"Heh… You see the strength of an IJN battleship now, Iowa?" Nagato said with a smirk as she leaned back in her chair, light beads of sweat trickling down her face.

"You lost, though," Bismarck blankly stated from where she sat with Shigure by the small fountain in the garden area of the INFCOM headquarters.

Also present was Yuudachi, Kongou, and Warspite, and the three of them were seated at another table just behind the one Iowa and Nagato were using for armwrestling. The trio was having a tea party, Kongou taking the lead and being overly-enthusiastic as usual. Warspite smiled patiently at the Japanese battleship, seemingly amused by Kongou's Anglophilic tendencies. Yuudachi just liked to be wherever the most excitement was, so the shouting Kongou naturally attracted her attention.

"She may have lost, but she put up a good fight," Iowa nodded to Nagato. "You were harder to beat than Captain Drake, I'll give you that."

"Like that's even a compliment…" Bismarck noted dryly.

"Yes. Well… I'd like to fight you in a real spar one day," Nagato told Iowa as she wiped off her brow.

"Sure! If you're ready to lose again, that is," Iowa shot back with a determined grin.

"Ha! Don't get overconfident, American!"

"Yeah, yeah," Iowa waved her off. "Hey, Shigure, who do you think would win in a spar, me or Nagato?"

Shigure looked surprised at being called on. "U-um… I don't know."

The destroyer spoke so quietly that Iowa couldn't hear it. "What was that? Hey, could it be that you only speak Japanese? Koneecheewa!"

"Ugh, that's terrible," Bismarck frowned. "Don't tell me you can't speak Japanese?"

Iowa blinked. "Huh? That was wrong?"

"Your pronunciation is off," Nagato informed her.

"Really? Well, damn. Maybe I should ask Captain Drake to teach me!"

Nagato smiled. "I'm not sure if you want him teaching you…"

"Why not?"

"Well… He has an… Interesting way of speaking Japanese," was how Nagato chose to put it. "He never uses honorifics with anyone, and he refers to everyone as 'kisama,' even people like Fleet Admiral Miiro."

Iowa tapped her chin in thought. "I'm not sure if I get it…"

"Er, I guess you could interpret it as a rude way of speaking," Nagato clarified. "But I don't think he intends it that way. Maybe he doesn't know exactly what he's saying…"

"Oh," Iowa nodded. "But as long as his pronunciation is fine, then he can still teach me, right?"

"You're better off reading a book and learning it on your own," Bismarck said. "That's what I did, at least."

"Whaaa? But that sounds hard!"

Bismarck sighed. "Have you ever tried it, or are you just saying that? Languages come easily to ship girls. I learned English and Japanese very quickly."

Nagato nodded. "It was also rather simple for me to learn English as well. I'm sure learning Japanese won't be hard for you if you put your mind to it, Iowa."

Iowa pouted. "Yeah… My superiors told me I have to learn Japanese anyway, so I guess there's no choice…"

"Why are they making you learn Japanese?" Nagato asked, curious.

"Most of the ship girls in existence right now are Japanese, so I guess that's why," Iowa assumed.

"Hmm… But almost all of us Japanese can speak English."

Iowa scratched her head in annoyance. "Jeez, I don't know, okay? All they said was that I have to learn it, and judging by what you all are saying, I don't think that's going very well…"

"What's not going very well?" Yuudachi asked, suddenly appearing behind Iowa's chair and making the American jump.

"J-just talking about my efforts to learn Japanese," Iowa responded. "When'd you get there…"

"Oh! I can teach you!" the blonde destroyer cheerily volunteered. "Say, 'Ohayou!'"

"Ohio?" Iowa repeated, confused. "Huh. Never knew the state was named after a Japanese word."

"That's… Probably not it," Nagato said with an amused smile.

"It means good morning, poi!" Yuudachi shouted.

"What the hell does 'poi' mean?" Iowa then asked.

"Poi means poi!"

"... What?"

"It's just a verbal tic of hers," Shigure said as she grabbed Yuudachi's shoulder in an attempt to calm her sister down. "I guess it would be similar to 'like' in English…"

"Oh, 'like'?" Iowa nodded. "Well, then, I poi you, Shigure!"

"Um, not that kind of like," Shigure nervously chuckled.

"Argh! Japanese is so confusing!" Iowa cried out. "I knew I couldn't do it after all! Hey… Kongou, you can teach me Japanese, right?"

