Hiei was waiting for the Ise-Class battleships as she conversed with the taller Yamato-Class battleship, describing her sortieing experiences and the lessons she learnt from the ship girls of this base.
Being constructed earlier than the revered Yamato meant that she somehow felt a need to look out for the more inexperienced battleship.
And unlike her Onee-sama who was exuberant, dependable and experienced enough to hold her own in a battle, she saw Yamato as the kind to be strong in battle as she faced off against her enemies, yet somehow delicate as a flower when it came to collateral damage as the battle raged on around her, likely getting distracted by the injuries of her comrades.
So here she was, teaching Yamato that even though she was a battleship, she couldn't be distracted by her injured comrades.
It was alright for her to tank a shot for another ship girl if she knew she could withstand it, but she wasn't a repair ship, and it wasn't her job to worry about her comrades.
"And that's why, we must harden our hearts and accomplish our objective before we can worry about our injured comrades."
"B-But isn't that too heartless, not to spare a thought for them as they fall, Hiei-san?"
Hiei's face hardened, looking away as she remembered Junyou getting injured on the battlefield.
And yet, all she could do was keep pushing on, forcing herself to ignore her injured comrade lest another one of her fleet members got hurt.
"It's not about what we want to do, when it comes to anything that happens out on the battlefield. It's a matter of doing what we were created to do. And for us, our duty is to annihilate our enemies, no matter who they are."
She looked back up to Yamato, looking into her despondent face that revealed the conflict within.
Between her kind heart that simultaneously wanted to help everyone and her duty to be the most powerful battleship in existence without any prior experience, having previously been kept as a "trump card" throughout the war and ultimately being sacrificed in a desperate and ultimately pointless battle.
Hiei smiled sadly at the battleship, truly touched by the battleship's kindness, and wondered why a Yamato Nadeshiko like her had to be burdened with such responsibility.
If she were someone like Musashi, she could understand, the dark-skinned "ganguro" being a blood knight that wanted to participate in a battle, if only to protect her comrades in her own way.
But Yamato was the incarnation of a perfect wife, something that had no place on the battlefield, much less being essentially the most powerful ship girl in existence.
"Well,"
Hiei tried approaching it from another perspective to help her friend out.
"You can think of it this way. If you wipe out all your enemies as quickly as possible, you all can go back to the base sooner and your fleet mates won't have suffered in vain, right?"
Yamato looked away, still conflicted about having to fight in a battle while being so heartless and suppressing her concern for her fleet mates, but she finally looked back towards Hiei, her eyes hardening as she accepted the grim reality of war, responding.
"I understand. I can't do anything about my injured comrades other than towing them back to the port. But I can do the one thing I do best and defeat my enemies with my overwhelming firepower to end my battles quickly."
Looking over the horizon wistfully, Yamato described her feelings about her desire to fight conflicting with her desire to help.
"You know, like my sister, I often dreamed of sortieing with my fellow ship girls. So when I heard that the Admiral was organizing lessons for us and was planning to sortie us in the upcoming Pacific assault, I was so happy that I protected everyone on the battlefield.
But now that I'm here, I can't help but also think about the safety of my comrades, and how I can't hope to protect every one of them as it's not within my power to do so. The best I can do is protect those around me with my armor whenever I can, and focus on destroying the enemy in front of me. But it feels a little sad, doesn't it? It feels almost pointless to be created to be bulletproof, and to be the "ultimate" ship girl, if we can't protect everyone around us…"
Hiei shook her head, correcting Yamato's thinking by trying to change the way the situation was viewed.
"Just as the Ultimate Spear should not feel guilty for not being able to function like a basic shield, we should not feel guilty for not being able to protect everyone we way you wish for us to. When you think about it, we're considerably slower, which means if everyone were forced to cluster around us for us to shield them like you intend to, it instead makes it even easier for the Abyssals to concentrate their cannon-fire, torpedoes and bombers to kill us all in one fell swoop. Instead, like the Ultimate Spear, we should instead focus on an overwhelming offense and strive to destroy our enemies in one strike to ensure no one else gets hurt. When you think about it, to erase the source of the threat is also a form of protection, no?"
