-
Going forward, links to content from Twitter (now X) will no longer be embedded. Pre-existing links should not be affected.
Three Frigates and the Abyss (Kancolle)
- Thread starter MarkAren
- Start date
Kellcat
Occasional Ex-Lurker
- Location
- Texas
But do they really have Abyssal Cancer, or is it just a consequence of coming back to "life" in an Abyssal? (if thou gaze long into an ...no, no, doesn't quite work.) It doesn't seem to be causing the same personality changes as the Shipgirl ailment, at a minimum, unless there have been hints of more than cosmetic change that I didn't notice..
Don't expect it to continue, I pumped those out specifically because I expect my productivity to have a sharp drop this week.
Well, even if Chesapeake got her tumor removed, she's still an Abyssal. That's going to have an effect on crew respawning as crew of an Abyssal, which prior to Chesapeake haven't had a crew (Thanks to the meatball tumors and coral cancer having fully taken over in all other Abyssals).
Bingo. Chesapeake had full on Abyssal cancer, her crew has... more of an Abyssal infection I guess. It's something they've definitely 'caught' from Chesapeake, but unlike with Chesapeake they don't have to worry about it spreading internally and rewriting their entire self into hatemonsters. Instead, they've just got this thing that can push violent emotions at them when they're stressed.
In this story the Abyss doesn't exactly work on fairies very well. Hence why the shipgirls have to die (which kills the crew if they're aboard) to turn into one.
FailLord
2050 lb bombs?
- Location
- Orange Star
So they just got abyssal palette swaps?
And a bit of an anger management problem? Yes. I debated giving a few of them gills or shark fins like Chesapeake, but decided against it.
- Location
- Over the hill and far away
At that point they're just teeny tiny flying Dutchman crews
Chapter 20 - Jessica
Jessica
I lazily swung in the hammock I'd claimed. Life was so much easier when all you had to worry about was whether or not today would be the day the hammock would come loose. Dropping a few feet to hit the deck below wouldn't really hurt me, maybe stun me for a moment at the most, but it was a small fear that family vacations had drilled into me from a young age. You can't trust hammocks, they'll always let you down. Eventually.
I should probably have gotten out ofbed hammock several hours ago to eat breakfast. By now it was almost lunchtime, and my stomach was begging for food. However, I found it hard to drag up the will to go eat. Eating would require that I venture forth beyond Chesapeake's hull and expose myself to everyone.
I didn't feel any different at the moment, but could I really trust my senses anymore? Chesapeake had fought the urge to kill people, including me, on multiple occasions because her senses told her to. Would I get those urges too? Thinking back to yesterday, I hadn't had any urges to actually murder anyone. There had been a time or two that I'd felt a burn in my chest when I was angry though. It had felt sort of like heartburn.
That's just one more thing for me to blame on the Abyssals. I had always thought heartburn to be one of the great evils in the world, and now I had proof. Abyssals and heartburn were teaming up to ruin my life. It was probably the beginning of an alliance of evil, and only Pepto-Bismol or another antacid could stop them.
Ah fuck it. Moping is for other people. Captain 1 had said that it didn't seem to be affecting me as badly as it was her and the other crewwomen, and none of them were bumming it out in the hammocks like I was. Well, a few were, but they were just Chesapeake's night shift getting some rest. Captain 1 was up and about, I could see her wandering around the deck. No wait, she wasn't wandering, she was checking the hammocks for someone. Curious, I watched as she puttered around for a moment before we locked eyes.
She immediately made a beeline for me. As she got closer I noted that there was more of a glow in her wine-red eyes than there had been yesterday. That was worrying. Would mine start to glow as well? Were there any sunglasses around here that I could use to hide it if they did?
"Did you need something?" I asked when she came to a stop next to my hammock.
"I'd heard that one of the crew hadn't eaten breakfast this morning." She commented. "I was worried that you might have taken the news from last night… poorly."
I snorted. "I certainly didn't take it well, but one missed meal is enough for this girl. I think I'm going to drag myself out of here and snack on a grain of rice the size of my head."
She frowned down at me. "Are having issues with the size of your food? Do you realize that you are entitled to a portion from this ship's rations?"
Huh. Well I guess Chesapeake's crew had to eat as well. "Is it rice?" I asked tentatively. I'd had rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the past two weeks.
She shook her head.
"Sold."
If I had known exactly what Captain 1 was going to try and feed me, I wouldn't have accepted her invitation to eat lunch with her. Calling what was on my plate meat was probably being a bit too generous, I wasn't even certain if it was food. Captain 1 looked to be equally unenthusiastic about the food, her face set in a gloomy expression.
We were both staring at the other's plate, hoping that they would be the first one to take the plunge and taste-test the thing we'd been given. Unfortunately, neither of us would give in. After we wasted a few more minutes in this manner, I spoke up. "What is this?"
Captain 1 tentatively poked her portion with a fork. "I honestly don't know."
Well that was the exact opposite of comforting. "You eat this stuff without knowing what it is?" I asked, as I leaned back. Was that what people did in the olden days? Did they just eat anything that vaguely looked like food they came across?
"It's my first time eating it. I think it might be pork." Captain 1 defended, before lowering her voice. "I had no control over what rations were chosen for this cruise. When we… appeared, food and water was already in the hold. Unfortunately, almost all the good rations were lost in the battle against Alabama."
Of course they were.
"You know, I think I understand Chesapeake's shear anger towards Alabama a bit better now." I said. "No one should be forced to eat this."
Captain 1 made a hesitant nod. She then worked up the courage to actually spear some of the substance on her plate with a fork, and lifted it to her mouth. I held my breath as she first took a small bite, and then a larger one. Soon she was chewing it.
"Well?" I asked eagerly. "How is it?"
She swallowed. "It is much better than my expectations."
With that ringing endorsement, I immediately cut myself a large slice and shoved it down my throat. I was eager to eat something, anything that wasn't rice.
