Chapter 4

Night had fallen upon the world, with the moon replacing the sun for the umpteenth time in the same old cycle it had been repeating for millennia. Below, the ocean waves fell into silence with the surface becoming flat and clear, sporting very few small waves likely from the cutting that Proto Satan and the recently repaired (somewhat) IJN Light Cruiser did while they sailed under the cover of darkness. With the combination of the lack of sounds, the gentle sailing the two ships did as well as the general calmness in the air, the entire atmosphere held this genuine sense of peaceful tranquility to it, as serene as the gentle touch of snow. Something which would have been more appropriate in the north Atlantic but right now it was being used to describe... wherever the heck these two were.

Although if one were to ask Kosuke, the teen would have replied that he had a better idea of where he was thanks to meeting the unconscious Yuubari aboard her damaged ship.

Right now, he once again sat in the lotus position atop a turret, this time it being the one closest to the forward bridge, letting the gentle atmosphere calm his mind while he pondered about the thing that had happened today.

One thing was for certain, and that today had been way more hectic than the ones he'd experienced in a while.

The first thing he had done after retrieving Yuubari's unconscious form, had been to bring her on board his Ship to quickly get inside to protect her from the elements, and take her straight to the ship's infirmary (Yeah, [Proto Satan] had one of those). There, he had laid her down on a random bed, not really taking in anything else about the place, and had quickly gotten to work on treating her as best he could. He had tried to apply as much common sense as he could on this subject matter, looking over some wounds and removing bits of shrapnel from them that likely came from being hit by an explosion or something, cleaning the wounds with some disinfectant he had found. Once the wounds had been cleaned, the male had wrapped them up with bandages so that, according to his biology class, the blood within her body could clot up and conceal the wounds so they could be healed.

Though, there wasn't much he could have done for her other injuries, the ones that Kosuke couldn't have seen. Immediately after having to pick her up, he had sworn he'd felt multiple broken bones and bone fractures with his fingertips, something which had sent him into panic overdrive when he had realized this seconds into his mad sprint. How the hell had Yuubari gotten this way? That question had somewhat popped into his head... for a few seconds before his panic doused it out altogether.

'Sheesh...' Kosuke mused mentally as he rubbed the back of his head with his right hand, the left gripping his left kneecap firmly. 'That was what doctors go through when someone's rushed in? Never thought I'd get a chance to see what they have to deal with. Huge respect for them...' Kosuke wasn't any medical professional, he didn't have a clue as to what to do in a situation like the one he had found himself in earlier. Not a shred of information.

He couldn't consider himself a 'normal' Japanese citizen either since well, normal was only a subjective term anyway, but the situation had not been something he had ever had to deal with himself before. Sure there had been times when he had to call an ambulance before, but that was the extent of his med knowledge: simply leave it to the professionals. Never once did he think he would have to try to take care of a physically injured person himself.

Mentally may not be the same story, but still...

'Though there was something that was kind of a lifesaver...' Just then, a more positive train of thought entered his mind that caused a small, confused yet pleased smile to form on his lips, his eyes glancing to the side where he viewed the Light Cruiser Yuubari bobbing alongside his significantly larger warship. The whole thing looked to be marginally better than previously, with the damage to the hull and superstructure mostly out of sight... at least from the outside. Instdestill looked terrible and would probably hamper the ship's performance still.

It looked like his risk had paid off, the emergency repair function those robots were capable of had been able to render the Cruiser capable of movement and fixed the surface damage at least. As for the damage to the systems like the fire control or the guns themselves among the other weapons remained to be seen. He had a feeling that they weren't operational yet, at least not completely since he recalled how Proto Satan's weapon systems weren't completely operational either. Still, it had been a far cry from its previous state in which it had made him wonder how on earth it hadn't sunk yet, but maybe a ship that has spawned a Shipgirl followed different rules to the norm? Maybe.

As to why this was a good thing...

Other than it being a vessel which could now float on its own power, the repairs of that ship had an effect on the Shipgirl on board his warship, for during the cleanup of her wounds he had noticed how many of them started to heal up by themselves (a sight that had been accompanied by a sizzling sound like a [an on a cooker's ring) as if hours of cell division were taking place within a couple of minutes, one particularly interesting detail is that her condition had rapidly stabilized. Meaning that he didn't have to do much with her in terms of proper medical treatment, though he had doubts about her being healed fully.

Thus, it had to lead to this point, with him sailing them both across the waters towards god knows where. Well, he got the feeling that the ship itself was simply trailing behind its Shipgirl like some kind of automatic 'follow me' command... kind of like in Naval Ops Commander when the two escort ships would automatically follow the lead player ship. 'Still, now that she's somewhat in a stable condition, I'll just have to wait till she wakes up so I can question her. Hopefully, I'll finally start getting some answers here.' The male mused, thinking about what kind of questions that he would ask Yuubari once she woke up.

Not only that, but well... he had a few mixed feelings about talking to her. While Kosuke remained aware of the practicality behind her, this would probably be the first time he would talk to a girl in well... a really long time. It's not like he was bad with girls or anything, he was no stupid whiny bitch of a weeb who would simp to these things called 'Vtubers' back home instead of going up to the opposite sex face to face, but ever since a certain... incident, he had stopped talking to girls and avoided them whenever he could. And when impossible to do so, then he would only treat them curtly and act like he wanted to leave them as quick as possible, with examples being saying few words to convey his meanings and intentions while not looking at them in their eyes.

His friend circle consisted mostly of guys, too.

