"Hood," cried Z23 "what do we do?"
"This is bad," said the woman "we're terribly outnumbered and over powered here."
"We need to run," said the man, turning around and heading right back into the forest. Although it meant he'd be back to guessing the enemy's location, it'd also mean they'd have to guess where he was and that seemed like the only viable option he had on the plate.
"Oh, I don't think so," said the woman floating in the air, as she extended out her right hand. In response, the cannons attached to her sides fired a volley of shots, landing in-front of the escaping trio, blocking them from the forest with a wall of fire.
"You've made me waste an ample amount of time chasing you through this jungle," said the woman, drawing closer to the trio "Ah, so this is how you managed to avoid our ships for so long: the otherworlder."
"What makes you think that I'm this 'otherworlder?'" asked the man "I could just be an innocent bystander."
"Doubtful," said the woman, now floating a few centimetres from him "seeing as you are the first male I've seen in this world."
'And that's one more thing to add to the list-of-important-questions-to-ask-once-we-get-out-of-this-mess,' thought the man 'assuming we survive that is.'
"Hey," said the woman, floating dangerously close to the man "why not join my side?"
"Huh?"
"Think about it, we've got the superior technology and the numbers," said the woman, extending her arms out, gesturing to the squad of ships behind her "we'd love to have someone of your talents on our side."
"Z," said Hood, looking like she had heard enough.
In response, Z23 landed both her feet into the alien woman's face, sending her flying back. If that wasn't enough, she also formed weapons on her side and fired a light barrage of gunfire at the target.
"Wait a second," said the man, clearly shocked by this move "you guys also have that weapon thing too?"
"Of course we do," said Hood in a matter-of-fact way "but it will take me some time to get my weapons loaded and ready."
"Alright till then I'll keep you safe," said the man.
"Thank you for your kindness sir," said Hood, smiling a little "but how do you plan to keep us safe in the midst of all these attackers?"
"By doing what I do best," said the man "and that's run like the wind."
Although the plan of running around in an effort to avoid cannon fire was about as smart as pissing into a tornado, it was a lot better than simply standing in one spot and praying for a miracle to come.
That was the train of thought that led the man to run across the wide open beach, making it somewhat difficult for the ships floating in the air to attack him. He noticed on the ground, Z23 had fired off a few more rounds from the guns on her sides, all of them doing some damage to one of the destroyers, but not enough.
Then he saw the destroyers cannons turn, their barrels aimed at Z23.
"Hey, what are you doing?" shouted the man, "dodge, now."
"Huh?" asked Z23, caught unawares by the sudden outburst.
"DODGE!," the man yelled and the girl did just that. Not two seconds after she jumped away from her spot, did that place get hit by cannon fire from the destroyer.
"What the?" asked Z23 "how did you know where it was coming?"
"The thing was pointing straight at you," countered the man "it was obvious."
"I had no idea they would fire like that," said Hood, causing the man to slide to a halt.
"Question," he said, "when you face an enemy, what do you do?"
"I face them head first and straight forward," she replied.
"No tactics?"
"Hmm?"
Another new fact leading to another new question. But as the man pondered this, Z23 rushed past them shouting "could you be a couple a little later?" before jumping to the beach and sliding on the surface of the water.
Rather than voicing his opinion against the pairing (which was what Hood was doing), the man noticed how Z23 was sliding across the water, similar to the way speedboats worked and that's when it hit him.
'The HMS Hood of the British Navy,' he thought, looking at the woman in his arms, while dodging fire from the flying alien ships. Through some strange and inconceivable manner, he was holding a human manifestation of a ship. This explained how both the floating girl and Z23 could make weapons form on their sides, and how the latter was able to nimbly move across the ocean surface.
"Um, sir," said Hood, drawing his attention to her.
"You can fire now right?" he asked, cutting her off.
"Yes, but how did you…."
"i'm a quick learner," said the man, letting her down. In response, Hood two pairs of large cannons formed on her side (one of which nearly knocked the man back due to him standing so close.) The cannons then took aim at the ships which were now targeting Z23.
"Wait," shouted the man, "don't shoot yet."
"What? Why?" asked Hood, clearly not agreeing with the idea, but the man's attention was focused on one of the turrets. He stared intently at the ship then turned to Hood.
"Fire at those guns," he said and Hood nodded. The two large cannons on her side sent out a volley of shots, all of which hit the intended target. To Hood's surprise however, the explosion created was two times larger than her regular attacks.
Confused, she looked to the man, who smiled and said.
"If you hit them just before they fire," said the man "your ammo causes their ammo to explode, thus doubling the explosion "In that way you'll be able to take out those annoying ships with less effort."
Surprised and taken aback by the analytical nature, Hood wanted to say something, but she noticed Z23, starting to get overwhelmed by the enemy forces.
"Sir," she called out "please take me to Z23. With your eye for detail, I believe we'll be able to make it out of this."
Nodding in agreement, the man quickly scooped up Hood and raced towards the beach.
"There's something else," she said, while they were running.
"Hmmmm?"
"Please take this," she said, holding out a medal to him.
"But I haven't done anything worthwhile yet to deserve a medal."
"Sir, the medal is a sign of leadership and right now we need a leader," she said "we need you to become our Commander and lead us against the Sirens."
"Me?" he asked and she nodded.
This was certainly a turn of events that he never saw coming. Disgraced and kicked out of the military, the man now had the opportunity to reach a rank never thought possible. But the question in his mind was, was he deserving of the title?
