It is an all around pleasant day, with nary a cloud in the sky, and the docks bustling with life. Reprisal and Laffey are sitting on a bench under the shade of the pink trees in full bloom. Laffey is nearly asleep, listening to Reprisals reading with her head on her lap.

"Accordingly there are two men out of all mankind who are now qualified to answer that question asked 6,000 years ago in the Book of Ecclesiastes: "Who can fathom the soundless depths?" Those two men are Captain Nemo and myself."

Despite the grim question, Laffey is relaxing just fine, seemingly used to her friends' strange choices in literature, if not finding them calming.

As this is happening, Javelin approaches the two ships, with Unicorn tailing behind her. "Um, excuse me?"

I look up from my book, looking at the two of them, while Laffey only acknowledges them with a "hm?"

"What's wrong?"

Unicorn holds up a drawing of a Unicorn, "Have you seen U-chan?"

I shake my head, saying "No, sorry,", before I whisper to myself, "Damn, she already got the only Unicorn on the server."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Thank you anyways. C'mon Unicorn, let's check somewhere else."

Laffey looks up at them, seemingly bothered enough by their dilemma to wake up. "Are you in trouble? Laffey will help."

The girls are walking up a grassy hill, after Amazon gave them directions as to where she last saw Unicorn headed.

As we reach the top, we see a ship standing along the cliff, holding U-chan in her hands.

'Huh, a stuffed animal. Laffey owes me 20$.'

Unicorn runs towards her, taking the stuffed animal from her hands. "U-chan! Thank you for finding her, Miss!"

She shakes her head, seemingly uncomfortable with the attention, "I did nothing to deserve thanks."

The woman looks uncomfortable with the confrontation, probably thinking she would be alone up here. 'I wonder why she's alone. Most ships stay with their sisters, or at least with a friend.

With her attire, she's most certainly from the Sakura Empire, but why is she here?'

Javelin runs towards the cliff, enamored by the view. "Such a beautiful sight! You must be really good at finding spots like this, Miss!"

The unnamed woman turns her head to the ocean, seemingly only now noticing its beauty.

'I guess great views are better appreciated with company. But where do I recognize her from? I know I've seen her around before.'

"I'm Javelin, and this is Laffey, Unicorn, and Reprisal. What's your name, miss?"

Javelin walks towards her, reaching her hand out for a handshake.

'I remember now!'

She takes the handshake, and I call out to her. "Right, isn't your name-"

Something blinds my view for a moment, and when I can see again, she is gone.

'What was that? Everyone else reacted as if something almost hit them while swooping by, but…'

I look around, seeing nothing in the sky, not even a stray pigeon or eagle.

'There's nothing around. Maybe an illusion? Either way she's gone, I should tell command about this.'

As I go to descend the cliffs, I realize something, 'What would come from me sharing this? It would only escalate the tensions further. Hm… Yeah, I would rather see my friends again.'

I walk back up to the girls, sitting in the grass. Laffey lays next to me, using my lap as a pillow.

"Do you think it's pretty, Laffey?"

"mhmm. It's… nice."

I bring out my recent reading material, reading another passage to Laffey; "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun."

"Is that from the bible?"

I nod, despite knowing she can't see it. "Yes."

She turns to look up at me, "why? you're atheist."

I shrug my shoulders, "True, but the lessons to learn are still there."

She looks back at the view, responding "hm… makes sense."

I put the book down and pet Laffey between her ears. She smiles and leans into it. She's adorable when she's like this.

I hear Javelin gasp to my right, and look over to her. "What's wrong?"

"Sirens! Let's go, now!"

I look ahead, and sure enough there's a fleet of siren ships approaching the base. I shake Laffey awake and follow Javelin, who's already gotten halfway down the mountain, with Unicorn trailing behind.

'Oh boy, shit's about to hit the fan, isn't it?'

I jump into the water, my rigging materializing behind me. It looks just like Yorktown's. However, As the cubes from my rig reach me, you can see some purple mixed in with the blue. 'I still don't know why that is. Eh, whatever. They can talk about how weird I am all they want, I'll still fight.'

A rifle appears in my right hand, the stock resting comfortably on my shoulder. 'Ah yes, my beloved sasu-no-tsuki, as named by Takao. Or, as I call it, the Moon Piercer.'