Additionally, there was the fact that she was of the Sakura Empire to consider, basically another version of imperial Japan. He didn't know much about what they were like daily, but from what he had seen on some youtube videos about their war crimes as well as their doctrines, he didn't like his chances of peaceful negotiation. Kosuke wasn't foolish enough to think that the Shipgirl Yuubari wouldn't embody some of their more extreme traits, not everything about his Warship Gunner Game was apparent with regards to his ability to manipulate Proto Satan, so it stood to reason that things would be different from the ORIGINAL Azur Lane too.

One might think he was being too damn paranoid, Kosuke would say that he's being realistic.

A low sigh escaped his lips, one which he used to push out some of the building nervousness within his gut. 'In the end, there's nothing I can do but wait, huh...?' the male mused mentally, something he had done for a while now so part of him worried if his voice would still work under these circumstances. Hopefully, it did, it would be a real bummer otherwise.

With a glance down at his pocket, Kosuke reached in and pulled out his phone with his right hand, holding it over his lap. Right now, the screen itself remained white and blank save for the usual red cube icon, but the feelings it invoked within him weren't the same as before. "As for you..."

After having spent a month with this thing, Kosuke had come no closer to finding out any answers, in fact, this encounter with Yuubari's damaged ship actually added more questions. Thinking about it, every time that he had a problem that he hadn't solved using either luck or intuition, this Phone would solve it for him, such as the first siren scavenging operation, the repairing of Yuubari, and finally the acquiring of its Blueprint. 'Now that I think about it, with the way it acted... could something similar to that whole 'Alexa thing on the more modern laptops be at play here?' he wondered, humming thoughtfully. Kosuke wasn't sure on that one, but he couldn't try it out since he didn't see the need to, something which he began to regret a little.

Furthermore, looking at his phone reminded him of a past time he had developed beforehand: listing the number of 'commands' that he had for his arsenal whenever he came into battle. His apparent ability to control Proto Satan seemed rather confusing, so he had made a mental note of the commands that he could give it with whatever gestures that triggered them. So far, the commands he had discovered were the following:

Mental Radar (eyes closed - forms a blue grid with PS being a white ship and enemies being red ships.)

Control selected gun (Raise right arm - forms a mental WG UI via left eye closing and right eye-widening - enemy ship position needs to be considered for full salvo.)

Setting Speed (looking at the UI's Levers)

Switching weapon (Scrolling via right hand's index finger - limited to 1 weapon)

Ship steering (imagine a wheel and rotate it with both arms, like in the age of sail)

At this point, a wave of fatigue washed over him, prompting Kosuke to sigh once more and pocket his phone. 'Whelp, I guess I'll hit the hay. Proto Satan's been set to travel at its lowest speed, so fuel won't be needlessly expended and we can still avoid Siren fleet patrols by keeping on the move.' he thought to himself, stretching his arms above his head before placing his hands on the turret, flipping off it and landing on the main deck beside it.

He then proceeded to head inside towards the sea cabin for some well-earned rest


After a couple of days which were filled with Kosuke doing his usual thing, mixed with visiting Yuubari...

"(MUMBLE), (MUMBLE), (MUMBLE)..."

Soft murmurs escaped from the Shipgirl's lips while Kosuke made to leave the room after his regular visit, causing him to tense up and glance behind him at the bed she rested on. Those murmurs soon got accompanied by subtle shiftings underneath her covers implying restless movement, while her eyes tightened themselves, informing the male of her awakening.

Finally, FINALLY, the male might get some good answers!

Seconds after Kosuke thought this, Yuubari's eyes slowly began to open up, her eyelids lifting behind her sockets to expose her reddish-colored irises. For a moment, all she did was blink her eyes open and shut while she tried to adjust to the light shining forth from the infirmary's lightbulbs as well as the morning sun outside. Afterward, she sat up, her eyes wide with wonder with confusion shining forth through her irises. "Eh...? This isn't my..." she muttered to herself, baffled by her current predicament. She looked down at herself and saw how damaged her clothes looked, causing her to frown in discontent, but she didn't focus on them too much in favor of the bandages across her form. "Someone tended to me...?" she whispered before her ears twitched again and she glanced towards the room's entrance. where Kosuke was standing. "...You..."

The way she muttered that simple word after a moment's silence where they stared one another down, had probably been one of the tensest ones Kosuke had in some time, and that was saying something. Not to mention she said it with a look as if she had recognized him from somewhere, though Kosuke didn't focus too much on that in favor of making the following statement. "Looks like your awake, now." He declared, perhaps with more hardness to the statement than he had intended, but the intent behind it looked to have been received judging from the way she stiffened ever-so-slightly.

In response to his words, Yuubari curtly nodded, her eyes shining with caution mixed with wariness, something he could tell due to having seen it many times in his high school life. It was only natural that she would react this way, he would too if he woke up in a strange place with a stranger watching over her. "Where am I?" she asked him, her gaze bore into his own with a similar hardness to her words that he had just used.

Still, since she was talking to him just as curtly as himself, it was safe to assume that he wouldn't be getting answers to the more important questions out of her right away much to his inner frustration, however, Kosuke had learned the art of patience long ago, hence he remained composed with his musings buried behind a facade of coldness. "You're on my ship. My ship's infirmary to be exact." Kosuke replied, pocketing his hands as he walked up to the bed that Yuubari rested on. Perhaps getting her name would be a good opening question since she would be even more suspicious of him if he just casually mentioned her name out loud when she'd never even met him before. "My turn: mind telling me who you are?"

