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Chapter Text

“Shikikan, I appreciate you helping me train but…”

“THIS REALLY ISN’T WHAT I HAD IN MIND!”

Zuikaku struggled to stand as she stood under a rushing waterfall, the sheer pressure exerted on her beginning to crush her rather small-in-comparison body.

“Come on Zuikaku, you’re never gonna catch up to Enterprise like that!”

“UNDERSTOOD, SIR”

She groaned with effort as she forced herself upwards, resisting the power of the waterfall with an iron stance and steeled resolve.

“And remember, not ONCE during this training are you allowed to use your rigging, we’re going to build you from the ground up!”

“YES SIR!”

But how did she get into this situation in the first place?

For that, we must return to about an hour in the past.

“Hey Shikikan!”

“Ah, Zuikaku, how’re you doing?”

The Commander sat across from Zuikaku. It was a familiar scene, as Zuikaku often dropped by before her training started to say hello. A common occurrence for most Sakura Empire kansen.

This time however, Zuikaku was here for an entirely different reason.

“Can… Can I ask you something, Shikikan?”

“Sure, go for it.”

Taking a seat at his desk, Zuikaku looked nervous for a moment, before quickly slapping both sides of her face and looking directly at her commanding officer.

“...Can you help me with training?”

“Huh?”

“It’s just that, recently I’ve noticed that I’m really not making any progress… And I really wanna catch up to the Grey Ghost!”

The Commander placed his hands in his lap for a moment, seemingly in thought.

“Alright then, I think I can do that.”

“Really? Great-”

“But I have to warn you, what I have planned is no easy task.”

“Eh?”

Zuikaku looked confused for a moment, before brushing it off and smiling brightly.

“Hah! Don’t worry about me, I can take whatever you throw at me!”

“Ah, good. See that over there?”

The Commander pointed out of his window, motioning to a large clearing in the forest, complete with a titanic waterfall and massive surrounding forest.

“Once you’re ready, meet me there. I’ll be heading over in about five hours. I need to set some stuff up…”

“Sounds good, I’ll be ready soon!”

“I should not have said that, I should NOT have said that!”

Regret began to leak in as Zuikaku struggled to stand beneath the waterfall, having switched to a wider stance in order to try and bear the weight of the waterfall with more ease.

It barely helped at all, frankly.

“Alright, about five more minutes of this, and we’ll move on to step two!”

“S-Step two!?”

With an internal gulp, Zuikaku re-focused on the task at hand.

She was really, really beginning to regret asking…

A few minutes later, Zuikaku laid on the river bank, coughing up a bit of water.

“I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t expect you to last that long!”

“Ugh… Just give me a minute…”

The Commander chuckled a bit, allowing Zuikaku a moment or two of rest before they continued.

She took in a few deep breaths, attempting to get back some of the energy she’d used to resist the crushing pressure of the waterfall. Unfortunately, despite her rather developed knowledge of such techniques, even that wasn’t enough to gain back the stamina she’d used.

“Right then, onto the next phase!”

Zuikaku groaned, before swinging her upper body back up and returning to her feet, stumbling a bit before quickly regaining her footing and standing up-right.

As she looked around the clearing, her eyes landed on a series of artillery cannons that stuck out from the rest of the trees around them.

“Hey, Shikikan? What are those for?”

“Oh don’t worry about those, they’re just here for looks.”

…Suspicious, but believable.

“Ok, see that opening in the trees?”

“Y…Yes?

“All you need to do is run through that.”

She looked almost incredulously at The Commander, as if she truly didn’t believe that was it.

“...R-Really?”

“Yeah that’s right. All you need to do is run.”

A moment of silence passed, before Zuikaku simply shrugged.

“Well alright then, seems pretty trustable!”

And with that, off she went, running into the opening in the trees and following the path that The Commander had seemingly paved out for her.

For the most part, it seemed to be relatively normal. In fact, the run was an almost pleasant change from the waterfall exercise beforehand.

It seemed that The Commander had shown mercy on her!

Well, at least it did at first, before something massive slammed into the ground in front of her and sent dirt flying in all directions.

“What the hell!?”

A series of thuds sounded out around her, as projectiles rained down from above and nearly knocked her out cold!

The now bewildered Zuikaku looked into one of the craters as she ran past it, and noticed a rather shell-shaped object.

“T-Training shells!?”

She continued to run, now particularly spooked as she looked in the direction of where she thought the shells might be coming from.

It was then that she remembered the cannons laying there in the clearing.

“Gaah! I should’ve known there was a catch!”

More shockwaves reverberated through the forest as Zuikaku plowed ahead, charging through the forest until she began to see a light in the distance.

By now however, she’d been knocked over so many times and had been hit once or twice by a training shell, so she wasn’t sure if the light ahead was the end of the course, or the pearly gates of the afterlife.

Stumbling around into the clearing she’d started in, Zuikaku very quickly collapsed onto the ground into an exhausted heap.

“Wow, for the first time run-through, that was incredible!”

Zuikaku looked up at The Commander, who was now standing over her with a rather proud smile.

“...Please tell me there’s nothing left…”

“Ah don’t worry, there’s only one last thing left to do!”

Groaning once again, she swung herself onto her front and pushed herself up, returning to the standing position with rather frightening speed. 

“Alright, just one last thing.”

Motioning for Zuikaku to follow, The Commander led her into a second opening on the trees opposite to the one she’d just entered for the running training. 

Walking through the thick forest, the two eventually reached a smaller clearing in the woods.

This one led to a massive lake, at the foot of the large plateau that she’d spotted The Commander on during her run, one that for some reason, was boiling. On one side of the lake, were massive boulders, having seemingly fallen off of the plateau.

“Alright, so first you’re gonna need to swim through all this boiling water, get to the other side, and start striking at those boulders.”

He motioned to a nearby shed he’d set up, made of various wooden planks and some tiling he’d seemingly bought from Akashi, given the cat-shaped stamp on each bit.

“Go in there and put on the swimsuit I’ve put in there for you. Once you’re ready, you can start!”

Zuikaku looked out at the medium-ish sized lake. It didn’t seem all that intimidating to her, in fact, it seemed rather relaxing!

“...You know what, that’s not actually all that bad.”

Oh how wrong she was…

Half an hour later, Zuikaku was still swimming through the lake’s hot water. Her supernatural composition allowed her to remain in the hot water for a time, but she’d underestimated just how difficult it was to swim through so much of the stuff.

Especially when she hadn’t even gotten to the striking!

“Ok… I need… to watch my mouth…”

She sighed to herself, pushing through the exhaustion and eventually making it all the way to the other side. Now of course, came the difficult part.

In a nearby barrel were some wooden training swords. With a silent breath of resignation, Zuikaku nabbed one of the nearby weapons, took a stance before the boulder, and began to swing.

Funnily enough, this was the most familiar of all the training she’d done.

The pain in her hands as she tightly gripped her sword, the burning in her arms as she returned to her stance, before lunging forward and bringing down the wooden blade.

This was all very, very familiar.

It brought her back to when she’d first started training, those first few days when she saw the Grey Ghost in action, and wanted to eventually take down the legendary figure.

When she was still wide-eyed and ignorant to how wide the gap between them truly was.

She’d truly come a long way since then.

Of course, it still wasn’t enough to endure all of the training that The Commander had put her through, back to back.

Before long, she eventually collapsed onto the banks, struggling onto her back as The Commander approached her with a towel.

“Well, that’s that done. So, how was your first day?”

Despite her myriad of injuries… there was something satisfying about having completed all of that work. Not only that, she felt oddly light.

“...When do we start again?”

“Hahahaha! That’s the spirit! Go get some rest, we’ll start again at 1:00PM tomorrow.”

“You got it Shikikan!”

Zuikaku, in spite of all her injuries, managed to return to her feet and waved goodbye to The Commander, heading back along the bank of the lake towards the base.

The Commander took out a notepad and jotted down a few notes, before looking quite satisfied.

“Well, that’s one down.”

About a week later…

“U-Um, Master?”

“Dido? How’re ya? You didn’t come in yesterday, so I was gonna go check up on you, buuut I got occupied with something else I had to take care of.”

“O-Oh it was nothing… I was just a little sick…”

The Commander spoke with Dido, who had just entered the room to start her work as his Secretary for the day. The maid’s voice still dripped of anxiety and self-doubt, something that The Commander had been trying to fix for awhile now.

“Ah, then in that case don’t worry about it. I’ve already done your share of the paperwork from yesterday, so you’ll be fine.”

“Ah! Thank you, honorable master… I-If I can do anything to make up, p-please let me know! Don’t throw me away!”

“Hey hey hey, that’s not gonna happen alright?”

Quickly standing up and placing a hand on Dido’s shoulder to assure her, The Commander used his free hand to pull out the notepad he’d placed in his back-pocket.

“Actually… there is something you can do for me.”

“Really!? What is it? Just tell me, I-I’ll do anything!”

He smirked, stepping out from his desk and extending a hand.

“In that case, why don’t you follow me?”

“Eh?”

“M-Master… I don’t mean to be rude but…”

Standing next to Zuikaku, Dido had taken a similar stance to the carrier and was now standing underneath the massive waterfall.

In comparison, Dido had slightly less overall combat training, relying mostly on the brute force of her incredibly powerful cursed blade to get the job done.

As such, she was visibly struggling much more than Zuikaku was at first, barely able to stand up under the weight of the waterfall.

“Uwwaaaaaah…”

The maid eventually collapsed under the weight of the waterfall, falling into the water below and being fished out by The Commander and Zuikaku’s joint efforts.

“Huh… alright, this may prove to be a problem.”

“Yeah, maybe have her take a break?”

“W-Wait! I can keep going!”

Dido insisted, despite her clear exhaustion. She was determined to still be of use, to still have worth to The Commander.

“Look, Dido, I appreciate the enthusiasm but maybe-”

“N-No! Please…”

It was around this time that The Commander remembered something that Dido had said a while back, during her time training to be an idol.

“Those without talent need only work harder!”

“...Alright then. But if it gets too bad, We’re gonna stop the training, alright?”

“U-Understood!”

With a little difficulty, Dido managed to get back up onto her feet, gripping her knees for support as she took in breath after breath. It was difficult, but she managed to steady herself.

“Hey, are you alright?”

Zuikaku offered a water bottle to the now very much winded Dido, who took it with gratitude.

“T-Thank you, Miss Zuikaku.”

“Ah don’t mention it, come on, we’re moving to the next phase of the training!”

Dido nodded in response, quickly straightening herself out and following Zuikaku as the two made their way into the forest.

For the most part, Dido didn’t think too much of the run. After all, it was much more relaxing than the waterfall had been, as shameful as that was to admit.

Of course, that’s when Zuikaku decided to chime in.

“Oh, here it comes!”

“Wait… w-what’s coming?”

The maid only had mere moments to look up and notice the storm of incoming projectiles coming down at them.

“Uwaaaaaaah!”

Covering her head, Dido desperately attempted to keep pace with Zuikaku, who was similarly struggling to get through the hail of training shells as they ran through the course.

“Hey, this isn’t actually all that bad!”

Zuikaku said as she narrowly avoided one of the incoming shells, feeling rather happy that she’d improved since the last time she’d attempted the course.

That was, until a massive log swung down from the side and knocked her clean off her feet, sending her flying into a nearby tree.

“A-Ah!”

Dido instantly stopped and ran over to Zuikaku, who could be found buried halfway into a large tree.

“Um… a-are you ok?”

She responded by shooting a thumbs up into the air as she slowly tried to pry herself out of the tree she was stuck within.

“Yeah! Just uh… give me a sec- Ouch! Ah jeez there’s splinters everyw- Gah!”

“I… I’m going to go call the master…”

Dido winced as Zuikaku once again attempted to get herself unstuck from her newfound wooden prison.

“Oh kami-sama, this is gonna suck…”

“Ow! Jeez Shikikan, could ya be a bit more careful?”

“Yeah yeah, it’s just- there’s so many splinters!”

The Commander, Dido, and Zuikaku had all taken seats at a little make-shift medical tent that they’d thrown together with a few branches and twigs, as The Commander used the first-aid kit he’d just so happen to have brought along with him in case something had gone wrong during training. He’d expected he may have to use it at some point, given the kasens’ tendencies to push themselves beyond all reasonable limits, but he definitely wasn’t expecting this many splinters.

“Alright ZuiZui, that’s all of them.”

“Woo-hoo! So I’m good to go now, right?”

“Oh no hotshot, I think we’ll be stopping here for today. With Dido nearly drowning herself, and you getting flung through a tree, I’m gonna take this time to maybe tone down the lethality of the training.”

“Aww… alright then, Shikikan, I take it Dido and I should just wait here then?”

“You two can do whatever, I’m gonna go back to the drawing board.”

Following this conversation, The Commander spun around on his heels and waved a farewell to the two kansen, right after patting Dido on her shoulder to assure her that he wasn’t abandoning her.

“I’m just gonna be gone for a bit, besides, you have Zuikaku here with you!”

“Oh, a-alright then…”

“Yeah c’mon, chin up!”

Zuikaku ruffled the hair on Dido’s head as she and the maid watched The Commander walk off back towards the base, waving him goodbye until he eventually left sight.

For a moment, the two sat in silence as they watched their Commander dip below the horizon, no words being spoken as the two simply observed.

Until of course.

“Hey! Wanna spar?”

“Huh!?”

Dido was almost taken aback by the sudden challenge, and nearly stumbled over onto the ground in surprise.

“Woah woah, take it easy! It’s just a little sparring match, y’know?”

Given that her only injuries at the moment consisted of a few bruises and splinter marks, Zuikaku deemed it alright to keep going, even if The Commander had decided not to.

After all, giving up on training just wouldn’t do!

“So, what'd ya say?”

Though clearly apprehensive, Dido took a moment to consider the offer. Her Master did want her to train… for whatever reason that was, so it might actually be a good idea to take Zuikaku up on her offer.

“Um… a-alright then!”

“Great! Let’s get started!”

Quickly standing up, Zuikaku grabbed the sword attached to her hip and drew the blade from its sheath, before turning back over to Dido.

“So uh, do you have a weapon or-”

Only to see Dido reaching into the little opening beneath her breasts, reaching into the cleavage, and producing a massive pitch black buster sword.

“...Well I’ll be damned.”

That was… actually kind of intimidating.

“I’m ready!”

Though she appeared nervous, Dido quickly got into a ready position, holding her sword out in front of her with both hands gripped around the hilt.

Despite feeling rather apprehensive all of a sudden, Zuikaku quickly swept those feelings under the rug and prepared herself for the match.

“Ok, we can start whenever!”

“U-Um, okay!”

Dido looked nervous, yet simply stood resolute as Zuikaku began to count down.

“Alright, three… two… one!”

The instant she finished counting, Zuikaku lunged forward with her weapon held high, bringing down her blade as she so often had in the past.

In response, Dido quickly pivoted on her heel and swung her enormous greatsword in a right-ward arc, deflecting Zuikaku’s blow and causing the crane to slip right past her.

“Hey, that was pretty good! But can you handle this!?”

Following up on her initial strike, Zuikaku leapt forward with a swarm of lighter, more restrained attacks, meant to wear down Dido’s seemingly impressive defense.

Much like before, Dido focused on defense as Zuikaku’s hail of strikes came in, using her sword’s much larger mass to block against the swarm of lighter strikes.

Zuikaku was feeling a bit frustrated at this seemingly iron defense, and so opted to try removing it altogether by launching an upward kick aimed at Dido’s weapon. Using the metal part of her shoe, she let loose with a powerful leg strike that caught Dido off-guard for a moment.

Sensing her opportunity, the crane followed up her defense-break by going for the match-ending blow, however in mere moments Dido turned the table.

Her blade began to ooze a strange black energy that whispered into the air around her before quickly covering the entire weapon. Zuikaku’s senses immediately began to scream danger, and she only had seconds to let off an attempted parry before Dido swung down with all her might.

The crane’s sword shattered completely.

With only a second or two before Dido’s sword came down and knocked her out cold, Zuikaku threw all her strength into retreat, and launched herself backwards in order to avoid the attack.

Good thing too, because Dido’s sword swing sent shockwaves out from the point of impact and left massive cracks in the ground splitting apart from the strike zone.

The two were silent for a moment, Zuikaku’s eyes as wide as dinner plates. Dido gulped for a moment, before immediately bursting into a swarm of apologies.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!”

Meanwhile, Zuikaku was still counting her lucky stars. If she hadn’t flung herself back as fast as she did, she was willing to bet she’d be in two pieces right now!

“That was… actually pretty awesome…”

It was just a shame her life had just flashed before her very eyes.

Coincidentally, it was also this sudden event that had drained Zuikaku of all her energy, and caused her to pass out on the ground.

“I-I didn’t mean for this to happen, I’m so so- Miss Zuikaku?”

Chapter Text

“So! How ya doin?”

“...Shikikan, does it look like I’m doing well?”

The Commander stood over a bedridden Zuikaku, who’d been carried there by an incredibly distraught Dido following the former’s collapse onto the ground. Multiple other curtains separated the crane’s bed from the other patients in the medical wing, as Vestal ran back and forth trying to administer treatment to the various kansen.

He’d feel bad, but this was to be expected on a base where your average kansen could blow up a building with a bit of effort.

“In hindsight, maybe doing all of that training and then immediately going for a sparring match wasn’t the best idea…”

“You’re one to talk Shikikan! Who even uses artillery cannons for a training regiment anyway!?”

“In my defense, it’s been working hasn’t it?”

“That’s no excuse!”

Scratching the back of his head in a mixture of embarrassment and nervousness, The Commander let out a rather unsteady chuckle as Zuikaku’s glare burned holes into him from her hospital bed. In hindsight, maybe making the training that dangerous from the get-go was a mistake.

But hey, now they’re a lot stronger! At least, he thought they were. Right?

“Wait, how do you even know it’s worked? We don’t have anything to compare against?”

“Well uh… I mean, did you notice anything during your spar with Dido?”

“The one that lasted all of five seconds? Hmm…”

She thought long and hard about that question. They’d only exchanged a few blows, most of which consisted of her harmlessly striking Dido’s nearly impregnable defenses. The only thing she could really remember was Dido’s final strike, the one that had left a large crater in the ground where her massive buster sword had landed.

“Yeah no, I got nothing.”

“Damn, alright maybe it’d be best if we got more training partners… Actually on that note, I was thinking of inviting more people into this little thing we’ve got going on, and wanted to hear your thoughts on our new candidates!”

“Oh su- wait, why me?”

“Because you’re the first one I roped into this.”

“Figures…”

Reaching into his back pocket, The Commander produced a folded piece of paper, which unfolded into a list of candidates he wanted to invite to their little training camp.

“So, first I’m thinking of asking Reno to join.”

“Huh? That Eagle Union girl? The one with the cool gloves right?”

“Yeah that’s the one! I think you two went on a sortie together once or twice.”

Zuikaku thought for a moment, pondering The Commander’s words as she began to recall the American cruiser. She’d had a chat with her once regarding her incredibly cool power-gloves, which she’d then promptly used to send Zuikaku flying through a building when she’d asked the cruiser for a sparring match.

“...I get sent flying through things a lot.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing”

Looking rather confused for a moment, but continuing on regardless, The Commander read off the next name on his list. It took him a bit, given that he’d lost his spot, but he managed to find his spot again with relative ease.

“Regardless, next up I’m thinking of having Taihou join us.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah! I mean think about it: she’s talented, passionate, and she’s supposedly a fairly powerful aircraft carrier already, so it’d be best if we brought out all that hidden potential, you get me?”

“Well, I mean that’s true but…”

Zuikaku’s thoughts drifted to her memories of Taihou. Specifically, all the times her shogi matches with Kaga were interrupted by the two red-eyed carriers crashing through various walls and knocking over the board.

There were also the few times she’d worked with Taihou in person, the main one coming to mind being the time they worked as race queens together.

She shivered a bit. Though Taihou had been rather amicable during the whole thing, and had even helped her put on her rather exposing outfit, her clingy attitude still served to unnerve the crane, if only a little.

“You know, she’s a bit overbearing is all… Are you sure it’ll be fine?”

“Aaah don’t sweat the details! I’m sure it’ll be alright!”

Well in that case, who was she to judge!

“I wanna get two more people into this, but I guess this’ll have to do for now. Meaning all we have to do now is get these invitations out!”

The Commander proclaimed, producing a set of letters from inside his pockets.

“So uh, how are we going to get these invitations out? I mean, everyone has a busy schedule, and you have a lot of paperwork, and I’m bedridden-”

“Comrade Commander, I am here!”

The door swung open to reveal a woman dressed in a thick white coat, wearing a tall hat of the same coloring, her red eyes swinging over to The Commander.

“Ah, Rossiya, perfect timing! You here to do the thing?”

“Indeed I am, Comrade Commander!”

Zuikaku looked confused for a moment, looking quickly between the two before piping up.

“Wait, what are you talking about? What’s going on?”

The two turned back to Zuikaku, in order to explain.

“Oh, I just made a deal with Rossiya. I owe her a favor, and this is it.”

“And what’s that?”

“I have asked Comrade Commander to allow me to educate our more stalkerish-inclined comrades in the ways of the revolution!”

“Huh?”

“She means she wants to teach the yanderes about communism”

“Ooooooh, I get it now.”

A lightbulb lit up in The Commander’s head, causing him to quickly swivel over to look at the Northern Parliament's battleship.

“On that note, you mind handing one of these to Taihou when you find her?”

“Of course Comrade Commander! I will do so while she is being educated on proletariat values.”

“Excelle- Actually, here, have one of these yourself!”

Rossiya took one of the invitations from The Commander and opened it up, revealing inside a quickly written down letter with the words: “You've been invited to The Commander’s special training camp!”

“Huh? What is this, Comrade Commander?”

“It’s just a little thing I’ve thrown together, we need two more members and you seem like a pretty good fit!”

“Hmm, I’m not too sure, what would we be doi-”

“You’ll get to educate the rest of the trainees on the revolution.”

“That does sound rather enticing…”

Rossiya turned away to look at the invitation as The Commander looked back towards Zuikaku.

“Well then, looks like we’re almost done! Actually, on a similar note, where’s Taihou?”

The curtain next to Zuikaku opened up, revealing an also-bedridden Taihou, her legs and an arm wrapped in bandages.

“Hello, Shikikan-sama.”

“Oh Taihou, this is pretty convenient! I gotta say though, how’d you end up here?”

Vestal took this time to pop in, various medical supplies in her arms.

“She got into a fight with Roon, again.”

“Figures. So where’s Roon then?”

Another curtain, this one next to Taihou's bed, opened up to reveal the ironblood cruiser just mentioned in a similar, albeit slightly less injured state, with a few burn marks scattered across her body, and both arms wrapped in bandages.

"Hello, Kommandant."

"Hi Roon."

The two yanderes instantly shot one another glares as Rossiya perked up from reading her invitation, walking over to the two of them and beginning to pull out a small red book.

"Hello my exceptionally-loving comrades! Would you like to hear about the revolution?"

"Huh?"

"We have a revolution?"

"I'm glad you asked!"

As Rossiya began explaining the benefits of a non-class-based system, The Commander turned back towards Zuikaku.

"So, we just need one more person. Got anyone in mind?"

She took a moment to think, considering a few options for a moment. Akagi? No, she and Taihou didn't really get along. Kaga? Maybe, but she'd have to invite Akagi along too. Takao? She might be interested but-

“That reminds me, I needed to talk to Shoukaku, has she dropped by at all?”

“Oh she hasn’t, I wonder why?”

“Over here, Zuikaku.”

The curtain next to Roon’s bed opened up to reveal Shoukaku, covered in a few bandages and bruises with a few burnt ends in her hair.

“Ah! Shoukaku-nee, what happened!?”

Vestal popped in, piping up with an answer.

“Allegedly she got into a fight with Akagi again, and they’ve been sent to separate parts of the medical wing in order to stop them from fighting.”

“That makes sense, but then why are Roon and Taihou in the same part of the medical wing?”

“They’re too injured to even move at this point, so it’s safe to put them here.”

As Zuikaku and Vestal continued talking, The Commander looked over to Roon and Taihou, both of whom were sort of just nodding along as Rossiya continued her speal about the working class, and the idea of a society in which all were truly equal. 

“Huh… Maybe I’ll ask Shoukaku to come and help supervise, I’m sure she’ll be a good fit for that position, given her fairly unshakable demeanor most of the time! As long as Akagi doesn’t show up, we should be good.”

“That’s a good idea! Shoukaku-nee is always calm and composed, she’s a lot better at that whole graceful thing than me… unless it’s around our senpais, then she just gets really angry…”

Zuikaku was reminded of the time they’d lost to the Eagle Union in a joint exercise, upon which Akagi had them run the most hellish drills of their life for three hours straight. Shoukaku had been mumbling “bad seniors” for the following 3 days. Zuikaku hadn’t been sure whether she should be impressed by it, or frightened.

Moments later, Vestal leaned forward a bit and tapped The Commander’s shoulder.

“Oh, Commander, I’m going to be teaching Enterprise how to cook in a few minutes so could you take ov-”

“That’s it! Let’s recruit the Gray Ghost!”

All present parties instantly looked at Zuikaku in confusion.

“...aren’t you trying to surpass Enterprise?”

The Commander asked, confused as to the sakura carrier’s intentions.

“Yeah! Which is why it’d be good to have here there to spar with at any time!”

“That… seems sensible. Alright then, Enterprise it is!”

Quickly pulling out a pen from his coat’s pocket, he scribbled down the names of all the invitees onto each of the invitations that weren’t yet delivered. Next he quickly tossed them all to Rossiya and turned to the door.

“Now then, I’ll see you all in the morning starting next thing tomorrow morning!”

Without saying another word, he exited.

“...So who’s gonna tell him we have to actually accept first.”

“No no, it’s funnier this way.”

Rossiya then immediately turned back around to Roon and Taihou.

“Well then now that that’s out of the way, who wants to learn more about the evils of private property!”

“Well, looks like everyone showed up! Welcome to Day One of Training Camp!”

Lined up to the side of the waterfall were the various Kansen who’d been invited to the training camp. Looking, for the most part, relatively fresh and ready for the day.

Except Dido, who internally dreaded nearly drowning again. 

“So, for our first exercise, we’ll be resisting the pressure of this waterfall!”

He motioned to the massive waterfall behind him, which constantly let off this rather deafening swooshing sound as the water slammed into the lake below.

“So uh, just to make sure, can anyone actually hear me?”

None of the kansen replied, except for Dido who The Commander couldn’t actually hear, on account of the massive waterfall behind him.

Pulling out a megaphone and setting it to the loudest setting possible, he tried again.

“Alright, NOW can everyone hear me?”

Everyone present winced in pain for a moment before returning a few thumbs up, confirming that they did in fact, hear his voice. Unfortunately.

“Ok good, now this waterfall here is going to serve two purposes! One: it will force you to calm your mind as you endure the constant pounding pressure of the water above, and Two: it will force you to concentrate as you can’t hear your screams of terror over the sound of ALL THIS RUSHING WATER!”

Absent-mindedly, Dido wondered whether or not there was a spot in heaven for people who got crushed by waterfalls.

Shoukaku tapped The Commander on the shoulder, and leaned in a bit to whisper into his ear.

“Didn’t you say you were going to reduce the lethality of the training?”

“Yeah, I did. This won’t kill them it’ll just hurt like hell!”

She looked rather nervous as The Commander turned back to the group and began shouting once again.

“Alright then, get under that waterfall!”

Everyone sort of just stood around for a moment, still in disbelief that The Commander had formulated such a crazy plan, and a bit shocked that he was actually going through with it.

“I SAID GET UNDER THAT WATERFALL!”

As everyone hurriedly filed in, taking their respective spots underneath the rushing water, Dido sent out an internal prayer for mercy.

“Oh Kami-sama, this is gonna suck isn’t it…”

“Uwwaaaaah…”

Zuikaku looked to her left and saw Dido slowly beginning to sink back down into the water. She’d feel bad, but she was a bit preoccupied, also trying not to get crushed.

Looking to her right revealed Rossiya and Taihou, both of whom were struggling a bit more than herself, but less than Dido, who was now being fished out of the water by Shoukaku and The Commander using a net.

Leftward, Reno was looking fairly comfortable in this whole situation, as the crane called out in a mixture of confusion and awe.

“How are you doing this!?”

“Well, it’s kinda like my hero training!”

“Huh? You mean you did this kind of thing?”

“Yeah, along with all sorts of other things, like flipping tires and running up rock walls!”

“Was it tough?”

“During the first few days it was really painful, but after awhile it sorta just became routine!”

She grumbled a bit in both envy of Reno’s endurance, and a bit of fear at the thought that this hellish training was “routine” for the Eagle cruiser.

To Reno’s left, Enterprise stood similarly to Reno, though she seemed EVEN MORE unbothered by the waterfall than Reno.

Both Reno and Zuikaku looked at her with awe, to which she simply explained”

“I’ve done training several hundred times harder than this. This is pretty much a massage for me.”

The cruiser and carrier duo continued to look completely awe-stricken, as Enterprise returned to looking completely disinterested.

Zuikaku chuckled as she and Reno too returned to their training. The Gray Ghost had a lot to think about as always, what with carrying the fate of the port and all on her back.

…In hindsight, she should really check if she’s doing alright. It wouldn’t do for her rival to be off her game, after all!

Regardless, right now she had to focus on getting through this.

Because this water was really, really beginning to hurt!

“S-Shikikan-sama, out of curiosity, how much longer do we have?”

Taihou turned to ask The Commander, who looked at his watch momentarily. With a wicked grin on his face, he turned back to the group.

“Thirty minutes!”

“Ugh… I cannot… feel my legs…”

Taihou was panting on the riverbank, with the rest of the kansen who’d been taking part in the training. All were veritably drenched, and all but Reno and Enterprise were completely winded.

Reno’s own breathing was rather fast paced, though for the most part she was holding her own. Enterprise looked completely unphased however, and looked positively energized in comparison to the panting kansen on the bank next to her.

“Hey so… Shikikan… what the heck was that supposed to do?”

Zuikaku asked with an exasperated tone, as The Commander strolled up with a half-concerned-half-amused Shoukaku tailing behind.

“You’ll see eventually, now come on everyone we’re moving onto the next part of the training!”

A collective groan sounded out as the various kansen began to get back up, following The Commander as he led them towards their next training site.

Looking over to see the rest of the kansen, Zuikaku noticed the various states of the rest of her training partners. Rossiya was still trying to wring the water out of her hat, Taihou was busy shivering like a tree in the wind, Reno was for the most part looking alright, and Enterprise was completely unphased, save for being soaked.

Poor Dido had the worst of it, as the small maid was busy shivering much like Taihou, and looking positively drained after she’d been fished out of the river.

“Hey…”

She tapped the maid on the shoulder.

“It’s gonna get better, I promise.”

Dido just choked back a gulp and nodded, as the two of them caught up with the rest of the group.

“Alright everyone, just file on in there and we’ll start shortly!”

Looking around, Rossiya noticed the massive clearing in the forest they’d been led to had a mostly dirt floor, with the massive trees around them mostly darkening the place save for the little beams of sunlight shining down from the sky. For a second, she thought she saw something resembling strings, but just assumed them to be more branches.

It looked, frankly, incredibly suspicious. But she had faith that the training, though intense, wouldn’t be straight up lethal.

Because killing your own soldiers is really, really dumb.

“So uh… what now?”

Zuikaku called out, looking about. There didn’t seem to be anything visible, and there certainly shouldn’t be any shells raining down on them this time, since she hadn’t seen the artillery cannons back at the training camp.

Silence stretched for miles around.

Reno cleared her throat, looking back towards the group.

“...So, is that i-”

BAM

An absolutely towering log came swinging from the treelines attached to a rope, knocking Reno a few meters as it swung into the other side of the clearing.

“...Oh, so those were ropes. Not branches.”

Rossiya gulped as the crackle of a loudspeaker came to life, and The Commander’s lovely voice came through.

“Alright everyone, this one’s gonna be just a bit more complicated! All you have to do is dodge the giant logs flying at you, and everything will be fine and dandy! Now, get to it everyone!”

The sound of mechanical clickings echoed through the trees, as the kansen all looked at each other nervously. Except Enterprise, who just sorta shrugged, seemingly uninterested.

“Ok, we just need to focus on the ones that appear, that’s all-”

Zuikaku was interrupted by the log that had knocked down Reno, which swung back and knocked her clean off her feet, sending her tumbling through the air and back onto the ground.

“Oh, and the logs will come back, so have fun with that!”

From their hidden facility in the trees, Shoukaku tapped The Commander’s shoulder.

“Shikikan… This IS meant to be non-lethal, right?”

“Oh of course, they’re kansen! They take giant metal death spirals to the face and come out fine, this should be no problem!”

“But Shikikan… you had them take off their riggings”

“...Meh, I’m sure it’ll work out. Besides, if this is successful, you can invite Akagi to take part!”

A sudden evil, devious grin grew across the crane’s face, slightly creeping out The Commander, who had some idea of the relationship between Akagi and Shoukaku. In that their fights made up about 5% of their annual medical budget. The other 95% was split between the fights involving Enterprise and Zuikaku, and the various yanderes and their more destructive exploits.

Back with the group, Zuikaku crawled back to her feet, wobbling about a bit as the rest of the group began dodging the massive logs that seemed to come from every direction, without any form of set pattern.

Rossiya got knocked off her feet as a log came at her from the side, having been caught completely off guard. Taihou managed a bit better, her skills in dancing letting her stay much more nimble than the northern battleship, but she still got knocked down by a log that came from her blindspot.

Reno did about the same, given her rather rigorous hero training prior to joining Azur Lane she was able to even deflect a few of the logs with solid punches of her gauntlets, even if her rigging was gone the gauntlets were able to provide ample added force to just narrowly throw the logs off course, enough for her to avoid being knocked over until one came in from her blindspot and sent her tumbling onto the ground.

Dido had curled up into a ball and really didn’t seem to be doing very well, though none of the logs really hit her at all. Though, the emotional damage she’d be receiving from this would more than make up for that.

And Zuikaku, poor Zuikaku, got slammed by each and every log that swung down from the trees, getting pummeled by the wooden apparatus.

“W-What the heck!? How is this fair- OOF!”

She was knocked off her feet again, sent crashing into the dirt next to Enterprise, who was rather casually avoiding the logs, even the ones that seemingly came from what should’ve been her blindspots.

“It really isn’t that hard…”

“Easy for you to say that!”

The Commander looked down from the treehouse he was watching the group from, leaning into the microphone hooked up to the loudspeaker and talking.

“Alright, that’s enough for today! Good stuff everyone, let’s hit the showers and wrap this camp up!”

A resonating ground filled the forest as The Commander gave Shoukaku a thumbs up.

“I think that went pretty well!”

“Sure… We’ll say that.”

Like 20 minutes later

“So everyone, wanna do this again tomorrow?”

Everyone looked at each other for a moment, noting the frankly beat-to-shit condition all of them were in. In unison, everyone turned to The Commander.

“NO!”

“N-Not really…”

Chapter Text

“...They’re really going at it, huh?”

The Commander looked down at the exercise area, as Zuikaku narrowly avoided a series of three arrows fired off by Enterprise, the sound of water splashing filling the sky as the crane lunged forward again, pressing the assault.

“You really need to stop doing that.”

Enterprise almost casually responded, taking a moment to predict Zuikaku’s movement pattern before firing off a shot that nearly pierced her if she didn’t place her sword in the way at the last moment, forcing the arrow’s energy up and away.

“G-Gah!”

The force of the arrow caused Zuikaku’s balance to be thrown off, leading to the crane stumbling back and falling straight onto her butt as Enterprise moved like lightning, moving up to Zuikaku and leveling an arrow at her face.

“It’s my win. Again.”

“Ah dammit! Hey, let’s go another round!”

A few other figures stood beside The Commander, some, the leaders of their faction, others, acting as substitutes for those who’d wished to attend but couldn’t make it.

Bismarck, who’d attended after being told too by Eugen under the claim of “her needing to get outside and talk to people more”, looked down at the battlefield.

“Credit where credit is due, her tenacity is rather admirable.”

“Agreed, though the fifth carrier division still has much to learn~”

With Yamato busy with work in the Sakura Empire, Akagi had been assigned as the acting leader of the Sakura Empire for the time being and as such had also decided to attend the viewing of the sparring match, due to the presence of The Commander.

Who was of course, not standing next to her, but standing next to Rossiya, who was standing in for Soyuz. It infuriated her to no end…

…Not to mention the presence of that damn Grey Ghost.

But she could keep herself composed, at least in the presence of her fellow faction leaders.

She’d heard that both the Iris Libre and Vichiya Dominion had internal affairs to take care of, which explained their absence, and the Dragon Empery apparently had some sort of crisis to take care of, leaving just herself, Bismarck, and Rossiya attending.

It was a respectable arrangement, still, for some reason Akagi felt like there was something fishy going on, but just couldn’t put her finger on it… it felt like they were being, almost watched.

Which was weird, because almost every other kansen that would usually be on base was out doing a sortie, or off on a mission. 

Meanwhile, Enterprise simply rolled her eyes and sighed. The crane’s tenacity, while definitely respectable, did seriously get on her nerves sometimes.

“Look, I appreciate the effort… but shouldn’t you take a break?”

"What? No! I haven’t been beaten yet!”

“Zuikaku, I’ve beaten you five times.”

“That’s not-”

“In the past ten minutes.”

Pouting, Zuikaku returned to her feet with some difficulty.

“That’s not that much…”

The phantom facepalmed, sighing as she turned away.

Back up in the stands, Hood watched alongside Bismarck, who’d decided to help Eugen with her little plan, dubbed “Operation: Touch some Grass”, or something along those lines. She hadn’t really paid all that much attention, given that Eugen had been rather drunk while explaining the whole mess to her. It’d concern her, but Hood had learned not to question the Ironblood’s ability to operate at maximum efficiency even while inebriated.

“You know, I almost feel sorry for her. Still, this will be an excellent learning experience.”

She commented. It was technically true, those kansen who knew the sting of defeat constantly strived to be better in order to not undergo that kind of pain again. Unfortunately…

“Y’know I’d be inclined to agree with you… but this is like, her 600th something time trying?”

The Commander looked at Zuikaku, who was currently shouting at Enterprise to “stop running away” and “get back here and fight”. Their rivalry was at least sort of friendly, but he could tell how tired it made Enterprise at times.

“Seriously, I think that’s enough for today. You look… kinda beat to shit.”

“Hah! That’s what you think!”

“I can see the blood running down your face, you aren’t fooling anyone.”

Zuikaku reflexively touched her forehead, peering at her hands to reveal crimson liquid had indeed been sorta dripping down her head.

“Oh. Crap, I thought I hid that…”

Rolling her eyes for what had to be the fifth something time that day, Enterprise resumed walking off… before feeling something off.

“...Is it just me, or is there this sense of impending doom…?”

Back up in the stands, it wasn’t just the Grey Ghost who felt it.

“...Something is coming.”

