Chapter 22
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September 13th, 2023 - Early morning.
Inside one of the four cylinders containing the fleet's soon to awaken 'Dolls'.
'... The level of sensory data traffic is... much more intense than I originally expected it would be,' Metis observed as she struggled to process the near endless influx of new data flooding her wisdom cube and nanomachine enhanced neural network processors. 'Is, is this what it's like for humans, for shipgirls... for Sirens? To feel hundreds of thousands of things all at once like this? Countless sights, smells, sounds... all of the varying sensations going through my body. It's all, almost too much for me to handle...'
For a being who, until only just a few hours ago, existed solely as an advanced artificial intelligence without a body and all the context that came with having one, it was only natural that Metis would suddenly be overwhelmed by the sudden tidal wave of information hitting her practically all at once like this. Taking a look at her small, slender and pale hand in the quickly draining tube her body was being 'tuned' in, Metis couldn't help but smile and ponder how truly strange yet simultaneously wonderful it was to realize that what she was looking at was, in fact, 'her' body. 'Even the act of physically smiling at the recognition of such thoughts were new and exciting for her. Likewise, there was also the still somewhat strange sense of 'weight' that having a body brought with it as well. 'Hm, that reminds me... What will the others think when they see the new me? Ah, and I can touch them now, and the Commander too... What will they all feel like, I wonder...'
And, just as she finished having those thoughts, the cylinder finally opened up and Metis' electric blue eyes truly glimpsed the world around her in all its glory for the very first time.
'...Oh, and everyone is here already. Right then.'
After the briefest moment of taking in the sight of her fleet sisters and Commander's silly looks of shocked awe, curiosity and wonder, it was finally time for the stoic electronic fairy to make her debut.
"Ah, good morning everyone."
Utter silence was the only reply Metis would receive.
"... Is seeing me in the flesh, as they say, really so strange a sight for all of you?" Metis finally asked, eyebrow raised slightly in genuine curiosity. Truthfully, and despite half expecting this reaction, Metis still couldn't help being amused by their silly expressions.
"...Metis? Is, is that really you?" Liam, being the first person to break out of the shocked and awed silence, asked while pointing at the 'Doll' in front of them.
"Hm? Well, who else would I be other than myself?" Metis replied, head tilted in mild confusion before realization dawned on her. "Ah, I see. I take it that my being the first Doll the most surprising thing to you all?"
A chorus of nods.
"Fair enough, but Akashi did say there would be pleasant surprises waiting for you all today, did she not?"
"...Well, she did," Saratoga began. "but... I don't think we were expecting 'you' to be the surprise."
"Fair, but I think that is exactly what makes it such a good surprise, no?"
"...Hah! She's got us there," New Jersey said with a hearty laugh and bright smile.
"...She, has a body now?" Eldridge asked as she, Laffey and Anchorage eagerly but cautiously came closer to take a better look at the new Metis. "...Touch? Hug?"
"...Pardon?"
"Oh, I think she wants to give you a hug," Liam guessed before turning to the little zapper in question. "Is that right?"
Eldridge nodded. "...Hug!"
Metis smiled. "Well, why not? Come then, hug away!"
"...Hug!"
"...Anchorage, wants to hug Metis too...!"
"...Mm! Hug..!"
Not even a second later, Metis found herself being glomped from all sides in three pleasant embraces.
"...!" 'Oh my! So, so this is what a hug feels like...! It's, so warm...! And you're all so soft... and smell good...!' Needless to say, but all of the sudden sensory overload was quite a bit much for Metis to handle right now, and it showed quite obviously on her face.
"...She looks like she's high or somethin'," Alabama noted with a slight, amused smile. "Kinda funny too, seein' how serious she normally looks n all."
"Well, considering that she's never been able to touch anything until literally just now, I can't say I'm too surprised by her reaction," Jean Bart said. "Didn't expect they'd all just suddenly glomp the poor girl though."
"You alright there, Metis?" Liam asked, trying his very best not to chuckle at the sight as he came over.
"...Ye, yes. I... I'm alright. I just didn't expect so much attention. Ah, but this has me curious though..."
"Hm? What about?"
"...Do, do you think I could hug you too, Commander?" asked an usually shy and ever so slightly blushing Metis.
"...I mean, if you want," Liam said with a shrug. "Hug away."