When the food entered my mouth, I almost choked. It wasn't bad per say, it was just the most bland meat imaginable. If cardboard ever came to life, this would be its meat. Not good, not bad, just bland.
Captain 1 cackled in her chair. "The look on your face is beautiful! I never said it was good, merely that it wasn't as bad as I thought."
After I finished eating lunch, I loitered about on Chesapeake. I wasn't hiding or moping, I was just… waiting for the right time to show off my new eyes and break the news to everyone else that I had caught the Abyssals from Chesapeake.
Yes, that's my story and I was sticking to it. There's nothing wrong with me taking my time. I could reveal it at any time I wanted. Just not now.
That evening a fogbank rolled in. It was spooky and suspicious enough that we'd decided to put into action plan 'there's nothing suspicious about Chesapeake 2: Electric Boogaloo, now with two longboats.'
I decided to stay with Chesapeake, arguing that I could be the literal eyes on the back of her head. Captain 2 pointed out that she and the rest of the crew members were perfectly capable of doing that. I pointed out that none of them had had laser eye surgery tofix their nearsightedness improve their eyesight.
To my relief, Captain 2 didn't have an answer to that aside from asking what a laser was.
Hours passed and nothing happened. First sunset, then twilight, and finally dusk passed with nothing to show for our paranoia. The fog still persisted though, masking the stars and obscuring the moon. Two other schmucks from Chesapeake's crew were on watch with me on top of her head. I didn't know their names, only that neither of them were going through the same bullshit Abyssal cancer thing I was.
Come to think of it, did Chesapeake's crew even have names? None of them had ever introduced themselves beyond the rank they held.
"Hey, do either of you two actually have a name?" I asked, turning to crewwoman on my left.
She turned and looked at me like I'd just asked her if pigs could fly. Wordlessly she shook her head.
"Of course I do!" The other responded from behind. "It's Blair."
"Wait, you have a name?" Asked the first crewwoman.
"You don't?" Asked the second.
The three of us sat in silence. This had answered one question and raised many others. I was about to ask if she'd been given the name or if she'd picked it when the sound of a distant explosion rung out.
Boom!
I turned in the direction the sound came from and looked out into the foggy darkness.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of explosions followed, then paused. For a few minutes there was silence, and then the explosions began again.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
For about ten minutes after the last explosion, there was silence. Apart from our breathing, the rustling of the waves, and the rocking of the longboats, there wasn't a sound to be heard. Those explosions hadn't sounded too distant, which was worrying. It meant that there were Abyssals around here shooting at something.
The bigger question was what they were shooting at. Where they just practicing, or had they come across some other poor saps wandering through the heart of Abyssal territory?
"Should I go investigate?" Chesapeake wondered aloud.
"No, don't do that." Called United States from inside one of the longboats. "We don't want to drag these two dinky little longboats into the middle of a battle, and if you leave us behind to go by yourself you'll never find your way back in this fog. We should wait until morning."
That was when I spotted movement. I squinted out into the darkness, looking for any signs that what I'd seen was more than just a trick of my eyes.
There! Just a stone's throw away from us was a shadow darting below the surface of the waves. It was heading right towards us.
"There's something in the water!" I cried.
Chesapeake responded instantly. "Where?"
"Just ahead of you!"
Before Chesapeake could react, a figure pulled itself up onto the surface of the water. It was clearly an Abyssal, with glowing yellow eyes and a twisted and damaged… something made of metal on her back. She was shaking, and although much of her face was hidden behind a scuba style breathing apparatus, I could see she was terrified.
The other lookouts and I quickly hid ourselves amongst Chesapeake's hair.
"You can fight, can't you?" The Abyssal begged. "You feel odd, but you can still fight, can't you sister?"
"Uh, yes?" Chesapeake responded hesitantly.
"Great! Hold them off so I can escape." The Abyssal said.
Before Chesapeake could respond, the Abyssal shoved her way past us and ran off into the darkness.
Well that was somewhat informative. Someone was shooting at the Abyssals, not the other way around. Hope began to fill my chest. There couldn't be other shipgirls or friendly naval vessels this far into Abyssal territory, could there?
"Slow down! We can't see where we're going!" Called a female voice from the direction the Abyssal was running away from.
"I don't need to see where I'm going! I've got radar for that!" Responded another voice that sounded extremely close.
"If you'd look at your radar you'd notice that there's something right in front of you!" Pleaded the first.
The second voice ignored the first, instead roaring "GET BACK HERE!" as she barreled into view. She was a tall woman, and through the darkness I could make out the outline of some metal ship bits hanging off her back and an absolutely massive gun turret held in her hand.
"Look out!" I desperately warned, but it was too late. Chesapeake failed to dodge out of the way by a hair. The newcomer's broad shoulders clipped Chesapeake's nose as the girl zoomed past us without stopping.
That small hit was somehow more than enough to send Chesapeake airborne, and I lost my grip on her hair and fell into the ocean.
I struggled back up to the surface and coughed out a mouthful of water. Chesapeake was kneeling and clutching her nose and a new, smaller figure was standing over her. The other two lookouts were still on top of Chesapeake, one dangling from her hair and the other clinging to her fin.
"Oh I'm so sorry, I'm sure New York would have been more careful if she'd known there were other shipgirls out here." The new girl said.
"I think she broke my bowsprit." Chesapeake mumbled.
"Hey! A little help here!" I called out as I treaded water. I was a perfectly good swimmer, but with arms less than an inch long I couldn't really get anywhere fast under my own power. It'd take me ten minutes or so to get back to Chesapeake on my own.
The new girl reached over and plucked me out of the water. She then held me out to Chesapeake, who pulled her hands away from her face to reveal a bloody nose and looked up. Her red eyes faintly glowed and flickered like miniature lighthouses in the dark.
"Oh. Oh." Said the new girl.