Akagi’s hair stood on end, her ears perking up as she bristled. This sensation was familiar, but she hadn’t expected to feel it here.

“Sirens!”

Almost as if on cue, in fact probably ON cue, numerous portals opened up as two humanoid and a bunch of other types of sirens emerged from the gates. A ways away Rossiya could spot a bunch of mass-produced sirens guarding the entrance to the port, and the exercise area, blocking off their escape.

“Comrades, we may want to consider a tactical withdrawal!”

“You mean run away? Absolutely not, the Sakura Empire refuses to do such a thing!”

Akagi snarled back as her hands came alight, rigging enveloped in flames as before the sirens even had a time to begin their usual monologues and pleasantries that came with showing up out of nowhere, she let off a torrent of crimson flames headed straight towards the siren that looked like the leader. Being at the head of the invading group, she just assumed she was the leader and let loose.

This siren however, managed to survive the blast by blocking the assault with the assortment of tentacles mysteriously attached to either her or her rigging, honestly, nobody could tell.

Another siren emerged from seemingly out-of-sight, giggling and cackling like a maniac before her manta-ray rigging fired a series of laser beams towards Akagi, who jumped down from the stands and onto the water to narrowly avoid getting blown apart along with the rest of the area that had gotten shot up.

Enterprise knew this siren well…

“Purifier!”

“Oh sweet, Enterprise!”

Zuikaku quickly looked between the two, pointing at one to the next.

“Huh? What the heck?”

Leaning over to Hood, Bismarck whispered into her ear as their riggings manifested.

“How do they already know each other?”

“Oh, I’m sure Enterprise has met her countless times on the battlefield, being the Eagle Union’s strongest.”

Enterprise, meanwhile, was still shouting at Purifier.

“Why are you here this time?”

“Oh, that’s cuz of Observer over there. I’m just here to play with you!”

The siren, identified now as the semi-infamous “Observer”, dubbed “that tentacle bitch” by Roon(The former name had stuck more), simply waved a hand.

“Do as you please, just make sure to record the needed data. We need to see how strong Code G has gotten since our last encounter, of course.”

“Yeah yeah, you just make sure all of those other girls don’t interfere, it’s time to party!”

Charging towards Enterprise, Purifier’s rigging lit up as the many cannons attached to her let off their beams of light, forcing Enterprise into evasive maneuvers and causing her to jump back as the beams narrowly missed her upon converging with one another, having been intended to cut her into pieces after removing all chances to escape.

Zuikaku took this opportunity to make use of the fact that the sirens didn’t seem to notice her, and lunged at Purifier with her blade, swinging at her neck and just narrowly missing as the siren responded with a powerful kick to the side accompanied by laser bursts, sending Zuikaku barreling into the stands trailing smoke, who then fell from the little hole in the stands she’d made and back onto the water.

“Huh? Who the hell was that?”

Regaining her stability, Enterprise drew and fired a series of arrows, two of the five exploding into various aircraft and the other three splitting into a hail of sharpened gold light, slamming into Purifier’s rigging and forcing the siren back.

“Ooooh, that was good! But that didn’t feel any stronger than last time, are you getting stagnant, Enterprise!?”

Back with Observer and the others, The Commander reached for a button nearby, pressing it and sounding the alarm throughout the whole base.

“I don’t have a clue who’s left, but might as well get as many people here as we can, right?”

He said, ducking behind cover as Rossiya drew her blade from its cane-like sheath, nodding to The Commander before hopping onto the ocean below.

“I’ll go roundup as many reinforcements as possible, just hold on until then, capisce?”

“Of course, Comrade Commander!”

Hood and Bismarck too joined the battle, assisting Akagi and Rossiya in dealing with the siren. Rossiya started first, firing off her main guns and sending a hail of shell towards Observer as her hand began to fill with frost.

She just needed to touch the siren, or get even the slightest bit close, and her command over cold would let her end the fight, presumably, instantly.

“I need to get in close, someone give me cover!”

“Fine, match my timing!”

Akagi sent some dive bombers into the sky, sending them up and disguising their ascent with a second torrent of fire, spiraling towards Observer and obscuring her field of view from the front. 

“Shall we aid them, Ms. Bismarck?”

“Right.”

Capitalizing on this advantage, Hood and Bismarck followed up with their own salvos, loading high explosive and filling Observer’s immediate line of sight with smoke and flames. 

Rossiya, the instant the flames began to fill Observer’s view, rushed toward the siren and skid her hand across the water, ice accumulating at her fingertips as she swung her arm upwards within meters of the siren, sending a titanic wave of ice barreling into the sky and seemingly freezing the opponent solid.

Taking a few steps back, Rossiya turned back towards the others.

“Comades… did that seem too easy?”

It was then that Akagi noticed a yellow glow from within the ice, and called out.

“Watch out-”

A series of laser beams ripped through the ice, shattering the solidified water and sending chunks of frozen H2O falling into the sea.

“Hmm… That wasn’t bad. But this has shown me that we really can’t have anymore… interference.”

Opening a smaller portal right next to her, Observer produced a Black Wisdom Cube.

“So let’s get to that, shall we~?”

With a sickly black glow, the cube emitted a beam of light into the air and formed a dome around the exercise area, trapping the kansen already there inside and locking The Commander, and any other reinforcements, out of the “experiment”.

The members of Azur Lane already inside the fleet gulped. With two battleships, a battlecruiser, and three carriers, it was technically an even fight, but unlike the sirens they had ammunition they needed to worry about, and just their supernatural abilities alone may not be enough to hold them back, as seen with Rossiya’s earlier attempt to turn the siren into a tentacle-laden popsicle.

Zuikaku, meanwhile, picked herself up off the ocean’s surface and shook her head. The blow from earlier had indeed disoriented her, but otherwise she’d taken worse hits in the past. Something like this was perfectly tank-able!

Spotting Enterprise still locked in combat with Purifier, Zuikaku brandished her weapon again and threw out a group of shikigami, launching dive bombers to set up an attack run on Purifier. Following her dive bombers, who began to circle the sky, Zuikaku took advantage of an opening she spotted as Purifier continued attacking Enterprise with a series of powerful kicks.

“Hah! Take this!”

Switching to a stabbing attack seeing as her earlier swing had been pretty easily deflected, Zuikaku thrust towards Purifier, who noticed the crane at the last moment and used her rigging to intercept the blow. 

“Waaiiit… I remember you know! You’re that girl that’s super obsessed with Enterprise!”

“What!? That’s someone else!”

Blushing red, Purifier took the opportunity to slam a fist into Zuikaku’s gut, and pull back just in time to narrowly avoid three arrows shot by Enterprise.

“Hey, stay on your toes. She’s dangerous.”

“Yeah… I can see that…”

Purifier giggled maniacally once more, her rigging only slightly damaged by Zuikaku’s earlier attack.

“Didn’t really expect a third player, but the more the merrier I guess~!”

Zuikaku turned to Enterprise.

“Hey… we have reinforcements coming, right?”

“Oh shit-”

“Uwah!”

Rounding the corner to the cafeteria, The Commander accidentally ran into Dido, falling to the floor as the maid began stuttering out apologies.

“I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to, p-please don’t throw me away!”

“Hey, hey, calm down, gotta bring it down little buddy.”

Standing up and patting Dido on the back, he looked down the hallway to see Roon and Taihou conveniently stumbling down the hallway towards him, carrying something with them.

“Kommandant~!”

“Shikikan-sama~!”

Barreling into the other two, The Commander groaned in pain as the group hit the floor. Luckily nobody was hurt, of course.

“Oh, that’s convenient! Did you two run into anyone on your way here, by chance?”

Motioning to the thing they were carrying, revealed to be a knocked-out Reno, Roon spoke up to explain the situation.

“We accidentally knocked her out on the way here. I wanted to leave her, but Taihou said something about that making you angry, and we wouldn’t want to do that now would we~?.”

Taihou nodded in agreement.

“Great! Well, see we’ve got a problem. A bunch of our buddies are trapped inside this big dome thing outside, see?”

Motioning to the massive dome, all present parties nodded. It was indeed a rather big problem. Dido on the other hand, was busy freaking out at the prospect of her friends being stuck in a giant, unbreakable barrier.

“W-What if we can’t get in, w-what if they’re stuck there forever, what if-”

“Oh, and two super strong sirens are in with them too.”

“U-Uwaaaaaaaah!”

“But don’t worry, you see, I have a cunning plan!”

Pointing to the large flagpole nearby, The Commander grinned.

“We’re gonna slingshot ourselves off of that!”

“Huh?”

Pointing to a nearby supply warehouse that was fairly close to the exercise area, he elaborated.

“There should be enough bungee cord in that warehouse to let us slingshot ourselves off of that flagpole! We can tie the other end around that fountain!”

Motioning to the fountain, which was fairly close to the flagpole, but far enough away to get proper tension in the cord needed to fling the group at the problem… theoretically.

“Shikikan-sama, that’s great and all, but just the rope won’t be enough to get us fast enough to get to the barrier, and what’ll happen if we can’t break through?”

“Ah you see, that’s where the cunning part of the plan comes in!”

Just then, Reno woke up, groaning as she sat up from her place on the ground.

“Ugh… my head hurts…”

“Reno, great! We need your help for something.”

“Huh? What’s that?”

“Have you ever wanted to fly?”

Zuikaku felt tired.

Just Purifier’s single kick earlier had knocked the wind out of her, more than she’d initially believed, and now she’d blocked what, her seventh blow of equal magnitude? She was thankful that her katana had been forged with such quality; had it broken earlier, she’d surely be dead!

The sound of clashing metal filled her ears as sparks filled her vision, Enterprise having stepped in to narrowly block Purifier’s sudden kick-based attempt at taking off her head.

“Hey, you gotta focus!”

“Sorry… I think… the blood loss is getting to me…”

The earlier wound opened up on her head by the sparring they’d done earlier was really not doing her any good, and the fact she hadn’t had the time to patch it up made it even worse. Slowly but steadily it’d been trickling down, and the wound had only gotten worse from the few hits Purifier had managed to get in on her.

The damage, though comparably minimal to the kind of damage she had taken in the past, was beginning to seriously build up. Fatigue was beginning to set in, and her breaths were labored, constantly forcing her to focus on trying to reign in her breathing lest she pass out from hyperventilation.

Purifier wouldn’t let them rest too long of course, and just like that she was back on the attack, her manta-ray rigging letting off a plethora of lasers towards the two carriers.

Zuikaku’s blood pumped as fast as it could as her heart pounded in her ear, the crane forcing herself back with all the power she could muster, barely dodging the lasers that would’ve sliced her in twain.

Enterprise had a comparably easier time, notching another two arrows as she leaped back with Zuikaku, firing back and landing both shots. One arrow landed on the metallic black rigging above Purifier’s head, and the other stabbed into her leg. 

“Hah! Not bad! You’re being held back by that little friend of yours, aren’t you?”

“Hey! What the hell did you say!?”

Frankly insulted by Purifier, Zuikaku shouted back. Her cheeks puffed up into a pout as she continued yelling back; her pride frankly insulted.

“Looks like somebody can’t handle the truth!”

“I’ll show you the truth!”

With boiling blood, Zuikaku lunged forward once again, as Purifer charged to meet her. Leading with another kick, Zuikaku forced her eyes to train on the leg.

“Focus on the attack, and time it right! Her leg is still injured from the Grey Ghost’s earlier attack, so I can definitely do this!”

Seconds before the kick landed, the crane forced her body down, instantly lowering her center of gravity and avoiding the strike before immediately swinging back up with all of her force, landing a powerful strike across the siren’s chest.

Blood trickled from the wound. Though the cut was shallow, she had indeed landed a hit.

“Hah! Let’s see you call me weak now-”

Purifier simply followed up with a kick from her uninjured leg, slamming it down onto Zuikaku’s right shoulder and causing her to jolt with pain as Enterprise rushed in to cover her, manifesting a golden arrow and attempting to stab Purifier in the side with it, who in response shoved Zuikaku back to use the carrier as a springboard.

“Ahahahaha! This is kinda fun! Even with your little friend here holding you back, you’re still as sharp as ever! Still, I can’t help but get the feeling you’re stagnating… maybe killing off some of your buddies will change that!”

Enterprise’s face darkened, as she drew an arrow once again.

“Don’t you dare!”

Just then, the soft sound of someone- no, several ones could be heard through the sounds of battle.

“What the hell?”

All present parties looked up, as something could be seen falling out of the sky towards the barrier above.

“...Is that The Commander-”

“So, here’s how our plan goes.”

The members of The Commander’s little group all grouped together into a sort of single mass, before walking back and building tension on the rope they’d set up as a sling, and aiming as high up as they could.

“After we get flung into the air by the sling, Roon: you need to use that little cannon or whatever and just fire as much as you can behind us, Reno: I know those gauntlets of yours can fire laser beams, so use as much as you can to help Roon, and Taihou: you do the same as the other two, but with your fire. That should be able to give us enough lift to get us into the air!”

Pulling back to the maximum tension the cord could handle, and planting a piece of rebar they’d found lying around to hold the tension, the team looked at the barrier one more time.

“Master… p-please don’t be mad but… how are we gonna get through the barrier?”

“Oh that’s easy, that’s where you come in!”

“Huh?”

“I know you’ve been practicing with that cursed sword with yours; and now’s the time to use it! When we get above the barrier, the others will fire directly above us and send us charging downwards! That’s when you’ll use your sword like a battering ram, and we’ll crash right through that stupid barrier!”

“W-What!?”

“No time to explain, here we go!”

“W-Wait master I think we should!”

“Everybody: jump!”

“UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Dido let out a terrified scream as the group soared through the air, soon reaching the very peak of their arc which conveniently placed them directly above the barrier.

“Alright gang, it’s showtime!”

Roon, Reno, and Taihou all raised their hands - and rigging - straight into the air.

“On your command, Kommandant!”

“Whenever you’re ready, Shikikan-sama!”

“Let’s do this thing! Woooooooo!”

“FIRE!”

“W-WAIT I’M NOT-”

All three abilities went off at the same time, sending the group plunging down towards the ground.

Dido’s mind raced with panic, as her body scrambled to find a solution. Her life practically flashed before her eyes before she held out her sword in front of her, closed her eyes, and prayed to any god that was listening.

“P-Please… help me get through this!”

Black energy wreathed itself around her sword as the team was sent screaming towards the ground, her blade tearing through the barrier and slamming straight into Observer, who just happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

A resounding BOOM filled the sea and sky as water was sent splashing everywhere, soaking Rossiya who was about to be on the receiving end of a very painful point-blank laser barrage.

“...Huh.”

Akagi stared down at the now-reforming distortion in the water as Taihou, Roon, Reno, Dido, The Commander, and the now very-much-knocked out Observer all floated back to the surface.

“GAH- That was awesome Dido! I knew you had it in you!”

“I did it I did it I did it I did it-”

“Augh… I can’t feel my back…”

“Dido, that was amazing! Can you teach me how to do that?”

“Oh look, we managed to take one of them down with us, excellent~”

With a malicious grin Roon began to reach towards Observer and pick her up, hoisting the siren onto her back and cackling maniacally.

“I am going to have fun tearing you apart-”

“Hey, Roon, bad. Put that down, we’ll probably interrogate her later.”

“Aw dammit…”

Reluctantly sliding her off her back, Roon just sorta dropped the unconscious siren onto the ocean surface before looking towards Purifier, who seemed to be rather miffed at the arrival of more interference.

Bismarck, Rossiya, and Hood in the meanwhile had shifted their attention to Purifier, Bismarck’s barrels beginning to glow with amber energy as she prepared her own unique ability: black hole shells.

Akagi’s ears perked up again, her hair once more standing straight up. She’d say this was likely more siren reinforcements, which would’ve been bad in and of itself but… this was something more.

This was something terrible.

“Hey, Shikikan-sama, something’s off-”

A burst of crackling red energy from the center of the battlefield soon drew the attention of everybody involved, as it formed into some sort of portal. It wasn’t at all like the portals that Observer and Purifier had emerged from earlier, no no, this was… much less stable.

A flash of dirtied white hair, cold purple eyes, and long black coat, and almost everyone instantly knew who this was.

“Ash!”

The infamous META version of Enterprise, who’d shown up once or twice, but never for long. Each time she had however, she’d decimated everything in her path, having even been rumored to be able to annihilate half of the Northern Parliament with a single attack.

And here she was, appearing in front of six injured kansen, and four kansen who’d just fallen out of the sky at terminal velocity.

“...I was wondering what all of the commotion was about.”

The term “ah shit” was rather appropriate.

For a while, the air stood still.

Then, Ash laid eyes upon Enterprise.

“...You.”

“Oh hell-”

Ash raised her hand towards Enterprise, as a sickly red glow began to form, the space around her palm beginning to drastically distort.

“Uh guys- I’m pretty sure this is the thing! You know, the thing that blows up a metric shit ton of stuff! Can anyone move!?”

The Commander, who was currently hitching a piggy-back ride on Dido’s back so as to not fall into the water, called out to the rest of the group.

Despite being kansen, they were still living beings, and could suffer damage all the same. Those who’d fallen from the sky weren’t in the best of conditions, and the other six who’d been fighting the sirens previously were already in pretty horrible shape.

“N-Negative… Most of us are in pretty terrible shape…”

They couldn’t run away, Ash would simply snipe them down from afar, and they couldn’t escape the blast radius of the attack in time regardless, so-

“Reno, can you use a blast like the ones you used earlier?”

“Negatory, Reno Reactor’s running on empty at this point!”

“Roon, how about you?”

“Nein, Shrimpy doesn’t have enough power left after all that.”

“Crap, Bismarck, think your black hole has enough energy to suck in something of that magnitude!?”

“...As much as it shames me to say, nein. My singularity won’t last long enough to take in a blast capable of leveling countries.”

“Akagi- Hey, Akagi? You alright there? You look…”

…

…

Akagi was furious.

It was bad enough that Enterprise was here in the first place, but now that this other Enterprise was here, with those same cold eyes that she’d seen in her final fight with her before dying so shamefully, threatening her commander?

It was just too much.

“GREY GHOST!!!”

Crimson flames erupted from her arm, incinerating the sleeve of her kimono that had gotten in the way as she threw her arm forward, sending a tidal wave of red fire sailing towards Ash, turning whatever bits of the sea it came into contact with into little more than steam to be blown out of the way, tossed to the side like a leaf in the wind.

Ash simply raised her free arm in response, and easily dispersed the entire tidal wave of flames, leaving nothing more than rising steam left in its wake.

“W-What!?”

Akagi’s eyes widened as Ash began to turn towards her, before simply re-focusing on Enterprise.

Zuikaku found herself unable to move, almost frozen to the spot from the sheer pressure that Ash was giving off. It was a petrifying fear, one that caused her difficulty even breathing in the presence of this… complete monster.

Was this the kind of threat Enterprise had to face down?

It was unfathomable…

Staring into the frigid stare of Enterprise’s more sinister counterpart, Zuikaku could feel her heart beginning to freeze up. The cold, clammy hand of fear gripping her very soul in a vice-like grip.

Enterprise was feeling something similar, though to a significantly lesser degree, as her eyes darted around. Until they came to settle on the black wisdom cube that Observer had dropped.

…With that, she could probably stop this.

She took a step towards the cube, then another, before suddenly breaking into a sprint and nabbing the cube off the ground and turning to face her Ashen counterpart.

“Woah woah woah, absolutely not, you put that down Enterprise!”

The Commander called out from his place on Dido’s back, having noticed Enterprise’s maneuver in grabbing the black cube.

“We seriously don’t have any other choice, just get the others out of here I’ll deal with-”

"Move"

CLANG

“!!!”

Zuikaku’s blade clashed against Ash’s free hand, before the crane whipped around and executed a further two blows, both knocked aside by the darkened carrier as Zuikaku continued her assault.

“What the hell am I doing!?”

“GET EVERYONE OUT OF HERE! I’LL BUY EVERYONE TIME!”

Sweeping down low, she attempted to strike at Ash’s legs before getting slammed in the face with the META’s boot. 

Several more blows soon followed, each strike’s force permeating throughout Zuikaku’s body and causing immense pain to shoot through her nervous system, blood shooting out of the open wounds and breaks-in-skin that Ash’s attacks blew into her body.

Still, she forced herself to keep going, as the other kansen began to make their move.

Rossiya leaned over to Taihou, and whispered a plan.

“Psst. Comrade Taihou, I have a plan. You see, I have just enough energy in me to freeze most of the ocean here one more time. If you attack that Ash person while Comrade Zuikaku is attacking her, the sudden temperature change should force the air to expand, and add some extra force to your attack.”

“That sounds like a good idea, but what about the others?”

“We should be able to get them out of here in time, just follow my lead!”

Stomping on the ocean’s surface, Rossiya created a crude set of stairs made of ice, and motioned towards the rest of the group.

“Hurry, get out of here while Comrade Zuikaku draws her attention, we’ve got a plan!”

The others nodded, Hood and Bismarck dragging Akagi away, who was very insistent on rejoining the fight, as Reno, Enterprise, Dido, and The Commander quickly got to higher ground.

Ash in the meanwhile, had dropped her other arm and begun to defend herself from Zuikaku with earnest, having her concentration broken from her massive country-busting attack caused her to have to stop charging the technique and focus on stopping Zuikaku.

This was great, as it gave the others much more time.

The sound of clashing metal filled Zuikaku’s ears, as her vision began to get foggy. Fatigue was setting in, and her limbs felt as heavy as lead. She could feel her lungs burning as an overhead strike was blocked by Ash, and the sensation of being stabbed through the gut pierced through her body.

“GAH-”

Unable to get another word out, Zuikaku was kicked back towards the others, skidding up the ice stairs and slamming into a nearby wall, and luckily out of harm's way.

It was then that Ash felt her feet freeze over, looking around and noticing that the entire training area had been frozen over by Rossiya, who was panting heavily now.

“...Shit.”

Raising her hand once again, a red glow began to shine within her palm. Too late, Taihou’s flames were already roaring like a lion, as she held her hand out, flames licking at the air and rising up into the sky.

“BURN!”

With a shout, sparks let loose from Taihou’s palm, sending a massive blast of flames forward, melting all of the ice around them and rapidly expanding the air, adding ridiculous amounts of force to the phoenix’s assault.

Ash had mere seconds to detonate the miniature singularity in her hand before the flames met her, both attacks slamming into each other and causing spatial distortions, rippling out and forcing Taihou and Rossiya back from the might of Ash’s improvised attack.

Even with all of that set-up, Enterprise META was virtually unphased, even if she’d only had a second to prepare her singularity bomb even that was long enough to prepare an attack that would wipe them all out-

“Rossiya, Taihou, come on we gotta go!”

…Only then did she notice The Commander, who’d mostly gone unnoticed due to Ash tunnel-visioning on Enterprise until recently.

“I just… don’t want to experience that regret twice…”

“...You got lucky.”

Opening a portal behind her, Ash began to step back into it.

The singularity in the meanwhile, fully detonated, sending a massive explosion outward and knocking Rossiya and Taihou back into the frozen stairs, as both titanic attacks dissipated into nothingness.

Both of the kansen were completely worn out, as The Commander popped out from where the rest of them had been taking shelter.

“...Is it over?”

Looking around at the devastation laid out by the conflict, and how they’d barely survived… Everyone was left with a strange sense of dissatisfaction.

“Wait, where did the sirens go?”

“...Looks like they got away in the chaos.”

Enterprise slumped down, slamming her fist into the pavement.

“Crap… I wasn’t able to do anything!”

She had been completely powerless to do anything… She’d even nearly resorted to using the black cube, the same thing that had nearly corrupted Bismarck into a monster.

“Dammit…”

The Commander looked out at the destroyed practice area, and turned back to the kansen.

“...Yeah, we need to talk, like right now. Conference room. Now.”

Chapter Text

“...So, we’re all here I take it, yes?”

Around a large, round table deep within the kansen’s briefing room, sat the various faction leaders of Azur Lane. Richelieu for the Iris Libre, Jean Bart for the Vichiya Dominion, Queen Elizabeth of the Royal Navy, etc. Bismarck herself sat at the head of the table, having been there personally. Funnily enough, Rossiya seemed to be absent, but that was a common occurrence.

A ways away next to a presentation board, stood The Commander, along with a few of the other kansen who had been present at the battle at the practice area. Those who’d been selected to attend were Hood, Akagi, and Dido who really didn’t seem like she wanted to be here, but unfortunately had no choice in the matter.

He took a moment to clear his throat before beginning. “I’ll keep this short: We’re in deep shit.”

A murmur or two resonated across the table before The Commander continued.

“So, while we were chillin 'over at the practice area, we got attacked by The Sirens, who seemed like they were trying to run a test or something. They even brought a black wisdom cube, which we managed to obtain. According to the report that Enterprise filed, they mentioned something about “seeing how strong Code G” had gotten, likely referring to her as Purifier seemed to be the one gathering data, and she immediately went to fight Enterprise.” Pulling up some photos that their security system had taken, The Commander paused to let that sink in.

More murmuring floated across the table. It was understandable, frankly. The Sirens didn’t often directly attack the base, so this was definitely an outlier.

“But the most pressing matter is this: Enterprise META, known to us as “Ash”, showed up and almost annihilated us. For some reason, she decided to leave, and that’s why we’re still alive now. If she hadn’t decided to dip mid-attack, we’d all be dead as hell.”

That caused a commotion. Heads turned as words were exchanged with great urgency. The META kansen were known to be, for all intents and purposes, the very strongest of all the kansen, and didn’t seem to hold any allegiance to any existing faction, other than themselves.

A hand shot up. “Servant! That’s all well and good, but what do you plan to do about it?”

“I’m glad you asked! Akashi, come in here.” The Commander gestured to the door, as the sound of ruffling papers could be heard.

Entering the conference room from the hallway outside was everyone’s (least)favorite capitalist green-haired cat. She hadn’t come empty-handed it’d seem, given the rather large roll of blueprints she seemed to be carrying with her.

“I brought the things, nya~! Can I get my money now, nya?”

Tossing some coins over to Akashi, who greedily picked them up, The Commander grabbed one of the blueprints and placed it onto the presentation board.

“Now then, without further ado, allow me to explain Akashi and I’s secret project!”

As The Commander directed everyone’s attention to the blueprint on the board, Dido peeked over out of curiosity, and saw a rather… strange piece of work drawn upon the paper.

A pair of gauntlets, attached to a wisdom cube.

“Ladies and other ladies, allow us to introduce: Project Synchronization.”

“That’s a terrible name, nya”

“Shut it Akashi.”

“Hah! Not bad! You’re being held back by that little friend of yours, aren’t you?”

“Looks like somebody can’t handle the truth!”

Zuikaku floated in darkness, as the sight of Enterprise standing in front of her filled her vision. She was standing in front of Zuikaku, almost completely unharmed as she faced down whatever enemy it was they were doing battle with at the time.

A thought drifted into Zuikaku’s consciousness

“Am I seriously that weak?”

...

"Am I… actually holding her back?"

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

The sound of a heart rate monitor woke Zuikaku from her slumber, her eyes beginning to flicker open. Her vision was still foggy from how long she’d kept them closed. Light poured into her vision, hurting her still-sensitive eyes as sound began to re-enter her ears.

“H-Huh? Where am I…?”

“Zuikaku!”

The sensation of suddenly being hugged fully woke her up, snapping her out of her trance. Looking down with her newly-cleared vision, she recognized her “attacker” as her very own sister; Shoukaku.

“S-Shoukaku-nee!?”

“Oh Zuikaku, you made your older sister so worried!”

‘J-Jeez Shoukaku-nee, you scared me!” Zuikaku flushed a deep crimson as her affectionate sister held her close and admonished the younger crane for nearly dying against Enterprise’s more sinister counterpart.

“Don’t ever do that again, ok Zuikaku? You really had me worried there!”

“Alright, alright! I’m sorry, Shoukaku-nee.”

“Mmm… Alright then, I forgive you. Just don’t do that again, okay?”

“Mhm!”

As somewhat embarrassing as Shoukaku could be at times, Zuikaku was still grateful for her sister’s presence. There was a sense of comfort that came from having someone like that, someone who’d always be there for you and love you unconditionally.

Shoukaku then remembered something, perking up as she recalled it. “Oh, that reminds me, someone wanted to see you.”

“Huh?”

As the two unfurled from their hug, Zuikaku peaked at the door behind her sister, noticing a wisp of white hair, before turning back to Shoukaku and asking, “Who is it?”

“I’ll get her for you. I also made some tempura for you, it’s back in our dorm. I’ll go get it, in the meantime, keep your guest entertained, okay~?”

“You got it sis!” 

Shoukaku stood up and left the room, stopping at the edge of the door and seemingly speaking to someone outside before quickly walking off. 

Moments after, a familiar figure walked into the room, nervously looking away for a second before facing Zuikaku.

“Grey Ghost!?”

“...Hey.”

Enterprise seemed to hesitate for a moment, before walking over and taking a seat next to the bed. Hands in her lap, her clear reservations did not avoid Zuikaku’s gaze.

“You alright, Grey Ghost?” Zuikaku asked, turning her head to the side a bit with a raised brow.

No response came for a while, silence temporarily setting in until Enterprise indeed spoke up. 

“I just came to check up on you. I…” Once more she seemed to hesitate, trailing off as she struggled to find the words to say.

“Did… something happen? I mean, we’re still here so I assume we won but-”

“We didn’t win.”

Zuikaku looked confused, her brow rising out of confusion rather than curiosity this time.

Enterprise elaborated. “We… didn’t win. We got lucky. For some reason, she just… decided to leave, right before she would’ve killed all of us. I don’t know whether or not it was a whim or part of some plan, but we got lucky…”

“Oh…” With sudden understanding, now it was Zuikaku’s turn to hesitate. 

Without even asking, Zuikaku could tell from the look on her self-proclaimed rival’s face that she had clearly been messed up by that loss.

She recalled the same thought she’d had during the training camp.

The Grey Ghost had a lot to think about as always, what with carrying the fate of the port and all on her back.

…In hindsight, she should really check if she’s doing alright. It wouldn’t do for her rival to be off her game, after all!

Suddenly, an epiphany hit. “...I have an idea!”

Enterprise looked confused for a moment, as Zuikaku quickly scooped up the phantom’s hand and tried to stand, wincing in pain ever so slightly before quickly standing up straight.

“Huh!?”

“Let’s go to the bar, you know, help you rewind and all!” Zuikaku’s eyes seemed to be sparkling, feeling very proud of coming up with this idea.

“...What?” Enterprise looked confused. She was somewhat familiar with unwinding, she wasn’t THAT emotionless, but she had devoted most of her time to training, given that they were at war.

This was… a bit unorthodox. Normally she’d go to the bar if there was significant downtime, not after they’d all nearly died. To suggest such a thing was… well, borderline insanity, or even negligence!

“You heard me! Come on, let’s go!” Leading Enterprise out of the room, who quickly had to nab onto her hat in order to keep it from falling off as Zuikaku dashed towards the door, the two nearly ran into Shoukaku, who’d arrived with the tempura in a small box.

“Shoukaku-nee! Can you leave the tempura by my bed? I promise I’ll come back for it!”

“Oh?” Gracefully stepping out of the way of the two carriers, Shoukaku smiled. “Alright then, just take care of yourself, okay~?”

“You’ve got it, sis!” Zuikaku responded.

“H-Hold on, don’t I get a say in this!?” Enterprise, who was still very much trying to process all of this, quickly protested and attempted to interject.

“Nope!” With a wide toothy grin, Zuikaku shot down Enterprise’s request and quickly ran off with her again.

Shoukaku sighed as she watched her younger sister run off with her “rival”, giggling to herself for a moment before turning back towards their dorm room.

“Well… better make sure this tempura doesn’t go cold~.” She said to herself.

The sound of doors swinging open alerted all of the bar-goers to a new arrival, spotting the moderately common sight of Zuikaku kicking open the door.

The bar itself looked rather homey, with very little dust still visible on a few of the tables and countertop. The lighting was rather well maintained, though a table in the corner just had a single flickering lightbulb above it.

“Hey everyone, look who I brought!” She called out with a smile, met with a few claps and returned grins.

“Holy shit, it’s the Grey Ghost herself! I never thought I’d see her down here without her sisters!” Washington called out. Her smile was… well, it could still use some work, but at least she was trying.

“Oh? Greetings Enterprise! Nice to see you here.” King George addressed Enterprise as well, looking up from the veritable mountain of food, most of which seemed to be wings, she was busying herself with. Zuikaku chose to ignore the second mountain of empty beer glasses next to her, clearly fearing the level of consumables King George could take in all at once.

“Comrade Enterprise! Welcome!” Rossiya called out from the corner of the room, seemingly a habit for the representative of the Northern Parliament. Actually, on that matter…

Enterprise chimed in. “Hey, Rossiya, don’t you have a meeting to get too?”

“Huh? No I don’t.”

“Yeah I’m pretty sure you do.”

“That meeting isn’t until next week!”

“...Yeah it’s today.”

“Oh.”

A pointed silence filled the bar as a few of the attendees looked in Rossiya’s direction.

“...Comrades, may I ask that you keep that a secret?”

“Ah sure, pretty sure all of us here are shirking some sort of responsibility!”

“Yep, I’m supposed to be cleaning right now!”

“I just don’t give a shit.”

“We’re all gonna get in trouble!”

A resounding laugh came from the bar-goers as Zuikaku led the pale phantom to an empty table, which had room for three people funnily enough. Every other table was mostly full, so this was the best they could do.

Enterprise looked rather nervous, fidgeting every now and then and messing with her hair. This was clearly out of her comfort zone

This didn’t go unnoticed by Zuikaku, who tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey, you gotta relax.”

“I… I’m trying. It’s just…” Enterprise trailed off, leaning forward and putting her head in her hands, elbows planted on the desk.

“That loss probably really messed you up, huh?” Zuikaku inquired.

“...Nevermind, it’s not important.” Enterprise quickly backed up, not wanting to reveal whatever it was that ailed her mind. Zuikaku was friendly and all… but even Enterprise still had her reservations around her.

Trust didn’t exactly come easy to the ghost, as friendly as she could be at times.

“Mmm… Well, alright then. In that case, let’s have a drink or two. I mean, that’s why we’re here after all!” Zuikaku joked, letting out a chuckle and patting Enterprise on the back. “So, what’re you in the mood for?” 

“...Whiskey sounds good.” Enty didn’t really have a preference frankly, and she wasn’t really in the mood to give it serious consideration, so she fell back on an old classic.

“Got it, I’ll be right back!”

Enterprise watched as Zuikaku quickly stood up and walked off to fetch their drinks, before she returned to looking down at her hands on the table. 

If she was to be completely honest, the war was beginning to wear her down. Not only that, but the sirens claiming that they wanted to test her was making her ever-so-slightly nervous. They hadn’t done that in a while, and with the sudden reappearance of her META counterpart, who hadn’t shown herself for a long time as well, it was all beginning to sort of crash down on her.

Being unable to stop Ash in the slightest had been the final nail in the coffin. Almost resorting to using the black cube had made Enterprise feel weak, for perhaps the first time in a very long time.

Leaning back a bit, Enterprise sighed as she looked up at the ceiling.

There were so many different things to worry about. It was all beginning to pile up, and Enterprise wasn’t all that sure whether or not she’d be able to deal with it all.

But she had too, she was the Eagle Union’s ace, things like this were pretty par the course.

If only they got easier…

The clink of glass on wood alerted her to Zuikaku, who'd now returned with their drinks in hand and taken a seat at the table.

"Hey, I'm back! You weren't waiting too long, were you?" She asked, scooting in a bit as she took her drink in hand.

"No, not really." Enterprise responded.

"Great! Now let's-"”

“There you are, Senpai!”

A voice called out from the entrance, as the doors were kicked open for the second time that day. Enterprise instantly recognized this voice, and sat up the very moment it entered her ears.

Walking up to the table the two were sitting at was a girl with purple/blue hair and brown eyes, her rather flashy coat tipping off to Zuikaku that she was likely from the Eagle Union.

“I was looking all over for- hey… I think I recognize you.” The girl turned to Zuikaku, addressing her as she sorta peered at the crane, who in return peered back.

“Wait a second… I recognize you too!”

“You’re Zuikaku, that girl who’s super obsessed with Senpai!”

“You’re Essex, that girl who’s super obsessed with the Grey Ghost!”

“...”

“...Hey!”

The bar-goers, who for the most part had been keeping an eye on the situation ever since Essex entered, began whispering to each other and exchanging a few chuckles as the two Enterprise-centric girls began going back and forth.

“I’m not obsessed! I just really respect her!”

“Oh really? Then why do you follow her around everywhere!”

“W-Wah- At least I don’t pester her every second like some kind of kid!”

“I don’t pester her! I’m just committed to our rivalry!”

“Rivalry!? If you wanna beat Enterprise, you’re gonna have to beat me first!”

“Oh yeah? Let’s go!”

The two glared daggers at each other as they got closer, until the bartender quickly interjected.

“No fighting in the bar-”

Or, they would’ve, until someone threw a glass bottle, which slammed into Zuikaku’s head and knocked her over.

“GAH-” Zuikaku hit the ground as the bottle shattered against her skull.

The bar was silent for a while…

“WOOHOO BAR FIGHT!”

In the commotion, nobody could really tell who actually called out the bar fight. That of course, didn’t matter in the slightest as Washington whipped around and punched South Dakota, who was trying to sit down, across the bar and into a wall.

The bartender simply sighed to themself. “Here we go again…”

Zuikaku quickly stood up and rubbed her head, before quickly getting clocked across the face by Essex, which sent her tumbling back into her seat next to Enterprise.

“Ah-! Jerk! I was just getting up!” Zuikaku shouted at Essex.

“Oh my bad, I thought we were gonna fight.” Essex responded.

“No no, it’s alright, I’m good to go!” Zuikaku said back, quickly returning to her feet and putting up her fists. “Come at m-”

She was cut off by another punch from Essex, which sent her spiraling back into a nearby wall, just narrowly avoiding Rossiya, who’d also been flung back by an unknown assailant. Later reports pointed evidence at Laffey, who’d snuck in to steal some sort of “super liquor” The Commander was said to have hidden, but evidence remains inconclusive.

Enterprise would’ve intervened, but Essex and Zuikaku had started running the ones before she’d been able to step in, so she just sort of sat there confused for a second before sighing and standing up-

Only to get pelted in the head with a flying bottle from Washington.

For the second time that day, the bar stood silent.

Before Enterprise sighed, took off her jacket and hat, and began walking over to Washington.

“...Oh shit-” Washington had only a second to react before Enterprise’s fist struck her across the face and sent her stumbling back.

“IT’S BACK ON AGAIN!”

With that, the fight resumed, as Javelin got thrown across the bar and into a nearby table, breaking the thing in two. Nobody was sure why Javelin of all people was there, though she later claimed to be looking for Laffey when somebody picked her up and hucked her across the room. 

Zuikaku groaned as she managed to pull herself out of her little hole in the wall. Luckily this time, there weren’t wooden splinters everywhere, so a quick dusting off was all it took for her to get back up. Good thing too, because Essex, who’d now realized Zuikaku was back up, went for a follow up strike.