"Oh! Metis will hug Commander, too? Hug! Warm! Go, go...!" Eldridge cheerfully said, giving the newly awakened Doll her full support/permission... but not before adding her one and only real condition that is. "Oh, but Commander's lap is mine!"
"...Oh, I'm so taking a picture of this!" New Jersey said with a smile, whipping out her tablet and getting its camera app ready.
...
*SSSQQQUUUEEEZZZEEE*
"...!" '...Wow...!'
Hugging Liam and being hugged by Liam was an experience worlds apart from Eldridge and the others' hugs. For one thing, instead of being soft and warm...
'...Hot. And, firm? He smells different than the others too... It's strange, but not unpleasant. And, no matter how tightly I hold him, I can't seem to get enough for some reason. He may not be especially tall for a human male of his age the fact remains that, now that I have this new body, I can now fully appreciate those details in ways I never could before.'
Fortunately for Metis, and every Doll really, limiters have been put in place to keep her enormous strength in check lest she unintentionally go overboard due to their overwhelming emotions, like now.
"Man, you got one heck of a grip there, huh? Oh, but you're nice and cool though. Heh. Feels nice," Liam noted as he patted Metis on the head. "Still, I didn't think you and Akashi would actually get this far this fast."
"That's only because Akashi and I already had everything we needed," Metis answered. "If anything, we only managed to get this far because of you finding this island and its hidden R&D facilities in the first place."
"So, does this mean that you aren't part of the Liberty or island anymore?" Belfast asked, coming over with the other shipgirls and standing next to Liam to his right.
"No, nothing's really changed as far as that goes," Metis replied, shaking her head. "I'm still linked to both of them via my auxiliary mainframe terminals. It's just that now, thanks to the wisdom cube housing all of my source code and core funcitons, this body is now what you might call a 'mobile central mainframe'."
"I see. I'm glad everything worked out then. Wait, everything did work out, right? No issues?" Liam asked, looking between Metis and Akashi, not that he really got any of that highly technical stuff. Still, that didn't mean he couldn't be worried about one of his precious comrades.
"No problems nya! Metis-chan and I checked and rechecked, tested and retested every step at least a few dozen times over before getting to this point nya! I mean, we wouldn't have made Metis-chan the first Doll otherwise."
Liam nodded. "Makes sense. So, what about the other three? Are they ready to wake up too?"
"Hm? Hai nya! We're good to go any time nya!" Akashi replied.
"Oh, before that, quick question," Liam interrupted, looking at Metis.
"Hm? What is it"
"Okay, so what happens when we need to go out on missions? Do you just leave your body here then, or what?"
"Ah, right. Well, aside from my 'main body' being an actual body instead of a mainframe or terminal now, nothing's actually changed with respect to my duties running Outer Heaven's administration and/or management, nor would it change my duties as your adjutant aboard the Liberty either. If anything, I can just do everything more efficiently thanks to the increased dedicated computational processing abilities granted by the wisdom cube my source code is housed in."
"Alright, I guess that answers that," Liam said, relieved. 'Well, not like I get how all this crazy sci-fi stuff works, but if she says there's nothing to worry about then all I can do is trust her and Akashi's hard work.'
Metis nodded. "Yes, and thanks to the heavily modified combat android bodies that we Dolls have not only are we super durable, we also now have the ability for limited self repair and maintenance. Best of all is that, as long as my wisdom cube is left undamaged, we can be implanted into new bodies if it takes more damage than can be repaired."
"Whoa! Seriously!?" Saratoga exclaimed.
Metis nodded.
"Well, well. That is certainly a convenient feature," Prinz Eugen noted.
"...One hell of an advantage, that's for sure," Jean Bart said.
"Perhaps, but that is perhaps the only genuine advantage Dolls have over shipgirls really. After all, based on the combat data gathered over the last few weeks along with the records on 'first generation shipgirls', your own self-repair and regeneration abilities are so advanced that, short of having your head literally taken off or wisdom cube destroyed, there is very little you couldn't recover from given enough time. Likewise, our overall base specs and growth potentials aren't quite as high as yours. Dolls also lack the rigging aspect of your bodies as well as the subspace pockets you store them in. As far as being pure combat assets are concerned, shipgirls are just plain superior to dolls in most respects. That said, we were designed to handle mid to close quarters battles and special operations anyway," Metis clarified before suddenly remembering. "Ah, wait. That's right. To make up for our lack of having riggings, subspace pockets and having smaller scale materialization abilities, we Dolls do possess other, more unique abilities better suited for smaller special operations like remote hacking or optical camouflage, for example."