"Reprisal, how do you shoot so accurately?" Laffey is next to me, firing off shells are a siren ship's turrets.

I focus fire on the same ship, a well placed shot piercing straight through the hull, before firing off two planes at the next ship.

"It's simple, you only need one eye to aim down the sights of your weapon. Past that, it's practice."

She nods before moving up, saying, "Oh, okay."

I stay in the backlines, taking shots at ships from a distance, keeping a safe place for my aircrafts to come back and restock.

The occasional siren aircraft makes it through someone's AA, but my shot strikes true, blasting them to bits when that happens.

As the last siren ship is sunk, everyone settles into victory, relaxing and heading back to base to be patched up by Vestal.

As Laffey moves past me, I grab her shoulder, stopping her.

She turns to look at me, concerned. "What's wrong?"

"Something doesn't feel right, like… like this is the calm before the storm."

Laffey takes my warning to heart, trusting my intuition.

Hornet just reached the docks to congratulate everyone. 'Well, I suppose Reprisal should be allowed on more missions. She showed her worth here. Wait, is that her and Laffey out there? The battle's over.'

'That rock out there… something feels off about it. Like there's a blind spot in my vision I can't surmount.'

As I ponder this, I see Kaga and Akagi walk out from behind the blind spot in my vision, as sakura petals quickly fill it once more.

'The blind spot out there is physical!? And why are they here, things are at all time peaks of tension, right behind the sirens?'

"One faction restricts itself to only using the powers of mankind, that's you. The faction that will push past those limits with siren technology, that's us. Sakura Empire and Ironblood."

Planes fly off their carriers, as they look down upon Azur Lane. "Behold and Tremble!"

All the other ships quickly get back into the fight, as Laffey and I begin to back up towards base. 'Better to wait for reinforcements. Though, as a carrier with the Moon Piercer… hehe, Air to Air combat is easy. Two on one not so much, but I just need to leave an opening for Hornet to arrive.'

I send out my planes, letting them tear into the enemy aircrafts that get near the base. Any that get near me are taken out by Moon Piercer.

I see Kaga lock eyes on me, and I do the same in return.

I barely glance in Laffey's direction, "Laffey, head back to the others."

She shakes her head, moving a little ahead of me. "No, Laffey will help you."

'I don't want her to get hurt. Wait, why am I so worried, she's been fighting longer than me! She can help.'

I shake my head with a smile on my face. "Alright, let's do this."

My aircrafts circle back around to focus on Kaga as she pulls out a kitsune mask.

I fire a shot off at her as she puts on the mask, but it is intercepted by an aircraft. 'Dammit.'

As the mask is burned up, her aircraft transforms into a giant kitsune, making its entrance with a howl. 'The fuck?! I wish I could do that!'

It sends forth a fleet of aircraft at Unicorn flying above me on… 'a Unicorn!? Fuck, I did lose that bet! Now I owe Laffey 20$!'

U-chan turns to fly away, and I fire at the aircrafts attempting to intercept. 'On second thought, I don't want a kitsune like that. Imagine the shit you'd have to deal with. Heh, Hornet would like that pun.'

"Watch out!" Laffey slams into me, sending me tumbling away from her. As I turn around to address her, she gets hit by torpedoes, taking the hit for me.

"Laffey, no!" I rush towards her, yet she is still standing, although clearly wounded, with her left arm bleeding from the damage. 'Dammit! I should've been more aware, I got her hurt for my own negligence!'

She shakes her head, turning to return to base. "I'm… fine. Unicorn… needs you."

'S-shes right.' I turn, firing rounds at the speeding aircrafts, although keeping a better eye on my surroundings this time.

I notice the girl from earlier rushing me, and I jump out of the way of her attack.

She fires a torpedo at me, and I fire at it, detonating it between us.

'What's up with them? We're supposed to work together, not fight!'

She poses with her sword, pointing her blade at me. "I am Ayanami, prepare to taste the power of the Demon!"

She sprints at me, and I put my rifle up to stop her sword strike from cleaving me down the middle, but Javelin blocks the hit for me. "Go! I'll deal with her, you deal with Kaga!"

