Akitsu Maru could not help but inwardly bemoan her situation. Being ordered on a so called "special" mission that was closer to a suicide mission by the R&D head was bad. Being sent on said mission without any equipment was beyond bad; it was suicidal.
As if adding injury to the insult of the mission itself, it was to take place in the Sea of Japan, meaning she had to leave from the Kitakyushu LSC base, and simply driving there had taken her almost a whole day.
Even worse though, was her current situation. After leaving the Kitakyushu LSC base, without meeting her friends there unfortunately, she found the seas to be calm, and strangely empty. That is, until her ankles were grabbed from below and she was dragged helplessly down underneath the water's surface, unable to react fast enough to stop it, or to tell who was attacking her.
Perhaps attacking was not the right word though Akitsu Maru thought to herself as she looked around. She had only been dragged for a short time and now that she looked around she realized she was leaning against the edge of a large pool like the one she had seen used to exit and enter the abyssal base. This one was smaller though, barely large enough for more than two people at a time to be in it. Though considering the other person that was in it, the one responsible for her being there, it felt even more cramped than she thought it possible.
"I'm sorry for the abruptness, but . . . I wanted to make sure that neither of us . . . were seen," Seaport Hime apologized as her massive metal clawed hands grasped the edge of the pool and lifted herself up onto its edge. Unlike Akitsu Maru's own clothes, or the clothes of any ship girls, Seaport Hime's seemed to not get wet despite having been in the water, and she herself seemed almost immediately dry as well; something Akitsu Maru suddenly wanted herself to be as she looked up at Seaport Hime from the pool.
"Um . . . what?" Akitsu Maru replied, no idea what was going on right away.
Seaport Hime tilted her head to the side in confusion as she lifted her legs out of the pool and shifted them to her side outside of the pool. "You were in the area without your equipment . . . were you not intending, to come visit?"
Akitsu Maru looked at Seaport Hime blankly and shook her head as she lifted herself up onto the pools edge and sat there with her feet in the water. "Um, but your base is on the other side of the island right? On the other side of Japan, right?"
Seaport Hime looked at Akitsu Maru for a moment and then smiled as she stood up and walked around the pool's edge over to Akitsu Maru, extending one of her massive claws to her. "I guess you wouldn't know about that. Well, um . . . . . . . Sya, wanted to talk to you, and show you something. Do you, want to?"
Akitsu Maru looked at Seaport Hime and sighed. She was already deep underwater, and she was thinking that if she could get a list of Abyssal patrol routes from a Hime, it'd be more reliable than her own. " Alright, I have time to spare."
Seaport Hime smiled at Akitsu Maru's response as she stood up from the pool and offered a large clawed hand to her. "Okay shall we, go then?"
"Ah, okay. Is she here?" Akitsu Maru asked as she took Seaport Hime's hand and feeling strange for doing so so easily and not feeling strange about it.
Seaport Hime shook her head as she lifted Akitsu Maru up and led her across the room to a door, into a short metal lined hallway and into another room with a large pool, though this one was circular, and seemed to have a current in it. "No, I was dropping Hoppo off and then was going to see Sya actually."
"Oh, I see . . . " Akitsu Maru replied as she looked forward at the circulating water, realizing that below the surface it looked kind of like a whirlpool. " um, are we . . " she did not finish her sentence but instead pointed down into the pool.
"Hmm? Well yes, we have to use our current network to get to where Sya, Fura and Zui are." Seaport Hime said simply.
"Err, well whirlpools seem like a suicide attempt to me. Is there another way?" Akitsu Maru asked, wondering if Furataka and Zuikaku always were with Battleship symbiotic Hime, but not saying anything.
"Oh, why is . . . oh, I- I'm sorry . . . I forgot that Ship girls don't go underwater well. . . . . . Um, if I hold onto you though, it should be fine. Okay?"
"Okay, I guess." Akitsu Mau replied in a worried tone as she remembered the now three times she had been pulled under water, or out of it. Airfield Hime had been the first, and holding onto her she had been able to breathe, though it had been uncomfortable. The second time was when Battleship Symbiotic Hime had brought her to the surface, and just like with Airfield Hime she had been able to breathe. And now with the third time a mere few minutes behind her, she began to wonder if any ship girl could breathe underwater if held by a Hime or Oni. If that was the case, it had the potential to be devastating if they took to kidnapping and hostage taking.
Without saying a word, Seaport Hime wrapped one of her massive clawed hands around Akitsu Maru's waist and lifted her slightly into the air. The current took them instantly down even further, and a few moments later Akitsu Maru was able to see that they were in a sort of undersea cavern full of dozens of quick moving currents. Using all of her strength just to breath in such an environment, Akitsu Maru was unable to speak, but was able to look around as she and Seaport Hime sped through the cavern of currents.