This time, Zuikaku was ready for it, and as Essex went for a third consecutive punch, Zuikaku managed to side-step and narrowly avoid getting absolutely decked into the wall, again.

“Hah! Looks like you missed that ti-” And then she got nailed when Essex whirled around with a kick and sent her through three tables.

Zuikaku wasn’t sure what hurt more. The kick, the getting flung through three tables, or the inevitable property damage bill that would be coming her way.

Pushing herself to her feet, Zuikaku shook her head as she tried to regain her bearings.

“How the hell are you still standing?” Essex asked, partially confused and partially bewildered at how Zuikaku was still conscious, much less standing after that rush of blows.

“It’s been 1,141 days since I came to the port, and every day I’ve challenged the Grey Ghost to a fight. I’ve lost every single one. In short: I have no idea!” Zuikaku responded.

Rather than staying on the defensive, Zuikaku opted to take the momentum for herself and rushed towards Essex, leading with a sweeping kick executed from her right leg targeted at Essex’s torso. 

Taking back the initiative however, Essex managed to tank the blow and catch Zuikaku’s leg, before swinging around and flinging Zuikaku away into ANOTHER table.

“Ok, seriously, how are you so good at martial arts!?” Zuikaku cried out in disbelief, quickly standing up again and brushing some blood off of her face.

“Enterprise has already mastered that aspect of fighting. If I wanna defeat the person I admire the most… I have to at least be capable of something like this!” Essex replied, entering a defensive stance as she prepared to keep going.

“Damn… that was kinda inspiring!” Zuikaku complimented, rushing forward and ducking down, before swinging her leg up at Essex’s face. 

Essex raised both arms to defend, taking the full brunt of the impact before she responded with a kick of her own, spinning around and nailing Zuikaku across the face with a heel kick.

Following up, Essex landed a series of fist strikes targeting Zuikaku's liver, solar plexus, and neck, each blow dazing the crane which Essex took advantage of with a powerful punch to the gut.

Zuikaku continued to stumble back, almost falling over who she thought may have been a destroyer, but couldn't tell on account of her getting her ass kicked.

"It's over!" Essex called out, rushing towards the downed crane and preparing to end the fight with a punch to the chin, when a voice suddenly called into the room as the doors swung open, kicked down for the third time that day.

“Hey hey! What’s going on here?” The Commander called into the room as the entire bar, again, stood still.

“That’s much better. So, first, clean this crap up and clear out, y’all disturbed a meeting again. Second, Enterprise, come with me, we’ve got stuff to discuss.”

A series of groans reverberated throughout the room as The Commander cut them off. “Oh come on now, you all knew this was coming!”

Everyone began helping each other out of the various craters and holes they’d formed in the bar, with three people having to pull Rossiya out of the hole that Laffey had made in the wall with her.

“Ah- Thank you, Comrades.” She said with gratitude, brushing the dust off of her.

Enterprise walked up to The Commander as Zuikaku and Essex, who’d stopped fighting and begun following the Grey Ghost, listened in.

“What’d you need me for, Commander?” Enterprise lead.

“Oh, it’s simple, I just need to talk to you in private about something.” The Commander responded, motioning for Enterprise to follow as he began walking down the hallway, back towards the briefing room.

“Well… alright then.” The ghost complied, understanding that The Commander may have something or other he may want to speak about.

Enterprise, and her unknown entourage, began to follow The Commander, with Zuikaku and Essex following from a distance to make sure they weren’t noticed.

“Hey, why are you following her!?” Essex hissed underneath her breath.

“I’m just concerned for my rival, that’s all!” Zuikaku shot back.

“Don’t you want to beat her up or something!?” Essex accused with disbelief.

“I just wanna become stronger than her, I’m not a stalker or anything!” Zuikaku said, getting just a little bit defensive.

“Hey shut up, they’re talking again!”

“Commander… out of curiosity, what do you want to talk about?

“Oh… just the thing we picked up from the sirens last time, our little unwilling gift from them, you know the thing.

Hearing that, Zuikaku’s eyes began to ever so slightly widen. She’d had a hunch ever since she woke up, remembering that Enterprise had snatched a certain thing in her attempt to stop Ash.

She had a feeling… That she knew exactly what this was.

“Hey, what’s with that reaction?” Essex probed for information.

“...They’re talking about the black wisdom cube.”

Chapter Text

Two weeks of radio silence sucks ass.

Seriously!

After the little bout of stalking she and Essex had undertaken, which by the way they didn’t get in trouble for, she’d been trying to check in with Enterprise to make sure she was doing alright. Despite her efforts however, Enterprise hadn’t been seen for awhile outside of occasionally walking back to her room from… somewhere.

Even when Zuikaku had rushed up to her, Enterprise had blown her off or otherwise ignored her on the brisk walk back to her quarters.

If she was gonna be completely honest, she was really getting annoyed!

So here she was, laying on her bed, looking up at the ceiling with varying levels of annoyance while she thought about the recent events.

“Uugh…” Zuikaku groaned

Sat next to her bed was Shoukaku, who’d taken it upon herself to try and help her sister through this little crisis.

“Have you tried texting her?” The elder crane asked.

“I have, but she just ignores ‘em! I mean, not even an “I’m busy”, just completely ghosted me!” Zuikaku complained loudly. 

If this were a more lighthearted situation, she’d have at least chuckled a bit at the irony of the Grey Ghost ghosting her, but she had a feeling that there was a lot more going on than she thought. She wanted to talk to Enterprise, maybe try to help her in one of the three or so ways she knew how - something!

The Commander had also seemed to be under radio silence. Though he still popped up every now and then, his secretary had seemed to be doing most of the usual work.

She pouted up at the sky, trying to come up with some sort of idea.

“I know~! How about you go for a walk?” Shoukaku suggested.

The Commander had, at some point, explained to the elder of the two crane sisters that walking often helped clear one’s mind. He’d been unexpectedly wise during that conversation… A complete 180 degree turn from what he was usually like.

Shoukaku personally chalked it up to something weird he likely ate that day, given that she’d seen Akagi messing with his coffee earlier that same day.

“Huh? Why’s that?” Zuikaku asked, perplexed as to how walking around would help her situation. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her sister, she did with all her heart, it’s just that the idea seemed so strange.

“Well, The Commander once told me that by taking a walk, one can clear their mind of distractions. Besides, the fresh air could be useful to you~!” Shoukaku explained.

It was a sound idea to Zuikaku.

“Hmm… Alright then, I’ll give it a shot!” Zuikaku proclaimed, quickly hoping off of her bed and stretching a bit. “I’ll be back by dinner!”

Shoukaku waved her sister goodbye as the younger crane dashed out the door.

“Jeez…” She chuckled to herself, before looking at the note in her hand.

Signed by Shinano herself.

Zuikaku sighed as she walked through the port. It was actually fairly late all things considered, as the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon.

She waved to a few destroyers as they ran by, before turning to face the massive ocean next to the base. It was a pretty nice view, seeing the way the sun reflected off the water as it began to set.

Despite having come out here to clear her mind, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong with Enterprise. 

Noticing a clean wooden bench nearby, she took a seat and turned back to face the beach and sea, the sunlight shimmering off the ocean’s warbling surface.

“...Why do I have this horrible feeling in my stomach?” She wondered out loud.

Zuikaku prided herself on strength, she was one of the first ever proper aircraft carriers the Sakura Empire ever built, and she’d had quite a lucrative start to her career!

Yet, she’d run into roadblocks time and time again. Enterprise, who Zuikaku thought of as her rival, not only refused to stay down, but barely remembered her by the time they’d met again in this second life. 

If she was to be honest, it seriously wounded her pride.

That wasn’t the worst of it though. Despite her actual daily challenges, and her hours of hard work and training, she just couldn’t beat her self-proclaimed equal. To make matters worse, every time they fought, the gap just seemed to keep widening. Enterprise constantly improved, making leaps in her already-impressive skills, meanwhile Zuikaku felt as if she’d barely grown at all.

It was as if there was some sort of stone wall that she just couldn’t overcome.

To be completely honest, even Zuikaku’s spirit of steel was beginning to wear thin from the constant defeats and losses.

“Mmm… this sucks ass…” She said, leaning back into the bench and staring up at the sky.

“...Hey.” A face peeked over Zuikaku’s head, with violet eyes of violet, platinum white hair, and a very familiar white captain’s hat.

“G-Grey Ghost!?” Zuikaku suddenly jerked up, standing up straight as Enterprise dodged the crane’s forward-swinging head.

“The Commander is gathering everyone who was present at the attack on the practice area. Let’s go, everyone else is waiting.” Enterprise said, motioning for Zuikaku to follow.

“Wait wait wait, you’re just gonna stroll up to me all nonchalantly after ignoring me for two weeks!? What the hell!?” Zuikaku was, frankly, rather ticked off, her hands shooting down to her sides as she called out in disbelief.

“I was… busy working on something. Sorry if I did something to make you mad.” Despite her apology, Enterprise’s mind seemed… distant, elsewhere. Like there was something else on her mind.

Now it was really obvious that something was off. Zuikaku however, decided not to bring it up this time. Enterprise clearly wouldn’t respond to any of her questions, even if she pressed them, so it wouldn’t be much help.

“Ugh… It’s fine, just don’t do that again, you hear me?” Zuikaku pouted, placing both hands on her hips and leaning forward towards Enterprise, who scratched the back of her head with nervousness.

“Alright, alright.” Enterprise said, conceding to her “rival”. Still, Zuikaku wasn’t all that convinced. The issue seemed to go far deeper than this, and she felt determined to at least find out what was going on.

It wouldn’t do if her rival was off her game, after all!

“Come on then, let’s get going.” Motioning for Zuikaku to follow, Enterprise began walking back towards the base. 

“So uh, what have you been working on?” Zuikaku asked, tilting her head slightly to the side in curiosity as she followed the ghost back towards their base.

For a moment, Enterprise seemed to space out before shaking her head and responding. “It’s just a project The Commander has been working on. I was helping to test it out, that’s all.”

“Ooooh… What kind of project?” Zuikaku probed further for questions as they rounded the main building, briskly walking past the flower garden that Roon had planted. 

Now that Zuikaku thought back, she’d remembered a few times where she’d see Roon working here late at night, kneeling down and digging into the dirt. Frankly, the dedication she’d shown was admirable, and it’d inspired Zuikaku to train twice as hard as before.

She should probably thank her at some point. Thoughts for later.

“You’ll see when we get there, it’s just a bit longer from here.” Enterprise explained, changing course and walking off the paved walkway towards a large, formerly-abandoned building. 

Zuikaku remembered that it used to be a crappy warehouse before they’d constructed the massive one they had now, and nobody really wanted to see the old one go, so it’d stayed. Looking at it now though, with some makeshift walls having been thrown onto it by presumably The Commander and beams of light shooting out from the cracks and openings in the building, it’d seemed that their decision paid off.

It still concerned her that it looked like a scene straight out of that one Eagle Union movie, “Frankenstein”.

Walking up to the massive warehouse, Enterprise placed her hands on the massive sliding doors before turning back to Zuikaku with a look of almost pity. “Whatever he says… just nod and agree.”

“Huh? What does that mea-” Before she got to continue her sentence, Enterprise cut her off by pushing apart the doors and causing light to flood out of the opening, momentarily blinding Zuikaku.

“Alright… Commander, we’re here!” She called out as she walked in.

Zuikaku followed, rubbing her eyes as she adjusted to the scene in front of her.

Wires, tubbing, and cables covered the floor, all seemingly converging into the center of the room, connected to a pair of mechanical gauntlets placed upon a table. The gauntlets themselves seemed to be made of various mechanical parts, the openings in the gauntlets glowing with a blue reminiscent of the wisdom cubes that had brought the kansen to life. 

A bunch of manjuus could be seen trotting across the ground, holding various tools like wrenches, screwdrivers, and things of the like. One of them was building a tower out of nuts and bolts.

In the near left corner, Zuikaku spotted a few desks with various computers placed upon or around them. The sounds of keyboards clicking and tapping could be heard from the mass of electronics, and Zuikaku spotted a tuft of green hair and a captain’s hat peeking out from inside the monstrosity.

Around her near the entrance were all of the kansen who’d been present at the attack on the training area. 

Bismarck and Hood were sort of off to the side, with Hood seemingly teasing the Ironblood battleship about something; she couldn’t hear them over the whirring and humming sounds emanating from the room. 

Akagi was off by herself, seemingly attempting to avoid social interaction with the other kansen present. Zuikaku took just one look at her, but she could already tell that her senpai was clearly in a bad mood. The fox’s current expression reminding Zuikaku of how the kitsune had been when the Eagle Union had surpassed them in the joint exercise scoring a few years ago, which Akagi had responded too by having the second and fifth carrier division run drills that Zuikaku could pretty easily summarize as “physical abuse”.

Rossiya was talking with Roon and Taihou, both of whom seemed to be looking at Rossiya with a mixture of bewilderment and curiosity. Given that Rossiya was holding a red book, and the fact that - since they were closer - she could hear something about the evils of private property, she could imagine how that conversation was going.

Dido was nervously poking her fingers together. Zuikaku felt really bad for the small maid, sympathizing with the cruiser’s rather crappy situation. Poor girl seemed to be on the edge of a breakdown all of the time, and that couldn’t feel good. Now that she thought about it, it may be a good idea for Zuikaku to check on her too. 

Reno beat her to the punch, it’d seemed. The American cruiser walked up to the British cruiser and placed a hand on her shoulder, reassuring her smaller companion and helping Dido to calm down. The maid seemed to heavily appreciate it, hugging the heroic cruiser as Reno blushed ever so slightly.

Enterprise seemed to be looking around for someone, peeking over heads and peering around bodies as she squinted to try and locate whomever it was that the ghost wanted to find. 

Zuikaku, being right next to her, tapped her on the shoulder and leaned in to whisper. “Hey, who’re you looking for?” She asked in a hushed voice.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it. I just asked someone to come along with me to this. It’s not super important.” Enterprise responded.

Her interest piqued, Zuikaku was about to press further questions before the sound of a loudspeaker crackling to life. Instantly, dread filled her heart as she remembered the last time a loudspeaker did that.

Her ass still hurt…

“Ahem! Alright, can everyone hear me?” The Commander spoke over the loudspeaker, tapping the microphone a few times.

Everyone winced as a sharp ringing came through the speaker system, before fading away as quickly as it came.

“Well, that seems to have worked! Anyway, you all doing good today?” He asked.

A few murmurs mostly summarized as “eh kinda meh” or “yeah fairly aight” resonated through the crowd before Bismarck’s hand raised into the air.

“Mein Kommandant, I apologize for the rudeness, but what exactly are we here for” She asked; the question being one that everyone generally wanted to ask but were either too shy or too polite to ask themselves.

“Ah, I should get to that. Right, everyone please turn your attention to the wall farthest from me!” He said, before messing with some Computers and calling out to Akashi. “Alright cat burglar, turn on the projector!”

“I better be getting paid overtime for this, nya…”

As the manjuus quickly got out of the way and assembled in a line on the side farthest from the screen, with the click of a button an image popped up onto the massive wall farthest from The Commander and his setup. The image contained information on Wisdom Cubes, though Zuikaku couldn’t wrap her head around any of it.

“So, Wisdom Cubes, at their most basic, are sources of energy. They draw energy from a higher dimension to perform whatever miraculous tech wizardry they’re meant to do that day, and we can use them to do all sorts of really cool shit like-”

“Get to the point!”

“Yeah yeah whatever, point is! I recently remembered something about wisdom cube synchronization or something. Actually, I think that’s why I got hired for this job!”

Bismarck remembered something about that actually. Back when she’d used the black cube before she died, the sirens had mentioned something along the lines of “resonating with the black cube”, or some technological nonsense similar to that.

“So, after a brief talk or two with Akashi, we came to a conclusion that it may be possible for kansen to synchronize with wisdom cubes - but how are we going to do that, you ask? Simple! Do you guys remember the muse gear that High Command so graciously sent us?”

A few nods of agreement.

“Well, we duck-taped the wisdom cube to those things and boom! We made a prototype for a new type of augmentation gear we’re planning on handing out to you lot to give you a nice FAT power boost! Behold: Project Synchronization!”

Stage lights suddenly shone down from the ceiling and onto the gauntlets resting on the table.

The kansen sorta just… stood there in a mixture of equal parts bewilderment and amazement.

“No, they aren’t actually duck taped, we did actually go through the process of properly integrating them in. What, do you think we’re amateurs or something?”

“Um… yes actually.”

“Wow… uncool.”

Zuikaku was fairly certain she could hear the sound of crickets.

“Aaanyway, I need a volunteer. Dido! Come on up and put those gauntlets on!”

Very audibly gulping the maid nervously strode up to the table and put on the gauntlets, which made a few mechanical clicking sounds as the various mechanical parts seemingly shifted in place, tightening around Dido’s arms and adjusting to fit her size as in mere moments Dido felt a sudden rush of power coursing through her whole body, her muscle fibers feeling stronger as her bones felt far tougher than before. The change was drastic, and Dido could very physically feel the difference

The Commander clicked a few more buttons, changing the projection on the wall to show a dark blue screen with various numerical values colored yellow.

A second or two after putting on the gauntlets the numbers on the screen began to rapidly change, cycling through various values before settling down, with the biggest number on the screen set in the center being “35%”.

“Um… master… what does that mean…?” Dido asked with a shaky voice.

“That, my timid friend, is your synchronization rate!”

“...What does that mean?” She asked again.

“That number indicates how much you’ve synchronized with the wisdom cube put into that gear. To put it in layman’s terms, it’s how much the gear is boosting your power!” The Commander explained.

“To demonstrate, I’ve put a few large targets on the opposite side of this room. Dido, attack one of those targets! Do so with your rigging on, but without the gauntlets.”

The targets themselves were absolutely ginormous, and it was lost on Zuikaku how she’d missed that on her first look-around the room. Each target seemed to be ridiculously thick, thicker than any armor she’d seen in her life, and each target was as tall as the room was. They were seriously intimidating.

Dido looked around nervously for a second as she removed the gauntlets from her hands, which seemed to miraculously loosen as she reached to take them off, before laying eyes on one of the targets and reaching into the hole beneath her chest in her uniform. Drawing her massive sword, she took a stance and focused on the target. A blue glow surrounded her as her rigging manifested around her.

Creeping black energy oozed from the blade, gathering upon the edge as Dido brought the weapon up high. A moment later, she swung down and sent a wave of the blackened force from her weapon soaring towards the target, which made a low warbling noise as it traveled through the air.

Upon contact with the massive wooden apparatus, the wave cut, but not all the way through, leaving a shallow mark in the thick wooden target.

“Alright now put on the gauntlets, and take off your rigging.”

“Huh?” Dido looked confused as her rigging disappeared, before reaching over and putting the prototype back on. Riggings provided the kansen with absolutely ridiculous strength, and taking them off left them without access to that massive well of power. What good was the testing if the result being tested was at a significant disadvantage?

“I know, that must sound confusing, but I promise all will become apparent soon. Take a swing at another target!”

Logically, Dido really shouldn’t have trusted that, but being the good-natured little bean that she is, Dido took a stance again and held aloft her weapon.

Instantly she could feel a change, as instead of gathering around her weapon slowly, the black energy her sword emitted began rapidly pouring out like a rushing river, geysering into the roof as it began spilling all around her.

The other kansen took a few steps back in surprise, eyes widened from 

“U-Uwah-!” She called out in terror and surprise, as The Commander called out over the sound of the overwhelming torrent of power.

“Focus your breathing Dido! Just calm down and swing at the target!”

Taking a deep breath, Dido shakily raised the weapon into the sky and swung with all of her might.

A resounding BOOM shook the whole warehouse as the mass of shadowy energy around Dido lunged forward like a hungry animal, slamming into the target and slicing the massive target in two, the wave of energy cutting through the entire target and bursting out through the warehouse’s back wall before dissipating into nothingness.

“Hmm… maybe we’ll have to try integrating that technology into the riggings in the first place… might make it more convenient to use rather than having to put two things on one after the other… plus it’d make it harder to lose in battle…”

As The Commander spoke idly to himself, everyone stood in stunned silence. The only sound that could be heard was the low warbling of Dido’s attack as it began to dissipate into nothingness.

It was a level of power reminiscent of the Ashes, if only a little weaker.

Looking over at Dido, it could be noted that aside from being a bit shaken up, there didn’t seem to be any adverse effects left behind from the usage of the prototype. In fact, Dido seemed to be doing better than ever, as she looked at her hands shakily and dropped her sword, ignoring the loud clang.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaa…”

“Well, now that I’ve got everyone’s FULL attention… who’d like to come up next?”

Reno’s release rate was an impressive 30%, rather fitting of someone who’d made the Reno Reactor, which in and of itself was an incredible feat on its own.

Taihou’s release rate was an even more impressive 46%. As to be expected from someone with the level of talent that Taihou possessed. Zuikaku recalled the conversation The Commander and herself had back during the recruiting phase of their training camp, when The Commander had spoken about Taihou’s untapped potential and vast talent.

It’d seemed they had just begun to tap into that deep, deep well.

Rossiya’s was a more average rate of 35%. Not as impressive as Taihou’s, but still respectable.

As monstrous as ever, Roon’s rate was a terrifying 49%. Up until recently, it’d been the closest anyone had gotten to surpassing a 50% release rate.

Hood and Bismarck received 42% and 45% respectively. Hood didn’t show it, but Zuikaku could tell she was just a little bit miffed at Bismarck having surpassed her.

Akagi, glorious first carrier division that she was, received a 53%, being the first kansen to receive a synchronization rating higher than 50%.

And Zuikaku’s? 

“Gah…! Only 20%? That’s the lowest today…” Zuikaku pouted on the ground, as Akagi very smugly stood over her.

“Hmph… It looks like the fifth carrier division still has a lot to learn~” Akagi taunted, stepping back a bit as Zuikaku weakly swatted at her.

“Mmm… if only Shoukaku-nee was here…” She retorted. “She’d get a way higher rating than you, that’s for sure.”

“Hah! If that twit were here, I’d be plucking out her feathers!” Akagi snarled, the mention of her… well it was kinda hard to actually pin down what the relationship between Akagi and Shoukaku was. 

Zuikaku and Kaga often had to sit back and watch the two snarl and scratch at each other on the ground like a bunch of cats. One might just automatically assume they were enemies, but Zuikaku remembered a few times she’d seen Shoukaku and Akagi sitting together, though she hadn’t been able to hear what they were talking about.

Regardless, Zuikaku just rolled her eyes and turned back to the testing area, where Enterprise was walking up to the table.

“Alright, this’ll be the last test for the day!” The Commander called out over the intercom, as all eyes began to train on Enterprise and the screen that’d show her results.

It was fairly well known that, at least among the kansen at the base, Enterprise was far and away the strongest of them all. Having taken massive strides in all fields of combat, and showing a terrifying aptitude for growth in spite of having reached the limits of most kansen, she was one of if not the best candidate to be considered Azur Lane’s ace.

That’s who Zuikaku wanted to surpass.

“It’s gotta be around the 50% range… That’s like, the cap we’ve seen so far, right?” Zuikaku asked nobody in particular.

Her senpai, however, chose to answer. “...That’s a fair estimate.” As much as she hated to admit it, Enterprise was a complete monster. She wouldn’t be surprised if the Eagle Union’s most powerful carrier was at least on the same level as her-

“65%. Holy shit.”

Akagi’s gaze snapped to the screen, showing a massive towering 65% plastered all over the screen. A horrible, bitter feeling began to well back up inside of her. It really, really didn’t help that she had to be reminded over and over again of her past failures, especially her humiliating defeat by Enterprise, but to be shown up by almost 15%!?

The kitsune took a deep, deep breath. Now was not the time to be losing her cool over stuff like this. She needed to reign in her impulses.

…She’d destroy the Grey Ghost later.

Everyone else meanwhile, were a mixture of both amazement, and expectancy. On one hand, that was the highest rating they’d seen all day. On the other hand… it WAS Enterprise they were talking about.

Speaking of Enterprise, she was looking back towards the door and then at the clock that had been set up on a wall nearby.

“...She should be here by now.” She said, turning to The Commander.

Getting off of the microphone for a second, The Commander turned to face the carrier. “Oh she messaged me saying she had something to do a while ago, she’ll be here soon, so don’t worry!”

Enterprise nodded in return, tapping her foot on the ground as she removed the prototype gauntlets. Despite the rather impressive feat she’d just pulled off, just like the others thought this was to be expected. All that number meant… was that she’d have to take more lives.

She was used to it, at least.

A moment or two later, the sound of the doors opening behind the group of attendees signified the entrance of a new kansen.

All eyes in the room suddenly drifted towards the source of the sound of creaking metal.

“Sorry I’m late Senpai, I had to help Bunker Hill with something!” A voice oh-so-familiar to Zuikaku called out from the now open entryway.

Turning around, Zuikaku locked eyes with a now-familiar blue haired girl.

“What the- Essex? What’re you doing here?” Zuikaku asked, an eyebrow raised as some idea of what was going on was beginning to form in her mind.

“Me? I got invited by Senpai to take part in this.” Essex replied, confirming Zuikaku’s suspicion.

All current attendees, especially Akagi, suddenly perked up at that response. For someone to have been personally invited by Enterprise, for something like this no less… 

Clearly, Essex was a lot more important than most would have assumed.

“Oh crap, so you’re the one she was talking about…” Zuikaku responded, recalling earlier when Enterprise seemed to be looking around for someone and connecting the dots.

Enterprise walked up to Essex, briskly walking past everyone else in the room as she strode over to her kouhai.

“Don’t worry about it, being a little late isn’t anything to fret over.” Enterprise reassured her junior as she motioned for the smaller carrier to follow.

Essex was about to interject, but seemingly decided against it as she followed Enterprise - who called over to The Commander to prepare testing again - up to the testing table.

“Alright then, now it’s the ACTUAL last test of the day, all ready on this end!” The Commander called out to Enterprise and Essex.

Enterprise leaned in close and gave Essex a brisk briefing of what was about to happen. In response, Essex turned to Enterprise before she put on the prototype.

“...Senpai, what was your synchronization rate?”

“Me? 65%.”

“Got it…”

So that’s the value she had to surpass. Essex took in a deep breath. She’d been given a short explanation before coming here, about a week or two back, by Enterprise. If Enterprise could do something like this… then she resolved herself to do even better than her!

Placing the gauntlets onto her arms, they lit up with a powerful glow as the numbers on the projected screen began to flip between values once more.

Essex waited with bated breath as the values began to settle on a certain range, switching slower and slower until they finally settled on…

“50%.”

Murmuring rippled through the assembled kansen. That was the third highest score of the day, only surpassed by Akagi, and Enterprise herself. 

“She’s quite impressive…”

“Not bad, that was pretty cool!”

“F-Fifty percent? T-That’s so high… Will Master throw me away for having a lower score!?”

“Ah come on Dido, that’s not gonna happen!”

“Uwaaa…”

“...How…?”

Despite the crowd’s general reaction of awe, Essex herself looked down at her hands with disappointment.

“I’m a whole 15% behind her… Dammit…!” She said to herself, clenching her fists in frustration.

“Hey, don’t sweat it.” Enterprise said, tapping her kouhai on the shoulder to get her attention.

Essex didn’t respond, just letting her fists fall down to her sides as she sighed with disappointment.

“When I said I expected you to surpass me, I didn’t mean I expected you to do it immediately. You will surpass me, farther than anyone else one day. Just take it easy, alright? Don’t overdo it.” Enterprise advised her kouhai. Rather loudly I might add.

Loud enough for both Akagi and Zuikaku to hear.

Akagi clenched her fists so hard she thought her hands may bleed, as she glared intensely at the Grey Ghost and her companion from within the crowd. She refused to undergo the type of humiliation she faced at the hands of Enterprise again, she refused to be powerless like she had been when Amagi first passed again, and she certainly wasn’t going to be shown up by the Grey Ghost’s fucking junior!

Zuikaku on the other hand… looked down at the ground with a feeling of foreign bitterness. She’d gotten the lowest score that day. Being that weak… it left a bad taste in her mouth.

She recalled the words Purifier had said to her when the sirens first attacked. Then she remembered the strange, unnerving dream she’d had before waking up to Shoukaku.

And at last, her thoughts came to what she’d mulled over on that wooden bench earlier that day.

“Am… Am I stagnating?”

“Surely not… I can keep growing, I can keep getting stronger!”

“...Right?”

She shook her head. That was a stupid question, of course she could get stronger! She wanted to shoulder the burdens of the entire Sakura Empire, of the entire world. How was she gonna do that if she couldn’t get stronger?

She just had to work twice as hard, no, four times as hard as before!

“Well, it’s been fun everyone, but I need to attend to something real quick. You guys can clear out whenever, see y’all at the Sakura Empire v Eagle Union Carrier joint exercise event tomorrow!” The Commander called out as he began to put all of his stuff back into their place, throwing a few things into random drawers before walking towards the door, holding a letter in one hand.

“Wait, that’s tomorrow!?” Zuikaku suddenly jumped in surprise. She’d been so focused on her rivalry with Enterprise, she’d completely forgotten about the upcoming joint exercise. It’d be originally created in order to draw attention away from the recent attack on their base, and raise morale through mock combat.

“Yes… did you forget?” Enterprise responded.

“Gaaah… I did!” Zuikaku cried out, grabbing either side of her head in frustration.

As Enterprise turned away, Zuikaku moved towards the door; only to notice Akagi, still glaring at Enterprise with eyes full of burning hatred.

“Hey, you alright there Senpai?” Tapping her senior on the shoulder, she tried to get the fox’s attention. 

Enterprise soon noticed the glare however, and walked up to Akagi as Essex followed from behind, not giving the fox a chance to respond to the crane.

“...Is there a problem, Akagi?”

There were so many things Akagi wanted to say. Her entire being momentarily shook as her fists tightened to the point of bleeding, crimson ichor dripping down her hands and onto the floor from the anger building inside. It’d be so easy to just punch her in the face, to get back at that damned ghost for everything she’d done to her and her sister, to her empire, to everyone she-

Akagi restrained herself once more, taking a deep breath and expelling her own burning rage, dousing the flames within her body with the ice cold water of reason.

“...Not at all. I’m going to return to my quarters now.”

Without another word, Akagi left.

Following the end of the experiment, Zuikaku sighed and decided to head back on her own. Enterprise had gone with Essex, Bismarck and Hood had left together as well, and everyone else had gone their own ways, with Rossiya tailing Roon and Taihou in order to continue educating them.

Walking back out onto the grass surrounding the warehouse, Zuikaku looked up at the starry sky.

“Just gotta work harder… it’s all uphill from here!”

Shinano’s room was eccentric, if nothing else.

Shoukaku walked from the doorway onto the strip of hand connecting the doorway to the center of the room, as water still as a rock surrounded the land, which seemingly culminated in a small circle in the middle.

Sat in the middle of the circle was the kansen who’d invited Shoukaku. The legendary dreamwalker, Shinano herself. Shoukaku looked back down at the invitation in her hand. Shinano had described the situation as “urgent news”, but Shoukaku didn’t see anyone else there. Actually, if it was “urgent news”, why was SHE of all people being called here? Shouldn’t the faction leaders be here instead?

“...Shoukaku, you are here.” Shinano’s voice sounded as drowsy and soft as usual, but Shoukaku could sense a feeling of urgency and… almost worry underneath it all

“Yes, Shinano-sama, is there something you needed?” Shoukaku responded, walking down the strip of land towards where Shinano was seated.

The sound of the door opening again prompted Shoukaku to turn around, seeing The Commander standing in the doorway panting like a dog. He’d clearly rushed here, and Shoukaku could likely guess why seeing the familiar letter in his hand.

“I saw “urgent news” and wrapped up my thing as soon as I could, what’s the problem?” The Commander asked, waving to Shoukaku as he too made his way down the land strip.

“Shikikan… Shoukaku… I have had a disturbing premonition…”

Shinano possessed the power of future-sight, which was often used to avoid horrible disasters in the many possible futures she’d seen. This time however… something clearly seemed off.

“I will get to the point…”

As Shoukaku and The Commander arrived in the center of the room, Shinano turned around to face them, an expression of worry upon her usually relaxed face.

She took a deep breath.

“In two months, Zuikaku will die.”

Shoukaku’s eyes widened, but before she could speak a word… Shinano continued.

“And she will be killed by Enterprise.”

Chapter Text

The following day…

“Alright everyone, this is The Commander speaking. Welcome one and all to the Sakura Empire vs Eagle Union carrier live exercise! We’ll be beginning shortly, so to all our lovely observers in the audience, return to your seats as soon as possible!”

The open ocean stretched out for miles around. Given the type of exercise they’d chosen to take part in, The Commander had arranged for the Sakura Empire vs Eagle Union Joint Exercise to take place in a large stretch of ocean just adjacent to the main Azur Lane base. There weren’t all that many islands around, so for the most part, the fight would be a battle of skill and combat prowess, rather than one of tactics and skills.

Zuikaku stretched as she stood with her team, assembled around the flag they’d planted floating in the water.

With her were Shoukaku and Kaga, with Akagi leading the whole team. The exercise was set in a “Capture The Flag” format, with each team needing to capture the enemy’s flag successfully to win the exercise.

Unfortunately, Soryuu and Hiryuu were both on a sortie together at the time, so they had to adjust the match from a 6v6 to a 4v4, but they pressed on regardless.

Opposing the Sakura Empire carriers were Yorktown, Hornet, Saratoga, all led by Enterprise herself. All in all, a rather fearsome assortment of carriers. Especially that Saratoga girl, Zuikaku really couldn’t handle her…

The plan Akagi had devised was a simple, yet effective one. Zuikaku and Shoukaku would act as a diversion, draw away a few of the enemy carriers to dispatch, and then rejoin their seniors, while the main force consisting of Akagi and Kaga would face their enemy in glorious combat right up close, or as close as they could possibly get to the flag, at least. 

It really didn’t sit well with Zuikaku, she wanted to go and fight the Grey Ghost herself, but Akagi hadn’t budged an inch since coming up with the plan.

“Stupid senpais… why can’t I go fight her?” Zuikaku pouted to herself as she looked out in the direction of the enemy squad.

Shoukaku sailed up to her sister, patting the younger crane on the back.

“Worry not sister, I’m sure our cruel and selfish senpais will mess up at some point, and then you can have your moment~!” Shoukaku explained, a hint of sinister joy laced behind her joy.

Zuikaku was really… really worried by the sound of that.

Thoughts for later.

“Alright everyone, the exercise is about to start.” Akagi informed the group, looking out at sea in the direction of the Eagle Union.

“Oh right, coming! C’mon sis, let’s get going!” Zuikaku called out, motioning for Shoukaku to follow as she got into position for the start of the joint exercise.

“I’m coming I’m coming~” She responded, watching Zuikaku eagerly get into position.

She paused for a moment.

“In two months, Zuikaku will die.”

“And she will be killed by Enterprise.”

Shoukaku shook her head, lightly slapping either side of her face.

“...It’ll all turn out alright. I’m sure of it.” Shoukaku said to herself, sailing up next to her sister and their seniors as the loudspeaker set up all around the capture zone crackled to life, and a horn sounded off.

“Alright, let’s do this!” Zuikaku called out, as the exercise began in earnest.

The Commander sat down after the start of the exercise began, sitting down on the bleachers they’d set up for Kansen to come and view the training exercise. Given that this exercise involved the legendary Grey Ghost herself, quite a few had chosen to show up, causing the bleachers to be absolutely packed with viewers from all across the base.

The Commander was almost sure the entire damn thing had shown up to view the match, though given the popularity of a fair bit of the participants he supposed that made a lot of sense.

It was actually a few years ago that they’d come up with this system of viewing large-scale exercises. Thanks to Akashi’s genius bargaining skills, they’d gotten their hands on some drones with cameras integrated into them, and after hooking them up to some big ol screens and what not, they’d managed to create an effective way to view large-scale exercises reliably without interfering with the matches.

The Commander was pretty proud of what they’d done, if he was to be honest.

“I see the match has already begun.” A voice called out from his left, as a figure sat down next to him.

“Oh, so you did show up! I was worried you’d be too busy to see your student in action!” The Commander responded, turning to face this new individual as they took a seat next to him.

“Well, I managed to wrap up the last of what Yamato-san wanted me to deal with. So, here I am!” The voice responded.

“Glad to see you! That reminds me actually, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about, Mikasa.” The Commander said, turning to face the legendary God of War who’d taken a seat next to him.

Mikasa’s eyebrow perked up, as she looked at The Commander with curiosity. “And what would that be?”

He looked up at the large screen set up in front of the bleachers, watching Zuikaku and Shoukaku begin to make their move. The two carriers began to sail off away from the main force, aiming to harass the Eagle Union’s flank and try to draw at least two carriers away from the Eagles’ main group.

Taking a deep breath in, The Commander looked Mikasa straight in the eye, entirely shifting in his seat to face her and motioning for the Great Veteran to lean in, not wanting anyone nearby to hear what he was about to say.

“You see…”

“Zuikaku is gonna die.” 

She just couldn’t get it off of her mind.

Shoukaku and her younger sister sailed towards the Eagle Union’s flank, eventually spotting Hornet, Yorktown, Saratoga, and Enterprise off in the distance. Their job was simply to draw two or so fighters away from the main stage, take them down, and then rejoin the main fleet. It was a simple mission.

Or it would be, if Shoukaku could get this horrible feeling out of her chest. Sure, they had two months to figure out what was going to kill Zuikaku, they had two months to come up with a plan and avoid it, they had plenty of time.

But even still…

There were so many questions she still had.

Why did Enterprise kill Zuikaku?

Why did Shinano only tell them that little bit of information?

Was there more to the vision than what Shinano had told them?

Was Shinano purposely holding back information?

“Alright, we’re supposed to attack first to draw their attention away from Akagi’s group, let’s go!” Zuikaku called out to her older sister and snapping her out of her daydreaming, tossing out a squadron of paper shikigami which came alight, transforming into dive bombers before she lunged forward and drew her blade.

“Wait-” Shoukaku reached out her hand as Zuikaku rushed forward, wanting to stop her brasher sibling from getting herself hurt, before sighing in reluctant acceptance and pushing forward to help her sister.

In front of the two was the Eagle Union’s main group, who’d long since spotted the two given their lack of cover, and had prepared for such an obvious attack from the side. As the two cranes approached, Hornet and Saratoga nodded to one another, breaking off to intercept the two.

“Alright, we got two coming for us! From what I can tell, it’s Hornet and… oh crap! It’s that Saratoga girl!” Zuikaku audibly gulped upon the revelation of who was coming to face her. 

Tossing out an extra squadron of shikigami, Zuikaku charged forward with her sword as the paper burst into dive bombers and commanded her aircraft to join the rest of her aircraft in the sky as she made her charge towards Hornet.

Shoukaku skidded to a halt, taking her flute out and beginning to softly play as the elder crane began to float above the water, the soft melody of her instrument guiding two squadrons of fighters into the air as Saratoga quickly deployed her own aircraft in response, the skies above the four carriers quickly devolving into a dogged brawl for aerial supremacy.