"Y-yeah, right!" I bolt off, rushing towards Kaga's kitsune while firing round after round at it. I send my aircrafts to follow up on my assault, and the kitsune launches many fiery projectiles from her tails, destroying my fleet in moments. 'What the- what is that? The flames aren't red, they're a pale blue? They almost hurt a little to look at, too.'

"Is that it? Was I a fool to expect a challenge?" Kaga interrupts my train of thought by sending her own fleet after me, all the while overwhelming me with a storm of those strange flames.

I attempt to find a window to fire at her, but the moment I see one a flame hits me and sends my head into a frenzy, like there are a million things on my mind, but nothing to focus on. 'What is this?!'

I keep backing up, looking for a window to shoot. When I finally see a chance to fire at her, a flame slams into my side, sending my skipping across the ocean towards the kitsune.

'Nonono!'

The kitsune grabs me in its maw, lifting me into the air and beginning to bite down on my rigging.

As this is happening, only one thing is on my mind; "Akagi, why?!".

I hear what I think is Akagi outside yelling at someone, followed by the sounds of an argument.

As they bite down on me, I can feel my hull get pierced through by the teeth, and their breath makes my hairs stand on end. 'NO!'

Just before she can fully turn me into dog chow, an airplane comes piercing through the beasts throat, sending me into the open waters once more.

In the distance, I can faintly hear someone speaking. "Enterprise, engage!" 'So big sis did make it after all. Sadly, it looks like I won't be able to greet her.'

I sink into the depths, all sound slowly fading away as I sink deeper and deeper. I can't move very well, and my rigging is only serving to make me sink. 'Funny, they always told me that it lets us float.

Sorry Mom, aunts, Takao, Atago, Akagi, and Laffey. I did something stupid and reckless, and now it's biting me in the ass. Heh, biting.

God, Hornet's humor has rubbed off on me.'

My consciousness fades as I sink into the soundless depths of the ocean.

I wake up inside a weird green goo, submerged fully, yet still able to breath. 'Am I alive? Weird, I could've sworn I sank too deep and too far from any subs. Well, at least I'm not dead, but where am I?'

I take a look around, seeing a futuristic room with dark blue walls covered in small beams of blue energy flowing through them. There is a desk next to the entrance with a screen above it, though no pc to plug into. 'Or stand for the screen either, it's just floating there.'

*Ding!*

I fall out of the pod, the liquid having drained during my scan of the room.

'On your feet now, Reprisal. You've got shit to do.'

I shakily stand on my feet, leaning on a nearby table for support, before making my way out the room. 'Now which direction, left or right… fuck it, right.'

As I make my way through the compound looking largely the same as the prior room, I notice a door marked by a Hammer-head shark. 'Weird, but maybe it could help.' I knock on the door, awaiting a response.

The door opens up, revealing a person with bright yellow eyes, pale white skin, a white cropped sailor uniform with a black collar, yellow accents and neckerchief, and black shorts. 'Wha- is she a Siren? Well, not like I could do anything inside enemy lines, so best to avoid conflict.'

(without the rigging)

"Hello, I just woke up in a pod, could you tell me where I am?"

She looks at me like she saw a ghost, almost seeming to quake in fear, before regaining her composure. "Ah! You're Reprisal, right? I'm Purifier."

"Yes, I'm Reprisal, do I know you from somewhere?" 'I have a strange sense of familiarity looking at her.'

She shakes her head, before saying "No, I don't think so? We found you floating on the surface of the ocean, and brought you here to heal, so not like you were someone I know."

I can't get over that strange sense of familiarity, but move on regardless. "So, in that case, how do I get home? Wait, you said I was floating? Last I recall, I was sinking into the ocean."

She shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know, but you should've floated regardless, unless you had iron balls to weigh you down or something."

She walks past me, before beckoning me with her hand. "C'mon, let's go."

I cross my arms under my chest, "Where?"

She smiles and shakes her head, "To get your clothes, dummy. You're still naked from the pod."

She keeps walking, leaving me to sulk behind her in my nude shame.

After we grabbed my clothes (all fixed up, btw), we went to meet Tester, the person who could get me home.

On the way there, I noticed a few rooms dedicated to relaxation, like a gaming room, library, and even a cinema.

