here are some images in MSPaint. basically this is how the base looked like, and where everyone is basically.
closer look to an up to date image of the base being overrun at the gates by Yo-classes.
I take liberty is the 'new' torpedoes when in fact they are just probably regular torpedoes being used, but they are heavier and shit like that. forgive me for accuracy. I just like my own elements. As for Wo-class becoming a...
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Part 18
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()My heart pounded, there was no doubt, one of the blimps, particularly the one belonged to Isonami on my Abyssal network map has disappeared. She did not exist anymore, she has...committed suicide, right at the gates of the river gates, the most vulnerable spot of the base...
Was it my fault? Was it my memories as Shoukaku that has bought them to that spot?
My shock was followed by the surfacing blimps that began to appear across the base. They were emerging en mass around the entire harbor, in a fan like shape. A hundred...no, maybe more of the submarines, hundreds... They are all armed with a long range missile that can be fired from below, a water to above water ships, designed to penetrate armor of carriers and battleships. They are a new weapon, but hardly used due to the weight forced onto the submarines.
The familiar blimp has increased further, somewhere, under the ocean just below the surfacing submarines are the rest of the Abyssals, they seemed to form some kind of fan-like formation, below at least a few thousand have gathered, more than all the ships here in this base... They outnumber the entire base at least fifty to one! The princess has made good on her promise...to think she would not hesitate to raze this base that she had once had a stake in...her place of origin...
"P-please...let me go...I must...go....see...the...damaged...gate!"
It was Verniy who answered my call, and she raised her cannons nearer to between my brows. "How did you know...there was a damaged gate? All we heard was an explosion...is this all part of your plan? To weaken us in will so we will bring you in so you can cause internal damage of some sort?!"
"No...not me... I....my leader...my princess...she...has..come...to take...me...home...!!"
"Home is here, and so is a graveyard if you don't say what your plans are...!" Verniy was prepared to fire, even if she didn't have permission to do so.
Then, from the corner of this hangar, the sliding gates slid open with a loud screeching noise, Tenryuu stood at the doorway, with Tatsuta, both armed. "Lay down your arms, Verniy!"
"Huh?" Verniy and Ikazuchi turned to face Tenryuu, letting their guards falter for a while. I was up and about, with whatever strength I had left, I let my Zuikaku symbiote swing as hard as it can its tentacles, cutting the metal chains apart with its heavy strike and sharp swing. With my two nearly useless legs now without much energy, I was up and running, as though I was born to walk on land all this time and this ability somehow once ago escaped my discovery.
I rushed across Tenryuu, who raised her weapon, but did not fire. I rushed to the scene that I know full well where as the ships Ikazuchi and Verniy, now with Tenryuu and Tatsuta gave chase. They still did not fire a single shot in my direction as my chained hands made my balance off slightly while I ran ahead of them. I had never knew I could run this fast...but the oxygen I had siphoned earlier from the seawater is running low very quickly, if it all needed I at least need river water...it would revive me.
O, how did I wished I was a Hime-class at this very point in time. I felt an intense need to breathe air as they can, so that I too, can walk like this...
I wasn't sure if I am developing some new kind of ability because I am running like this but it sure as hell felt like it. Strangely however, my legs seemed to fortify, my once ago near useless legs meant for me to swim to the surface with gentle motions seemed to move ever quicker. I could feel my entire being somehow becoming stronger as Zuikaku seemed to now drag behind me. I wonder...what am I becoming? Is this because I had been out of water for so long?
I felt as each second passed as I ran, my breathlessness soon become a heave and tug of my chest, but I was slowly regaining the use of my lungs somehow, all of it rendered vestigial when I went under the ocean. My eyes seemed to have cleared its fog, reminiscent of the vision I use to have at sea, used only when I need to visually ascertain a certain something that Zuikaku cannot accurately describe to me telepathically. I felt my legs grow more muscular, as if it were growing some kind of new ligament, thicker, stronger, I was evolving....!
I felt the change go faster still, until my entire being seemed to have some kind of land-dwelling capacity, I was clearly running faster, so fast I felt my Zuikaku seemed to climb itself to my back, and that I was balancing somehow, with some kind of new...tail-like thing coming out of my backbone....somehow, I can feel Zuikaku has shifted its entire symbiote bulk to my back, and now clings desperately to that thing as its gnashing teeth struggled to keep up with the way I run. I had only a few meters left before I reach where I needed to be.