"And they were also made to be bodyguards for Shikikan too nya!" Akashi added.
"I see. So these Dolls were created to 'fill in the gaps' our fleet might have since we shipgirls were expressly designed as autonomous weapons systems with limited and/or situational application outside of maritime battle operations, right?" Prince of Wales deduced, momentarily forgetting she was wearing in a skimpy maid themed bikini.
Metis nodded. "Precisely. Case in point. My having a physical body, personal reasons aside, now allows me access to the remote hacking abilities I mentioned earlier."
"... Anchorage doesn't get it..."
"Eldridge, is lost too..."
"...Zzzz..."
Metis chuckled. "All it really means is that I can do more to help you all out now. Well, me and your new, soon to wake up fleet sisters that is."
"Oh! Well, then Anchorage is happy!"
"Mm! Eldridge too!"
"Indeed," Belfast added. "Oh, just curious. Do you and the other Dolls need to eat or drink like we do?"
Metis shook her head. "Since our wisdom cubes supply us with the bulk of the power we need to operate and stay active not really, no. Additionally, the nanomachines in our bodies can also convert ambient ether in the air and/or sunlight into extra energy if needed as well. But, if the mood strikes us, and/or assuming it's part of our duties such as for checking for poisons we can, but only just enough for our bodies to completely break them down and convert them into energy. Ah, we do need to sleep for at least four to five hours a night in order to recharge and run our daily maintenance cycles though."
"...Sleep is awesome," Laffey randomly said with a nod, whipping out an oxy-cola from, somewhere, and happily chugging it down without a care in the world.
"Anyway, I think that's enough questions for now," Liam said, looking at the verdette, cat eared repair ship. "Akashi?"
"Hai nya!"
*tap, tap, TAP!*
And just like that, the room once again grew quiet as the excitement rose to levels so high and thick that you could practically cut it with a knife as everyone impatiently waited for the other three large cylinders to finally open up and show them their soon to wake up fleet sisters.
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'...Hmm?'
Looking around the room once the fog of sleep finally lifted after coming out of her cylinder, a girl of average height and build with long straight blonde hair styled in two long twintails held up with a pair of simple red ribbons, a lightly tanned complexion, lively violet eyes and three distinctive 'whisker' marks on each cheek, slowly took in the sight of each and every other person in the room until her innocent gaze landed on the tall man with slightly messy grey hair looking back at her.
"...Big brother..?"
A very slight pause, and then...
"...Huh...!?" Liam sputtered, awkwardly pointing at himself. "...Who, me?"
The blonde nodded. "Big Brother!"
Meanwhile, somewhere in the back of the gathered group, Unicorn stiffened up hearing someone else use her, up to that point, exclusive pet name for her beloved 'Big Brother' before what the blonde said really sank in...
"..."
... and then, three, two, one... and...!
"But, but! Big Brother is Unicorn's Big Brother!" the petite purplette declared as she suddenly shot forward and stood in front of Liam with her arms outstretched for some reason.
The violet eyed blonde just blinked and cutely tilted her head, not quite understanding the purplette's actions and instead just addressed her next. "Big Sister!"
...
"...Eh...?"
"...Pfft!"
"...Ohoh?"
Needless to say, of all the possible responses and scenarios Unicorn could have expected, being called 'Big Sister' was not one of them. New Jersey had to do her best not to burst out laughing while Eugen raised a slender brow with an amused smirk. As for the rest? Well, lots of chatter about the new fleet sister and Unicorn's surprise attempt to (cutely) try and 'stake her claim'.
"...Big, Sister? M, me?" Unicorn dumbly asked, pointing at herself and tightly clutching Uni in her other hand, much to its apparent annoyance as it tried to, in vain, struggle out of her grasp.
The twintailed blonde nodded, smiling without a care in the world. "Yes. Big Sisters. Lots of Big Sisters! Hello by the way!"
"O, oh! He, hello...!" Unicorn hastily responded, much to the amusement of the others and Uni running around her legs.
"Not that I'm not enjoying the show, but what should we call you?" Metis asked, wanting to keep things moving things along.