Occasionally she could see other abyssal Hime's and Oni's in the currents, and the further they went the more they saw, making her wonder. She wasn't able to gauge the sped that they were going, but it was very fast. if the Hime's had multiple bases like the one she had been to before, and if they all were connected by currents like the one they were in, it made sense as to how Hime's and Oni's seemed to be able to travel such great distances easily.
As she realized this and looked around some more, she realized the cavern was changing. Its stone was darker now, almost like obsidian or black ore, and there was only one other current near them, and it seemed to be completely unused.
Suddenly Akitsu Maru felt her body wrench backwards, and looked to see Seaport Hime had grabbed onto a metal bar that was just out of the current with her free hand. Pushing against the current she pulled herself and Akitsu Maru out of it, and then swam up towards a metal pipe in the now small cavern's ceiling.
Nearing a light above them, Seaport Hime let go of Akitsu Maru, and they broke the surface, entering into a small room like the others Akitsu Maru had seen. Pulling herself out of the pool alongside Seaport Hime she looked around for any defining features in the room, but found none. What she did find was that she felt extremely cold, not because of the water, but because of something else. She wasn't sure why, but it unnerved her greatly and made her shiver almost out of fear.
"Over here, Maru . . . Sya, Fura, and Zui are just, through here!" Seaport Hime said with a smile as she walked up to the room's only door.
Seeing the door made Akitsu Maru nervous. Unlike every other abyssal door she had seen, this one looked like it had belonged in a military weapon's stockpile, or perhaps even a bioweapon storage facility. It was a blast door that looked more impressive than any she had ever seen, and then Seaport Hime opened it.
As soon as the door slipped open even a fraction Akitsu Maru felt a cold ind rush past her. It felt like she was suddenly in a graveyard, and everything was silent, yet completely aware of her. It was strange, and far more than just unnerving.
Swallowing hard she stepped up to the door and then followed Seaport Hime through. The hall was short and entirely made of unpolished silver metal, making the hall feel very rough. But that changed when they exited the hallway and into an open room.
This room was made entirely of metal, but it's metal was far brighter in color. On the far wall was a massive plate of glass that curled under the floor a bit, and standing in front of it, was Battleship Symbiotic Home and Zuikaku, but Furataka was nowhere to be seen.
As if sensing their presences, Battleship Symbiotic Hime turned to Seaport Hime and Akitsu Maru and smiled. "Hello, I didn't know Maru was joining us!"
"I found her, outside a while back and brought her along . . . I knew, you wanted to talk with her," Seaport Hime explained as she walked over, nodding to Battleship Symbiotic Hime and exchanging places with her before Battleship Symbiotic Hime walked over to Akitsu Maru with a smile on her face.
"How are we today, Maru?"
Akitsu Maru felt herself blush out of embarrassment at her name being shortened again. "I am fine, I suppose."
"From that answer I'm guessing you weren't given much of a choice in coming here, huh?"
Akitsu Maru nodded shallowly. From the way that Battleship symbiotic Hime was talking, it sounded as if, it was a common thing, or was at least something she had expected; and that worried her quite a bit. "Seaport Hime said you wanted to talk to me about something when she . . . plucked me from above. Is that true?"
Battleship Symbiotic Hime nodded, motioned silently for Akitsu Maru to follow her and walked over to a corner of the room. Once there she seemed to calm down, but also seemed to become more serious. "Yes, I had figured you might appear again, but honestly I did not expect it to be so soon. Was your admiral not pleased with the shells we returned to you?"
"No, it was fine I believe. Why?"
Battleship Symbiotic Hime was quiet for a long while, as if she was trying to figure out the safest way to word something. After a while she leaned back against the wall and let out a nearly silent sigh. "Tell me Akitsu Maru, I have heard it from Zuikaku at least once, but what do the masses of ship girls think of us?"
Akitsu Maru could not have expected such a question, but the answer was a simple one. "In the simplest way, abyssal ships are our enemies that must be defeated to preserve peace."
Battleship Symbiotic Hime smiled slightly and looked to Akitsu Maru, her eyes gleaming as if she was happy with such an answer. "Yes, I suppose it is we who disrupted this world's peace. What do the humans think of us?"
"That is a little harder to explain, I think," Akitsu Maru said quickly, knowing that belief on the abyssal ships was split. "admirals, and some humans, think of you as monsters that must be defeated, or as weapons like ourselves that have gone wrong. Some people, honestly, do not know what to think, or do not wish to make assumptions."
Symbiotic Hime nodded understanding how the people seemed to be split. "I understand, then. Would you like to know something, Maru?"
Akitsu Maru nodded slightly as she glanced around the room.
"Then let me show you something . . ." Battleship Symbiotic Hime said as she guided Akitsu Maru to the side of the room with its wall made of hard glass.
