"Wow. What the hell happened here?"
Shiranui, Shigure, Arare, Kagerou and Kuroshio had reached the village on Aogashima Island, and it was absolutely devastated after some sort of explosive weapon demolished every building in sight, from buildings being knocked over to some other buildings being blown up with no rhyme or reason.
Arare walked up and inspected the destroyed buildings while Kagerou looked around and pointed at a destroyed building as she theorized about what destroyed it, noting how the debris was flung across the area in a flowering pattern, which might insinuate a strike from above which hit the building and blew it up.
"That building looked as if it was blown up by something from above, possibly penetrating the building's roof before detonating its payload. Judging from the satellite photos which we received before this, I'm starting to suspect that they might have used a missile or rocket to hit it from above, like the V-1 Flying Bomb or something. And if they were field-testing some sort of land vehicle for that , I'm not surprised that field-testing some sort of explosive weapon led to this level of destruction."
Shiranui nodded, testing her sore left shoulder after having Kuroshio shove it back into the socket in order for her repair system to fix the damage done to her nerves and muscles.
She knew that in the presence of a resting Shigure, Kagerou had to speak in code while referring to Apocalypse since in her mind, Shigure was ignorant of and wasn't cleared to hear anything pertaining to Apocalypse, not knowing that she had listened in on Admiral Haru's meeting and knew a fair bit about it.
Arare was looking at another building which had also been blown up after something hit the side of the building, allowing the mountain of rubble to spill over onto the road like a small landslide while leaving what remained of the second floor of the building intact, the steel I-beams and rebar sticking out from the concrete like crooked, dead fingers and bone pushing through the cold hard concrete in this garden of death.
A demolished building had been knocked over to the side and was now leaning on another building which was still standing despite taking a fair bit of damage, but was starting to show signs of crumbling and wear and tear due to the elements.
After passing by these two buildings, Kuroshio marveled at the amount of damage which was done by what the Abyssals had designed, giving Shigure an aside glance to make sure that she was out of earshot before speaking to Kagerou and Shiranui.
"Well, even though these buildings aren't exactly the pinnacle of infrastructural engineering since they're pretty old, but the fact that these buildings are blown to smithereens and gave the ruins of Dresden a run for its money means that these missiles or rockets are nothing to sneeze at. I mean, they're built by the Abyssals, but I'm not exactly sure if they're playing by our rules anymore, so if this Apocalypse is coming, and this shit is what we're dealin' with…"
Kagerou shushed her in order to get Kuroshio to stop snowballing on with negative ideas even though her own gaze looked rather concerned, and she strolled over to where a plot of land had some sort of track imprinted on it, motioning for them to come over while looking down and squatting in order to get a better look.
Shiranui looked back to confirm with Shigure that she was going to be alright for the duration of their investigation as she left her friend in a sitting position near a piece of wall which still stood strong, and a weak nod from the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer was all she needed to turn away and take off in Kagerou's direction.
Something had flattened the vast stretches of vegetation which had populated the land, and even though these tank track marks were partially washed away by the weather, she was still able to see that the weight of the vehicle left deep tracks which weren't disappearing anytime soon.
Kagerou looked back to the leveled village, recalling the orientation of the buildings and the direction in which they were hit as she hypothesized.
"Well, I think that there's a good chance whatever tracked vehicle rode around here fired a rocket or something into the village in order to take out the buildings downrange like a shooting range. But how could a tracked vehicle get on this island?
Satellite shows that the Abyssals haven't heavily renovated Aogashima Island as heavily as they did with Ogasawara Island and Guam due to its proximity to Hachijo Island and Japan compared those other islands, so they couldn't have transported whatever left these up the roads we just walked."
Kagerou continued on about how a tracked vehicle coming on this island didn't make sense, the three Kagerou-Class destroyers and lone Asashio-Class destroyers now being cut off from the entire world thanks to the isolated island's unique environment and the lack of illumination via the moon.
