[SFW]
The year was 2032. It had been 19 years since the first time the Abyssal Fleet made contact with Humanity, and thus a war that would span decades began. Initially, the efforts of Humanity were lacking, leaving the creatures from the sea with an upper hand. Whether it was simply firepower or the superior numbers, the ones from below were easily capable of defeating any navy…
Humanity was not so easily discouraged, however. Merely 2 years after the First Abyssal Incursion, a breakthrough was discovered. Thanks to the efforts of a lone researcher, the Japanese Navy was able to develop a countermeasure against the menace. By using parts from the treasured old vessels that served the country during wartime, it’s possible to construct a set of equipment mimicking elements from that vessel’s prime. These sets are often referred to as Rigging, where the specifics of each Rig depends on the vessel used in its construction.
To use a Rig, a volunteer is necessary. Any human can bond with a Rig, though the effects vary depending on how compatible they are with the process. The more compatible, the more effective they become with the armaments the Rig provides. All of them become capable of fighting back against the creatures from the deep sea, as their armaments have been fine-tuned to provide enough firepower to exterminate any single Abyssal, whether through concentrated fire or making it impossible for them to escape their volleys.
Thanks to this discovery, Humanity had a chance to fight back. Thanks to the valiant efforts of the ones that bonded with the Rigging, the war was swung back into their ballpark. Over the next decade and a half, each side suffered significant losses, yet they were able to bounce back better than ever not long after. Eventually, it seemed to reach a standstill…
And thus, we arrive at the present. The birds slowly flew past the window outside a lone navy base, manned by very few people. It was out of the way on the coast, which meant that very little danger happened to pass by. By all accounts, they were a weak point, yet nobody had attempted to strike at their position. Whether it was because the few units stationed at the base’s harbor were some of the best, or simply not noticing the easiest way in… The humans couldn’t know.
Tokihana Base. Named after its admiral, Rie Tokinaga, and how she had bloomed in her position. Despite a sick and frail build, she had managed to turn a backwater base like this one into a prestigious one… So to speak. It was still far from perfect, and she knew that very well. That’s why she had gradually used her influence to gain more staff, just in case something ever went wrong.
And that was why she found herself staring down one of her newest staff members. A pupil she had taken under her wing a year ago, yet he seemed to show no outright progress since the day he arrived. He wasn’t awful, not by any means, but his personal flaws stood out just like they did back then. It was enough to give any ordinary commander a headache, but she saw something in him. Something that let her forgive him more often than not.
Akira Ishikawa was his name. Even now, he seemed so timid, to the point where he nervously shivered as he struggled to maintain eye contact. He never did get used to the way his commanding officer stared straight into his eyes, especially not when she was this quiet. It made him feel inadequate, and it was hardly the first time he felt that way around her. Just being around her made him feel that way, but he did what he could to bottle those emotions up.
“S-So, Admiral Tokinaga? What did you want from me today?” The nervous young man asked as he tried to alleviate his emotions’ hold on him, whether it was by straightening his tie or adjusting the cufflinks of his uniform, or more commonly adjusting his glasses even if they were sitting perfectly on his nose. It was just one of his many tics, one of the ways he was unable to sit still.
Yet, she didn’t even bat an eye at how he fidgeted around the place, preferring to just focus on him without getting distracted. “You’ve been here for a year so far, Akira. What do you think of the people station at the base?” She asked, resting her head on the back of her hands. “Be as honest as you can, you’re permitted to speak freely.”
“...I-I don’t think I... “ Akira tried to speak up, wanting to avoid potentially bad-mouthing any of his colleagues. He wasn’t the type to carry grudges, but he also wasn’t the type to disobey orders. Especially when his boss stared into his eyes with that chilling glare of hers. “...I-If I have to…”
The young man took a deep breath as he adjusted his glasses once more, before speaking up. “I believe every one of the men and women stationed at this base is more than capable of executing their different duties as best they can. They’ve shown that time and time again, they’ve been able to follow orders to the letter.” He explained, pausing before he let another word slip out.
“Go on. You had something on your mind, Akira. I told you already, you may speak as freely as possible. Don’t hold anything back.” Tokinaga assured him with her words, ones that were just a little softer than normal. That soft spot of hers leaked through, whether she intended for it to or not.
Akira felt the sweat run down his forehead as he spoke up once more. “That… being said, two individuals have caught my eye in terms of irregular performance. One due to his unorthodox methods of getting his duties over and done with…” He paused as his face then turned beet red, leaving him unable to let out another word.
“...And the other is his sister. You’re talking about the Tanaka siblings. Did Ren bully you again, Akira? Is that why you’re turning that red?” The Admiral spoke up, trying to break his silence with what she already knew.
All he could do was nod before he let out a deep sigh, trying to clear his thoughts. “Ren Tanaka has been… pushy, to say the least. Every time I meet her, I feel like I shrink in my boots more so than I do around anybody else. There’s something about her presence, the unabashed way she approaches friendships with her colleagues that unnerves me to my very core. I just…” The young man slowly adjusted his glasses once more.