Oh shit, the A(byssal)-bomb had been dropped. The hand I was standing on was pulled back as the girl backed away from Chesapeake while drawing a miniature gun turret from her side like a pistol. As she raised it to point at Chesapeake, I knew that I had to act and take control of this situation. I had to prevent it from becoming a train wreck.
Somehow.
"Whoa whoa whoa, let's just hold on for a moment." I cried as I jumped up and down on the girl's hand to grab her attention. "Ease up there cowgirl, we're going to need you to ix-nay on the illing-kay, become one with your inner hippie, and klaatu barada nikto!"
"But-" The girl began.
"No buts!" I demanded, my chest growing warm. "We're going to act like calm, rational adults rather than the high-strung boatpeople and shrunken humans we are. Calm, rational adults don't fight each other when they first meet, they introduce themselves and shake hands. Here, I'll go first. My name is Jessica. Now I know I just said rational adults shake hands, but allowances must be made for the vertically challenged and I'll just have to give you a high-five instead."
I slapped my hand against the girl's thumb. "There! Now what's your name?"
"O'Bannon." The girl said vacantly, probably out of reflex. "I'm sorry, but are we going to ignore the elephant in the room and-"
"Nice to meet you O'Bannon." I interrupted loudly. "Now let me introduce you to Chesapeake. Chesapeake, O'Bannon. O'Bannon, Chesapeake. Now shake hands."
"But-"
"I SAID SHAKE HANDS!" I roared, a fire burning in my chest.
"Okay, okay!"
O'Bannon tentatively held out her hand, and a very nonplussed Chesapeake took it. The two proceeded to exchange the most awkward handshake the world had ever seen.
"Charmed." Chesapeake drawled flatly.
"Great!" I chirped, the fire in my chest dying down. "Now that we're all friends…"
"Since when were we friends?" Chesapeake muttered.
"Now that we're all friends…" I repeated a little louder, glaring at my Abyssal companion. I was going to force a friendship between these two if I had to shove it down both their throats. "You see O'Bannon, Chesapeake and I are in a bit of a bind and I think you can help us out."
"Uh, I don't think I should be agreeing to anything."
Great, she was getting skittish. I decided to try buttering her up.
"O'Bannon, you're a cruiser, right?" I guessed after staring at her ship bits for a moment. Cruisers were a type of warship, right? I think some of the modern ones shot missiles. "You're a big, strong shipgirl, right?"
She blushed. "No, I'm just a destroyer. I'd like to think I'm strong though, and I do have more horsepower in my engines than New York."
"I think what Jessica is trying to say," called Constellation as she sat up in the longboat, "Is that my sisters and I need some help escorting these people to safety."
"I can help with escorting!" Cried Hopkins as she shot up like a rocket. "Just say the word and I'll be in the water!"
"Hopkins, you're too damaged to be seaworthy." Admonished United States, who stood up and put a hand on her shoulder to keep her still.
"That doesn't matter, I can swim now. Nothing can stop me!"
As the longboats transformed from two derelicts into the crowded lifeboats they were, O'Bannon whipped her head between them and Chesapeake. Her head went back and forth, back and forth.
"You're all… traveling together?" She asked.
I nodded furiously. "Yes! Chesapeake is great for when we need to sneak past Abyssals, they all think she's really into the sisterhood of the traveling murderboats."
O'Bannon lifted me up to her face and studied me for a moment, as if looking for signs of a lie. I plastered on the biggest smile I could manage and hoped it looked as genuine as it felt.
"Are you what an Abyssal fairy looks like?" She coed at me. "The toga is just adorable!"
"Hey! Watch it, I'm a grown-ass woman! Don't you dare coo at me!" I screeched at her. "Also, I'm not a fairy. Wings would be awesome, but I don't have them."
O'Bannon ignored me and glanced down at Chesapeake. "I honestly think the red eyes are her cutest aspect."
My eyes widened and I began to panic. That was supposed to stay secret darn you!
"Red eyes?" Chesapeake asked. Quick as a snake, she snatched me out of O'Bannon's hand. "Jessica, is there something you've forgotten to tell me?"
I tried to pry myself from her grip, but it was no use, her fingers were too strong. Curse my tiny arms and legs!
"Uh, it turns out that a side-effect of me and your crew dying and getting better was that we caught a milder form of your Abyssal cancer." I said nervously.
O'Bannon gasped behind me. "Oh I'm so sorry to hear that. You have my condolences."
"Why didn't you tell me this?" Chesapeake demanded.
"Look, instead of focusing on something that I have completely under control, why don't we focus on our new best friend?"
Chesapeake was not swayed by my logical and well-thought out argument. "How do I know you have it under control, seeing as you haven't informed me about it in the first place? Me, your commanding officer."
"Captain 1 totally knows about it already. I thought she'd tell you." I said. When in doubt and where possible, pass the buck along. "Also, I thought that the whole me working for you was just a temporary gig."
Chesapeake went rigid, and started muttering to herself.
"Hey O'Bannon!" Called out the voice I now knew belonged to New York. "That sub vanished. She was a tricky one, made me trip right before she got away, and before that I ran into something around here."
A few seconds later she appeared out of the fog. Thankfully she didn't ram any of us this time. Compared to O'Bannon she was much taller and older, though it was hard to make out details in the darkness.
"Look New York! I found people! Real, live people!" O'Bannon said excitedly, pointing back at the longboats. "I told you that eating my lucky spud would help us out!"
"That something you ran into was me." Chesapeake angrily yelled.
New York froze. "O'Bannon," she said in a low voice, "do you realize that there's an Abyssal next to you?"
"She seems nice." The destroyer defended. "Can't we extend them the potato of friendship?"
New York frowned. "You and your damn potatoes."
"Can I have the potato of friendship?" I asked, eager to solidify our status as friends instead of foes.
"It's too big for you to hold."
"Wait, you're talking about an actual, non-metaphorical potato?" I asked curiously.
O'Bannon nodded. "I figured it'd be better than a hand because you could eat it if you're hungry." She then turned back to New York. "Please? She seems nice enough and they claim they've been traveling together."