"I mean, the road which we used to access this village seemed a little too narrow to fit a tracked vehicle, especially the single-lane corners with the steep walls on one side and the nigh-useless guardrails on the other, it would mean that guardrails should be crumpled due to their attempt to turn the corner without dropping off the cliff side. If I recall correctly, I don't remember such conspicuous indicators of a tracked vehicle being driven across those roads, if the width of these tracks are to be believed."
Shiranui gave her opinion, reminding them of their own little classified briefing before the day of the sortie where a declassified version was given to the Combined Fleet, and the mysterious signatures which they had picked up.
"Well, in our secret briefing with the Admiral on the 13th, remember how some sort of signature flew up from the ocean and unloaded another Abyssal signature on the island which likely caused all this? Due to the lack of runways on the ocean, I think it might be an Abyssal helicopter which was built as a part of Apocalypse in order to transport the tracked vehicle here.
It doesn't seem entirely impossible for them to do that."
Kuroshio lifted an eyebrow, uncertain of how helicopters were capable of lifting a fully armored vehicle as she asked her sisters.
"Wait, I'm not entirely sure if helicopters can lift tracked vehicles, even though I understand that helicopters have come a long way ever since the Kayaba Ka-1 Autogyro…"
But Arare pointed out something which she had learnt after reading up on what the greatest machines of today could achieve.
"Actually, that's entirely possible. The Mil Mi-26 Helicopter, which is made by the humans, can lift an entire plane. A tracked vehicle wouldn't be out of the question, especially since the Abyssals specialize in technology which works after surfacing from the ocean. They might've surfaced near the island, waited for the motor to kick into high gear with flotation devices to keep both helicopter and vehicle afloat, and lifted off to head for the helicopter landing pad on this island."
Kuroshio lifted an eyebrow as she observed the meek Asashio-Class destroyer and inquired good-naturedly about how she knew of that tidbit of information.
"No shit? How'd you know of that, doesn't seem like the kind of thing which would seem relevant to anything we do."
Arare shrugged as she looked away, elaborating as she felt a little embarrassed at everyone's attention focusing on her, since even in the Infiltration Fleet and amongst her sisters, she was the quiet wallflower who never said much and mostly kept to herself.
"I read those 'World's Fastest Planes' or 'World's Best Tanks' lists quite often to find out how humans push the limits of what's possible, and I remembered that the now-defunct Soviet Union produced some insane vehicles, like the Mil Mi-26 Helicopter and the Antonov An-225. Besides, it's the age of the internet, which makes these things easier to discover and learn, and with Apocalypse looming in the distance and the sudden interest in recreating human vehicles ala the Flying Dutchman, I thought it was best to find out a little more whenever I can."
Lifting an eyebrow in order to accept her teammate's interest, Kagerou pointed in a certain direction as she consulted with her map of the island and the orientation of everything relative to their current position.
"Alright, so the tracks lead from over there, where, according to the maps we have of this place, I believe the heliport is located."
Kuroshio looked around at a building off in the distance, pointing at how that building was simply smashed apart as a cavern was carved through the building, and the deeply-imprinted footprints which led up to it.
"Well, whatever this weapons is, do you think it's capable of charging that building and knock it down like that? That doesn't seem like the work of any vehicle, so what gives?"
Kagerou stood up and strolled over towards where the building was, and Shiranui was starting to become a little worried for Shigure's well-being as she strolled over to the wall where she left Shigure, which was quite a ways back.
She made sure to leave Shigure behind at an area of the village which was completely trashed save for the lone wall where Shigure leaned on for support, because Shiranui felt that completely demolished buildings were slightly safer than partially demolished buildings, as it was asinine to not expect the latter to come crashing down unexpectedly after their structural integrity was compromised.
Noting that Shigure gulping down air as she bit down slowly on a chocolate-bar-sized ration which was provided to them courtesy of Haruna shortly before splitting up to head for Aogashima Island, Shiranui slowed down as she approached the destroyer, looking away from her leg stump as she commented.
"We've found some tank tracks and have come to the conclusion that some sort of powerful helicopter, likely created as part of Apocalypse, transported some sort of rocket launching vehicle onto this island and blew it to kingdom come. There also seems to be some sort of building which was knocked over, not through explosive power but through sheer physical force, and I believe I saw some animal footprints leading up to it. And while I wish to visit the site where the evidence is located, I don't want to leave you behind unattended, and I'll bring you over to a closer location so that I can reach you quickly if anything goes wrong."