“I just can’t handle how she teases me, Admiral.” He came clean with his problem, and thus it felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders…
His admiral looked at him for a few moments before nodding softly. “She’s quite the strange one, I have to admit. If I pass by the docks, I might find her slacking off one moment, and diligently working on Ooi the next. Not to mention, she did recommend her younger brother for a position at this base, and he’s been performing stellar results despite the…” Toki paused, shaking her head. “I’m getting sidetracked. Thank you for being honest, Akira.”
Akira let out a sigh of relief as he almost fell backward, feeling the sweat running down his face as he feared any kind of retribution for his honesty. He wasn’t exactly the most confident person around, especially compared to the people that he worked with. “Is… is that everything then, Admiral?”
Tokinaga shook her head as she pulled a few papers out of her drawer, shuffling them before handing them over to the young man. “On the contrary, that was just an assessment. Now, I’ve got a task for you. I want you to go down to the docks and survey the conditions as well as the performance of any available Shipgirl, plus the crew that’s present. Once you’ve gotten all of that, format it into a readable report and deliver it to my desk by morning.”
“M-Morning? But, there’s-” The pupil swallowed as he shut himself up. He couldn’t just object to a task given by his admiral. “It… It might not be the prettiest report you’ve read, but I’ll have it done. You can count on me, Admiral.”
The Admiral smiled. “I know I can, Akira. I wouldn’t have taken you under my wing if I didn’t believe in you. Now run along, you’ve got plenty to study before you can write something coherent.” The almost sickly-looking older woman brushed him off as she leaned back in her chair, leaving him to run off obediently…
As she was left alone, the small-bodied Tokinaga looked out the window, watching the birds fly past as she felt a bout of nausea fill her throat. Yet, she had taken her medicine just before the meeting with her pupil…
So what could be causing this foreboding sensation in her heart?
---
Akira walked briskly through the corridors of the base, keeping his breathing steady despite how fast he was going. He wanted to get things done as soon as possible, so he could impress the commander that he looked up to. Truth be told, he never expected her to give him something as arduous as this, but… Well, she ran the entire joint, and she wanted to make sure that he could handle tasks that she would be able to do in her sleep, so this was just one part of that training, wasn’t it?
“Just focus on the task at hand Akira, then you can get through it. You just have to work with the mechanics, hope that there aren’t a lot of shipgirls docked at the moment, and then you can get to work. Hopefully, everything else that I need is available, even… Even if the electronics on the base are horribly antiquated.” He sighed, his resolve faltering just a little as he remembered how old-fashioned the admiral was. They only just acquired computers a month back, and she barely allowed them to use any. At least he was good with a pen, so he could write this thing up in no time.
Unfortunately for the young pupil, his day was just about to be ruined as he turned the corner and bumped into something characteristically soft that was just tall enough for his head to brush straight into. Something he had grown very familiar with, whether he wanted to or not. He couldn’t stop himself either since he hadn’t seen her coming…
“Ara?” Came an incredibly familiar and annoyingly foreboding voice from above, and the arms that wrapped around him weren’t much better in that regard. “Why, if it isn’t Tokinaga’s pupil! How’re you doing, Akira? I don’t see you bumping into me that often anymore, have you been trying to get away from me? You really shouldn’t, I don’t bite or anything.”
Of course, he had to bump into the woman he had been complaining about. Ren Tanaka. The oldest woman on base, even older than the woman who ran the entire thing. And with that age came a certain degree of belittling, though it manifested in the form of teasing. No matter the words that left her mouth, the young man refused to believe a single one of them. She was dangerous, and the more he listened to her, the more he felt like she was just… well, she wasn’t taking him seriously at all, and that was enough to make him feel horrible!
“Please let me go, Tanaka.” Akira didn’t bother playing nice today, his words barely muffled by her bosom as he struggled against her arms. “The Admiral gave me a task to finish before sunrise, and I don’t want to be interrupted. Please, let me pass.” He pleaded… but the way he just tried to brush her off made matters worse if anything.
Ren sighed as she rubbed the young boy’s back. “It’s just one task, can’t you finish it later? I’ve been fixing up Ooi all day, and I just want to have a little bit of fun with somebody. Tetsuya and Shiranui are arguing as usual, and they’ve roped Kou into it too. You’re the only one who’s still around, and I really need a drinking partner…” She outright ignored his duties as she tried to get around her boredom. Typical of her. Whenever she was done with her duties, she tended to rope people into her antics whether they wanted to or not…
“I sai-” The young man tried to protest, only to hear a certain set of footsteps approaching. One that quickly made the arms around him vanish as he was pushed out of the bosom he had been trapped in. He blinked a few times before looking forward…
And noticing another familiar face, the older woman’s most frequent partner. “Ren.” The lax-eyed tall man spoke up, his voice carrying not a breath of malice, yet his eyes seemed to wander.
“I was only teasing him, Jun. You don’t have to scold me just because I like to get a little up-close and personal with my coworkers. You know how it is.” Ren defended herself, putting her hands behind her head in a relaxed manner. “Besides, why are you up and about? I thought Kitakami needed more maintenance.”
The man named Jun Takahara, who was the oldest person currently working at Tokihana, smiled in response. “She did. However, you know how she and Ooi are. If they want to be alone, we give them the distance they need.” He explained as he took her hand. “And you know what we do then, don’t you?”
