Kancolle Alt

by MasterBaiter4.0

A new destroyer joins the Yokosuka Naval Base, befriending old and new allies alike to fight their sworn enemies, the mysterious Abyssals. Little do they know, the first act of the war is drawing to a close...

16. Chapter 16 - Rain Hides the Tears

The 1st Response Fleet was standing right outside the harbor, assembling as soon as they got the message that they needed to reinforce the Izu Islands as soon as possible.

It was 12.35 p.m. and the operation was projected to last the entire day, the 1st Fleet likely returning to base sometime at night.

The official statement from the Admiral was that the Abyssals had sent out a fleet in an attempt to occupy the hotly-contested Izu Islands while taking advantage of the rain to mask their approach.

Fortunately, the Admiral predicted that they'd take advantage of the bad weather to encroach on their territory and had warned the 1st Fleet about a possible sortie on the 12th.

The Abyssal fleet was estimated to have about 40 Abyssals in its roster, requiring more than one fleet to handle.

Hence, it required the combined efforts of three naval bases to try and repel their invasion, lest the Abyssals pick off their fleets as they send them in one by one.

Shigure observed her teammates as they surrounded her, noting the changes that her friends had went through.

Tatsuta was smiling more naturally now, Shigure noticing that the light cruiser had been helping out in the kitchen, keeping herself busy while lightening the workload of others.

This allowed her to apply herself and keep herself busy, so much so that it never allowed her to brood in a corner and be alone with her dark thoughts as she learnt some cooking skills from Mamiya, a senior who had been around since the inception of the base.

Hiei had arrived shortly after confirming her schedule with the other battleships to finalize a date for another training session, Shigure feeling glad to hear that Hiei was determined to train herself up tirelessly in order to earn her Kai Ni.

She knew that the fast battleship would go far if she tried.

Hiei looked driven to do her best to become stronger not just to impress her sisters, but to also protect the 1st Fleet which she was more closely affiliated with nowadays.

Tenryuu was now carrying herself with an air of confidence that wasn't just a product of her self-proclaimed grandiosity before being enlisted in the 1st Fleet, but also looked more like a young warrior waiting to test her limits in battle.

The guidance of her seniors and a bit of maturity on her part had changed her for the better, the light cruiser now trying to use her wits more often to compensate for her less-than-stellar stats and keep herself relevant in battle.

Ayanami hadn't changed too much, but like an anchor for the rest of the fleet, she was probably the one member of the fleet that didn't need to change too much.

Her default personality was amiable and kind to others as she was an elder sister figure to anyone who needed her support due to being a name-ship, a trait that helped her connect with her comrades.

Shigure thought back about the breakfast that she had with Yuudachi before this as the the 1st Fleet approached the harbor to suit up and sortie.

---

Yuudachi had been trying to make small talk with a quiet Shigure over breakfast, and she had tried to talk about the weather, of all things.

But Shigure, despite her best attempts to try and humor her sister ship's attempts, couldn't help but point out a simple observation that she had made upon waking up early in the morning to get some exercise.

"I'm sorry, Yuudachi, but I saw that the morning sky was red, which means that there's a storm on the horizon."

Yuudachi's smile drooped upon hearing that, but she did her best to recover as she stretched her smile a little more, gesturing to the breakfast trays on the table before them.

"W-Well, Shigure, let's eat now.

Doesn't today's meal seem rather delicious, Poi?"

Today's meal was indeed rather extravagant, a generous helping of unagi meat with soy sauce added on it along with a salad bowl filled with lettuce, mayonnaise and corn kernels that were visible as they were identified by their healthy yellow gleam, slices of hard-boiled eggs thrown in to add some variety to the dish.

Shigure nodded, humoring her beloved sister as she used her knife to cut into the unagi meat, disturbing the thin layer of soy sauce layered on it as Shigure pierced it with her fork.

She used her knife to scrape some of the soy sauce off the slice of meat as Shigure didn't like her food to be lathered in sauces, making it almost inedible to her.

She ate the eel meat and felt the fishy taste on her tongue, somewhat salty and soft as it fell apart in her mouth, savoring the taste of the soy sauce on the unagi before turning her attention back to her sister.

Yuudachi was now talking about how summer was a time to relax, Shigure smiling at her sister's infectious enthusiasm that was starting to get to her despite the high chance of sortieing today in the rain.

"One of these days, we can go to the beach near here with our sisters and some of the destroyers, light cruisers and seniors in our swimsuits!

After all, it wouldn't be summer if we didn't go to the beach at least once, Poi?!

Ah, but we already go the sea when sortieing..."

Shigure let her prattle on as she tuned her words out, instead choosing to appreciate her sister's presence and merry attitude.

She had always regarded her sister as one of the major sources of joy in her life, never seeming to lose her enthusiasm and happiness along with her inquisitiveness and curiosity that seemed to be a shared trait between them.

But sometimes, Yuudachi was fully capable of taking up an empathetic persona, full of profound wisdom and caring words to console Shigure whenever she needed someone to brighten up her day.

Fortunately, she didn't need that side of Yuudachi to console her today, things seemingly going her way for now.

And it was at that moment when life decided to prove her wrong as she heard a siren blaring in the distance, along with a message popping up on her HUD as the Coordinators ordered the 1st Fleet to report at the harbor for an emergency sortie like Admiral Mako predicted.

Shigure dropped her utensils as she looked away, sighing at how her breakfast with Yuudachi was ruined by the Abyssals trying to attack their territory, forcing the ship girls to sortie in order to repel their invasion and protect their area of influence.

Shigure didn't mind sortieing to fight the Abyssals, but she sometimes wondered if the Abyssals ever needed to sleep or eat, often choosing to attack at extremely inopportune times like at night, when the ship girls were forced to forgo sleep and arrive at the battlefield while being sleep-deprived, thus throwing off their aim, dulling their evasive abilities and causing fatigue.

Shigure got up from her seat, the chair scraping on the hard canteen floor and skidding back as she straightened up with a look on her face that made it clear that Shigure had resigned to her fate as she prepared to leave.

She prepared to dump her mostly untouched breakfast into the bin and place her tray in the tray return shelf, but Yuudachi was quick to stop Shigure by reaching down to pick up a piece of unagi meat from her plate.

The soy sauce was dripping off of the skin and hit the plate as Yuudachi playfully teased Shigure with the treat of being fed by her, all while holding the unagi meat over Shigure's plate and slowly making dabbing motions with the chopsticks to shake some of the soy sauce off of the unagi as she knew of Shigure's preference.

Shigure could only sigh upon seeing Yuudachi smiling innocently up at her, closing her eyes as she leaned in and opened her mouth to allow Yuudachi to feed her and allow herself to feel pampered in that instant.

---

Shigure thought about the storm that was to come, and how it was going to keep most of the ship girls indoors for the rest of the day.

Shigure liked the rain, preferring to observe the multitude of raindrops fall from the sky like tears and hit the windows, feeling as though the rain served to cleanse her of her worldly concerns and pain.

Most of the ship girls she knew didn't share the same sentiment, feeling that its occurrence in battle was something that hindered them in various ways.

This included throwing off their aim, drenching them from head to toe, reducing their field of vision and making it harder to acquire visual confirmation of the Abyssals, even with the help of their radar and made worse by the Abyssals' ability to submerge and surface at will.

All while the ambient temperature dropped several degrees, making things even harder for them as they had to burn more fuel to keep themselves warm, something that the Abyssals weren't subject to as they were created to be capable of existing and fighting in extremely cold environments and climates.

This ability allowed them to sail into and easily occupy territories that were located in extreme environments, which included the ocean floor, most of the ocean surrounding Northern Russia and Greenland and the North and South Poles, the temperature alone making it almost impossible for ship girls to enter.

But back to the present.

The 1st Fleet entered the harbor, standing on the platform that slowly lowered them into the ocean as the steel platform broke up to reveal intricate machinery underneath, securing the ship girl's feet and assembling the boat slippers of the respective ship classes around their feet.

After which the boat slippers tightened themselves snugly around the ship girl's feet like some sort of self-tying shoelace before the harbor walls that were now standing up behind them opened up to reveal their riggings and battle backpacks, weapons already secured on them.

The hanging mechanical claws that had folded up to be stored on the ceiling of the harbor had powered up, drills and claws creaking and whirring as they reached down and assembled their riggings for them.

The additional setup that had to be installed on their riggings and backpacks for them to sail safely into the storm was some sort of lightning rod, calculated to fit certain ship girls as its length was different for their respective ship classes.

A heavily insulated wire was connected to the lightning rod, led down their rigging and was held in place by an extra-insulated ring wrapped around their thigh to prevent the wire from flailing about, before being connected to their boat slippers to allow the deadly current to flow into the ocean safely without hurting the ship girl.

They checked their riggings to make sure they were in working order before the weapons rack was produced, displaying some smaller handheld cannons that the destroyers and cruisers preferred to manually wield, to which Shigure and Ayanami graciously helped themselves to two 12 Cm Single Gun Cannons that were to be wielded like pistols.

The 1st Fleet didn't take long to hit the ocean as Shigure heard the calm yet serious voice of Ooyodo filling her mind over the radio, the Coordinator relaying the situation, its development and the Admiral's instructions.

"The Abyssals have sent out a large fleet to assault the Izu Islands which, if they succeed in conquering, would be a little too close for comfort.

They came from the South, which is why the bases in Eastern Kanto left this invasion to us to handle as it's not within their jurisdiction, although the Shimoda Naval Base has its fleets ready to be sent in at a moment's notice, as per usual with battles surrounding the Izu Islands.

The Admiral predicted this attack, the Japanese Air Force being unable to deploy their planes to provide aerial support within the Safety Zone in the rain and our satellites being thrown off by the incoming storm.

Their last reported location was somewhere near Aogashima Island, and you're to meet up with the 3rd Fleet of the Miura Naval Base along with the 2nd and 4th Fleet of the Tateyama Naval Base.

Our 3rd Fleet will be with you shortly after you've engaged the Abyssals near Mikura Jima Island in the evening, and it'll be pouring by then.

The viewing of the following video is mandatory for ship girls who equip the 'lightning rod' setup to enter a battle in less-than-ideal weather conditions.

Please accept the torrent request."

The 1st Fleet stood outside the harbor and had their attention drawn by their HUD displaying the request to accept a torrent transmission request, Shigure complying as the video filled a portion of her vision in the format of a translucent computer window, allowing her to see where she was going in case she was moving while viewing the video.

An embarrassing collision occurring between ship girls due to the video blocking their vision was something that unfortunately happened in the past, in which the HUD display was quickly modified to allow some vision of where one was heading towards, as well as a choice to either reduce the window's size, minimize or simply close it.

Shigure revved her engines and began to move out as she saw Hiei taking the lead, the designated flagship of this mission as Admiral Mako, true to her word, had chosen Hiei to be the flagship this time.

In this battle where inter-fleet cooperation was important and this being their first major sortie, it was best to defer the leadership role to someone with experience, the video playing right before Shigure's eyes.

In the video, Akashi was standing in front of a projector that projected a blank screen with the words,

'Lightning Rod Tutorial, and What to Do in a Thunderstorm'

In black font as Akashi finished her drink, tipping the tequila shot over as she gulped down whatever was left of the drink, before hunching over quickly and gasping in ecstasy before flinging the glass cup somewhere off-screen, wiping her mouth on her sleeve as the tequila cup shattered somewhere where Shigure couldn't see.