I saw it then, my sister ship...Zuikaku, her actual self, ordering for the rest of the ships to spread out and warn the base...the alarms were going off like crazy as the blaring noise ripped my head like nails on a chalkboard. I was literally pained by it as I shifted my hands...now somehow rougher, stronger to the sides of my head. I dare not imagine if I had changed externally too much, but I had a desperate need to be there, where I needed to be.
As I closed in, I saw Zuikaku took a few steps back, but I lunged at her, and hugged her with my strength. I must have had tears in my eyes as I could taste the salt of those tears that came to my lips. I was very worried for her, worried that Isonami's destruction could have hurt her critically...to see her without harm, a great stone of weight has been dropped off my chest immediately as I held her in my embrace.
"Zuikaku....!Are you alright?!" I found myself yelling out a response as I went to hold my sister ship, and she responded with a kind of alien look, as if she did not recognize me...
"Sh-oukaku....nee-san...is that...you? You...you looked different than jus...just a while ago..." Her words came out in chunks, her confusion was very real. I had no time to give a response as I was dragged back by two powerful gripping hands on each side of my shoulders... I took a few steps back and stumbled the way. It was the hands of Verniy and Tatsuta, who each held a side.
"ZUIKAKU, fall back!" Tenryuu catched up from behind us, and pointed her sword at me.
"W...What?!" Zuikaku was confused by the words. She looked at me and I back at her, our confusion could only be deepened by the fact I know not exactly what is so different in the way I look to her...
I felt something fall to the back of my heels, as if...I had grown an extra limb...
I looked back, wondering what it was that somehow grew in the short few minutes of our run from that hangar to here...was I...even running that fast?
Then as I looked I felt my legs somehow...somehow....they broke at where my knees were. I felt a sharp pain as I crumpled to the ground, the cracking noise was what scared me, as I somehow had no control over all this... I had taken the first long look at my legs now...and for some reason I found my hind legs grew to such absurd size my Achilles tendon and lower calf muscles seemed to have fused itself into a larger unknown musculature extending to my ankles. They formed a kind of...hooves...I was...somehow growing hooves onto both of my legs.
The pain from the cracking of my knees went away as quickly as it came, I was still confused, but Tenryuu and Tatsuta had already placed both their hand held melee weapons, one a samurai sword and the other a naginata on my neck, they are ready to take my head at a moment's notice.
I was too scared and too confused to move... My legs...they have become hooves of some kind of...animal...same pale skin of an Abyssal notwithstanding, the shape of my being has changed...am I still...a Wo-class? What is this new flow of information as I neared the destroyed gates that were caused by the self-destruction of Isonami?
[Wo-class...listen well...you are chosen to become our first...Re-class..elite...I have no doubt you will carry yourself forward well...]
A voice said that in my head. My instinctual response was of course [W-what are you? Who are you? Let me speak to my princess! She must stop this at once...!]
[Stop? It has already begun...]
[Who is this? Where is the Airfield Princess!???] I shouted telepathically.
[You will know soon enough...]
At this point, I took one last side-glance still in a sitting position... Though my body remained mostly the same, I was a Wo-class at the top of my body...but that something that I had been leaning my back to...my Zuikaku symbiote has changed...dramatically...
I had a tail!
It was as large and as bulbous and as wide my entire body. Thick and strong like that of a crocodile by comparison. I felt my entire skin across each part of my body grew harder, thicker, I was....
[Shoukaku!] A familiar voice pierced through my telepathy network, and for a while I was confused no more.
[Princess!]
[I am here, just under the gates, please return Shoukaku, I must see you!]
I had no doubt any slight moves would mean I would be sliced at the neck.
However, at that moment in time, I had a conviction, it was the same conviction as when I was Shoukaku the Aircraft Carrier most loved by the admiral, Admiral Kitamura Sr. He loved me so much he was sacrificing family for me...
At that moment, I felt charged, as though I was meant to challenge these blades at my neck. Somehow, I was expected to gamble my life in order to get away.