Kongou turned around, seemingly annoyed at having her tea party interrupted. "I'll pass, desu."

"Oooh, what does 'dess' mean?"

"It's… Another verbal tic," Shigure explained again.

Iowa frowned. "Another one? You Japanese are weird."

"Learning Japanese over there, Iowa?" Warspite asked as she sipped on her black tea.

"Trying, but failing," Iowa dismayed. "Can you speak Japanese, Warspite?"

"Hai," Warspite answered proudly, though there was a bit of an accent present.

Iowa groaned. "Man, so I'm the only one who can't?!"

"What about the other Americans?" Nagato questioned.

"Sara can speak it real nice," Iowa grumbled. "And the only reason Gambier Bay can't is because she just got here. I'm sure she'll surpass me in no time, though."

"Must be hard, being so incompetent," Bismarck smirked.

"Shut up, Nazi."

"Is that supposed to be an insult?"

"It should be."

"You two, please don't fight," Nagato cut in. "Anyway… Where is everybody else? Kaga is supposed to be here too, no?"

"Probably spending time with her beloved Admiral," Bismarck scoffed. "I still can't believe those two ditched us to go on their little art museum date. Right, Shigure?"

"Um…"

"They're on a DATE?!" Iowa shouted as she stood up. "Wow! Who knew the Captain was so bold!"

"Who's on a date?" Kongou asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Captain Drake and Kaga!" Iowa answered with a grin.

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Nagato cautioned.

Iowa whirled on the black-haired battleship. "Oh? I was just joking yesterday, but maybe you really do want the Captain…"

Nagato blushed. "Of course not! This is what I mean by jumping to conclusions!"

"Oooooh? You're turning red though…"

"Anyone would if you make accusations like that!" Nagato feebly denied, crossing her arms and frowning.

"Ahahah!" Iowa laughed merrily as she placed her hands on Nagato's bare shoulders. "So you're saying you don't want Captain Drake's big American you-know-what?"

Nagato's face flushed even harder. "H-how can you say such indecent things!"

"His big American what, poi?" Yuudachi asked innocently.

"Wait!" Kongou stood up too now. "Admiral Drake is doing lewd things with Kaga AND Nagato?!"

"No!" Nagato shouted. "He's not doing anything with either of us! Please stop being ridiculous."

"But how would you know about Kaga?" Iowa pointed out. "You can speak for yourself, I guess, but for all we know, Captain Drake and Kaga are getting to it right now…"

"I assure you, they are not," Nagato shot down, having recovered adequately by now.

"Again, how would you know? Unless you're saying that you and Captain Drake are already together and that he wouldn't cheat on you."

"I am not saying that!"

Bismarck sighed. "Wow, I didn't mean for you all to take my comments so literally…"

Iowa shot another trollish grin at Nagato. "Hey, don't blame me that Nagato got salty over the thought of her boyfriend with someone else."

Nagato blushed again but scowled deeply at that. "Hmph. I won't even bother addressing this nonsense anymore."

Iowa cracked up. "S-sorry, it's just so fun to tease you when you're normally so serious! Hahaha!"

Nagato was still not amused. "How would you like it if I teased you, then?"

"Hey, you've all been roasting my Japanese for the past five minutes. Unlike you, I can actually take a joke."

"But can you take Admiral Drake's big American you-know-what?" Bismarck added with a smirk, causing Iowa to burst into laughter once more.

"Not you too!" Nagato cried in defeat.

A few minutes later, the atmosphere returned its normal, peaceful state. The ship girls continued to lounge around in the garden, enjoying their respite from training and fleet battles. It was another relatively mild day in London, and so they took as much advantage of it as they could since they were not allowed off Headquarters' grounds.

"So, who's the strongest ship girl in Japan?" Iowa then asked.

Nagato blinked. "Um… I haven't really thought of that before. Why do you want to know?"

"So I can spar with her, of course!" Iowa said as if it were obvious. "Is it you, Nagato? You seem pretty strong to me."

"Well… I'm not sure about that. Do you know of Yamato and Musashi?"

Iowa tried to recall the names. "Uh… Oh, yeah! Wait, Yamato was at the conference yesterday, right? And the ball?"

Nagato nodded. "Yes. I would assume those two are the most powerful."

"Really? Apart from her size, she didn't look all that threatening…"

"Looks can be deceiving," Nagato wisely pointed out. "I wonder if even you would be able to defeat Yamato or Musashi."