Shigure sweat-dropped as her friend looked as if she wanted to be anywhere but here as Akashi straightened up and pointed back at the projector screen, giving a quick lesson about the anatomy of the ship girl.

"So, an introductory lesson before getting to the relevant part.

The heart is in our rib-cage and pumps not only blood, but also fuel throughout the body which flows through the 'fuel vessel' to deliver it to the body along with the usual artery, vein and capillary blood vessel.

This…"

The projector now changed to show a simplified cross-section of the ship girl body, showcasing the two hearts that they possessed, one to pump blood and fuel throughout their bodies and the other to burn fuel in order to power their ship girl modes.

They were obviously more complicated than the simple circles used to represent them here, but like Akashi said before, this wasn't a medical lecture, and they only needed to know the basics.

The diagram showcased three types of vessels running throughout the body, red for arteries and blue for veins much like human anatomical charts, but also had green lines branching out throughout their bodies to represent fuel vessels.

Akashi pointed and explained.

"As you can see here, you ship girls have four vessels that are the arteries, veins, capillaries and fuel vessels.

Our second hearts are activated upon activating our ship girl modes, and we require various methods of heat regulation to maintain our body temperature."

Shigure nodded, noting the amount of coolant and heat regulation methods required to cool the heart and body down, remembering the advice of others that chilled fuel cans were important in maintaining their body temperature.

Some of the coolants were air intake via breathing, water intake that was mandatory to their survival, heat diffusion accomplished mostly by blood flow while sweat glands allowed them to regulate heat levels via sweat secretion.

Sleep was also essential to them, as it was likely when their bodies could run at minimum capacity to allow for the individual ship girl components to cool down to prevent overheating and inevitable damage.

"One thing to note is that the ship girl is not entirely powered by fuel, because a significant amount of energy that drives us comes from the soul, an intangible yet powerful power source within us all.

The cells in your body, upon being fed oxygen via breathing, are also capable of breaking down fuel to power your ship girl modes in order to share the burden with your second heart.

As to where the fuel is actually stored…"

The next slide showed the anatomy of a ship girl's chest, several cross-section shots revealing a few interesting details about their interiors, but what stood out to Shigure was the thick skin armor that blanketed and protected the highlighted green area that was within some sort of storage container within their chest.

And one called called their breasts 'fuel tanks' in ship girl porn, well, they weren't exactly wrong to call them that…

Akashi didn't even look fazed as she looked back and explained, with the look that non-verbally communicated the promise that it'll all make sense later.

"The fuel is stored within the breasts of the ship girl, protected by a very thick layer of organic armor which we colloquially call the 'breastplate'.

Fuel is also stored in your boat slippers and riggings to power your boat slippers , making torpedoes all the more dangerous.

The breastplate helps protect the fuel containers, most of which is located within the breasts of the larger ship classes, while the fuel of the destroyers are stored within their pectoral muscles at the cost of a smaller body frame and chest size as destroyers require the least amount of fuel to power.

And to dispel a common misconception, even though breast size increases with ship class, an unnaturally large or small chest size has no proven correlation with increased or decreased fuel carrying capacity."

Shigure blushed upon hearing Akashi mention something like that unabashedly, but wrote it off as her being a doctor as she shook her head and continued the video.

The projector flickered as it changed slides again, and a more detailed diagram of the ship girl anatomy was shown as their vessels now possessed shut-off valves at varying intervals.

Light blue lines highlighted the brain, spinal cord and nervous system, Shigure surmising that the blue lines were used to highlight the nervous system and the various electric signals that were sent through them to move their bodies.

Akashi pointed behind her, explaining the diagram.

"There are small valves that regulate and sometimes restrict and redirect flow whenever needed, so when you lose an arm…"

The faceless ship girl was now missing an arm, blood and fuel leaking out of the bleeding stump before the fuel and blood flowing to the limb was restricted, and was instead redirected into some of the smaller side vessels to maintain the closed loop.

Shigure noticed that this was accomplished by said valves on the vessels that were marked out by small circles, the valves redirecting fuel and blood marked out with a 'X' in the middle of the circular symbols to represent activation upon being used for restriction and redirection of fluid flow.

Akashi look self-assured, knowing the anatomy of a ship girl like the back of her hand since she didn't even need to look back as she explained.

"... the ship girl body uses small valves located throughout the body to regulate and restrict much of the flow to the specific limb, and redirects the flow into smaller vessels throughout our body to maintain the 'closed-loop' that our veins, arteries and fuel lines form throughout our body to prevent excessive buildup of pressure."

Shigure paused the video and nodded at Akashi's reasoning, one example being the vessels that flowed throughout their body in a closed loop.

If there was a leak, it had to be sealed to minimize fluid loss.

But doing so incorrectly would mean that pressure would start to build up and would end disastrously for them, while the rest of the body would suffer from the 'open loop' that was the seal due to the lack of oxygenated blood and fuel flowing in.

Indeed, Shigure thought, the ship girl was a technological marvel, since not only did it use steel to recreate the feel of organic skin while retaining its protective capabilities, but was also partially powered by a seemingly intangible soul while being able to comprehend its own existence and make decisions for itself.

The ship girl was able to consume a moderate amount of fuel and steel to perform superhuman feats while adapting to setbacks and circumstances, created by an enigmatic race of engineers at the cost of a manageable amount of resources.

For a moment, Shigure wondered just what exactly were the Fairies, to be capable of accomplishing such insane engineering feats while possessing such small bodies.

Granted, the generally accepted theory was that they were originally humans in some world beyond our current one, and had been 'transmogrified' somewhere along the way to become smaller in order to work with smaller parts and perform maintenance easily as their advanced, World War 2-inspired technology became miniaturized.

Their bodies had likely taken on the properties of ants, where they could lift objects up to thousands of times their weight due to their small size, although this was accomplished with cranes and forklifts to ensure safety.

The transmogrification also altered their vocal chords such that it was hard for them to communicate with humans in anything other than chirps and squeaks that only they could understand, the Fairies likely having programmed the ship girls to understand their seemingly-alien language that likely resembled something human at one point in time.

But as to where they actually came from, no one had an answer to that question.

Not even the Fairies themselves.

Shigure shook her head to clear her thoughts and continue the video, Akashi continuing on in her signature 'bored lecturer' tone as she pointed behind her and explained.

"There's a lot of delicate machinery and fuel lines that transport highly flammable material, and since lightning can produce temperatures hotter than the sun for a fraction of a second, it stands to reason that it hurts.

A lot.

If a lightning bolt were to hit you on the head, the fuel in our bodies are mostly protected against spontaneous ship girl combustion."

The slide changed to show a GIF of a lightning bolt hitting the ship girl's head, and the fuel lines near the affected area instantly caught on fire and traveled down the fuel lines leading down the ship girl's head before the various micro-valves on the crown and neck of the ship girl shut off fuel flow to the head and stopped the spread of the fire, crosses appearing on them to indicate activation.

The lightning strike also caused the skull to be lit up as the ship girl was electrocuted, causing the nervous system to be affected as the connection between the spinal cord and brain stem was severed before the lightning bolt lit the spinal cord up like a Christmas tree, Shigure theorizing that this acted like a circuit breaker to prevent raw electricity from flowing directly into the ship girl's brain and causing irreparable damage.

Akashi was now getting serious as she described what could potentially happen to a ship girl should lightning strike them.

"The cerebrospinal fluid, or the liquid that fills the skull and keeps the brain suspended in your little head is designed to be an electrical insulator, so your steel skull getting fried does not equal instant death.

The spinal cord disconnects itself from the brain stem the instant it determines that a lightning strike on the body is imminent to minimize or outright prevent damage to the brain.

And when a lightning strike is imminent, the body shuts off all fuel vessels leading to our second heart and our fuel tanks, because if those goes up in flames and start an internal fire, it's going to get ugly.

The major fuel vessels that lead to the rest of our bodies are instantly shut off via major shut-off valves when there is even a hint that a lightning strike is inevitable to prevent the possibility of a full-on internal explosion that sounds a little like…"

Akashi took both hands out of her pockets, both palms forming spheres as she held them up to her respectably-sized chest.

Her fingers ballooned while she brought her arms apart to mimic an explosion, puckering her lips to make a,

"BBWWWWOOOSSSHHHHHH"

Noise to drive the point home, before her expression flat-lined as she resumed her signature bored look while sliding her hands back into her skirt pocket before elaborating.

"Well, if the Lightning Protection System protects you like it should, you'd only be paralyzed as your nervous system's been overloaded, your hair'd be on fire, you can't move or speak, but you'll still be aware of your situation.

You can't feel anything, and you won't be able to move your body because your spinal cord's been forcibly disconnected from your brain stem.

You'll also suffer from lots of harsh burns, so tough luck.

And there'll be a lot of screaming, though all of it'll be from your comrades as they watch you fall and 'die'.

Symptoms include unconsciousness, ruptured vessels and ear drums, electric burns on the skin and maybe a heart attack, and that's just the not-so-bad news."

She hand-waved these issues aside whilst commenting with absolute confidence.

"Well, after your friends bring you back to the docks, you'll be grounded with a week of hospitalization, and that's not counting the next few weeks of physical rehabilitation to treat symptoms that may include tremors, sleep disturbances, jerky movements and potential electrical surges that cause dizziness.

These are amongst a myriad of symptoms that might persist after a lightning strike.

This problem arose back in the day, and to alleviate this problem, we had a simple mechanism installed on your riggings.

The lightning rod provides a safe and insulated path to divert the lightning harmlessly into the ground.

The wires are insulated, and the plastic-ring that you wear around your thigh is also insulated with rubber to protect you, allowing the electricity to run down the wire into the ocean without ever coming into contact with the ship girl."

Shigure could see the projected ship girl's anatomy being reset as the ship girl was now protected by a lightning rod that provided an umbrella-shaped protective area around the ship girl as the lightning was now flowing into the lightning rod, down an insulated wire that was protected from the ship girl's body, and flowed into a rod installed in the ship girl's boat slipper to allow the current to flow into the ocean harmlessly.

"Your bodies…"

Akashi pointed at the camera, and seemingly to Shigure as she continued describing the ship girl's body and the near-miraculous feats it could achieve.

" … are designed to be protected against moderately powerful EMP strikes in case a lightning that strikes somewhere next to you potentially throws up electrostatic interference at a crucial moment, since it it's going to hit the lightning rod above your head.

But don't count on the EMP shielding to offer you protection from the lightning bolt itself.

The lightning rod sticks out like a sore thumb for the Abyssals to shoot, so if it gets shot off, retreat or risk becoming barbecued ship girl.

Finally, if someone does get struck unconscious by lightning, no matter how bad it looks, just dunk her body into the ocean or whatever to extinguish the flames on her body and bring her back to us.

It's almost impossible for a ship girl to sink from a lightning strike, and any symptoms after being struck can be healed."

Akashi looked pretty certain of the claim that she made, and Shigure stopped the video upon hearing that to agree with her.

If the ship girl's body was as powerful as was advertised, then Shigure could understand that something as deadly as lightning likely wasn't going to kill a ship girl permanently, as their bodies were designed with numerous fail safes to prevent that from occurring, some examples being the lightning rod, the shut-off valves, and even the ability to allow the spinal cord to uncouple itself from the brain stem to act as a circuit breaker.