New York glanced between Chesapeake and the longboats, then sighed. "The captain isn't going to like this at all, but we definitely can't leave behind a bunch of shipgirls and humans."
I pumped my fist in victory.
I lazily swung in the hammock I'd claimed. Life was so much easier when all you had to worry about was whether or not today would be the day the hammock would come loose. Dropping a few feet to hit the deck below wouldn't really hurt me, maybe stun me for a moment at the most, but it was a small fear that family vacations had drilled into me from a young age. You can't trust hammocks, they'll always let you down. Eventually.
I should probably have gotten out of
I didn't feel any different at the moment, but could I really trust my senses anymore? Chesapeake had fought the urge to kill people, including me, on multiple occasions because her senses told her to. Would I get those urges too? Thinking back to yesterday, I hadn't had any urges to actually murder anyone. There had been a time or two that I'd felt a burn in my chest when I was angry though. It had felt sort of like heartburn.
That's just one more thing for me to blame on the Abyssals. I had always thought heartburn to be one of the great evils in the world, and now I had proof. Abyssals and heartburn were teaming up to ruin my life. It was probably the beginning of an alliance of evil, and only Pepto-Bismol or another antacid could stop them.
Ah fuck it. Moping is for other people. Captain 1 had said that it didn't seem to be affecting me as badly as it was her and the other crewwomen, and none of them were bumming it out in the hammocks like I was. Well, a few were, but they were just Chesapeake's night shift getting some rest. Captain 1 was up and about, I could see her wandering around the deck. No wait, she wasn't wandering, she was checking the hammocks for someone. Curious, I watched as she puttered around for a moment before we locked eyes.
She immediately made a beeline for me. As she got closer I noted that there was more of a glow in her wine-red eyes than there had been yesterday. That was worrying. Would mine start to glow as well? Were there any sunglasses around here that I could use to hide it if they did?
"Did you need something?" I asked when she came to a stop next to my hammock.
"I'd heard that one of the crew hadn't eaten breakfast this morning." She commented. "I was worried that you might have taken the news from last night… poorly."
I snorted. "I certainly didn't take it well, but one missed meal is enough for this girl. I think I'm going to drag myself out of here and snack on a grain of rice the size of my head."
She frowned down at me. "Are having issues with the size of your food? Do you realize that you are entitled to a portion from this ship's rations?"
Huh. Well I guess Chesapeake's crew had to eat as well. "Is it rice?" I asked tentatively. I'd had rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the past two weeks.
She shook her head.
"Sold."
If I had known exactly what Captain 1 was going to try and feed me, I wouldn't have accepted her invitation to eat lunch with her. Calling what was on my plate meat was probably being a bit too generous, I wasn't even certain if it was food. Captain 1 looked to be equally unenthusiastic about the food, her face set in a gloomy expression.
We were both staring at the other's plate, hoping that they would be the first one to take the plunge and taste-test the thing we'd been given. Unfortunately, neither of us would give in. After we wasted a few more minutes in this manner, I spoke up. "What is this?"
Captain 1 tentatively poked her portion with a fork. "I honestly don't know."
Well that was the exact opposite of comforting. "You eat this stuff without knowing what it is?" I asked, as I leaned back. Was that what people did in the olden days? Did they just eat anything that vaguely looked like food they came across?
"It's my first time eating it. I think it might be pork." Captain 1 defended, before lowering her voice. "I had no control over what rations were chosen for this cruise. When we… appeared, food and water was already in the hold. Unfortunately, almost all the good rations were lost in the battle against Alabama."
Of course they were.
"You know, I think I understand Chesapeake's shear anger towards Alabama a bit better now." I said. "No one should be forced to eat this."
Captain 1 made a hesitant nod. She then worked up the courage to actually spear some of the substance on her plate with a fork, and lifted it to her mouth. I held my breath as she first took a small bite, and then a larger one. Soon she was chewing it.
"Well?" I asked eagerly. "How is it?"
She swallowed. "It is much better than my expectations."
With that ringing endorsement, I immediately cut myself a large slice and shoved it down my throat. I was eager to eat something, anything that wasn't rice.
When the food entered my mouth, I almost choked. It wasn't bad per say, it was just the most bland meat imaginable. If cardboard ever came to life, this would be its meat. Not good, not bad, just bland.
Captain 1 cackled in her chair. "The look on your face is beautiful! I never said it was good, merely that it wasn't as bad as I thought."
After I finished eating lunch, I loitered about on Chesapeake. I wasn't hiding or moping, I was just… waiting for the right time to show off my new eyes and break the news to everyone else that I had caught the Abyssals from Chesapeake.
Yes, that's my story and I was sticking to it. There's nothing wrong with me taking my time. I could reveal it at any time I wanted. Just not now.
That evening a fogbank rolled in. It was spooky and suspicious enough that we'd decided to put into action plan 'there's nothing suspicious about Chesapeake 2: Electric Boogaloo, now with two longboats.'
I decided to stay with Chesapeake, arguing that I could be the literal eyes on the back of her head. Captain 2 pointed out that she and the rest of the crew members were perfectly capable of doing that. I pointed out that none of them had had laser eye surgery to
To my relief, Captain 2 didn't have an answer to that aside from asking what a laser was.
Hours passed and nothing happened. First sunset, then twilight, and finally dusk passed with nothing to show for our paranoia. The fog still persisted though, masking the stars and obscuring the moon. Two other schmucks from Chesapeake's crew were on watch with me on top of her head. I didn't know their names, only that neither of them were going through the same bullshit Abyssal cancer thing I was.
Come to think of it, did Chesapeake's crew even have names? None of them had ever introduced themselves beyond the rank they held.
"Hey, do either of you two actually have a name?" I asked, turning to crewwoman on my left.
She turned and looked at me like I'd just asked her if pigs could fly. Wordlessly she shook her head.
"Of course I do!" The other responded from behind. "It's Blair."