Yamato looked back to Hiei, smiling radiantly now that her worries were assuaged, thanking the Kongou-Class battleship that never failed to brighten up her day and helped her feel better about herself.
"Thank you, Hiei, for lifting my spirits whenever I feel down."
She scratched her cheek sheepishly, wondering out loud.
"Although I feel that being the more powerful and older-looking battleship, I should be the more mature and caring ship girl here…"
Hiei waved her arms in faux-pissed off manner, puffing her cheeks out as she moved her clenched fists in a cyclic manner, softly hitting on the thick armor of Yamato's 46 cm Triple Cannons while exclaiming,
"I'm older than you, just so you know!
I participated in World War 1 and 2, so I'm your senior!"
Yamato giggled at Hiei's false outburst, and bowed meekly in apology.
But Yamato asked a question about their two remaining battleships, causing Hiei to stop her action.
"What are the Ise-Class battleships like, if they're sent out so often despite Admiral Haru possessing stronger battleships?"
Hiei reviewed her memory files, trying to discern the true nature of the Ise-Class battleships as they had never found a reason to interact with each other outside of shelling missions.
Their personalities, however…
"They both know that they can't compare to most of us when it comes to a straight up fight, so I heard that they fight using unconventional methods to throw the opponent off. And even though we can all easily wipe everything out with our cannons, in this base, we are more concerned with teaching ship girls what to do when the conventional methods fail us in times of combat. Hyuga's pretty ripped and lean as she prioritizes close-quarters combat while using her katana and cannons up close, contradicting our usual doctrine of staying further back to soften up the enemy with our overwhelming firepower and using our strength to defeat anyone foolish enough to fight us in close quarters.
And Ise is… just Ise."
Hiei's furrowed, trying to describe the name-ship of the Ise-Class battleship, and failing to find any words in the dictionary to describe her personality.
She shrugged as she saw the two Ise-Class battleships approaching them, letting Yamato know.
"Just don't expect them to fight in a manner that conforms to any specific fighting style."
The two Ise-Class battleships had short brown hair and brown eyes, wearing a miko uniform of sorts with the skirts colored in their signature brown color.
Underneath the uniform was some sort of black skin tight suit that peeked out from her elbow-length sleeves and their brown dresses, and they wore knee-high socks and sandals.
Their riggings had four 35.6 cm Twin Gun Mounts, and they both had a handheld triangular flight deck in one hand, with one hand resting on the katanas they carried on their left hip.
A radar array was poking from the top of their riggings, and two rings around their thighs were holding some sort of metal plate that doubled as secondary turrets for extra protection.
The few things that distinguished them from one and another, is that Ise had her hair tied up in a ponytail and held together by a red ribbon, while Hyuga had her short hair down.
Hyuga had a serious expression on her face and strode forward diligently, while Ise was bubbly and was practically hopping forward, painfully enthusiastic about the training session.
Everyone greeted the two approaching battleships, Nagato starting off the session by opening up with a suggestion.
"Alright, let's start this session.
I think it's best if we split up to try and spar with each other and try to learn a few techniques from each other. Does anyone have suggestions on whom they wish to spar with?"
Musashi was the one to raise her hand first, her open palm forming a fist in the air and leaving her right index finger out as she lowered her hand to point at Nagato, stating her desire.
"I challenge Nagato-san."
Hyuga looked to Yamato with an aside glance, receiving a few surprised looks due to her audacious challenge towards the gentle battleship.
"I shall do battle with Yamato-san."
Yamato's eyes widened in surprise, but she nodded in acceptance as she held her umbrella a little tighter upon shifting her gaze onto Hyuga's katana.
Ise giddily raised her hand as she ecstatically chirped.
"I'll fight Hiei, Kongou and Bismarck all at once!"
Everyone went dead silent at that, staring blankly at the name-ship of the Ise-Class battleship as she smiled radiantly, her eyes narrowing to form curves as she stood behind her claim and rested her left hand on the handle of her katana.
Kongou waved her clenched fists around as she exclaimed indignantly, Hiei and Bismarck also looking rather insulted at Ise's bold claim but allowed the name-ship of the Kongou-Class to be their unofficial spokesperson.