Iowa grinned in excitement. "So they're that strong, huh? How come they're not here today?"

"Musashi is still in Japan, and Fleet Admiral Umi and Yamato are either back at the hotel or they have already left to return to Japan as well," Nagato provided. "I'm sure you will meet them eventually."

"I'll look forward to it, then," Iowa nodded, then turned to Bismarck. "Hey, Bismarck, where're your Jerry buddies at?"

"I do not babysit them, so I wouldn't know," Bismarck curtly replied. "I don't think they would like you, though. No offense."

"Rude!" Iowa shouted. "Eh, whatever. I'm sure there a loooot of people who don't like me, especially the Japanese girls. Now that I think about it, I'm surprised you don't hate me, Nagato."

"At least before this morning I didn't," Nagato said with a grin. "But in all honesty, I don't see much of a point in holding onto past grudges when there is a new threat we must defeat. Fighting among ourselves will only give the enemy an advantage."

Iowa nodded. "Agreed… What about you two destroyers? Do you feel the same?"

Yuudachi had gone back to join the British tea party, so she was no longer there to answer, but Shigure nodded.

"Yes… I agree with what Nagato said. It's important that we learn to fight together."

"Wow, you Japanese are very mature," Iowa marveled. "Don't you think you should be more like them, Bismarck?"

The German frowned. "Excuse me? Are you calling me immature?"

"I-I'm sure Bismarck shares our feelings as well, even if she doesn't show it," Shigure interjected, remembering her conversation with Bismarck on the Elizabeth Tower.

"Oh? You have to get your Japanese friends to defend you now?" Iowa taunted the other blonde battleship.

Bismarck glared at her. "Keep provoking me, and you'll regret it."

Iowa laughed. "It's a joke, a joke!"

Bismarck rolled her eyes, and Nagato sighed at Iowa's actions. The ship girls then noticed two people enter the garden area, and they saw Kaga and Saratoga stroll in.

"Ah, so this is where you all were," Saratoga said as she and Kaga walked over.

"Yo!" Iowa grinned as she held up a hand in greeting. "So Kaga wasn't with Captain Drake after all? Lucky you, Nagato!"

Kaga raised an eyebrow as Nagato blushed and frowned with frustration.

"Were you all looking for the Admiral?" Kaga asked, still not sure what they were talking about.

Iowa laughed. "We weren't looking for anyone, but Nagato was jealous because she thought that you and Captain Drake were on another date~"

"That's a complete lie!" Nagato quickly denied. "Don't go spreading that to everyone!"

Kaga blinked in confusion. "I… Don't think I understand."

"There's nothing to understand. Our American friend here just thinks it's funny to make inappropriate jokes, that's all," Nagato assured the carrier while glaring at Iowa.

"All right, all right, I'll stop," Iowa said with a smirk as she raised her hands in surrender.

"Iowa, you're supposed to be getting along with them…" Saratoga told her in a disapproving tone.

"I am, jeez! Not my fault the Axis can't take a bit of fun…"

"Iowa…"

"Okay, I'm sorry!"

"But where is the Admiral anyway?" Bismarck then asked. "I thought we were supposed to head back to Japan soon."

"He's with the other American admirals and the new carrier, Gambier Bay," Kaga answered. "It seems they are giving her some sort of brief orientation."

Iowa grinned suggestively at Nagato when she heard that, and the Japanese battleship sighed.

"Oh? How come you two aren't there?" Bismarck wondered, speaking to the two Americans.

Saratoga frowned. "Well… Back at the ball, Iowa and I were supposed to explain things to Gambier Bay first, but then Iowa scared her by talking about how terrifying the Japanese ship girls are… So now the admirals have to do it instead."

Iowa rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Heheh… I didn't know she would take me so seriously."

"That one seems easily frightened…" Nagato noted, also referring to the new American carrier.

"She did get fired on by your Yamato, so it's no wonder," Iowa pointed out. "Though Yamato doesn't look so scary in her ship girl form, so maybe Gamby really is just a scaredy-cat."

"Like I said, looks can be deceiving. Yamato may be the most powerful ship girl in existence right now," Nagato countered.

"Yeah, that's why I really want to spar with her," Iowa grinned. "I'll show you all who's actually the best."

"Oh? You'll first need to defeat me, though," Nagato shot back, her fighting spirit flaring up again.