"Wait, you have a name?" Asked the first crewwoman.
"You don't?" Asked the second.
The three of us sat in silence. This had answered one question and raised many others. I was about to ask if she'd been given the name or if she'd picked it when the sound of a distant explosion rung out.
Boom!
I turned in the direction the sound came from and looked out into the foggy darkness.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of explosions followed, then paused. For a few minutes there was silence, and then the explosions began again.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
For about ten minutes after the last explosion, there was silence. Apart from our breathing, the rustling of the waves, and the rocking of the longboats, there wasn't a sound to be heard. Those explosions hadn't sounded too distant, which was worrying. It meant that there were Abyssals around here shooting at something.
The bigger question was what they were shooting at. Where they just practicing, or had they come across some other poor saps wandering through the heart of Abyssal territory?
"Should I go investigate?" Chesapeake wondered aloud.
"No, don't do that." Called United States from inside one of the longboats. "We don't want to drag these two dinky little longboats into the middle of a battle, and if you leave us behind to go by yourself you'll never find your way back in this fog. We should wait until morning."
That was when I spotted movement. I squinted out into the darkness, looking for any signs that what I'd seen was more than just a trick of my eyes.
There! Just a stone's throw away from us was a shadow darting below the surface of the waves. It was heading right towards us.
"There's something in the water!" I cried.
Chesapeake responded instantly. "Where?"
"Just ahead of you!"
Before Chesapeake could react, a figure pulled itself up onto the surface of the water. It was clearly an Abyssal, with glowing yellow eyes and a twisted and damaged… something made of metal on her back. She was shaking, and although much of her face was hidden behind a scuba style breathing apparatus, I could see she was terrified.
The other lookouts and I quickly hid ourselves amongst Chesapeake's hair.
"You can fight, can't you?" The Abyssal begged. "You feel odd, but you can still fight, can't you sister?"
"Uh, yes?" Chesapeake responded hesitantly.
"Great! Hold them off so I can escape." The Abyssal said.
Before Chesapeake could respond, the Abyssal shoved her way past us and ran off into the darkness.
Well that was somewhat informative. Someone was shooting at the Abyssals, not the other way around. Hope began to fill my chest. There couldn't be other shipgirls or friendly naval vessels this far into Abyssal territory, could there?
"Slow down! We can't see where we're going!" Called a female voice from the direction the Abyssal was running away from.
"I don't need to see where I'm going! I've got radar for that!" Responded another voice that sounded extremely close.
"If you'd look at your radar you'd notice that there's something right in front of you!" Pleaded the first.
The second voice ignored the first, instead roaring "GET BACK HERE!" as she barreled into view. She was a tall woman, and through the darkness I could make out the outline of some metal ship bits hanging off her back and an absolutely massive gun turret held in her hand.
"Look out!" I desperately warned, but it was too late. Chesapeake failed to dodge out of the way by a hair. The newcomer's broad shoulders clipped Chesapeake's nose as the girl zoomed past us without stopping.
That small hit was somehow more than enough to send Chesapeake airborne, and I lost my grip on her hair and fell into the ocean.
I struggled back up to the surface and coughed out a mouthful of water. Chesapeake was kneeling and clutching her nose and a new, smaller figure was standing over her. The other two lookouts were still on top of Chesapeake, one dangling from her hair and the other clinging to her fin.
"Oh I'm so sorry, I'm sure New York would have been more careful if she'd known there were other shipgirls out here." The new girl said.
"I think she broke my bowsprit." Chesapeake mumbled.
"Hey! A little help here!" I called out as I treaded water. I was a perfectly good swimmer, but with arms less than an inch long I couldn't really get anywhere fast under my own power. It'd take me ten minutes or so to get back to Chesapeake on my own.
The new girl reached over and plucked me out of the water. She then held me out to Chesapeake, who pulled her hands away from her face to reveal a bloody nose and looked up. Her red eyes faintly glowed and flickered like miniature lighthouses in the dark.
"Oh. Oh." Said the new girl.
Oh shit, the A(byssal)-bomb had been dropped. The hand I was standing on was pulled back as the girl backed away from Chesapeake while drawing a miniature gun turret from her side like a pistol. As she raised it to point at Chesapeake, I knew that I had to act and take control of this situation. I had to prevent it from becoming a train wreck.
Somehow.
"Whoa whoa whoa, let's just hold on for a moment." I cried as I jumped up and down on the girl's hand to grab her attention. "Ease up there cowgirl, we're going to need you to ix-nay on the illing-kay, become one with your inner hippie, and klaatu barada nikto!"
"But-" The girl began.
"No buts!" I demanded, my chest growing warm. "We're going to act like calm, rational adults rather than the high-strung boatpeople and shrunken humans we are. Calm, rational adults don't fight each other when they first meet, they introduce themselves and shake hands. Here, I'll go first. My name is Jessica. Now I know I just said rational adults shake hands, but allowances must be made for the vertically challenged and I'll just have to give you a high-five instead."
I slapped my hand against the girl's thumb. "There! Now what's your name?"
"O'Bannon." The girl said vacantly, probably out of reflex. "I'm sorry, but are we going to ignore the elephant in the room and-"
"Nice to meet you O'Bannon." I interrupted loudly. "Now let me introduce you to Chesapeake. Chesapeake, O'Bannon. O'Bannon, Chesapeake. Now shake hands."
"But-"
"I SAID SHAKE HANDS!" I roared, a fire burning in my chest.
"Okay, okay!"
O'Bannon tentatively held out her hand, and a very nonplussed Chesapeake took it. The two proceeded to exchange the most awkward handshake the world had ever seen.
"Charmed." Chesapeake drawled flatly.
"Great!" I chirped, the fire in my chest dying down. "Now that we're all friends…"
"Since when were we friends?" Chesapeake muttered.
"Now that we're all friends…" I repeated a little louder, glaring at my Abyssal companion. I was going to force a friendship between these two if I had to shove it down both their throats. "You see O'Bannon, Chesapeake and I are in a bit of a bind and I think you can help us out."