"Who do you think you are to think that you can fight the three of us at once, desu?!"
Ise tilted her head, completely unfazed by the glares that she received as she coolly responded.
"Well, why don't you follow me and find out, hmm?"
Ise boosted away, her muscular legs propelling her forward and allowing her to get a decent head start before an affronted Kongou followed in her tracks, Hiei and Bismarck looking to each other before they shrugged and followed suit.
The four of them zoomed across the ocean as fast as battleships could go, leaving a messy wake behind them as the five slow battleships were left in the middle of the ocean, Nagato awkwardly coughing into her right fist as she commanded.
"So, now that we've gotten that out of the way, everyone… Battle stations."
The four participants steeled their expressions as Mutsu retreated to a safe distance, being there to use her heavy-duty steel cable to tow back any injured battleships, Musashi and Hyuga looking to each other and wordlessly coming to an agreement as they shuffled and stood closer to each other.
Musashi cracked her knuckles and Hyuga drew her katana, somewhat mirroring Nagato's clenching of her fists in anticipation and Yamato worriedly brandishing her steel umbrella in response to Hyuga drawing her Anti-Abyssal weapon.
Hyuga kept her eyes on Yamato as she distanced herself from Musashi and Nagato, slowly strolling as she chatted with Yamato in her emotionally flat voice.
"The days where we fought as warships are over. We are now also girls who can walk on water, we must change the way we fight our battles. It would be easy for us to fight like a conventional battleship as we always have, but eventually, we will encounter situations where the Abyssals will somehow survive our barrage of cannon fire. They'll fight up close and personal, where our cannons won't be as effective due to their slow rotational speed and long reload times. And in this case, we need to make sure that every strike counts."
Hyuga noted, now doing her part to educate the battleships on the benefits of fighting the way they did.
"We, the Ise-Class battleships, don't fight like most battleships since we know that doing this will only limit our effectiveness.
So, we instead fight as ship girls, something that forces us to think out of the box and use whatever's on hand to do whatever it takes to take as many enemies down as possible."
Hyuga then bolted forward, katana in hand as she crossed the distance quickly by running the whole way, but Yamato's folded umbrella was already moving to intercept the incoming blade.
A loud screech rang out as the two weapons impacted, Hyuga pulling her blade back and her eyes narrowing in suspicion, before shifting the position of her feet and her weight to strike again.
This time, Yamato swung her umbrella out, cleanly and easily deflecting Hyuga's blade as she stepped back, her concentration never wavering for a second.
Hyuga easily dodged the umbrella that was swung down hard by the slower battleship, and was able to put some distance between them to reassess the situation.
Yamato chafed a little upon seeing Hyuga being so willing to strike her opponent down in the midst of her own speech, pointing out.
"Don't you find it dishonorable to try and surprise your opponent with a sneak attack, Hyuga-san?"
Hyuga's eyes darkened a little upon that, lazily swinging her katana while expertly hiding the fact that she constantly shifted her weight from foot to foot to keep herself limber and ready to evade a potential attack as she snarked.
"Honor? Pride? These things have no place in a battlefield, where ship girls can die if they don't constantly adapt to an enemy that has seemingly infinite resources and reserves. Let me tell you something, Yamato."
Hyuga firmly clasped her katana, pointing it at Yamato as she continued dryly.
"When you face a situation that's so heavily stacked against you with so much on the line, you may see that sometimes, things like honor and dignity are paltry things to forsake to win, and sometimes to even survive. Do you understand me?"
The Yamato-Class battleship seemed rather taken aback at this statement, her doey eyes widening and blatantly expressing how deeply that statement had cut into her heart, not surprising considering her suicide mission against the Americans in World War 2, and suddenly realizing where Hyuga was coming from.
She shut her eyes for an instant, visibly trying to shut out the hurtful memories of abandonment before opening them to reveal steely eyes that exuded a shaky but unyielding will to win.
Yamato's rigging groaned and screeched as all her 15.5 Cm Triple Gun Turrets rotated, all of them aimed right at Hyuga as Yamato looked on, not wanting to immediately resort to her most powerful cannons for fear of outright killing Hyuga with them, even if she was using training rounds.