Akira watched as the two older mechanics laughed together. “Alright, alright. I’ll go have a bit of fun with you instead.” Ren gave up as she waved to the younger pupil, who just hid behind his papers. “Catch you later, Akira. Swing by and have a drink with us sometime, okay? You need to loosen up a bit!” She chimed in such a friendly manner, yet that just put the young man further on edge before the two adults left him behind.
Once they were gone, he could breathe a sigh of relief. “I have to thank Jun for this.” He muttered quietly, hoping that none of them could hear her. “He always seems to know so much, maybe he could teach me a thing or two between assignments…” The naturally curious youth continued to speak to himself as he walked down the corridors, hoping to make it to the docks before it got too dark. Otherwise, there’d be no shipgirls to interview and then he’d fail part of his assignment.
He just hoped that they weren’t being as loud as they always were…
---
“Can you stop getting into combat like a reckless idiot!?”
The words resounded across the entire dock as three figures stood barely one foot apart from one another, each of their faces filled with a different type of emotion.
“It’s necessary to combat the Abyssals, Tanaka.” The pink-haired shipgirl, Shiranui, replied as she sat on a crate while watching the large man toying with the rig that she usually had equipped for all of her sorties…
The mechanic doing his best to fix the machinery and the weaponry that was near-permanently attached to the shipgirl, Tetsuya Tanaka, seemed less than pleased with her answer. “Bullshit! You have some sort of deathwish, I know you’ve got the weaponry to take them out from a distance, yet you keep getting close and skirting against the edge just so that you can show off!” He seemed a little incensed by the way she was acting, especially how coldly she treated her.
“Why would I pick a route that doesn’t result in the most efficient way of destroying our enemy?” She shot back, rubbing her bandaged wounds. Unlike the wounds and dents that had been inflicted on her rig, these took more time to heal. Arguably, the real reason her mechanic was currently not in the best of moods. His partner had been injured in the line of duty.
Between the two stood another young man, the youngest worker at Tokihana. Kou Ogasawara, barely a year younger than the Admiral’s star pupil. “Boss, I… I think she just wanted to help us all out in the long run…” He mumbled under his breath, not wanting to stand up to the man who had taught him plenty in the line of duty.
“I know she means well, Kou,” Tetsuya replied, his refined sense of hearing picking up on his quiet voice. Something he had gotten used to since the youngster tended to speak far too quietly for anybody to hear. “But if she gets herself killed in the process, then she’s going to leave being people that care about her. People that would’ve wanted her to return safe and sound.”
Shiranui twitched as she climbed off her crate, grabbing the older man by the collar. “Tetsuya.” She used his first name, something she only did when she had been thoroughly provoked. “Remember what we’re fighting for. We do not have the luxury to pick and choose the battles we get into. We need to crush the Abyssals so that we can live a peaceful life. Nothing more, nothing less. If I have to give my life, so be it. But do not critique my methods if you think you know better.”
Despite her much smaller frame compared to the mechanic, she was able to lift him up with ease, highlighting the difference in strength between human and shipgirl. “Don’t feed me that crap, Shiranui. You deserve a good life just like the rest of us. Don’t throw it away just because you want us to have one more than you.” He shook himself free with his own strength, huffing as he turned towards her rig. “You should go talk to the Admiral if you have a complaint with my beliefs, Shiranui. You’ll be out of commission for a few days regardless, following that blow you received.”
“Boss, Shiranui…” Kou muttered, not wanting to interject between the two as he’d feel horribly inadequate, yet he didn’t want them to fight like this. He knew that they usually did due to their polar opposite personalities, but that didn’t mean he honestly wanted to see it like this. If he was better, then perhaps he could help the older man repair her rig earlier, then… then maybe this entire argument didn’t have to happen.
Shiranui stayed silent as she walked toward the dock’s exit, hoping to clear her head. Especially as she heard the frustrated shout from her partner behind her, as his frustration with shipgirl tech echoed throughout the otherwise empty area. “He never learns.” She muttered, rubbing a bandaged spot on her abdomen…
Just as she thought she could get some peace, she noticed the exit door opening to reveal another young face. One that she hadn’t seen so much, given his lack of interaction with the mechanics and the other shipgirls. “...You are?”
The young man took a deep breath, his face still red from his previous encounter. “Officer Cadet Akira Ishikawa, Ma’am!” He immediately launched into a salute, only to catch his breath moments later. Truth be told, he had sprinted the rest of the way just so that he wouldn’t run into Ren again, an experience he wanted to avoid like the plague.
“I see. Please step aside, I need some fresh air.” Shiranui replied plainly, ignoring his very formal way of speaking as she tried to walk straight past him…
Only to bump straight into him as he stepped to the side. “S-Sorry, Ma’am, but I can’t allow you to do that just yet. I need to conduct an interview. Admiral Tokinaga gave me a task to interview every present member in the docks, whether Shipgirl or otherwise. Please, just let me have a few minutes of your time.” He seemed so nervous, given the way sweat ran down the sides of his face without letting up while he adjusted his glasses in the same nervous manner…
The pink-haired girl glared straight into his eyes, before nodding and letting her stance relax. She had no reason to be angry at him. “Very well. What do you want to know? I don’t claim to be an expert about the workings of the base, as I merely serve as an offensive arm of this operation, but I am willing to tell you what I can.”