But as Shigure thought about the rain that brought forth the thunderstorm, she couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable about the upcoming battle.

Oh, it wasn't her teammates that she was worried about.

But recently, she had felt as if a lot of things had been going on in the base without her knowledge, the Abyssals responding in kind by sending this large fleet of Abyssals to attack them.

Shigure didn't like it when she felt as if she was trapped in a large machination of schemes and sorties, feeling like a life raft in a thunderstorm and being at the mercy of the rain, wind and waves.

This sortie also seemed to be part of a larger plan, as the incoming storm that swept in quickly and threatened to soak them all also seemed to conceal the plans of the Admiral just as well as it did the Abyssals as they moved their pieces on the chessboard that was the Pacific war theater.

She wasn't comfortable with the fact that Admiral Mako sortied the 1st Fleet in lieu of the 2nd Fleet potentially because they were less-experienced and might be seen as expandable compared to the battle-hardened 2nd Fleet.

Shigure didn't like feeling as if she was sent to the slaughter simply because they were a less-experienced fleet, had less valuable members compared to other fleets and might be deemed expandable in the larger scope of things.

And it wasn't Admiral Mako's fault that she had to keep her plans confidential, Shigure surmising that Aoba's recent disappearance that had Shigure riled up for a few days before finding her note saying that she'd be out for a month was obviously related to Akashi's increasingly busy schedule and Admiral Mako planning for something big that loomed on the horizon.

Shigure disliked it when she didn't know about things that were going on around her, and being reincarnated into a humanoid body meant that she was capable of finding things out for herself and couldn't accept ignorance as an excuse.

Her sisters were happy to live in blissful ignorance, Yuudachi and Murasame being very fond of this.

Even though Yuudachi was part of the 2nd Fleet, Shigure learnt from her that she was actually a recent addition to the 2nd Fleet.

Right now, she was rather naive and innocent compared to the more seasoned members of her fleet.

And to Shigure, Yuudachi was something of a bright spot of hope and happiness for her, Shigure hearing good things about her sister like the fact that she got along well with all the members of her fleet.

She got along with Hatsushimo as they were both destroyers with Kai Ni remodels, Ryuujou sharing her exuberant and outgoing personality and often chatted with her.

She liked being around Sendai due to their mutual love for night battles, and she often accepted Shimakaze's challenges wholeheartedly while Furutaka looked after them all as a kind and motherly ship girl.

She liked ship girls like Yuudachi, especially so if they were her sisters.

But it wasn't like her to live in the darkness that was ignorance, especially when said ignorance could put herself and her friends at great risk in battle.

She had read up on mankind's gruesome history of warfare, and had seen how far people would go in order to win a war, in which sending an entire Company to their deaths to serve as nothing but a distraction was nowhere near the top of that list.

She never wanted any of her friends to have to suffer through that and sink, this admittedly irrational fear stemming from her turbulent past and fueling her unquenchable desire to know about everything there was to know about this war.

She thought about Admiral Mako, and how despite being kind and smart enough to lead her ship girls on a crusade against the Abyssals for ten years, she had to become a leader who had to do everything cloak-and-dagger while never revealing her plans to everyone to protect her ship girls and to prevent knowledge from leaking out to the Abyssals.

But it was obvious that her Admiral genuinely cared about them and always had their best interests in mind, and didn't mind pushing people around to get her way so long as it didn't compromise the safety of any ship girls.

She tried her best to accompany and help them whenever she could, and Shigure could see that she hung out with anyone and everyone to try and help them whenever they encountered problems.

She always wanted to try and get to know everyone better, chatting with some of the other ship girls whenever she was on her breaks.

Shigure respected the Admiral and admired how she often went above and beyond the call of duty when it came to anything that involved her girls, and if that meant not telling her ship girls what her full plan was to keep them safe, that was something she could overlook for the sake of the base.

She understood that part of being a soldier was to trust her superiors, and for all the distrust and dislike of the cloak-and-dagger habit that mankind easily slipped back into in wartime, Admiral Mako presented herself as an Admiral who'd rather kill herself than give her ship girls suicidal orders and regard them all as pawns to be sacrificed needlessly.

And even though she couldn't bring herself to fully trust her Admiral, she could at least bring herself to try and act on good faith and sortie without constantly questioning Admiral Mako's orders.

Shigure looked to her teammates and, after thinking about the situation at hand, asked Ayanami about the Abyssals' movement patterns and why they were so conspicuous in their movements despite their ability to submerge to hide their movements.

"Umm, Ayanami, why is it that the Abyssals don't simply submerge and go everywhere while staying underwater, instead of sailing on the ocean surface and allowing us to spot them?"

Ayanami perked up upon finding something to pass the time while sailing towards their AO to meet up with ship girls from other bases, remembering what she had learnt while attending her classes and repeating them as they sailed towards the horizon which now had dark and sinister clouds blotting out the sky, Shigure remembering that the rain was estimated to occur after 4 p.m., by which time they'd be near Mikura Jima Island to engage the Abyssals.

"Well, it's got more to do with their armor getting in the way.

Think of the Ru-Class battleship, and her column of cannons stacked atop each other."

Shigure, having engaged the Abyssal battleship before, listened to the Ayanami-Class destroyer as she imagined the monochrome Abyssal.

"Their form allows them to fight like us on the surface, and we theorize that their armaments can transform into something resembling underwater jet skis to traverse the ocean, but there's no getting around the fact that that's two very clunky steel columns she's carrying.

Most of them are registered as 'Fast', but that only counts when they're on the ocean surface, because the arcane design of their weapons cause a lot of fluid resistance when underwater.

Well, not that it matters, since we can't shoot at them after they've submerged, so their slow speed while underwater is a tolerated weakness.

But if they need to get around quickly, they usually surface and sail normally.

They often dive to either be stealthy and evade most forms of detection, or as a quick means of escape to go where not even submarines can touch them."

Shigure nodded, understanding a little bit more about the enemies that they faced off against.

The Abyssal body was capable of many things, but their armored skin weighed them down a fair bit, and add that to the weapons that they had to carry around to fight the ship girls, it was no wonder that they were so slow underwater.

But they were essentially untouchable after submerging, so it wasn't as if they needed to make a quick getaway even after diving deep enough to escape, which meant that the strange designs of their weapons were tolerated.

Funnily enough, Shigure thought, perhaps underwater, the only ones who were still able to retain their original speed were the destroyers, whose tubular and somewhat streamlined appearance allowed them to navigate through the water like torpedoes, given that their means of propulsion was located near the rear.

Shigure thought about the next question before asking Ayanami again.

"What are the Abyssal Princesses?

I mean, they're stronger than battleships, so I was wondering what they were like, to be capable of engaging entire fleets alone?"

Ayanami deflated as soon as she heard about the Princesses, sadly shrugging as she was too embarrassed to meet Shigure's eyes due to her lack of answers.

"I'm not really sure, sorry.

Some say that they're borne of an accumulation of hatred and regret within fallen ship girls.

Others say that they're the next phase of Abyssal 'evolution', where they use their limitless resources to create a class of Abyssals that far outclass anything we can ever hope to create, even with the help of the Fairies."

Ayanami shrugged as she shot an apologetic look towards the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer, Shigure nodding in understanding as she knew that nothing was certain about the Abyssals, the Princesses even more so, who defied the meta by being in a class all of their own.

But Ayanami's look softened, seeing a chance to get to know the destroyer better, not just as a comrade but also as a friend, looking warm and affable as she inquired about how her day went.

"So, how's your day so far, Shigure-san?"

Shigure's face darkened at that, bleakly replying,

"I had a good day so far, but all I know is that it's only going to get worse."

Ayanami had a lone sweat drop roll down the side of her cheek, understanding that she had stepped on a conversational landmine as she tried her best to recover and change the topic of conversation.

"U-Umm, well then, may I ask, what were you thinking about to lead you to ask me those questions?"

Shigure sighed, choosing to indulge in her teammate by answering truthfully.

"I was thinking about the Admiral and how she hides her plans, despite her best attempts to try and be open and transparent with us."

Shigure looked away and inhaled as she prepared to share her thoughts to allow the Ayanami-Class destroyer to give her opinion on things.

"I know that people higher up the chain of command can't always reveal their hand, even to their allies.

And I like Admiral Mako, I really do.

But unless I know everything, I can never truly bring myself to put my life, and the lives of my friends in her hands without second-guessing her.

Right now, I can trust her enough to follow her orders without constantly questioning her true motives."

Shigure pointed to the dark clouds that were almost overhead now, threatening to unleash their wrath later in the afternoon as sunlight failed to penetrate the dark and heavy cloud masses, Shigure explaining herself.

"See this storm?

If it were a less scrupulous Admiral, I'd have been worried if we were just the fleet that was sent into this storm to soften up the enemy, or be used as a mere diversion for her true objectives.

Now I know that Admiral Mako isn't that kind of person…"

Shigure raised a hand to try and placate her fellow destroyer as Ayanami seemed eager to try and speak up in their Admiral's defense, Shigure continuing on without missing a beat.

" … but you never know when Admiral Mako might be forced to resort to such tactics."

Shigure lowered her head as she replied, the dark clouds above them stretching out beyond the horizon, blanketing the sky before them and threatening to engulf the ship girls in a powerful downpour.

"I know that the Admiral means well, and has our best interests in mind.

But I often think that one day, the Admiral is going to have to use some morally ambiguous tactic that's going to have to use some of us as bait.

And despite her love for us, she has to do it in order to ensure a victory for everyone involved.

I know I can't blame her…"

Shigure looked to Ayanami, a gut-wrenching feeling welling up in her chest and threatening to tear her tender heart apart as she tried her best not to choke upon uttering the next line, feeling immensely guilty for even thinking like this.

" … but is it wrong of me to question every choice she makes, if only for the sake of ensuring the safety of my teammates?"

Ayanami looked crestfallen upon hearing that, looking down at her boat slippers as she tried her best to counter Shigure's words, watching the ocean zip by beneath her feet as her boat slippers pushed her on, finally attempting a counter-argument as she calmly expressed herself.

"I know that the Admiral may eventually have to do that.

In fact, she may have been forced to use that tactic that a few times in the past.

But I know that it'll be worth it."

Ayanami looked right into Shigure's eyes, commanding her full attention as she frankly expressed her opinion regarding Shigure's dilemma.

"Being an Admiral is hard.

Being one who strives to win naval engagements while aiming not to lose a single ship, even more so.

Admiral Mako hates the fact that she can't join us out on the field, and to her, it just hurts her even more when she has to leave things up to us despite having done everything in her power to ensure that we have the highest chance of coming home safely."

"But like this sortie, it seems as if we're simply pieces on a board to be used and moved at a whim.

I'm afraid that we may not be deemed as valuable as the 3rd or 2nd Fleet, which may be why we were sent to the front lines first."

"But if we weren't up to the task, would she have even bothered wasting her resources to sortie us?"

Shigure's blinked as she tried to comprehend Ayanami's words while Ayanami slowly looked away and explained herself.

"If she had no faith in our abilities, we wouldn't have been sent out at all.

Besides, if the opponent was too tough for us, she could have easily chosen to sortie the 2nd Fleet or any of the other six fleets in Yokosuka.