She was carrying the world's most powerful ship cannons on her rigging, and her shells could potentially kill anyone given close enough distance and sheer bad luck.
Hyuga let out a tsk, and being an aviation battleship, she had her boost gauge installed after her remodel to help improve her mobility as she emptied the boost gauge in one boat slipper to dive to the right.
Balloons of smoke erupted from the barrels of Yamato's smaller cannons with the accompanying chorus of explosions, flames licking out of the barrel and the barrage of projectiles replacing the position of Hyuga's torso where she previously stood, Hyuga correcting her stumble and aimed one of her cannons in Yamato's direction while her other cannons whirled to face in other directions.
Yamato flinched and strafed to throw off her aim, only to find that it was a feint as Hyuga pulled out an empty Type 0 Recon plane to hurl in Yamato's direction, using the boost gauge in her other boat slipper to propel herself towards the Yamato-Class battleship.
Yamato reflexively caught the Recon plane with her hand, but Hyuga had already shortened the distance between them, Yamato dropping the plane in her hand and using the secret weapon that she carried around 24/7.
Unfolding her umbrella's handle to pull out a gun handle and trigger, Yamato held up the barrel of the Anti-Abyssal Rifle hidden in her steel umbrella and fired without thinking, finally remembering the warning that her Admiral gave her, that her powerful Anti-Abyssal Rifle, as per its name, was only to be used on Abyssals , as it was also fully capable of killing a ship girl.
She watched with dread as the bullet flew toward towards Hyuga, hoping that despite her precise android aiming skills, she'd somehow miss the advancing battleship, who had built up too much momentum and couldn't stop to evade.
But she was both shocked and surprised as Hyuga dropped down to slide on her knees, using the flight deck that was on her left arm to deflect the bullet as she held it up to her face.
She angled it in such a way that the bullet wouldn't simply punch through the makeshift shield, but the bullet's trajectory would be thrown off by the shield's resistance, throwing up sparks as the bullet was deflected successfully by the more experienced battleship.
Two of Hyuga's four cannons were pointed backwards and downwards towards the ocean, the recoil of their combined firepower providing the push needed to propel Hyuga back up.
Yamato was now panicking, not having expected the aviation battleship to deflect the bullet, Hyuga charging forward and regaining the lost momentum from her initial charge to put her weight behind her steel flight deck like a battering ram, Yamato bracing for the imminent impact.
Yamato's left forearm collided with Hyuga's flight deck, causing a shock-wave to reverberate through the surrounding air and even disturbing the seawater around them by causing waves to form.
But Yamato was made painfully aware of a sudden pain in her stomach, looking down to see the glint of a katana as the steel buried itself into her uniform.
Yamato's heart froze as she tore herself away, the blade thankfully not piercing through her body.
Blood was flowing from the wound as she struggled to get away while Hyuga was swinging her stained katana around lazily, not intending to chase after her.
Yamato struggled to stay up, the Fairies trying to close up the wound as she gasped, sweating from the very real fear of being hurt.
Being a ship girl that hadn't seen too much combat, Yamato knew that she, like all ship girls, could be injured, killed and ultimately sunk.
But the wound on her stomach was something that she couldn't comprehend.
Despite Hyuga's katana being a Anti-Abyssal weapon that was likely created along with Hyuga herself and hence having the potential to cut through steel, she was Yamato.
How was Hyuga able to wield her katana so effectively to be able to pierce through the armor of the strongest battleship in the world?
The Ise-Class battleship looked as if she was able to read Yamato's mind, looking into her wincing eyes as she flatly pointed out.
"Don't look so surprised. Just like how we can get extremely nasty, you'll be surprised what tricks the Abyssals have in store to take down us capital ships. If the Abyssals did what I did in battle, you'd be suffering from more than a stab wound, seeing as they are our mortal enemies and truly have no qualms in doing what it takes to sink you and deal a mortal blow to our morale."
Hyuga lowered her katana and relaxed her stance as she allowed Yamato's Fairies to patch her up.