“Thank you so much, Ma’am!” Akira smiled from ear to ear, feeling so relieved. “Well, from the top, I need your name, class, current condition, a description of your current duties, and…” He paused, looking at his papers with a squint before adjusting his glasses, this time to ensure that he was reading the writing clearly. “...Your opinion about your mechanic partner? I think that’s what this says, I’m not exactly able to read the Admiral’s handwriting very well…”
Shiranui motioned for the boy to follow her as she took a seat on a nearby crate, letting him use another as a temporary table. “Very well. From the top…” The methodical shipgirl took a deep breath before firing off the necessary information. “Designation, Shiranui. Class, Kagerou-Class Destroyer. Condition, Injured following a skirmish with Abyssals near the perimeter of our naval base. My duties are to scout around the perimeter and deter any possible approach, to ensure that we remain defended. If Light Cruisers Kitakami and Ooi are currently not available, I serve as the last line of defense.” She concluded the objective half of her debriefing, her fist clenching as she got to the hard part…
“Relationship with Tetsuya Tanaka. Irregular. I do not understand the way he thinks. I know that he’s the type of youth that grew up on shows that were filled with hot blood, yet he seems to neglect the fact that this is reality. Losses are inevitable, and we need to prepare for them. He has previously scolded me about my reckless behavior when he is arguably just as reckless. He works tired nights to fix my equipment in time for my next sortie, regardless if I want him to or not.” The pink-haired shipgirl explained, pausing as she felt her anger washing away as she talked about him.
Akira blinked as he paused his writing, noticing that her expression had completely softened up. “Miss Shiranui? You… Are you okay?” He asked, feeling a little concerned given her previous anger…
“...I’m fine, Ishikawa,” Shiranui replied, taking a deep breath before concluding. “Regardless of our differences, and the irregularity of his bombastic and hotblooded behavior… I do appreciate what he’s done for me. I request that this element is kept secret from him, as I do not want it to go to his head. He would never let it go and keep rubbing it in if he knew.”
The bespectacled youth nodded as he finished writing down what she had told him, wiping a bit of his sweat off his brow. “You talk very fast, yet very clearly, Miss Shiranui.” He smiled a little, adjusting his glasses. “N-Not that it’s something weird or anything, I just… I just took notice.”
“And you write very fast, Ishikawa.” She shot back, not bothered by his remark. “I can see why Admiral Tokinaga has taken you under her wing, whether you realize it or not.” She continued, climbing off the crate as she stretched slightly, wincing as she agitated one of her wounds in the process. “...I think I should head for the medical bay, this might be worse than I originally thought.”
Akira nodded, shuffling the notes into his stack of papers. “I shouldn’t hold you back any longer then, Miss Shiranui. Please, hurry. You wouldn’t want him to worry about you more, would you?” He smiled, the purity in his words leaking through.
“He wouldn’t let me live it down if he knew I worried about him,” Shiranui concluded as she started walking towards the exit once more, hoping that she could get the break that she desperately needed…
Right as the Abyssal Alarm started to ring above their heads, at the worst possible moment.
“ALL PERSONNEL, READY FOR BATTLE. A LARGE FLEET OF ABYSSALS HAS BEEN DETECTED APPROACHING THE PERIMETER OF THE NAVAL BASE. DEFLECT THEIR APPROACH AND MAINTAIN OUR SAFETY. REPEAT. A LARGE FLEET OF ABYSSALS HAS BEEN DETECTED APPROACHING THE PERIMETER OF THE NAVAL BASE. ALL PERSONNEL, ARM YOURSELVES FOR THE WORST CASE SCENARIO.”
The broadcast repeated itself over and over, ensuring that not a single listener would be dissuaded. This was a serious situation, and slackers couldn’t be tolerated. Regardless of your standing or your current condition, you were expected to fight to defend your home.
Shiranui narrowed her eyes. “Come with me, Ishikawa.” The pink-haired boatgirl grabbed ahold of the Officer Cadet’s wrist, dragging him along back to the mechanics.
“W-Wait, b-but I-I don’t know how to fight!” The young man sputtered as the worried sweat started running down his face. To think that she could switch gears so fast that he didn’t have a chance to resist or run away…
The two mechanics weren’t in a better mood either, with Kou frantically shuffling back and forth. “Oh, oh god, what do we do, what do we do, Boss?” He muttered repeatedly, as they had never before been in such a difficult situation. Usually, when they were being attacked, both Ooi and Kitakami were here to assist, and yet here they were with neither of the two present and with the last remaining shipgirl not in proper operational condition. “We’re… We’re-”
“Kou.” Tetsuya grabbed his pupil by the shoulder, keeping his tone remarkably calm despite the potential danger right outside their walls. “First, breathe.” He ordered, and the boy followed as he slowly started calming down from breathing manually. “Good. You can’t think straight when you worry about the possibilities. What matters is what’s happening right here, right now.”
The rugged man turned his head towards the approaching Shiranui, smirking just a little. “I’m not a fan of these odds, Shiranui. Think you can knock them back without taking more damage?”