For a moment, she remained silent as she eyed him up and down, to which Kosuke felt like she was evaluating him as a potential threat to her being, something which internally caused him to both bristles as well as a chuckle in dry amusement. Bristle due to the indignation that he would harm her when he hadn't shown any hostile intent, but also amusement that she thought he even COULD harm her considering the difference in their species. Thinking about it, COULD humans harm shipgirls? Kosuke wasn't sure, he hadn't seen all the Azur lane events after all, so if that question had an answer he didn't have it.

Finally, her lack of silence finished up when she opened her mouth again, looking down at her lap while crossing her legs under the covers in the lotus position. The way she held them resembled a guarded stance, but she didn't attack him so that was something at least. "...Yuubari. Light Cruiser Yuubari of the Sakura Empire," she answered him cordially, to which Kosuke nodded in acknowledgment. "Who are you, sailor?"

Man, how awkward was this conversation? All they were giving were short questions and answers to one another. Kosuke couldn't help this feeling of finding it difficult to maintain a stable conversation with her, but then again he wasn't someone who liked wording things too much, actions spoke much louder than any words in his opinion. Still, he pressed on by giving her the answer to his question. "I'm no sailor. The name's Kosuke... though that's all I know for now."

"...I do not understand... you are not a sailor...?" Yuubari questioned, her eyes briefly looking like those of a deer caught in some headlights as her ears twitched upwards to reflect her abrupt change in emotions. She then took a closer look at the lad, eyeing his outfit and how messy it looked, to which his words started to make more sense to her. "...You definitely don't look like a Japanese sailor, actually. Your clothes aren't any regulated uniform, nor are they any uniform at all. They seem more civilian-like than anything..." she stated, tilting the side of her head while poking the interior of her left cheek with the tip of her tongue.

Internally Kosuke had to suppress the retort that she didn't exactly wear anything close to military regulation attire either since that would put him in a rather dicey position. Instead, the teen opted to go with the following. "I believe so, I WAS indeed a Civilian beforehand..." he replied, before catching himself for almost revealing some things he wasn't ready to yet, he didn't trust this Yuubari enough for that just yet. Judging by the way she looked at him suspiciously, she probably figured that he wasn't telling her everything though she didn't say anything, just allowed him to move on. "Anyways, I found your ship when it was sailing across the oceans. Looked pretty bad, but some emergency repairs made it movable again," he explained, pointing outside via a window. "You can see it just out there."

In a bid to test his claims, a doubtful-looking Yuubari threw off the covers from her person after a couple of seconds had passed, and stepped off the bed. She wasn't wearing her sandals since they were on the opposite end, but she didn't care about the metallic feeling under her stocking-clad feet, instead, the young woman walked up to the room's window and peered outside, the male mentally thanking his lucky stars that she was just tall enough to do so without standing on her tippy toes. Though while she did this Kosuke got a good view of her tail swishing about casually...

To which some part of him wondered what it would be like to touch it.

Peering out of the window, Yuubari gazed into the ocean and, sure enough, she saw her vessel calmly bobbing along through the ocean surface, close enough that she felt like she could reach out and touch it. "That's...!" she whispered with her expression morphing from doubt to downright shock and disbelief. "My ship... she's moving...! But... But the damages...!" she mumbled in shock to herself as her mind reeled at this sight, her body stumbling backward till she fell back onto the bed, lying on her back as she stared wide-eyed up at the ceiling.

"That's thanks to me," Kosuke stated, inwardly smirking at her disbelief when she sharply turned her gaze from her position on the bed towards him. It actually felt somewhat satisfying to knock her off her feet like that without having to actually do anything, he felt while standing up from the bed and taking a few steps away from her, pocketing his hands inside his pants. Almost as a metaphorical representation of his lack of trust in Yuubari at the moment. "Through my own means, I partially repaired your vessel so she could follow alongside mine. Wasn't easy though, it's a miracle the thing still floated."

His explanation was done, Kosuke glanced behind him towards the dumbstruck Yuubari, waiting to see how she would react to this information. In his mind, he predicted she would try to ask him questions to glean some additional information out of him, of which he would do his best to either deflect or outright block the conversation from conversing down that path. It wouldn't do if she had sinister intentions and any plans to blackmail him for his ship or something, after all, he remembered her being somewhat of a mad scientist. More so than even Akashi the Union repair ship, which unnerved the male somewhat.

Plus there was the whole 'honor' thing they had going on, and he had heard back in his world that these imperial Japanese guys would refuse aid from their enemy and would rather die than have their 'honor' sullied. Kosuke had heard of this from watching some youtube channels, one of which being the 'infographics show', and from some topics, he had more interest in he would look them up further, and because of this, he had learned how many Japanese ace fighter pilots had a notorious reputation for being brutal to their enemies. Same with a lot of war crimes imperial japan committed like the death march, though he remained aware that no sides were technically 'clean' even the Allies. Thus, he had a few predictions for how this may go from these stereotypical views of these people...

"Then it seems that I owe you my gratitude, Kosuke san." She replied after turning around to face him, one arm still resting on the window sill while she regaled him with a thankful look... one which he nearly got floored by the intensity behind her gaze. "Though you may not be my Shikkan, you did myself, and the Sakura Empire, a great service. For that, you have my immense gratitude." She further stated, all while lowering her head in a formal Japanese bow.

...Okay, THIS wasn't what he expected, but it wasn't something that he minded, Kosuke soon came to conclude after a few seconds of looking at the Shipgirl before him. Inside his mind, the male reeled at the fact that she was showing him gratitude instead of going on about him 'defiling' her chance at a glorious death, though now that he thought about it Yuubari wouldn't have died a warrior's death when he had found her, so perhaps this reaction made more sense. Kind of felt a bit dumb at this moment in time. Additionally, she prioritized gratitude over interrogating him, though that may be due to him being a civilian, once she inevitably discovered the 'peculiarities' surrounding him maybe it'll change, but for now, that was in the future.

