up Yamakaze, roughly tossing her atop the ocean's surface. Murasame rushed over to recover her sister, but Amatsukaze's eyes widened as she realized what was going on.
"Wait!" she called out, but it was too late.
Using Yamakaze as bait, the Submarine Princess sent another torpedo towards the unconscious destroyer, also catching Murasame in the blast because she had gone to pick up Yamakaze. Luckily, Shigure had also realized what was going on, and she threw another one of her own depth charges at the Abyssal's projectile, detonating it just before it could reach its intended target. Unfortunately, the blast was still close enough to do heavy damage to both Murasame and Yamakaze, and the two of them disappeared in a burst of fire. The ensuing explosion sent their body parts and organs flying, and Amatsukaze couldn't even tell what was going on anymore.
"Nooooooo!" Shigure screamed in despair.
"Shigure, shut the hell up! They'll be all right! Shiranui, go recover their bodies! Find their heads if they're detached! Yura, Kashima, hurry up and get back there!"
Shiranui sped off to carry out her orders, leaving only Amatsukaze and Shigure to face the Submarine Princess. Since Shigure still appeared to be reeling from witnessing her sisters be blown apart, Amatsukaze blitzed the Princess on her own. She knew that her speed far outclassed the Submarine Princess' and she managed to reach the hulking sonar signature, drop a couple depth charges, and sail away before the Abyssal could even think of striking back. The underwater bombs hit their mark, but the sonar indicated that the Submarine Princess was still moving.
"Admiral, how many depth charges does it take to sink this thing?" Amatsukaze asked. The number she had used should have been enough to kill any regular submarine.
"Fuck if I know… Shigure, are you okay?"
The Shiratsuyu-class destroyer wore a melancholy expression, but she quickly forced herself to recover. "I… I'm fine…"
"Don't worry about your sisters. They're being recovered as we speak, and they can be kept in stasis until we return to the base. All right? Snap out of it. If you don't this will end up just like your last sortie."
"Admiral, we've arrived," Kashima, right on cue, said through the comms. "Your orders?"
"Go help Shiranui recover the body parts and bring them back to sure. You two can't really do anything without ASW equipment."
Shigure slowly recovered, her determination to avoid another demoralizing defeat pushing away her fears. "Admiral… The Destroyer Princess that I fought was able to withstand much more than a regular destroyer would have. I don't think that this Princess is going to go down from just depth charges, unless we dump a huge number on her."
"Will you and Amatsukaze be enough…?" the Admiral wondered aloud. "And now we have to watch out for that bitch's beast as well. Fuck."
"... Should we try and retreat again?" Amatsukaze suggested.
The Admiral didn't say anything, and Amatsukaze could understand why he was hesitant. They got lucky that they were able to recover Yamakaze the first time, and she doubted that they would be able to do the same if the Princess managed to pull that off again.
"Running won't work anymore. I have a plan, but only you can carry it out, Amatsukaze."
"M-me?" She had been made the flagship of the surface fleet for this mission, but that was more of a placeholder position since Kaga and Drake would still be calling most of the shots given that they could see the entire battlefield.
"Yeah. Depth charges can't kill her, but can her own torpedoes?"
As if to emphasize Drake's point, another torpedo was fired, and Amatsukaze immediately reacted by tackling Shigure out of the way as both of them had been distracted by their conversation. The spray from the explosion thoroughly soaked their uniforms, but they themselves were unharmed.
"... Only you are fast enough to pull this off, Amatsukaze," Drake continued. "First, I need you two to stand only a few meters away from the Princess. Amatsukaze, you'll be holding a depth charge, and when the Princess fires the torpedo, you need to rush towards the torpedo, jump, toss the depth charge into the water, and blow the torpedo up a split-second after she launches it. That will hopefully do enough damage to kill the Princess."
Amatsukaze frowned as she listened to the plan. Though it was plausible that the torpedo may actually kill the Princess, the actual execution of the strategy would be extremely difficult. Amatsukaze would need to watch her sonar for the exact moment that the torpedo is released, speed over, and blow it up before it gets too far away from the Princess. She wondered if her boiler was even capable of going that fast.
"Um, sir," Shigure piped up, "if she fails, I won't have enough time to dodge at that distance…"
"Yeah, but if I just send out Amatsukaze by herself, the Princess may not launch a torpedo at all and might just try a different strategy. If you're standing there, we can guarantee that the Abyssal is going to fire a torpedo because she'll be thinking that she can get at least one kill from it."
That just put more pressure on Amatsukaze. If she failed, Shigure would certainly die.
The Shiratsuyu-class destroyer looked nervous, but she nodded to Amatsukaze. "I understand, sir. I am ready, then."
"Amatsukaze…?"
She opened her mouth to say that she didn't know if the chances of success were high enough to warrant trying this strategy, but out of nowhere, a sudden thought flew into her mind: Would Shimakaze turn this plan down?
Amatsukaze already knew the answer to that. "I'm ready, sir."
"All right, go for it… And Amatsukaze, I wouldn't have suggested this strategy if I wasn't confident that you could do it."
Amatsukaze smiled to herself as she took her position with Shigure. She fired up her boiler, and her mind drifted back to the early days of the Abyssal War, when she was on the same base as Shimakaze. The two of them used to have frequent races, and though this was obviously different, the atmosphere felt the same for some reason.
I never did end up winning any of those races… But this time…!
All Amatsukaze's senses were focused on her sonar, and the moment she felt the slightest vibration or ping, she was prepared to take off. After a few seconds, a slight ripple poked at her hyped-up senses, and Amatsukaze immediately took off, not bothering to confirm whether it was actually a torpedo or not. Working her boiler to speeds she didn't know she could, Amatsukaze grit her teeth and sped forward, the wind whipping her face and hair. She couldn't see where she was going or how fast, but she relied on her sonar's proximity sensors and dropped her depth charge half a second after setting off. She then jumped into the air, but the enormous explosion still hit her on the way up, catapulting her even farther into the air.
Though she knew that she would be in great pain when she fell back down and hit the surface of the ocean, Amatsukaze couldn't help but grin as she flew through the air. The size of the explosion beneath her indicated that her depth charge had indeed detonated the torpedo, and though the whole thing had last less than a second from start to finish, it was the most exciting moment of her life.
I finally won…
Amatsukaze then hit the ocean hard, and she winced as she bounced atop the waves for a bit before coming to a stop. She groaned as she rubbed her ribs, and she figured that they were definitely bruised again.
"Admiral… The Princess has stopped moving!" Shigure exclaimed.
"Go up to it and drop every depth charge you have remaining on it just to make sure. Good work, Amatsukaze!"
The silver-haired destroyer smiled, the expression coming easily to her despite the pain in her ribs. "Yeah… It was nothing!"