Yamato still looked wary but exhaled as she took the chance to wipe her sweat while listening to Hyuga's lecture.
"Honestly, I was glad that I voted to spar with you before Ise did. You may think that I'm 'dishonorable' or whatever, but I truly feel bad for Kongou, Hiei and Bismarck for fighting against my sister ship."
Yamato breathed in, thankful that Hyuga wasn't pressing her attack anymore as she exclaimed.
"Aren't you the least bit worried about your sister, Hyuga-san? She's going up against three battleships at once..."
Hyuga shook her head at that, jutting her chin towards Yamato as she pointed out the battleship's wounds.
"Worry about yourself, for in a real battle, I would have struck you even if you were down. Ise can handle herself, although it's her mental health I'm worried about.
She's..."
"Alright, girls! We're now far enough from the main group, now let's party!"
Ise cheered, allowing the battleship trio to surround her as they slowed down.
The fast battleship duo weren't exactly tired to the point of exhaustion, but they were indeed sweating, although Bismarck had suffered the most from the small marathon.
She was carrying more armor than the two Kongou sisters, and she had to resort to physical running in order to keep up, the sweating exacerbated by the chest-plate that she wore, her primarily dark and thick uniform that was all designed for a colder climate and not suited for summer weather as it passively absorbed the ambient heat.
She was starting to sweat buckets, and her chest was heaving as she paused to catch her breath as she tried to look as dignified as a disheveled ship girl could when breathing heavily and wiping away beads of sweat.
But Ise never broke a sweat as she inhaled, loudly and cheerily announcing.
"Alright, boys and girls!
We're here today to celebrate the advent of our resident hero ship girl! And you know who she is and her ship class, so say it with me now!"
Ise then physically formed out the alphabet as she exclaimed maniacally.
" B! B! E! Aviation Battleship Ise, on the scene!"
All of the battleships were frozen upon witnessing her mania, and could only watch with morbid curiosity as Ise took out a bandanna to tie around her forehead, Ise losing her mania completely upon tightening the bandanna behind her head as her expression hardened.
She drew her katana, only to shove it in her mouth and place her two hands on the cannons opposite to form an 'X' right in front of her with her flight deck still on her left forearm, as the Fairies, knowing the Ise-Class battleship fighting style all too well, scrambled to leave the cannons.
As they left, Ise "unsheathed" the cannons to physically wield the dual cannons while the remaining bottom two cannons slowly whirred, pointing downwards so as not to interfere with Ise's movements.
Ise now announced seriously, her voice muffled by the handle of the katana between her teeth, but her words could still be understood by the three battleships before her.
"I introduce you to my preferred fighting style, the 'Three-Sword Style'!"
Everyone simply stared at her incredulously, before mentally agreeing,
"No matter what, we ABSOLUTELY cannot let this idiot of a battleship win!"
But while they were lost amidst their thoughts, no one noticed the subtle brown aura of strength flowing out of Ise's back, barely hinting at the dormant powers that were stirring inside the eccentric veteran…
"… She has seen better days."
Yamato could only sweat-drop at the crude hint regarding the mental state of the name-ship of the Ise-Class battleships.
But Hyuga was quick to recover, her indifferent demeanor returning as she spoke up in her sister's defense.
"But do not underestimate her.
Anyone who does is in for a world of pain.
I strive to find a harmony in all the weapons I carry, believing that all our weapons can be used no matter what the situation, and that no weapon can be truly rendered ineffective by circumstance.
It's all about what you can think of to improvise with what weapons you have, and I strive to utilize all of them as best I can, whenever I can. Ise, however, breaks the meta by completely disregarding everything and doing whatever she wants as she fights."
But she heard Hyuga continue, a tone of sobriety in her serious, deadpan voice.
"I can't dispute the fact that we are weak battleships. But the age of warships is over."
Hyuga's eyes clouded over as she drove her next point home and met Yamato's gaze.
"This is the age of the ship girl. Pride. Honor. Convention. When the situation deteriorates, don't be afraid to cast off these shackles to expand all your effort into protecting your comrades."
The Ise-Class battleship then shook her head sadly, seeing Yamato's sullen expression, adding solemnly.