His pink-haired partner just strode past him, letting go of Akira as she went right up to her rig. “I can hold them back until Ooi and Kitakami get back. What happens after that, I can’t say.” She replied in the same matter-of-fact way that she always did, her no-nonsense approach clashing with the man who almost seemed happy to have a fight on the horizon.
“That’s good enough for me. Get out there, don’t get hit, and come back to us safe and sound. Got it, Shiranui?” Tetsuya gave her the orders she needed while commanding Kou to handle the heavy lifting, the younger mechanic wheezing as he tugged on the rope that would lift up the rig so that it could be properly strapped onto the shipgirl’s body.
The older mechanic paused for a second as he ran his hand along the side of the armaments on the rig. He twitched ever slightly, before leaning in to whisper into his partner’s ear. “I wasn’t able to fix everything in time. Your cannons are bent, and that’s probably the least of your worries. Stick to long-ranged tactics. At least until those two get there.”
Shiranui nodded softly, looking her partner in the eye one more time, a slight glint of pride hidden in her gaze. “I’ll complete my mission.” She stated as she was rigged up and ready to go. The mechanical elements of her equipment whirred to life, a subtle spark bouncing off her weapons before she took her first few steps towards the surface of the water.
His partner took a deep breath before turning around, giving Tetsuya a salute in an awfully uncharacteristic manner. “Shiranui, setting off to protect our home.” She stated, with just the tiniest bit of emotion slipping out of her words as she turned back towards the ocean, dashing off across the waves to reach the combat zone as fast as possible.
“She’s so cool…” Kou muttered a little under his breath, his eyes sparkling. “She sounds just like one of the pilots from my anime…” To say that the pupil was starstruck was an understatement. And both of his superiors, even if Akira only counted thanks to his position directly under their Admiral, didn’t seem very impressed with the way he acted.
Akira cleared his throat as he stood up straight, having been hunched over ever since Shiranui let go of him. “W-Well, uh… W-What now?” He asked since the alarm had never given them a message like that before, which meant that he was woefully underprepared. “Are… Are we going to be okay? Is she going to be okay? Please tell me we’re going to be okay, Tanaka.” He slowly started rambling in a panicked fashion, just like the younger mechanic had moments prior.
This time, however, Tetsuya didn’t answer. In fact, he seemed almost transfixed on the silhouette of Shiranui still visible on the horizon. Something about the way she addressed him made his sixth sense act up. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all. “...Kou. Find the spare rigging for me. ASAP.” He had to do something, and this was the only thing he could think of.
“Right away, Boss!” Kou gave a salute to his superior as he dashed away, leaving a wake of metallic sounds in his wake as he managed to be more than a little clumsy. “Boss! We really need to clean up Ren’s station, she’s been making a mess of it again!” He cried out from a distance as he continued his trek towards the spare equipment, with the sounds of small accidents not stopping no matter how far away from the pair he got.
Akira paused as he put two and two together. “Hold on. Hold on just a minute, no, you’re…” The nervous Officer Cadet muttered as he pushed his glasses further up on the bridge of his nose, only to wince as the inner nubs graced his eyes. “Y-You can’t just… You’ve heard of what happens to people that aren’t qualified to use rigging, don’t you, Tanaka? Do you want to end up losing yourself like many others? What’s your sister going to think? She’s going to be pouring her heart out when she realizes she accidentally doom-”
“ISHIKAWA AKIRA!” Tetsuya shouted, his hot blood boiling as he crossed his arms. “Do you know what it feels like to send your partner off to her death, knowing that you could’ve been the cause?” He asked, prompting the bespectacled boy to shake his head rapidly in disagreement. “That’s what I just did. And only after she told me that she’d defend our home did I realize my mistake. Because of our argument earlier, I had no time to fix the most important parts of her rig. If she perishes at sea, that is directly my fault.”
The rugged man continued, taking a deep breath as he clenched the sides of his arms. “If we just got along, she wouldn’t be in danger. I can’t stand by and do nothing when she throws herself into the fray, potentially to never return. That’s why I have to try and save her before it’s too late.” He paused for a brief moment as the tension in his body caused the ground underneath him to crack, a fire burning in his eyes. “If she falls too early, we have no chance of fighting back. I protect all of us by protecting her. I keep my home safe and take her back at the same time! That’s why I’m doing this, Ishikawa!”
“You and your sister are something else, Tanaka…” Akira felt the pressure that the older man exerted as he backed away, feeling that his life was being threatened just by being near him. “One of you has problems keeping a consistent work schedule, and you… Your subordinate probably loves when you act like this, given what he said about Miss Shiranui…” The bespectacled boy muttered under his breath, feeling awfully inadequate compared to the two of them. What did he have compared to them? Basically nothing.
Tetsuya grabbed the Officer Cadet by the shoulder, squeezing it tight. “Look at me, Ishikawa.” He said, having calmed down with his eyes merely smoldering instead of burning. “I want to protect the people I love and cherish. The place I’ve come to enjoy working at. You have something to protect too, I know you do.” He paused, looking around to make sure that his pupil hadn’t come back yet, before speaking freely. “You want to protect Toki, don’t you?”