"I just did, though."

"In arm wrestling! That means nothing!"

Shoukaku lay prone on the ground, her rifle positioned in front of her as she looked down the sights. With a single golden eye open, the aircraft carrier scanned the clearing down in front of her, her own position concealed by some foliage. She was lying on top of a grassy hill which overlooked a deserted part of the beach, and on the other side of the beach clearing was another forested area on top of a cliff. This was where the enemy camp was located, and so she was training her sights on that area, waiting for an unsuspecting adversary to appear. Both hills and camps were parallel to the water, so only a sandy clearing separated Shoukaku from the enemy camp. The ocean waves rocked gently in the distance to her left, providing a soothing soundtrack to her overwatch.

"This is so stupid," Zuikaku muttered from her position beside her sister. The green-haired carrier also carried a gun, though she was frowning heavily as she looked through her sights.

"Don't speak so loudly. You'll give away our position," Shoukaku berated her sister, keeping her eyes on the clearing.

"Oh, boo hoo," Zuikaku sarcastically shot back, though she did lower her voice. "And why the fuck are we looking at this empty stretch of beach anyway? Nobody's going to be stupid enough to pass through there when there's no cover. That Keats guy literally said not to sprint blindly into areas where you can't hide behind something."

"Still, we have been designated overwatch for our team, so we must remain here."

"That's dumb as hell. If we're going to do this stupid-ass training, then at least -"

Zuikaku was interrupted by a series of cracks from the firing of a semiautomatic rifle, and sharp whizzing noises sounded around the two carriers as rubber bullets started raining down on their position.

"Shit! How'd they know we were here?!" Zuikaku wondered as she and her sister hurriedly retreated away from the bushes and down the hill they were perched on.

"Judging by the fact that they didn't manage to hit us, it looks like they didn't actually see us," Shoukaku said. "They probably guessed that we would be hiding in the bushes atop that hill, though, since that is a prime sniper spot."

Zuikaku growled as they retreated, and the two carriers lightly jogged away from the hill and the beach and back towards a small forested area. When they returned to their designated base camp, they found Haruna sitting down on a rock, looking dejected. She also had a Type 89 rifle, though it was leaning against the rock beside her, unloaded. Also at the small makeshift base camp were two of the SEALs that Commander Keats brought with him. They were dressed in full body armor and carried weapons as well, but they were slung over their backs since they wouldn't be participating directly in the training exercise.

"Back here already?" Zuikaku asked the battleship as she raised an eyebrow. She spoke in English so that the two SEALs could follow the conversation as well, as they were here to observe the exercise.

"I was hit by the enemy," Haruna sighed sadly. "Unfortunately, it looks like our pincer movement failed. They seemed to have been expecting it…"

"I see. What about the others?" Shoukaku then questioned.

Haruna shook her head. "I don't know if they were caught as well… Since the left pincer was only composed of myself, I couldn't call for backup, so I was easily overwhelmed. Hopefully the right pincer fared better since there were more of them…"

"Well, if the enemy's expecting a pincer movement from their flank, how about we just rush across the clearing and assault them from the front?" Zuikaku suggested.

"Zuikaku, did you not just say that no one would be stupid enough to do that?" Shoukaku pointed out.

"Y-yeah, but that was before. The circumstances have changed."

"They likely have at least one person watching the beach just in case, so I don't think that will work," Haruna said.

Shoukaku nodded. "You heard the shots, Zuikaku. Whoever it was that shot at us may still be there, watching."

Zuikaku groaned. "Maybe going on offense first was a bad idea after all. The enemy is just sitting in their base, waiting for us to come to them and fight on their terms…"

"But perhaps Sendai's group broke through?" Haruna said, trying to remain positive. "She did seem confident about her chances."

"Nah, that idiot's always like that," Zuikaku scoffed. "Chances are that she got hit right off the bat and is now throwing a fit about how she got kicked out of the match so early."

As if on cue, the light cruiser in question came stomping back to the base camp. Shoukaku and Zuikaku raised their rifles but quickly lowered them as they realized it was just Sendai.

"I can't believe this," Sendai spat as she sulked over to the trio.

"Taken out already?" Zuikaku smirked.

"Yeah! They were just sitting there and waiting for us! Talk about a boring, cheap strategy!"

"Hey, if it works…" Zuikaku shrugged. "What happened to the other four?"