"Huh? Oh, Natsuha! Natsuha's name is Natsuha!" the now named blonde cheerfully replied before turning the question back on Metis and the others. "What are my new Big Sisters' and Big Brother' names?"
... One round of introductions later.
"...And, Big Brother is named Liam, right? Natsuha remembers! Oh, what about the other two Little Sisters? Will we wake them up now?" asked an excited Natsuha, happy she managed to both remember and repeat everyone's names, and on the first try too.
"Oh, yeah. We still need to wake them up, huh?" Akashi said before turning back to her keyboard and quickly tapping a certain sequence of key strokes. "And, there nya! With this, the last two will wake up and then we can grab lunch nya!"
"Oh, nice! And wait, lunch? Oh, right! That's why Algerie and Azuma aren't here, huh?"
Belfast nodded. "They both asked if I could leave lunch to them, and I'm very curious to see what sort of Vichya and Sakuran dishes we'll be having too."
"Oh, nice!" Liam said. "But, yeah. You'd think I'd be used to how much stuff you shipgirls come out already knowing."
"To be honest, it's a trait that surprises us as well," Belfast agreed with a chuckle. "At any rate, the last two cylinders are opening up."
"Yay! Little Sisters!" Natsuha happily cheered.
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'Oh? Now that's interesting,' thought the Doll with long and straight dark blue hair, pale skin and lilac, pupiless eyes as she noted the strange 'ether lines' connecting herself, the other Dolls, and shipgirls to the young man at the front of the group. 'And they're red too. Heh, so the the so-called red string of fate really exists, hm? Who knew.'
Just then.
"Oh, Little Sister's eyes are glowing!" Natsuha observed. "And they're a super pretty too! But, why are they glowing though?"
"...Um, do you mind stepping back a bit?"
"Oh, sorry. Um, hello! And Natsuha is Natsuha! What's Little Sister's name?"
"Me? Oh, I'm Hibari. Um, and hello to you, too. Natsuha-chan, Onii-sama,onee-samatachi," the now named Hibari greeted back in a polite, gentle voice while offering them a an equally polite bow.
"And what about you?" Natsuha then asked the slightly taller Doll with a darker tan than her, lithe athletic build, straight shoulder length mint green hair and amber eyes standing behind Hibari with an amused smile on her face as she watched her new sisters' antics.
"Yo, I'm Fuu. Nice to meetcha!"
"Hey, I'm just curious. But how do you three know your names already?" Liam asked.
"Oh, that. I simply felt that Dolls coming up with their own names would help define and strengthen their senses of self and identity. To that end, I had them work on coming up with them after their successful activation," Metis explained.
"I see. Well, I think they all picked some really good names for themselves," Liam said with an impressed nod.
"Indeed," Akagi nodded before turning to the the three Dolls in question. "By the way, how are your names written, seeing as they all seem to be Sakuran."
"Hm? Oh, yeah they are! And Natsuha's name is written with the kanji for 'summer flower'!" replied the energetic, twintailed, violet eyed blonde.
"My name is written with the kanji for 'beautiful sky'," Hibari answered next in a gentle voice.
"Mine's written with the kanji for 'supporting wings'," Fuu said in an energetic, friendly voice.
"...So pretty...!" Unicorn quietly said, eyes literally twinkling with innocent delight and admiration.
"Yeah, they really are," Liam agreed before turning back to look at the shipgirls who also had roots from the Sakura Empire. "What about you all? What do your names mean?"
"Hm? Well, my name is wrtten with the kanji for 'Red Castle'," Akagi said, proudly puffing out her ample bosom.
"... 'Great Phoenix'!" Taihou followed up, proudly puffing out her own (even more) ample bosom.
"... 'Successive Waves', yes!" Ayanami declared.
"Hatsuzuki means something like, 'New Moon in the Autumn'," said the equally petite, fellow Sakura Empire destroyer.
"Not totally sure about the kanji for the provinces me and Azuma-chan are named after, but the kanji I personally use to write my name translates to something like 'solitary princess', while Azuma's means... 'my wife'," Kii said.
"Heh. You Sakura Empire shipgirls really do have cool names," New Jersey said with a chuckle. "The rest of us are just named after people and places."
"Sure, but they're all famous people and places," Liam pointed out.
"Yeah, I guess," the amiable buxom bunny girl bluenette conceded.
"Oh, speaking of new arrivals, what time is it?" Liam asked, suddenly remembering that the Dolls weren't the only ones he and the others had to introduce themselves to.