Shigure nodded, looking thankful for Shiranui's thoughtfulness as she displayed a tired but genuine smile, Shiranui's eyes narrowing at how the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer's face was looking rather wan and her skin was caked with sweat as the burn injury and the missing leg took its toll on her.
Admirable, yet so foolish.
" … Thank you. Please be gentle with me."
Before her doey, innocent eyes widened and she raised her arms like a child in order to allow Shiranui to carry the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer on her back.
Her cheeks colored a little at Shigure's wording of her request, and she squatted down in order to carry her friend on her back as she felt the warmth of the Shiratsuyu-Class's bare torso pressing against her back, Shigure's tired sigh sounding out in relief as she exhaled into Shiranui's ear while she hugged Shiranui from behind.
Add that to the fact that Shiranui was holding her by the butt in the piggyback pose, and it felt rather soft in her gloved hands…
Shiranui's blush intensified tenfold as she shook those naughty thoughts from her mind, feeling extremely hot on the inside as she blamed the visit to her Admiral's room/love nest for making her think such lewd thoughts, lowering Shigure down on another wall as she commented.
"Look, I have to leave you here so that we, the Infiltration Fleet, can talk about sensitive matters without an outside presence forcing us to speak in code. I'll return for you and fill you in later."
And she had to look away from Shigure's grateful smile as she turned away and shook the blush from her face before jogging and meeting up with her Infiltration Fleet teammates at a relatively large clearing of land.
She slowed down her jog just as her heart dropped upon seeing the gigantic, circular footprint of an elephant which was about four centimeters deep, along with the four stubby toes which elephants had as she heard Kuroshio's steps slow down behind her, looking down at the footprint of the Beast as she gently laid down her booted-up laptop and knelt down to feel the soil where the Beast had stepped on, muttering.
"Kagerou, help me get the depth of the footprint. I'll test the soil, and Shiranui will estimate the diameter of the track at its furthest points."
Kagerou nodded as she knelt down and leaned into the small pit which was the footprint as she stuck the tip of her index finger into the bottom of the footprint and estimated its depth while using the length of her finger as reference.
Shiranui stood over the two of them and looked straight down at the footprint while doing calculations in her head, slowly ambling around the footprint in order to minimize the chances of an error popping up in her measurements if she was to only view the footprint from one point of view.
She called out her measurements,
"74.3 centimeters."
While Kagerou wiped the dirt from her gloves as she followed suit.
"Depth's about 4.32 centimeters."
And Kuroshio typed in those numbers as she spoke out loud in order to keep her sisters informed of how the calculations on the laptop was going to play out.
"Well, thank goodness we have some internet access here, we can search the average size of an elephant to base our calculations off of. Accounting for the toughness of the soil, recent weather patterns throughout the last month and the very generous assumption that an elephant's weight is distributed almost equally amongst its four legs, we only need to wait for a while to allow the laptop to account for errors, we'll get a good estimate of this Beast's size. How did it get on the island, though?"
That question went unanswered as Shiranui stepped into the remnants of the smashed in building, marveling in fear and awe (but mostly fear) at how something could body slam a building into the current state it was now, debris replacing the blood which was splattered around the corpse which was the destroyed building.
Shiranui inspected the damage and estimated that the building was a little over three meters tall, and while she was no expert on animals, she was quite sure that elephants certainly had the body build in order to achieve this feat, although their flesh-and-blood bodies couldn't handle the stress of such an impact.
The ceiling had already collapsed after an Abyssal Beast had charged what appeared to be a shop which had been vacated decades prior, and the damage done was critical to the structural integrity of the building, as pillars were knocked over and couldn't hold up what would have remained of the shattered ceiling.
Everything, from metal shelves to overhead lights had been trampled upon by whatever came in like like a wrecking ball, left warped and smashed on the floor alongside the debris and rubble which surrounded her.