Regardless, to see her thanking him threw him off a little, but he mentally composed himself to not clue her in on how her gratitude had affected him. "No worries, I'm just glad I managed to get to you before your ship sunk," he replied, nodding his head in acknowledgment. "By the way, may I ask some questions for a bit? Nothing that'll hurt you in any way, just some general ones."

"What a coincidence, I do have some questions I would like to ask you as well."

"Glad to see we're both on the same page there. Well then, to start..."

PING...PING...PING...PING...PING...PING...PING...PING...PING...!

"?!"

Before he could start what could have been a round of 20 questions with his newfound acquaintance, something which he internally would have whooped for joy about since he had been missing talking to someone, Kosuke's eyes widened with his pupils shrinking to the size of dots when he felt multiple pings from his mental radar at the back of his mind. A second later, however, Kosuke shifted into an annoyed expression with his eyes gaining a steel edge to them when he realized what this meant, especially when he closed his eyes to bring up his Mental Radar. focused on them. 'Damnit, a Siren fleet just HAD to show up. From the looks of it I might be fighting against some Battleships and Cruisers...' the male thought to himself, already mentally expanding his influence over Proto Satan in prep for combat.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one who had picked up the Siren ship signatures, for Yuubari's eyes widened as well as her body stiffened, becoming rigid and alert. "This is...!" She whispered under her breath before she narrowed her eyes again at a MUCH faster rate of speed to Kosuke which showcased how used she was to this sort of thing. "Sirens! I detect sirens, young civilian." She hurriedly informed him, quickly racing forth towards the exit and throwing open the door. "I will board my ship, I'll cover you so you can escape!" she bellowed, already out the door before Kosuke could stop her.

"Wait, you-ugh, she's gone..." the teen tried to say, only for him to stop when he realized the futility of such actions. 'Tch, guess I have no choice, then! Best to show her instead of telling, anyways...!' Instead, he gritted his teeth and broke off into a sprint after the Shipgirl, determined to lend her some support for this upcoming battle. He didn't get why, but he had a bad feeling in his stretched-out gut at this moment, which was never a good thing.


Moments later, Kosuke had burst out his Ship's superstructure onto the Main Deck, where he saw Yuubari after looking around frantically for a moment. She stood near the ship's Starboard side, hands on the railing and peering out into the oceans surrounding them. Looking to where she had been looking, Kosuke saw the silhouettes of Siren Ships coming out of what looked to be purplish-colored portals. From the looks of things, he could see about 8 Cruisers, 4 Battleships, and 2 Aircraft Carriers which looked to already be set to launch their aircraft. "Tch... looks like a big fleet..." he muttered under his breath.

Yuubari nodded her head in agreement, a light sound escaping her lips as she growled under her breath, a vicious look overcoming her as her tail swished about angrily. "Damn Sirens... I'll blast them to bits!" she proclaimed with fury laced within her tone like many chains that were attempting to restrain the beast of fury within her being. That probably came from both her seemingly normal stoic demeanor as well as her military training, Kosuke figured since training these girls like soldiers for combat seemed like a natural thing to do. Yet, it still leaked through regardless as the Shipgirl threw her arm to the side. "Let's go!"

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... Was something supposed to happen?

Kosuke blinked as Yuubari remained in that same position for a time, seemingly waiting for something to happen. She didn't; move at all from that one spot, not even a single muscle.

During that time it seemed that the Siren ships had split into two separate fleets again, with each group consisting of 4 Cruisers, 2 Battleships, and an Aircraft Carrier. Fleet 1 (he'd call them fleet whatever number for simplicity's sake) moved more to the east while Fleet 2 moved to the west, probably intending on a pincer maneuver similar to the first time he had battled these guys. It didn't help that according to his eyesight, the Aircraft Carriers were already starting to launch their flight groups into the airspace above them, these flight groups consisting of futuristic-looking fighter jets.

Seeing these jets combined with the fact that something that had been supposed to happen but didn't, caused Yuubari to start sporting a bunch of sweat over her forehead, even as her expression remained composed. Her form began to tremble and she nearly lost control over her legs had it not been for her willpower keeping them from shaking like leaves.

"You okay, Yuubari?" Kosuke questioned while jogging up to her side. Once there, he leaned to his right so he could get a better look at her face, seeing the bullets of sweat she had now sported, to which every alarm bell within his mind to inform him something was wrong, VERY wrong. "Something was supposed to happen just now, wasn't there?" He questioned, going through the scenario in his head and coming to the most likely possibility he could think of.

At his question, Yuubari nervously nodded her head after a few moments of silence, then she set about speaking with a mostly composed tone of voice though he could detect various emotions beneath it. "It appears... that... I cannot form my Rigging for some reason..." she admitted, to which he soon realized what those emotions were from what her body language told him: nervousness, confusion, frustration, and humiliation. Guess she had wanted to 'look cool' in front of a civilian by summoning her 'Rigging' all dramatic-like?

Just then, the sheer gravity of her words hit him like a speeding truck isekai'ng a pathetic generic SI protag to their fantasy world with waifus who flock around him for no apparent reason. That was not good, not good at ALL if what he remembered from the few AL events he'd seen was true, a Shipgirl usually fought with her 'rigging' which was basically like a backpack attached to their person made from various ship parts resembling the ships they were laid down as. For example, the USS Yorktown had a runway attached to her shaped like the one she had as a proper Ship, this being different depending on the Shipgirl. It served as their primary weapon and was the exact reason why they were so damn effective against the Sirens. They had the powers of Warships embedded within their bodies while retaining the size and nimbleness of a human being.