With one forceful twist, I catapulted myself into midair, the blades that were placed at my neck, and with Tenryuu and Tatsuta unable to respond to my sudden movement and swing of my newly acquired tail, I managed to get away with two cuts on either side of my major arteries. I did not smile, all I had was an engaged look as I looked deeply into Tenryuu's eyes, I begged her to stop where she is, but as it is, her sword was in a stabbing form, ready to strike my body.
Time seemed to slow as I was in midair, as though I could even see the flicker of my blood drop to the ground below, even that drop of blood seemed to take forever for it to reach its destination... I was looking at everything and understanding every move that Tenryuu and Tatsuta made...my eyes were looking at all who are there...even Ikazuchi and Verniy who remained shocked and were unable to respond to that of Zuikaku, my sister ship who remained flabbergasted as she looked at me jumping to midair.
I slammed my tail into Tenryuu, sending her flying back as her eyes registered extreme shock from the force of the tail swipe. Then without hesitating, I ran as fast I possibly could before cannon fire started landing beside and around me...my each step was chased by fire...from Tatsuta as she tried to cut away my escape. Within the next few seconds, I was in water, and for the first time... I had difficulty swimming...
I knew only one thing...
That I must go to where the Princess is...
Kaga...she will help me...
She was my teacher...
She will listen to me and stop this invasion...
I was so close to getting back my life at the Navy...maybe I still can...
Or did I blew my chance when I escaped?
I don't know anymore...
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Kaga felt the ripples throw open the surface of the ocean as she looked up, about some eight hundred feet away on top of me, something big.... A RE-CLASS?
There was the signal of the Wo-class that wanted her freedom, and now...an unfamiliar look...
That was not her, it can't be...
[Well, it looks like we have our first natural evolver...] The Battleship Princess - Kongou looked up and said. She somehow knew this was going to happen.
"What did you do to her after she went away?!" The Airfield Princess asked loudly, her voice shook the oceans below as the rage becomes unconcealed to reveal a very Abyssal look, one that had these blood red glow from the eyes and a scowl that will scare anything...save Kongou, who now looked a kind of disdain at the surprise and anger of her comrade. Kaga's hands grabbed the shoulders of Kongou, causing her knight to instinctively shield the host body, but was stopped just as the giant balled metal fists landed on Kaga's body.
"I did nothing. She willed it. The Abyssal codex for the evolving of Re-classes from our current ranks have been released since yesterday evening when we spoke. You are no doubt aware, that information was useless to you since you are...already a Hime-class. I however, ensured the codex information spread throughout the network, including but not limited to the ones I already have here leading a battalion and those who wish to proceed and embrace a new stage of their evolution."
"You still did something then! Damn you, Kongou, you know well that the Re-class is an untested prototype, to so fast spread its Hime-class level formation codex to the ranks...you will cause them all to evolve unnecessarily!" The Airfield Princess wasn't exactly sure if she was right, but she said it anyway.
"Evolution of the Re-class only happens to any class that already is a carrier class, or at least has the foundation of a carrier vessel, and has sentience...your Wo-class merely embraced her natural instinct...you have no one to blame but her!" Said Kongou as she slapped Kaga's hands away from her.
"Bastard!"
"You are letting your emotions run wild...Kaga, surely you should embrace a new member of the Hime-class family added to our ranks. There are no cons in this, merely...that now, if any of our carrier classes fall in battle, their chances of survival will be higher above land. The Re-class has something we both don't...they can stay for extended times on land, and they are harder than us...albeit slower." Kongou laughed as she looked at the Re-class, finally reaching where they are...
"Princess!" The former Wo-class, who now despite wearing the stripes of the Wo-class on her upper body, her legs seemed to have exploded from its clothing, instead becoming two bare pale white muscular hooved hinds that looked like it belonged on some land dwelling beast...the closest in comparison was that of a hippo's legs. They looked strong, but were unfit for swimming. Her looks were the same, save for the eyes, which now looked as red as blood, glowing as red as her own, and the unmistakable tail that erupted from her spinal cortex.
