'Ok, ok, ok, ok, ok, ok, ok, just take a moment and think for a second,' he thought all the while running and dodging his way through the barrage of airplanes that practically filled the hall.
'Akashi said we were the only ones here,' was the first through 'that means Z23, Akashi and I were the only ones from the fleet. But then all of a sudden this lady comes right out of nowhere and to top it off, she says others heard my voice.'
'When did I call out for help?' he thought, ducking under an explosion.
'Alright, alright, when in doubt follow the three golden steps.'
The Commander was referring to a trio of steps that his Commander taught him during his training days in the Navy. Those three steps were applicable to any situation and had often helped him out when he least expected it to.
'Step one: assess the situation.'
'This lady said her name was Enterprise. Based on the information we got before hand, Enterprise was the former leader of the Eagle Union, before Hornet took over. And the only reason for that is because Enterprise died. But she's not dead anymore… she's here, fighting for me.'
'What in God's name is going on here? How is a dead person alive and on my side?'
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Although Z23 was equally surprised by the arrival of a few familiar faces, unlike the Commander she had a slightly better idea of how this impossible feat happened.
'Wisdom cubes,' she thought 'He must have found a way to interact with them.'
"I know that our arrival here came a little out of left field," said Illustrious, standing before Z23 "but you do need to get out of the way dear. Find some cover and let us take care of this mess."
"Don't worry big sis," said Unicorn, tossing her namesake doll into the air "we're here to help."
Z23 watched as the Unicorn rose high into the sky, growing ten times larger and forming a pair of aircraft launch pads on its side. As it landed, it attacked its opponents with multiple airplanes, pretty much covering half the island in a cloud of dust.
'This is bad,' said Cleveland, covering her eyes to avoid the dust 'not only do they have those two attacking us from afar…."
At this point she noticed the silhouettes of three people making their way through the cloud of dust. When the cloud faded, Cleveland saw the Prince of Wales, Prinz Eugen and Belfast a few feet from her.
"There's the three of them as well." she said to herself.
As Cleveland leapt back, putting some distance between her and her opponents, she noticed a hail of artillery coming down on their location. The four of them jumped further back, avoiding the barrage then turned in the direction of where the attack came from.
"You guys," said Cleveland in relief, referring to the many girls that were now coming to shore all to help her.
Looking in the same direction, Z23 also noticed the number of girls coming their way. From left to right it was Chicago, Phoenix, Helena, Brooklyn, Tennessee, San Diego, Houston, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.
She had every reason to be concerned. Many of them were exemplary members of the Eagle Union, often recognized as the heroes of certain skirmishes. What little advantage they had in the numbers game vanished the moment that artillery strike lit.
And what little advantage her fleet had in terms of raw power also vanished as well.
But what Z23 did not notice was how the expressions on the faces of her new comrades did not change. Although the five of them had no advantage, they all remained calm, not even entertaining the idea that they were going to lose.
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Enterprise let loose another barrage of arrows at Hornet, who retaliated by sending out an equally large volley of airplanes then darting to her left. Enterprise quickly closed the distance between them, attacking with a swing of her bow, but Hornet was able to dodge the attack by ducking down.
"You need to come up with some new moves old friend," said Hornet in a mocking tone. As she rose up, she attacked with a rising kick, but Enterprise used her bow to block the attack.
"Why? The ones I have are plenty," she said, followed by her pulling the string back and firing off a point blank barrage of arrows.
Thanks to this, Hornet was sent flying back, crashing into one of the walls before falling down with a thud.
In the midst of this brawl, it would be difficult to locate the whereabouts of the Commander. After all, he was here when the fight started and did not have any opportunity or moment to leave the hall. So the question remained, where was he?
The answer was simple: he was buried under a pile of rocks and only now managed to dig his way through.
'This place looked even worse now than it did a few minutes ago,' he thought, commenting on how the fight progressed during his momentary absence.
"During the Siege of the Crimson Waterfall, I tasked you with looking after the Eagle Union," said Enterprise, walking towards Hornet, who was still lying on the ground.
"You were supposed to carry on the fight in my stead. Show the sirens that the members of the Eagle Union never back down from a fight."
"You should have faced them head on and instead, here you are cowering for your life," she declared.
"At least," said Hornet, standing up "at least I didn't throw my life away like a fool."
Those words clearly surprised the Enterprise, who was taken aback by what was said.
"You think that it's easy? Sending us all to our death? You think that everyone else is ready to go and die just because you say so?"
"After I became the leader, I did everything I could to keep the rest of us safe," said Hornet, standing her ground "the sirens kept attacking us day after day, forcing us to run for our lives. We spent months running."
"Then, finally we found this island. It was so far away from any of the other factions, It wasn't much as the start but it was better than nothing. I thought long and hard about what we were going to do. We were all tired, hungry and badly injured: if anyone attacked us that'd be the end of the Eagle Union, the end for all of us."
"So I decided instead of fighting we would hide. With what we had we'd slowly carve out a place for ourselves here, only attacking some stray ships, making sure to draw little attention to ourselves."
"It was difficult trying to convince everyone else. They all wanted to fight and here I was thinking about our survival," she said, lowering her head "Cleveland was the first to see things my way. She understood what I was thinking and was slowly able to convince everyone else that my way was the right way."
"We're safe here Enterprise. None of the other factions come out this far, much less the sirens. It'll be difficult I know but together we can…."
"The flames of war have once again been ignited," said Enterprise, immediately denying Hornet's request.