You may not have noticed since you were so engrossed in watching the video, but Ooyodo's update on the situation was that the enemy fleets consisted of destroyers, cruisers and only one battleship.

They intend to make up for their lack of firepower with numbers, and Admiral Mako must've decided that we can win this battle with the help of allied fleets from neighboring bases.

The Admiral must've deemed us strong enough to hold our own in battle due to our successful first sortie, but require more field experience.

It doesn't hurt that we're backed up by not just the 3rd Fleet, but also three allied fleets from two neighboring bases.

While it's true that the Admiral may have some ulterior motive or master plan in mind, I don't think it's our business to think too much and tell the Admiral how to do her job, not when we can't see the bigger picture like she can.

And in this war, it's folly, even bordering on insanity to even consider throwing away an entire fleet as easily as you described, even if it's justified."

Ayanami, now fully invested in the conversation, tried her best to convince Shigure of the Admiral's way of doing things.

"I will do my best to understand the choices that Admiral Mako makes, because the Admiral will have considered all options beforehand before making her decisions.

She will sortie the fleet that not only has the greatest odds of surviving, but can stand to learn something in battle.

That's the Admiral Mako I know, and that's the Admiral that I chose to believe in."

Ayanami seemed satisfied with her own answer, and Shigure, having considered the Admiral's behavior and love for them, nodded as she conceded the point, although she still wanted to know what went on behind the scenes.

She wanted to know about Admiral Mako's situation and learn to see the bigger picture, but that was a privilege that she wasn't entitled to simply because she wasn't strong enough.

Even if she learnt of them now, it'd make her an easy intelligence target to capture and interrogate, and all the luck in the world wouldn't save her from being the weakest leak in the intelligence network to be exploited and possibly tortured for information.

She had to become stronger in order to progress.

It didn't matter if she had to expand all her energy to achieve this goal.

She had the potential to become a great and powerful ship girl, and she had a responsibility to fulfill said potential and use it to defend everyone and herself.

And that was why she had to put in all of her effort into improving herself by participating in as many sorties as possible.

Shigure looked back at the stormy clouds that floated above them and covered almost three quarters of the sky above them, the remaining blue sky only visible behind them as it was the only indication that the weather beyond this storm was a fine summer day, the dark clouds threatening to plunge the 1st Fleet into complete darkness as peals of rumbling thunder sounded out, a warning for the foolhardy fleet to stay away.

Junyou and Hiei then looked away, noticing something appear on their powerful radars.

Shigure and Tenryuu, both being quite jumpy from the tension that permeated the air, gripped their weapons a little tighter, but Hiei relaxed and Junyou lost interest as the flagship notified the 1st Fleet about the incoming allied fleets, calling out.

"Our reinforcements from the Miura and Tateyama Naval Base are here."

The entire fleet exhaled a little as they let down their guard somewhat upon seeing the allied fleets arriving and significantly boosting their numbers.

Shigure could now spot them on the peripheral of her radar, noting the amount of reinforcements sent to improve their odds of victory.

According to what she learnt from the Coordinators, they were the 3rd Fleet of the Miura Naval Base and the 2nd and 4th Fleet of the Tateyama Naval Base.

Assuming that each fleet had 6 ship girls in them, that meant that they would be sending in 18 ship girls in total to help them.

Add Yokosuka's 1st and 3rd Fleet to that, and Shigure was looking at 30 ship girls against 40 Abyssals.

Junyou piped up, having received another transmission from what Shigure surmised was the Coordinators again, updating the 1st Fleet about recent developments.

"Mutsu's replaced Nagato in the 3rd Fleet this time, and they're more than an hour behind due to Mutsu's slow speed as a battleship.

They'll be joining us soon enough."

Hiei nodded resolutely, looking back as she commented offhandedly.

"Nagato's training right now.

Didn't surprise me that Mutsu'd take her place."

Shigure looked away and looked in the direction of the island that appeared on her HUD, Miyake Island being represented as a large blue blob on her radar.

As she watched the lightning rod tutorial, time had seemingly passed her by as she saw that it was 3.39 p.m. in the afternoon, having failed to keep track of the time while watching Akashi's educational video.

She might have to work on that in the future.

But upon seeing the fleet of allies approach her, she could see that some of them were familiar, while others were not.

The incoming fleet was split into a smaller and larger group, Shigure surmising that the smaller group had to be from the Miura Naval Base, since they could only afford to send one fleet to assist them.

The flagship was wearing a miko uniform and golden winged headdress that was similar to Hiei's, this battleship possessing a quiet and compassionate air around her compared to Hiei's headstrong and dependable aura.

The only noticeable difference between their uniforms was that Hiei's sister had a red dress while Hiei was wearing a green dress, both barely covering their thighs.

Her eyes were a kind amber color and she had a compassionate shine in her eyes that Shigure found in ship girls like Furutaka, Houshou and Haguro, amongst others.

She had grayish-black hair that flowed down her back and reached her rigging, Shigure wondering if her long hair posed a hazard as it could get entangled in the moving battleship cannons.

Although she was leading the fleet, she seemed to be very heavily attuned to the needs of her comrades, always chatting with them as they approached Shigure's fleet.

Shigure identified her as Haruna, one of the Kongou-Class battleships.

Shigure had heard Hiei talk about her sisters, and she addressed the last two as Haruna and Kirishima, having met Kongou before and had heard Hiei's description of them while taking a break during a training session.

Haruna was talking to Kasumi, Shigure already picking up a few vulgarities being spewed from the destroyer's mouth.

Kasumi also had long grayish-silver hair forming a side-ponytail, her uniform consisting of a white short-sleeved shirt underneath a suspender skirt, wearing black arm warmers despite the summer weather.

Although now that Shigure thought about it, they were headed straight into a storm where the temperature would drop significantly, and it made more sense for her to wear them in this context.

The destroyer's face was contorted in a scowl as her yellowish-brown eyes were harsh and sharp, her face obviously displeased with the very notion of having to sortie when the weather was only going to get worse.

But Haruna didn't seem to be fazed as she shrugged off all the scathing words that flowed from the foul-tempered destroyer's mouth, doing her best to soothe Kasumi's fiery temper as they approached.

The rest of the fleet was made up of cruisers and destroyers, Shigure identifying Hibiki and Naka amongst them.

The two remaining light cruisers stuck close to each other, and judging by the numerous torpedo launchers they were carrying, it was safe to assume that they were torpedo cruisers.

The color of their sailor uniforms were a mix of mild green and beige, with green stripes on them to add variety to the color scheme as it revealed their abdomens.

One of the ship girls had long black hair tied in a braid, blunt bangs and her hair was styled like a princess with the low ends tied up neatly.

She was looking pretty self-assured, Shigure not finding it surprising as she was a member of the powerful torpedo cruiser class and her rigging had been upgraded to carry quintuple torpedo launchers to launch devastating torpedo salvos.

The ship girl list she had in her mental archive identified her as Kitakami, a light cruiser that could be upgraded to torpedo cruiser class.

Her sister ship was no different, Shigure noting the similar uniform and rigging.

The difference was in their looks, as Ooi had brown eyes, long brown hair that was stylized to be smooth and silky, and she had a respectable chest size as she cuddled her headstrong sister, Shigure remembering descriptions of them being a couple, or at least that was how it was in Ooi's head as the brown-haired ship girl was heavily infatuated with her sister ship.

This was especially evident as this Ooi had heart-shaped pupils while in proximity to Kitakami, one of the symptoms of 'lovesickness', according to manga Shigure took the time to read.

But they formed a pretty cohesive fleet, seeing that the 3rd Fleet of the Miura Naval Base had all its bases covered, Haruna's status as a fast battleship allowing her to bring a respectable level of firepower to the table while moving at a respectable pace.

She would be protected by Kasumi, Naka and Hibiki, Ooi and Kitakami rounding out the team by providing torpedo strikes to cripple any Abyssals who got in their way.

Shigure looked away to focus on the two fleets that were from the Tateyama Naval Base.

Shigure heard about them being very close to the neighboring Yokosuka and Miura Naval Base, and the three bases often had its ship girls meet up to sortie together or dock at each other's bases from time to time.

And as they were the closest to the Pacific Ocean and had the support of the mighty Yokosuka Naval Base, they were often considered one of the stronger bases around as they were often called up quite often to help other bases in Eastern Chiba due to their proximity to the ocean, only outmatched by the Yokosuka Naval Base itself.

The flagship of the first fleet was a bubbly-looking heavy cruiser, with a blue beret that looked similar to the one Maya wore while possessing long, silky blonde hair that also came down to the the curve of her back (seriously, weren't all these ship girls afraid of having their hair getting caught in their riggings?).

Her eyes were a bright emerald, reflecting her cheerfulness and passion as Atago gave everyone a warm smile, wearing some sort of long-sleeved uniform resembling a nightgown that reached down to her calves, white lines reaching down its uniform as she wore black gloves and black stockings that reached up her black miniskirt and (somewhat) protecting her modesty.

Her rigging surrounded her waist whilst resembling a ice cream tub, and some of the machinery was stuck on her side while fitting snugly in the space underneath her armpits.

Her collar looked pretty flashy for a heavy cruiser, and Shigure had tried to avert her eyes from the one location that Atago's uniform was struggling to contain.

Her massive breasts.

She didn't think too much about breast envy, seeing that some of the heavy cruisers like Aoba and Atago and most of the battleships (save Hiei; no offense) were older, were well-armored and had a developed body.

But she certainly felt this slight urge to strive to grow up a little faster now and improve on various aspects of her body, muscle mass and height being two of them.

Shigure shook her head to try and get back on track, observing the fleet that was now within range and no longer required the use of her bionic eyes' zoom function to spot them.

Atago was leading a fleet of heavy and light cruisers, herself being one of them.

Next to her was her sister that shared the same uniform, beret, rigging and chest size.

Shigure tore her eyes from her massive breasts and tried to take in the details of the heavy cruiser that she would soon be working with.

Takao had short black hair that, although mostly combed down, still had some split ends and was somewhat disheveled, although it only served to accentuate her beauty.

She had the same uniform top, a long-sleeved ocean blue uniform with white stripes and lapels along with a white napkin of sorts wrapped around her neck and was styled like a tie.

The main difference between Takao's outfit and Atago's was that Takao wore a mini-mini-skirt that barely covered anything, her black stockings held up by a garter belt styled with plane-shaped clips.

She had blood-red pupils that seemed to contrast with her sister, and she had large breasts, being rather reserved compared to Atago and shaping up to be the level-headed one of the duo.

She was conversing with another heavy cruiser that had lite green hair, and had a brown uniform blazer covering her white long-sleeve working shirt underneath.

Suzuya's eyes were a lighter shade of green, colored more like moss as she carried her equipment around either on her back, on slings that were slung around her shoulder and rested on her hips, or stuck on her thighs to be picked up like holstered guns.

She was carrying a flight deck that was shaped a little bit like a flat steel board with a shelled steel bottom, the flight deck wrapped around her left forearm like a shield as she wore shoulder plates for protection.

She wore a pretty monochrome dress, with a dark brown blazer, a pleated dress that was a shade lighter.

And finally, her stockings were, surprise, surprise, an even lighter brown.

Suzuya's hair was one of the few things that helped her stand out amidst the crowd along with her exuberant personality that contrasted with her conversational partner, looking like a good comrade for anyone to befriend.