“I-” The nervous young man immediately seized up as he heard those words, his entire body trembling right then and there. Protect… His admiral? The woman that he had come to respect and admire despite the physical issues that she had? The one that had taught him everything? Did he want to protect her? Should he protect her? Did he have any right to? The questions whirled around in his mind with the intensity of a typhoon as he tried to futilely push his glasses up further and further, his nervous tic overwhelmed by his emotions…
His mental breakdown was cut short by the arrival of Kou dragging two rigs along with all the strength that he could muster. “Iiiiii got them, boss! They’re really heavy pleasetakethemoffmyhandsokaythanks-” The younger mechanic’s arms gave way moments later as he faceplanted onto the ground, muttering a faint ‘ow’ from the toughness of the floor.
“Good work, Kou. Now, help me get strapped in. We have a Shiranui to save.” Tetsuya smiled as he helped his pupil back onto his feet, dusting his face off and making sure that he wasn’t bleeding before letting him rest on a table for just a moment, while he started examining the rigs. “Ishikawa, stop mumbling like you’re in a mid-life crisis and tell me what we’ve got here.”
Akira took a deep breath, narrowing his eyes as he was being insulted by the rougher man. “Just…” He sighed as he walked up to the two pieces of rigging. “These are designed for the Oyashio- and Arashi-approved Shipgirl candidates. The Oyashio rig comes equipped with 12.7cm guns and 61cm quad torpedoes, giving it a lot of firepower. The Arashi rig-”
“You take that one, Ishikawa. Keep me company as we save the people we love.” The older man turned his impromptu partner towards the Oyashio rig, while he walked over to the Arashi rig. “Kou, are you ready? The faster you get us strapped in, the quicker we can rescue her!”
Kou was trembling all over thanks to how sore he had gotten, but he shakingly managed to lift up an approving thumb as he got back on his feet. He took a deep breath and hoisted the rig up with a chain, quickly managing to switch between the chain and the strap to properly attach it to his Boss.
As soon as the clunky piece of metal that made up the rig was strapped around the older man’s torso, he noticed that it felt rather… small. Especially compared to his body. “Huh. thought it’d be heavier.” He muttered to himself as he looked towards Akira, noticing that he hadn’t approached the other rig. He sighed for a moment before clearing his throat. “Ishikawa. I give you one chance. If you want to help me save Shiranui and keep our base safe, get that rigging on. If you don’t, go help Kou hide. Give me your answer. Right now.”
Akira gulped… before nodding and approaching the rig, planting his hand on the specialized weapons. “I’m ready.” He replied, slowly taking off his glasses as he put them into his front shirt pocket. “I’ll save her. You better put in a good word for this, Tanaka. And keep your sister off me for a month!”
“That’s the spirit!” Tetsuya laughed as Kou repeated the rigging procedure, strapping the Oyashio rig onto the Officer Cadet’s back and making sure it had been properly secured before letting him walk. “Alright. Now that we’re ready… Kou, hide. I don’t want you to get killed if this ends up going south. You’ve got a bright future ahead of you, and you can’t squander it.”
His pupil gave a salute, shaking from how exhausted he was. “Stay safe, Boss. Bring her back.” He gave his support, before shambling away from the two ship’men’ as they got ready to take off.
With Akira doing his best to stay composed while at his side, Tetsuya could only think about one thing as he approached the ocean…
“Stay alive, Shiranui. We’re coming.”
---
“For such a large force, I didn’t expect most of it to be made out of small fries.”
At the perimeter of the Naval Base’s part of the sea stood Shiranui, floating atop the surface of the water as she pointed her cannons squarely at the commander of the force that had penetrated their defenses. “Tsu-class, was it? I remember you. That fiend of yours that managed to land a blow on me in the last encounter, where is she now?”
In the water around the downed Abyssal floated the equipment of at least six different Abyssal Destroyers, each of them having been taken out without the pink-haired shipgirl breaking a sweat. The rest of her force wasn’t exactly in much better shape either, but they were still ‘standing’. They just hadn’t been finished off yet as their commander was more important.
“Fiend?” Tsu-class articulated the word very carefully before standing up once more, its arms crackling from how much the two had been peppers by the shipgirl’s gunfire. “I know not what that means, but…” The sea underneath the two started to ripple as Tsu-class slowly floated backward. “I believe I know who you may be referring to.”
Shiranui’s eyes widened as she quickly moved to dodge before she was bombarded from a distance, a single glowing eye trailing closer. “There it is.” The pink-haired shipgirl grit her teeth as she engaged combat maneuvers, reading her armaments for battle as the new combatant entered the fray.
A masked being with a feminine upper frame as well as the typical abyssal enhancements floated closer to Tsu, it's lone blue eye shining against its masked face. Torpedo Cruiser Chi-Class, the one who had previously injured the shipgirl in their last bout. “Tsu.” It spoke, turning its head towards the Abyssal Light Cruiser. “Safe?” It asked with a simple tone, as its comprehension of human speech not nearly on the same level.
“I am safe, Chi. You see the enemy, yes?” Tsu pointed towards the pink-haired girl. “The one you almost bested last time we engaged. Time to show what you’ve learned since then.”
Chi let its sharp grin show as it turned towards Shiranui, aiming both its arm cannon and its lower turret towards the enemy.