Thus, it could be considered a BIG nerf for a Shipgirl to not be able to form her Rigging.

With this dawning on him, a nervous Kosuke glanced behind him at Yuubari's ship. The [Yuubari] itself looked to be alright on the outside, but internally may be a different story that confirmed his previous bad feelings. "Tch looks like my fears were correct, then..." he muttered, grimacing as he glanced to the Aircraft Carriers, seeing their respective flight groups already shooting forth towards them in a V shape formation. "My emergency repairs only allowed your ship to move, but it's still too damaged to form that 'Rigging of yours'," he explained, gritting his teeth while discreetly performing the command needed to switch to his Machine Guns. Thinking back to several instances in Azzur Lane's anime, he recalled something and glanced beside him at her, the 40mm Machine Guns already lifting their barrels though Yuubari didn't seem to notice. "Is it possible for you to manipulate your ship remotely?" he asked her.

Glancing back at him, Yuubari wasted no time in giving him a nod in response. "It is possible. My effectiveness won't be the same though," she replied, glancing worriedly at the approaching aircraft with teeth gnashed together behind her lips, Kosuke could tell thanks to see them slightly. "You have a plan?" she asked him without looking back, unlike him.

If she had, then she likely would have seen the smirk starting to form on Kosuke's lips. "Yeah, I do. You keep your ship behind mine..." he began, lifting his right arm and forming a gun with his fingers, to which each of the barrels from the Machine Guns trained their sights upon the approaching aircraft. "I'll act as a bullet sponge and soak up the damage."

"Eh? What are you-?"

RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!

At once, Yuubari's words got cut off when she saw and heard the Ship's many machine guns roar to life, spraying the airspace in front of them in a constant streak of orangish lights from the propelled bullets. To her, it sounded less like a bunch of guns firing and more like a bunch of banshees shrieking in outrage, forcing her to yelp in startled fright and briefly cover her ears to better repel the harsh sounds that they made. Only a couple of seconds passed until she adjusted to the sounds, her animalistic senses that were part of her shipgirl biology quickly adapting to them as they would to any factor from the horrors of war.

Once that happened, Yuubari raised her head and uncovered her ears, allowing her to look up to see the guns still firing upon the approaching aircraft. Said Siren jet-shaped planes quickly launched their evasive maneuvers to try and avoid the rounds, however, a quarter of their number still got pumped full of holes thanks to the Machine Guns accuracy, allowing their burning remains to quickly skydive down into the waters below with massive SPLOSH sounds accompanying their impact.

'This is...!'

As stunning as this sight may have been, military training forced Yuubari to quickly note the fact that some of those Aircraft had already dropped some torpedoes into the waters, something she could tell when she noticed their subtle movements through the waters below. Quickly, she turned towards Kosuke who kept his right arm out as he kept the Aircraft from performing additional strikes against Proto Satan, holding out his right arm which constantly shook like it was constantly recoiling from explosive forces. "Watch out, torpedoes are...!" she informed him loudly.

However, all the male did was just smirk smugly at her. "Don't worry..." he began...

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

his smirk widening when he heard their impacts, causing the Ship to briefly jerk from the impact. Yuubari quickly managed to balance herself despite this abrupt action, however, when it realigned itself on the ocean surface the Shipgirl quickly checked to survey the damage done to the hull... only to find next to nothing other than blackened metal. Essentially, the Torpedoes hadn't been able to penetrate the Battleship's Armor, causing her to frown and wonder to herself. 'I see... so that's why he was so confident. These Sirens do not possess the Torps needed to blast through its armor... yet, I get the feeling that there's more to this Ship than meets the eye...' She thought to herself, a deeply suppressed (for the moment) part of her eagerly wanting to interrogate the male onboard for information and the chance to examine this ship.

Sensing her hidden desire behind her gaze which to him looked to have slightly brightened up, Kosuke looked to her with an intense gaze. "Might wanna get to your ship. I'll start mine up so you can use him for cover, that way you can take a couple of potshots at me."

"Hai!"


(POV Change - Yuubari)

With that said, Yuubari quickly ran across the deck while briefly looking at the Battleship, as in truly looking at it, for the first time which only served to increase her own curiosity about it. She INSTANTLY knew there really was more to it than normal, especially when she noticed the sawblades and the Drill (which weren't moving for some reason, making her briefly wonder if they were just for show), but put that to the back of her mind in favor of leaping off Proto Satan's Portside.

Flipping through the air, Yuubari promptly landed atop her Ship's Bow, right in front of the front-facing main guns. Getting to her feet, Yuubari sharply twisted her body and stared upwards at the Superstructure, wasting zero time as she narrowed her eyes at it. 'I may not be able to convert my ship into my Rigging, but...' she began in her mind, determination flaring within her core. 'I'll be damned if I don't pay back my savior. It's only a start...'

In that instant, her eyes started to emit a faint white glow from the center of her pupils, and in the following moment, her ship released an electrical 'pulse' through its hull. She felt this happen beneath her sandal-covered feet, thus the ship's propellers promptly began turning beneath the ocean surface, the [Yuubari] soon starting to turn Portside. Eventually, it started moving away from the Proto Satan's Portside at a completely southern angle, with Yuubari quickly hopping atop her ship's Superstructure.