The spine-tail that came out from the body was formed within the few minutes she made her journey down to these waters, no doubt the enemy must have been chasing her, and that adrenaline that has her determined to see her own comrades again under the ocean has spurred the growth of her new Abyssal parts according to the schematics of the codex information from the Hive network.
She indeed must have willed it to happen..but for her to do so...
"Princess...why aren't you talking to me...? It is me...Wo-ko...Shoukaku...I....I am sorry, but I need you to cancel this invasion...whatever you do, please do not destroy this base..." Her once ago apprentice asked, tears somehow forming where her tear ducts no longer existing.
"I can't...."
"Why???!"
"Because the will of The Hive cannot be denied." The Battleship Princess said with decisiveness in her tone of voice. The voice shook the foundations of both Kaga and Shoukaku, now seeming to stare into Kongou like she was an alien. There was something alien about her all this time, it is just...at that very moment, the both felt threatened.
All of a sudden, the attack has begun, a hundred or more submarines have fired their torpedoes that will attack the harbor walls with destructive force meant to crumble the defenses in unison. There is no stopping anymore, as both Kaga and Shoukaku, now realized.
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Tenryuu couldn't catch her, and so was Tatsuta, but their entire focus was shifted as the alarms blared even louder into code red. For all around them, as far as the eyes could see, ship girls of every class, every order, every team that has remained in base emerged from their dwellings, their eyes cast upon the surrounding...the walls of the bay have been shook with what seems to be explosions from under the foundations.
The metal and concrete foundations that formed the walls, where parts of the anti-air guns as well as anti ship cannons stood at the ready were down! They did not even fire at an enemy, it was clearly the work of the submarines. Explosions shook the ground where they stood, and it riveted the entire base with such power that everyone had to hold onto something.
A fleeting thought passed Tenryuu's head - were they always this weak before? They did not even see the enemy...or is the enemy just that much smarter this time around? Starting a crisis here at the base with the weakest submarines combined in a flurry of missile attacks to weaken the outermost walls?!
"MAN ALL STATIONS, AND KILL ANYTHING THAT MOVES!" The shouts of Captain Hata, who is running towards the gun bays where at least twenty or twenty five guns stood fully loaded and ready to fire at each second, as many ship hands all rushed forward as well, humans who serve the Navy as we do, usually in an understated manner as repairmen and other navy officers of every rank. Trainees were present as well, with guns in their hands and rifles slung with extra magazines over their shoulders, heading towards the direction of the outer sea gates - where the first barrage of torpedoes came crashing in like a destructive wave of warheads.
A second wave again shook the foundations, and it was before Tenryuu's eyes the first wall, with all its anti-ship guns of double barrel twenty inch cannons and ammos crumbled...and then, they fell into the ocean as the walls gave way, leaving the base with a few more anti-ship measures.
The quick actions of the deck hands under the guide of Captain Hata as well as Sendai, who directed two of the trainees to take their position at a fortified pillbox of a kind, armed with a gattling gun designed to pierce flesh only and getting them ready to fire. Mortar guns were set up as well as anti-air guns were manned in the base, fully loaded and ready.
Captain Hata took the outermost wall-mounted anti-ship cannons, he sat down and adjusted his sights. That is when he saw it all, the third barrage of torpedoes. He prayed silently hoping they won't crumble this second wall yet, which is three times thicker than the outermost wall, and with at least ten or so guns mounted on it. The shock from a first warhead made his head reel as the whiplash of his seat struck at the back of his head, sending him forward and grazing slightly against the handles of the guns.
He proceeded to fire in a horizontal line of the oncoming torpedoes just surfacing the water, and the intention was clear as the bullets of the cannon fires rained hell on the ocean and the oncoming torpedoes - they must be stopped. They must hold out until the Arpeggio-class shielding system is workable...that would save these walls a full day longer allowing them to rescue this base with massive firepower.
The bullets caught as many warheads as possible, but Captain Hata was relieved, while some did hit the mark, he counted all three barrages, this would mean a reload period of at least ten minutes for the submarines, which had a limited capacity of the top heavy water-to-surface torpedoes that were used, as he had noticed while he fired. This class of torpedo usually are carried by the dozens by the Master-class, but the smaller ships of the submarine class or the fortresses will only have as many as their tanks can take without sinking backwards into the ocean from whence they came.