Turning back as Kuroshio called out,
"Shiranui-nee! It's done!"
She skulked back to her sisters as Kuroshio displayed the laptop screen for them to see, and Shiranui had to admit, she was a little unnerved at the results which were shown on-screen as it showed the estimated size of the elephant Beast in comparison to an African elephant and a battleship ship girl.
And the elephant Beast outsized both the African elephant and the battleship, standing at what Shiranui saw was about 5.8 meters in height.
Estimated weight was around or even more than 20 tonnes.
That was… big.
Kuroshio looked down at the laptop screen as she tried her best to reassure her sisters that these calculations were arbitrary since they didn't have all the details, so the actual size was likely a little smaller than estimated.
"W-Well, 'fore you think this looks entirely hopeless, a lot of factors weren't taken into account and would make us believe that the Beast is larger than it actually is in real life."
Shiranui nodded, accepting the disclaimer which Kuroshio put forth as Kagerou sighed and concluded their quick search of the island in the dead of night, looking rather tired after staying up the entire night despite being essentially superhuman.
"So, let's recap. Judging from what we've observed thus far, there seems to be a tracked vehicle, which was likely transported by helicopter onto this island, which fired missiles into the abandoned buildings in the island's village. And for some reason, a supersized elephant-esque Beast somehow appears on this island and rams through buildings with relative ease. Joy."
Kuroshio used her laptop's camera to snap some photos of the scene from several angles, Kuroshio looked at the clock on her laptop as she commented on how time flew and how they had to regroup with the Combined Fleet and whoever was going to be their backup fleet.
"Well, we've gotten enough pictorial evidence of what they're up to, and since we're short on time and need to regroup with everyone else, we should get going. If we manage to make it back to the harbor and sail back to the Combined Fleet, we should be able to make it back in time to allow Shigure-chan to dock. I also think Arare-chan and Shiranui need to take a dip due to your afflicted shoulders, since you've been carrying Shigure-chan on your back the entire way up, an' it's gotta take a toll on your shoulder, right?"
Shiranui nodded as she looked away, flexing her shoulder and finding that her shoulder was even more sore than ever, even though she had done her best to lean forward while carrying her friend so that Shigure's weight would be supported mostly by her back and not her arms.
Kuroshio closed her laptop as Kagerou took charge of the situation, shooting Shiranui a concerned look as she ordered them to get off of this island as soon as possible so as not to spend a second longer in Abyssal waters.
"Look, we've gotten our evidence and formulated several hypotheses from everything we can find, and even though it's a moonless night which allowed us to enter Abyssal waters without too much fuss, we need to leave. I'll jog down with Arare and get the boat slippers ready, Kuroshio, finish up your business here, and Shiranui, get Shigure and leave with Kuroshio. We'll meet you back at the harbor."
Nodding, the members of the Infiltration Fleet went their separate ways as Shiranui jogged over to where Shigure was, becoming a little concerned about whether Shigure was going to suffer from hypothermia or whatever despite ingesting some fuel earlier in order to keep her body warm in the moonless night's slightly frigid temperatures.
But she was secretly glad to find a relaxed Shigure look up at the sky before noticing Shiranui's approach, waving in order to greet her as Shiranui gently scooped up the disabled destroyer off of her feet and slung Shigure over her back with relative ease, remarking.
"We've got to get off this island as soon as possible. We've collected quite a fair bit of information regarding what they've been doing here in the past month, and we need to go before the Combined and backup fleets suffer any more casualties. I'll fill you in along the way, but do you feel anything wrong with your body after being left alone for so long?"
But all she heard was Shigure giggling to herself as she chose to comment on something which she never thought to notice all this time.
"I'm alright, Shiranui-san.bAnd I apologize for changing the topic so abruptly, but have you noticed the stars? They look so beautiful…"
Shiranui stopped as she pulled her neck to the side in order to give Shigure a sideways glance as she warily asked.
"Alright, is this interest in stars some sort of euphemism for how you're not going to make it? I'm not exactly well-versed in literature, so if this is some fanciful way of saying your last words…"
Shigure let out a single exhausted laugh before looking back up at the sky, speaking about how this island must've been quite the place to live in before the war.