'You know what, just take the medal and roll with it for now,' he thought 'pretty soon there's going to be someone who'll come along whose more capable of leading and then you can hand the reins over to them. Till then they need help and like it or not, you're all they've got.'
"I accept," he said and despite how harrowing the situation was, Hood gave him a warm smile.
"From this moment forward, you are the Commander," said Hood, pinning the badge onto his shirt. "Please take good care of us."
He said nothing. Instead, he spun around and pointed his hand at another cruiser. Hood understood the gesture, forming a cannon and firing at the target with devastating effect.
"Sweet Jesus that was loud," shouted the Commander.
"Commander, can you hear me?" called out Hood "I think the noise from the cannon may have made you deaf."
"WHAT?" shouted the Commander "I CAN'T HEAR YOU HOOD. I THINK THE NOISE FROM THE CANNON MADE ME DEAF."
"Guys," shouted Z23 "stop standing there and start running."
"HOOD," he shouted "I SHOULD STOP STANDING AROUND AND START RUNNING."
"I've had just about enough of this," said the female siren, pointing her guns at the escaping duo and firing. The Commander heard the sound of artillery coming towards him and quickly ran to his right side. Although he dodged the brunt of the explosion, the hot sand it created was sent flying in all directions and some of it dug into his back.
The female siren continued firing at the two, but the Commander was able to dodge her attacks, while sustaining minimal damage. Rather than fire another shot, she took a moment and studied his path, realizing where he was going. With that in mind, she aimed her cannons a little ahead of him and fired.
The Commander heard the sound of another artillery strike coming his way, but judging from what he heard, it was going to hit a few feet ahead of him. With the little time he had left, he stopped his advance and turned around. Although he was able to avoid the brunt of the blast, because he was so close, the shockwave it created sent him and Hood hurtling into the air, before the pair crashed violently into the ground.
"NOOO!," screamed Z23, seeing this and making a bee-line towards the two.
Right before he hit the ground, he was able to calculate where Hood was going to fall. WIth that in mind, he used whatever strength he had left to craw his weakened body over to her. He tried to open his eyes and get a brief glimpse of the fallen woman, but he could not keep his eyes open for long. That may be due to his legs feeling numb or the gaping wound on his side or that his right arm was still on fire. No matter how you look at it, the newly elected Commander was not doing so well on his first mission.
000000000000000
Sensing that this was the end, the female siren slowly came towards the pair. She gestured for the other ships accompanying her to keep Z23 busy. In her mind, victory was all but assured. Yet as she drew closer, she saw something strange.
Rather than try to run away, the human male positioned himself between her and the downed woman.
000000000000000
"Well then come on," shouted the Commander, using whatever strength he had left to stand and force his eyes open.
This was pretty much the dumbest thing he had done. He was barely conscious, heavily wounded and could barely stand. He was about as dangerous as an animal on their last breath.
He knew it, the floating alien girl knew it and so did Hood. Which was why she got to her feet and swiftly rammed the side of her hand into his neck, effectively knocking him out.
Seeing this sudden turn, the female siren halted her advance. A costly mistake as Hood took advantage of this and formed her guns to fire a volley of bullets that blew off the siren's right arm.
"Hood," yelled Z23, coming to her "Hood, we have to get out of here, come on."
"Sorry dear but I think this will be my last sortie," said the woman with a pained smile "you should take him and go."
"But why? He's not anyone special. We can always find another otherworlder," pleaded Z23 "there's only one of you."
"We could, but do you think they'd be ready to throw themselves into danger like he did?" asked Hood and the girl was surprised.
"He…. did that?"
"Yes. He has a strong will and a kind heart. We'll need someone like him to unite our forces under a single banner. I believe in him Z and I want you to as well."
"But Hood," said Z23 "if we leave now, then you'll."
"I know dear," said Hood, gently putting her arms around the little girl. Although the circumstances behind their meeting created a negative first impression, the two came to care for one another and develop a sisterly bond in the process. As such, to say goodbye to someone you cared for for so long, was a tough ask.
"I'm sorry for doing this to you, I truly am. But for this world to know peace once more, then sacrifices must be made."
Tears flowing down her eyes, Z23 wanted to say no, but she could not. She wanted to stand alongside her sister and greet the end together, but that would be a wasted effort. Right now, her goal was to save that man. If Hood believed in him this much, then she had to too.
With that in mind, she put the man's unconscious body on her back, looked at Hood one last time before darting towards the sea.
Two of the floating ships tried to turn and stop her, but Hood fired at them.
"How dare you," said the female sire, her voice seething in anger "how dare you do this to me?"
"I SWEAR I'll MAKE YOU SUFFER."
But Hood did not listen. Instead, she formed her weapons one last time and in a loud voice she declared:
"I am the HMS Hood of the Azur Lane. I stood with Bismarck at the fall of the Neon Gate and I was there when we drove you back to your shadowy home. If this is to be my last stand, then I'll be dragging you to hell with me."
They say that an animal is most dangerous when it is near death. This is because at that time, the animal wants nothing more than to live and so, will do everything it can to stay alive. It is true that animals and humans treasure life above all else and so living, even for a second longer would be the only thing a dying animal wants.
However, there is a level of strength that is far greater than this, but it is one that is rarely seen. It is called 'The Last Stand.' It is when a human or a group of humans are faced with overwhelmingly impossible odds, but still fight on with everything they have. Whether it be for people they loved or for a better world than the one they lived in, Human history is littered with stories of soldiers who went down fighting.
In the days that followed, Hood's last stand would become the catalyst that ignited the greatest fire this world had ever seen.