Hornet, being the more adept of the two Eagle Union carriers in close quarters, shot forward to meet Zuikaku and keep the crane from going for her less melee-proficient senior.

“Hey there Zuikaku! Sorry, but you’ll be facing me this time!” She said, using the moment of her charge to add force into a swinging left kick, which slammed into Zuikaku who was caught off-guard by the sudden and speedy approach of her new opponent.

“G-Gah… you seriously hit hard! But I’ll bet you weren’t expecting this!” Lunging forward once again, Zuikaku suddenly accelerated and rapidly changed directions, attempting to strike Hornet from her left flank with her blade, gleaming with the light reflected off of the water’s surface.

Hornet however, saw through Zuikaku’s attack. She quickly jumped back and planted her feet, before responding to Zuikaku’s sword swing with a powerful right straight, fist and blade meeting halfway and halting Zuikaku’s momentum in its tracks.

“W-What the- Shouldn’t you be bleeding? Like, a lot!?” Zuikaku shouted in surprise, filled with disbelief after seeing Hornet not only punch her sword, but punch it without bleeding.

“I’ve gotten way better at channeling my cube’s energy through my body, your sword ain’t gonna cut it here!” Hornet responded, knocking Zuikaku’s sword up and away with her free hand before quickly capitalizing on her new opening and executing a powerful right kick, knocking the crane away for a second time.

Spitting away some blood, Zuikaku forced herself back to her feet and wiped her brow, stretching for a second before getting ready again. “That was just the warm up… let’s do this!”

She remembered something about channeling energy actually, back when she’d first started training with Mikasa.

“Mikasa-sensei… why can Akagi-senpai and Kaga-senpai use that cool fire stuff, but Shoukaku-nee and I can’t?” Zuikaku knelt on her knees in front of Mikasa, having just finished their sparring for the day. 

“First, we will have to start with the basics of wisdom cubes. Wisdom cubes, at their most basic, are sources of energy. When manifesting through wisdom cubes for the first time, kansen are either born with the innate talent to channel this energy through their rigging, which leads to an increase in skill with their conventional weaponry, or the innate talent to channel this energy through their bodies, leading to an increase in physical strength, and sometimes the supernatural phenomena you see with Akagi and Kaga.” Mikasa explained, pulling out a large chalkboard she’d seemingly been keeping for such an occasion and drawing out a picture of a cube with arrows pointing to what looked like a flame and a cannon shell.

“Wait, but Shimakaze-san can use powers, like that cool wind slash she does, but she also seems really good with her rigging, why’s that?”

“That is because channeling the energy of our cubes, either through our riggings or our bodies, can be learned. Just because one does not possess the talent at birth, does not mean one cannot learn the other.” Mikasa elaborated, connecting the flame and the shell with a line. “Both can be learned and trained to their peak, the ‘talent’ we’re born with at birth merely gives us a head start in one of these fields.”

"That's how I reached the level I have today, through constant practice and seeking out my betters for advice." Mikasa concluded, turning back to Zuikaku as she finished.

Zuikaku placed a hand on her chin, closing her eyes and nodding as she absorbed the information Mikasa explained. “Hmmm… So then, would I be able to reach the level of the Grey Ghost? I mean, if you can do it, then I can too!”

Mikasa smiled. “That’s the spirit, all you have to do is work hard, and your training will bear fruit!”

“Maybe I don’t have the same strength as Akagi-senpai or Kaga-senpai… but there’s no way my training has been for nothing!”

“I’ve still got my ace in the hole, I wasn’t able to use it during our battle against the sirens since I never got an opening, but this time, it’d be better if I just make one!”

Zuikaku quickly made use of the extra room that Hornet’s kick had given her, commanding a squadron of the dive bombers she had waiting in the sky to come charging down at Hornet, loosing their bombs and forcing the American carrier onto the defensive.

“Ah Crap, I forgot you had those!” Hornet yelled as a bomb landed close to her. She began to move back as best she could, dodging and avoiding the falling bombs and pillars of water shooting up around her, as she tried to get eyes on Zuikaku.

“Gotta grasp the sensation I did when I fought Purifier… Try to see the counterattack coming and move out of the way!”

Through the spraying water of her dive bombers’ assault, Zuikaku darted forward and came charging at Hornet, who’s eyes finally locked on Zuikaku. Anticipating that the crane might try this, she grounded herself as the bombers’ attack passed and kicked her right leg at the crane as she entered melee range. “Nice try, but sneak attacks won’t work on me Zuikaku!”

“Maybe, but I’ll bet you didn’t see this one coming!” Mimicking the technique she used against Purifier, Zuikaku ducked underneath the kick, before she pivoted on her foot and swung up with her sword as fast as she could manage.

Hornet managed to notice the attack in time however, jumping back slightly before turning around and leaning down as she kicked up with all her might, sparks flying from the meeting of steel on steel as Hornet kicked Zuikaku’s blade up and out of the way.

"H-Huh!?" Zuikaku was caught off guard by this sudden reversal of roles, as Hornet proceeded to move in for a flurry of powerful punches, each striking impacting deep into Zuikaku's unprotected midsection before Hornet followed up with a powerful knee to the gut.

“ HRK-! ” Zuikaku felt the wind get knocked out of her, stumbling back as she tried to regain her bearings, stepping back a few times as she took in a sharp breath of air.

“Wow… you are really good at taking a beating." Hornet commented, impressed by Zuikaku's apparent durability.

“T-Thanks… I’m really used to it!” Zuikaku responded, shaking her head for a moment once more before re-focusing on the battle in front of her.

“Looks like trying to make my own opening won’t work, she’s just too good at close quarters combat!”

Deciding to save her trump card for later, Zuikaku drew back her blade as she considered her options.

Hornet however, wasn’t going to sit idly by this time, and capitalized on Zuikaku’s momentary lack of action by charging at her again, leaping off of the water and bringing her right leg down in a vertical arc, aimed straight at the top of Zuikaku’s head.

The crane snapped herself out of her thinking process, swinging up with her sword to deflect the kick as Hornet continued the motion, this time using her left leg to continue her original kick’s arc and slammed her rigging’s heel onto the top of Zuikaku’s skull.

“Ghh…” Suddenly, Hornet felt a hand grab around her ankle as Zuikaku looked back up at her assailant.

“Cut that out dammit!” She screamed, before pivoting on her foot, turning around, and slamming Hornet into the ocean with a shout.

“GAH-!” Hornet wheezed, the air suddenly knocked out of her lungs as she bounced off of the gleaming ocean, as Zuikaku went for a follow-up and landed a powerful kick to the American’s side, sending her opponent skipping away as Zuikaku herself took a moment to breathe.

“Better call back my dive bombers.”

She mentally called for her aircraft to return but… didn’t feel anything there. Thinking it may have been a fluke, she tried again, only to realize there really wasn’t anything on the other end of her mental connection. Looking up at the sky, she managed to catch a glimpse of several aircraft falling from the air, wrapped in flames as they crashed into the ocean.

From what little she saw of the aircraft, she was fairly certain those must’ve been her bombers.

[“Shoukaku-nee, what’s going on?”] She radioed her elder sister, suddenly noticing that Hornet had left her sight and quickly looking around for the American carrier.

[“Ehehehe… just a slight problem…!”] Shoukaku radioed back, trying to command her fighters amidst the harrowing battle in the skies.

Though it was true that the duo of cranes were incredibly dangerous, they best operated when together in a pair. Saratoga and Hornet on the other hand, were exceptionally powerful even without their sister ships or support. As such, with Saratoga and Hornet having isolated them, the tides slowly began to shift in favor of the Eagle Union’s duo.

Shoukaku grimaced as she tried to scan the horizon, occasionally glancing back to the battle in the sky, leaving her planes to act by themselves. 

BAM.

“I’ve got you!”

From her blindspot, a fist came crashing into Shoukaku’s face, sending the eldest crane tumbling to the ground as she quickly stumbled back to her feet in time to avoid Hornet’s follow-up attack: a second punch.

[“Zuikaku, she’s over here!”] Radioing to her sister, Shoukaku narrowly missed getting hit by a dive bomber, likely one of Saratoga’s that she’d snuck in during the dogfight up high.

[“Ah crap- Sorry sis, I’m coming to help!”] Zuikaku called back, turning around and sailing straight towards her sister and Hornet.

“Not a chance!” Saratoga called out from afar, as she directed the rest of the dive bombers she’d launched under the cover of the dogfight to dive down straight at Zuikaku.

“Ah crap! This is gonna suck!” Zuikaku screamed as pillars of water began to shoot up around her, various bombs coming crashing down around her as she made her way towards her sister.

“Not so fun is it?!” Hornet called over, attempting to land a third and fourth punch onto Shoukaku who gracefully dodged both strikes.

Picking up speed, Zuikaku lowered her center of gravity more as she sped straight towards Hornet, attempting to avoid the last of Saratoga’s dive bombers, the squadron having mostly used up all of their bombs and beginning to head back to Saratoga to rearm.

[“She’s coming straight for you!”] Saratoga radioed Hornet, prompting the cowgirl to swiftly peak behind her and notice the approaching crane.

Knowing that getting into a 2v1 with the crane sisters at close range was a pretty terrible idea, Hornet rapidly disengaged and dashed out of the way, narrowly avoiding both Zuikaku’s slashing attack, and Shoukaku’s thrust that she’d attempted to sneak in upon noticing Hornet’s momentary drop in guard.

Sailing back towards Saratoga and gaining a good deal of distance between the crane sisters and herself, Hornet looked between the two carriers in front of her, trying to formulate a plan for victory.

“AAAH!”

Just then, a thunderous BOOM shook the sea, drawing all eyes to train upon a massive pillar of water and smoke that sent shockwaves outward, rocking the seas as if a mighty storm had rolled in. 

A few minutes earlier

When Akagi had first assigned Shoukaku and her sister to go fight some “unimportant rabble'', leaving her and Kaga to do battle with the Grey Ghost and her elder sister, she hadn’t really expected it to go this badly. With all of the training she’d done since being born anew, including the mastery of her pyrokinesis, she was confident that even with Enterprise’s astonishing rate of growth, that she’d finally pulled ahead. She was certain that she’d finally overcome the biggest reminder of her failure, of her inability to keep that which she loved out of harm’s way.

A notion that had been utterly shattered in the past few days.

“Nghh!” Akagi grunted, barely avoiding an arrow from Enterprise’s mighty bow.

Three more shots came her way, which she desperately attempted to dodge out of the way of, the first two arrows flying clear of her. The third arrow however, grazed her cheek as it made its way past.

“Damn you…!” Akagi hissed beneath her breath, looking up at the battle in the sky, being distracted by a series of pounding explosions high above her.

Aircraft dived in and about as the hounding dogfight in the skies filled the once-blue heavens with shadowy black smog. Enterprise’s infamous Wildcats making mince-meat out of the Zeroes that Kaga and Akagi fielded. That didn’t mean they didn’t take casualties however, as Kaga launched another squadron of fighters to join the battle, which quickly cut down three Wildcats as they attempted to dive down on a lone Zero that had been cut off from its squadron.

The battle was intense, and no opening for a bombing run had presented itself yet.

At least, not until now.

Enterprise, noticing Akagi’s sudden lapse in focus, immediately fired off a series of arrows that transformed into torpedo bombers. Dive bombers were out of the question due to how vulnerable they’d be to the massive crowd of fighters in the sky, but her torpedo bombers could stay at a relatively safe distance from the sea, but still avoid the cloud of steel and sparks high in the sky.

Yorktown, seeing the opening as well, launched her own squadron of torpedo bombers to catch Akagi in a crossfire, each squadron of torpedo bombers coming at Akagi in a criss-cross pattern so as to catch her in a pincer attack.

“Nee-sama!” Kaga yelled out to Akagi, snapping the fox back to the battlefield just in time to take evasive maneuvers and narrowly avoid being skewered from the water by a pair of intersecting torpedoes.

“Now! The advantage is ours!” The tide of the battle began to shift, as Enterprise and Yorktown launched a further squadron of fighters into the sky, pushing the balance of the battle slightly, but enough.

Their advantage began to snowball, as more and more Zeroes fell from the sky, opening up the usage of dive bombers to the Yorktown-class sisters as they pushed Akagi and Kaga further onto the defensive.

Akagi growled as her frustration and humiliation continued to mount, her face beginning to burn up as she felt that all-too-familiar hateful rage beginning to burn once more. This time however, she had an outlet, a way to channel this rage.

Her mind began to think.

“Her sister… That must be what’s letting her turn the tides of battle. Were it simply Kaga and I against the Grey Ghost, we’d crush her without a shadow of a doubt! So…”

Taking a shikigami in hand, Akagi took in a deep breath, as crimson flames began to lick up from around her. There was only one sure-fire way to take out Yorktown.

“TAKE THIS!!” Akagi let out a powerful scream, hurling her shikigami forward in a flourish of flames, revealing a squadron of dive bombers charging across through the sky towards the duo of American carriers.

Kaga instantly recognized what Akagi was doing, gulped, and made the split second decision to support her sister, redirecting what little remained of her fighters to cover Akagi’s bombers.

Enterprise, confused at the strange tactic, swiftly ordered some of her fighters to come charging down at the aircraft below, engaging Kaga’s aircraft and cutting down a fair amount of the encroaching forces. Three aircraft however, all Akagi’s bombers, managed to give their pursuers the slip and headed towards the Eagle Union at top speed.

Instead of going for her however, the aircraft flew right past Enterprise and headed for her sister.

She’d thought it was weird, how Akagi was going for a bombing run when the advantage was very solidly on the side of the Eagle Union. 

She’d thought it was weird that Kaga would redirect her aircraft to protecting said bombing run, when defending themselves would’ve been a much more sound idea.

She’d thought it was even weirder that the dive bombers had flown straight past her, and weren’t even trying to gain altitude or come diving down at their target.

She didn’t think it was weird anymore.

Because she knew what this was.

Kamikaze.

“YORKTOWN LOOK OUT!” Fear suddenly gripped her throat, as she spun around as fast as she could and screamed for her elder sister to dodge.

“AAAH!” Yorktown, who’d been busy holding off the combined foxs’ aerial assault while Enterprise redirected her fighters to deal with Akagi’s bombing run, barely had a second to react as the three aircraft slammed into her position, their payloads detonating and sending water and steam high into the air.

Enterprise could only watch as Yorktown slumped down onto the ocean’s surface, her clothes burned and charred.

All of the combatants froze for a moment, unsure of what to do. 

All except for Hornet and Enterprise, the former of which began to sail towards her sister as fast as her rigging could muster.

Back in the stands, The Commander winced as he watched the kamikaze attack go off.

“Yeesh… that’s way too extreme for an exercise.” He commented, as murmurs began flooding throughout the assembled crowd.

Mikasa nodded silently in agreement, choosing not to speak at the moment due to the turmoil still swirling around within her mind. She was too busy thinking about what The Commander had informed her of.

Enterprise sailed over to Yorktown as fast as possible, kneeling down on the water and examining her sister for any grievous wounds.

“Crap, are you alright!?” Hornet asked, arriving shortly after and taking a knee as well.

“Y-Yeah… just a bit winded…” Yorktown responded, wincing with pain as she tried to move. “T-Though… this does mean I’m out.”

“...That’s fine, we can take it from here.” Tightening her grip on her bow, Enterprise stood up again and looked towards Akagi and Kaga, clenching her fist.

“Come on, Hornet, let’s go.” Watching Enterprise begin to sail off, Hornet noticed the… dark look her sister had on her face.

It reminded her of the look her sister had following the events of Midway.

This really wasn’t good.

Hornet followed her sister back up, with Saratoga sailing over to them to re-group their forces. It’d be a bad idea for Saratoga to take on both cranes at the same time.

“What’re we gonna do, Enterprise?” Saratoga asked, looking slightly worriedly back and forth between the two groups of Sakura Empire carriers.

For a moment, Enterprise didn’t respond. She took in a deep breath, sight narrowing on Akagi, who looked back at the ghost with a heated glare.

“...I’ll handle Akagi and Kaga, just keep Zuikaku and Shoukaku off of me.” She said with grim determination.

She could keep her cool in most situations. She’d learned that skill throughout her time fighting in the pacific. It was something she nearly specialized in.

Here though?

Not so much.

“You gonna be alright sis?” Hornet asked, tapping Enterprise on the shoulder.

“...Yeah. Just keep those two off of me.” Enterprise responded, creating an arrow of shimmering yellow and nocking it into her bow.

“If you say so…” Admittedly, Hornet knew there was something wrong, and she really wanted to press further but… knew it wouldn’t do any good at the moment.

Resuming the exercise with vigor, Enterprise let off a lethally quick arrow towards Akagi, who spun left to avoid the shot as Hornet and Saratoga moved to engage Zuikaku and Shoukaku once more. 

She continued once more, drawing shining gold arrows and raining down attacks at Akagi’s position, each strike quicker than the last, with her fastest salvo yet shredding into Akagi’s kimono and cutting gashes across the fox’s body.

“Ugh- you WRETCH!” Akagi shrieked back, crimson fire roaring up around her as she lunged forward, with Kaga in hot pursuit, the fox’s own blue flames licking up at the air as she launched another squadron of fighter planes to join the battle high in the sky.

Explosions and crackles filled the blue skies once more, as all seven carriers began to bear down on one another, Even with Yorktown down and Zuikaku having saved a majority of her fighter planes when she’d elected to enter close quarters combat with Hornet, Enterprise’s skill was enough to close the gap in strength between the two carrier groups. 

A red inferno swirled around Akagi’s arm as she turned the heat of her flames up to their maximum, reeling her arm back before swiping it forward in a clawing motion and releasing a massive wave of fire towards Enterprise, who deftly sidestepped out of the way of the hateful inferno. Her own cold fury burning inside, Enterprise responded almost immediately with an arrow aimed straight for Akagi’s leg, which nearly pierced straight through it had Akagi not leapt sideways once again.

Kaga tried to intervene with a dive bomber attack, seeing that there could be no victory without taking some risks, she hurled two squadrons of bombers towards Enterprise in spite of the harrowing battle high in the air.

Saratoga quickly identified the threat and moved to protect her junior, her fighters deftly swooping down and reaping the climbing dive bombers before they could even reach effective altitude. 

“Damn…!” Kaga hissed to herself, as Akagi attempted a similar trick, only instead of dive bombers she launched torpedo bombers. Sending the torpedo bombers after Enterprise, she launched a whirling storm of ruby heat straight towards the Grey Ghost timed with the drop of the torpedoes, the blasting flames disguising the trajectory of the torpedoes until the very last second. Enterprise noticed the threat a second before it hit, and tried to throw herself out of the way of the flames, only to get slammed in the leg by one of the torpedoes hidden beneath the flames and ocean.

[“Sis!”] Hornet called over the radio.

[“I’m fine. Keep fighting.”] Came her response, spitting out a bit of blood before lunging forward to close the distance. 

Firing a series of arrows, Enterprise sailed towards Akagi, who snarled at the sight and lunged forward to meet her. Enterprise kept up the suppressive fire, each arrow narrowly dodged by the fox as best she could as she ignited both arms with scarlet flames.

“NGAHHH!” Entering melee range, Akagi took the first move and swung with a right hook at Enterprise’s jaw. 

Seeing the attack from a mile away, Enterprise ducked underneath the blow and landed a devastating punch to Akagi’s liver, sending the fox reeling back as Enterprise manifested a golden arrow in her free hand, and attempted to stab at Akagi’s leg. Reversing the previous roles, Akagi countered with a knee to Enterprise’s face, sending the ghost tumbling away and giving the fox some much-needed breathing room.

“Hey… don’t you think they’re going way too hard? Like, this is just an exercise right?” Zuikaku commented, pausing mid-battle and swinging her head over to look at the fight.

Hornet, who was just about to kick Zuikaku in the jaw, stopped to look over as well. “Ah shit… yeah, you’re right, it’s getting really intense over there.”

Akagi snarled once again, flames billowing off of Akagi as she prepared to close the distance once again. Locking eyes with Enterprise, the feelings of roaring bitterness within Akagi were fueled even further. The ghost had the same eyes she’d had that day, the day all her plans came crumbling down. The rage within roared ever louder.

“GREY GHOST!!” Akagi let out a scream of anger before darting forward, bringing with her a maelstrom of crimson fire spiraling around she charged towards Enterprise.

Enterprise responded by raising her bow, gathering shimmering gold into a powerful, final arrow. The arrow’s glow lit up the whole sea around her, shining like the sun in the sky as Enterprise leveled the mighty construct up towards the incoming fireball.

“SIS!” Hornet screamed, eyes widening as she watched the massive fireball that was Akagi barreling towards her sister.

“NEE-SAMA!” Recognizing the power that Enterprise was about to unleash on her sister, Kaga called out to her sister with fear in her voice, remembering the last time Enterprise had used such power on them during the Battle of Midway.

“Hey, we should probably step in now!” The Commander called out to the other kansen, with some standing and drawing their weapons in anticipation to stop the two monsters on a collision-course.

Zuikaku watched with bated breath as her senior and rival came barreling towards each other.

A feeling suddenly roze from within her chest, just like the feeling she’d felt when Ash had prepared to fire off her singularity bomb.

And it was like a voice was telling her.

“Move.”

All of Zuikaku’s aircraft and paper planes burst into flourishing heat, before they all came crashing down onto her blade and enveloped her sword in magnificent fire.

She burst forward, leaping between the two titans before swinging her blade in an arc, releasing swirling flames all around her and knocking each strike just barely off course, Enterprise’s arrow being knocked slightly to Zuikaku’s left and sailing off into the horizon, before detonating in a massive burst of light, while Akagi’s flames were knocked off to right of the crane, Akagi herself stumbling from the sudden halting of her momentum and tripping onto the surface of the ocean.

A moment of silence passed.

“Aaaalright, we’re gonna stop there for now! Everyone, head back to the base!”

The Commander’s voice called out over the loudspeaker system, announcing the end of the exercise.

Hornet sailed over to Yorktown and helped her older sister up, beginning to sail back towards the base. They stopped for a moment, placing a hand on Enterprise’s shoulder.

“...C’mon sis, let’s head back.” Hornet said, patting her sister on the back and motioning for her to follow.

Saratoga too sailed up to Enterprise, placing a hand on her kouhai’s shoulder. “Enterprise… you need to talk?”

The ghost didn’t respond, she just sighed and began to sail back towards the base with her head down.

Kaga sailed over to Akagi and knelt down next to her older sister, attempting to help the darker fox to stand before Akagi simply batted her hand away. “I… am fine…!”

She ground her teeth, glaring in Enterprise’s direction, who briefly looked back and returned the heated look.

This wasn’t over.

“Akagi-senpai, what the heck was that!?” Zuikaku asked, Shoukaku arriving shortly after, sailing up from behind her sister.

Akagi didn’t respond for a few seconds.

“...We’re leaving.”

“W-Wait, you haven’t even answered my question yet!”

“I said we’re leaving.”

Without another word, Akagi left for the base, leaving the rest of the Sakura carriers looking on in confusion.

Kaga simply sighed and shrugged her shoulders, before motioning for the 5th carrier division to follow along. It wasn’t like there was much else they could do here.

Shoukaku patted her sister on the back, smiling almost apologetically. “Sorry Zuikaku, looks like our seniors are a bit too cranky right now. Let’s head back ourselves, maybe you can try again later~!”

“Yeah… I guess you’re right.” Zuikaku responded, following her sister as they headed back to base without another word.

She found her deep in the Sakura dorms. Bright pink petals fell down from the massive sakura trees they’d planted in the dorms’ garden room several years back. Thinking back, it’d been a little bit after she’d manifested and rejoined her sister in combat.

It didn’t surprise her that Akagi would come here. 

“...Hey, senpai, can we talk?” Zuikaku approached Akagi from behind, walking up to the fox who was sitting beside a large lake in the center of the room, petals of pink drifting down from the ceiling.

The fox sighed, lightly clenching her fists before standing up and turning around. “...Speak.”

“What the heck happened out there? You’ve been acting off these last few days, like, you’ve been acting way more aggressive than usual, and you’re really aggressive!” To Zuikaku, it was strange.

Sure, Akagi was known for being rather aggressive, and it was well known that her relationship with Enterprise was about as pleasant and friendly as a five course dinner with one’s in-laws, but this was extreme, even for her. She’d nearly lost her cool three times in the past two weeks, and she’d noticed Akagi looked much more stressed than usual.

“...It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with, 5th Carrier Division.” Akagi responded, rubbing her temple and beginning to turn away.

There wasn’t any use trying to explain it to Zuikaku. Sure, Akagi knew Zuikaku was more empathetic and kind than her elder sister, but how could Zuikaku understand what she was going through? The Ghost had ruined her plans of prosperity for the empire, sent the empire spiraling into the depths of ruin, humiliated her in the worst ways imaginable, and had even recently been stealing away The Commander’s attention.

How could someone as naive as Zuikaku understand all that?

“...If this is about the Grey Ghost-”

“DON’T YOU DARE UTTER HER NAME!”

Akagi snapped, whipping around and knocking Zuikaku’s hand, that she’d used to try and reach out to her senior with, to the side like a ripped spider web. Anger burned within the fox, an anger that had been brewing and festering for years upon end.

“YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT SHE’S DONE, SHE’S RUINED EVERYTHING! I REFUSE TO LET HER SHOW ME UP AGAIN! I WILL DESTROY HER MYSELF-”

“A-Alright alright, calm down!” Zuikaku raised both hands defensively, backing up a bit and looking concernedly at her fuming senior.

Zuikaku tried to reach out again, hesitantly extending her hand before Akagi whipped back around and began to walk away.

“...I’m going to rest. Get out of my sight.”

“But I-”

“Get out of my sight, 5th Carrier Division!” Akagi shouted, before shakily turning back around to walk off towards her dorm room, looking towards the ground the whole time.

Zuikaku stood dumbfoundedly as she watched her brown-haired senior walk off into the distance.

Her hand was still outstretched.

“I was... gonna say I get you…”

Chapter Text

“So, what’s the point of this?” Purifier floated next to Observer, who was busy tapping away at whatever massive computer she had decided to use this time.

Purifier honestly didn’t care about much, all of that complicated science stuff really wasn’t her thing. Her job was to blow stuff up, and she enjoyed it. There really wasn’t much else to it. This however… involved probably her favorite opponent of all time. Enterprise, the legendary Grey Ghost, one of the strongest kansen across every timeline they’d seen.

“Well… We need our good friend Enterprise over here to get stronger. Strong enough so that she can deal with the thorn in our side… the ‘Ashes’.” Observer responded, clacking away at the massive terminal.

“Oooooh, right! Remind me why we can’t just have Arbiters deal with them?”

“Because the Arbiters have a much more important job than pest extermination, and as nice as it would be to simply eradicate the Ashes, we don’t have the power or the resources to squash them all at once.”

“So… you wanna have good ol’ Enty do it for us?”

“Precisely.”

“That sounds super complicated… But I guess it makes sense?”

Purifier floated around a bit more, placing her finger on her chin. “So, why did you start giving her those weird ass dreams? I mean, I’m all for a good bit of mind-fuckery, but what’s the point?”

“First, watch your language, second,It’s to motivate her, to make her desperate for more power… it’s all a part of my plan.”

“Gah… I don’t understand all that complicated stuff!”

“You don’t have to understand it, just follow your orders and it’ll all turn out fine. Now then, I’m going to go deliver a black cube to… her.”

“Huh? You mean the fox?”

“Correct.”

“Why the heck are we giving her one?”

“Because… it’s as those humans constantly say. You need a ‘rival’ to grow the best, and I think our furry little friend is the best rival we can give Enterprise. After all…” 

Observer chuckled to herself, before summoning a black cube and beginning to open a portal.

“They have such a wonderfully ill-fated relationship~.”

Smoke.

There was smoke everywhere.

Something’s dripping down her hands.

“This… This is blood…!”

Everywhere Enterprise looks, there’s smoke and flames. She’s standing in the ruins of the command building. Rubble is everywhere, the sky is red, she can smell the stench of sulfur and death in the air. 

The other buildings surrounding her have been completely leveled. 

Standing on top of a massive pile of rubble, is a terrifying sight. A sight that Enterprise had been fearing ever since she’d become aware of the META phenomenon. 

Ash stands on top of a massive mountain of rubble, blood running down her hands as she stares coldly down at her saner counterpart. There is a fire within Ash’s eyes, the same scornful flames she saw when they’d first faced off during The Battle of New York City. Her hand is shaking, her bow is cracked and falling apart, and her body is covered in wounds.

But that’s not all.

“S-Senpai…” A voice calls out from in front of her.

“E-...Essex?” Looking down, Enterprise lays eyes on the broken, battered form of her junior, Essex, gripping her broken left arm as she grips her shattered crossbow.

There are more bodies around her.

Bismarck was slumped against a wall in a pool of her own blood, Akagi lays a few paces away; missing an arm, Washington is sprawled out on her back with several holes in her body, Saratoga was barely breathing two or three feet away from her, and Belfast had a massive golden arrow sticking out of her midsection.

And the worst is yet to come.

Vestal lay a few meters from Saratoga, missing the entire lower section of her body.

Hornet was barely holding herself up, trying to cover up a massive wound in her stomach as she tried to shield Yorktown.

Yorktown, who was missing both legs.

“I got you!” Suddenly from behind Ash, a figure appeared and attempted to strike her down with a shattered blade.

Yet, this attempt was rendered futile as Enterprise’s darker counterpart side-stepped and grabbed the figure by the throat, before slamming her hand into her attacker’s chest.

“G-Grey Ghost…” Coughing up blood, Enterprise’s eyes followed Ash’s arm up to the bloodied form of Zuikaku, who’d attempted to strike her from behind with her broken sword.

“W-Wait-” Enterprise couldn’t stop her own body, as Ash jammed her hand into Zuikaku’s chest, instantly killing the carrier in a single swift blow, and threw her off to the side

“I-I didn’t-” Running up to her rival, she tried to reach out to Zuikaku, placing a hand on her rival’s face.

It was already becoming cold.

A crackling bolt of red energy zipped by her face, fired by Essex’s crossbow as her beloved junior prepared to fight the infamous Code G. Enterprise tried to call out to her, to tell her to run, to tell her to get out of here, anything at all that would save her, but she was too late. Before even a single word could be uttered, her counterpart lunged forward and slammed a golden arrow into Essex’s chest.

“GAH-!” Essex stumbled back as Ash grabbed her by the throat, holding her fellow Eagle carrier up into the air.

The sound of clapping sounded out from above her.

Looking up, Enterprise's eyes trained upon Observer Alpha, who loftily floated in the air above her, gazing down upon the two Enterprises like a divine messenger… and clapped.

And clapped.

And clapped.

And clapped.

“Yes… very good… very good!” She called out, spreading her arms like the conductor of a grand orchestra, the flames around them roaring to life.

“Well done Enterprise, well done indeed!”

“AAAAHHHHHHH!!” Enterprise shot up in her bed, letting out a fearful shriek as she felt a cold sweat run down her body. She was hyperventilating, panting wildly as she looked 

“Miss Enterprise!”

“Enty!”

Enterprise’s door flew open as Saratoga and Belfast burst into the room, quickly running up to the visibly disturbed carrier.

“Miss Enterprise, are you alright?” Belfast placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to help re-center the Eagle Union’s ace. 

“Enty, what happened?” Saratoga asked, sitting down on the bed with Enterprise and placing a hand on Enterprise’s.

Enterprise remained silent, though was still visibly disturbed. She looked down at her hands, wrapping her fingers around Saratoga’s and taking a few deep breaths in. It was clear to Saratoga that Enterprise was in no condition to be talking, likely still in a bit of shock after whatever it was that happened. And if her hypothesis was correct…

“...Was it that dream again?” Saratoga asked, looking her junior in the eye.

Enterprise nodded, confirming Saratoga’s theory.

“It’s still happening? I thought it would’ve gone away by now…”

“...No. The dreams just keep getting worse.” Enterprise finally spoke up, taking in a deep breath to further calm herself.

“Enty… It’s gonna be alright.” Saratoga wrapped her arms around Enterprise, patting her junior on the shoulder and rubbing her back.

“Miss Enterprise has been having this same dream ever since the sirens attacked, hasn’t she?” Belfast asked.

“Mhm. I’m not sure what’s going on but… All we can do for now is try to comfort her whenever it happens. Until we find out what’s causing these… we can’t really do much else.” Saratoga explained, turning to face the maid while keeping her hand on Enterprise’s back.

Enterprise looked down at her hands, conflicting feelings brewing within her heart. These dreams had to be happening for a reason, the sirens didn’t just randomly decide to do things. There was always a motive, always some sort of goal they were working towards. Yet, despite countless talks with The Commander, countless nights spent theorizing about what these dreams may truly mean. To make matters worse, this was the worst that the nightmares had gotten, she’d physically felt everything that happened, felt the blood dripping down her hands, felt the heat from the flames in the air, she’d felt everything. She had no idea what they meant, what was going on, and what the sirens’ endgame was.

She was, however, certain of one thing.

She had to get stronger, in order to make sure her nightmares never came to fruition.

She had to get stronger, so that no siren could control her.

She had to get stronger, so that Ash wouldn’t be able to lay a hand on the people closest to her.

…She had an idea.

“I… I’m going to go for a walk.” Enterprise stood up, taking in a deep breath and turning back to the two kansen who’d come in to help her. “Thank you. Really… I mean it.”

Belfast smiled, taking a bow before the legendary ace. “Of course, Miss Enterprise. It’s only natural we worry about you.”

“That’s right, I mean, who else is gonna look after you~?” Saratoga teased, giggling and bopping Enterprise on the nose.

Enterprise sighed, a gentle grin falling across her face. It was a nice reminder of what she wanted to protect, of what she was fighting for. She had so many people who cared about her. Yorktown, Hornet, Belfast, Vestal, Saratoga, even Essex... they were all special people, people who she wanted to keep safe no matter what.

“I’ll see you all later.” Waving goodbye, Enterprise left the room and closed the door behind her.

Taking a breath, she turned away from the door and walked down the hallway. A conversation with The Commander came to mind, as she headed towards his office, located just a bit away from the Eagle Union dorms.

Bursting into the room all of a sudden, Vestal frantically looked around before spotting Saratoga and Belfast. "Where'd Enterprise go, I just finished up with The Commander and I needed to give her news on Yorktown's condition!"

Belfast and Saratoga looked at one another momentarily.

"...She sorta just left."

“So, that Black Wisdom Cube.” The Commander took a seat at his desk, motioning for Enterprise to take a seat.

“Following the attack on the base, we decided to run a few tests on it. After a bit of experimentation by Akashi and I… we think it’s compatible with Project Synchronization.” He continued as Enterprise took her seat, taking off her hat and placing it down on the desk as The Commander continued explaining.

“...We’d like to ask you to help test this out.” He finished, placing a suitcase down on the desk.

Enterprise looked up at The Commander with confusion. “Didn’t you explicitly tell me NOT to use it?” 

“That’s true, but that was when you were using the black cube by itself. We theorize that with the application of Synchronization Gear, we’ll be able to significantly reduce the corrupting effects of the cube. That doesn’t mean they’ll be entirely negated, mind you, but if we keep the output rate to a manageable enough level, it should be safe to use.” The Commander responded, pulling out a chalk-board he’d apparently been storing somewhere in his room.

She took a moment to consider the offer, placing her hands onto the desk’s lacquered wooden surface. It was true, she did need power, and she’d nearly attempted to use the black cube at some point…  It was a tempting offer. 

“Sure. We just have to keep the level of output below a certain threshold, right?” Enterprise asked, crossing her legs as she looked up at The Commander.

He smiled knowingly, taking a seat after placing the chalkboard away. “Yeah, We think around 15-20% is our current threshold. Though, with sufficient training, we should be able to increase this limit. Just remember… Don’t go over that limit.”

Enterprise thought for a moment, nodding as she took in the information. “So, why not anyone else? Surely there had to be other candidates, other people better suited to this.”

“Really? You’re one of, actually probably THE strongest kansen in the base, save for I guess Freidrich, New Jersey, and a few others, and they’re off-base so they don’t count. You’re our safest bet right now.” He responded.

“...I see.” 

Placing a small silver suitcase - which was about the size of Enterprise’s hand - down on the desk, he gently pushed the case across the desk towards Enterprise. “In here is a key to where I’m storing the prototype. It’s basically a copy of the prototype for the standard synchronization gear, so you should be familiar with it, given that you helped us test out the original prototype.”

“Is there anything else I need to know?” She responded.

“Nope, that’s about it!”

She nodded, standing up before walking towards the door.

“Actually wait- one last thing.” The Commander spoke up once more, holding up his hand as if to call her to stop.

“Don’t use it without me being there. It’s really dangerous stuff, so don’t do anything without my supervision, got it?” He asked.

“...Alright.” Enterprise nodded in response.

“Awesome! Then, that’s all! Anyways, I think I need to go take bets on another fight, I’m pretty sure I can hear Taihou and Roon going at it again outside. I’ll seeya later!” He responded, before opening up the window behind him and jumping out of it, rushing towards a rather large crowd that had gathered outside of the base.

Enterprise remained silent, looking at the suitcase for a moment.

“...I should be fine.”

Enterprise gently opened the door to The Commander’s office, stepping inside and looking around. The Commander seemingly either hadn’t gotten up yet, or was off doing something, as he was absent from the chair at his desk.

On the left side of the desk sat a picture frame. She’d seen it a few times, but she’d never bothered to actually check out what it was. Picking it up, she moved over to the back of the room, towards the right side, and pulled out the key that The Commander had given her.

She looked down at the picture as she moved aside a potted plant to reveal a rather inconspicuous looking door. 

The picture… was blank. As in, The Commander had apparently framed a picture-sized piece of paper and just planted it on his desk. Now that she thought about it… The Commander had never once actually spoken about his past, or his interests, or anything of the like. How the hell did he get along with everyone so well? And why did his personality magically change on the fly all the time?

Questions for later.

Tossing the picture back onto The Commander’s desk - he’d probably be fine with her looking at his stuff, given that he really didn’t care about much regardless - she pulled out the key and unlocked the door, revealing a rather spacious side room, with walls lined with strange metal and wiring. In the center of the room was a suitcase, significantly larger than the one The Commander had stored the key in. 

She was about to grab it, before a voice called out to her from the doorway.

“Eyyy, didn’t I say not to open that without my supervision?” 

“Jesus Christ-” Enterprise whipped around, almost knocking the suitcase over before quickly standing up straight and dusting herself off.

“...You did.” She confirmed.

“Weeeell, so why are you here then?” He asked, leaning over and raising an eyebrow.

Enterprise remained silent, looking down at the ground before sighing and meeting The Commander’s gaze. “I’ve been having dreams lately.”

“Uh Huh… So does everyone else?”