With all of that armor, and most of her functioning equipment expended on the fodder and the commander already, Shiranui wasn’t really equipped to deal with her nemesis. Didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try, as she let all of her cannons fire off as much as possible. Her torpedoes were fired off just the same, to ensure that any one attack might hit the enemy. If she was going to come out of this alive, she’d have to keep striking the vulnerable spots, and that required as much firepower as she could muster.
The enemy Torpedo Cruiser continued grinning as it approached, not bothering to dodge out of the way of any of the attacks. It knew better. It had the instinct. Even if a stray torpedo hit its body, leaving a hefty scar on its skin tissue, it wouldn’t matter. It could be repaired. Shipgirls couldn’t. This was how it managed to outlast the pink-haired menace last time, and if it worked once, then it will again.
Her opponent was tough, even though it was floating straight at her. All of that gunfire was chipping away at its armor, yet it didn’t seem to be bothered at all. The pink-haired Destroyer would have to think of something new to deal with it, otherwise, she’d end up failing before Kitakami and Ooi got here. At the same time, if their only healthy ship was injured enough, they’d have to approach at a slower pace, so…
“...Sorry, Tetsuya.” Shiranui muttered under her breath, unloading a torpedo and grabbing it with her hand. “I’m going to have to disappoint you again. Forgive me.” She knew what to do, and charged straight ahead as she focused all of her firepower on a single spot. Just enough that she could chip through the enemy’s skin and deliver a blow that mattered..!
Chi’s grin widened even further, inhumanely so. The single-eyed creature even started laughing, the intensity of the situation causing its development to accelerate. The sight of that girl approaching with wild abandon was an amazing sight, and it was definitely a weak spot. The energies that had been gathered in its two turrets began to intensify, as it would fire off a shot as soon as the pink-haired menace got too close. A direct hit like that would destroy her…
If the shot got a chance to fire. Before the masked menace knew what had happened, the Destroyer was right in front of her, torpedo in hand ready for her risky maneuver. “Sink to the bottom of the ocean and never come back, Fiend!” Her usual stoic demeanor was broken as she screamed with righteous fury, slamming the tip of that torpedo straight into the hole that she had gradually opened thanks to her continued barrage of gunfire…
Unfortunately, she had done her job a little too well. The torpedo was lodged in there, but the bumps weren’t enough to cause a rupture. Shiranui had basically just planted a bomb on Chi without accomplishing anything else. And since she was still in fatal range…
“Tetsuya…”
*K-THOOM*
The waters around the two split, causing any nearby Abyssal to be blown back from the impact. Shiranui had been struck by two doses of the highest-powered shots that Chi could produce. It had tested those against underwater structures and completely disintegrated them. Nobody would be able to survive something like that. Nobody.
…
That is, if that actually had been Chi’s shots. As the dust settled and the cloud from the impact vanished, there was a distinct lack of a defeated and disintegrated Shiranui, and a rather injured looking Chi floated backward instead, a distinct hole now separating its arm from its torso.
Tsu tilted its head. “How?” It asked aloud, turning its head to look at its compatriots who pointed in the direction of something approaching from afar. Their pink-haired enemy had company.
“SHIRANUI!” The voice of Tetsuya echoed across the ocean as he sped onto the scene, getting in between the pink-haired girl and the masked menace that had just tried to deliver a killing blow. “Stay back! We’re taking it from here!”
Shiranui blinked in disbelief. Not only had he foolishly rigged himself with rigging that he wasn’t authorized to use, but he had roped somebody else into it? “Tetsuya, what do you think you’re doing!?” Her composure was all but shattered, and granted so was much of her body after enduring the brunt of that explosion.
“Saving you, idiot!” He grinned from ear to ear as he turned around. Though strangely enough, his features seemed just a little less rugged than they normally did. “Just stick to Ishikawa. I’ll handle them.” He was sure of himself as he pointed his guns at the masked menace, who only growled in return…
Tsu motioned for its allies to stand up. “Support Chi with all your firepower. Take down this unknown varia-” It tried to give orders, only for one of the other destroyers to be taken out before it managed to get back on its feet. “Another..?” It muttered as it used the ripples of the waves to determine the distance between her squad and the last fighter…
“You’re not hurting her… You’re not hurting anybody!” Akira felt his body shaking as he strafed around his allies, his armaments pointed straight at the rest of the force. “Not as long as I can keep you pinned!” He wasn’t used to this at all, having barely gotten the hang of how to move while he and Tetsuya were approaching, but with adrenaline pumping through his veins, he let instinct do the talking. He had to prove that he wanted to save his friends… Protect his Admiral! Protect Tokinaga!
Shiranui bit her tongue as she slowly backed away from the two men, looking at the rippling sea below, her reflection barely visible from how much it was being distorted. The one thing that stood out, however, was the regret visible on her expression. “They…” She muttered, before continuing her retreat. Now it was up to them.
“Fresh... “ Chi grinned and growled as it charged up the turret at its ‘feet’, approaching the rigged man with an intent to kill. Even if he wasn’t a shipgirl, he was still a threat. Threats had to be eliminated. That’s what Tsu always said, and that’s what it believed in. Threats had to be destroyed, disintegrated!
