5844. Don't leave World of Warships playing in the summoning room.
5844a. On that note, please welcome aircraft carrier Hakuryu to the base.
Yokosuka
"Well, we got the supplies, the sensors, and the data from when we summoned our rigging. What's next?" Yubari asked her twin.
"Now we need to find a Kanmusu bigger than a light cruiser to compare the data to."
"Who's available?"
"Kongo, Tosa, Nagato, Mutsu, Ryujo, Taiho, and the Mogamis'."
"That's it?"
"Remember, RIMPAC's going on. A good third of our heavies are in Hawaii, and the rest are out on patrols."
"Oh, yeah. Hey, why aren't we there? We haven't been to Hawaii for a while now."
"Because the state of Hawaii banned us. They really didn't like being included in your "End the World" device."
"Now I remember. back to the experiment." Yubari paused, musing over the list of names. "Let's go with Taiho. She's the least likely to either shoot us, or report us to the Admiral."
"Good idea."
The two light cruisers reached Taiho's room. Yubari held up her hand to knock, only for her twin to grab her.
"Wait! Don't you hear the music?" both girls were silent, and sure enough, the sound of a violin could be heard from the other side of the door.
"Crap. We can't ask Taiho. She'll kill us if we interrupt her practice."
"No, she won't. Besides, it's not like we have another option. Sure, Mogami's gullible enough, but her sisters are getting too good at keeping her from getting caught up in these experiments."
"But, remember what happened to Kasagi?"
"Look, she was annoying as heck. We'll be fi-"
"Can I help you two?" A new voice cut through the conversation like a knife, and the two cruisers jumped back as the door opened to reveal a very irritated looking Taiho.
"Oh, hi. We didn't know you heard us." Yubari stammered.
"Yubari, people heard you in Tokyo. What do you want?"
"We just need you to come down to the summoning room and summon your rigging while we record you."
"Huh?"
"South Dakota came up with the theory that different ships emit different energies when summoned, depending on displacement. She hasn't had time to experiment, so she gave us a call." one Yubari started.
"We've already recorded ourselves summoning our rigging, so we want to see it there's a difference where a Kanmusu with a larger displacement summons hers." the other finished.
Taiho looked thoughtful. "Just summon my rigging? No crazy rays or big red buttons?"
"Just summon it while we record you, and then de-summon it. Shouldn't take longer than ten minutes."
"Fine. But if this goes south, the two of you just volunteered to be target practice."
"Sure, let's go."
The summoning room.
Taiho looked over the sensors and monitors, wondering if she had made a mistake. "These do what, again?"
"They'll monitor the energy output when you summon your rigging. What frequency, wavelength, etc."
"Then what's with the World of Warships?"
"Oh, that's mine." one of the Yubari's said, sheepishly. "I had some down time earlier."
"Let's get started. The sooner we're done, sooner you can go back to your violin."
Taiho stood in the middle of the chamber, closed her eyes, and summoned her rigging. The usual blinding light and flying sparks filled the area, but as her rigging manifested, a huge bolt of lightning shot out from Yubari's computer and struck the cache of supplies that were housed in the room. Taiho barely had time to raise her flight deck to shield herself before the room filled with smoke.
"Darn it, Yubari. You said there'd be no explosions!"
"I don't know what happened!? Everything was fine when we did it."
"Well, at least nothing's on fir-, hey girls, we were the only ones in here, right?"
"Yeah, why?" asked Taiho.
"Then, why am I picking up something in the summoning pool?"
The three shipgirls looked to the pool, dread rapidly overtaking them as splashing was heard from the smoke.
"Get help. NOW!"
One of the two cruisers bolted, while the other crouched behind the desk. Taiho raised her crossbow, and taking a deep breath, stepped into the pool. The smoke was blinding, but whatever had appeared was making more than enough noise for her to get a fix on its position. Suddenly, a silhouette loomed out of the smoke, but before Taiho could fire, it jumped back with an Eeep!
Taiho looked down as the smoke cleared, revealing a young woman sitting down in the water, trembling. While she was pale, she clearly was no Abyssal. Taiho lowered her crossbow, just as all four battleships on base burst through the door, rigging summoned and weapons ready.
'Wait!" Taiho yelled, standing between the battlewagons and the newcomer. "I think we're good."
Seeing that the mystery girl was not an Abyssal, they lowered their weapons, while Taiho knelt back down to face her.
"Hello, my name's Taiho. What's yours?"
The girl looked at Taiho, and stammered 'Aircraft carrier Hakuryu reporting for duty."
Later
"So, how did this happen?" asked Goto as Taiho and Ryujo showed the new girl around the base.
"I had an open tab on my laptop, and MSSB must have done the rest." answered Yubari.
"Taiho and Ryujo are gonna look after her until Hosho gets back from Sasebo." the other continued.
"Very well. Though next time, keep the computer games in your room."