“Not normal dreams. I… In these dreams, I see everyone I care about getting killed by Ash. Belfast, Saratoga, Essex, Hornet, even Yorktown… All dead or dying. They’ve been happening ever since we beat back those sirens and barely survived Ash. I don’t know what’s going on but… I can’t let those dreams happen. I can’t let everyone die.” Enterprise responded, a fire gleaming in her eyes.

The Commander sighed, rubbing his temple before motioning for her to follow him. “Alright then… guess we’ll start you on some training to use that thing. Come on, let’s go get you set up.” 

“...Really? No punishment? No nothing?”

“Ye, that’s right. Now come on, do you wanna get your training arc or nah?”

“You… don’t make any sense. Seriously, why are you so random?”

“Eh, I dunno, now hurry, let’s go!” The Commander motioned again for Enterprise to follow, before he briskly walked out of the room, back into his office, and then out the door.

Enterprise stood there looking perplexed… Before shaking her head and walking out to follow him. “I’ll just… ask later.”

3 Days Later

“Mmm… This sucks, Mikasa-daisenpai!” Zuikaku groaned, plopping down on the bar counter and pouting.

Mikasa nervously chuckled, scratching her cheek as she rubbed Zuikaku’s back. The two had gone to the base’s bar in order to catch-up since Mikasa’s previous extended leave, and while they’d intended on talking about more important things…

“It’s not fair! How is everyone else getting so much stronger, and I’ve barely made any progress! This has to be some sort of cheating…!” Zuikaku complained, taking another sip of her drink before flopping back onto the counter in front of her.

“Zuikaku-san… it could just be a result of natural talent, you’ll catch up eventually.” She said, comforting her student with more back-rubs as the crane lamented her situation.

“Grrr… I need to find some way to get stronger! Hey, can you help me with that? I need to know what I’m doing wrong!” Zuikaku asked, quickly sitting back up and whipping around to face her mentor.

“Of course, Zuikaku-san!” Mikasa let out a hearty laugh, smiling at her pupil who quickly shot up out of her seat.

“Really?! Let’s get started then!” Zuikaku shouted enthusiastically, nabbing Mikasa’s hand and tossing some money onto the counter before quickly dashing off with her mentor in tow.

“W-Woah hold on Zuikaku-” Unable to get a word out, Mikasa stumbled about as Zuikaku dragged her out into the hallway and down towards the practice area, nearly knocking over a few destroyers on their way from how fast Zuikaku was going.

The sound of shoes hitting the smooth wooden floor echoed throughout the building as the two nearly ran into Akagi, the fox stumbling back and nearly falling onto the floor before she quickly caught herself. 

Akagi had been deep in thought before the two crossed her path, and Zuikaku noted to herself as she quickly turned about that her senior looked… as if she’d resolved herself to some sort of grim fate.

“Ah- Sorry, Akagi-senpai!” Zuikaku called out, stopping for a moment before moving to continue running before Mikasa nabbed her by the ear.

“Now now, you must apologize properly Zuikaku-san!” Mikasa admonished her student, lightly knocking the young crane on the head with her fist as she turned back to Akagi. “We’re terribly sorry for nearly knocking you over.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry Daisenpai, the fifth carrier division just so happens to be rather clumsy, so it’s to be expected~” Akagi teased, making a slight jab at the crane sisters while giggling ever so softly. 

Zuikaku pouted as she stared at Akagi, crossing her arms. “That was uncalled for…”

Mikasa sighed, rubbing the back of her neck nervously before motioning for Zuikaku to follow. “In that case, we’d best be on our way, it was good to see you Akagi-san!”

“It was good seeing you too, Mikasa-daisenpai. Now then, I must be on my way as well-”

“Hey wait, Akagi-senpai…” Zuikaku reached out as Akagi turned to leave, nabbing the sleeve of her senior’s kimono before the kitsune could fully leave.

“Are you alright? You looked sorta… sad back there.” She asked, trying to meet Akagi’s eyes.

Her senior however, seemingly avoided the crane’s gaze, forcefully removing her kimono from Zuikaku’s grasp as she snapped her arm back towards herself.

“...It’s nothing.” Akagi responded, before quickly walking away.

“If you need to talk it’s really ok-”

“I said it’s nothing, fifth carrier division!” Akagi snapped back, glaring back at Zuikaku before quickly shaking her head. 

“Nothing you’d understand at least…” She thought to herself, as she briskly began to take her leave.

“Jeez… what’s her problem!?” Zuikaku yelled out in frustration, before shaking her head.

“...Let’s get going, Zuikaku-san.” Mikasa interjected, grabbing her student’s shoulder and motioning for her to keep going.

Admittedly, Mikasa also had her suspicions about what was going on with the acting leader of the Sakura Empire. But for now, there wasn’t much she could do about it. Looking at her student, Mikasa could see a mixture of concern and frustration brewing in her student’s eyes, like a growing flame beginning to rise.

Maybe they could talk later.

A few minutes later, the two hopped into the practice area, the calm sea waves barely moving beneath their rigging as the two sailed out a bit to get more room. It would be pretty bad to accidentally damage something in the middle of training.

“So, what is it you think your problem is?” Mikasa asked, crossing her arms as she and Zuikaku stood out a ways away from the massive practice area, water stretching out as far as they could see.

“I’m… not really sure. I mean, I think my swordsmanship is good enough, my rigging skills are still as sharp as ever, I don’t really think there’s anything I’m doing wrong!” Zuikaku explained.

“Hmm… In that case, how about we spar! That way, I can gauge your strength, and see what needs to be worked on!” Mikasa offered.

“Ooooh… that’s a good idea! I’m ready whenever you are, Daisenpai!” Zuikaku responded, quickly sailing back a few meters in order to get some distance.

“Of course! Now, come at me, Zuikaku!” Mikasa called out, drawing her blade and preparing herself for Zuikaku’s inevitable charge.

Taking the initiative so kindly given to her, Zuikaku rushed forward as she drew her sword, leading with a textbook overhead strike, swinging as she stepped and bringing down her sword with incredible force. Mikasa however, deftly knocked the sword aside and swung for Zuikaku’s neck with the flat edge of her blade.

Ducking underneath the strike, Zuikaku was undeterred as she quickly continued her assault, swinging rapidly and forcefully as she attempted to brute force her way through Mikasa’s iron defense, finishing her string of rapid attacks with an upward blow meant to disarm her mentor.

Despite this attempt, Mikasa merely turned with the force of the ascending slash and quickly turned back to face her pupil, kicking up and slamming her rising foot into the bottom of Zuikaku’s pommel, sending her arms and sword flying upward and leaving the crane wide open.

“I’ve got yo-”

“Not yet!”

The paper shikigami Zuikaku stored suddenly burst into flames and flew out from within her haori, swirling around the crane before accumulating on her blade. Zuikaku raised her burning blade up high, attempting to swing it down before-

Mikasa suddenly struck out, pointing the edge of her sword at Zuikaku’s throat.

“Aww man… I didn’t even get to use my special move!” Zuikaku whined, dropping her arms as the flames surrounding her sword quickly dissipated.

“Is that the technique you developed after I left?” Mikasa asked, sheathing her blade and turning back to face the crane studying under her.

“Mhm! I still can’t really use the same fire stuff that Akagi and Kaga-senpai can by myself, but I’ve found out that if I use my shikigami planes as catalysts, I can do all sorts of cool fire things!” She responded, holding out some extra shikigami that hadn’t been ignited in her attack.

“I see… It's a good idea, but your technique takes far too long to execute. By the time you’ve gathered all of your flames your opponent has already defeated you!”

“Oooh… So, I should try to focus on learning how to use the power of the first carrier division?”

“Not exactly. For now, focus on generating fire without needing to use your paper planes. Once you get that down, you’ll be free to grow as far as you want!”

“Ok… that sounds like a good idea. One problem, how do I do that?”

“...”

“...”

“...I don’t know.”

Zuikaku sighed, flopping onto her back and splashing a bit of water around. “Aw come on! I guess I’ll have to ask Kaga-senpai about it…”

Suddenly, a massive distant explosion rocked the entire base, sending Mikasa stumbling about and Zuikaku splashing around as the crane swiftly returned to her feet, looking up and seeing a massive pillar of flames and smoke shooting up into the sky from deep within the forest area of the base.

“Zuikaku, Mikasa-daisenpai!” A voice called out from in front of the two, familiar and distressed.

“Shoukaku-nee? What’s going on!?” Zuikaku asked, as she and Mikasa quickly began to sail back towards the practice to dock and investigate, Shoukaku quickly following them after meeting them half-way.

“It’s Enterprise and Akagi-senpai, those two idiots are fighting!”

“What!?”

A sudden flourish of dark purple and black flames rose into the sky, followed by beams of golden light scattering into the air above.

“I have a really, really bad feeling about this…”

Chapter Text

A few hours earlier

Akagi sighed, looking down at the table in front of her. Things had become… so messy these last few days. She rubbed her temple, looking down at the mysterious device in front of her. Making sure to glance around and confirm that she was, in fact, alone.

“...Damn you, Grey Ghost… I cannot believe it’s come to this…”

As much as Akagi despised Enterprise, as much as she yearned to defeat her, to utterly annihilate the woman who’d humiliated her, her sisters, her comrades, and her empire, she was sure of one thing: Enterprise was a force entirely aligned with what one might call “justice.” 

…Of course, now that that thing had dropped in, she wasn’t so sure anymore.

Akagi looked down at the sinister glowing cube placed upon her desk, its purple glow giving off an utterly sickening aura all around it. It was as if she was being suffocated by its mere presence alone.

She fidgeted in place, tapping her nails on the desk rapidly as her mind flew with thoughts. Different, conflicting ideas and beliefs running through her.

…Was she really about to do this again?

It was 3 days ago, just a day or so after the exercise had concluded that the trouble started.

“What the- what are you doing here!?” Flames began to pick up around Akagi as she snarled, eyes locking on the siren floating above her.

“Oh nothing much… I’m just here to give you some help~” Observer responded, twirling a tentacle on the tip of her finger as she giggled, pointing her foot towards Akagi as she continued. “You see… There’s something I thought you should know.”

Despite the clear danger of having a siren in the base… this was the first time Akagi had heard of a siren willingly giving them information. The possible info they could garner from this, the advantages her empire could gain from this… perhaps the risk was truly worth the reward. Besides, it wasn’t like she had to give anything up for this information, Observer was giving it to her willingly. Plus, if the information proved useless or erroneous, she could just ignore it. The offer seemed too good to be true…

“And that is?” Akagi responded, her flames beginning to lower ever so slightly, though not entirely disappearing due to Akagi’s ever-lingering paranoia.

“...Well, I think it would be better if I showed you~.” With a wave of her hand, the landscape around her and Akagi shifted, the siren creating a powerful illusion around herself and the fox.

The first thing Akagi noticed was the heat. Flames licked at her heels as she stepped back, noticing all of the rubble scattered around her. She quickly whipped around, scanning the area around her as Observer’s illusion fully formed. She picked up a familiar scent, the scent of freshly spilt blood. It was coming from the right.

Turning to face the source of the scent, she laid eyes upon a familiar figure. One with long, silver hair, frigid purple eyes, and a long black coat.

The Grey Ghost

“Wha-” A sudden pressure forced Akagi down to her knees, struggling to stand from the sheer power being exuded by the being in front of her.

The sound of blood running caused her head to perk up, looking at the ground around the being who looked so much like Enterprise. Corpses, of all sizes, shapes, and forms, littered the area around them. She spotted what looked like an Iron Blood battleship, an Eagle Union Carrier, and even a small destroyer, likely of Iris origin.

But that wasn’t the worst part.

Oh no.

Feeling blood pooling around her hand, she looked to the left and suddenly laid eyes upon pure white hair, stained with the crimson liquid leaking from a wound in the neck.

Kaga’s lifeless body lay motionless next to her.

Her breath caught in her throat.

“Kaga-” She didn’t have the chance to continue, as the sound of a body slumping next to her prompted her to spin to the right, laying eyes on another petrifying sight.

The Commander, with a golden arrow through his heart.

“Shikikan-sama-!” Reaching her hand out, Akagi tried to shake The Commander, pawing all over his body in some desperate attempt to find any semblance of life.

The lethal golden glow to her front snapped her out of that.

The sound of an arrow releasing from its bow filled her ears, as a figure suddenly leapt out to shield Akagi from the strike, their umbrella falling to the ground as their tails spread out in front of Akagi protectively. The arrow pierced their heart, sticking out the other side right in front of the crimson fox.

“I… am so sorry… for leaving again…” 

Looking up and meeting the figure’s eyes, Akagi felt tears welling up as the soft, apologetic gaze of Amagi began to fade away as life left her elder sister’s eyes. 

That familiar, burning, bitter sensation suddenly flared to life.

“Y-You… I… How…” Her body was shaking, she felt a sudden, horrible heat rushing all over her body.

“HOW DARE YOU-” Lunging forward, Akagi swiped at the air, crimson flames blooming forth and lunging for Enterprise.

The fire washed over the ghost, failing to make the eagle union’s ace even blink. 

The snap of an arrow sounded out, as piercing gold found its mark in Akagi’s chest, slamming into the fox and sending her flying back.

As she fell back, flames fading around her, Akagi’s eyes took in the truly abominable sight. Her comrades dead, her empire in flames, her beloved commander killed, and her precious elder sister bleeding out on the ground.

But perhaps the most unnerving sight of all.

Was the captain’s hat atop Enterprise’s head.

The illusion faded, as Akagi hit the ground with a loud THUD. Her breathing was labored, her panting filling the otherwise silent room.

Observer floated above her, still fiddling with her tentacles.

“Now then… About that help~.” Observer produced a black cube, which floated down in front of Akagi.

“No strings attached, just use that for whatever it is you may want to use it for.” 

Akagi glared up at her, still breathing heavily from Observer’s illusion.

“...There’s really no catch?”

“None at all. Now then, I have to be off.”

Observer gestured with her hand as a portal opened up beside her. She started to float back on through, before stopping for a second and grinning at Akagi.

“Good luck~.”

Sighing, she grabbed the black cube and placed it within her kimono.

It’d taken her two whole days to come to this decision.

What she was about to do was probably stupid. Amagi probably would’ve been scolding her half to death if she found out what she was planning on doing.

Akagi knew the sirens probably hid information from her. They probably told her half-truths, probably hid the reasoning for everything from her. Maybe this is what they wanted, maybe they wanted to turn the base on each other, to sow discourse within their ranks.

But that was a risk she was willing to take.

Nobody messed with her family.

Not even the Grey Ghost herself.

She stood up, grabbing the black cube with her gloved hand and inspecting it for a bit, before quickly returning it to its place within her clothing and briskly walking out of her room, heading towards the warehouse where her beloved commander had unveiled his little project. 

That’s where she’d seen the sight that confirmed her worst fears.

That’s where she’d seen Enterprise, finally losing control.

“What the hell…?” Akagi asked herself in a hushed voice, peering from around the massive warehouse door.

She’d been walking around, thinking about what Observer had told her when she’d seen Enterprise entering the warehouse carrying a silver suitcase. Now, that wasn’t particularly a suspicious sight, but she’d felt the black cube that the sirens had given her sort of… resonating with something. There wasn’t anything else around her that could possibly prompt it… except for whatever may lie within that suitcase.

Following Enterprise to the warehouse, Akagi decided to spy on the Grey Ghost through the crack in the warehouse door. Through it, Akagi had seen Enterprise open the suitcase and pull out two objects. One, a device that looked identical to the gauntlets that they’d used to test out Project Synchronization, and the other, a much more concerning item. A sickly, black cube, identical to her own.

For the next hour or so, Akagi watched as Enterprise placed the cube down on the table and connected up to the gauntlets through a series wires, and began to practice with her bow. The boost in strength provided to Enterprise was impressive, each arrow she fired annihilating a target and anything around it in a rather sizable radius. However, it clearly took a toll on Enterprise to use, as Akagi noticed after five or so shots with the gear caused Enterprise to suddenly drop to one knee.

The black wisdom cubes took a heavy toll on their users, and evidently Enterprise was no exception. The large screen The Commander had set up displayed the synchronization rate Enterprise was running the gear at. 30%. About half of what her maximum was with the standard gear.

This wouldn’t normally be of any concern, but what happened next did.

Enterprise, attempting to get up, stumbled about a bit before suddenly grabbing at her head, seemingly in agony as she fell to her knees, gripping her forehead as her eyes suddenly fell upon the black cube placed upon the table. Her eyes widened, as she reached out a hand and began to grab at the black cube. Her hands gripped around the object, before a massive blast of dark energy ripped itself from Enterprise’s body, exploding outwards and knocking over a ton of objects around Enterprise, shattering the table she had placed everything on and tossing the gauntlets a ways away. She took a moment to breath, before she quickly tossed the cube away, and fell onto her back, panting.

Akagi left after that, she’d seen enough.

Now, it was clear as day, Enterprise was losing control. 

Before, despite her obvious feelings of animosity towards the ace of the Eagle Union, Akagi had mostly been able to restrain herself from fighting, or otherwise causing a scene. But now? Now that she’d seen proof that Observer’s vision was coming true? It all but confirmed Akagi’s worst fear.

Enterprise was now a threat.

And she needed to do something about it.

She was here again, same time and same place. The sky was blue, the warehouse was hidden from sight given its distance from the base and the dense foliage surrounding it, it made a perfect place to hide away. 

She’d come back here daily ever since she’d discovered Enterprise training inside the warehouse. Normally, it could’ve been blown off as a fluke or something, but with irrefutable evidence, Akagi was now sure of herself.

Akagi approached the doors of the warehouse, hearing the sounds of combat within, arrows being fired and exploding upon impact with whatever targets Enterprise had them aimed at. She placed her hand upon the door, hesitating for a moment as she considered the consequences for what was going to happen. She didn’t exactly have video proof, and the other members of the base might not see eye-to-eye with her. In hindsight, perhaps this was a bad idea.

But then, the images of Kaga, The Commander, and Amagi all slain by Enterprise’s hands flashed within her mind.

She couldn’t afford to wait.

The consequences would be far, far too dire. This was a risk she had to take.

Forcing the doors open, Akagi stepped inside and immediately laid eyes on Enterprise, who held the black cube in her hands once more. Wires were still connected to the darkened cube and to the gauntlets she wore. Enterprise was fiddling with the cube, removing one of the gauntlets and pressing a button, before rays similar to the one Akashi had used to create the smaller versions of the kansen focused down on the cube, shrinking it down before she slotted it into the gauntlets.

She looked at the equipment with a sense of awe, seemingly entranced as she stared at the futuristic devices on her arms before Akagi’s voice snapped her out of her stupor.

“What are you doing here, Grey Ghost?” Akagi’s arms were crossed as she stared almost expectantly at her hated rival.

“What the- How did you get in here?” Enterprise suddenly whipped around, hiding her arms behind her back even though it was highly unlikely Akagi HADN’T seen what she’d been doing.

“That doesn’t matter. You were messing with a black cube, weren’t you!?” Akagi snarled, glaring hard at her rival as she began to circle Enterprise, the ghost beginning to walk sideways to keep distance from her fox-eared enemy.

“...It’s nothing you need to worry about.” Enterprise wasn’t about to just start revealing everything to Akagi.

Not only did Akagi very, very publicly hate her, but given Akagi’s prior… tendency to allying herself with the sirens, Enterprise was especially suspicious of her. Besides, Akagi had fucked up pretty badly during the exercise, and Enterprise really wasn’t eager to help her after she’d done that to Yorktown. Akagi was untrustworthy, especially with the smoldering bitterness Enterprise saw in her eyes.

“Nothing I need to worry about…? Are you kidding me!?” Akagi shouted, eyes beginning to burn with anger as her frustration began mounting exponentially. “There’s already another you out there wreaking havoc, we don’t need you making things worse!”

“I’m not making things worse, I’m trying to keep everyone safe!” Enterprise shouted back, hands beginning to tighten into fists as her teeth began to grind. “I just can’t explain it to you now!”

“Why not? What reason could you possibly have to keep this from all of your allies!? I know, I know EXACTLY why, it’s because that cube is corrupting you, isn’t it!? I saw you losing control three days in a row! What, are you that desperate for power? Hypocritical aren’t we!?”

“I- How the hell do you know that? Have you been spying on me!?”

“And if I have!? The ends justify the means, since I caught you messing around with-” Akagi would’ve continued on her tirade, but a sudden glow from Enterprise’s gauntlets cut her off.

The black cube inside was resonating, glowing ever brighter by the second.

And it was resonating with the one she’d placed inside her kimono.

Both Enterprise and Akagi looked towards the spot in the fox’s clothing that began to glow with the same sickly black and purple that Enterprise’s gauntlets were giving off, as Enterprise slowly put two and two together, her head shooting back up at Akagi as she trained a heated glare at the fox’s eyes.

“You have one too… How the hell did you get your hands on one!? The only ones we have access to are the one that the Iron Blood have locked away, and the one I have. There’s no possible way you could’ve gotten your hands on one unless…” Enterprise paused for a moment, thinking hard about the possibilities before a lightbulb lit up in her mind, it was one that she absolutely dreaded, though one that she probably should’ve seen coming.

“You made a deal with the sirens, didn’t you!?” Enterprise shot back, her glare worsening as Akagi snarled back. “I thought you’d know better by now, but look at you now!”

“I- I did it because they showed me a vision of you killing EVERYONE I LOVE! And it looks like they were right…” Akagi took a step back, flames beginning to lick at the air around her.

Glimmers of the vision Observer had shown her began to flash through her mind, overlapping onto reality as the visages of Enterprise and her darker counterpart became muddled, the black cube in Akagi’s kimono beginning to glow ever brighter, the purple glow emanating out in all directions.

The cube within Enterprise’s gauntlets began to do the same, the glow strengthening as Enterprise grit her teeth, remembering the nightmares she’d seen. Her agitation grew, frustration and anger mounting exponentially by the second as her gaze locked with Akagi’s.

“...Don’t do this, Akagi.” Enterprise gave one last warning, reaching for her massive compound bow, which she’d laid on the ground before Akagi had come in.

The fox took a deep breath in, as the flashes of her horrible vision began flipping through her mind with greater and greater fervor, the cube in her kimono growing ever stronger.

“...I’m sorry, Grey Ghost. I can’t afford risking that again.” She responded, as the air around them began to hang still, the two holding their locked gaze as long as they could.

Any thoughts of resolution or compromise slowly began to fizzle out, as they held their stances like two cowboys in a standoff, time itself appearing to slow down as the mutual glare between them only intensified by the second. It was a shame, despite the animosity between them, in another time the two could have been friends. That, both were certain of.

Of course, now that was a distant memory, a forsaken dream. One that could never be reached.

Not with their terribly ill-fated relationship.

Flames began to surge around Akagi as she brought her hand back, balling it into a fist as the heat concentrated within it, her right leg coming back as Akagi prepared to lunge forward with all her might and strike Enterprise with a heat-infused fist.

Enterprise raised her bow and notched an arrow with lightning speed, shining sparks of gold gathering into an arrow as she raised the weapon to level with the center of Akagi’s forehead, Enterprise’s gaze centering in on her former ally.

Silence hung in the air for a few more seconds, as the two tightened their grips, gazes sharpening as their battle-honed instincts prepared them for the clash.

No words could stop them now.

“Come on then, Akagi!”

“ENTERPRISE!!!”

Chapter Text

BOOM

Maybe, just maybe, fighting Enterprise at 1 in the morning was a bad idea.

Akagi ducked as Enterprise fired a spread of three arrows in a horizontal arc, responding to the attack by sweeping her arm left and releasing a wave of dark flames towards Enterprise’s feet. 

In response, Enterprise deftly leapt over the swirling fire and fired off another three shots, which zipped behind Akagi as the fox twisted in the air to avoid them and exploded into the buildings behind them.

“Shit-!” Akagi grunted, leaping back and sending another spiral of fire towards her rival before she flung herself back towards Enterprise, wreathing her hand in flames as she attempted to use the flames she’d filled Enterprise’s vision with to disguise a sneak attack.

Too late, Enterprise’s fist cut through the flames in her way and slammed into Akagi’s face, sending the fox spiraling back as she chased her, following up with a series of powerful kicks and palm-strikes which permeated deep into Akagi’s body, sending her crashing into the floor as Enterprise finished her combination with a wrathful stomp.

“GAH-” Akagi barely had time to register the pain before Enterprise’s hand shot down, grabbing her by the throat and raising the fox into the air, as Akagi’s eyes met Enterprise’s.

Cold

Bitter, angry cold could be seen within the ghost’s gaze.

But Akagi refused to be intimidated.

She decided to up her pacing, igniting her body and sending agonizing, searing hot pain through Enterprise’s hand.

The silver spirit was quick to respond, tossing Akagi away like she was a searing hot cup of water, and quickly continuing her assault on the kitsune.

This time however, Akagi was ready for it.

As Enterprise came at her with a vertical left kick, Akagi’s hands shot up and grabbed the incoming limb, as Akagi’s nails dug into Enterprise’s leg and began to draw blood from her hated rival, she added onto the attack by setting herself ablaze once more, sending scorching hot agony shooting through Enterprise once more.

But like fuel to a fire, this pain only served to drive Enterprise’s anger.

Yanking her leg out of Akagi’s grip, Enterprise manifested a golden arrow and came at the kitsune like a man-possessed, jamming the arrow into Akagi’s side and causing crimson blood to spurt from the wound. 

She kept it up, manifesting a second arrow and swinging for Akagi’s skull. Akagi threw up her arms to intercept the arrow, watching as the golden shine pierced both her arms and stopped a mere inch from her face.

She wouldn’t waste this opening.

The balance shifted again as Akagi, though her gaze was blinded by rage and her mind filled with searing hate, targeted Enterprise’s now-exposed liver with a short-range knee to the side, pounding the ghost’s flank with a multitude of anger-fueled strikes.

Even the ghost had a pain tolerance.

Enterprise reeled back, backflipping thrice and putting distance between the two fighters.

Akagi grinned, though she was in great pain, she realized something.

This time, it wasn’t like Midway.

She wasn’t going to die after one or two plane strikes, no.

This time, she had proof that the ghost who’d stalked her nightmares, who’d hunted down her comrades and who’d burnt her nation to the ground.

Was mortal.

Enterprise, for the most part, looked unphased. Her eyes remained locked on Akagi, and though she didn’t outwardly show it, Akagi could tell that her rival was burning with a fury like that of a colossal forest fire, threatening to consume all that surrounded it.

Good.

Let her get mad.

“Let her feel what she’s made me feel for so long!”

Unlike Akagi’s anger however, Enterprise’s anger was controlled, cold fury.

It couldn’t be exploited as easily as Akagi’d wished it could be.

Attempting to reign in her wild fury along with the initiative, Akagi concentrated the flames around her into smaller, denser fireballs. With a swipe of her hand, the fireballs sailed towards Enterprise as she followed suit, lunging forward and swinging right.

Seeing the attack coming, Enterprise ducked underneath the fireballs as they sent fire explosions rupturing through the buildings they hit, before spinning right and meeting Akagi’s punch with a powerful kick of her own, canceling out the blow.

With her momentum halted, Akagi was wide open for Enterprise to follow up with a flurry of powerful strikes, gathering golden light into arrows and wielding them like dual daggers as she stabbed into Akagi’s body.

“WRETCH-!” Akagi screamed as Enterprise nabbed her by the face, yanking her back before hurling her through an office building, and into a larger one right next to it.

Akagi hacked up a storm as she forced herself to return to her feet, looking around and realizing they were in the base’s massive cafeteria.

“...Alright, new plan.”

Grabbing one of the tables, Akagi drew back her arm as her free hand ignited. 

Enterprise came in soon after, looking for Akagi through all the dust and debris, the shine of her golden arrows giving away her position to the now-waiting Akagi.

The instant she spotted her rival, Akagi hurled the table at her and extended her burning hand, releasing a series of fireballs.

Instantly detecting the incoming threat, Enterprise grabbed her bow and fired an arrow at the table, instantly obliterating it. The fireballs however, came flying in soon after and slammed into Enterprise, knocking the ghost into the wall beside her and forcing searing agony through her body as the flying cinders scorched her form.

Akagi smirked, waving her hand once more and summoning more fireballs to her side. This strategy seemed like it’d work, all she had to do was-

Her thoughts were cut off as a hand suddenly grabbed her by the face, the palm ensnaring her glowing with golden light as her eyes suddenly darted up to meet Enterprise’s once again.

“YOU BI-” Before she could even finish her sentence, Akagi was blown through another wall as Enterprise detonated the light in her palm. 

The gauntlets she wore glew ever-stronger, sickly purple and black energy dancing around her body as she took a deep breath in.

Synchronization Rate: 35%

“I heard more explosions from over here, let’s hurry!” Shoukaku motioned for Mikasa and Zuikaku to follow as they sprinted towards the sound of clustered explosions.

Zuikaku looked up as they ran through towards the base’s square, where their massive anchor-shaped fountain was located. Smoke filled the night sky, as yellow, purple, and red explosions burst forth in the distance.

“What the heck happened!?” Zuikaku asked, turning to Shoukaku as the three kansen ran as fast as they could towards the source of the explosions, rounding the white walls of a storage building on their way towards the blasts.

“I don’t know, but Akagi-senpai and Enterprise-san seemed really mad. Stupid senpai… what’s she done this time!?” Shoukaku responded, her voice dripping with a mixture of concern and distress as the group kept moving.

Zuikaku spotted various other kansen rushing towards the fight along with them, noting the appearance of Washington and South Dakota, who were covered in bruises, presumably from their own fight.

Judging from the wreckage Zuikaku had seen along the way and what Shoukaku had apparently seen, the fight had started from somewhere in the forest area behind the base towards the left side of the base, then towards where the cafeteria was, and was heading in the direction of the base’s center.

“NEE-SAMA!” A desperate shout cut through the previous silence, as the group finally arrived at the base square to the sight of Akagi embedded into the fountain, blood dripping down her body from numerous wounds as Kaga, who’d seemingly arrived moments earlier from a hallway right next to them, attempted to rush over to aid her injured sister.

Before she could do so however, Mikasa grabbed her by the arm, pulling her back as Kaga briefly struggled to be free of the great veteran’s restraint.

“Mikasa-daisenpai unhand me I NEED TO GO TO MY SISTER-”

“Kaga-san! If you do that, you will die! We need to wait for a proper opening!” Mikasa scolded, trying to hold back Akagi’s half-sister as the white-haired fox finally began to calm down, grimacing as she and the others watched Enterprise emerge from the smoke, covered in blood, wounds, and horrible burns all across her body.

“E-Enterprise!” Saratoga, who’d shortly arrived with a bunch more kansen, called out from the sidelines, trying to call out to her blood-lusted junior.

Arriving with the pink-haired idol included Hornet, Lexington, even Yorktown; who was still injured from the exercise, the numerous bandages wrapped around her arms, legs, and face indicating that the burns she’d suffered were still persisting.

Zuikaku tightened her fist as she watched Enterprise slowly approach her senior, the aura radiating from her rival giving off an almost suffocating feeling.

Synchronization Rate: 40%

The gauntlets covering Enterprise’s hands glew stronger, the black cube within beginning to corrupt its user further as the ghost’s eyes began to glow a haunting crimson.

“Hey… we should probably-” Zuikaku tried to say, before a piercing yellow glow cut through the darkness.

Enterprise raised her bow as she drew her arrow, the black cube she drew her power from giving the arrow even more strength as the ground beneath her began to rumble. She raised the arrow up towards Akagi, leveling its shimmering edge with the fox’s center-masse.

“Wait wait wait this is way too far- ENTERPRISE STOP!” Hornet called out from the crowd, trying to reach her sister through the black cube’s oppressing influence.

“...It’s over!” Yet Enterprise couldn’t hear her, her body moving reflexively to end the battle with a decisive shot, like she’d done so many times before.

Akagi’s eyes struggled to stay open as she gazed up at the lethal golden arrow sailing towards her. It was like time slowed down, each second before Enterprise’s arrow would pierce her body feeling like a century and a half.

She thought back on all the things she’d done in life. The victories she’d shared, the defeats she’d suffered.

Just before her eyes closed for the last time, a thought crossed her mind.

“...I’m sorry, Kaga.”

“NEE-SAMA!”

BOOM

Yet that final moment of sharpened agony never came, as a figure shot in front of Akagi at the last moment, the world around Akagi being engulfed in a golden light as Enterprise’s shot detonated, sending shockwaves rippling through the air around her.

The bystanders and watchers were thrown off their feet, forced back from the force of Enterprise’s attack.

Akagi’s eyes shot open, as she watched the scorched figure of her sister slowly, painfully, shakily turn back around.

“Kaga-”

“Nee-sama… are… you alright…?”

The once-white haired kitsune fell to the ground, her body and clothes stained almost black from the heat of Enterprise’s explosive attack.

The crimson glow left Enterprise’s eyes, as she snapped out of her battle-crazed trance, and the realization of what had just transpired began to suddenly fall upon her.

“I- I didn’t mean-” Her hand began to reach forward, as if trying to grab at what little life was left within her hated enemy’s sister.

Akagi couldn’t hear anything.

A soft ringing resonated within her mind as she tried to paw at Kaga’s still body, the heat from Enterprise’s attack dancing across her skin.

Clips of her vision shot through her mind, the sight of Kaga’s corpse violently flashing in and out of sight as she tried to wrap her arms around Kaga’s body.

“I… Kaga… You… Why…”

A silence fell upon the base, the only sound left being the pounding of shoes on pavement as The Commander finally arrived.

“I came as soon as I heard, what the heck happened- oh… oh shit…” He almost recoiled upon seeing the situation, Akagi having scrambled off of her self-made crater in the fountain, holding Kaga’s unconscious form as Enterprise began to stumble back, looking at her hands with shaky breath.

“How… I…” Akagi’s body began to tremble, as that familiar burning sensation began to fill her.

Yet this burning wasn’t like before. It wasn’t like the small campfire it was before, the one she could contain, however bitter it was, so as to preserve her facade of heavenly composure and wisdom.

It wasn’t like the rage she’d felt before.

It was much more like a forest fire.

That was burning out of control.

Zuikaku’s eyes bulged out of their sockets as she watched Akagi begin to burn, black and purple flames beginning to spread across her body as the elder fox let her scorched sister down, standing up straight as her shaking form began to turn towards the Grey Ghost.

She could feel the incoming threat.

If she didn’t do something, Akagi would kill Enterprise, and then the rest of the base for sure.

Akagi was about to lose control forever.

Zuikaku could see it within her senior’s eyes, as the horrible black flames began to overtake her visage and envelop her form.

She could feel the anger coming off of Akagi.

And it was like a voice was telling her.

“Move”

…

“HOW DARE YOU!”

Zuikaku’s body shot forward as Akagi roared, swinging her arms wildly and causing a massive twisting inferno to envelop the space around her, cutting off the bystanders from entering the towering purple inferno as she roared like a dragon within the swirling heat. Her smoldering gaze fell upon the rival she’d trapped, the sister she’d nearly lost.

And the crane who’d slipped in.

What the hell was she doing here?

Akagi was completely unstoppable, she was way, WAY stronger than anything Zuikaku had fought up till then. There was, effectively, nothing she could do.

“Well… at the very least, the Grey Ghost is here!”

Enterprise’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates, as she looked down at the glowing gear she wore.

“I need more power… I need more power!” Desperation filled her mind as she increased her output, climbing from 40% to 42%, then to 44%, and at last 45%.

But it still wasn’t enough, Enterprise could tell for sure that it wasn’t enough. The pressure Akagi was exuding was far, far greater than anything she’d felt, save for maybe Ash herself.

46%. She was seriously feeling the strain now. Someone was approaching her from the right, she couldn’t tell who it was though, all she could make out was vaguely white clothing and brown hair.

47%. The crackling black energy coming off of her might not be a good sign. Still, she could seriously feel the power running through her now, from the tips of her toes to her very eyes, she was basically oozing with power now.

But it still wasn't enough.

48%. Akagi’s glare was intensifying, the flames around her roaring in challenge. Enterprise wasn’t afraid, she rose to her feet, manifesting an arrow as the power flowed through her.

49%. With this power, she could win. Akagi snarled as the black cube in her hands let off shimmers of purple, the black flames covering her body flickering and intensifying, licking at the air around the two combatants.

50%. This was it.

A massive beam of yellow energy shot off Enterprise and into the sky, piercing the darkness of the early morning. The kansen at the further back of the crowd who could see over the tornado of fire that Akagi had used to block everyone out saw the shining ray of light leaping into the sky, glimmering like a star as it shone into the distance.

Enterprise felt lighter. She just needed a little bit more power, enough to take down Akagi, enough to take down Ash, the sirens, anyone who’d get in the way of the happy ending she was fighting so hard to achieve.

51%. She-

Was that the ground approaching?

THUD

Like a flash of lightning, the light suddenly left Enterprise’s eye as she fell to her knees, consciousness rapidly draining from her body as she tried desperately to fight off whatever it was that was happening to her. 

“No, not yet! I’m not done yet, I just need more power, I… I…”

Her body hit the floor.

Zuikaku’s eyes widened as she watched Enterprise, who moments ago seemed to have grasped enough power to match or even overwhelm Akagi, fall to the floor unconscious, the black cube’s energy seeming to wrap itself around Enterprise as she hit the pavement beneath them.

A snarl came from her right.

Akagi, who was now completely berserk and seemingly not in control anymore, roared like a feral beast of the forest as the flames around her seemingly cheered in victory, rising into the sky and searing the air around it as Akagi let off a vicious scream, crimson irises beading onto Enterprise like a hunter cornering it’s prey.

“Hey!”

She suddenly turned to the source of the voice, watching as Zuikaku stepped in front of Enterprise and used her foot to move the ghost towards the back a bit, trying to get her out of harm's way before the fight began.

“I don’t really understand what’s going on, but I’m gonna stop you, senpai!” Zuikaku called out, defiantly drawing her sword as she faced down the walking inferno in front of her.

“What the heck am I doing!?” Despite knowing the absurdity of the situation, Zuikaku stood firmly in front of her maddened senior.

What was once Akagi seemingly paused for a moment, looking at Zuikaku before screaming with wild fury, the black and purple conflagration around her ripping into the sky as she wound back, winding up like a prey would before pouncing upon its vulnerable prey.

Drawing her leg back, Zuikaku raised her sword up and to the left. Her body was shaking, she could feel the fear she was oh-so-familiar with creeping into her heart once more.

But she couldn’t back down here. If something were to happen to Enterprise… to Akagi…

She thought back on a conversation she’d had with Mikasa. It was just before they’d reached the practice area just a few hours ago, when they’d had to slow down after nearly knocking Akagi over.

“...Mikasa-sensei, can I talk to you for a bit?”

“Oh sure, we have time before we reach the training grounds, speak your mind!”

“I… I’m worried about Akagi.”

“Hmm? What for?”

“Well… she’s been acting off recently. I mean… I know she can be a bit overbearing, and even super mean… but she’s been acting way off. She doesn’t often lose control like that… I feel like something’s wrong!”

“I see…”

“I just… I think I know what’s wrong, and…”

“...I wanna help.”

Zuikaku took a deep breath, calming herself as she tried to force down the trembling, cold fear rising from deep within her. She could do this, she could win, it was just a matter of trying.