"Uh, I don't think I should be agreeing to anything."
Great, she was getting skittish. I decided to try buttering her up.
"O'Bannon, you're a cruiser, right?" I guessed after staring at her ship bits for a moment. Cruisers were a type of warship, right? I think some of the modern ones shot missiles. "You're a big, strong shipgirl, right?"
She blushed. "No, I'm just a destroyer. I'd like to think I'm strong though, and I do have more horsepower in my engines than New York."
"I think what Jessica is trying to say," called Constellation as she sat up in the longboat, "Is that my sisters and I need some help escorting these people to safety."
"I can help with escorting!" Cried Hopkins as she shot up like a rocket. "Just say the word and I'll be in the water!"
"Hopkins, you're too damaged to be seaworthy." Admonished United States, who stood up and put a hand on her shoulder to keep her still.
"That doesn't matter, I can swim now. Nothing can stop me!"
As the longboats transformed from two derelicts into the crowded lifeboats they were, O'Bannon whipped her head between them and Chesapeake. Her head went back and forth, back and forth.
"You're all… traveling together?" She asked.
I nodded furiously. "Yes! Chesapeake is great for when we need to sneak past Abyssals, they all think she's really into the sisterhood of the traveling murderboats."
O'Bannon lifted me up to her face and studied me for a moment, as if looking for signs of a lie. I plastered on the biggest smile I could manage and hoped it looked as genuine as it felt.
"Are you what an Abyssal fairy looks like?" She coed at me. "The toga is just adorable!"
"Hey! Watch it, I'm a grown-ass woman! Don't you dare coo at me!" I screeched at her. "Also, I'm not a fairy. Wings would be awesome, but I don't have them."
O'Bannon ignored me and glanced down at Chesapeake. "I honestly think the red eyes are her cutest aspect."
My eyes widened and I began to panic. That was supposed to stay secret darn you!
"Red eyes?" Chesapeake asked. Quick as a snake, she snatched me out of O'Bannon's hand. "Jessica, is there something you've forgotten to tell me?"
I tried to pry myself from her grip, but it was no use, her fingers were too strong. Curse my tiny arms and legs!
"Uh, it turns out that a side-effect of me and your crew dying and getting better was that we caught a milder form of your Abyssal cancer." I said nervously.
O'Bannon gasped behind me. "Oh I'm so sorry to hear that. You have my condolences."
"Why didn't you tell me this?" Chesapeake demanded.
"Look, instead of focusing on something that I have completely under control, why don't we focus on our new best friend?"
Chesapeake was not swayed by my logical and well-thought out argument. "How do I know you have it under control, seeing as you haven't informed me about it in the first place? Me, your commanding officer."
"Captain 1 totally knows about it already. I thought she'd tell you." I said. When in doubt and where possible, pass the buck along. "Also, I thought that the whole me working for you was just a temporary gig."
Chesapeake went rigid, and started muttering to herself.
"Hey O'Bannon!" Called out the voice I now knew belonged to New York. "That sub vanished. She was a tricky one, made me trip right before she got away, and before that I ran into something around here."
A few seconds later she appeared out of the fog. Thankfully she didn't ram any of us this time. Compared to O'Bannon she was much taller and older, though it was hard to make out details in the darkness.
"Look New York! I found people! Real, live people!" O'Bannon said excitedly, pointing back at the longboats. "I told you that eating my lucky spud would help us out!"
"That something you ran into was me." Chesapeake angrily yelled.
New York froze. "O'Bannon," she said in a low voice, "do you realize that there's an Abyssal next to you?"
"She seems nice." The destroyer defended. "Can't we extend them the potato of friendship?"
New York frowned. "You and your damn potatoes."
"Can I have the potato of friendship?" I asked, eager to solidify our status as friends instead of foes.
"It's too big for you to hold."
"Wait, you're talking about an actual, non-metaphorical potato?" I asked curiously.
O'Bannon nodded. "I figured it'd be better than a hand because you could eat it if you're hungry." She then turned back to New York. "Please? She seems nice enough and they claim they've been traveling together."
New York glanced between Chesapeake and the longboats, then sighed. "The captain isn't going to like this at all, but we definitely can't leave behind a bunch of shipgirls and humans."
I pumped my fist in victory.
- Location
- Over the hill and far away
I love this wonderful brand of awesome. Never stop writing
FailLord
2050 lb bombs?
- Location
- Orange Star
Oh dear god... the smell of spoiled potatoes.
O'Bannon: "You can always trust a spud, unless it's spoiled rotten. Grenades can let you down, but potatoes never will."
In honor of Ro-34, who was likely never actually subjected to a potato attack by O'Bannon, but who will also probably never hear the end of it.
The Abyssal submarine is also a reference to a lost sub, in its case whichever poor WWI U-boat that became nothing more than a speed bump for New York.
Last edited:
Chapter 21 - Jessica
~~~Jessica~~~
"Alright," said New York as she paced in front of us. "I don't know what you all are doing out here in the middle of Abyssal territory, but if you want to get out of here alive you need to listen up."
"I can tell you what we were doing out here!" I said, raising my hand and jumping up and down on top of Chesapeake's hand.
New York glared at me. "We can do story time with fairies later."
I glared back, but before the glaring contest between us could be settled Chesapeake lifted me up and put me back on top of her head.
"First, I want that shipgirl untied." She said, gesturing towards the boat where Kearsarge sat watching over her nemesis.
"That's Alabama, she worked for the Abyssals." Constellation supplied.
New York blinked. "First, I want that shipgirl to remain tied." She amended. I chuckled.
New York then turned to her companion. "O'Bannon, why don't you go over there and report back to Iowa?" She asked, waving her hand vaguely towards the sea away from us.
Iowa? I'd heard of that before. I hadn't really kept up with the navy at any point in my life, but I did google 'What's that big ship with guns out my LA window?' once. It'd be nice to have a giant battleship.