Sendai was again beside him, this time, as though by magic, Sendai was fully equipped for sortie, but Captain Hata knew it would be a foolish move to send her out with any ship, so he said to Sendai two orders. Sendai only nodded at the orders, only fate will now tell if she will follow them. The first being to not go out to sea until the sonars have captured every single enemy surfacing, no matter the number. The other is to not die...
Around the base, a hundred eighty of the ship girls, belonging to the admiral and have been at service in the base of every class, emerged from their hangars, fully armed. Hyuuga and her sister - Ise of the Hyuuga-class fortified battleships charged forward to where Captain Hata's gun station is, their massive cannons as big as the station which the Captain sat strapped to. Behind them, a full battalion of girls of the Akatsuki-class, all four of them together with the rest of the Sendai-class destroyers poised ready. A watery and fiery aura can be felt from the ground, as though on land even, the ships are perfectly poised for war.
The sonars bounced back and with the array plate now flashing across all the base - a dedicated screening system lit up in the center of the base, where a large tower with reflective surface screens show a massive all base surroundings map network, with little red spots showing the enemies.
Captain Hata was flabbergasted as he looked at the screen....
The massive clumps of red surrounding the base...there must be...at least...a thousand! No! There was more, way more, the red spots extended like a wave to back, the sonar array is either wrong or the Abyssals that they have been at war with has all suddenly on this very day, converged upon them from every ocean in the eastern seaboard!
Captain Hata cursed under his breath, he knew there and then...it was the boy's fault. That admiral...too young to make a decent judgment, he brought to his base that Wo-class...that was the sign of trouble, and now trouble, in full steam and full rigor has come a-knocking to this base where he was trained in. If they fall here, all will be lost.
ALL OF IT.
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Naval Office - same time.The admiral stood with his legs trying their utmost best to stand, spread open side to side as he peered at the window with his gloved palm pressing against the screen of glass.
"Oh god..."
He saw that all the girls were out there, all the girls, some he didn't even knew, and all the deck hands, every sailor, every man with two arms and a two legs, or some with less are armed, to defend this base...
The last bastion before the Abyssals can reach land!
His legs trembled under him, somewhere, courage forced him to stay, but cowardice in his heart shook his very core as he looked back at his secretary - Yuudachi.
"I am always ready, Admiral." Yuudachi answered without even being asked.
"Go then...please... Let Captain Hata guide you, he is more experienced than me..."
"But where will you go, Admiral?" Yuudachi asked this time.
"To the emergency control center...they have come for something...and I want to know what..."
"It is clear wasn't it? You know full well what they are here for... They are here to destroy this base..."
"But...all this time...why today?" The Admiral asked, his voice trembled.
"Why not yesterday?" Yuudachi asked, she certainly had a change of character all of a sudden.
"Please, for your last mission, ensure that Yamato and Musashi are standing at the highest points, make sure they guide the rest of the ships."
"In case you didn't notice, Admiral...they are already there." Yuudachi pointed to the highest point of the base - the base surrounding network map, where all the red blimps are showing the enemy numbers and activities, and there they stood majestically, like symbols upon a mountain top, with their guns heavy behind them yet seemingly to the carriers themselves a weightless thing.
"I am glad."
"Admiral, we all trust you...so please...guide us...TO victory!" Yuudachi smiled as she exited the Naval office, and off she went.
The Admiral touched his desk, and a button just under the writing pad popped out within the woodwork. He touched it, and a cabinet sprung open beside his legs.
There, a black box stood open, a gleaming handgun of the 9mm caliber stood ready. He pocketed the gun, with magazine and ensuring it was on safe mode, the admiral ran out too.
This is war.
War...has finally come to his doors....
He prayed.
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So ends this chapter, for now, I apologize for the pacing and too many paragraphs that seemed to start with I am, I have... etc. I believe the first person aspect of Shoukaku's experience will bring you all closer to seeing how they react to situations that bring them to qhere they are. The events that have transpired is actually well within the timeframe of 24 hours, did the Battleship Princess - Kongou actually made all this arrangement beforehand? One does not know.
Anyway, if you are still reading this and not dropping it out of sheer rage, please do leave a comment, let me know how I can write better.