"Still fighting, I guess," Sendai answered as she also sat down on a flat rock. "Not that they'll last very long…"

Haruna sighed again. "Perhaps we should have spent more time on our strategy…"

"Yes. If only some people weren't so eager to get this over with," Shoukaku agreed, glaring at Zuikaku.

"Hey, not my fault you guys just decided to go with the first strategy I came up with."

"You should have came up with a better first strategy, then!" Sendai yelled.

"Oh, shut up. Not like you could have done better, Night Battle Idiot."

"Heh! If this practice took place at night, we'd definitely be winning!"

"Yeah, keep dreaming."

"Anyway, why are you two here?" Sendai asked the two carriers. "Shouldn't you be on overwatch? Don't tell me that you two got hit as well?"

Shoukaku shook her head. "We were fired upon, but the enemy did not score any hits. We can still fight… In fact, we should get back to it. Zuikaku, let's go help the others out."

"Huh? We'll definitely get hit if we rush in there like Haruna and Sendai did!" Zuikaku then turned to the two SEALs who had been silently observing the exchange. "Can't you guys help us out here?"

One of them, a woman with a short ponytail, smirked. "That would defeat the purpose of the exercise, wouldn't it? You're supposed to figure out a strategy on your own."

Zuikaku rolled her eyes. "Yeah, thanks for nothing, I guess. Now what do we do?"

"Perhaps we should get rid of the one who is sitting upon the hill," Shoukaku suggested. "That way, we can follow your suggestion and assault them from the front while the enemy is distracted fighting our flanking forces."

"Right. But how are we supposed to do that?"

"You will go back to our sniping position and draw the enemy's fire," Shoukaku told her sister. "While you are doing that, I will be on the beach, concealed by some sand. Once I hear the enemy begin firing, I will move out of my position, triangulate the direction of the enemy fire, and snipe her in her perch."

"So I'm just going to be bait?" Zuikaku frowned.

Shoukaku gave her sister a small smirk as she patted her on the shoulder. "Yes. Try not to get hit."

Zuikaku sighed in defeat. "Fine. Not like I have any better ideas."

Shoukaku nodded. "Give me a few minutes to get into position, then go and execute the plan."

The white-haired carrier went off towards the beach and carefully dug herself beneath a thin layer of sand. Only the top half of her face remained uncovered so she could see and hear what was going on around her, and she also kept the barrel of her gun above the grains. At this distance she was far enough away from the enemy to prevent herself from being spotted, as though she was covered by sand, anyone with a decent eye could see that there was someone there if she came close enough.

Shoukaku sat silently in her position, watching and waiting. In addition to the rolling waves, she could faintly pick up the sound of sporadic gunfire in the distance, but it was too far away to be Zuikaku's or the enemy sniper's. She guessed it was coming from the battle between her team's flanking force and the defenders. Soon enough, though, the cracks of gunfire sounded much more closely to her position, and so she assumed Zuikaku had begun the distraction phase. Shoukaku crawled beneath the sand as fast as she could towards the clearing between the two hills, grains of sand falling off her body as she moved forward.

When she got to the clearing, she used her carrier senses to pick up where the enemy was firing from. At this point, because she had moved so much, her sand cover had mostly been lost, so it was only a matter of seconds before the enemy noticed her as well. Acting quickly, Shoukaku stood up and aimed her sights down towards the other cliff. With white grains of sand still caught up in her silver hair and uniform, Shoukaku took aim and squeezed the trigger, popping off four deadly-accurate shots in the direction of the enemy. After firing, Shoukaku stood still and waited. Both the enemy and Zuikaku had stopped firing at this point, but Shoukaku wasn't sure if one or both of them had been hit.

A few moments later, a white flag emerged from the foliage on the opponent's cliff overlooking the sea. The SEALs had given each ship girl one of these to signal when they had been defeated and were out of the battle. According to the training exercise's rules, you were considered 'dead' if you got hit three times or got hit once in the head. Since the enemy was showing the white flag, it appeared that Shoukaku's shots had been on target.

Sure enough, Akagi emerged from the bushes, holding the flag in one hand and her rifle in the other. The red carrier waved in acknowledgement at Shoukaku, and Shoukaku nodded in return.

"Haha! Take that, First Carrier Division!" Shoukaku heard Zuikaku yell from her own cliff.

Shoukaku walked over to the center of the clearing and spied Zuikaku grinning haughtily, though she also had her own white flag out.