"Either way, I'm in no way under the illusion that I can beat you alone.
The gap in power between us is too great, though I fully understand that it's not your fault. But as a result of this gap, I don't think we can understand each other no matter how much we try."
Hyuga glanced at the Yamato-Class battleship as she calmly explained the vast gap that existed in between them in terms of talent and stats.
"Amongst the three paths to strength are talent, potential and experience. Those who are built to be naturally strong likely wouldn't understand the struggles of those who had to develop their strengths through experience or had to train tirelessly to unlock the power hidden within them, but it is not anybody's fault for being created the way they are. You may be able to fight like a conventional battleship even under adverse conditions and still win, and that is something that I can never understand as I am not, and will never be as powerful as you. So with that said, let's get back to the fight."
Hyuga raised her katana, but Yamato raised her hand in a ninety degree angle to get Hyuga's attention, requesting.
"Just as you've said your piece, I'd like to say something, too."
Hyuga considered it for a short while before nodding and lowering her katana, while Yamato gathered her thoughts as she inhaled and began.
"I respectfully disagree with your statement that I cannot understand you at all. Even when I am called the 'strongest battleship', I can't sortie at all due to my high consumption rate. Even the Admiral, who wants to give everyone a chance to sortie, had to stockpile resources just to give me and my sister a chance to even come out here to practice."
Yamato's face darkened as it seemed as though she were subconsciously dredging up bad memories as she continued, eyes lowered and focusing on the spot of ocean between them as she continued.
"You have no idea how it feels, when everyone keeps praising you as the 'ultimate battleship' and you can't even step out on the ocean to protect your comrades. What's the point of being called the 'ultimate weapon' if no one is even willing to send you out into combat?"
Yamato looked down, now looking very exposed as she shared her secrets and inner thoughts with the Ise-Class battleship, but she seemed determined to clear this misconception that Hyuga had about her, reluctantly continuing.
"And even when I'm sent out, it's more for support shelling missions where it's basically 'stand at designated spot, shoot my cannons, and go home.' Even my service career in my last life was short and my death was laughably pathetic. So much for the 'ultimate weapon'. I want to protect everyone, but even as you called me talented, I am nothing without experience! I want to learn how to fight to the best of my abilities, and I don't care if I have to throw away my pride to learn from you, Hyuuga-san! So please!"
Yamato held out her Anti-Abyssal umbrella to point towards a slightly surprised Hyuga, steeling her gaze and visibly hardening her resolve to try her best to win at all costs, to protect not just her fleet-mates but all the ship girls of Yokosuka as she requested.
"Don't hold back."
Hyuga blinked, suddenly hearing another earth-shattering punch sounding off beside her as Nagato and Musashi were engaged in a no-holds-barred fisticuffs match, Nagato maintaining the upper hand through skill and experience when going up against a stronger Musashi.
Both of them were trying to one up one another by trying to catch the other in the sights of their large-caliber cannons whilst fighting, knowing that a battleship's shell was going to hurt at this range even if training ammo was used.
The thing was that the both of them knew that they were both in their element, the two battleships grinning ecstatically as the ocean beneath them quaked with every blow connecting, displacing small craters where they stood.
No choice then.
She would have to bring her A-game if she was to even hope to beat the legendary Yamato despite the stronger battleship's inexperience.
Hyuga sighed as she put her unoccupied, flight-deck carrying hand on the barrel of one of the cannons to her right with the Fairies already evacuating the cannon turret itself and retreating into Hyuga's rigging.
She waited for the cannon to safely disconnect before uncoupling the cannon, now wielding the katana in her right hand, the flight-deck/shield and the cannon-sword on the left.
And a brown, intimidating aura of strength began flowing out of Hyuga, her expression hardening and her muscles tensing up as she warned the battleship before her.
"Maintain your hold on your weapon.
Don't drop your guard for a second.
Keep your eyes on me at all times.
Because if you don't..."
Hyuga's light-brown aura flared up, her air of intense concentration refined through years of sorties and training sessions as she saw Yamato starting to sweat, Hyuga finishing her morbid warning.
"... You'll be dead before you know it."