Shigure could feel the welcoming air around her, something that would have likely drawn in someone as quiet and professional as Takao since her sister was busy coordinating the movements between the bases as she led the fleet.

Suzuya was an aviation cruiser, specializing in carrying and sending out seaplanes and could participate in aerial bombardment attacks.

Shigure noted the few light cruisers in Atago's fleet that were armed to the teeth in order to combat the Abyssal menace.

Isuzu was one of them, carrying two assault rifles made out of steel, one equipped with a 25 Mm Triple Auto-cannon and a Type 3 Depth Charge Projector to act as both an Anti-Air and Anti-Sub assault rifle.

The second rifle had an 12.7 Cm Twin Gun Mount attachment, another Anti-Air handheld weapon that was nested underneath Isuzu's armpit and was slung over her shoulder to secure it around her torso.

Her short skirt was red in color, and she had on a white, sleeveless sailor girl uniform with grey colored arm warmers and a brown ribbon tied around her white sailor collar.

Her hair was styled in long twin tails that was held up by white ribbons, and had a steel hairband holding the hair on her head down.

Her hair was a dusty-blue with perhaps a tinge of green, the bangs on her top left forehead swept to the side, and her eyes were a turquoise green as she had a warm smile on her.

Her chest was also rather large.

She had white colored thigh-highs, and her rigging was well-armed with small Anti-Air machine guns mounted on extended platforms, two torpedo launchers mounted on the sides of the rigging as well as two rows of Anti-Sub depth charges placed on each side of the chimney stack.

Shigure could see the Imperial Chrysanthemum on the bow of Isuzu's boat slipper, and Shigure was notified that Isuzu was a Kai Ni light cruiser.

The last two members of the fleet were also light cruisers, neither one of them having achieved Kai.

Kinu was a teenage girl that had orange eyes and short red hair that flared out at the neck, her reddish eyebrows creased with worry as she carried her two cannons on her arms, designed to be wielded on her forearms and not held by hand.

Her school uniform was dual-colored in white and a strange shade of green or cyan, the light cruiser carrying her comparatively large rigging that had two cannons sticking out its side.

Her rigging was somewhat unique in that her rigging had a steel railing installed, allowing anyone to hold onto her rigging for whatever reason.

And the last light carrier was Junyou's sister ship, seeing that Junyou had her attention on her as the Tateyama naval fleets approached.

Even if they didn't look anything like each other, Shigure knew that looks weren't a reliable way to identify sister ships, thinking about how different she and Yuudachi looked, her sister having blonde hair and green eyes while she had black hair and blue eyes.

But one of the few surefire ways to identify them was through their uniforms, and Hiyou's uniform was identical to Junyou's, what with the same red hakama, white blouse with red trimmings, gold accessories and the magatama, Hiyou holding her flight deck that came in the form of a scroll.

Her black hair was long and was styled in a princess cut with the bangs hanging down her forehead in a uniform length, and two white ribbons behind her head were likely added as a fashion statement and probably didn't serve any practical purpose.

Her rigging was also pretty much non-existent like Junyou's, the light carrier carrying herself with a dignified air as she politely bowed towards 1st Fleet of Yokosuka, her polite and subdued personality contrasting with Junyou's outgoing personality.

The next fleet was the support fleet, but was no less important to the mission as they backed up the main Tateyama fleet.

Tama was leading the support fleet, being created with some sort of cat motif in mind that really showed from her looks and behavior.

She had soft red eyes with short pink hair that curled inwards, and her sailor school uniform was white with a cyan trim, a dull red ribbon tied and hung around her sailor collar like a neck tie.

Her sailor school uniform had shorts on instead of the usual dress, and her boat slippers covered significantly more than what a normal ship girl's boat slipper would, looking more like a shoe instead of a slipper.

She had on a shoulder cannon on her left shoulder that was currently inactivated and pointed upwards for safety reasons, and her seaplane catapult was on her right shoulder.

Shigure noticed Tama's Kanji name '多摩' inscribed on the side of her rigging in black ink while Tama's fingers twitched as they tried to resist forming claws, Shigure barely making out a sharpened tooth that formed something like a cat's fang and added to her charm as an innocent light cruiser.

But Shigure didn't doubt her ability as a leader if she was chosen to be the flagship on such an important mission.

One of her teammates was a heavy cruiser that had short, messy black hair that had hadn't been combed, as well as an ahoge on the location where her hair whorl was, possessing half-lidded cyan blue eyes that were barely showing underneath her mop of hair.

Kako's rigging was mounted on her shoulder blades, and her cannons were placed on her right arm while cables and steel beams led back up to her shoulder rigging, forming an arm cannon of sorts.

Her left shoulder rigging resembled a steel plate where a twin barreled cannon was located, and her chimney stack was located at the spot on her spine in between her shoulder blades, with two torpedo launchers attached to her hips.

Her sailor school uniform was tailored in such a way that it exposed much of her abdomen as her sailor uniform top was considerably shorter than normal, and her uniform was red, white and blue in color.

She had two hair pins on her left temple in an attempt to tidy up her hair.

She looked rather sleepy and was sleepwalking as she followed in the light cruiser's wake, not bothering to take up leadership as she seemed like the type to be laid-back and follow orders calmly and obediently.

Next to her was a fretting Kinugasa, the Kai heavy cruiser doing her best to guide Kako in the right direction whenever she started drifting off course due to her sleepiness.

Oboro followed behind them, the most prominent thing about her being her golden-colored hair being swept back behind her head like Hiei's was.

Wisps of curled hair protruded from her forehead as she had similarly colored pupils in her wide eyes, a bandage stuck to her right cheek.

Her sailor uniform was a standard navy blue and white, and she was holding a 10 Cm Twin High-Angle Cannon with her left hand, and had two torpedo launchers strapped to her thighs.

Her chimney stack was rather large for a destroyer, and Shigure wasn't sure about the next detail, but there seemed to be a crab that was nesting in one of the observation decks of the rigging, likely her pet or something.

Wakaba was beside her, the destroyer having rich auburn short hair that was parted to show her sharp yellow eyes and dour face.

She had on a black-and-white suit that was similar to Hatsushimo, except that Wakaba had her blazer unbuttoned to reveal the white shirt underneath, a loosened red necktie hanging around her slightly unbuttoned collared shirt.

Her black skirt covered up whatever skin that might have been revealed by her thigh-highs, and while she was comparatively shorter than her comrades, she didn't look any less threatening as her professional expression betrayed no fear or weakness.

The cannons that she carried around seemed to be a little too big for her, but didn't seem to matter to her as she effortlessly hauled around a 12.7 Cm Twin Gun cannon in her right hand, while keeping another stored as it hung from the rigging behind her.

There were also three torpedo warheads jutting out from her left waist, showing that she was pretty well-armed to fight any battle.

Umikaze was the last of the Tateyama ship girls, Shigure's heart dropping upon seeing one of her sisters out on the battlefield with her.

But she kept her mouth shut as she knew that she had no right to force a sister ship who wasn't even from her own base to leave the battlefield, not when Umikaze was a ship girl and could hold her own in a firefight.

She could only hope that she was strong enough to watch her back and protect her in the upcoming battle.

She noted that her sister ship's hair was naturally colored white to distinguish herself from the fleet, and also had ocean-blue eyes to match her name as 'sea wind'.

Her sailor uniform was unconventional as it was designed with an oceanic color scheme in mind, and the sailor uniform itself was black and white with one vertical white stripe down the center.

Her black miniskirt, long gloves and white sailor collar had thin blue stripes on them, and whatever skin that might have been revealed by her black thigh-highs was instead covered up by the thick steel torpedo launcher straps that were snugly wrapped around her thighs.

Shigure could spot a snow-white braid trailing behind her, and she was holding a 12.7 Cm Twin Barreled Cannon in her left hand, leaving her right hand free to act.

One thing she noted about all the ship girls present was that they all had the same lightning rod attached to their rigging, thus protecting them (for the most part) from lightning strikes.

Shigure, along with the 1st Fleet, bowed to the approaching fleets as the flagships stepped out front and introduced themselves to the 1st Fleet.

Atago began the conversation, waving her arms about in a way that only an energetic busty blonde could, causing her bosom to shift in very distracting ways as she started.

"Hi!

I'm Atago, and I'm the flagship of the 2nd Fleet that you see behind me!"

Atago turned to motion to her fleet, and causing her breasts to shift about, thankfully held back by whatever ungodly sized bra that she wore.

Kuma bowed respectfully to the other senior ship girls gathered around, introducing herself as the flagship of the 4th Fleet with a very noticeable verbal tic.

"My name is Kuma, and I'm the leader of the 4th Fleet of the Tateyama Naval Base, nya!"

Haruna bowed as she introduced herself and her fleet.

"Greetings.

I am Haruna, and I lead the 3rd Fleet of the Miura Naval Base."

And as Haruna righted herself, she shot Hiei a glance, to which she acknowledged with a firm nod despite not being sisters from the same base as she introduced her own fleet.

"We're the 1st Fleet of the Yokosuka Naval Base, and I'm the Emperor's battleship, Hiei!"

Hiei turned to point to the distance at Miyake Island, barely visible over the horizon as she looked back to the ship girls that she was to lead as she addressed them all.

"Beyond Miyake Island is Mikura Jima Island, and that's where we're going to engage the Abyssals.

The 3rd Fleet of the Yokosuka Naval Base isn't going to be here until later due to Mutsu's slow speed as a slow battleship.

But we can take them!

As long as we stick together and come up with a strong formation to stick to and endure this storm, we'll repel their invasion and go home soon enough!"

Kitakami raised her hand, eager to get a word in edgewise about her greatness and what she was going to contribute to the battle.

"Don't worry, y'all!

Super Kitakami-sama's here to drop the Abyssals with her devastating torpedo strikes!"

Followed by Ooi's passionate follow-up.

"And I'll torpedo anyone who dares to hurt Kitakami-sama!"

Kako seemed to be awakened by the boisterous duo's boasting as she sleepily mumbled, loud enough for all to hear as she tried to one-up the torpedo cruisers with the next 'boast'.

"Mmh… I'll go 'pew pew'... and the Abyssals will want to go sleep…

Oh wait… that's meee ZZZZZZ…."

Everyone giggled at the heavy cruiser's attempt at a bad-ass boast as Tenryuu exclaimed, eager to speak up for her own fleet as well.

"Hey, don't forget us, the 1st Fleet of the Yokosuka Naval Base!

With us here, we'll cut down any Abyssals that dare poke their heads out of the water!"

Haruna raised her hands in a placating gesture, trying to restore order as Shigure leaned in to ask Ayanami in a hushed tone.

"I know that we have two fast battleships, but isn't this a little too risky since they have more manpower?

For all we know, they may have Abyssal battleships underwater, ready to encircle us and wipe us all out."

Ayanami leaned in to respond.

"Well, you're right in that we currently don't have the technology to reliably track all the Abyssals that are underwater, especially in an ocean as large and deep as the Pacific.

But if they were indeed sailing around in large enough numbers while underwater, rest assured that the trackers stationed on the islands will have picked up hints of an ambush.

These are considered our waters in the Safety Zone, and that reason is exactly why they regularly attack these islands and we have to protect them."

Ayanami craned her neck to look at Shigure directly, reassuring her.

"Rest assured that if anything were to go awry, we can retreat at any moment.

These aren't the worst odds we're going up against, 30 against 40."