With a glance behind her at the Proto Satan, Yuubari noticed how it had shot down all the Aircraft in the air with her savior having gotten inside the Superstructure. In her mind, she figured that he'd gone to a higher vantage point as she had, but instead of focusing on that, she turned her attention to the Ship's main Guns, which had started turning towards the fleet heading to its stern.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Multiple explosions erupted out of their barrels when the Main Guns unleashed a singe salvo, with a bunch of explosions the following suit in the next few seconds. Looked to her like he had hit a few targets but with two fleets bearing down on him, Yuubari doubted that Kosuke would have such an advantage for long. He could very well get overwhelmed if he wasn't careful, plus she could see more aircraft starting to leave the two Carrier runways.

Fortunately, she already had a plan in mind.

Judging the terrain around her, it seemed that there weren't any islands to take cover behind, so she would have to push her ship to its maximum speed and hope that she could get close enough with her torpedoes. They didn't have very long range, only about 6km last time she'd checked, so she had to use them sparingly. with that in mind, Yuubari gave her ship a mental command to which the [Yuubari] promptly obliged, tilting portside while turning to the same direction. In moments, she managed to get out from [Proto Satan]'s protection while its main guns (after the next batch of Aircraft got shot down) kept firing Salvo towards the southern Fleet causing sheer destruction before it.

As she veered out, Yuubari got a chance to witness the entire southern fleet's fate, with only its Aircraft Carrier escaping destruction thanks to the others acting like meat shields. As for the rest of the ships... well, they got reduced to smoking wreckages. Each ship had MULTIPLE fires that burned over what remained of their guns, creating tones of smoke trails which rose into the skies above. There were just so many of them, that it literally created a makeshift smokescreen while the wreckages gradually started sinking beneath the ocean surface.

'Ah, I can use that!' she thought as an idea popped into her mind, a small grin forming on her lips. It wouldn't be long before another Airwave was launched from the surviving Carrier, which was probably using the Ships as a smokescreen to conceal its position from Kosuke. With a mental command, the [Yuubari] proceeded to sail forth in a curving angle around [Proto Satan], heading towards the outside of the wrecked ships, all the while she kept an eye on the opposite fleet which had shifted north and had started launching Torpedoes at the [Proto Satan].

In response to this, the [Proto Satan] started going in reverse, slowly though, and at that point, Yuubari wondered what Kosuke was up to till she noticed him also breaking to the portside to allow the ship to be parallel with her own. 'Ah, I see. He's using his vessel to keep me concealed from the enemy fire as well as their line of sight. Our only main issue will be the Aircraft carriers, but if I get some good enough hits that won't be an issue anymore...' Yuubari thought as she pushed her Ship straight into the smoking wreckages. Part of her did wonder why these ships hadn't outright fired on Kosuke's vessel yet, especially the ones which made these wreckages since standard Siren tactics dictated that they bombard their enemies with laser fire.

That part of her got suppressed when she heard the sounds of laser weaponry raining down upon Kosuke's position.

While this happened, Yuubari sailed her Ship into the wreckages, allowing the smoke to conceal her while she kept looking around for the enemy carrier. 'If I'm right, then this smoke will be used as the cover for the enemy carrier to get out of Kosuke's firing range.' she thought to herself, narrowing her eyes as her ship sailed at half its total speed so it could avoid running aground by impacting the wrecked Siren ships. It didn't take her long to make her way through the wreckages, but with the way, her heart pounded through her chest while she looked around cautiously for signs of enemy aircraft, to Yuubari it felt much longer.

Finally, she escaped the remains of the fleet...

Finding herself face to face with the enemy carrier.

The sight almost caused Yuubari's heart to leap out her throat for a second before she quickly began analyzing the situation at hand. From what she could see, Yuubari found that the enemy carrier had angled itself in a diagonal angle, likely trying to regroup with the other fleet for protection due to it sailing in their direction. Not only that, but it looked to already be preparing to launch more Aircraft, although they didn't look ready yet, she bet that once they were launched their target would likely be herself since she was much closer, especially once they detected her position if they hadn't already. Her ship didn't have much in the way of Anti Air armament at the moment so if those Aircraft targeted her, then Yuubari would be screwed especially without her companion's AA support.

There were some other things she could count as upsides, though. The distance between them was about 5.5km right now, well within her Main Guns and Torpedo ranges so she could start bombarding it from her current position. She should take some time to position herself behind it though, so those Siren Battleships in the other fleet wouldn't be able to accurately hit her.

Thus, after closing the distance till there was about 4km between them and angling herself so that she could fire a full broadside salvo, Yuubari commenced her attack.

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!

All her guns opened fire at once, smoke briefly filling her vision as their AP rounds burst out from the barrels in a mighty splendor, straight towards the enemy carrier. She had aimed towards its runway, since all runways have to have to be made from a specific material that made them vulnerable to attack, this tactic has been the result of lessons learned during previous battles involving Aircraft Carriers. Additionally, Yuubari launched a bunch of Torpedoes from her Torpedo Tubes as well, her Guns firing again once they were fully loaded with the Shipgirl's intent to keep the Shelling going till the Siren carrier would be no more.

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!

Many of her rounds hit the enemy dead on, smacking right down into the Carrier's hull. Some of them hit the waters surrounding it though, but from what Yuubari saw some of her rounds had also started hitting the Runway, creating deadly-looking explosions which set many fires across the whole vessel. At this point, that was the best that Yuubari could ask for the moment, with the other fleet being preoccupied with the constant onslaught from Kosuke's ship Yuubari had to only focus on the enemy carrier and once it sunk, she could retreat into the wrecked fleet's smokescreen to hide from battleship barrages.

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!