"Yo! Nice shooting, Sis!" Zuikaku greeted.

Shoukaku sighed. "Were you hit as well?"

Zuikaku scowled. "Unfortunately. Akagi managed to hit me in the head, which actually kind of hurt. It didn't leave a bruise or anything, right?"

"I don't think so," Shoukaku answered. "Anyway, I suppose that means I'll be conducting the rest of the operation on my own."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Good luck, though!"

Shoukaku headed off towards the cliff where Akagi's perch used to be, breaking into a light jog as she ran with her weapon. Once the enemy found out that Akagi had been defeated, they would know that their front had been opened up, so Shoukaku needed to hurry and break into their camp before they realized. She went around the side of the cliff and climbed up the pathway, then headed deeper into the interior of the enemy side, farther away from the beach. Now that she was in a forested area with more cover, Shoukaku slowed her pace and tried to remain inconspicuous. She didn't know exactly where the enemies had positioned themselves, so she wanted to remain cautious. As she went deeper into the forest, she began to hear voices. Hiding behind a tree trunk, Shoukaku peered out and saw Murasame and Yura standing around together. Though their weapons rested in their hands, the two ship girls didn't seem to be ready for an enemy assault.

"Guard duty is soooo boring," Murasame complained.

Yura smiled sympathetically. "But it is necessary. What if someone were to break through?"

"They'd have to get through Akagi first," Murasame pointed out.

"Surely that isn't impossible, right? The enemy has two carriers while we only have one, so…"

As if on cue, Akagi then walked into the area, causing the cruiser and the destroyer to immediately lift their weapons. They lowered their guns as they noticed that it was an ally, but they then blinked in surprise.

"Akagi…?" Yura asked. "Shouldn't you be…"

Deciding to act before the enemy could connect the dots, Shoukaku leapt out from behind her cover. Not even bothering to aim, Shoukaku switched her weapon to full-auto and held down the trigger, firing from her hip. Yura and Murasame screamed in surprise as Shoukaku opened fire, and Akagi leapt into the bushes to avoid being hit again. After a few seconds of sustained fire, Shoukaku let go of her trigger, deciding the enemy had enough.

"Ugh… What the hell just happened…" Murasame muttered, having dropped her weapon due to the shock.

"It appears we were blindsided…" Yura answered sadly as she rubbed her arm where she had been shot.

"Sorry. Nothing personal," Shoukaku smiled as she walked past them and continued on inwards.

The three enemy ship girls didn't bother following Shoukaku, and Shoukaku guessed it was because whatever remained of the enemy force was likely to have heard the shots and would be expecting Shoukaku. The white-haired carrier reloaded her weapon as she walked forward, preparing for the final showdown.

There should only be five left, assuming our fleet didn't take anyone out, Shoukaku counted. As for our forces, there are six including myself, though I have a feeling that most of those in the flanking force have been defeated.

Sure enough, Shoukaku was no longer hearing the sound of gunfire, which meant that one side or the other had been defeated.

I suppose that means -

Shoukaku's thoughts were interrupted as she felt the ground give way beneath her. Yelping in surprise, Shoukaku lost her grip on her weapon as she desperately reached out for something. Luckily she had fallen into the pitfall trap while she was still close to the edge of it, so her fast reflexes allowed her to turn and grab the edge before she could fully fall in. Sighing in relief, Shoukaku pulled herself back up. She glanced down at the pitfall trap, which was not very wide but was deep enough so that she couldn't get out easily if she had fallen down there. Though she herself had escaped that fate, her gun had not, and she was now weaponless. She was sure she could eventually recover it if she were given enough time, but in this situation, it was more likely that the enemy fleet would find her and eliminate her before she could do that, so she opted to continue onward without her rifle.

Shoukaku had become extra cautious now, as the noise made from the trap had no doubt attracted the attention of the remaining enemies. The carrier made sure to also look out for more traps, and she actually found quite a few of them. The traps were fairly easy to avoid now that she was paying attention, but she was impressed that the enemies had actually gone through the trouble of digging those holes (though admittedly that wasn't a very difficult task for ship girls).

Footsteps began approaching, and Shoukaku flattened herself against another tree trunk. The footsteps were heading back in the direction of the first pitfall trap, so Shoukaku followed them, making sure to keep to the shadows.