Shigure raised an eyebrow at that, and Ayanami's face darkened as she leaned in to let Shigure know of worse odds.

"Both sides have scored some major victories despite facing overwhelming odds, like in the defense campaign of South-East Asia in 2012 and the disastrous Battle of the Indian Ocean in late 2004."

Shigure's other eyebrow raised at that, asking incredulously.

"B-But how?"

Ayanami shook her head, a coy smile on her face as she decided to keep Shigure in suspense, knowing that it'll probably keep her alive as she craved to find out more about the battles and tactics used, only revealing.

"These aren't the worse odds we could have gone up against.

The Abyssals often throw numbers at us, which is not always the deciding factor in a battle.

I know that we can win this, given enough time to formulate a decent strategy."

Motioning towards the flagships of the four fleets that were gathered together and were discussing tactics.

But Shigure was rather pensive, thinking about the situation at hand and wondering out loud.

"But why do I feel so uneasy?

Like…

Like there's going to be some nasty surprise waiting in store for us?

And don't get me wrong…"

Shigure looked towards Ayanami with a look of concern, clarifying something.

"It's not the Admiral's fault.

It's just that the bad weather may be used to hide something from us, and it may just be my pessimistic nature at work again, but I'm still scared."

Ayanami took on a thoughtful look as she looked out towards the turbulent ocean, the dark clouds engulfing the skies and plunging the four fleets into darkness and looked as if the cloud masses could break out into tears and drench them all at any moment.

Some of the clouds above them had peals of thunder jumping from point to point, a warning to the ship girls as the lightning produced a small light show for the ship girls.

Kasumi, Oboro, Hibiki, Umikaze and Wakaba joined them as the foul-mouthed ship girl of the Asashio-Class talked about the Abyssal threat.

"Mahh, the Abyssals aren't even going to be a warm up for the mighty 3rd Fleet of the Miura Naval Base!

The one thing we should worry about is whether we're going to catch a cold after going home, the kuso Admiral!"

Shigure cringed at the language that the destroyer used to address her commanding officer, but one look from Ayanami and a slight shake of her head with her creased eyebrows told Shigure all that she needed to know and was a clear indicator for her to leave things well alone.

But Wakaba had a calm and collected voice as she tried to back up Shigure's concerns, understanding the need for constant vigilance, especially when it was the Abyssals that they were going up against with their unknown means and enigmatic plans.

"It's not always a bad thing to be a little paranoid when thinking about what the Abyssals are going to do next.

Looking at the bad weather, it isn't out of the question to think that they may do something unexpected to catch us off guard."

But Oboro was eager to try and protect the islands that were Japanese territory, what with Japanese citizens and sailors stationed there for civilian and military purposes respectively.

"Nevertheless, we should still protect our territories!

We'll show them that we won't let them take an inch of our land!"

And Umikaze agreed, albeit doing her best to keep things civil as she didn't want the impressionable destroyers to get carried away.

"Yes, but we have to calmly analyze the situation and make the right decision.

Isn't that right, Shigure?"

Shigure twitched upon her sister calling her name, the few destroyers that formed a circle looking to her as Shigure's breath caught in her throat.

She looked at her sister ship Umikaze, and she saw that her sister was doing her best to try and get to know her, her kind eyes wordlessly trying to reach out to her as a sister ship, Shigure understanding the look in her eyes as her sister tried to get her to engage in the conversation instead of being brooding and silent, which she had to admit, she kind of was.

Shigure sighed, thinking about something to add to the conversation as she thought about her bad feeling, finally responding.

"Well, I'm afraid of the Abyssals trying something funny.

Even though I recommend that we proceed with caution, especially in this weather, I don't think that we should be scared off simply because of the incoming storm.

But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't consider retreating if things do go south.

We will protect the Izu Islands."

Hibiki nodded, having silently positioned herself beside the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer to pat Shigure on the shoulder as she did her best to try and bolster Shigure's confidence in her words.

Despite being destroyers that were from different, albeit neighboring, bases, they were likely to meet each other on future sorties, and Shigure appreciated the destroyers smiling in agreement.

Hibiki gave her a small yet encouraging smile, while Wakaba and Oboro were cheering each other on and becoming more and more enthused about the upcoming battle where they could go all out.

Umikaze looked somewhat relieved upon Shigure looking to her and giving her a firm nod to wordlessly display her determination and drive, allowing her sister to lower her head and nod slowly as a small yet relieved smile graced her face.

Kasumi took center stage by reassuring Shigure of the outcome simply due to her presence on the battlefield, raising her voice while still getting the point across that she was to be counted on, exclaiming.

"Ahh, don't worry your pretty little head about such things.

This is nothing compared to some of the things that the 3rd Fleet's been through and won!

If you find things too difficult for you, don't hesitate to stand behind and follow me!"

---

The dark clouds broke out into tears almost half an hour after that, Shigure having wondered just how hard it would pour after observing the extraordinarily dark clouds.

Needless to say, it became a torrential downpour.

Shigure reviewed the briefing that the flagships gave to everyone beforehand, Hiei warning them of the Abyssals' tactics and how they were going to work around them.

About 20 or so Abyssals had dived underwater, according to the sailors monitoring the sea from the islands.

The humans on the islands were pretty much immune to the Abyssals' wrath as the Abyssals had no intention of setting foot on the island, content to passively occupy the surrounding ocean and not attack their fishing boats if they didn't attack them first.

The island occupants had their supply of non-perishable food sent to them in bulk in monthly intervals, allowing them to survive for quite a while after taking into account the stockpile of food each island had for its occupants.

There was no threat of the Abyssals taking the food by force as they didn't feed on human food (as far as they knew), and weren't exactly interested in wasting their forces and time to destroy these small islands as they posed no real threat to them save for their strategic locations to be used as vantage points.

But it was understood that the moment that the navy decided to install a base there, use it to stockpile weapons of any kind or do anything suspicious on these island, they would be obliterated by the Abyssals without mercy.

Note that while the islands were immune from attack, that didn't mean that the ocean surrounding them had the same protection.

On the contrary, being the chain of islands that led from Japan into the Pacific Ocean as well as pointing towards the Marianas Trench, which was where everyone had commonly accepted as the spawn location of the Abyssals, the oceans surrounding the Izu Islands, Bonin Islands as well as the smaller islands to the South of Japan that were still populated by Japanese civilians and sailors were popular hot-spots for the Abyssals to attack in order to muscle in on their territory.

Not attacking the islands was seen some sort of mysterious logic that they stuck to, preferring to save their ammo for attacking naval bases and ship girl fleets save for large scale invasions on the mainland (the American Blitzkrieg being one example) that everyone learnt to spot a mile away, what with essentially millions of Abyssals that could be easily detected even if they were travelling underwater, thus allowing for a mass evacuation of the mainland beforehand.

So the islands themselves weren't exactly in danger, and only the ocean surrounding them was.

Hiei explained to the 1st Fleet that they would form a defensive semi-circle around Mikura Jima Island, although they didn't want to stick too close to the island lest it potentially block their retreat.

The destroyers would be positioned at the left and right of the main formation to scout for any underwater Abyssals that might flank and breach the formation, while being within range of the light carriers and battleships so that they could reach each other should trouble arise.

The cruisers would form the vanguard, since their cannons packed more punch and they had more health, armor and stamina to engage the Abyssals safely.

The fast battleships would babysit the light carriers while they sent their planes out for as long as they dared, what with the risk of lightning strikes in the midst of a storm, the light carriers focusing on flying the plane at an unnaturally low altitude to avoid tempting fate before recalling them.

The destroyers, while being in a position to support the cruisers if required, were still within range of the battleships that were stationed at the center of the formation and were thus quite well-protected despite spreading out so as not to provide the Abyssals an easy target, Shigure spotting the battleships and light carriers off in the distance, about fifty meters to their right and could be reached at a moment's notice.

The 3rd Fleet of Yokosuka was to join them later and provide shelling support should they require it and cover their escape with powerful cover fire laid down by one of the Big Seven, Mutsu.

And about five minutes before the world screwed everyone over, the bomber planes returned to the light carriers, both of them warning the left and right flank via radio as Shigure, Umikaze, Kasumi and Wakaba made their way to Mikura Jima Island while guarding the left flank, hearing Junyou's voice over the radio as she felt the first few raindrops escape the clouds and fall towards the ocean, hitting her in the process.

"Seems like the Abyssals aren't trying anything funny other than the whack-a-mole tactic!

In fact, aside from the Abyssals that disappeared under the ocean, they're pretty much comin' at us head on!"

Shigure opened up a private radio channel to talk to Ayanami, the ship girls having established the various channels that were to be used for private conversations and urgent messages, lest the entire radio spectrum become a mess of ship girls all trying to talk to each other.

She whispered in a concerned tone, asking her fellow destroyer in a way that sought her advice and opinion.

"Ayanami, do you still think…"

The rain became heavier as the rain clouds started unloading its contents and soaked the ship girls in rainwater, the name ship of the Ayanami-Class unsure of the Abyssals' intentions and tried to reassure both Shigure and herself.

"I don't know.

Maybe you're right, but they could be playing things straight as well.

I'm starting to like this less and less as well, but there's no turning back now."

Shigure gave a grunt of affirmation, cringing as the rain hit her on the crown and shoulders, some of it dripping down her bangs and causing her hair to stick to her skin.

She could feel the rain water permeating and drenching her uniform and body from head to toe, making things rather uncomfortable underneath her uniform as she felt the raindrops roll down her body.

The rain was now unleashed in full force as she focused on her HUD's radar to try and identify where the Abyssals were coming from, the turbulent weather only serving to provide environmental interference that reduced the range and effectiveness of their radar.

Shigure could see that the Abyssals were approaching the cruisers, the destroyers using their sonar to try and pick out the Abyssals that had submerged underwater to avoid detection.

She knew that Ayanami, Oboro, Hibiki and Isuzu were watching the right flank as she scanned the surrounding ocean, noting that the waves were starting to become rougher and the wave crests became higher, throwing her position off every so often as she tried her best to stay where she was despite the rough waves threatening to throw her off-balance.

She picked up a few enemy signatures with her sonar that was installed in her equipment to help her detect underwater Abyssals, this coming in useful when the Abyssals all had the ability to submerge at will.

She readied her cannons and torpedo launchers, the two cannons that were attached to her battle backpack twitching in excitement as she heard Kasumi call out,

"Alright, bitches, get ready for action!

Here they come!"

One of the Abyssals, a Ro-Class destroyer, was using the usual porpoising motion to maneuver across the ocean, Shigure noting a few destroyers emerging and submerging while timing their leaps according to the crest and troughs of the ocean waves.

But Kasumi had already anticipated the destroyer's approach, muscles coiled as she brought up her arms to catch the destroyer.

And at the last second, Shigure saw Kasumi boost-dodge to the side as the barrel in the Abyssal's mouth flashed, Kasumi circling the airborne destroyer while the Ro-Class fired off a missed shot as it could only fire forward, Kasumi easily dodging the shot and was now facing the destroyer's flank.

She grabbed hold of the Abyssal's body by bear-hugging the Abyssal as the airborne Ro-Class was starting its downwards descent, wrestling with the flailing destroyer as she redirected the Abyssal's momentum and slammed the Abyssal over her shoulder in a Judo throw.