"Hm? Ah, it's still early yet. Not even noon even. Why?" Metis asked, looking at the time displayed on the 'window' floating in front of her.
"Remember? The three wisdom cubes we set up earlier this morning?"
"... Ah! Yes. Yes, that's right!" Metis said, sudden realization flashing through her electric blue eyes. "And it should be about time for them to wake up, too."
"Hm? New Little Sisters?" Natsuha asked.
"New little sisters, yes," Liam replied with a nod, gently patting the blonde's head.
"Yay!" Natsuha cheered.
xxx xxx xxx
Outer Heaven 'Construction Site' room.
"By the way," Hibari began, looking curiously at the very scantily clad Royal Navy battleships. "Why are Prince of Wales and King George V wearing bikinis?" '... Not that they don't look good on them, but still...'
"Ah, that! Well, my dearest sisters lost a duel to those three little ones there!" Duke of York answered with a mischievous gleam in her eye and all too smug looking smile while pointing at the white haired submarine triplets making 'V' signs with their fingers. "Incidentally, the terms of what would happen to the loser ended up the reasons for their loss too! Rather ironic, no?"
"...Ugh..."
"..."
Needless to say, neither of the two shipgirls in question could deny Duke of York's words and either quietly squirmed or furiously blushed in utter shame and embarrassment, much to Hibari's amusement.
"Heh! Wish we coulda woken up sooner and seen it!" Fuu said from next to the lilac eyed doll.
"Oh, but you can," Metis said. "After all, my partition recorded the whole thing."
"... What...!?" King George V all but shrieked.
"...Oh, oh no...!" Prince of Wales quietly muttered with a mix of resignation and despair.
"Oh, right! I forgot about that!" Liam said, suddenly recalling he got a copy of said battle. "Well, let's wake up your new sisters before having a look at it, yeah? I only heard vague bits and pieces about it myself so I'm super curious."
"I wonder what they'll be like," Alabama wondered aloud.
"Well, Let's let Honey do his meet and greet thing first, yeah?"
"You're up, mein Kommandant~!" Eugen said, gently nudging Liam into the main construction chamber.
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Inside the 'Construction Site' chamber.
With the last of the thick smoke that filled the room finally fading away and seeing the door to the large room they woke up in opening up, a tall and buxom shipgirl with fair skin, pinkish-blonde hair and sharp, ruby red eyes silently noted the strangely familiar, almost instinctual feelings the man entering the room gave her, instantly recognizing them as proof that he was, in fact, her Commander.
'A strange feeling, to be sure, but not all together an unpleasant one either, heehee~'
However, instead of going up to greet him herself, the blonde beauty dressed in a sleek, form fitting black dress decided to hang back and observe things a little more as her other two fleet sisters went up and greeted him first.
"Zdravste, ah I mean... hello," said a slender and petite girl with very long, very light blue hair styled in two long twintails with bangs covering her left eye in a shy, quiet voice. "My name is, Kiev. Northern Union Destroyer, Kiev... Ah, um... you are my Komandir, da?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I am." '...Damn! That level of innocent cuteness reflected in her clear, ruby red eyes is just... too much!' "Nice to meet you Kiev. And my name's Liam. Liam Archer!"
*pat, pat*
'...!' "That, your headpats feel really, nice..!"
But, before Liam could reply...
*tug, tug*
"...Hm?"
Looking down, Liam spotted the figure of a small and hooded shipgirl with messy, purple hair staring up at him with her equally purple eyes.
"...He, hello... Co, Commander...!"
"Hey. And what's your name?" Liam asked while gently patting the clearly very shy purplette's head.
"... Eagle Union submarine, Flasher...!" quickly yet quietly replied the shy and bashful purplette with a light blush dusting her cheeks and squeezing her sunfish plushie just a little tighter to her chest.
"Okay! Well, nice to meetcha, Flasher!"
*pat, pat*
"...Mmm~!"
Cue cute hums of satisfaction from the purple haired submarine, some coos at said cuteness from most of the other shipgirls and dolls, a(n equally cute) pouty glare filled with obvious jealousy from Unicorn... and light blue sparking from one very volatile and surprisingly territorial blonde destroyer. Liam, however, either didn't notice, or tried really, really hard, to pretend not to notice. Instead, his attention was focused solely on the last of the three new shipgirls in the back quietly quietly observing everyone.
