California explained to Arizona that Fleet Girls had the ability to travel upon water if they willed it, which was the main way that they were able to skate across the waters when doing sorties. However, when Arizona had jumped off the pier dock, she learned that the sea was much different than the ground in front of the dorms.
For starters, the ground didn't move.
When Arizona's foot had made contact with the water's surface, it had given way under her foot and she fumbled, her arms swinging wildly as she furiously tried to stop herself from falling. She continued to sway back and forth before San Francisco had grabbed her by the shoulder.
"Here, allow me." She let out a proud huff. "As a heavy cruiser, it would be an honor to help the legendary Arizona travel. Just grab on to me and I'll make sure you stay completely dry. Do not feel as if it scratches your record of being a ship, it is merely an initial case of being a new Fleet Girl."
"Frisco's doing this because she wants to look cool!" California called out.
"Shut up!" San Francisco fumed back. "I'm doing this because I want to help a boat that changed the course of the war!"
Their bickering slowly faded out as Arizona began to think more and more about her status. A legend, that's what she was to them. A living legend who was given flesh, a living legend who had come back and rose from the depths to fight once more.
It was enough to make her cheeks burn.
[ -]
The trip was mostly quiet.
Talking was kept to a minimum in order to not tip anyone off that they were riding out and really, the only sound she could hear was the sound of their motors as the trio sped across the waters but Arizona was absolutely in awe. As a boat, there was little movement. Her motors did most of the work, pushing her steel form through waters like how a knife would through soft butter.
In this new human form, however, it unlocked a new sense of freedom that she didn't know she had. Even when she was holding onto San Francisco, legs jiggling the entire time, she had more freedom to move than she ever did when she was a boat. She could go up, down, left, right and who knows what else. It was not her steel body moving through water with force, it was her body moving to where she wanted it to go with the upmost of ease. She just had to be certain.
"Okie shouldn't have drifted out this far..." California said before craning her head up. The sky was a dark grey color, a color that reminded her of gloom and despair. She didn't like the sky when it was this color, not one bit. "...I don't like how the sky's lookin'. It ain't supposed to be this dark."
San Francisco then looked at California, worried. "You don't think-"
A distant roar had cut off San Francisco's words, quickly followed by a large splash of water.
Arizona sucked in a breath. "Was that
"Yes and just our luck too." California then cracked her knuckles, her worried look now exchanged for a confident grin. "Alright, surf's on! We just gotta catch Okie before they do, right? It might seem glum but I don't like giving up until the boards are all put up!"
It was a race against time and if there was one thing that California loved above anything else, it was a challenge.