O'Bannon fidgeted. "Uh, I thought you were in charge and supposed to handle communication?" She asked.
"I'm delegating. Just go over there." New York said, waving at the sea a little ways off from us.
"If you say so."
As soon as O'Bannon left, New York strode right up to us and leaned forward well into Chesapeake's personal space. "I don't know what your game is, but I'll play it for now. You step a single toe out of line and I'll deal with you myself."
A cold chill went down my spine. Sure, we'd come to terms with the fact that Chesapeake was an Abyssal (somewhat) and made it work, but everyone else? Abyssals were the big bad evil enemy. That meant Chesapeake was the big bad evil enemy.
We might not all have a happy welcome waiting for us once we got out of this.
While I was having my terrible realization, Constellation was edging herself between Chesapeake and New York. "Are you threatening my sister?" She demanded.
"That depends. How likely is she to try and kill us all?"
Oh, that was going to strike a nerve.
"Why you! How likely do you think it is O'Bannon would try to kill us?" She demanded.
O'Bannon, who'd just returned from doing… something with what might have been a phone, let out a sharp squeak.
"O'Bannon would never betray us." New York stated harshly.
"Neither would Chesapeake!"
"She's an Abyssal!"
"She's my sister!"
United States interrupted them before things could devolve further. "Calm down, we're all on the same side here. Now it's clear you have some reservations about Chesapeake, but I can assure you that she has proven her loyalty in battle-"
"She's still armed? What is wrong with you!" New York roared. "In case you haven't noticed, we're at war! She's disarming or we're leaving her here."
"Yes, but she's on our side!"
"Do you really believe that?"
"Of course!"
"I'll do it." Chesapeake said quietly.
"Chesapeake is – wait, what?" Asked Constellation.
I could hear Chesapeake take in a deep breath before repeating herself in a louder voice. "I said I'll do it. If me disarming ensures that all of us get to safety, it's a small price to pay."
"You don't have to do that Chesapeake, you shouldn't have to do that." Constellation protested. "I'm sure we can work something out with New York."
"The only thing you can work out with me is whether I'm going to disarm her the easy way or the hard way." New York responded bluntly.
"Don't worry, it'll be okay. After all, I have you two to protect me, right?" Chesapeake said, her voice cracking at the end of her sentence.
"We will." United States assured her, before glaring at New York. "We will. I want your word that if she does this Chesapeake won't be harmed."
New York shrugged. "As long as she's cooperating and not trying to kill us she'll be fine."
"Your word." United States repeated.
New York sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. You have my word."
New York sent a boarding crew over to make sure Chesapeake was disarmed 'properly'. For convenience's sake they settled on having her dump all her gunpowder into the ocean.
"I believe this is the last of it." Said the head of the boarding crew. "We'll begin removing the gunpowder now."
New York's boarding crew turned out to be two dozen marines with rifles. I hadn't even realized shipgirl marines were a thing, but apparently they were. It was kind of awkward, especially once I realized the girls who I'd been seeing on Chesapeake for days that wore a bit of red in their uniforms were Chesapeake's marines.
Chesapeake's second captain sighed. "Is it really necessary to remove the powder reserved for small arms?"
"All gunpowder is to be removed." Stated the head of New York's marines.
"Yes, yes," She said, waving her arm dismissively, "You've mentioned that. However, we can't use dueling pistols without gunpowder."
"Why would you need to use dueling pistols?"
"Wellllll…" She said loudly, dragging out the word to cover the sound of Captain One cracking open one of the powder barrels. "For dueling of course. There's one scheduled for tomorrow at noon."
The entire boarding party turned to stare at her. "Why are you in a duel?"
"Oh I'm not in a duel, I detest the practice." She said as Captain One and several others began scooping powder into large socks. "It's between Lieutenants Ashley and Morgan. After Morgan complained about the quality of our food, Ashley spread rumors that any true sailor would eat whatever food was provided. Morgan responded by grinding up some Abyssal coral into a powder and sprinkling it over her next meal, which she ate in front of Ashley. She then challenged her to a duel."
"She ate WHAT?" I yelled. Seriously, what? I had no idea what eating ground up Abyssal cancer would do to someone, but it couldn't be good.
She gave a solemn nod as Captain One began reattaching the lid onto the now half-empty barrel and the other crewmembers that had accompanied her began quietly sneaking away, presumably to hide the powder-socks elsewhere. "Yes, Morgan is currently incoherent and running a high fever. Her second is taking her place for the duel. I suppose it will have to be fought with cutlasses…"
After the last last barrel of gunpowder was dumped overboard and the boarding party left, everyone turned to face New York expectantly.
"Alright, what was it Nautilus said way back when?" She mumbled.
In the distance behind her the surface of the water was breached. It was a thin black tower, one that even to my untrained eye heralded a submarine's arrival.
New York snapped her fingers and then pointed her thumb behind herself. "Oh yeah. If you hate darkness, confined spaces, or being underwater, too bad. Meet USS Iowa, SSN-797 and your ticket out of here."
So, I didn't intend the wait to be this long. Sorry this isn't more substantial, I ended up chopping the majority of the chapter out as irrelevant or as needing to go into the next chapter and a different viewpoint. I don't feel this is entirely up to my usual standard, but I've been writing and rewriting this forever and I just need to get past this part, this bit was extremely demotivating to write but necessary to the plot of the story.
"Alright," said New York as she paced in front of us. "I don't know what you all are doing out here in the middle of Abyssal territory, but if you want to get out of here alive you need to listen up."
"I can tell you what we were doing out here!" I said, raising my hand and jumping up and down on top of Chesapeake's hand.
New York glared at me. "We can do story time with fairies later."
I glared back, but before the glaring contest between us could be settled Chesapeake lifted me up and put me back on top of her head.
"First, I want that shipgirl untied." She said, gesturing towards the boat where Kearsarge sat watching over her nemesis.