She freed up her right arm that was holding her 12.7 Cm Twin Gun Cannon as the Abyssal was struggling to get free after being flipped over, pale belly exposed as its body was upturned, Kasumi pointing the twin barrels of her handheld cannon down at the exposed weak spot of the trapped Abyssal.

She fired off two shots, causing the belly of the Ro-Class to erupt in blood, ichor and even shards of steel, Kasumi cringing a little to protect her face from the tiny shards of steel flying out in a fireworks motion along with the blood spurting out of the Abyssal's belly.

The Ro-Class Abyssal started crying out in a metallic screech that was heard by the ship girls surrounding Kasumi, causing Shigure to cringe as she heard the painful, weakening cry of the Ro-Class sound eerily similar to a trapped and dying beast sounding desperate in the face of death, before Kasumi put the Abyssal out of its misery by firing again into its hemorrhaging belly.

The Ro-Class was silenced as the next two shots rang out amidst the rain, the Abyssal's cries becoming a sort of gurgling cry as the Ro-Class's jaw flopped about uselessly as the steel barrel that was previously sticking out of the Abyssal's jaw was retracted to allow it to call for help.

That wasn't going to happen now, seeing that the Ro-Class destroyer was most certainly dead due to the blood loss and point-blank shots to its belly.

Kasumi loosened her grip on the Ro-Class, the red blood of the Abyssal being splattered all over Kasumi's right arm and upper right torso, some of it getting on her face and neck and stained her uniform as she had on her classic scowl, although it was now wracked with a fair bit of revulsion as she tried to hide her disgust at her own actions, trying to rally her comrades into action by shouting over the howl of the rain and wind.

"Come on, y'all!

Stop relaxing on the job and get shooting!"

And that was when Shigure saw an I-Class destroyer emerging from the ocean at a distance with the steel barrel within its dislodged jaw exposed, Shigure noticing the splash that the destroyer made upon surfacing.

But this time, instead of firing a shell from its jaw, Shigure could spot the domed surface of a torpedo warhead barely exposed within the steel barrel, the Abyssal about to launch its torpedo at Kasumi while airborne.

Shigure barely had time to think as she raised her handheld 12 Cm Single Gun Cannon and fired almost immediately, drawing on her battle experience from her previous life and her practice sessions that taught her not to think too much about things and simply react.

As she fired off a round into the barrel of the I-Class, the contact between the shell and the warhead created a small sphere of fire that resulted from the premature detonation of the torpedo warhead.

Naturally, this also caused the I-Class destroyer to go everywhere, shreds of steel and fuel being spread around forcefully as the explosion lit the fuel on fire and polluted the ocean surface, small pools of flaming fuel being spilled on the ocean as everyone shielded their eyes from the mini-sun being formed where the I-Class was, temporarily heating up skins that were starting to feel cold from the constant rainfall.

Kasumi, upon lowering her arm and surveying the damage inflicted on the dead I-Class destroyer, looked to Shigure and pumped her fist in Shigure's direction, a thankful smirk on her face as she cried out.

"Hell yeah!

That's what I'm talking about!"

Shigure gave a quick nod, returning the smile as she held up her cannons to prepare for any other Abyssals that might pop out of the water.

Wakaba seemed to get over the shock of the gruesome scene that Kasumi caused and held up her handheld cannons to prepare for an incoming firefight.

Umikaze, already disengaging her safeties, gave Shigure a quick reassuring nod that Shigure reciprocated, despite feeling that such a motion was something of a harbinger of doom if the tragedy stories that she read were any indication.

But she kept a vigilant lookout for enemy Abyssals, seeing some of them lurk on the surface of the ocean like sharks, Wakaba and Kasumi taking pot shots at them while Shigure and Umikaze watched over them and each other whenever anyone needed to reload.

Being the ocean, it was hard to say just how many Abyssals were swarming beneath them, the rain and lightning throwing off their sensors and making conditions sub-optimal for enemy detection.

The cruisers at the vanguard were now engaging in close-quarters combat with the Abyssals, red and blue dots dancing around on her radar while the two battleships that stood at the rear of the formation provided cover fire for everyone.

The light carriers helped keep track of the enemy's movements, getting feedback about the accuracy of the last shot from the cruisers that could see the impact of the large-caliber rounds hitting the ocean or Abyssal before correcting the battleships' aim.

The battle was now in full swing, and Shigure was prepared to fight to the death to accomplish her mission and protect her fellow comrades.

---

The destroyers that were warding off the destroyers and light cruisers had been firing off rounds and torpedoes at the Abyssals for about ten minutes, and although things could have been better, all of them were still in one piece as they had sunk a total of five Abyssals so far, two by Shigure, two by Kasumi, and one by the combined efforts of Wakaba and Umikaze.

But their attention shifted as an urgent radio transmission was made by the light carriers that were in charge of communications, Junyou's voice materializing inside Shigure's head.

But this time, it was urgent as Junyou's voice sounded legitimately worried about the strange development that she was about to share with them.

"Yo, we got word from the sailors on the islands!

They thought that it was a mistake, but they've apparently detected an extremely large Unidentified Underwater Object on their sonar.

It just popped up on the bottom of the ocean, and our boys can't for the life of them figure out what it is.

So keep a lookout, yeah?"

Kasumi looking enraged by the seemingly-incompetent sailors that were tasked with monitoring the oceans and the enemies that lurked beneath the surface, a vein popping up on her temple as she barely restrained herself while screaming into the radio.

"And what the fuck is that 'Unidentified' part, huh?!

'The fuck we paying them and risking our necks out here for if they can't identify something that big?!"

Umikaze tried calming the Asashio-Class destroyer down while wiping the rainwater off of her face, all while Shigure and Wakaba watched over the duo as Shigure heard her sister ship plead with Kasumi.

"W-Well, owing to the bad weather and Abyssal presence, it isn't out of the question if they can't identify it.

But Junyou-san, is it enemy reinforcements that are inbound?

If so, then we may have to consider a tactical retreat…"

But Junyou responded, likely carrying over the assurance of the inland sailors that were protected from the weather and the firefight, stating.

"Nah, man.

A fleet is made up of a cluster of dots.

Whatever this thing is, it's a solid mass."

Wakaba shot at another destroyer that flew out of the relative safety of the ocean to shoot at the ship girls, moving across the air like a flying fish until interrupted by Wakaba's cannon fire.

The Ha-Class, looking like a cross between a deformed human skull and a horizontal cone jutting out behind it with its exoskeleton painted jet black, had a lone green-colored eye looking forward and had a deformed smile on its hideous face as the 'skull' was compressed horizontally to allow the jaw to be stretched out vertically in an uncannily creepy manner.

Wakaba's cannon impacted the Ha-Class's right flank as it attempted to leap from wave to wave while trying to spot a good opportunity to fire at them, to which Wakaba thankfully responded quickly, the destroyer making sure that the round hit and injured the screeching Abyssal before turning back to ask.

"Do you think it might be a whale that's passing by?

I mean, it's not out of the question, right?"

Kasumi raised her left hand's index finger to try and shout at her, before Umikaze put a reassuring arm on her shoulder and caused her to hold her tongue as Umikaze shook her head, Junyou replying despondently.

"No, though things would be so much simpler for us if it was indeed a whale.

It had some sort of stealth coating or field to hide its presence until it reached Hachijo Island, which means that it's the Abyssals trying something funny.

Whatever's coming our way…

It's got a strong signature and is far larger than any Princess."

Everyone's breath stopped upon hearing that, the destroyers looking at each other in mild panic.

Even Kasumi was silenced by the news, and her face softened to reveal temporary panic and genuine fear as she asked.

"Well then, what the fuck are we still doing here?

Shouldn't we call for reinforcements?"

Junyou replied, now sounding a little more sure about herself.

"Well, when it was confirmed that this battle wasn't all that it seemed and when this new Abyssal signature popped up out of nowhere, we immediately radioed in for the Shimoda Naval Base to provide reinforcements.

They're sailing towards Mikura Jima Island as we speak, but we need to hold the fort for about thirty minutes before their fastest fleets get here.

But the Unidentified signature's been hugging the ocean floor to evade our sonar, we're sure that it's left Hachijo Island a while ago and may be trying to skirt around our battlefield.

So be careful."

Shigure nodded to no one in particular, disengaging the radio as she heard Kasumi grumble under her breath, Umikaze attempting to pacify her with reassuring words, Shigure thinking about what the Abyssals were up to.

But Wakaba let out a tch and shouted to the destroyers huddled next to each other in the rain, announcing.

"Oi, the Abyssals are grouping up and trying to bum-rush our position!

If you two are done over there, ready up!

They're coming!"

Kasumi, Shigure and Umikaze professionally assumed battle stances as the Abyssals grouped up in an all-or-nothing attack to increase their odds of success.

They didn't take any chances as they swam underwater this time, not allowing them the chance to take pot shots at them.

But Shigure and company were ready to welcome them, Shigure resting their finger on the trigger as she felt herself twitching in anticipation, having already blocked out the waves and the rain in her mind.

All other thoughts, previously welcomed in peacetime, were now shut out as Shigure prepared to pull the trigger.

All that was left in her mind was killing the Abyssals and protecting her comrades.

As two Abyssal I-Class destroyers leapt out of the water, Shigure and Kasumi instinctively shot them down.

But one of the I-Class destroyers managed to weather the round that was emptied into its dark exoskeleton instead of its belly or bionic eye, Shigure turning as she feared that the Abyssal was going to fire at Umikaze, who was standing behind the two destroyers that were positioned at the vanguard and had her guard slightly down.

But she saw the Hatsuharu-Class destroyer moving in, the bottom of her blazer flaring up behind her as Wakaba shoulder-slammed the damaged Abyssal and inadvertently threw off its aim at the last second, the round breezing past Umikaze's hair and causing Shigure's sister to freeze up from her brush with death.

Shigure exhaled upon seeing Wakaba intervening and saving her sister, having felt her heart stop metaphorically for a second as she was distracted by the possibility of losing her sister ship.

But she felt something occur behind her, someone tackling her to the ground as two cannon rounds were fired off at close range above them, the frigid seawater drenching Shigure's uniform and body as she hit the ocean.

She sputtered as she attempted to spit out the salty seawater that went in her mouth, blinking the rainwater out of her eyes as a blurry Kasumi stood above her, smoking barrel in hand as she held Shigure down.

And upon surveying her rainy surroundings, she saw the corpse of a He-Class destroyer quickly sink back into the ocean.

It wasn't moving anymore as she surmised that Kasumi, right before the He-Class destroyer surfaced and tried to shoot at her, tackled Shigure onto the ocean and emptied a shell into the He-Class's soft underside, thereby killing it while protecting Shigure.

Kasumi had her brows creased, and she was now pretty much engulfed in Abyssal blood, cringing as she tried to blink the blood and rainwater out of her eyes as she chided, pushing herself off of the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer.

"Come on!

Don't get distracted now!"

Shigure nodded, pushing herself back up as she turned to see Wakaba shoot at a Ho-Class light cruiser that had been observing the battle, choosing to reveal itself at the last second as it engaged in a fierce firefight with Wakaba while Umikaze provided cover fire.

And that left them both open from the bottom as they were likely too distracted to notice something swimming up beneath them.

Shigure attempted to burst into an all-out sprint, but was easily outpaced by a worried Kasumi who decided to use her boost gauge to reach Wakaba, barreling down the ocean and leaving a wide wake behind her as Shigure struggled to keep up in the rain.