BOOM-BOOM!

With the constant shelling from the [Yuubari]'s guns, as well as how some of its aircraft got blown to bits atop its own runway, Yuubari herself finally got to witness the whole Carrier screeching to an abrupt halt when her Torpedos landed their hits and detonated, likely damaging the ship's engine rooms from what she could tell from the areas they had hit. That just left it to be a sitting duck for her guns though, something which Yuubari IMMEDIATELY capitalized on, not wanting to be exposed out in open water any longer than necessary.

After a short few moments of nothing but constant bombardment from her guns, Yuubari grinned as she saw the Carrer erupt with smoke and fire, unable to handle the devastation she had wrought upon it any longer. She saw its hull split into many smaller pieces, most of them jutting upwards as the waters beneath it began to claim yet another vessel for its depths, storing them away for its own trophy collection. Just like many ships that had fallen in battle over the many decades of naval combat... something she had seen all too well...

Nevertheless.

Quickly shaking those thoughts away before they could make her go down memory lane (plus she didn't feel NEARLY as ready to confront those moments just yet, the wounds left behind too fresh for her to bear), Yuubari commenced turning her vessel back to chart a course back into the fleet wreckage. She refused to be anywhere near those Battleships in her current condition and the open ocean, it would have been downright suicide for her to try to get in close, no matter how much her commander tried to install within her the 'die by the enemy blade' thing the Sakura Empire had going on. Heck, she wouldn't even die by the blade, but by the merciless mortar shells of her foes before she could do any significant damage.

In any case, Yuubari looked to the ongoing battle and saw how Kosuke and his vessel apparently had things pretty much covered.


(POV Change - Kosuke)

Over with Kosuke, the male grinned to himself as he heard the sound of a Carrier going up in flames. The sound pretty much confirmed for him that the enemy carrier of the ruined fleet had been dispatched by Yuubari, which meant that the air attacks launched by the enemy Sirens would be weakened and further ones would have a harder time breaking through this superior AA defenses. It had happened not a moment too soon too, since according to his mental radar and internal calculations that Carrier had been about to launch another flight group from its deck, something which he would have been able to deal with eventually but it just added to his annoyance since, thanks to him only able to use one weapon at a time, Kosuke wouldn't be able to deal with the Battleships and Cruisers peppering him with their AP shells.

Plus, the Cruisers had switched to HE Shells in the middle of this engagement, probably in an attempt to start fires aboard his vessel.

Fortunately, with the recent fight group launched by the remaining Carrier shot down Kosuke didn't have to worry about that for a few good moments. He DID have to contend with those other vessels, as while [Proto Satan] had good Armor for a Battleship he didn't feel it wise to continuously withstand their torpedos and laser weaponry. He only did it before to act as a shield and cover for Yuubari to get into the smokescreen the ruined fleet had made, so now that that fleet was no longer a concern he decided to focus on delivering the final blow to the remaining fleet himself.

With a quick lookover, Kosuke saw that the fleet was about to try and retreat considering every ship turning to point their sterns at him. In the distance he could even see the same portals they came out of previously, something which caused an angry scowl to form on his features. 'Oh no you don't, motherfuckers!' he screamed within his minds' confines, promptly raising his hand and aiming the Main Guns at his fleeing enemies who were proceeding to cover their retreat by bombarding him with laser rounds. Not like he would let them get away though, and as a testament to this Kosuke...

Began to showcase just WHAT made [Proto Satan] so goddamn terrifying to face.

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!

In an instant, [Proto Satan] started to fire its next salvo from all its main guns, the 61cm weapons roaring to life with the shells that they launched. Each shell fell upon the retreating ships, dealing huge amounts of damage to their superstructures but otherwise not sinking them. That would be all well and dandy for the Sirens... if that was his only salvo he managed to get off, but thanks to the Auto Loading system being completely operational despite the damage [Proto Satan] had suffered, in one second a second Salvo got fired.

Then another in the following second.

And another.

And another.

Essentially, the auto-loading system was a high-quality one that he had put in during his second playthrough of the game. One which allowed him to rain down sheer HELL upon the enemy ship with the Drillship's massive main guns with the firing speed of machine gun fire. He'd only tested this out a couple of times previously, and according to his observations, EVERY gun on this vessel had been made to withstand this kind of punishment, hence why he didn't need to worry about damaging the vessel's guns. As a result, the whole skies seemingly lit up with dozens of 50 cal AP Shells which fell upon the enemy fleet, utterly DECIMATING them with the Cruisers being the first to go. Each of them exploded horrifically thanks to the bombardment that Kosuke launched, with the Battleships eventually following suit.

To him, it looked more like a bunch of mortars had detonated mixed with many geysers.

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!

"HAHAHAHAHA! TAKE THAT, SUCKERS! HAHAHAHAHA!" Sadistic, pleasure-filled laughter roared forth from Kosuke while he peppered the fleet with rounds, literally making a sea of flames before his very eyes. His right hand constantly shook back and forth like he was firing the AA weapons, eventually catching the Carrier in the Barrage judging by the last enemy blip on his Mental Radar vanishing. Its disappearance, combined with the same thing happening to the purple portals, resulted in Kosuke finally ceasing fire...

Revealing the utter DESTRUCTION the Ships' Guns had wrought upon the enemy.