She’d trained every day to beat the Grey Ghost, the 1st Carrier Division, even the sirens. There was no way her hard work wouldn’t pay off!

“Alright then…” She began to say, as she brought her gaze up to meet Akagi’s fiery glare.

“Come and get me, senpai!”

Chapter Text

Burns littered Zuikaku’s body as she desperately parried away another of Akagi’s claw strikes, the furious fox following it up with a flurry of flame-covered punches that drilled hard into Zuikaku’s defenses.

She twisted left and attempted to counter, ignoring the searing pain scattered all across her body as she brought her sword up along Akagi’s arm and slammed it into her neck, only to be met with a massive blast of fire as Akagi roared, breathing billowing flames into Zuikaku’s face and searing the crane’s cheek as she turned with the blast, attempting to reduce the damage.

Flying back from the force of the attack, Zuikaku skipped across the ground before slamming into the searing hot wall behind her, yelping in pain before scrambling to her feet.

“Alright… I’ve got her attention… I just gotta keep it up!”

Akagi darted for her, trailing flames as the fox attempted to claw apart Zuikaku’s throat.

The crane responded with a storm of parries, knocking away each attack and then quickly intercepting the next as she began to move back as fast as she could, avoiding the wall of fire behind her as she swung for her life.

The sound of clashing steel and crackling fire filled her ears.

Her muscles burned with effort, the lactic acid buildup causing unrelenting agony to shoot through her body with each swing of her sword.

It hurt to breathe, the flames around her licking at her very lungs with each and every inhale.

She brought down her sword as fast as she could, knocking Akagi’s head an inch or two down and buying her just enough time to avoid the next flame-engulfed strike on her life.

Panic flared through her body.

Every inch of her body was telling her to leave, to escape, to get out of here somehow.

But, something stronger, something much stronger than that told her to stay.

Akagi was suffering, the black cube was known to corrupt its users, traumatize them beyond anything humans could muster from the darkest pits of their minds, and ultimately destroy them.

Akagi was in pain.

And it was up to her to help her.

“Gotta… keep moving…” She spoke to no one, forcing her body up again as she stood in a defensive position.

The fox came at her fast, both arms shrouded in flames as their dance began anew. Each combatant moved with blinding speed as the sounds of battle reverberated throughout their burning prison.

With the kind of power brimming inside her, Akagi’s skin was virtually uncuttable, as Zuikaku had found out desperately trying to parry away her senior’s strikes earlier.

She had no idea how she was gonna win this.

But she had to try.

Somehow.

Zuikaku’s eyes darted all across Akagi’s body, noticing opening after opening as the two zipped across the battlefield, twisting her body to the right as Akagi landed a scorching punch on the fountain behind her, blowing the anchor-shaped monument to smithereens and spraying water all over the place.

“Now’s my chance!” Noticing Akagi being distracted by the water being sprayed all over the place by the wreckage of the fountain, Zuikaku darted in with her sword and swung for Akagi’s back.

TANG

“...Oh fuck.” Zuikaku gulped as she looked at her sword, which was now broken in half.

Akagi turned around, flames dancing from her eyes as the roaring inferno around them seemed to grow hungrier.

“...This is really gonna-”

Akagi’s burning fist slammed into Zuikaku’s face, punching deep into her flesh as the crane was sent flying back again, bouncing off the ground as she slammed the broken remains of her sword into the ground to try and stop her momentum.

Coming to a halt a meter from the absolutely towering tornado of fire behind her, Zuikaku sheathed her broken sword and placed it on the ground next to her, raising her hands as she took a defensive stance once more.

“Okay… I can work with this. I just have to-”

BAM BAM BAM

Akagi rushed her, laying into the now-open crane with flaming strikes and burning claws, cutting deep gashes and painful bruises into Zuikaku.

Zuikaku attempted to guard, trying to raise her guard in the midst of the innumerable strikes slamming down into her.

She forced her eyes open, scanning across her senior’s body, trying to find any opening she could use to gain ground, any mistake she could exploit.

“There!” Noticing a gap in Akagi’s attacks, Zuikaku planted her feet on the ground and quickly lashed out with a series of three punches, one beneath Akagi’s nose, one to the solar plexus, and one to the torso.

“GAAAAAAH!!” Reeling back in pain, the crane brought her hands up to her face as she seethed in agony.

Her hands were scorched, skin burned by the flames still covering Akagi’s form. Still, surely it must’ve dealt some damage.

She took in a sharp breath, clenching her fists and ignoring the absolutely unbearable pain in her hands. 

“I can keep going… I’ve been through way worse than this!” She shouted, gritting her teeth as she inhaled sharply.

Akagi’s flaming form turned to face her, raising her left hand and creating a massive ball of fire within her palm.

“...Me and my big mouth.”

“Mikasa-daisenpai, can you tell what’s going on in there?” Shoukaku asked, clinging to Mikasa’s coat and tugging it with urgency.

“...No, unfortunately not.” Mikasa responded, her arms crossed as she stared up into the raging inferno before her.

Most of the kansen had gathered in front of the massive swirling inferno, unsure of what to do or how to proceed.

“Hey Rossiya, can you try freezing it?” The Commander asked, leaning in to ask the Northern Parliament’s acting leader.

“Hmm… I can certainly try, Comrade Commander.” She responded, placing her hand on the ground and taking a deep breath.

Sweeping her fingers across the ground, Rossiya sent a wave of ice barreling towards the inferno. Yet, this frigid assault was instantly stone-walled as the frozen water was instantly vaporized by the rushing fire in its way.

“Crap Baskets…”

“Oh, you say that too.”

Shoukaku gripped her fist tightly as she watched the blistering fire swirling in front of her. Her sister was still in there, the dear little sister she’d given her life for, was trapped in a massive fire tornado with a senpai that was on a crash course with one of the strongest kansen of all time.

Her body shivered from the possibility of her dear sister dying.

“Stupid Senpai… if you do this… I’ll never forgive you…!” She whispered to herself, now gripping her hands tightly to her chest as she looked up at the sky.

Mikasa extended a hand, placing it upon Shoukaku with a calming and firm grip.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Zuikaku will be fine. She’s been through worse than this, right?” Mikasa said, grinning so as to comfort her student’s older sister.

Shoukaku looked at Mikasa for a moment, then back down at the ground. Zuikaku was known for taking beatings, and suffering catastrophic losses. Yet, even still, the young crane refused to give up each and every time. It was a bit of a joke in the base that even if Zuikaku tried a hundred million times, she’d never beat Enterprise, or stop trying.

A light chuckle escaped the older crane.

“I suppose you’re right… my silly little sister is pretty resilient.”

Essex looked up at the massive fire, standing next to a concerned Saratoga, a worried Belfast, a Vestal that was basically losing it, a half-annoyed-half-afraid Hornet, and a Yorktown who was clinging to Hornet’s side, looking concernedly up at the raging inferno.

Just a few hours ago she’d been studying Enterprise’s fighting style on footage, analyzing each and every nuance of her senior in order to perhaps grasp some sort of hidden knowledge.

Yet, in there was her senpai, who’d shown destruction the likes of which Essex had never seen before…

Was that really the same Enterprise she’d fought to a draw during the single battle exercise?

Was that… really the same Enterprise she’d come to admire so dearly?

“...Senpai… come on…”

“Where… where am I…?” Enterprise groaned, stumbling to her feet and grabbing at her head as a dull pain shot through her mind.

The sound of splashing water beneath her indicated to Enterprise that she was somewhere in the ocean, opening her eyes confirmed this fact as she laid her gaze upon the water.

It looked dark, and gazing up at the sky confirmed her suspicion that it was dark out. It was a starless night, with only the moon left to illuminate the ocean waves.

She smelled something burning.

Turning around and looking at her surroundings, she soon found the source of the burning smell.

Ships.

Ships of all shapes and sizes lay sinking all around her, flames dancing off their once glistening hulls as they sank into the water at a snail’s pace.

“...So you’ve come.”

A voice came from behind her.

Enterprise spun around, summoning her bow and drawing shimmering light from thin air, aiming it at the source of the voice.

“You…! Ash?” Laying eyes upon the speaker, Enterprise recognized her as her darker counterpart, Enterprise META, known to them as… “Ash.”

“...How the hell did you get in here?”

“I was gonna ask the same thing… What the hell is going on?”

Ash seemed to remain silent, not acknowledging Enterprise’s question as she looked up from the sea, meeting Enterprise’s purple eyes with her own crimson irises.

“SAY SOMETHING!” Enterprise was getting frustrated now, her grip tightening around her bow as she drew her arrow further back.

In a flash, Ash appeared in front of her and slammed her fist into the Grey Ghost’s stomach, the damage piercing deep through her body as a leg slammed into Enterprise’s body, a follow up kick from Ash no doubt.

Scrambling back to her feet, Enterprise wiped some blood from her mouth as she glared back.

“...Tell you what, if you can last ten minutes, I’ll start talking.” Ash stated, summoning a crimson arrow to her hand and holding it up like a dagger.

Enterprise smirked, manifesting two arrows of her own as she raised her arms to fight, taking the classic boxer’s stance and meeting Ash’s gaze once more.

“Sounds good…”

BAM

Zuikaku was getting weary. Her body was beginning to feel heavy, each movement felt like it took everything she had left. Even then, the agony of the second and third degree burns littering her body was chipping away at what little stamina she had left.

Akagi came in fast once more, forcing Zuikaku to snap out of her daze and dodge left, right, then left again as Akagi’s fists wreathed in baleful flames came at her one after the other.

The flame-enhanced jabs took their toll, dealing damage to Zuikaku as her body began to slow down, too worn down to react to a few of the faster strikes. Yet, something was off… as the strikes came in, some of them began to slow down, allowing Zuikaku a narrow opportunity to break from the engagement and dodge.

Zuikaku leapt back, forcing distance between herself and Akagi as she assessed the situation, her senior training her eyes on her like a predator in its element.

“My body’s beginning to wear down… I seriously can’t keep this up for much longer… is this… where it ends…?”

She shook her head, breathing in as much oxygen as she could and summoning up her strength. The flames Akagi had created didn’t block off the top of the tornado, there was still fresh oxygen coming in from the air around her.

So long as she could still breathe, she could still fight.

“Keep going… keep going!” Zuikaku began repeating to herself, stumbling over her feet as she lunged forward, tightening her scorched hand as she led with a right straight.

Akagi caught the blow, searing Zuikaku’s hands further as she countered the crane with two clean kicks to the jaw. Twisting around and landing an elbow to her solar plexus, Akagi let go of her junior and sent her flying back, skidding across the ground in a heap.

Zuikaku stumbled about, her footing unstable as she forced herself to stand once again. Her jaw began to throb from the pain, each previous kick having been covered in black fire. Something was different though…

Were Akagi’s strikes getting softer?

Not only that, but just recently when she’d attacked her with a swarm of punches, towards the end of her last rush, her attacks looked a lot slower than before.

That made no sense… she’d been whooping her for several minutes now, at least half an hour had gone by since the battle started. Actually… how in the world had she lasted that long-

Then it dawned upon her.

“...Wait… how long are Akagi-senpai’s battles usually?”

Zuikaku recalled that, before they became kansen, naval battles used to last several hours. However, that was when they were machines, and did not possess stamina or physical bodies.

Ever since becoming kansen, and gaining power far greater than anything they’d once held as metal warships, fights had become significantly shorter with the increase in speed and power that the kansen now wielded at their command.

Akagi especially was quick to make work of most sirens, given her natural power and overwhelming strength, very few sirens could truly challenge her.

After all, who could challenge the mighty 1st Carrier Division?

But that now lent itself to a brand new problem. One that Zuikaku was now able to exploit.

Akagi came in fast, her burning fist raised high as she swung for Zuikaku with a right hook.

This time however, Zuikaku dodged to the right and countered with three quick strikes to the face, once to the forehead, then under the nose, then the chin.

Despite the roaring flames surrounding her body burning Zuikaku’s hands again, the punches her junior had thrown out…

Actually hurt.

“...You’re not used to going all out this much, are you?” Zuikaku asked, taking a deep breath as she locked gazes with her senpai.

Akagi roared, flames picking up around her as she assumed an aggressive stance, the burning inferno around her licking at the sky as she screamed at Zuikaku like a raging beast.

“Alright then… it’s time for my counterattack, senpai!” She shouted, as Akagi lunged forward and swung at her with a spinning back kick.

It landed into Zuikaku’s side, cutting deep as sharp pain shot through her from the damage she sustained to her liver. 

Akagi moved to follow up with a claw swipe, but found her leg suddenly unable to move, as a hand gripped her ankle like a vice.

“...Sorry Senpai, but I’m really good…”

A punch came crashing into Akagi’s face, sending the fox crashing into the pavement beneath them, and skipping a ways away.

Throbbing pain suddenly shot through the berserk fox, as she reflexively grabbed at her cheek.

It hurt.

“AT GETTING BEAT UP!”

A second punch came flying in just as Akagi returned to her feet, a third following soon after as Zuikaku took full advantage of this opening, laying into her senior with a barrage of punches, low-kicks, and elbows. Seeing her chance to solidify her advantage, Zuikaku intercepted an attempted counter-attack from Akagi and grabbed her arms, before twisting her hips, planting her feet, and using the moment of Akagi’s attack to lift her over her shoulder.

“Sorry Senpai, this is gonna hurt!”

With all of the might she could muster, Zuikaku landed a DEVASTATING shoulder throw on Akagi, swinging the fox into the pavement and causing cracks to rip themselves into the earth beneath them, wind forcing itself out of Akagi's lungs as the breath suddenly left her.

Zuikaku stumbled back, gasping for air as the adrenaline in her body fell behind her physical exertion. 

It was already exhausting to keep fighting with a damaged body like this before, and though she was basically majoring in the art of getting her ass kicked, even she had limits.

Still, she had to keep going.

Zuikaku screamed with effort as she shoved herself back up, raising her fists in challenge as Akagi too returned to her feet.

“Come on… let’s do this thing!”

“GRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!”

“Well… this certainly didn’t go the way I planned it.” Observer commented, looking at the battle from an undisclosed siren base.

“Hmm? What’s going on?” Purifier asked, floating on over and turning upside-down to look at the screen.

“It would appear… that our plan to force Enterprise into growth through fighting Akagi has… gone off-course, if only slightly.” Observer explained.

“Really? The fuck happened?”

“Well… it would appear that the mental connection we created between Code G and Enterprise… has gone on far longer than we anticipated. Not only that… but an unforeseen factor has jumped into the fray.”

“Huh? And what’s that?”

“IJN Zuikaku of the 5th Carrier Division.”

“Oooh… that girl who’s super obsessed with Enterprise! Yeah, she’ll probably die super fast.”

“Indeed… Yet for some reason, I can’t help but shake this nagging feeling.”

“Yo, in all the timelines we’ve seen, she basically doesn’t do anything, right?”

“Correct.”

“So, why’re you all worried?”

“...I suppose you have a point.”

“Hah! Now you owe me stupi-”

“Don’t get used to it.”

It hurt.

It hurt to breathe, it hurt to move, it hurt to think.

Zuikaku’s body felt like lead. It was as if she was trying to move in a dream, underwater, with weights plastered all across her form.

Even still, she had to keep moving.

Akagi let out a horrific screech as the flames around her came roaring back to life, purple embers danced with scorching red and immolating black as the black cube brought forth Akagi’s greatest wishes of strength, whirling around her like the dance of a magician’s wondrous performance.

Yet, in spite of her seemingly powerful cry, Zuikaku could tell Akagi’s body was beginning to break down.

Her senpai’s movements had been slower, shakier, and more strained than ever before. Each attack felt softer and softer.

But her flames hadn’t wavered.

As far as Zuikaku could tell, this was no longer going to be a contest of fists.

Which sucked.

Because that was her only chance at victory.

Akagi’s screams reached into the heavens, as the scorching flames within her began to break out, cracks forming on her skin as shining purple light peaked through the fractures in her body. Akagi began grabbing at herself in agony, yet her rage was fueled ever-more by the increasing heat and power flowing through her from the miracle device she held within her rigging.

“Crap… Akagi-senpai… you’ve gotta snap out of it!” Zuikaku tried to call out, as her hand weakly reached out towards her.

“This must be that METAmorphosis stuff that Shikikan and the others talked about… I gotta do something… and fast…!”

Zuikaku tightened her fists, power shooting through her body as she let out a scream of effort and took a step towards Akagi.

This was her last chance to save Akagi.

This was her last chance to keep the others safe.

This was her last chance to keep her promise to Mikasa.

“Wager all you have... Zuikaku, what is the dearest, most important thing you want to protect at any cost?”

“The most important thing to me? Umm... There are a lot of things... Like Shoukaku, my friends... or a victory against the Grey Ghost. It's hard to choose just one... I don't think I even can.”

“In the moment you exclaim, "I will fight for this world," is there a force welling up from within your heart?”

“And when you feel hopeless or in despair, is your "everything" not "the fate of humanity and the world," but rather your friends, rivals, and celebratory moments like this banquet?”

“To discard that "everything" is to disavow yourself of your being. And those who reject their very being cannot hope to ever overcome their limits.”

…

“...Mikasa-sensei, can I say something?”

“Sure, go ahead!”

“I… I wanna thank you. For everything.”

“Hmm? Why-”

“You’ve done so much for me… With this strength, I think I can help everyone. With this, I can take on any challenge, defeat any enemy, and shoulder the burdens of the entire world!”

“Well, that’s quite flattering-”

“I promise. No matter what, if I see a comrade in trouble, I’ll protect them. No matter what!”

“...I wanna… help her…”

Zuikaku leaned back, taking in a deep breath as she mustered all the thoughts she could.

She had to get through to Akagi.

“SENPAI!”

She called out into the roaring inferno, taking another step forward as the black flames from Akagi’s raging form angrily danced upwards.

The hero stood before the infinite, towering inferno.

And reached out, to the scared girl trapped inside.

“I get it, I really get you!”

“You probably feel really bad, right? I’m gonna guess that getting beat up by the Grey Ghost made you feel really bad. Like you were super weak, like you couldn’t protect any of the people you cared about. You were really scared, right!?”

“I know that for sure… because I felt the same way! When Enterprise kept coming back, when she refused to die, when she destroyed everything we threw in her path, I was scared too!”

“I didn’t want my sister to die to something that strong, I wanted to be powerful too! I wanted to keep all of my precious friends safe just like you!”

“But I realized something… after a while, I realized something super important.”

The heat from Akagi’s flames burnt at her haori, some of her skin beginning to turn black from the sheer heat coming off of the raging wildfire standing in front of her.

Yet, the flames couldn’t stop the tears running down Zuikaku’s face as she pushed onward, reaching out both physically and emotionally to her senior, desperately clawing her way through the black cube’s miasmic influence.

“WE PROBABLY MADE HER FEEL THE EXACT SAME WAY!”

“When we beat up her buddies, when we launched that surprise attack, we probably made them feel just as scared and powerless as they made us feel!”

“That’s when I realized something… we’re all alike. We’ve all got buddies we want to protect, we’ve all got people to go home too, we’ve all got loved ones we’re ready to die for.”

“So I’m not gonna let you die here, if you think I’m just gonna sit here and let you turn yourself into some sort of monster, you’re fucking insane!”

“We’re all gonna go home, and we’re all gonna eat Shoukaku-nee’s Tempura. You, me, our friends, the Grey Ghost, even her buddies from the Eagle Union!”

Flames flared to life around Akagi, as her eyes saw red and her arms stretched out to either side, gathering sickening flames around into massive gatherings of heat. 

Zuikaku was undeterred.

“I promise you, Senpai, we’re gonna get our happy ending!”

A tear rolled down Akagi’s cheek.

Badump.

The black flames charged at Zuikaku, searing the air around them as they engulfed Zuikaku’s entire body, horribly scorching the crane as she forced herself to stand.

Badump.

“BECAUSE I’M GONNA SAVE YOU!!”

…

Observer’s eyes widened as she watched the footage of the battle.

“...This is…”

In no timeline before this had she seen such a thing. It was Enterprise who was destined to defeat Akagi. There was no deviating from this path, no changing the outcome. No matter what, it was the Grey Ghost who was to defeat the Red Castle.

“...Could she…?”

…

Fire exploded from around Zuikaku, repelling and dispersing the miasmic black flames that had struck at her, roaring to life as she let out a scream of effort.

Only moments later did she realize what happened.

“What… what the heck just happened?” She looked at her body, engulfed in comforting, warm flames. 

These weren’t anything like the flames she’d seen Akagi use.

These were simple, natural flames.

“This warmth… it’s… so comforting…” She wrapped herself in her arms, taking in the feeling of joy that the flames seemed to bring from within her.

Looking up at Akagi, she laid her gaze upon a sight she’d worried she’d never see again.

Akagi’s eyes were crying.

She was crying.

“And with this warmth… I’m gonna save you!”

She held her hand up high, heat gathering into that one point and shimmering like a star.

Her fist tightened around it.

“JUST HOLD ON SENPAI, I’M COMING!”

Darting forward, Zuikaku twisted out of the way of blackened tendrils of sickening heat, dodging and bobbing out of the way of Akagi’s withering assault.

She found an opening, swinging with all her might and landing a solid punch to Akagi’s midsection.

…

“Hmm? Who are you?”

“Hi! My name’s Zuikaku, I’m from the 5th Carrier Division!”

“Tsk… I see…”

“It’s nice to meet you again, Senpai!”

…

“Stop it…”

Akagi swiped at her, black flames trailing as Zuikaku responded in kind, whipping out her hand and releasing a powerful inferno from around her body, slamming into the black flames and pushing them back.

Zuikaku saw yet another opening, inhaling a sharp breath of oxygen as she lunged forwards, balling her hands into fists once more as she tried to concentrate as much fire there as possible.

Akagi saw it coming, trying to raise the purple flames around her to defend, only to be met with a powerful explosion as Zuikaku’s condensed heat slammed into her defense, exploding out in a jet of kinetic and heat energy.

…

“So… that’s the technique you’ve come up with?”

“Yuhuh! I think it’s pretty neat. I can’t use the same fire magic that you 1st Carrier Division girls can, but it’s a step in the right direction!”

“...”

“So, what do you think?”

“It’s no good. Without proper control over your fire, your attacks will be slow. Easy to dodge. You’ll never hit anyone with those.”

“Mmm… that sucks!”

“You need to use a conduit for them. It’ll take time to initiate, but concentrating and infusing your power into a physical object will prove much more useful than just wildly throwing it out.”

“Kinda like you do!”

“I- Shut up! I do not do that!”

“Pfft, you’re funny Akagi-senpai! Still, thanks for the help!”

“Hmph… I’m just ensuring you don’t sully the good name of the Kido Butai.”

…

“Stop it…”

Zuikaku kept up the attack. Her skill with her new fire powers was limited, she barely knew how to shoot it out in anything other than a massive omnidirectional blast, but her skills in CQC made up for it.

The crane laid into her senior once more, landing a flurry of heat-infused punches into Akagi’s body before releasing a massive blast of fire all around her, knocking Akagi over and opening her up for another strike.

Zuikaku’s hands grabbed the collar of Akagi’s kimono, holding her in place as Zuikaku reeled her head back, and slammed her forehead into Akagi’s face.

…

“GAH-! WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?” Akagi yelped, stumbling onto the floor with a newly-bloodied nose.

Zuikaku wiped a bit of crimson ichor off of her forehead, before looking at her senior.

“Because you’re being an idiot again! The Eagle Union girls really saved our butts out there, so of course we have to thank them!” Zuikaku scolded, lightly bapping her senpai on the top of her head.

“Why I never- I’ll never thank those scum, they’re nothing but eyesores that are in my way- OW!” Akagi yelped as Zuikaku lightly hit her on the top of the head again.

“Come on, I’ll drag you to the banquet if I have too!”

“Unhand me 5th Carrier Division- I said unhand me!”

…

“Stop it…!”

Akagi roared as flames exploded into the air around her as she started lunging for Zuikaku. The crane screaming in response and igniting her own flames, charging at her to meet the challenge.

The crane was knocked back by the charge, but found her footing again and returned with a series of five punches, ending the combination of attacks with a kick to Akagi’s jaw as she lunged back in to follow, continuing to pepper the fox with a veritable storm of fire-enhanced fists and knees.

…

“Feeling down, Senpai?” A voice called out from beside Akagi as she knelt on the cliff overlooking the massive ocean before her.

It was dark out. Akagi was in a bad mood after the Eagle Union beat them in yet another exercise.

“Tch… that’s none of your business.” Akagi shot back, sharply turning away as Zuikaku took a seat next to her.

“Aww come on, lemme cheer you up!” Zuikaku said with a grin, reaching out and trying to force the corners of Akagi’s mouth up with her pointer fingers.

“Hey- Stop- Enough of that!” Akagi yelled back, swatting Zuikaku away with her hands as her senpai smiled cheekily back at her.

“Sorry, you just looked so sad, I had to cheer you back up!” She explained, tilting her head to the side as Akagi rolled her eyes.

“...It’s nothing you need to worry about.” Akagi responded.

She tried to avert Zuikaku’s gaze, looking down at the ocean beneath them as she grunted in annoyance. She didn’t wanna expose such vulnerability to her juniors, especially one as green as Zuikaku.

“Alright then, tell you what!” Zuikaku proclaimed, bringing her hands to either side of Akagi’s face as she forced the fox to look her in the eye.

“Next time you feel super sad like this, I’ll come to save you, capische?”

…

“STOP IT!”

Tears flew down Akagi’s face as she roared in desperation, crimson and violet heat igniting in either of her hands as the black flames around her danced to life, gathering behind her and forming themselves into massive dragon heads.

Zuikaku stumbled back in intimidation, but she refused to stop here. 

Winding her right hand back and clenching it into a tight fist, she gathered all the flames she could muster into one last attack. The heat around her exploded and flourished, the heat coming off of her dancing around and spreading itself like the wings of a crane.

“It’s all gonna be okay… it’s all gonna be okay!!”

Akagi swung her arms forward, crying wildly as the flames lunged for Zuikaku, surrounding her from all directions and shooting towards the crane like the cold hand of death itself.

“It's all gonna be okay now, Senpai!”

Launching her fist forward, the flames around her bloomed forth, tearing through the center of the black flames and shooting for Akagi like a bird in a storm.

BOOM

…

…

…

Akagi stood, covered in burns and clearly worn down.

Zuikaku was a few paces away from her, having not moved from her position following her previous strike.

The fox watched as her beloved junior stumbled back, then forth, and a few paces in each direction before falling backwards, towards the pavement.

Zuikaku had long since reached her limit.

And it was all Akagi could do as the crane who’d stepped forth to save her fell to the ground.

Until an arm caught her.

A flash of white hair came into Akagi’s vision, as a figure caught Zuikaku from falling.

“...You did great out there, Zuikaku. Let me finish the job.”

Akagi watched as the Grey Ghost gently placed her junior onto the ground, before turning back to the wounded fox with a determined look.

“...It’s over!”

She shot her arms out to try and defend herself, the corrupted flames of the black cube roaring to her defense.

Too late.

A red glow within Enterprise’s hand flickered to life, before she crushed it in her palm.

And it exploded.

The roaring prison of flames Akagi had them all trapped within dispersed, as Akagi flew back from the force of Enterprise’s attack.

Her eyes looked up at the sky. Stars filled it from corner to corner.

I… never understood where you got your strength.

You failed, just like me. You died being thrown away by forces greater than you. 

How… How could you forgive them?

They killed your sister, they killed your friends, they killed YOU!

So how… how can you look them in the eyes and say you’re their friend!?

How…

How…

How can you move on… from all that pain…?

You felt the same as me, you felt just as scared and angry as I did, so why…

Why are you so strong…?

Akagi watched as Zuikaku’s chest gently rose and fell.

She was still alive.

…

…

…

I think I get it now.

Chapter Text

“Oh thank The Creator…” Observer let out a colossal sigh, before she slumped back into her massive rigging and looked up at the ceiling, feeling as if a million ton weight had been lifted off her shoulder.

“Things are proceeding just as planned… though admittedly, that was a rather close call.” Observer spoke out loud.

Enterprise was still the one to defeat Akagi, she was still following the set path that the sirens wanted her to go down, she’d even unlocked some new powers that would likely be instrumental in their plans down the line. So far, everything was going according to plan.

For a moment there, she’d worried a wrench had been thrown into their plans, but alas, Purifier was right, there wasn’t anything to worry about after all.

…Damn, that wasn’t something she was gonna get used to saying.

“Hey hey hey! So, I don’t wanna be the bearer of bad news, but some real shit’s going down!” Speaking of the devil, the door to Observer’s massive monitoring room suddenly burst open as Purifier kicked the door down, sending it flying across the room and embedding it into a wall.

“By The Creator- could you not do that to our doors!?” Observer snapped, spinning around to face the purification siren.

“No time, I come bearing super important ass news! So, remember all those testing sites we set up around various timelines?” 

“...Yes, I do, I’m monitoring some of them right now-”

“Well, while you were cooped up here with your little pet project, a bunch of them got fucking destroyed! I was just at one in fact, shit was wild!”

“...I see.”

“Oh, actually, I think I brought some footage back from one of the cameras! I think Tester took it, but got blown up before she could send it back. I found it next to her body or something, here ya go!” Purifier then tossed a futuristic computer drive over to Observer, who caught it with one of her tentacles and placed it into the massive siren supercomputer in front of her.

The monitor flickered to life, showing footage of a massive red sea. It looked like the camera they’d gotten the footage from was one of the ones located outside the base. All seemed normal, until right before their eyes, a violet crack suddenly ripped itself forth from thin air.

The fissure spread further, the chink in space-time tearing itself apart until it shattered like glass, revealing a swirling purple portal.

Alarms could be heard in the background as a set of six figures emerged from the opening in space, each clad in some manner of black clothing. The portal behind them began to seal itself as the six figures began to speak amongst one another.

“We’re just doing what we usually do. Spread out, don’t get caught, and destroy as much as you can.” One of the voices - seemingly one of the more important members of the group, who held a massive black sword - called out to the others as she motioned for the group to begin their operation.

“Understood. Beginning operation.”

“We shall deliver these poor souls to slumber post-haste…”

“Of course, we’ll show the enemy no mercy!”

“Right. We’ll deliver swift destruction.”

“...”

The six figures split into three groups. Two of them, one with pink hair and one with white hair and long bunny ears, darted off to the right while another two, one with long black hair who was  surrounded by blue butterflies and one with glowing blue eyes which glinted off of her steampunk-esque gear, shot off to the left. The final member of the group, with long, flowing white hair, stayed back, standing next to the original speaker

“...It’s her.” Observer said aloud, as Purifier leaned over and looked at the footage with her.

“Who-?”

“It’s Enterprise.”

“Oh, you mean her edgier, more brooding counterpart? The one that calls herself Ash? Yeah that looks like her alright!”

“Shh, they’re talking again!” 

“Is something wrong, Ash?” The sword-wielder asked, turning to her companion as the others began their attack on the base, several explosions resonating in the background.

“No. There's… nothing wrong.” Ash replied, seeming to look off distantly.

“...Understood.” Was all the swordswoman had to say in response, as she turned back to the base and shot towards the entrance.

Ash seemed to stand there for a few moments, looking up at the sky before she took what seemed like a deep breath, and raised her hand into the sky. A red glow formed within her palm soon after.

The camera cut out a few moments after.

“I have no idea how this thing survived the explosion, must’ve been one hell of a lucky day for this fucker- hey where the hell are you going?” Purifier asked as Observer quickly began floating towards the door, opening it up and rushing down the hallways.

She didn’t respond, heading straight towards her destination with a grim expression on her face. Purifier followed, interested to see what her colleague was heading towards. Rounding a corner, she saw Observer placing her hand on a panel next to a pair of massive sliding doors, which opened up shortly after to let her inside. 

Purifier swiftly went after her, following her co-worker into a massive chamber, with a single large cylindrical water tank sitting in the middle of the room connected to a net of wires extending from base of the tank to the surrounding walls and machines.

“What the heck is this place…?” She asked, looking around at the massive room before settling her gaze towards the tank in the center.

Floating in the center of the tank, connected to a variety of wires and tubes, was a black wisdom cube. This one however, was different.

Purifier could physically feel the power emanating from the cube, it was as if the cube itself was trying to reach out and grab her.

“What the fuck is that thing?” Purifier asked, floating up to Observer and motioning towards the cube.

“...A little side-project I made. I wasn’t going to use it unless an exceptionally special scenario showed itself, but seeing as the Ashes are making their move… I suppose now would be a good time to speed up our plan.” Observer responded, floating over to a nearby terminal and rapidly pressing some of the buttons.

The water level of the tank began to lower rapidly, the glass of the tank seeming to open up as Observer moved back over to it, reaching inside and bringing the cube out of its container.

“This cube is special. I’ve experimented with it innumerable times, and I’ve managed to increase its power to about ten times the average black cube we possess.” Observer explained, twirling the tip of one of her tentacles as she examined the cube for irregularities.

“Okaaay… that’s sounds super impressive, but what the fuck are you gonna use it on?” Purifier asked in response.

“Oh that’s a rather simple explanation… But first, we need to do a bit of grocery shopping.” Observer replied, moving back towards the hallway.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Mobilize our troops, let’s go catch ourselves a ghost~.”

Why did it hurt so much?

Zuikaku whimpered as she grabbed her arm, the sharp pain shooting through it suggesting that it may be broken. Her vision was beginning to waver, as blood dripped down from her body into the sea below, staining the once sapphire waves a deep crimson.

With her other, trembling arm she raised her blade up in a defensive position, as her eyes struggled to remain open.

The figure in front of her raised their weapon to her forehead.

“So this is it for me…?” 

She tried to look back up at the figure in front of her.

Piercing purple eyes stared back at her.

“...I’m sorry I couldn’t save y-”

TWANG

Light.

There was a light above her.

Zuikaku’s eyes struggled to open, as she faintly attempted to shield herself from the source of the light above her with one hand. Her body felt… stiff. Like she’d been sleeping for a long time.

How long had she been out?

“Mmm… What happened…?”

Her memory felt fuzzy. Everything felt fuzzy.

Then the pain hit.

“Ooooh- ow ow ow ow!” Her eyes quickly flew open as pain shot through her body.

“Oh shit- hey, she’s awake!” A voice called out from her left.

Taking in her surroundings, Zuikaku found herself in one of the ever familiar beds of the infirmary. She was seated next to a window, seemingly in one of the building’s larger rooms. Towards the foot of the bed was a table holding some newspapers, though she couldn’t make out any of the dates mentioned on the roll nearest to her.

The sound of people shuffling next to her bed soon drew her attention, prompting the injured crane to weakly turn her head to the source of the voice, spotting a familiar captain’s hat placed onto a chair seated right next to the bed.

Her vision was still adjusting, but a familiar voice called out from next to her. She tried to sit up on the bed, to get a better look at the person, before feeling a hand gently push her back down.

“Hey, you doin alright?” The voice of Enterprise called out to her as the ghost guided her back to the bed.

“Huh…? Grey Ghost? Why are you- What happened to Akagi!?” Suddenly remembering the events prior to her losing consciousness, Zuikaku forced herself up as panic filled her body.

“Woah woah woah, take it easy! Akagi’s in the other room, right next door.” Enterprise replied, trying to get Zuikaku to not strain herself as the crane winced in pain from the sudden movement, her body still littered with burns that hadn’t fully recovered.

Still a bit tense, Zuikaku flopped back down onto the bed and groaned.

“So… what happened to her? Is she alright?”

“After I knocked her out, we rushed both you and her to the medical wing. You’ve both been recovering here ever since.”

“Wait so… how long have we been out?”

“About a week give or take.”

“Has anything happened in that time?”

“Not much. We… threw the black cubes into the warehouse, and we’re keeping them there for the foreseeable future. They’re super powerful, and could be useful, but… as you saw…”

“They can cause way too much damage?”

“...Yeah.”

Zuikaku nodded in understanding for a moment, recalling just what happened with Akagi and Enterprise when they’d attempted to utilize the black cubes.

“Um, about Akagi… is she alright?”

“She’s doing fine… at least I think.”

…

“Ow ow ow…! Kaga!” Akagi called out to her sister, attempting to move around despite the numerous bandages wrapped around her body.

Several of her limbs were suspended by various tools and contraptions, wrapped in thick bandages and wrappings in order to prevent further injury. These bandages, unfortunately, did not numb pain, and as such Akagi was forced to sit there in agony as she tried to nab a water bottle right next to her bed.

“...Nee-sama, may I remind you that you apparently A. Started the fight, B. Attempted to use the black wisdom cube in order to kill Enterprise, and C. Nearly killed one of our juniors in the process?”

“Well… yes but-”

“Nee-sama, I believe this is what the girls from the Eagle Union refer to as… ‘karma.’”

“KAGA!”

…

“...Anyway, are you feeling off?” Enterprise asked, showing a bit of softness as she placed a hand on Zuikaku’s thigh.

“Nah, I’m feeling just fine! In fact, I think I can- OW OW OW!” Attempting to stand up a bit, Zuikaku was quickly shot down as pain coursed through her body again, forcing her to lay back down on the bed.

“So, Uh, maybe I’ll wait just a bit longer. Hey, can you hand me one of those newspapers? I wanna see what I missed!” Zuikaku asked, pointing to the newspaper stand at the foot of the bed.

“Sure, but I’ll warn you; I don’t think those have been replaced for awhile, so you’ll probably only get the news up to right after you were admitted into the infirmary.”

“Ah that’s alright, I’m sure it’ll be fine!”

Opening the newspaper and orienting herself, Zuikaku quickly turned to the front page and read the headline aloud.

"Grey Ghost Liberates Crane from Fiery Clutch of Death"

“...”

“...Enterprise pulled off a daring rescue to save her rival, who’d brashly dived into the massive fire storm. Reports from witnesses claim that- are you kidding me!? What about all the stuff that I did!?”

“They… probably didn’t see any of it, since it was hidden in the tornado of fire.”

“Aw shit…” Zuikaku dropped the newspaper and pouted, mopping on the bed as she stared dejectedly at the mattress. “I mean, it sucks enough having to stay in here, but now nobody knows all of the cool stuff I did! Man, I’m kinda bummed out now…”

Enterprise was silent for a bit, looking across Zuikaku’s horrifically damaged body before glancing down at the ground momentarily. A feeling rose from within her chest, a mixture of sadness, frustration, pity, and most importantly.

Guilt.

“...I’m sorry.”

“Hmm?”

The ghost paused for a moment, seemingly hesitating.

“The only reason you managed to survive was because Akagi was already running nearly empty… Hell, she probably would’ve killed you if I didn’t wake up in time. You nearly died… I nearly let you die…” Enterprise’s hands tightened in her lap, as she struggled to look up.

This wasn’t the first time she’d blamed herself for the near-death of a comrade. This also wasn’t the first time she’d watched a comrade die in front of her. Ever since she’d been reborn as a kansen, she’d been confident that none of the horrible things that had happened before would ever happen again, that she’d be strong enough to stop them in their tracks.