The Asashio-Class destroyer slapped her left palm on Wakaba's rigging, instantly pulling her back while putting her weight on her left boat slipper and causing the both of them to tip over.

Just before an I-Class destroyer burst out of the ocean, throwing up a significant amount of seawater as the Abyssal had its steel barrel protruding out of its jaw and aimed it upwards, exactly where Wakaba's face previously was.

If Kasumi had acted a second later, the I-Class Abyssal likely would have blasted off Wakaba's face and likely killed her for good.

Shigure, seeing that Umikaze was torn between shooting at the Abyssal light cruiser who was more of a credible threat, or the airborne I-Class that had its sneak attack attempt foiled at the last second and was now vulnerable, shouted to her sister ship as she sprinted towards her.

"UMIKAZE!

DISTRACT THE LIGHT CRUISER!"

Just as Shigure put her weight onto her boat slippers and launched herself into the air while flipping her body a little so that her legs, in a squatting position, would meet the I-Class destroyer.

The world slowed down in Shigure's mind due to the adrenaline coursing through her body and temporarily accelerating her perception of time, thereby allowing her to perceive everything faster.

She could see beyond the millions of individual raindrops to spot the Ho-Class light cruiser off in the distance, and the I-Class destroyer that was starting to drop back into the ocean, its steel barrel now retracted as it started orientating itself downwards.

Kasumi and Wakaba were lying on the ocean floor, Wakaba slipping on the mixture of blood and rainwater that soaked the Asashio-Class destroyer, Umikaze readying her dual Quadruple Torpedo launchers as she held up her handheld 12.7 Twin-Gun Cannon and looked down its sights.

She propelled her boat slippers into the exoskeleton of the still-airborne I-Class that was descending into the ocean, earning a metallic screech from the Abyssal destroyer as its armor cracked underneath the force of the dropkick behind the relatively sharp undersides of her boat slipper, being displaced by Shigure's kick as it flew towards the confused Ho-Class.

The Ho-Class caught the I-Class with its pale and muscular arms, but in doing so, had left itself vulnerable as Umikaze unleashed her torpedoes and two cannon rounds in the general direction of the two Abyssals.

Shigure, despite being dunked in seawater that soaked her already-drenched body, didn't allow herself a moment to relax as she swung her legs about in a windmill motion while firing off a few torpedoes and snapped her body to the side such that her body would point in the direction of the Abyssal duo, ending up in a prone position on the ocean surface.

She readied her two backpack cannons, which could be aimed and adjusted to allow Shigure to fire from both shoulders, but were now pointed parallel to her body and was aimed at the Abyssal duo that was starting to move away from each other and away from the incoming salvo, hearing the edge in her voice as she gave an order to the Fairies that manned her backpack cannons.

"FIRE!"

The two cannons roared beside her ears as her view was obstructed by twin fireballs, one erupting from each barrel at close proximity to her face as she saw the salvo of torpedoes and shells hit both its intended targets.

Umikaze's torpedo salvo, primarily aimed at the Abyssal light cruiser, caused an explosion as the torpedoes detonated right underneath the Ho-Class's main body and instantly crippled it, allowing the two cannon shells from Shigure's backpack cannon to impact it on the steel helmet.

This caused its arms to flail about uselessly as the enlarged jaw on its hull started gurgling while making ungodly screeching sounds due to the pain, before it failed to receive any more signals from the brain and its limbs fell lifelessly, fingers still twitching in a vain attempt to defend itself as it was in its death throes.

And as for Shigure's torpedo salvo, she aimed it at the fleeing I-Class, blowing the destroyer up instantly as two of her three torpedoes impacted the injured flank of the I-Class's exoskeleton and instantly killed it in a majestic, explosive fireball.

Shigure laid prone on the ocean surface as she let the adrenaline wear off, feeling the crests of the ocean hit her body and hearing the whisper of the wind that thankfully died down a little compared to the shrieking howls that the winds produced when the storm first started.

She felt the harsh raindrops hit her skin, hair and school uniform as she pushed herself up, feeling a little thankful that the rain was here to wash the blood away, observing as the flaming corpses of the two Abyssals were swallowed by the waves and the rain as they both sank.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, instantly stiffening as her head whirled around to address the perceived threat, but was met with the relieved face of Umikaze, her gloved arm on her shoulder as she addressed Shigure in a spent voice.

"Well done, Shigure.

That last move was probably worthy of an MVP play, since you killed two Abyssals with it."

Shigure shook her head, Kasumi and Wakaba sailing towards them as she corrected her sister in a patient yet equally tired tone.

"No, we won as a result of our combined efforts.

Kasumi and I saved each other's lives, and Wakaba saved yours.

We're still here because of each other, Umikaze."

Kasumi piped up, now fully respecting Shigure's skill as she noted something.

"Maa, Shigure, I know that you were proud of that drop kick, but I gotta say, blue and white stripes suit you pretty well."

Shigure looked confused as Wakaba and Umikaze started coughing into their fists while their cheeks took on a slight red tinge.

It took a good ten seconds for Shigure, standing out in the cold drizzling rain while wondering what the Asashio-Class destroyer meant before she connected the dots in her mind, instinctively pressing down on her skirt and bringing her thighs together, feeling the blood rush to her face and heat her face up despite the chilly ambient temperature, Shigure sputtering.

"Y-Y-You saw?!"

Kasumi blanched at the insinuation, retorting indignantly as a vein popped up on her temple.

"Yeah?!

Hey, I'm not the one who goes around in a skirt and drop-kicks Abyssals left and right, so it's not my fault if I caught a glimpse of what you were wearing underneath, alright?!"

Wakaba tried to defuse the situation by introducing a good solution to Shigure, seeing that ship girls often wore skirts or dresses into battle.

"S-Shigure-san, if you're the kind to go kicking and flipping about, I believe it's best if you wear exercise shorts or spats in the future to prevent such incidents, alright?"

And Umikaze placed a comforting hand on Shigure's shoulder, trying her best to comfort her sister by encouraging.

"Shigure, it's alright.

If it makes you feel any better, I can show you mine as compensation…"

Umikaze, her blushing face contrasting with her snow-white hair, lifted her skirt suggestively as she offered an extremely shady solution, causing Shigure to blush even harder, her face now slightly luminescent as she sputtered incoherently at the risque suggestion, now at a loss for words.

But an incoming transmission came in from Junyou, an anxious tone in her voice as she called out into the wireless radio.

"Hey, girls?!

The thing's here, and whatever it is, it's headed your way!

We don't know what it is since it doesn't match any known Abyssal signatures, and it's travelling underwater, so we can't stop its movements!

Watch out!"

Shigure and the other destroyers snapped to attention, each one of them looking in a different direction while paying extra attention to their sonars, trying to pick up anything that might reveal an unknown presence beneath them.

And after three minutes of focused and tense silence, where the destroyers said nothing to each other for fear of distracting themselves from the underwater threat, Shigure noticed something rising up from the depths.

Shigure's order to her Fairies to try and enhance the blip on her sonar failed as the unknown Abyssal signature was still too deep underwater, and Umikaze was the first one to state the obvious as she asked hesitantly.

"Um…

Are you all getting what I'm getting?

Because it seems that there's something in the depths, and it's large…"

Kasumi uttered under her breath,

"No shit, Sherlock…"

Shigure cringed at the language Kasumi used to address her sister ship, but it didn't take a linguistics expert to hear the worried tone in Kasumi's voice, Shigure chalking it up to frayed nerves and let the whole thing go in favor of focusing on the matter at hand.

Mainly, whatever was on their sonar.

Shigure hadn't met an Abyssal Princess, but unless they were the size of battleships, she had no idea what the hell that was on her sonar.

Wait a second…

The unknown signature wasn't travelling directly beneath them as it was about thirty meters to their left, although that was still a little too close for comfort as Wakaba disbelievingly sputtered, utterly confused as to what was approaching them.

"It's the size of a battleship!

I don't think any Abyssals are that big, right?

Right?!"

Shigure looked to Kasumi, politely asking the Asashio-Class destroyer in a tone that demanded a simple answer.

"Do we hold our position?"

Kasumi looked confused and even a little afraid, but she finally shook her head to clear her thoughts as she turned to her teammates and addressed them seriously.

"We move a little closer to the main formation to tighten our defense, but we defend the left flank, no matter what.

We're not going to get spooked and run away with our tail between our legs, no matter what the Abyssals throw at us."

Shigure nodded along with Wakaba and Umikaze, before they noticed the slightly accelerated pace at which the unidentified signature was rising, clearly harboring an Abyssal signature as it was a red blot on her sonar.

But as Shigure and company started retreating to where the battleships and light carriers were, Shigure piped up and asked something that had been on her mind for a while.

"Umm guys…

If it's the size of a battleship, do you think it might actually be a battleship?"

The other destroyers looked at her with confused expressions, trying their best to wrap their minds around the thought of an actual warship being used against ship girls, but their attention was distracted by the unknown signature moving a little closer to them and was about to surface, Kasumi shouting out,

"Watch out!"

A large volume of seawater was displaced before whatever it was emerged, drenching them all as Shigure and company used both arms to shield themselves from the titanic vessel surfacing like a submarine as well as the extremely rough waves that were caused by its appearance, the choppy waves shifting their balance about like a roller coaster ride.

Shigure couldn't hear Wakaba's scream or Umikaze's surprised shriek, because all she could hear was the extremely loud splash of seawater hitting her like a large tidal wave, and could only focus on keeping her balance as the disturbed waves threw them about and threatened to knock her over, something that could prove to be fatal in battle.

Out of desperation, genuine fear and confusion at what the hell was going on anymore, Shigure tried to shake the seawater out of her eyes and look at what stood before them, barely noting Umikaze falling forward while Kasumi fell on her bum.

Shigure looked at the enemy vessel before them, the colossal structure blocking some of the rain due to its sheer size.

She was greeted by a familiar Abyssal-black steel wall, which confused Shigure as it looked impenetrable and towered over them all as Shigure could spot numerous square-shaped plates spaced out evenly on the steel wall.

But the destroyers all winced as they heard a high-pitched mechanical whirring as though several powerful motors were being fired up from within, and a booming horn was blasted throughout the entire battlefield, causing Shigure and company to cover their ears from being in such close proximity to the ominous moan of death.

Shigure tried to keep her eyes on the threat as she looked up, observing the superstructure as it lit up like a Christmas tree in neon blue stripes across its walls.

This allowed Shigure to spot the many machine guns being illuminated, as in actual machine guns being readied by droves of Abyssals that were scrambling out of the superstructure, pointing their secondary guns and Anti-Air machine guns towards them.

Shigure's eyes had adjusted to the sudden plunge into relative darkness, barely making out big white letters on the hull and identifying the mysterious Abyssal's name before choking on her spit and freezing up from recognizing the name.

'Abyssal Aviation Battleship

The Flying Dutchman'

And with a flash of lightning that streaked across the dark clouds as the wind started picking up again, Shigure, shielding her eyes from the rain, paled and felt her heart stop upon seeing what the square plates were.

They were gun-ports.

They were being winded up like garage doors to reveal life-sized 35.6 Cm and 14 Cm Cannons extruding out of the ship's hull, forming a menacing sight just from their size alone.

And they were all pointed in their direction.