"The arrival of the other… I mean the Commander and my return are clear enough signs Hornet," she added "with us here, the tides of war have begun to turn. We are going to strike a blow against the Sirens so great, they will never think of coming here again."
Hornet was silent, her hat covering her face. She remained that way for a while before asking "and how many lives are you ready to sacrifice for that?"
"As many as it takes," was Enterprise's reply.
"Then I cannot let you lead the Eagle Union," said Hornet with a hostile expression "you'll send us all to our deaths if it means we land a scratch on those stupid sirens."
"Hornet think about this. Do you think that living a life in fear of tomorrow is the best thing?"
"It's a whole lot better than dying for nothing," shouted the blond haired girl.
"Then I'm sorry, but you've left me with no choice," said Enterprise, drawing her bow.
"I could say the same thing of you," barked Hornet, reading her airplanes.
The two of them stared each other down like duelists would in a standoff. Every second felt like an eternity as the two former friends were ready to strike each other down.
Then finally, they both attacked each other, letting loose a volley of fire at each other. But just as their projectiles were about to collide in the center of the hall, the third and almost forgotten member of the fight made himself known by cutting up the arrows and airplanes with his sabre.
The girls stood in surprise, watching the dust cloud in the center of the hall slowly settle down. When it did, they saw him standing there.
"Commander," cried out Enterprise "why did you…."
"To keep you from killing a friend," he said, smiling at her "thanks for saving my lazy butt just now, but I think it's time for me to do my part."
He turned to Hornet who was ready to attack. However, to their surprise, they saw the Commander sheathe his weapon and slowly walk towards Hornet.
"What are you doing?" asked Hornet, taking half a step back.
"I never knew how difficult things were for you," said the Commander "Z and I just attacked without getting all the facts and for that I am sorry."
"I don't care," said Hornet, pointing at him, ready to attack.
"You're right about that. You shouldn't have any reason to listen to me but the time for living in the shadows, living in fear of the sirens: that time has come to an end."
"There's no point in saying things like that when you're asking me to send my friends to their doom," she said, determined to resist them.
"What if I told you I'll win this war without sacrificing a single life?" asked the Commander, and both Hornet and Enterprise gasped in shock.
Hornet quickly shook her head saying "you're just saying that because that's the only way I'll agree to help you."
"Not true. There is a way to defeat the sirens without losing anyone."
"And how do I know you're not lying?"
"You don't," he replied and then took out his sabre. Hornet in response, was about to attack, but stopped when he pointed the handle towards her.
"Join me and I'll prove it to you," he said, merely an inch away from her "and if I don't if there comes a point where I casually throw someone's life away like it's nothing, then feel free to take this sabre and run it through my chest."
"Commander," shouted Enterprise, clearly shocked by this declaration, but the person she was addressing did not listen. He was fully focused on Hornet, who hesitantly reached out and took the sabre with one hand.
"You've been fighting for a long time," said the Commander "it must have been difficult carrying that burden on your shoulders for so long."
"But that ends here," he added, gently holding her other hand "I'll take that weight off your shoulders."
All of a sudden, Hornet dropped the sabre and began sobbing out loud before embracing the Commander. As she kept sobbing, Enterprise remembered why she answered in the first place.
He had a desire to protect them, a desire to protect all of them. Although she had her doubts about him, wondering if that desire was just a farce, seeing him able to talk Hornet down and get her to surrender without hurting her, made the former leader of the Eagle Union believe in him.
"Perhaps it is possible," she muttered to herself before marching towards the two.
"You feeling better?" asked the Commander as Hornet slowly moved back. For the moment, she could not speak. She simply nodded to the question.
"You always were an emotional girl weren't you," said Enterprise, standing beside the Commander, getting a good look at her friend.
"Come on," he said, "we should go and see how the others are doing."
Hornet nodded and walked alongside Enterprise, while the Commander opened the door.
There, he saw plenty of unfamiliar faces. Many of them sitting on the sand, a little bruised here and there, but nothing too bad.
"It is a pleasure to finally meet you Commander," said Illustrious, curtsying to him.
"Wait," said the Commander, pointing to her "were you the one Enterprise talked about?"
"She's not the only one," said Z23, coming towards him "there are a few others."
"Right," said the lady in red and grey, standing alongside everyone else "let's start things off properly."
"I am Prinz Eugen and from today on I'll be a member of your fleet," she said, slightly bowing to him.
"I am Illustrious," said the woman with the white dress, curtseying "happy to be of help Commander."
"I am Prince of Wales, but you can call me Wales," said the woman in an admiral's uniform, with a salute "It is an honor to be of service once again."
"I am Belfast," said the woman dressed as a maid "ready and willing."
"And I am Enterprise," said Enterprise, smiling at the Commander "but you already know that."
"All of you," said the Commander taking a few steps forward "you came to help."
"Something like that" said Belfast.
"Thank you," said the Commander, deeply bowing to all of them "thank you for coming to help and thank you for protecting Z23."
"Hey now," said Illustrious, looking at someone standing perfectly behind her "you shouldn't stand behind me, you should introduce yourself to the Commander."
Curious by what Illustrious said, he tilted his head to see who was hiding behind her and saw a purple haired girl, holding up a stuffed unicorn to cover some of her face.
"M-my name is U-Unicorn," she said, sound a little nervous and meek "Commander…. Can I call you big bro?"
Thus the day ended with the Commander's fleet growing in size and the addition of members from the Eagle Union to their ranks.
Akashi later noted that this was the first and possibly only time in the history of the world where someone had a heart attack from seeing someone so cute.
(AN: yep, I went there with that)