Tetsuya ran on the water, sprinting towards the enemy with his acceleration only aided by the rig. “I’m not fresh, you creep!” He clenched his left fist tight, gritting his teeth as he got as close to the mechanical organism as he got within range. If the enemy was just going to charge up, then he was going to make it pay for taking too long!
He threw his fist, and it connected with the surface of the Torpedo Cruiser’s mask. Without doing anything. It threw the enemy off, puzzling it as to why a human would try something so ineffective…
Then he threw it again. And again. And once more. He kept on punching, grabbing ahold of Chi’s hair to get a better grip as he kept on punching. His punches would not stop as the fire in his eyes kept burning.
“That'll teach you for trying to attack us!” Punch. “That'll teach you for trying to hurt humans!” Punch. “That'll teach you for always bothering us!” Punch. “For making us worry!” Punch. “FOR MAKING US SUFFER!” Punch.
The mask was cracking. Every punch he threw slowly whittled away at the material that was used to keep it stable. Individually, they were nothing. But with his hot blood and his passion for his friends bubbling through him, he was building strength like the creature had never before seen. Even as that man’s arm grew slimmer, the punches grew stronger. It was a direct contradiction, as Chi’s firey eye started to tremble. It didn’t understand any of this.
“And this…” Tetsuya spoke once more, the fist actually catching on fire even though it was much smaller than it was just moments ago. He didn’t realize it, but his determination to keep his partner safe was doing something. Not that he cared. He wanted to save her, and he was going to do it with this hand of his. “THIS IS FOR HURTING SHIRANUI!”
He threw one last punch, and the mask cracked. Chi screamed in pain as if it had been dealt a fatal wound. Instead of charging its attack further, it scrambled to retreat, not wanting any more part in this. Though strangely, from what the man could see before it turned around to retreat… there was nothing behind that mask, just an underdeveloped patch of skin. Truly alien, like the rest of her body.
While the formerly rugged man was busy with the main problem at hand, Akira was still busy bombarding the enemy from afar. “Sink! Sink and leave us alone!” He screamed, letting his emotions bubble over as he let loose the hounds of war. Cannon fire and torpedoes were being fired off en masse, just to ensure that they would be pinned down until Shiranui was safe.
Tsu didn’t seem very pleased with any of this, but it did take note of the way it was being repelled. “We cannot approach. Any attempt leads to focused fire on one of our numbers.” It elaborated, with the destroyers at its disposal it could potentially deliver one final push to try and take that enemy out. That would still leave them with one additional enemy, as well as the one that they had forced to retreat… and the two that the rest of her force had distracted. “...This must be done. Destroyers, on my-”
As the Light Cruiser tried to give a command, it suddenly felt a piercing pain run down its shoulder joints. It stared at the massive arms that it had before noticing that the turrets had been completely destroyed. While it had been busy trying to strategize, the enemy had landed a few fatal blows. And it wasn’t the only one to be hit, as it pivoted in place and noticed the rest of its force falling like flies. It grit the teeth that served as its head before slowly sinking underneath the surface of the water, firmly focused on the visage of the human in the distance.
“We will meet again. You will not be able to catch us off guard like this ever again.” It gave a firm and echoing warning before it retreated through descending into the sea itself, leaving no remaining Abyssal combatants available and ready to continue the fight.
Akira let his arms fall to his side, not noticing how smooth they had gotten after all the gunfire he had peppered the enemy in. “It’s… It’s over! They’re done for! We won! Tanaka! We won!” He cheered, rushing towards his muscled ally. It was time to celebrate! They managed to blow them back, save Shiranui and even protect the entire base! The Admiral was going to be so proud-
He stopped, seizing up. His entire vision went dark in that split second as he felt a wave of pure nausea overwhelm him. The adrenaline ran out right then and there. “T-Tanak…” He muttered with the little energy he had left in his body before he fell over, floating on the surface of the ocean despite the heavy rig on his back…
“Ishikawa-” Tetsuya wiped the sweat off his brow, only for his heart to suddenly feel as if it had been pierced by a spear. He staggered forward, pain numbing his entire body as if he had just been skewered through every single little spot on his body. Worst of all was his back, because it felt as if something was trying to burrow through his spine. Were these the consequences he had to endure for not being a candidate..?
“God… Damnit…” Were the last words that left his mouth before he collapsed alongside his ally, the two floating on the surface of the sea, utterly helpless. If the Abyssals came back now, they’d be able to finish them and move on to the base itself.
…
It sure was lucky that a certain pair of shipgirls had dealt with the other force, and just happened to stop by this very spot on their way back. Neither of them very pleased with the sight before them.
“Kitakami,” Ooi spoke up, looking to her partner. “They’re…”
The black-haired Light Cruiser put a finger to her partner’s mouth. “Let’s bring them back to Tokihana, then they’ll realize what a mess they’ve put themselves in,” Kitakami replied, looking around at the Abyssals that had been wrecked around the area. “Though, they did a good job. Let’s see if Toki’s feeling generous when they wake up, shall we?”
Her brown-haired partner nodded softly before scooping Akira into her arms, while Kitakami carried Tetsuya. The two made their way back to the base, intending to bring them straight to the medical bay so that they could deal with the consequences of their actions…
Both men would be in for a shock once they realized what they had just done to themselves. And thus, life at Tokihana was about to get a little more exciting.