"(Whistle)..." A low whistle escaped his lips at the sight, seeing so many utterly OBLITERATED Siren Ship remains scattered across the open ocean. "Talk about overkill...but considering how many torps they launched at me, I'd say it's a fair trade. Plus in World of Warships, I'd have sunk thousand times over with that many." Kosuke couldn't help but muse to himself while he calmed down from the recent high he got from BLASTING those Sirens to kingdom come, leaving no survivors the way he did. He also chuckled in embarrassment at being carried away like that too, it definitely hadn't been his usual behavior. 'Man, if my bros were to see that they'd never lemme hear the end of it...' he thought with a sweatdrop, feeling kind of ashamed at how wild he'd gotten just then.

Though he soon forced himself to look past it for the time being since what's done was done and there wouldn't be any taking back his actions. Thus, Kosuke retracted his control over [Proto Satan] after putting its speed at 0, letting his companion return to his side. It would probably take a while too, so he should probably start thinking about what he could and couldn't tell her, since from what she had seen there was no way Yuubari WOULDN'T have questions. Heck, there were likely going to be questions that he couldn't answer at the moment, therefore... 'Well, I'll deal with that soon enough, but the best way to go about this would be with honesty. A little honesty goes a long way, just like it did with my bros.' The male thought to himself.

Moments later, the [Yuubari] circled out from the wrecked fleet and into view while Kosuke ordered his Drones to start scavenging the enemy ships for parts and supplies. Eventually, the vessel once again pulled up alongside [Proto Satan]'s starboard side, making sure to avoid the saw blades built there. Even if they currently didn't work, they were still plenty of dangerous tools of killing after all.

As for its Shipgirl...

"The battle is over, for now." Yuubari declared while hopping through the air and landing atop the larger Warship's main deck, looking around to survey the damage done to it.

From what she could see, the ship's superstructure and main guns looked a little banged up, but the damage looked to be rather surface level, at least when compared with the portside armor which had taken the brunt of all the torpedoes for her and her vessel. Though the sight of it being operational still PALED in comparison to the first true 'look' she actually had at the massive Warship. Her eyes slightly widened as she looked around, fully taking [Proto Satan] in for the first time since she had awoken from her slumber earlier.

"I guess you like what you see," Kosuke remarked with a pleased smirk, pocketing his hands inside his sweat pants while his eyes shone with the pride he felt inside at her awestruck impression. As the builder behind the [Proto Satan], seeing someone so amazed by the sight of it kind of scratched this itch that was his ego a little, plus it helped that he had seen this Drillship as a project to be proud of. 'Now I wonder what she would react like when seeing the SATAN for the first time, or perhaps my Cruisers...' The male couldn't help but wonder.

Meanwhile, Yuubari finally drew her gaze back to him, and judging from the look on her face he could tell that she definitely approved of this vessel. "She is magnificent... I have never seen such a vessel. You call her '[Proto Satan]', do you not?"

"I call HIM [Proto Satan], yeah, and he's a beauty. Though not fully operational at the moment... I guess you have a lot of questions, am I right?" A nod of confirmation came from the Ship Girl, of course, she would have questions, heck her Tail currently was wagging from side to side in a manner that expressed her frantic desire to know more about the vessel, Kosuke noticed. Thus, he turned on his heels and proceeded to head inside the Superstructure. "Well, let's head on inside. [Proto Satan]'s not equipped with any lavish meeting rooms, so we'll just use the Infirmary. We can talk much easier there."

"Hai."


Chapter end!

Hello guys, hunter here, and welcome to the new Azur Lane chapter. Thanks so much for being patient, reviewing, fav and following this story of mine. Thanks to the reception, I think I'll be continuing it although there may not be an updated release schedule for a while due to IRL stiff and my other fics.

Also, regarding the use of Kosuke's ship the Proto Satan, implying that he could become a ShipBoy... it's a bit too early to tell honestly, cause there is a LOT of stuff surrounding him. Stuff that will likely shift the story's dynamic. Also glad that people are giving Warship Gunner some attention, that was one of the primary reasons why I wrote this fanfic. It's such an underrated game franchise that I WISH Koei could pick back up into either a remaster or remake, perhaps even sell a bundle that could include both games at the same time that aren't region-locked. THAT'D help fans play the trilogy if you ask me. As for Carriers and the other ships... well, you'll see. Hehehehehe...

Now, a few other points. If you noticed the way that each ship name has been put in Brackets that's due to me wanting to differentiate the ships and their Shipgirls initially, though I then just included Kosuke's ship in a 'why not?' moment. This'll be the case for the majority of the story, just so you know.

Additionally, I tried to use Yuubari's specs in World of Warships for this Naval Battle, something which I can't do with [Proto Satan] since she can't form her Rigging due to how badly the ship was damaged. This idea came as an inspiration from the Anime where it showcased Enterprise suffering difficulties with her Rigging early on, it made me wonder what would happen if the ship itself was so badly damaged that it couldn't be forced into their rigging, hence Yuubari's situation right now.

Furthermore, a bit of a more realistic take on Kosuke's first convo with a Shipgirl from the Sakura Empire, or at least that was what I was going for. Since it's basically Imperial Japan, I wanted to showcase Kosuke's caution about her as well as the country she comes from, due to the stuff they got up to during the second world war... none of it was pretty. Especially what they did during their occupation of the Phillippine Islands. Plus, considering the precarious situation he's in, it's not that hard to see why he would be o cautious about trusting Yuubari.

Now, regarding Yuubari... if she seems OOC or anything, I apologize. I could only find her voice lines in the game and I haven't seen her during many events she partook in. So I got the idea that she was mostly like a kuudere kind of character. If I'm wrong, plz lemme know and I could just retcon it as her being cautious around a stranger, which sounds like a logical thing to do in my eyes.

Anyways, hope you liked the chap and I'll see you in the next one.

PEACE OUT!