"No, although I'm thankful that you're so concerned about me. Look up at the stars.
It's quite the view, especially since we're out on the ocean and there are no signs of civilization for miles, which allows us to see them in all their glory. It must've been quite the experience, to be able to live in such a quiet village and be provided with a view by Mother Nature."
Shiranui sighed at how Shigure was more interested in observing natural phenomena rather than getting medical attention, but she continued her hike as she shifted Shigure's weight on her back before looking up.
The view was nothing short of spectacular, and Shiranui now slightly regretted not looking up at the sky much earlier on as she had missed out on the myriad of minuscule stars shining down upon them.
And even though she was no astronomer, she was at least proficient enough in using the stars for navigation to be able to identify several of the stars which prevented them from navigating the island in pitch-black darkness, and Shiranui could at least appreciate the beauty of nature whenever they presented themselves.
She could hear Shigure sound a little afraid of what happened to her in their last battle, but was happy that everyone came to her rescue and prevented her from suffering a prolonged, fiery death which no one would wish upon their worst enemy.
"I admit, I was afraid that Chitose-san would die or even sink because of the incoming medium-caliber shell and torpedo, and that's why I jumped in front of her to body-block them for her. But I think I understand what others are talking about when they say that life's worth living, especially since we're now seeing the world in a whole new light, and I think that this view is one of many which I would never get to see if I were killed in the line of duty. I'm sorry, Shiranui-san, for making you worry about me."
Shiranui blinked, and she could feel the remorse in Shigure's voice as she continued, staying silent in order to allow her friend to express herself.
"I think that I should protect others only when I'm certain I'm not going to be worse off than the ship girl who was going to be hurt in the first place. And I inconvenienced you after sustaining so much damage, you must be exhausted and tired of doing all the heavy lifting, in this case literally…"
Shiranui considered her words before shaking her head slightly, taking care to watch her steps as the road's incline shifted erratically, snaking along the caldera and allowed them a view of the dark ocean and pitch-black horizon.
Finally, she answered.
"Well, after some thought, I suppose I can come to the conclusion that you might have some sort of compulsion to help others, and it's pretty much terminal. Chitose-san isn't capable of fighting in night battles with her planes, while you can use your torpedoes in the night to devastating effect. And yet you chose to save her instead of yourself. So, critical thinking skills when the sun goes down, nil. Any sense of self-preservation, nil. Odds of staying in one piece long enough to even receive Kai, much less Kai Ni?
Well, I wouldn't be so rude as to say nil, but you're certainly heading down there."
Shigure sweat-dropped and was looking a little glum about Shiranui's observations, but Shiranui managed to cheer her up a little by looking away so that Shigure couldn't see her slight blush as she continued.
"But, even after all that, I would still carry you. You're my partner and my friend, and even if you're a new one, I'd still want to protect you. You aren't experienced enough to look out for yourself, so I'll watch over you alongside your fleet and your sisters. God knows you need it with the kind of storm which brews around you and the injuries which you sustain in place of others."
Shigure giggled again, nodding as she rested her chin on Shiranui's left shoulder and commented on how Shiranui was a lot more caring than she let on.
"You know, Shiranui-san, you're a lot more caring than you let on. I think that despite putting on a strong front in order to keep others at bay, I think you're the kind of person who has a small circle of close friends whom you'd willingly die for, right? I think that's pretty endearing, in my book."
Shiranui exhaled through her nose as she threatened good-naturedly,
"You know I can drop you at any time, right?"
As she heard Shigure whisper into her ear, certain that Shiranui wouldn't carry out her bluff as she wasn't the kind of person to do that.
"I don't believe you'd do that. You're my friend."
Shiranui nodded, starting her summary on how they theorized that missiles or rockets were used to demolish the village's buildings while likely being moved around via a tracked vehicle, how some unexplained animal tracks which they found in the dirt belonged to an elephant Beast who towered above any living land animal, and ultimately, how these things were likely a part of Apocalypse, which was a world war against an enemy whose full capabilities they weren't entirely sure of.