How foolish of her.

Maybe what she’d thought was right. It was clear that her current power wasn’t enough to keep her loved ones safe. After all, if she’d only barely lucked out on saving Zuikaku, what would happen when the time came to protect Vestal, or Belfast, or Essex?

Maybe she really did need the black cube…

“Hey, it’s alright.”

“What?”

“Well, you can’t be expected to do everything, y’know? Plus, I’m alive! So it’s all good!”

“Well-”

“Tell you what, next time you’re in danger, I’ll come save you! That way, we’re even!”

Enterprise looked up with a look of both confusion and shock. Sure, she wasn’t exactly emotionally constipated or anything, but… she was used to doing most things by herself. Used to facing down the most powerful sirens by herself. Used to dealing with the weight of the sirens’ constant testing by herself.

That was the burden that came with being the strongest.

“I… What?”

“You know, if you’re in danger, then I’ll come and get you out of it! Kinda like what you just did for me!”

“I- Wow… pfft- ”

“Hey! I’m serious!”

“No no I-, I know, I just… I’m not really used to being told that kind of thing. I guess that’s what happens when you’re the strongest…”

“Oh… wow…”

“I guess… I’m just used to doing everything by myself…”

“Don’t you have friends you can rely on? I mean, I’m sure that Essex girl could help you!”

“I do- and I’m grateful for them, don’t get me wrong… But… the thought of putting them in harm’s way… I just couldn’t do that…”

It would be far, far too much to ask of them. She physically shuddered at the thought of Belfast having to face down Observer Alpha, or Essex having to duel Ash without any help. 

She had to get stronger, so that none of them would ever have to step into the line of harm ever again.

“Well, don’t worry! Because soon, I’m gonna surpass you! And then, once I do, you won’t have to do everything by yourself!” Zuikaku interjected, giving her rival a smile as warm as the sun’s gentle rays that were peeking in through the window.

Enterprise sat there for a moment, before breaking down in chuckles, laughing to herself as she brought a hand up to her face.

“Sorry- I don’t mean to make fun of you… it’s just… that sounds just like what Essex would say…”

“You really like her, huh?”

“Yeah… She’s got a lot of potential. One day, she’ll surpass me. And… I guess I find her drive to surpass me is kinda endearing.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s honestly a bit nice to have someone like that. Sometimes… I see a bit of myself in her, a bit of how I used to be.”

Enterprise took a long, almost nostalgic breath in before continuing. “It’s not just her. I wouldn’t know what I’d do without Belfast and Vestal, they really chewed me out for my last stunt. Saratoga’s done so much for me over these years, ‘specially back during the war in the pacific. And I probably wouldn’t be here today without my sisters, they really mean the world to me.”

Zuikaku could pick up a sense of almost wistfulness from the ghost as she took in another breath.

“I’d do anything to protect them. Absolutely anything at all.”

Zuikaku looked at Enterprise for a while, her gaze lingering as she took in the phantom’s words. She was beginning to understand the ghost just that little bit more each time they talked. The shell that Enterprise seemed to wrap around herself was beginning to crack, bit by bit.

They stood silent for a moment, Enterprise’s words seeming to linger in the air.

“Zuikaku!” A voice suddenly called from the doorway as the door burst open, snapping Enterprise and Zuikaku out of their trances.

“Shoukaku-nee!” Zuikaku called back, recognizing her sister as she stepped into the room, followed by two other guests, one of which held a rather elongated case.

“Zuikaku, are you alright?” Taihou, who’d seemingly come along with Shoukaku, stepped inside and placed a bag full of what looked like gifts down at the foot of the bed, looking at Zuikaku with a mixture of concern and almost disbelief.

“I mean… My body still hurts like hell, but other than that I’m doing just fine!” Zuikaku responded, grinning up at her fellow carrier.

“ Ahem, Zuikaku.” The other voice spoke, walking up to Zuikaku’s bed as the other two began to ruffle through the gift bag.

“Takao! It’s great to see you! How’ve you been?”

“I have been well. I heard of your injuries and came as quickly as I could… I apologize for not getting here sooner; I was preoccupied with an assignment Shikikan had for me.”

“Hey that’s alright, we all got responsibilities and stuff! I totally get you.”

“The understanding is appreciated. In addition, I heard your sword was broken, so…” Taking the long case from behind her back, she handed it to Zuikaku who eagerly opened the case.

“Wooaaah… Thanks so much Takao!” With stars in her eyes, Zuikaku pulled out a brand-new katana from the confines of the case, marveling at the sleek black sheath the weapon was held within.

Taihou and Shoukaku then approached bearing gifts of their own. Starting with Taihou, she produced a medium-sized box and handed it to Zuikaku. Opening it up revealed a long red scarf, which Zuikaku took with great enthusiasm.

“Wow, this is really great Taihou! Did you make it yourself?”

“That’s right~. It took me just over two days to finish, I’ve been keeping it safe ever since. I hope you like it.”

“I do, this is great! It’s getting close to fall anyway, so I’m gonna need something to warm myself up!”

“I’m glad you like it, Zuikaku.” Taihou responded, smiling warmly at her friend as Shoukaku approached next, placing a container down on Zuikaku’s lap.

“I made you some tempura for you to have when you woke up, I’ve been so worried about you Zuikaku! You promised you wouldn’t go off and get yourself hurt, didn’t you? How are you going to make it up to your poor older sister?” Shoukaku whined playfully, wrapping her arms tightly around Zuikaku as the younger of the two chuckled nervously.

“I’m sorry, Shoukaku-nee! I just… sorta felt like I had to go help. Y’know? Like a voice was telling me ‘move’, and my body just sorta reacted!” Zuikaku responded, trying to hold up her hands defensively.

“Mmm… Well, you better not do this kind of thing again, you hear me?” Shoukaku scolded, lightly hitting her sister on the head, though she was extremely careful not to exaggerate any pre-existing wounds.

After a bit more conversation, the room’s atmosphere began to lighten up considerably, with Enterprise even seeming to enjoy herself as compared to her earlier, more melancholy state of reflection.

A knock on the door would soon change this.

“Hey there everyone! So, I need to talk to Zuikaku about… the thing I briefed you all on earlier this week.” The Commander, peeking into the room, waved his hand a bit to nab everyone’s attention.

Everyone turned around to acknowledge The Commander, before suddenly looking significantly more melancholy than before. Zuikaku’s confusion grew as The Commander spoke up once more.

“Can… everyone step outside for a sec? I think it’d be best to give her some room, given the bombshell I'm about to drop.”

“Huh? What’s going on?” Zuikaku asked as the rest of the kansen in the room began to file out.

The Commander put his hands in his pockets for a moment, tapping his feet on the ground as he attempted to think of a way to break the news to Zuikaku.

“So… I’m just gonna cut to the chase.”

“What do you-”

“Shinano talked to Shoukaku and I about a week ago. She says Enterprise is gonna kill you in about two months.”

“...Oh.”

Chapter Text

Holding a beach party right after the base was nearly destroyed? Maybe not the greatest idea, but it’s the one The Commander had insisted upon.

He said something along the lines of, “well we might as well try to raise morale, and it’s summer! The kansen already love the beach, so why don’t we throw some sort of celebration!” or something like that. Zuikaku sorta understood what he was going for, but still felt that maybe the timing was a bit uncouth.

That said…

“AAAHHHH! SHOUKAKU-NEE, HELP!” Zuikaku called out, running from Hornet and Yorktown, who each held rather sizable water blasters.

“STOP RUNNING ZUIKAKU, YOU’LL ONLY DIE TIRED!” Hornet called out, aiming a water blast straight at Zuikaku’s ass as she and Yorktown chased the younger crane across the beach.

“Run faster, Zuikaku! They’re gaining on you~!” Shoukaku teased from the sidelines, giggling to herself as she watched her little sister from the sidelines, adjusting the umbrella she sat under ever so slightly.

“D-Don’t worry Miss Zuikaku, I-I’m coming!” Dido called out, trying to fire at Hornet and Yorktown from her position behind a large wall of sand.

Before the water gun fight had actually started, Dido had busied herself with making a small castle of sand around a seashell that one of the destroyers had found. Of course, that was until Belfast insisted on up-sizing the thing, and now it was more the size of a full-fledged cabin.

That of course, PALED in comparison to the massive dune of sand that the starter quad had managed to build, entirely as a result of Laffey bringing a bottle of alcohol to the beach, getting drunk, and interpreting Nimi saying they should dig for shells as “let’s excavate nearly a tenth of the beach.”

Souryuu and Hiryuu, who’d recently returned to the base following their week-long mission to the Eagle Union, watched in a mixture of horror and amazement as the beach was consumed by the flames of aquatic battle.

“Nee-sama… should we rescue Zuikaku-”

“No, Hiryuu. It is best we remain here… I fear what will happen if we get involved in-” Souryuu was quickly cut off as a powerful jet of water slammed into the both of them, burying them deep in the sand.

A flag stood planted atop the massive hill of sand, which many kansen were struggling to reach. For you see, somebody, as of now unnamed, decided to proclaim the water gun match a game of “king of the hill”, which had then compelled a great majority of the kansen into action, spurring the shipgirls into climbing the hill and striking down any who dared stand in their way. Currently, it was being held by Taihou, who’d magically found herself up there as Roon bore down on their contenders with dual massive water blasters.

“YES! YES! YEEEESS! FEEL MY WRATH! FIRST THIS HILL, THEN MEIN KOMMANDANT!” Roon shouted, knocking one of the climbing kansen down with a series of water blasts.

Taihou sort of just sat there, looking rather concerned as Roon’s homicidal tendencies flared to their maximum, in the middle of a water fight. “...Do try to tone down your bloodlust, you’ll scare away Shikikan-sama~...”

“...Should we stop her?” Bismarck asked, leaning over to Hood from their towel on the beach.

As part of “Operation: Touch Grass”, Eugen had instructed Hood to take advantage of the sudden beach party to force Bismarck to socialize. Unfortunately, this was a bit interrupted by the surprise battle royale that was taking place on the beach.

“No… I think we’d best avoid that mess for now…” Hood responded, wincing as she saw Prince of Wales flung from the hill by a point-blank blast from Roon.

Fortunately, she was caught by Eugen, who wasted no time in seductively winking at her companion and eliciting a swarm of chuckles from the prince.

Enterprise looked out at the battlefield before her, strewn with the corpses(unconscious bodies) of her comrades(the dumbasses who tried climbing the hill) as the black(blue) smoke-filled(barely cloudy) sky loomed above her.

“War… War never changes…”

“Senpai, we’re in the middle of a water gun fight, can you maybe tone it down with the melodrama?” Essex quickly cut in.

“I’m in the middle of my pre-fight monologue, Essex. You’ll learn to do this when you’re more experienced, like me.”

“Oh for the love of- let’s just go get the flag!”

Rolling her eyes, Enterprise lunged forwards toward the hill with Essex in tow. She aimed straight for Roon, firing a series of deadly-accurate water jets towards the Iron Blood cruiser, who narrowly dodged out of their way as Roon snapped back towards Enterprise.

“At last, A WORTHY OPPONENT! COME, ENTERPRISE~!” Roon called out, aiming both massive blasters towards the carrier before letting loose a massive barrage of water jets and bolts.

The Commander watched as Enterprise expertely avoided the (literal)rain of attacks coming down from above, rolling and jumping as she returned fire with her own blaster, with Essex providing support as the two Eagle Union carriers charged towards the hill.

He himself had set up his own little shop in the middle of the beach, with several umbrellas shielding him from the beating sun as he handed out water blasters to the kansen.

“Hey kid, you wanna go avenge your buddy?”

“Commander… it’s me Javelin… and I’m just trying to take care of Laffey!”

“Oh come on, why not go have fun! Go fight on the frontlines like Nimi and Ayanami! They’re having fun, right?”

Ayanami was busy having an epic foam sword duel with Hakuryuu on one side of the hill, as Nimi narrowly avoided a stray water jet from the battle between Enterprise and Roon.

“MEIN GOTT! DAMMIT AYANAMI GET DOWN HERE AND HELP ME!”

“I am busy fighting a worthy opponent-desu, the demon must prevail!”

“I like your style, little girl! Come on, let’s pick up the pace!”

“AAAAAHHHHH!” Nimi screamed as another water jet nearly slammed into her face, forcing the German destroyer to duck for her life.

“...See? Fun!” The Commander said with a smile, forcing a water blaster into Javelin’s hands and lightly pushing her out towards the battlefield.

“A-Alright, Nimi! I’m coming!” Javelin said, sounding a bit nervous as she rushed over to save her friend.

The Commander chuckled to himself as he watched the young destroyer run off, before turning to watch Zuikaku as she attempted to make a stand against the two carriers chasing her, resulting in the young crane getting doused with water blasts from all directions.

To him, it was strange how she could remain happy all the time. Especially… after getting something like her impending death revealed to her.

He watched as she let out a cacophony of laughter as Dido joined her in the fray, pushing back Yorktown and Hornet before the two beat a hasty retreat.

“I wonder… is it all a front…?”

“O-Oh… wow…” Zuikaku suddenly looked significantly more depressed. 

Her eyes drifted to the bed, blinking a few times as she seemingly tried to comprehend what it was she was just told. After all, being informed of one’s imminent demise tends to have that effect on people. Death is a complicated thing, after all.

“Did… did she say anything else…?” Zuikaku asked, looking up at The Commander with a face full of discord and worry.

“Nope. All she said was that she saw Enterprise killing you. Apparently, there was nothing else of note in the vision.” The Commander grimmly responded.

The crane seemed to remain silent after that.

“After Enterprise nearly lost control, at least according to the reports several witnesses and herself handed in, we decided to give the base a briefing regarding the dreams. We… worry that it may have to do with whatever plans the sirens have in store for her.” He went on to explain.

“It wasn’t like keeping secrets was doing any good regardless…”

Zuikaku sat there for a moment and took it all in. She looked down at her battered, damaged body.

“I hear the doctors say you’ll need a few more days to fully heal, the burns you received were pretty bad, but with our medical technology we should be able to get you back into tip top shape with a bit of ingenuity. Just… don’t do that again, Shoukaku damn near had a heart attack when she found out.”

“Shoukaku-nee… Wait, how has she been lately, is she doing alright!?” Zuikaku suddenly perked up, remembering her sister and her tendency to hide pain beneath a smile.

“...I’d be lying if I said she was doing well. She’s been trying her best to appear as happy and elegant as she usually is but… that facade has been cracking as of lately. I think it’d be a good idea to spend some time with her, help her calm her nerves, y’know? Just leave the Enterprise stuff to us.” The Commander replied.

“...Alright, that… sounds like a plan.”

“I’m gonna get going now. We have to try and think of a plan to make sure Enterprise doesn’t go berserk or anything.”

“...”

“I’ll seeya later. Take care man.”

He looked over towards where Shoukaku was seated at the beach, hidden beneath her umbrella as she watched her sister.

The smile on her face.

It was so bittersweet.

…

“Still conflicted, Nee-sama?” Kaga asked, sitting down next to her sister under the umbrella they shared beneath the beating sun, the elder of the two foxes still fixated on someone in the distance.

Akagi turned to her sister momentarily before quickly looking away, her eyes settling back onto Zuikaku as she was now chased by Saratoga and Lexington along with the two other carriers from before, all four having surrounded Zuikaku and soaking her with their arsenal of water guns.

“...I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Quit playing coy, Nee-sama, I can see it in your eyes.”

Akagi almost winced as Kaga called her out, crossing her left leg over her right as she continued to gaze at her junior.

“...It’s going to be difficult, Nee-sama.”

“What?”

“Apologizing, I mean. Apologizing to Zuikaku is going to be difficult.”

“I- What- What are you talking about!?”

“She saved your life, Nee-sama. Did she not?”

Akagi grumbled, looking away as Kaga reminisced on the day she’d come to visit Akagi in the infirmary, and her elder sister had explained everything to her.

She recalled the crimson cheeks Akagi had when she mentioned Zuikaku, shamefully admitting that if it hadn’t been for her junior, she’d certainly be dead by now.

“...Did she not?”

“Grr- Yes! Yes she did…”

“And you want to apologize, right?”

“...”

“ You want to apologize, right Nee-sama?”

“For the love of- I…! I suppose so…”

Kaga smirked, watching as her elder sister flushed red once more, jerking her head away with a pout. She reminisced on the conversation she had with Akagi back in the infirmary, just after Akagi had woken up.

“...”

“I see you’ve messed up quite badly, Nee-sama.” Kaga commented, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall next to Akagi’s bed.

“I…”

“So… what happened after I blacked out?” 

Akagi took a deep breath in, placing a hand on her forehead before inspecting her bandaged fingers. She could still feel it lingering within her, those black and violet flames of war she wielded. It felt… wrong.

“...After you lost consciousness, I… lost control. I saw red… and I tried to use the full power of the black cube. After that… it’s all blurry. I don’t remember much, I remember hearing the Grey Ghost beginning to power up, then I remember her falling to the ground, and after that… I don’t remember much of anything.”

“So-”

“But… I do remember hearing someone.”

Kaga’s eyebrow raised, curiosity peaked. “Go on.”

“...Zuikaku, from the 5th Carrier Division.”

“Oh?”

“I heard her speaking to me, calling out to me amidst the black cube’s influence… I remember hearing her talking to me, trying to pry me out from that infernal weapon. And then… I remember forcing out the cube’s influence, right as the final blow was struck upon me by that damn Ghost…”

“And what did she say?”

“...She said she understood me. I thought it absurd at first, the possibility that a fledgling like her could understand me. But… then she… she started talking about how scared she was. How… weak she felt and…”

A look of shame came across Akagi’s face, as she looked down at the ground.

“...That it’s likely we made those Eagle Union… girls… feel the same way.”

However small, a grin still came across Kaga’s face.

“...As shameful as it is for me to admit… I understood them entirely. I… understood their sadness, their rage, their feeling of weakness… I understood everything in that one moment.”

“That crane… saved my life.”

Kaga walked over to her sister, placing a hand on Akagi’s shoulder.

“Then… There’s only one thing left to do, isn’t there, Nee-sama?”

“...Allow me, Nee-sama.” Kaga smirked, before taking a deep breath in and turning towards the group currently water-boarding Zuikaku via-water gun firing squad.

“Wait what are you-”

“ZUIKAKU OF THE 5TH CARRIER DIVISION, NEE-SAMA WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A WORD WITH YOU, IN PRIVATE!” Kaga called out to Zuikaku, who quickly perked her head up upon hearing her being called.

“I- EXCUSE ME- KAGA!!!” Akagi rapidly turned to her sister, shouting in disbelief and surprise as she suddenly shot her gaze back towards the crane. “WAIT I-”

“Huh? Coming! Hey guys, I’ll be right back!” Zuikaku said, quickly standing up and dusting herself off before running over towards Akagi, yelping as Lexington landed one last cheeky shot on her posterior. “Aiiye- Not my butt! Ah jeez…”

The elder fox watched as her junior ran up to her, still dripping with water as she suddenly looked around for her sister, realizing that Kaga had mysteriously disappeared.

“Didya need something, Senpai?” Zuikaku asked, leaning down to look at Akagi whilst brushing her hair out of the way.

Akagi soon became acutely aware of the water still dripping down Zuikaku’s body, the way she brushed her hair out of her face, and the sparkling golden eyes looking back at her- when had they become sparkling?

She felt a strange, foreign emotion filling her chest. She felt her face getting hotter as Zuikaku leaned in closer, bending over more as she stared at her senior.

“Uh… you look really red, do you have a fever, Senpai?” Zuikaku asked, tilting her head to the side a bit with curiosity.

Akagi felt nervous, her eyes dancing across Zuikaku’s body, resting on her face for a moment before moving down.

“...Wow, they are big- NO! FOCUS!”

Slapping herself on both sides of her face, she took in a deep breath before motioning for Zuikaku to take a seat on the towel next to her.

“So, what did you need, Akagi-senpai?” Zuikaku asked, leaning back and propping herself up with her arms.

“...” Akagi stayed quiet for a moment, as Zuikaku turned to look at her with a bit of concern.

“...Thank you, 5th Car- Zuikaku.” She said, finally forcing out the words she’d been wanting to say for about a week, that familiar creeping heat making its way up her face.

“Huh? What for?” The crane asked in response, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

“For… For saving my life. If you hadn’t called out to me, I… I would likely be dead by now. So thank you, Zuikaku. And… I’m sorry. For… For everything. I know I haven’t been… the best senior in the world. I’ve pushed you away and hurt you so many times in the past… and I haven’t shown any gratitude for the many things you’ve done for me. So…”

“I’m sorry.” 

It wasn’t often Akagi humbled herself before another, especially one of her own juniors such as Zuikaku.

She took in a deep breath, closing her eyes as she waited for the inevitable mockery and shame that was sure to come her way. After all, surely Zuikaku would want payback for all of the things she’d done to her over the years.

“Meh, no problem! All in a day’s work, right?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, it’s no biggie! Saving each other, helping each other out, that’s just a natural thing isn’t it?”

Akagi sat in shocked silence, blinking once or twice before suddenly coming out of her trance and coughing a bit.

“Hey, are you alright?”

“Yes of course I just… No mockery? No slander? I’ve just humbled myself before you and… it’s just fine?”

“Well duh, what do you think I was gonna do? Make fun of you for saying sorry and admitting you did wrong? Nah, that’s just not my style!” 

Akagi jolted a bit as Zuikaku nabbed her hand, forcing her senior to stand as she returned to her feet as well.

“Now then, let’s go play! We need to relax after that big fight and all, so come on!”

Her face filled with heat once more as Zuikaku ran back towards the water gun fight, holding Akagi’s hand as she re-joined the battle and picked up her old blaster.

Akagi looked down at their joined hands, a foreign… and comforting feeling filling her breast.

“...I see.”

Suddenly, Zuikaku let go as Akagi was snapped out of the second strance trance she’d fallen into that day, still reaching out for the crane before a large blaster was shoved into her arms.

“Alright, we need you to rally the troops, everything’s in complete disarray!” Zuikaku said, motioning to the battlefield before them.

Various kansen from a variety of nations laid groaning on the ground as Enterprise stood atop the massive hill of sand, Roon half-buried next to her as Taihou tried fruitlessly to pull her out.

She yelped as a large water jet flew overhead, knocking over a nearby destroyer as Reno quickly ran over in life-guard gear, blowing a whistle twice as a bunch of manjuu soon carried the destroyer off to the side.

A massive explosion sent Akagi tumbling to the ground, courtesy of Belfast, who’d somehow gotten her hands on a massive eight-barreled water gun.

“I suppose disposing of the trash in this manner is rather fun.” She commented, before firing up her weapon and spraying devastation down upon the lands beneath.

A literal rain fell upon the battlefield, as battleships, cruisers, destroyers, carriers, and even submarines alike dove for cover.

“Come on Akagi-senpai, you gotta do something! Give us a speech!”

“What? There are sides in this mess?”

“Hurry and say something inspirational!”

“I am so confused right now!”

Akagi looked around as water flew overhead, along with Javelin, who was holding Nimi in her arms.

Zuikaku placed a hand on either shoulder of the fox, forcing Akagi to look her in the eye.

“Come on, you just gotta go with the flow, and have fun!” Zuikaku said, before being blown off her feet by an incoming water attack from Tirpitz.

“Oh- I’m sorry!” The Iron Blood battleship called out, wincing as Zuikaku hit the ground a foot away or so. 

She hadn’t actually meant to hit Zuikaku, or fire the weapon, but she had been rather curious as to what the button on the massive blaster that had landed next to her had done. It had been entirely accidental that she happened to aim the weapon at Zuikaku whilst trying to orient herself.

“Dangit, now we’re gonna get stuck in this, and we were having such a lovely beach day!” Victorious grumbled, grabbing the biggest possible water blaster she could find and propping its stock on her shoulder.

“Right then, let’s go!”

Akagi looked around in confusion, disoriented and dazed before a second blaster fell right beside her.

Picking up the second weapon and holding one of them out, she stared straight at Enterprise, and took a deep breath in.

“HEAR ME! WARRIORS OF AZUR LANE! FEAR NOT, FOR MY LOVE WILL PREVAIL AGAINST EVEN THE MOST DASTARDLY OF ENEMIES! IT WILL BREAK DOWN WALLS, IT WILL TOPPEL CASTLES, AND IT WILL GET US TO THE TOP OF THAT FUCKING HILL!” She screamed, pointing at Enterprise.

Silence settled across the beach.

“YEEAAAAAAAH!!” A bunch of the kansen called out, including Washington, who quickly stood up and threw South Dakota off her back, Hiryuu and Soryuu, who dusted themselves off after getting buried by an accidental jet of water fired by Ayanami, Unicorn, who for some reason was hoisting Graf Zeppelin above her head as if she was about to toss the larger carrier into the dirt beneath her, and many others.

“TO BATTLE, MY WARRIORS!” Akagi shouted, charging forward as a horde of kansen followed suit, aiming straight up at Enterprise and letting loose a literal hailstorm of water jets and shots.

“Hah! Nice try Akagi! But we both know how this went last time!” Enterprise responded, turning to the remaining kansen who hadn’t been inspired by Akagi’s rousing speech.

“COME ON GUYS, LET’S GIVE EM WHAT FOR!” Enterprise called, rousing the remaining kansen to their feet as they rushed to the foot of the hill, forming a defensive line which included Yorktown and Hornet, who’d lost track of Zuikaku and didn’t have anyone else to mess with, Hamman, who was just there for Yorktown, Kaga, who purely wanted to mess with her sister, Belfast, who was having a generally good time “taking out the trash”, and many others.

The two armies clashed in the center of the beach, sending sand and water flying EVERYWHERE as kansen fought kansen, sister fought sister, and rival fought rival.

Washington was sent barreling into the dirt after South Dakota got fed up with being thrown all the time, Javelin was sent flying AGAIN as Laffey entered “kill mode” and attempted to square up with the entire King George V class at once, Illustrious was sent(elegantly) into the sand, caught by a very well-placed(in more ways than one) Littorio. It was a scene of pure chaos.

Dido found herself in the midst of the battle, timidly shaking as she wrapped an arm around herself, gripping her blaster in her other hand tightly. 

Soon however, a light shone through the darkness.

The flag planted atop the massive hill.

“U-um… what would Master do in this situation…”

“Come on Dido, you gotta get in there! Get down and dirty AND PUNCH A MOTHERFUCKER IN THE FACE!”

“...Maybe not the best idea. B-But it’s all I’ve got! I-I can’t be thrown away- I won’t be disposed of again!” Dido hyped herself up, giving herself a pep talk before taking in a deep breath, and charging up the hill.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHH” She screamed her lungs out as her anxiety hit her with a panic attack the size of Massachusetts(the state, not the shipgirl) as Massachusetts(the shipgirl, not the state) flew down the hill with Jean Bart in tow, who was apparently screaming at her.

“DAMMIT! THIS IS WHY I SAID TO JUST FOLLOW MY PLAN!”

“Your plan was boring… and aren’t you having fun?”

“...Yeah I guess- OOF!”

Dido winced as the two kansen slammed into the ground atop one another, before shaking her head and turning her attention to the prize: the flag.

She dodged jet of water after jet of water, before someone stood in her way, planting their feet on the ground.

“Hah! Not too shabby Dido, but not good enough!” Enterprise called out, pulling out a foam sword before leaping down at the small Royal cruiser.

A second foam sword blocked her, as Zuikaku valiantly leapt in to block the attack. “Alright then, it’s time for another rematch, Grey Ghost!”

“Oho bring it on!” Enterprise called back, swinging at Zuikaku who parried the blows with deft precision.

Dido ducked down to avoid another attack, as a hand suddenly tapped her on the shoulder.

“Sister, do you need my assistance?”

“S-Sirius! When did you-”

“Don’t worry about that. I will keep Belfast distracted, you just focus on getting to the flag!” Sirius responded, before turning to face Belfast, who’d conveniently just shown up.

“Oh~? What’s this? I graciously apologize you two, but I will not allow anyone to claim Miss Enterprise’s position.”

“Hmm. We’ll see.” Sirius responded, nabbing a blaster of her own and tackling Belfast to the other side of the hill.

Suddenly, a massive shadow loomed over the hill, as Rossiya, who stood atop a massive tower of ice, held aloft the world’s most massive ice cube above the hill.

“This chaos, this ruin… Such are the evils of private property! Today, I will exert myself, and end this terror once and for all! Returning this massive sand hill to its rightful place: IN THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE!” She proclaimed, before waving her hands down and dropping the massive cube.

“OH MY GOD, WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!” Some random kansen shouted, as Taihou finally yanked Roon from the sand and looked up.

“Shikikan-sama… BEAR WITNESS TO MY GLORY!” She screamed, as she shielded Roon with her body before letting loose a massive blast of fire, which slammed into the falling block of ice, the two elements clashing before a chemical reaction took place, and the ice instantly melted into a true tsunami of water.

“...You do remember that fire and ice make water, yes, Taihou?”

“...Shut up, pest.”

The water came crashing down onto the beach, knocking over Rossiya’s ice tower which caused her to also come crashing down into the water.

All was silent as the water washed back into the sea, or seeped back into the sand beneath.

Everything stood still for a moment.

As Dido plucked the flag from the top of the hill.

“I… I did it…!”

All eyes rested on Dido, as the cruiser’s breathing began to hasten upon the realization of what she’d done.

Kaga, who’d conveniently shielded herself from the water by using Alabama as a shield, walked up the hill and grabbed Dido by the arm, before hoisting it into the air.

“BEHOLD, YOUR CHAMPION!”

A cacophony of cheering rang out within the crowd, as kansen from all different nations threw her hands into the air in celebration of a winner being crowned.

“HIP HIP, HOORAY! HIP HIP, HOORAY!” Dido found herself being tossed into the air by the crowd as they cheered, tears welling up in her eyes as she found herself wrapped in a warm feeling.

A feeling she worried she’d never feel for the rest of her life.

A feeling of acceptance.

“YEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” She screamed in victory, as the crowd responded in kind, cheering loudly for the new Queen of The Beach.

The Commander watched from the sidelines with a look of amusement, and of pride.

“Yeah, see that girl over there? That’ll be my successor.” He said, tapping the person next to him on the shoulder.

“...Commander, you do know how much clean-up we’ll have to do, right?” Helena asked, who’d been washed over to The Commander after she’d attempted to save Cleveland from the incoming wave.

Cleveland was fine, by the way, she was currently busy getting Montpelier out of the ground.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine!”

Chapter Text

“GAH-!” 

THUD

Zuikaku hit the floor, rubbing her head as she tried to sooth the dull pain permeating throughout most of her body.

“Not good enough, again!” Mikasa shouted, walking a few steps as Zuikaku struggled back to her feet.

“Ow ow ow- Jeez Mikasa-daisenpai… what’re we even doing this for!?”

“You’re far too slow. We need to speed up your training. With what Akagi mentioned in her report, the sirens are clearly becoming active again. In order to keep up, we must accelerate your growth as much as we can. Come, let’s go again!”

She had a point. Recently, Akagi had revealed to the rest of Azur Lane the details of Observer’s visit to her room. Combined with the dream Shinano had informed The Commander of, this had made it clear to the rest of the kansen that the sirens were beginning to ramp up activity, and take a hands-on approach they hadn’t seen since the start of the siren war.

“I don’t get it… what are you trying to teach me exactly?” Zuikaku asked, stretching her arms a bit before recollecting herself and taking a stance again.

“The height of all martial arts: the ability to move purely on instinct, otherwise known as ‘mindless movement.’ Think of it as an advanced form of muscle memory.” Mikasa responded, adjusting the collar of her uniform before stretching a bit herself.

“Huh… That sounds awesome! So uh, how is this training supposed to help me learn that?” Zuikaku asked again, scratching her head in confusion.

“First, we must polish your reflexes and reaction speed. As such, we’ll be sparring over and over again, until your skills are sharpened like a fine blade!” Mikasa responded, tapping her sword on the ground.

“Uuhhh… I feel like there’s an easier way to do this…” Zuikaku replied nervously, scratching the back of her head with an uneasy smile.

“There likely is, but this is the way I learned it!” Mikasa responded, grinning with a sense of pride.

“Wait, you mean you can do that?” With her interest piqued, Zuikaku raised an eyebrow as she asked her instructor.

“Of course! It was one of the first things I mastered in my youth. Would you like to see?” The elder of the two kansen offered with a smirk.

“Oh yeah!” Stars in her eyes, Zuikaku nodded rapidly as she took a more aggressive stance.

“Alright then, come at me!” Mikasa called out, motioning for Zuikaku to attack her.

“You’ve got it!” Zuikaku responded, before darting forward and swinging her sword up.

As naturally as breathing, Mikasa backstepped the strike and lightly grasped Zuikaku’s raised wrist, before her free hand delivered a light strike to her chest with surgical precision.

BAP

Within a tenth of a second, Zuikaku was on the ground, having lost all her strength from Mikasa’s seemingly magical blow.

Moving with blinding speed, Mikasa quickly leveled her blade at Zuikaku’s throat, ending the spar with a mere three moves.

“W-Woah… So that’s what it looks like?”

“Indeed it is.”

“If I can ask… what does it feel like?”

“Hmm?”

“What does it feel like to move without thinking?”

Mikasa pondered the question for a bit, tapping her chin and pacing back and forth before turning back towards Zuikaku.

“It’s as if your body moves in an instant, like a knee-jerk reaction. Almost as if it just sort of tells itself what to do.”

Zuikaku thought about it for a second, crossing her legs and plopping down on the grass beneath her. She closed her eyes, thinking as hard as she could about the strange description.

“Hey… I think I’ve done that before!” With a sudden realization, Zuikaku shot back up to her feet.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s happened a few times before. Like when Ash was about to kill us all with her big red bomb thing, and when Enterprise and Akagi were about to kill each other during the exercise, and when Akagi went berserk after Kaga got hurt!”

“So… what happened?”

“I can’t exactly recall, but I remember feeling this weird sensation. Almost like my body was just telling me to ‘move,’ and then an instant later I was already doing it! I didn’t have any time to think, I just moved on my own!” 

Mikasa recalled the two times she’d been there, during the failed joint exercise and the incident with the black cubes. Both times she’d seen Zuikaku move with completely inhuman speeds, nothing like the moves she’d shown normally when fighting.

However…

“It’s unlikely that it was an unconscious usage of the mindless movement technique. It was more than likely just a sudden burst of adrenaline, but having grasped that sensation before, and with the proper training, she should be able to at least gain a decent understanding of the technique.”

“Then it’s best we capitalize on that sensation. We’ll keep training until you can move like that on-command! Got it?” Mikasa stated, raising her sword once more.

“Mhm! I’m ready to keep going! Let’s do this!” Jumping to her feet, Zuikaku grinned and nodded as she prepared for battle.

“Right then, come at me!” Mikasa shouted.

“Perhaps it would also be best to teach this technique to Enterprise… Yes, that would be for the best. She’ll need it in the battles to come…”

The sound of clashing steel filled the small forest just outside the base the two kansen trained within, as Mikasa’s thoughts momentarily drifted to their Eagle Union companion.

“With all these hopes and dreams riding upon you… what will you do, Enterprise?”

“Ow… ow ow ow… Why is everything sore… I shouldn’t even be sore in some of these places…!” Stumbling away from the forest and towards a nearby beach-side bench, Zuikaku plopped herself down as she tried to nurse her wounds.

Rubbing the many, MANY sore spots across her body, she looked up into the sky and groaned. While she did enjoy training, as it helped her to calm her mind when she was irritated or annoyed, it sucked complete ass when she had to walk away from said training with little progress made, and tons of injuries everywhere.

She just… couldn’t comprehend how exactly one would “move without thinking,” that whole sentence seemed contradictory in and of itself!

“This is so stupidly hard… Why can’t I just get it , this should be easy!” She continued to complain, leaning back onto the bench and looking up at the sky.

Suddenly, she saw a face lean over and look straight down at her. A face with purple eyes, long white hair, and a suspiciously familiar captain’s hat.

“Hey. Haven’t we done this before?”

“WAH-!”

Enterprise took a step back as Zuikaku swung her head forward, shooting up in surprise before quickly dusting herself off and turning to face her rival. 

“Jeez, don’t just sneak up on me like that!” Zuikaku pouted, puffing her cheeks up as Enterprise nervously chuckled to herself.

“Ah, my bad.” Enterprise responded, as Zuikaku noticed a strange wrist-band her rival was wearing on her wrist.

“Hey, what’s that wristband? It kinda looks like a watch or something.” The crane asked.

“Oh this? I asked Akashi to make me something I could use to keep track of Grimm whenever he flies off to do… whatever.” Enterprise explained, taking off the wristband and turning it to face Zuikaku, showing a sort of flatscreen that was integrated into the band.

“Woah… that looks neat! So how does it work?” Zuikaku asked, a little confused but otherwise really interested.

“The tracker attached to Grimm sends a signal to this device here, and it displays the coordinates that Grimm is at. I can also bring up a map and it’ll show me where he is with a little purple dot. I asked Akashi to add some extra modifications to it, and now it can also locate him even if we get separated in a mirror sea or something.” Enterprise further elaborated, lifting up the wristband so Zuikaku could get a better look.

“Woooaah… that’s so cool! So, like, even if you’re out and away, you can check on Grimm? That’s super neat!” The crane further complimented, internally gushing over the wondrous new device.

Enterprise took a seat down on the bench as she handed the device off to Zuikaku, who quickly began examining the watch and looking all over it before placing it down in between the two of them, taking a seat herself.

“So, what have you been up to?”

“Hm? Oh, I was just training with Mikasa! She was trying to teach me this weird movement thing…”

“Huh… Actually, I just got a message from Mikasa telling me there was something she wanted to show me. Maybe it’s connected…”

“That’d make sense! Though I’ll warn you, it’s really difficult to learn… It makes no sense!”

“Really? What’s so hard about it?”

“Mikasa said it was something like ‘moving without thinking,’ or ‘mindless movement,’ which doesn’t make any sense because you need to think before you move, right?”

“Not exactly. Muscle memory exists, so theoretically if you practiced enough… you could do it.”

“Aww come on… it makes, like, no sense! I still don’t really get it…”

“It sounds like a complicated concept, so it’s understandable. Don’t beat yourself up over it.” Patting Zuikaku on the back, Enterprise turned back towards the sea and looked out at it.

The way the sun reflected off of the ocean seemed even more mesmerizing than before.

It was just so… peaceful.

“Hey, are you doing alright?” Zuikaku asked, turning her head to the side as she looked over to the Grey Ghost.

Enterprise leaned back onto the bench, eyes drifting up towards the sky above.

“...I guess not. Honestly… I feel super stressed.”

She sighed, brushing a bit of her hair aside before continuing.

“We have no idea what the sirens are planning next, we don’t know when Ash is gonna show up again, we have… you know, the thing to deal with, and all we know for sure is that something big is coming. I can’t get the rest of you wrapped up in my mess but… it’s really a lot to take on by myself.”