Through the glass, Akitsu Maru saw a strange sight. Past the glass was a deep seemingly bottomless pit in the ocean, deeper and darker than the worst storm she had ever seen, yet it was strangely tranquil. Within its waters she occasionally saw I-class destroyers and similar small abyssal ships appear, but what captured most of her attention was the large silver metal ball that seemed connected to the room she stood in by a heavy chain, larger than any she had ever seen. The metal ball bounced and bounded in the water as the changing currents moved it along, and a few abyssal occasionally swarmed around it for moments before swimming away. It was a strange thing to see, but as she looked on, something else caught her eyes, movement in the deep depths of the pit, far too large to be even the largest Hime. The longer she watched it the less she could make out of it, until it lunged up from the deep pit for a moment, and was then dragged back down by the chains that held it, and the water pressure above it.
The creature itself looked like someone had crossed a massive shark, a squid, and a whale, and then had grafted abyssal armour all across its body. Its teeth looked as large as transport trucks, and the mere sight of it caused a chill like no other to run through Akitsu Maru's body. In that moment she was sure that whatever the thing was, it had seen her, recognized her presence, and reacted to her. Just feeling like it had seen her made her feel like her entire existence was about to be completely annihilated.
"W-what, what is- ?" Akitsu Maru tried to speak, but found her lungs did not want to work, not even half of a sentence would escape her as she felt her heartrate speeding up exponentially.
The feeling of a sudden hand on her shoulder pulled Akitsu Maru out of her horrified trance, and allowed her to look over, seeing Zuikaku standing beside her. "It's pretty ominous, isn't it?"
Akitsu Maru nodded to Zuikaku and looked back at the creature with her, "What, what is that thing?!"
"That is, our mother." Seaport Hime said solemnly, without a shred of affection or emotion.
"What?!"
"Don't confuse her." Battleship Symbiotic Hime said as she walked up to the glass herself and looked toward Akitsu Maru and Zuikaku, more so toward Akitsu Maru, "It is what created us Abyssal ships. We honestly do not know what it is beyond that, though we do have a few possible ideas. The manifestation of all the hate we felt in our previous lives as ships is just one of them. But it does not change the fact that it is what created us. It is the reason for our existence."
"That, that thing, created the abyssal ships?!" Akitsu Maru exclaimed in shock as she pointed at the window, and though it toward the creature that she now knew was deep within the darkness below.
Battleship Symbiotic Hime nodded and turned around, leaning against the glass. "Yes, it created us, but, it does not control us, at least not anymore."
"W-what do you mean?" Akitsu Maru asked her mind full of so many questions, but unsure of how to ask them.
"Tell me, Maru, was there a time in the past years when our actions seemed to change from previous?"
"Well yeah, a few years ago all of you began appearing in different places instead of- wait." Akitsu Maru stopped as she looked at Battleship Symbiotic Hime and realized what she was getting at.
Battleship Symbiotic Hime smiled softly," Yes, up until then we were merely mindless pawns of our creator, or mother as some of us call it. But we then somehow gained intelligence, perhaps because of all the death we had caused, or perhaps it was grief and despair over what we had done, we don't know really. But we all gained intelligence. After a while we worked together and built our new homes, and we even decided what we would do with our lives."
"And- that would be?" Akitsu Maru asked uncertain if she truly wanted to know the answer.
"We decided to keep it here," Seaport Hime said calmly, her voice barely audible as the creatures roar echoed up from the depths as if a thunderous cloud beneath the Waves.
"W-what do you mean, keep it here?" Akitsu Maru asked, not quite understanding what the meant exactly.
"It wants out, and it created us to do that, we believe." Battleship Symbiotic Hime said as she stood away from the glass and turned back around and looked out the window, "It is chained down there. We do not know what did it to it, but when we realized we were created to lure humans to this place and free it, we decided amongst ourselves that it would be best to keep it here."
"B-but if it created you and wants to be free, why would you-?"Akitsu Maru began to say, stopping midway when she realized what she was almost about to say.
"We decided to because when we gained our own wills, we realized that everything that we had done to humans thus far had been truly horrible. This is also the reason why we all swore none of us, Hime or Oni ,would take the life of a ship girl or human if it could be helped."
Akitsu Maru's eyes widened in realization as she remembered a report from a few months before that the abyssal seemed to be lacking the killing intent that they had all the time before. Now it made sense to her why. There was one other thing that was confusing her though, and she could not help but voice it. "I see. That makes sense. Um, this is probably a strange change of topic, but where is Furutaka?"
As if to answer Akitsu Maru's question, Zuikaku stepped closer and tapped on Akitsu Maru's shoulders, pointing out the window and at the metal sphere that floated above the massive pit. "Furutaka is in the sphere there."
"Huh? What is she doing in there?"
"She's, testing something." Zuikakau said, her tone telling Akitsu Maru that she was not sure if she should be telling her what she was.