"That's Alabama, she worked for the Abyssals." Constellation supplied.
New York blinked. "First, I want that shipgirl to remain tied." She amended. I chuckled.
New York then turned to her companion. "O'Bannon, why don't you go over there and report back to Iowa?" She asked, waving her hand vaguely towards the sea away from us.
Iowa? I'd heard of that before. I hadn't really kept up with the navy at any point in my life, but I did google 'What's that big ship with guns out my LA window?' once. It'd be nice to have a giant battleship.
O'Bannon fidgeted. "Uh, I thought you were in charge and supposed to handle communication?" She asked.
"I'm delegating. Just go over there." New York said, waving at the sea a little ways off from us.
"If you say so."
As soon as O'Bannon left, New York strode right up to us and leaned forward well into Chesapeake's personal space. "I don't know what your game is, but I'll play it for now. You step a single toe out of line and I'll deal with you myself."
A cold chill went down my spine. Sure, we'd come to terms with the fact that Chesapeake was an Abyssal (somewhat) and made it work, but everyone else? Abyssals were the big bad evil enemy. That meant Chesapeake was the big bad evil enemy.
We might not all have a happy welcome waiting for us once we got out of this.
While I was having my terrible realization, Constellation was edging herself between Chesapeake and New York. "Are you threatening my sister?" She demanded.
"That depends. How likely is she to try and kill us all?"
Oh, that was going to strike a nerve.
"Why you! How likely do you think it is O'Bannon would try to kill us?" She demanded.
O'Bannon, who'd just returned from doing… something with what might have been a phone, let out a sharp squeak.
"O'Bannon would never betray us." New York stated harshly.
"Neither would Chesapeake!"
"She's an Abyssal!"
"She's my sister!"
United States interrupted them before things could devolve further. "Calm down, we're all on the same side here. Now it's clear you have some reservations about Chesapeake, but I can assure you that she has proven her loyalty in battle-"
"She's still armed? What is wrong with you!" New York roared. "In case you haven't noticed, we're at war! She's disarming or we're leaving her here."
"Yes, but she's on our side!"
"Do you really believe that?"
"Of course!"
"I'll do it." Chesapeake said quietly.
"Chesapeake is – wait, what?" Asked Constellation.
I could hear Chesapeake take in a deep breath before repeating herself in a louder voice. "I said I'll do it. If me disarming ensures that all of us get to safety, it's a small price to pay."
"You don't have to do that Chesapeake, you shouldn't have to do that." Constellation protested. "I'm sure we can work something out with New York."
"The only thing you can work out with me is whether I'm going to disarm her the easy way or the hard way." New York responded bluntly.
"Don't worry, it'll be okay. After all, I have you two to protect me, right?" Chesapeake said, her voice cracking at the end of her sentence.
"We will." United States assured her, before glaring at New York. "We will. I want your word that if she does this Chesapeake won't be harmed."
New York shrugged. "As long as she's cooperating and not trying to kill us she'll be fine."
"Your word." United States repeated.
New York sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. You have my word."
New York sent a boarding crew over to make sure Chesapeake was disarmed 'properly'. For convenience's sake they settled on having her dump all her gunpowder into the ocean.
"I believe this is the last of it." Said the head of the boarding crew. "We'll begin removing the gunpowder now."
New York's boarding crew turned out to be two dozen marines with rifles. I hadn't even realized shipgirl marines were a thing, but apparently they were. It was kind of awkward, especially once I realized the girls who I'd been seeing on Chesapeake for days that wore a bit of red in their uniforms were Chesapeake's marines.
Chesapeake's second captain sighed. "Is it really necessary to remove the powder reserved for small arms?"
"All gunpowder is to be removed." Stated the head of New York's marines.
"Yes, yes," She said, waving her arm dismissively, "You've mentioned that. However, we can't use dueling pistols without gunpowder."
"Why would you need to use dueling pistols?"
"Wellllll…" She said loudly, dragging out the word to cover the sound of Captain One cracking open one of the powder barrels. "For dueling of course. There's one scheduled for tomorrow at noon."
The entire boarding party turned to stare at her. "Why are you in a duel?"
"Oh I'm not in a duel, I detest the practice." She said as Captain One and several others began scooping powder into large socks. "It's between Lieutenants Ashley and Morgan. After Morgan complained about the quality of our food, Ashley spread rumors that any true sailor would eat whatever food was provided. Morgan responded by grinding up some Abyssal coral into a powder and sprinkling it over her next meal, which she ate in front of Ashley. She then challenged her to a duel."
"She ate WHAT?" I yelled. Seriously, what? I had no idea what eating ground up Abyssal cancer would do to someone, but it couldn't be good.
She gave a solemn nod as Captain One began reattaching the lid onto the now half-empty barrel and the other crewmembers that had accompanied her began quietly sneaking away, presumably to hide the powder-socks elsewhere. "Yes, Morgan is currently incoherent and running a high fever. Her second is taking her place for the duel. I suppose it will have to be fought with cutlasses…"
After the last last barrel of gunpowder was dumped overboard and the boarding party left, everyone turned to face New York expectantly.
"Alright, what was it Nautilus said way back when?" She mumbled.
In the distance behind her the surface of the water was breached. It was a thin black tower, one that even to my untrained eye heralded a submarine's arrival.
New York snapped her fingers and then pointed her thumb behind herself. "Oh yeah. If you hate darkness, confined spaces, or being underwater, too bad. Meet USS Iowa, SSN-797 and your ticket out of here."
So, I didn't intend the wait to be this long. Sorry this isn't more substantial, I ended up chopping the majority of the chapter out as irrelevant or as needing to go into the next chapter and a different viewpoint. I don't feel this is entirely up to my usual standard, but I've been writing and rewriting this forever and I just need to get past this part, this bit was extremely demotivating to write but necessary to the plot of the story.
- Location
- Usa
Nice to see an update and thanks.
good to have this update