"Hey, so you've been pretty quiet," Liam said, fully taking in the sight of the tall, buxom, and beautiful shipgirl clad in in black smiling mysteriously at him and her other sisters and couldn't help but mentally shiver at the look in her eyes. 'They're way too much like Eugen and Belfast's but worse, somehow...'
"Oh don't mind me, mon cher," replied the pinkish-blonde beauty with a calm, almost melodic voice. "Just taking mental notes on all my dear fleet sisters, that's all. Ah, but wherever are my manners. I am Vichya Dominion battleship, Clemenceau. A pleasure to meet you."
"Same here," Liam replied. 'Well, that went smoother than I thought, but... she still gives off some really 'dangerous' vibes though...'
Meanwhile, with the other shipgirls and dolls, reactions, as usual, varied quite a bit.
'...Oh? Clemenceau, hm? Ja, I think we'll get along just fine~ ' Eugen thought with a smirk and mischievous sparkle in her eyes.
'....OmigoshOmigoshOmigosh! Kiev and Flasher are so CUTE!' Saratoga gushed, big sisterly instincts to hug, dote, and pamper them rising with every second. Indeed, it took everything she had to keep from giving in.
"Hey, Flasher has a plushie too! Like Unicorn!" Anchorage observed, pointing to the stuffed sunfish. "And, she has purple hair too...!"
"...Taihou-chan..."
"Hm? What is it, Akagi-chan?"
"...That one, Clemenceau-san that is."
"What about her?"
"She has the same kind of aura we do..."
"Ara? Is that so..," Taihou replied in her usual sweet voice, her ever so slightly narrowed eyes the only proof she acknowledged Clemenceau as someone to keep an eye on... something the new battleship very clearly noticed if that smirk was any indication. 'And quite cheeky too, it seems.'
"Well, let's just leave things be for now, ne?" Akagi suggested, a calming hand on Taihou's shoulder. "Besides, I think she'll be more inclined to work with us rather then against us when it counts."
"Mm..."
"Eldridge? What's the matter?" Black Prince asked.
"Eldridge, wants to act like a big sister...!"
"Oh? But, you know you're already a big sister to us, right?"
"...Mm, but... Flasher, Kiev. Eldridge wants to head pat them too...!"
"Oh?"
"...Mm."
"Well, I'm sure you'll get you chance before long. Just be patient, okay?" Black Prince reassured.
"Mm," Eldridge, a tiny bit reluctantly, nodded.
"Hey! Now that Flasher-chan's here, we can finally form a full submarine support fleet!" I-402 noted with a smile on her face.
"Oh, that's true," I-400 replied before a flash of realization flashed in her eyes. "And that means we can finally begin actual VR training drills now too."
"And test ourselves against the others," I-401 added.
Just then, a sudden voice over the intercom got their attention.
[Ah, um. Shikikan? Everyone? Lunch is ready and will be ready to be served in five to ten minutes, so if you could all make your way to the dinning hall soon please.]
xxx xxx xxx
Unknown time and place.
"Alright, is everyone here?" asked a serious looking, tall and buxom shipgirl with long, straight dark green hair in an equally serious voice.
"Well, we are anyway," replied a red haired twintailed heavy cruiser.
"..Hoh?"
"Si. Signorina Amagi's fleet actually left about ten minutes ago."
"...No doubt because of that little one's tantrums," The dark green haired battleship said with a shrug. "Alright, then let's get moving too. Hopefully, Amagi can reign the little firecracker in until we get there..." 'Not that I think that anyone can actually do that, unfortunately.' With a resigned sigh and a shake of her head, she and the other assembled META shipgirls slowly faded away, slipping through the cracks between worlds.
xxx xxx xxx
A/N:
The first batch of Dolls, and a few more shipgirls got introduced! Lots of introductions too!
Speaking of the Dolls, yes. They are Nikke expires of Naruto characters. Well, to be more specific...
Expies of of Naruto characters inspired by the crap ton of fan fiction I've read anyway.
Ah, and speaking of new characters that are soon to make their appearance... You lot got your pasta fleet! You better be grateful!
From here and until the start of the Sakura Empire arc, Liam's fleets are going to need to be filled up and reorganized so that they can actually become a proper military force.
Anyway! I hope you enjoy and see you next chapter!