It wasn’t like she could ask for help. Sure, she’d heard others extend their hands before - Zuikaku being no exception - but it was that simple this time. Sure, the moral support was much appreciated, but when it came down to it…

She had to do it alone.

She was the only one strong enough too.

Getting others wrapped up in her problems… that’d only harm them. The sirens wanted her, Ash wanted her, nobody else.

Nobody else had to get tangled in this mess.

“...I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have bothered you with- hey! Ow- Let go!” Enterprise suddenly began shouting as Zuikaku pinched her ear, the Sakuran carrier pouting before letting her rival go a second later.

“What was that for-!?”

“Jeez… What did I tell you before? You can count on us for some things, so don’t try to do everything by yourself!” 

Enterprise looked away, intentionally avoiding eye contact.

“...Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

A sudden notification on her phone snapped Enterprise out of her trance, quickly reminding the ghost that she did have somewhere to be.

“I need to get going now, Mikasa’s probably waited way too long for me anyway. I’ll… talk to you later.” She said, standing up and beginning to leave.

“Alright then, catch you later! Remember, you can count on us to help you, I promise!” Zuikaku called back, as she watched the phantom turn and walk away.

A wistful smile spread across Enterprise’s face as she walked off towards the forest.

“...I wish I could believe that.”

“You’re late, fifth carrier division.”

“Ahhh! I’m sorry, Senpai!”

Zuikaku quickly bowed in apology as she made her way into the small garden area behind Akagi’s quarters.

Part of Akagi’s punishment for, you know, nearly destroying the base, was to train Zuikaku and help her cultivate her newly-awakened pyrokinesis.

It was a task Akagi was hesitant to undertake, given her lack of trust in those around her, but it was one she had to complete anyway.

Besides, it’d probably be best to try reaching out to others, it’d worked for Zuikaku hadn’t it?

“It’s fine… let’s hurry up and begin your training, shall we?” Akagi changed the subject, walking further into the garden as she motioned for Zuikaku to follow her along the stone path cutting through it.

“Alright! So, what’s the first thing I get to learn?” Zuikaku asked, hastening her steps as she followed her senior, glancing down at the various small lakes and ponds scattered along the path.

“Learning advanced techniques right away isn’t going to bode well for you, especially since you just unlocked your flames a week or so ago. You need to work on the fundamentals first, the basics.” Akagi explained, turning around after making her way into a small clearing of sorts in the garden.

“Aww… but that’s boring! I guess I don’t really have any other choice…” Zuikaku pouted, puffing up her cheeks as she looked down in resignation.

“Ordinarily, we’d start teaching you some of the more intricate beginner techniques, but given that you only just awakened your abilities… we need to reinforce your foundation.” Akagi continued, making a few motions in the air as she turned to face Zuikaku.

The crane looked a bit downtrodden at that.

“She’s right… I’m still really new to this whole thing.”

Her thoughts drifted to the thoughts she’d had right after the attack on the base, and then to the strange dreams she’d been having as of late.

“...Maybe Purifier is right. I don’t possess the same level of talent of natural power that everyone else has… Maybe I am actually just weighing everyone down…”

She slapped herself on either side of the face.

“No…! I can’t think about that right now, I just gotta focus! Enterprise is dealing with a ton of things right now, so I can’t let myself get weighed down by that kind of crap!”

“...Besides, I’m not a burden to anyone, right…?”

Refocusing herself and halting her fidgeting, she turned to face Akagi as the fox held aloft a small fireball.

“We’ll be starting with simply amplifying the fire you can currently create. First, start by activating your ability.” Akagi instructed, as Zuikaku held out both hands in front of her.

A moment later, her hands ignited into brilliant orange flames, flourishing heat swirling into the air around her.

“Alright! This still feels a bit weird, it’s kinda tingly, but in a good way!”

“That’s natural since you’ve just awakened your ability. Now, try to focus on intensifying the flames, grow them in strength like this.” With a wave of her finger, the fireball Akagi summoned earlier suddenly magnified in strength, exploding outwards with immense force and causing Zuikaku to take a reflexive step back.

“Woah… that looks awesome! Alright, let me try!” 

Closing her eyes, Zuikaku took a deep breath and concentrated. She felt the flow of energy coursing through her body, circulating throughout her entire form before building up in her hands.

Suddenly, the sound of billowing flames prompted her to suddenly shoot open her eyes, as she gazed upon the two massive flames engulfing her hands. Her flames weren’t as large as Akagi’s, but they were proof that she’d gotten a hang of the technique.

“Not bad, Zuikaku. It seems your growth under crisis has served you well…”

“Alright! So, what’s the next step?”

“Hmm?”

“What do we do after this?”

“Well… the next step would be learning how to emit your flames from your entire body, but you seem to have grasped that.”

“Oh yeah… That must mean I’m a super good learner, I’m pretty awesome huh!”

“Don’t get so cocky, the next step is the hardest one of them all. Learning how to detach the flames from yourself and control them even when not directly connected to them.”

“Eh?”

Akagi waved her left hand and summoned a series of fireballs into the air, moving her finger about and causing the flames to circle around her.

“There are a variety of supplemental techniques that pyrokinetics like you and I learn, such as the ability to spin one’s flames to add more kinetic force to an attack, or the infusion of physical objects with flames, but this is the most important step in your training. Learning how to manipulate fire even when not actively touching it will let you grasp the true essence of flames, dramatically increasing your proficiency with them. Technically, it is an advanced technique, but it will serve you well in the future.”

“Wow… alright, I’ll give it a shot!”

Tensing up, Zuikaku clenched her teeth as she forced as much energy into her fire as possible, pointing her arms forward and pushing as hard as she could in an attempt to force her flames outward.

A few moments passed as she pushed even harder, digging up as much energy as she could and forcing it into the flames with her palms.

Suddenly, the fire exploded, knocking Zuikaku back as Akagi raised a single hand to block the blast, dispersing the burst with little difficulty.

“Hmm… I seem to have grown significantly stronger since before the incident…” Akagi murmured to herself, looking at her hand in awe.

“Ah crap… this is gonna be a lot harder than it sounds, isn’t it?” Zuikaku complained, lying on her back and groaning a bit.

“It is an advanced technique, so you won’t be able to master it overnight just like that. In hindsight, perhaps I was too rash in teaching you this right away… Let’s continue tomorrow, by then I will have a proper lesson plan properly laid out for you.” Akagi said, before swiftly beginning to take her leave and motioning for Zuikaku to follow.

“Right, uh, just give me a few seconds! I’ll be right there…” Zuikaku said, words drifting off as she looked high into the sky.

It was true, it was an advanced technique and it was reasonable that she wouldn’t be able to learn it very fast but…

“I’ve gotta get stronger… I gotta keep my promise with Enterprise, I won’t let her do this alone!”

“...I’m going to take my leave now, Grey Ghost, that was some excellent work back there. Take care, my friend!” Mikasa said, waving to Enterprise as she left the forest clearing.

Enterprise said down near a river just adjacent to the clearing, having decided to cool off there following her training with Mikasa.

3 hours.

It’d taken just 3 hours for her to learn the technique.

Yet still, she felt unsatisfied.

Something inside her was telling her to pursue greater strength.

Instinctively, she knew this would not be enough. Ash would come back with more power, the sirens would come back with larger threats, and the mindless motion technique would not be enough to stop them.

She looked down at the water beneath her, taking off her boots and socks and dipping her feet into the clear stream beneath.

She missed the cool, calm feeling that this stream gave off. It reminded her of the days before the war, before her sisters died at the hands of her enemies and before her friends were put in constant danger all because of the strength she’d cultivated.

To put it lightly, it sucked.

She laid back onto the grass, feeling each gentle green blade brush against her skin.

“...Maybe it’d be nice to have someone help me.”

No.

That was preposterous.

That was far too selfish.

How could she ask someone to share the pain she felt, to carry the burden she carried, to bear the weight she bore.

The sirens, Ash, they all wanted her.

That’s all.

“...No. I have to do this alone.”

Chapter Text

Finding herself wide awake in the middle of the night was a common occurrence for Enterprise as of late.

Whenever she wasn’t having nightmares, Enterprise found herself sitting in her bed without a lick of sleep at whatever ungodly hour of the night it happened to be.

This time was no different, and with nothing better to do, Enterprise decided to take a midnight stroll around the base.

The night air felt cool, crisp, and calming. Looking out at the sea, her gaze rested upon the calm, moonlit waves slowly rolling onto the beach.

Just another reminder of the peace she had to protect.

She let out a deep sigh, feeling the cold night air gently brush through her air.

“...I need a break.”

Turning back from the beach, she started heading over towards the base, when she noticed the cafeteria building.

Some of its lights were still on.

“That’s… not suspicious at all.” She said to herself, before making her way towards the cafeteria.

Stepping into the massive building, she looked into the complex and noticed that the dining area was completely dark. The kitchen, however, had its lights on, with the soft sounds of someone rustling in its depths echoing out into the dining rooms.

Raising her guard, Enterprise manifested a shimmering arrow of light as she cautiously approached the entrance to the kitchen, eyes trained on the corner so as to defend herself against any surprise attacks.

As she got closer, the sounds became clearer. Something or someone was digging through the kitchen’s fridge, probably in an attempt to steal something.

She perched up just around the corner, placing her back against the walls as she tried to listen in and see if she could identify the food thief by their voice.

“Crap… where’d I put it…?”

The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but it was too soft to be properly distinguished.

No more time to waste.

It was go-time!

“FREEZE!”

“GAH-!”

Enterprise rounded the corner with her arrow raised like a dagger, as she laid eyes on a familiar brunette surrounded by various containers of food casually tossed to the side(luckily none of their lids had popped off so the mess was rather containable) as said brunette quickly stumbled back with a yelp, turning to face the eagle with surprise.

“...Zuikaku-?”

“Please don’t tell Shoukaku-nee.”

“So… Wanna tell me exactly what you were doing up at what, 3 in the morning, digging through the fridge?”

“L-Look, I was hungry and I remembered I’d put some tempura in the fridge, that’s all!”

Enterprise sighed, placing her elbow down on the desk and placing her chin down into her hands as she leaned forward into them.

“I have no words…”

“Hey, at least I have better eating habits than you used to!” Zuikaku was quick to retort, puffing out her cheeks.

The eagle chuckled to herself a bit before changing her position, placing both elbows on the table and letting her arms rest against the flat surface.

She looked down at the table in silent contemplation, as her thoughts drifted back towards the burden she carried, the dreams she held aloft, and the hopes she kept afloat.

It was just… so suffoc-

“Hey, you doin alright?”

Zuikaku’s words cut through her trance, quickly snapping her attention back to the real world as she shot up straight.

“Uh- Yeah, I’m doing fine I guess.” Enterprise was quick to respond.

But Zuikaku had talked to Enterprise far too many times now to be tricked like that, she could see the conflict and emotions brewing inside of the Eagle Union’s Ace.

Had her words really not reached her last time…?

Maybe now wasn’t the best time to pry into that sort of thing. Zuikaku decided to change the topic.

“So uh, what happened when you blacked out during the incident with Akagi?”

“Hmm?”

“According to Akagi, when you woke up, you were able to use a bunch of new powers, including Ash’s big weird red bomb thing! What’s up with that?”

Enterprise took in a deep breath as she shifted in her seat. “It’s… complicated.”

“Complicated how?” Zuikaku prodded, turning in her seat to face the Union’s Ace.

“I… I don’t know how to put it into words… I woke up in this weird sea, kinda like a mirror sea. Not only that, but…”

She took a moment to pause, her hands tightening into fists.

“...Ash was there.”

“Woah, so did you fight her?”

“Yeah. She made me a deal… If I was able to last ten or so minutes, she’d give me some answers.”

“Oh crap, so did you get some info?”

A pause. Zuikaku leaned to the side to get a look at Enterprise’s face.

The look of grim determination on her face…

It scared her.

“...No. I barely lasted four.”

“Oh…”

Zuikaku reached out to Enterprise, and gently rubbed her friend’s back.

“...But, something weird happened. Something I’m not sure I can really explain…” Enterprise continued.

“During our fight, I got this intense feeling of… merging. It was like everytime I hit Ash, or Ash hit me, I was fusing with something… She seemed to feel it too, meaning only one thing.” 

Zuikaku’s eyes widened, as she felt a lump forming in her throat.

Enterprise kept going.

“...I think Ash and I… were somewhat fusing together.”

“Woah… How do you think that happened?”

“That’s the thing… I’m not sure. I do have a theory though. I think the sirens had something to do with it, given that they were almost definitely watching my fight with Akagi. Maybe they created some sort of mental link between Ash and I… for what purposes though, I’m unsure.”

It took her a bit of time to really take everything in. Zuikaku’s mind flooded with thoughts. What could the sirens possibly get out of doing that kind of thing, what side effects would pop up as a result of fusing with another version of yourself, and what other things were the sirens going to do to Enterprise?

Focusing back on Enterprise, it was clear to see the toll the recent events had had on Enterprise. She looked more tired, both spiritually and physically, and she didn’t seem to be as happy or optimistic as before.

“I… I know I already asked but… are you alright?” She asked.

Enterprise remained silent for a bit.

She looked back to Zuikaku.

“...I don’t know anymore.”

“So… Why exactly have you come here, Zuikaku?”

“Well… It’s kinda complicated…”

Knelt in the seiza position, Zuikaku sat before Taihou in the latter’s room.

It’d been about a full day after her late night talk with Enterprise. After giving it a lot of thought… Zuikaku came to a decision.

She was going to make a gift!

But what kind, you may ask? And rightfully so. The act of giving gifts is far more complicated than it may seem at first.

Luckily however, Zuikaku had tackled this problem rather quickly.

“You see… I wanna make her a scarf.”

“Really…? I… suppose that’s a reasonable request, but why a scarf specifically?” Taihou pressed, fully taking a seat in front of Zuikaku.

“It’s just… she seems super cold lately. I thought, you know, maybe a scarf knit by a friend would be just the thing she needs to get back into her groove, right?”

Taihou sighed. “I see… I can understand such a desire. I feel the same way for Shikikan-sama~.” She began saying.

“W-Woah, I wouldn’t go that far-”

“Then it’s settled. Zuikaku, I shall help you knit this scarf, follow me~!” Taihou called out, grabbing Zuikaku and dragging her further into the phoenix’s room.

Upon their arrival, Taihou motioned to her white-winged friend a large rectangular table with several sewing machines placed upon them.

“This is where I create most of my outfits, and this is also the place where your training will begin~.”

“Wait… training?”

“Knitting can’t be done in just a single night… Sit down. We’re about to begin the lesson~.”

Something something stitch patterns… Something something length of yarn… something something fabric… How long had she been in here?

After Taihou taught her the basics, the phoenix had decided to watch Zuikaku make her first few attempts at a scarf.

The first one looked like a mixture between a ball of lint and disappointment.

The second one looked like the physical embodiment of pain.

The third resembled a scarf, but seemed to be much more of a barely held-together series of strings and knots.

And this last one…

“...” Taihou stood speechless at the fourth attempt.

She was almost certain it was moving.

It didn’t even resemble cloth anymore, more a giant pile of materials thrown together into a vaguely string-like shape.

“I… should we burn it?” Zuikaku asked, poking the scarf and watching the pile seemingly recoil from the touch.

“I am… unsure…” Taihou responded, looking suspiciously at the definitely demonic abomination. “Regardless, we should start over again.”

As the two turned away to begin anew, the thread-born abomination began to stretch its strings, reaching for the other three failures before pulling them in.

It absorbed the other three “scarves,” before wriggling about as it began to transform, dramatically growing in size and beginning to spread its threads into the area surrounding it.

Meanwhile, Zuikaku was beginning her fifth attempt to create a scarf, and was completely oblivious to the growing monster behind her.

“Hmm… Alright, let’s try this again…” She whispered to herself, as Taihou looked away for a moment.

Which led her to seeing the massive monster of strings forming behind the duo.

“Um… Zuikaku… We may wish to turn around…” The phoenix whispered, leaning over to Zuikaku as the crane stopped her sewing machine to face about.

“...Oh. Uh. Shit.”

The creature let out a deafening roar, as Zuikaku and Taihou very quickly bolted for the door. The stringy abomination gave chase, tearing through the dorm room as the duo of carriers reached the hallway and started running down it as fast as they could.

The base’s alarm went off as Zuikaku looked back and noticed that the monster of yarn was dragging in as many things as it could to build it’s biomass, including a toaster oven, various tatami mats, a futon, a dozen egg rolls, and an unfortunately-placed manjuu that was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A resounding set of BOOMs resonated through the hallway as the building began coming down around Taihou and Zuikaku, the monster sending out fabric tendrils to grab and absorb as much of the rubble as physically possible.

“How the hell did this even happen!?” She screamed in confusion, ducking below one of the tendrils as it shot past her and grabbed at the carpet beneath them.

“It must’ve been born from your most recent attempt at a scarf, the creation must have been so horrid and repulsive that the negative energy it was giving off gave it sentience, leading it to begin absorbing everything around it, presumably starting with your other projects!” Taihou explained, jumping over the carpet with Zuikaku as they continued to make their escape.

“Jeez… way to boost my confidence…”

Leaping out of the dorm building, the two watched in horror as the monster burst out of the remains of the housing area, sending various Sakura Empire kansen flying about as it soon found its target again, charging towards Zuikaku and Taihou.

The two began running again, as a few of the kansen from the nearby Eagle Union dorms began to arrive, attacking the monster and firing various shell types at it.

“Keep it up, there’s no way it can absorb everything we throw at it!” Washington called out as she led the offensive.

The fabricated demon then proceeded to absorb all of the shells and bombs thrown at it, growing even larger and swallowing a good deal of the next building with it’s new mass.

“Well I’ll be damned.”

“Hmph… serves you right for throwing me all of the time…” South Dakota commented.

“Huh!? Wanna get slammed aga-” Washington was cut off mid-comeback, as the two battleships were knocked off their feet by the terrifying creature’s tendrils.

The situation seemed hopeless as Zuikaku dove behind a piece of cover, noticing that the creature’s attention seemed to have shifted from chasing her and Taihou down, to attacking anything that moved.

Throwing some of her planes at the monster, her aircraft joined the rest of the aircraft that the other kansen had sent out to attack the monster, forming a truly formidable armada in the sky.

It was all for naught however, as the monster’s cotton appendages quickly grabbed all of the airborne threats out of the sky, and sucked them back into its swirling mass as easily as one would find breathing.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS IN THAT WOOL!?” Zuikaku yelled in disbelief, as Taihou quickly pulled up the sleeve of her kimono, igniting her arm as she prepared to fire a blast of raging heat at the demonic mass of linen.

“You may be colossal, I will give you that… but you are still made of fabric! NOW BURN!!” She screamed, swinging her arm forward and releasing a twisting torrent of terrifying flames towards her opponent.

The monster reacted quickly, massive arms of string shooting out and slamming into a nearby fire hydrant. In the very next instant, a towering jet of water slammed into Taihou’s flames head-on, canceling out the attack.

“...Actually, indeed, what the hell was in that wool-” Taihou too was cut off by the monster quickly flicking out its spiraling appendages, striking Taihou and sending the phoenix tumbling into the earth.

“Crap… is there really no way to beat this thing…?” Zuikaku said, despair welling up within her as the linen monstrosity let out another bellowing scream.

Just then, a figure appeared on the battlefield.

A figure with pure white hair, and a yellow glow in her hand.

“E-Enterprise, get back, it’s dangerous!” Vestal called out from her spot in cover, trying to heal as many of the injured kansen as she could.

Vestal, luckily enough, possessed the unique ability to channel her wisdom cube’s energy through the bodies of other living things, thus healing them. This was part of the reason why Azur Lane hadn’t completely collapsed under the weight of how many kansen kept getting injured, especially when the only other repair ship on-base was… Akashi.

Unfortunately, not even she could keep up with the level of destruction this cotton creation was wrecking upon the base, thus why she was currently hiding in cover.

“...It’s fine, I’ve got this.” Enterprise responded, reaching out and placing her hand on Vestal’s head before she began her slow walk towards the abomination.

The demon shrieked with deafening volume as Enterprise held out her hand, forming it into a finger-gun and aiming it straight at the figure.

“I haven’t fully tested these powers out so… bear with me.”

A shimmering gold light formed on the tip of her finger, as the string monster sent a veritable tropical storm of threads diving for the white-haired ace.

“Bang.”

In the very next instant, an immense beam of golden light utterly annihilated the monster, reducing it to pure nothingness.

A pointed silence fell across the battlefield.

“...Wow, that’s Enterprise for ya.”

Taihou groaned, picking herself up out of the crater she’d fallen into.

“Zuikaku?”

“Y-Yeah?”

“...I think it’s best if you don’t make scarves anymore. I have a significantly better, much safer idea…”

Zuikaku sighed as she cradled the small-ish box in her lab. It was night-time again, and she’d messaged Enterprise to meet her on one of the benches facing the ocean.

“You know, it’s usually me coming across you. What’s the occasion?” A voice asked, revealed to be Enterprise as she approached Zuikaku from the left, taking a seat on the bench next to her.

“Uh… I just finished making a gift for you and all, and I wanted to give it to you as soon as I could!” Zuikaku responded, motioning to the small box she held in her lap.

“I see… So uh, what did you make?”

“Here, let me get it out!” 

Digging into the box, Zuikaku pulled out a long, thick scarf, reminiscent of the one that Taihou had given her. The biggest differences were that Zui’s was white, and had tassels at either end of the scarf.

The most striking thing though… was the large yellow smiley face sewn into the center of the fabric.

“Uh… What?”

“Well… you’ve seemed really cold and down lately, so I thought I’d make something to cheer you up!” She enthusiastically explained, holding up the scarf with one hand and pointing at it with the other.

“See, I originally wanted to make it black, but then I realized that black would just make you sad, so I went with a brighter color! Plus, I added the little smiley face so that you always have something there to remind you to be happy!”

Enterprise took the scarf into one of her hands, running her fingers along the silky white scarf.

“...Did you make this?” She asked.

“Nah… only the smiley face. The last time I tried making a scarf, we had a monster attack…”

Enterprise blinked a few times “...Oh shit that was you?”

“...Maybe. But that’s besides the point!” Zuikaku continued, placing a hand on Enterprise’s shoulder. “Remember, you can always count on us! If you need help, we’ll come and save you, simple as that!”

A small but noticeable grin formed on Enterprise’s face, before she looked out towards the sea. “Yeah… Sure.”

“Alright! Now uh, Shoukaku-nee’s probably really mad at me for staying out this late, so I’ve gotta head back now. I’ll seeya later!” Zuikaku said, before turning around and running off, waving back towards her friend as she headed back towards the still-damaged Sakura Empire dorms.

Enterprise silently waved goodbye, before she held up the scarf to her face. Wrapping the scarf around herself, she leaned back onto the bench and looked up towards the moon.

“...It’s really warm.”

Chapter Text

“Have we finished the preparations?” Observer looked out at their massive fleet, twirling the tip of one of her tentacles with a finger as she crossed her legs.

“Yep~! All that’s left to do is head out!” Purifier answered, floating above their veritable armada of vessels.

They’d gathered a truly titanic force, over a hundred mass-produced sirens all lined up and waiting to strike. The sirens had a true mission this time, a goal they wished to pursue, and one they couldn’t possibly afford to fail at.

“Did Tester finish getting ready? We can’t leave without her.” Observer asked, motioning towards their base.

“Oh yeah, she’s hyped up and ready to go! Or at least I think she is, I can never get a read on that girl…” Purifier trailed off, as a third humanoid siren suddenly appeared before the two of them.

“Preparations have been completed. All variables accounted for. When do we start the experiment?” Tester reported, before asking about their operation.

“Ironically enough, we’re about to start right now~. You’re right on time~!” Observer responded, snapping her fingers as the mass-produced sirens all began to glow a deep, threatening crimson.

“Now then… the experiment begins now!” She concluded, before clapping her hands together.

“Let’s do a little ghost hunting… shall we~?”

Location: Unknown Mirror Sea

Flames covered the once-peaceful ocean, as Ash sat atop the rubble of what was once a massive siren testing site.

The Ashes had utterly dismantled the site in less than ten minutes, leaving Ash to sit here by herself as the rest of her group conducted clean-up and reconnaissance.

Footsteps to her right.

“Perhaps I have asked this too often but… are you well, Ash?”

The sound of metal dropped onto concrete filled her ears as Ember took a seat to her right-hand side, laying her massive buster sword next to her as the two METAs looked out at the empty sea together.

“...Admittedly? I do not believe so…” Normally, Ash would not disclose such information to anyone, but in the case of Ember, who’d been with her ever since the start of their crusade against Antiochus and their puppets, letting her guard down was acceptable.

If only for a moment.

“Is it… because of her ?” Ash visibly tensed up at Ember’s words, hands tightening into fists as her eyes began narrowing.

“...I’ve been having more dreams as of late.” The dark reflection of Enterprise explained. “That puppet… She's not like the others. I can’t put my finger on why… or how… but she’s dangerous.” 

Ember looked towards their comrades, kansen just like them who’d suffered a waking nightmare at the hands of Antiochus and their minions.

She recounted the innumerable sleepless nights they’d had, wandering through mirror sea after mirror sea, timeline after timeline, on their never-ending quest against their mysterious foe.

“...Don’t worry, Ash. We will not be defeated by them, no matter what kind of devious and deceptive tricks Antiochus uses, we will not be bested by mere puppets.” Ember reassured, placing a comforting hand on her comrade’s shoulder.

Ash sighed, changing positions and crossing her legs.

“Of course… We will win.” She repeated back to Ember.

No matter how many puppets Antiochus threw at them, no matter how many enemies they had to kill, no matter how many testing sites they had to destroy, they would win.

Another thought came to mind. One she had been holding inside for awhile now.

“...That puppet. I think the sirens merged part of us together. I’m… not sure why they would do that… But I think it’s part of their plan.”

“Merging!? You… haven’t suffered any negative side effects because of it, have you?”

“No… Not that I can tell. Though… During our battle inside my mind, she started gaining some new abilities. I think… They were trying to further her ‘evolution’, make her strong enough to kill us.”

“Are… you sure?”

“Not entirely. I’m… working mostly on assumptions and implied knowledge. I can’t say for sure that’s what it is, but there’s nothing we can currently do about it.”

Ember clicked her tongue, tightening her free hand into a fist. The sirens had been toying with kansen for as long as she could remember, perhaps since their very conception into this world.

“Dammit all… So, there’s nothing we can do?” She asked, frustration and a hint of shame lacing her words.

“Not now at least… but I do have a plan.” Ash responded.

Ember perked up at this “...Go on.”

Ash stood up, shaking off Ember’s hand as she called upon her rigging and leapt onto the water.

“I’ll explain as we move. Let’s go, the others seem to have finished reconnaissance.”

“What’s your plan exactly?”

“It’s a bit complicated… but if it works, we’ll be able to rid ourselves of both that puppet…”

She turned around to face Ember and reached into her massive black coat, producing a strange-looking red wisdom cube.

“...And those damn Arbiters as well.”

The sound of water dripping echoed through the bathhouse as Shoukaku ran her hands through Shinano’s long, silvery hair.

“Mmm… I thank you, Shoukaku… you have been very kind these last few days…” The drowsy fox gently spoke, turning back ever so slightly to address Shoukaku.

The elder of the two cranes had recently chosen to spend more time with Shinano, hoping to glean more information regarding Zuikaku’s fate.

“No need to thank me, Shinano-sama~.” Shoukaku responded, continuing to wash the large fox’s luscious hair. “So… have you received any new visions… regarding my sister?”

Shinano remained silent for a time, the drowsy fox seemingly contemplating her answer.

“...Yes.” 

“Huh!? So what- ahem , may I ask what happens in these visions?”

“I… see an ocean. An ocean filled with fire… I see the ghost standing atop a mountain of corpses… I see your sister… amongst the battered and bruised… I see our comrades, fighting against the ghost… but it is not enough…”

Shoukaku did her best to remain calm, quietly taking in all of this new information. If she was correct, that meant that the future Shinano was seeing wasn’t just about Zuikaku’s death, it was about ALL of their deaths, at the hand of the grey ghost.

That was, admittedly, a rather chilling notion.

“Wait… so, what happens before this?” Shoukaku asked, reasoning that there surely had to be a reason that the ghost was fighting them in Shinano’s vision.

Enterprise was indeed a fierce warrior, and her prowess on the battlefield was frankly a bit terrifying at times, but she certainly wasn’t the type to just randomly attack all of her friends and loved ones.

There had to be a reason.

Shinano stayed silent for a moment, then answered. “...I do not know. The visions… they do not give me much information… this one has been trying to understand what has been shown but… nothing yet has come of it… all I know, is that in a timeline soon approaching, Enterprise will fell us all…”

Now it was Shoukaku’s turn to stay silent.

“I see…”

She paused her washing, thoughts swirling inside her head like a maelstrom of worries and fears.

“Do not… worry… I am certain… that our comrades will find a way… to overcome this trial…” Shinano assured, wrapping Shoukaku in her many enormous, fluffy tails as if to smother the bitter flames burning inside of the young crane.

A melancholic smile grew across Shoukaku’s face.

“...I wish I could believe that.”

It seemed like her sister’s fated death was to come soon. As were the fated deaths of all her comrades she’d grown to cherish.

If it came down to it.

Well… She’d already done it , once before, so a second time should be no problem at all.

After all, protecting one’s family with their life was simply a natural instinct.

“U-Um, Miss Zuikaku… W-Why are we here…?”

“Oh lighten up, we’re just here to relax! Come on, let’s sit over there!”

Zuikaku guided Dido into the worn wooden chair of the table they’d chosen to nab, as the small maid looked around the bar that Zuikaku had seemingly dragged her too.

“I-I really don’t think this is necessary-” Dido attempted to iterate.

“You looked really tense when I found you, so obviously something’s up!” Zuikaku quickly shot her down though, being rather experienced with people who deny any and all mental health issues.

Actually, for that matter. 

“Hey… why do so many kansen insist that they’re fine when they aren’t, I mean, doesn’t it make more sense to just say you have a problem? Like, especially amongst friends!”

Dido looked a bit confused for a moment, before thinking about it.

“U-Um… if I had to say… I think it’s because… they don’t want to be a burden.” Dido responded.

“I-I mean think about it… we’ve been given a-a second chance at life… a lot of us… don’t wanna waste it. A-At least I think so… We’ve all got r-regrets from our past lives… so we wanna make the most of it… a-and not burden our friends who are doing the same with our problems… y-you know?” She continued.

Zuikaku sat and thought for awhile, as their drinks arrived soon after(she’d ordered ahead) and Dido was quickly swept up in drinking out of the frankly over-sized mug she’d been given.

Was that the reason Enterprise buried all of her feelings so deep below the surface? Perhaps it was a combination of her desire to avoid the mistakes of her past life, and her desire to protect those closest to her, that resulted in this self-destructive cycle.

She could understand what that was like, to be weighed down by regrets and nearly sink into the abyss of grief and anger.

After all, she’d once been like that too.

"U-Um, Miss Zuikaku… are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm good! Just kinda wondering about Enterprise a bit, that's all!" She replied, slapping either side of her face before picking up the cup of sake she'd ordered.

Looking around at the bar as she drank, it seemed abnormally full today. She noted some rather unexpected people inside the establishment that day, including the Iris Libre's Saint Louis and Richelieu, the Royal Navy's Howe, and-

"H-Hey… 5th Carrier Division… I-I'm sitting here n-now…!" A drunken Akagi proclaimed, stumbling over to the group before she collapsed onto Zuikaku in a heap.

"What the- Akagi!? What happened to you?" Zuikaku asked, trying to help Akagi stand as the larger fox began grabbing at her, clinging to the crane's haori as if she were a child.

Dido looked on in astonishment as the once infamous Akagi now clung to her junior like a crying child.

"K-Kaga said- that I was… a burden!!! C-Can you believe that…?" Akagi rambled on, shifting her position and taking a seat on Zuikaku's lap, wrapping an arm around the crane as she grabbed Zuikaku's cup and downed the whole thing in one go. 

In all honesty, it was rather intimidating.

"I-I'm sure she didn't mean that, you guys are super close and all!" Zuikaku assured her senior, trying to guide Akagi over to a free chair with little success.

"Y-You didn't hear w-what she said… s-she's so mean…! Nobody else understands… Nobody! B-But you do at least…" Akagi wailed, grabbing further at Zuikaku and pulling herself up further, soon facing the crane as she sat backwards on Zuikaku's lap.

"U-Um, are you good…?" Zuikaku asked with hesitance.

Her thoughts would soon be interrupted as another figure shambled on over, falling onto Zuikaku in a similar fashion to how Akagi had done so and wrapping her arms around Zuikaku's free arm.

"Ugh… Hot Wings! I need halp… Hornet gave me this weird looking drink, and I downed the whole bottle… now I'm feeling saaaaad!!" She cried.

Zuikaku moved to try and address Enterprise, before Akagi quickly cut her off and began lightly pushing Enterprise.

"Y-You… g-go away! F-Find your own c-cute crane girl… t-this one's mine! Y-You don't appreciate her e-enough!" Akagi shouted amidst her drunken stupor.

"W-What the- Y-You're one to talk! A-At least I didn't b-belittle her for most of her life! P-Plus, she likes me m-more! Right…?" Enterprise shouted back, before turning and looking at Zui expectantly along with Akagi.

"H-Hey, you can't seriously expect me to answer something like that, right?"

"T-Tell us already!"

"W-What McFluffins said!"

Zuikaku yelped as she and the other two women clinging to her fell to the floor, both girls grabbing at Zui as she tried to stand back up, which was unsuccessful as both Enty and Akagi yanked her back down.

"I'm her senior, she should choose me!"

"W-Well I've been a way better friend, s-so take THAT!"

The crowded bar-goers began to watch in awe as two of the most famous kansen on-base seemingly wrestled on the floor over the attention of their mutual, very unfortunate friend.

"Dido, c-call for help!"

"U-Um, got it!"

Dido quickly looked around and spotted Belfast, who was walking over towards the group at a very threatening pace.

Her thoughts were unfortunately interrupted as Essex, seemingly emerging from the crowd, yanked Enty from the group.

"Oh thank Kami-"

"E-Enterprise! W-What are you… doing with her? Aren't I your true rival…?" Essex asked.

It was about then that Zuikaku noticed the crimson blush across Essex's face.

"Oh shit… she's drunk too!"

Enterprise seemingly paused for a moment, before glomping onto Essex a mere second later.

"Oh Essex… y-you're so nice…"

"E-Eh!? W-Well um, I, Uh-" 

Essex suddenly found a verbal lack of footing, as she tried to regain some ground.

She wouldn't get the chance, as Belfast suddenly appeared from within the mass of onlookers and deftly nabbed Enterprise away from Essex.

"Miss Enterprise, you really do need to watch what you drink…" She scolded, grabbing a napkin from within her breasts and wiping some of the sweat that had been forming off of Enterprise's forehead.

"Gah… B-Belfast, what would I do without y-you…!" Enterprise proclaimed, before drunkenly wrapping her arms around Belfast too.

"W-Well I… I'm certainly flattered, Miss Enterprise." Belfast stated, a light blush beginning to dust her cheeks.

"H-Hey!" Essex shouted, trying to grab Enterprise away from Belfast, struggling against the maid's surprisingly solid strength. "G-Give her back!"

"I most certainly will not. Besides, you're clearly inebriated, you need to sit down as well!" Scolding Essex, Belfast attempted to push the smaller girl away from the Union's strongest carrier.

"O-Oh yeah? W-Well… uh… she likes me more than you!" Essex attempted to retort.

This caught Belfast rather off-guard. "Why I-..."

She paused for a moment as Enterprise giggled to herself for some reason.

"...That's not true, is it, Miss Enterprise?"

The crowd stayed silent.

There was a stillness in the air as Enterprise poked up.

"...Huh?"

As if a signal went off, Essex and Belfast suddenly began engaging in a brutal tug of war over Enterprise, each having locked their grip onto one of the ghost's arms.

Zuikaku looked on in confusion as she returned to her feet, Akagi still clinging to her like a sloth.

"I'm… so confused right now."

Dido joined her as they watched Yorktown and Hornet also emerge from the crowd, with Hornet holding out her cellphone in one hand.

"Oh yeah, this is going on the internet." She said, chuckling to herself as Yorktown sighed to her left.

"I guess this was to be expected… she was always quite popular with the ladies…"

Saratoga was next to join in the madness, shoving either competitor to the side and hoisting Enterprise up and above her head.

"You two are causing way too much trouble for my junior! As Enterprise's beloved senpai, I'm going to take her away from here!" Saratoga very loudly proclaimed, shooting Essex and Belfast a very mischievous wink as she began walking off.

This, as expected, did not slide.

Seconds later, the bar descended into chaos. 

Washington attempted to punch South Dakota in the face again, but got her fist caught and was promptly thrown into a table. Minneapolis tackled Rossiya to the ground after the larger battleship proclaimed her favorite color was red(Minneapolis's was blue). Taihou got thrown through a wall when she attempted to get in between Roon and Joffree, who had apparently been doing their own tug-of-war over Howe. It was a whole thing.

Belfast broke a bottle over Essex's head, who promptly tackled the maid into a table as the two began scrapping. 

Saratoga, believing the battle to be won, walked straight for the door and right into the clothesliner that North Carolina had set up.

Bismarck narrowly avoided a haymaker from Jean Bart as the smaller battleship attempted to take a swing at Hood.

She got thrown into a wall for her trouble.

"Alright… next time, not gonna do that."

Littorio laughed to herself as she watched the chaos unfold. "What fun! Truly, there are two types of people in the world: those who can party, and those who cannot-" and was then clapped across the face by a flying table courtesy of Takao, who'd been aiming at Massachusetts, who'd been videotaping Jean Bart, who'd been trying to get out of the crater she'd been stuck in.

"...Well then, I suppose that means it's time for me to get stuck in as well. Watch, my lovely Illustrious, HAVE AT THEE!" She yelled, taking a swing at Takao and accidentally dropping Victorious, who'd been attempting to use Tirpitz as a battering ram.

Alabama and Lexington in the meanwhile, had cornered Zuikaku.

"Wait, I haven't even done anything! Why are you guys targetting me???" She screamed in confusion.

"...Because everyone else is fighting, and it looks fun." Alabama responded.

"Well, my dear sister asked me to help her make her get-away, but given that she seems to be out of commission… I might as well have a bit of fun!" Lexington explained.

Zuikaku raised her fists in answering "Oh well that makes sense. In that case, LET'S GO-" and then was promptly slapped through a wall by Alabama.

"...Ok you know what, I'm tapping out."

Back with Bismarck, she was busy getting hugged by Yorktown, who'd gotten furiously drunk and was now clinging to the german under the impression that she was Enterprise.

"Ehehehe… Enty~, let's go home…!" 

Hood, having just laid out a grand total of five other kansen, quickly began attempting to pry Yorktown off of the now very-flushed Biscuit.

"Pardon my rudeness, but you must unhand Miss Bismarck at once! Besides, if anyone is bringing her home, it will be me!"

"W-Wait wha-"

"Hush, dear biscuit."