Purifier knocks on a door with a stingray on it, "Tester, Reprisal is awake!"

"Coming!"

I hear the shuffling of papers, before the door opens, revealing another siren.

(without the rigging)

Tester has a similar response to Purifier, "Welcome to my laboratory, as well as the Siren base as a whole. Though, I'm sure you already deduced that, right Reprisal?"

"Yes. Pardon the question, but why did you save me? Don't you desire humanities destruction, and therefore are our reasons to exist?" 'Well, most of us.'

She gives a slight shake of the head, "You may think so, but that isn't true in the slightest. As for why we saved you, it's simple, really." She leans in close to me, staring into my eyes. 'It feels like she's looking straight through me.' "The reason… is that you're special."

"Really?"

She pulls back, gesturing towards me with a hand. "Yes. You are the first and only shipgirl to ever be born from a pregnancy, let alone without a father." Although Tester stops there, it almost looks like she wants to say more, but she quickly covers that up by turning back to her screen, typing away.

"Anyways, what you do from here is your choice. Either you return home now, or you can stay and roam around the base with Purifier, the choice is yours."

I look at the Purifier to see if she's serious, and she seems to be. "Hold on, why? Not to be ungrateful, but why would you let me do this?"

Tester sits back in her chair, turning to face me. "Fine, you're not gonna let this go, are you? Sigh, basically, we don't want to destroy humanity, we just want the data."

"The… data? Like, information?"

She nods her head, "Yes! Information is power, and for us especially. We want to produce as much unique data as possible, and meaningful combat is a very rich form of that data."

I'm shocked still at that, "That's… huh. This war against the Sirens makes a lot more sense now. But why do you need the data?"

She turns to look at me, "To prevent a catastrophe from occurring to humanity. That's all you can know for now, just know that we're on your side."

She hands me a small remote with two buttons, one blue and one red. "Anyways, for your way home, here's the device that'll take you there. Press the blue button to make a portal home, and the red to make a portal here."

I grab the remote, looking at her confused. "Are you sure you're comfortable giving me this?"

She nods, "Of course. I know you wouldn't do anything brash, after all." 'Why is she so confident? Does it have something to do with this sense of deja-vu?'

"Have a safe trip. Oh, and Reprisal? I have a question for you. Does existence have meaning? If so, does meaning have meaning?" She turns away once more, calling out "Anyways, that's all. No need to answer, just think about it."

'Such a strange question, of course existence has meaning… wait, does it? I mean, plants are plants, life is life, and love is love. But does a rock have any purpose to it, or is it just a rock? Could the same be said for people- hold on, I'm going on a tangent here. I need to go home.'

I shake my head, and open the portal after saying goodbye to the Sirens. I walk through to find myself in the bathroom of my room. 'Huh.'

I walk out to see my aunts and Mom in the room. Mom is crying into her pillow, Enterprise is trying to comfort her despite her own tears, and Hornet is in her own bed crying as well.

Enterprise turns toward the sound of the door opening, seeing me and freezing. Mom, noticing the sudden pause in her, turned to see what was going on. They both grabbed me into a hug, before Hornet noticed me as well and joined in.

Mom passed out into my arms, seemingly exhausted from the emotional rollercoaster that was today.

'I really hope they don't question my appearance from the bathroom, or this could get bad.'

After a few minutes in a hug, Enterprise and Hornet finally let me go, and take Mom from me. Enterprise points outside, telling me in a raspy voice "Laffey misses you.". I nod my head, going out to find her.

'Crapcrapcrap, she must've been so worried!'

I run into the park, finding her on the bench I read to her at last, holding my book close to her chest. She is being comforted by Javelin and Unicorn, and I sprint to her and wrap her in a hug.

Testers question was strange. Does existence have meaning? I'm not sure, I mean if your Mom was sick, your existence would have meaning, in the sense that you mean to help her survive. But in another sense, beyond preconceived notions, does anything have meaning?

…

No, nothing does. But does that mean I have no meaning? Of course not. After all, I am not a rock that merely exists, I have my own perspective and view on life, my own experiences, and my own world. As long as it exists, I will continue to persevere. After all, I will protect my world, just as Mom does hers; in protecting me. - Reprisals Journal