"Think someone fell in?" she heard Kiso ask Shiranui as the two ship girls approached the hole.

"Most likely. I would be impressed if whoever it was triggered the trap and yet managed not to fall victim to it," Shiranui replied.

Shoukaku watched as the pair cautiously walked towards the hole, their weapons raised. The destroyer and light cruiser then peered inside the hole, prepared to fire if they spotted Shoukaku inside.

"Hey, it's just a -"

Shoukaku didn't let Kiso finish her sentence. The carrier jumped out from behind the tree she was hiding from behind, using the element of surprise to kick Kiso squarely in the back, sending the light cruiser tumbling into her own pitfall trap. Shiranui immediately raised her rifle towards the the carrier, but Shoukaku simply grabbed the barrel of Shiranui's gun and yanked it out of her hands due to the superior strength of a carrier when compared to a destroyer. With a sense of savagery she didn't know she had in her, Shoukaku smashed the stock of the gun into Shiranui's forehead, stunning the pink-haired girl. Shoukaku then opened fire, pinging three rubber bullets off Shiranui's body. She then immediately turned towards the hole and switched to automatic firing, letting loose a stream of bullets into the pitfall trap.

"Agh! All right, fuck, I surrender!" Kiso yelled from within, and Shoukaku finally stopped shooting.

Shoukaku turned back to Shiranui to see the destroyer glaring at her, her cold blue eyes filled with anger and humiliation. Shoukaku felt a bit bad about smashing Shiranui with her own rifle, but she had no choice.

"Sorry," she apologized anyway as she retreated into the bushes with her new weapon.

Three left.

The carrier continued through the forest, trying to reach the area where her flanking force had collided with the enemy. However, as she walked, she suddenly felt a light jab around her neck area along with a small whistling sound, and she ducked behind the nearest tree she could find.

Someone shot me? She reached up and rubbed the spot where she had been hit. But from where? I didn't notice anyone…

Shoukaku took a chance and peeked out from behind her cover, but as soon as she did, another rubber bullet hit her on the shoulder.

Damn it… Only one hit left. I can't afford to be shot again.

But now that she had taken that second bullet, she realized where the shooter was. Someone was attempting to snipe her from up inside the branches of a tree.

Hm… She knows my position now. It appears I am trapped behind this tree.

Even if she ran, the sniper would probably be able to put one in her back from this distance, especially since ship girls were excellent shots. Shoukaku knew which tree the enemy was firing from, but she didn't have a lock on the exact location, and there was a chance she could miss and be shot before she could take out the enemy. Suddenly, she got an idea. The sniper was undoubtedly fingering her trigger in anticipation for Shoukaku to come out, and based on the last time she poked her head out, the carrier knew the moment she appeared out from behind the tree, the shooter would fire.

Taking this into account, Shoukaku bent down and took off one of her boots. In one quick motion, she tossed her boot out from behind the tree, and a split-second later, she herself emerged with her gun ready. As expected, the moment the footwear came flying out into the open, the shooter just reflexively fired. Shoukaku heard the sound of the rubber bullet smacking against her boot, confirming that the sniper had made a fatal mistake. Firing as fast as the automatic gun would allow, Shoukaku quickly put four or five bullets into the position she watched the sniper fire from. Sure enough, a shriek of surprise followed Shoukaku's shots, and the carrier watched as Yamakaze tumbled out of the tree, the destroyer and gun both smacking into the forest floor. With leaves in her hair and clothing, Yamakaze whimpered as she held up the white flag and covered her face with a hand in case Shoukaku tried to shoot her again. For her part, Shoukaku merely picked up her relatively-undamaged boot and walked past the destroyer, continuing onwards.

Two left.

Sticking to the shadows once again, this time making sure to watch the treetops as well, Shoukaku traveled towards the site of the gunfight. She got to the halfway point between the enemy camp and her camp, and she guessed that this was around where the flanking force must have met the enemy. No friendly ships were in the area, so Shoukaku assumed they also went back to their own base camp, having been defeated soundly by the enemy.

"Heh. Don't try anything funny, Shoukaku."

The carrier whirled around to see Suzuya, but also accompanying the heavy cruiser was Asashio, one of Shoukaku's teammates. Suzuya had her hand over the destroyer's mouth and a pistol pointed towards Asashio's head, a sinister smirk on her face.

"One wrong move and Asashio here gets it," Suzuya warned.