"Testing what?"
Zuikaku looked to Battleship Symbiotic Hime who nodded to her, then took a deep breath to continue explaining. "I've been here in Sya and Sui's care for a while, and Furataka's been here even longer. We've both also known what you now know for almost as long. As neither of us can return to the surface as ship girls, we've been thinking of helping Sya and Sui keep ship girls away from this place. But we're not sure if it'll work, so Furutaka's is testing it."
"Testing what?" Akitsu Maru asked somehow thinking that she knew the answer, and simultaneously not wanting to know the answer.
"We've been thinking that since our creator also creates other abyssal just from being here, that its presence could turn a ship girl into an abyssal from prolonged exposure to its energy. That is what Furutaka is testing." Battleship Symbiotic Hime said, finishing Zuikaku's explanation, much to her relief.
"Ah, you, she- she's, trying to turn into an abyssal ship?!" Akitsu Maru nearly screamed in both surprise and horror.
"Well, it's one of three ways we're trying to test. Zuikaku is trying the other way currently, mainly because we cannot test the third way."
"Not that it seems to be doing much though," Zuikaku said, adding to Battleship Symbiotic Hime's sentence.
"That, why would you . . ?"
"Well, we wanted to help them because, well, they aren't doing anything wrong anymore. And keeping such a monster imprisoned is a good idea so. . "Zuikaku muttered, not really sure where she was going with her explanations.
"I know it may be hard to understand with your different experiences, but Fura and Zui both wished to try this. But on a slightly different note, may I ask what you were doing in the area where Sui found you?" Battleship Symbiotic Hime asked calmly, holding no worry in her voice.
Akitsu Maru froze up for a moment. Could she tell them what her mission was? They were supposed to be the enemy, yet they were so open in the information they told her and had once already proven to her that they meant no harm. They had let here leave with experimental shell meant to do them harm but . . . "I, I was on a mission to reconnoitre the area and discover abyssal patrol routes so that the navy could try to reach the mainland again." Akitsu Maru finally said.
"Without any of your equipment at all? If you encountered even an I-class it would have done away with you!" Zuikakau said in shock and surprise.
Akitsu Maru nodded, "The R&D Admiral wanted me to go without any equipment, so that I would not engage in combat."
"But that's suicidal!" Zuikakau screamed, more out of surprise at such a ridiculous order being given than out of anger.
"I agree, but, why do they want to go to the mainland?" Battleship Symbiotic Hime asked curiously.
"Because the lack of trade is causing Japan's economy to fail badly. What little resources that are acquired are pushed to the war effort. But wait, if you guys aren't trying to conquer anything and just trying to control this place, then why is Japan failing?"
"Probably because we each can only control a handful of other abyssal at a time . . . . If we were to pull all of our own personal forces from the sea between Japan and the mainland, would that help them?"
Akitsu Maru could not answer as she looked at Battleship Symbiotic Home in shock. What she was suggesting would change so many things for Japan, even if they had to deal with groups of regular abyssal ships, they could defend large ships from them and regain contact with the mainland. Japan's economic problem could be solved instantly.
The real question in Akitsu Maru's mind though, was whether or not it was all a ploy to deal a serious blow to Japan's navy and economy. Sure she had been treated extremely well, but was it all just to get her trust to destroy Japan?
"Whatever you're thinking, it's not how it is." Zuikaku suddenly said, pulling Akitsu Maru's attention back out of her own mind and toward Zuikaku. "They don't even think of betrayal. I thought they would at first, but in all the time I've been in their care, they have never done anything remotely like what I used to think they did."
Hearing Zuikaku's words Akitsu Maru let out a sigh. She really was overthinking things. This entire time she was consistently thinking in a negative frame of mind, despite everything that had happened. "Yes, moving people out of the Sea of Japan would greatly help Japan." Akitsu Maru finally said clearly.
Battleship Symbiotic Hime nodded as if acknowledging the fact. "Then I'll see what we can do when we next meet. Do you want to wait and see if Furutaka's experiment works or do you need to head back to your base?"
Akitsu Maru nodded quickly in reply. She did need to return, and as she hadn't seen any ships before her being pulled under, she wouldn't be lying if she reported to not have seen any abyssal ships. "Yes, I should return soon."
"Alright then, I'll lead you back, okay?"
Days before the simple idea of being lead anywhere by an abyssal ship would have seemed impossible and suicidal. Now though, it felt strangely okay as Akitsu Maru followed Battleship Symbiotic Hime out of the room. In a few minutes she would be back above the surface and on her way back to the Kitakyushu naval base, and then, back to the capitol's warehouse district.
Authors note: holy crap I apologize for the massive break, it was never intended to be this long, but ended up being, so I'm greatly sorry. Besides that i hope you like the twist this chapter has given. And sorry again for the wait,