Asashio attempted to say something, but her voice was muffled by the heavy cruiser, who was much stronger.

"Drop your weapon and come with me. If you do, we'll let Asashio here go," Suzuya said. "If you don't, then -"

Without waiting for Suzuya to finish her sentence, Shoukaku raised her gun and shot the Mogami-class cruiser in the head.

Suzuya scowled heavily as she finally let go of Asashio. "The hell!? Damn, you're not messin' around, are you?"

Shoukaku shrugged. "Asashio wouldn't actually die or even get injured if you did end up shooting her, so I went ahead and took the shot."

Suzuya grinned. "Didn't know you were so cold, Shoukaku."

Shoukaku smiled. "Oh? It's just a training exercise. Now, would you mind telling me where Amatsukaze is? She should be the last member of your fleet, correct?"

"She went off with the others to look for you while I chased down the stragglers here," Suzuya replied, gesturing towards Asashio. "Don't know exactly where she is by now. Is everyone else…?"

Shoukaku nodded. "They're all finished."

Suzuya gave a low whistle. "Wow, a one-woman-army. Nice job there!"

"Take that pistol, Asashio," Shoukaku commanded, pointing to the gun Suzuya had dropped when she was shot.

The destroyer picked it up, but as she checked the clip, she frowned. "Um… There appears to be no ammunition in this."

Shoukaku blankly looked at Suzuya. "... You were threatening someone with a gun that can't even shoot?"

Suzuya grinned sheepishly. "Hey, what can ya do."

"What happened to your rifle?" Shoukaku then asked.

"I, uh, I lost it," Suzuya replied.

"... You lost it?"

"Uh… Yeah."

"How did you… Never mind. Let's go, Asashio."

The aircraft carrier then went back into the forest to hunt down the last remaining enemy, the gun-less Asashio escorting her as she walked. Going on the offensive had worked well so far, so Shoukaku decided to keep it up. They covertly continued on for a few minutes before they paused after hearing a noise.

"I think someone's around here," Asashio whispered.

Immediately following that, a figure leapt out of the foliage and began firing. Expecting something like this to happen, Shoukaku hid behind a tree she had positioned herself close to. Asashio, however, was not so lucky, and she was pelted by a hail of bullets from Amatsukaze, who was wielding two rifles, one in each hand. Shoukaku peeked out from behind the trunk and fired, but the speedy destroyer anticipated that and jumped out of the way. Amatsukaze returned fire with her two guns, and the increased rate of fire from two weapons caused the tree to vibrate with all the shots it was being hit with.

Shoukaku remained behind the tree, but Amatsukaze had other ideas. The destroyer sprinted past, trying to flank around so she could get a good shot on the white-haired ship girl. Shoukaku tried to shoot her in her tracks, but Amatsukaze was simply moving too quickly, and Shoukaku fired off two shots, both of which missed. She tried to fire again, but she found to her horror that she had run out of ammo. The only one with a pistol on Shoukaku's team was Zuikaku, so Shoukaku was now on her own. Amatsukaze noticed this as well, and the destroyer stopped her running and took aim at Shoukaku with her twin guns. Becoming more or less desperate at this point, Shoukaku decided to throw her weapon at Amatsukaze like a javelin. This forced Amatsukaze to reflexively roll to avoid it, and as she was doing that, Shoukaku ran back towards the area where Asashio had been shot.

The black-haired destroyer had apparently went back to the base camp after being shot like Keats instructed them to do, but Asashio had thankfully left Suzuya's pistol behind. Shoukaku grabbed it, and when Amatsukaze recovered and moved towards Shoukaku again, the aircraft carrier raised her pistol and aimed it straight at Amatsukaze's face. Naturally, this caused Amatsukaze to flinch for a brief moment, and Shoukaku took advantage of this by chucking her gun at Amatsukaze again. Confused as to why Shoukaku threw the gun instead of just shooting her, Amatsukaze belatedly moved out of the way, and her sluggish response allowed Shoukaku to lung forward and tackle the destroyer to the ground.

Since both her hands were occupied holding the weapons, Amatsukaze was forced to let go of them in order to get Shoukaku off. However, this was exactly what Shoukaku wanted, and the carrier snagged one of the rifles. Amatsukaze realized her mistake and quickly recovered the other one, and both ship girls aimed their weapons at each other at the same time.

Amatsukaze and Shoukaku locked eyes for a moment, then squeezed their triggers.