"Is everything going well so far, Junyou-san?"
They were standing at a far enough distance to make sure that Kaga and Zuikaku, despite being carriers with enhanced senses, wouldn't hear their hushed whispers as Junyou nodded conspiratorially, commenting.
"Well, Zuikaku is indeed taking Kaga's place in the duel, and I think she might have a score to settle with you after the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, where you and her had quite the skirmish. But don't worry, I believe you can take her with your skills."
Saratoga nodded as she noted the two conversing carriers off in the distance, asking.
"But Zuikaku-san is under Kaga-san's tutelage, so while I appreciate your faith in me, I need to ask if you have some legitimately good advice for me to follow?"
Junyou thought about that for quite a while, noting.
"Well, no offense, but in your unremodeled state, you're almost no match for Zuikaku's Kai remodel in terms of air-power, armor, evasion, amongst others. But I believe you beat her in cannon range and firepower, and the amount of health you possess."
Saratoga raised an eyebrow as she dared to ask how she knew of this.
"I'd like to inquire as to how you know of this, since I don't believe you've seen me in combat yet."
Junyou waved her concerns away as she commented offhandedly.
"Well, I had all the time in the hospital to check up on both your game stats on the internet, so don't worry."
Looking down to nod slowly, Saratoga looked to Junyou again as she furrowed her eyebrows and asked.
"We have a game about us?"
Looking rather nonchalant about this, Junyou added,
"Yeah, and a Japanese anime series about us that aired early this year."
Rolling her eyes in derision as she commented.
"Totally inaccurate in how they portray the Abyssal war, I tell you. And they say season two and a movie's coming out. Oh, the humanity."
Saratoga lowered her head as Junyou shelved those thoughts aside to focus on the Lexington-Class carrier.
"But let's focus on you instead, Sara-chan.
I'm no coach or training cruiser, but I genuinely want you to try and win, and not to throw the match. So here's what I want you to do…"
And whispered into Saratoga's ear about her strategy to give Zuikaku a run for her money and to give Saratoga a fighting chance.
Standing a fair distance from each other on the ocean while facing each other, Houshou stood in between them to start the match as she listed the rules.
"Girls. This duel is between Saratoga-san and Zuikaku-san, and the match will last for 15 minutes. However, should either carrier drop beneath the health threshold on your health-bars while in practice mode, we will halt the match to declare the opposing carrier the victor so as not to allow either one of you to sustain serious damage. It is possible for one of you to throw in the towel if the situation becomes unfavorable, after which the battle will also end. Let's be sportsmanlike about this, alright?"
Both carriers nodded before Houshou gently raised her right palm vertically, before cutting down in a chop and retreating while gently calling out,
"Begin!"
And Saratoga immediately turned tail and ran, with her boat slippers audibly hitting the ocean.
Everyone stopped to watch the back of the Lexington-Class carrier, who was performing the sacred art of the "tactical retreat" as Zuikaku's mouth dropped, before she recovered and started up her boat slippers in order to catch up, exclaiming.
"Wait! Get back here, Saratoga-san!"
The American carrier glanced behind her as she apologized in a genuine tone.
"I'm sorry! Junyou-san told me to do this!"
Everyone turned to give Junyou the "Bruh" look again, the Hiyou-Class light carrier looking away whilst sweating profusely, whistling a random tune in order to fill the heavy silence that was everyone giving her the stink eye.
Zuikaku tried to fire off an arrow in Saratoga's direction, but was faced with cannon fire which interrupted her form, courtesy of Saratoga's 8-Inch Twin-Barrel Cannons firing opposite of where she was running, which was towards the sun.
Zuikaku performed evasive maneuvers as she slowed down in order to aim at the retreating carrier, but Saratoga running towards the sun meant that she had to squint in order to get a bead on her, before realizing that the American carrier followed suit, slamming her boat slippers onto the ocean in order to stop in her tracks before pivoting around and pulling one of the two triggers on her Thompson sub-machine gun, speedily sending out two Grumman TBF Avengers who flew towards Zuikaku.
Understanding the lethality of the two planes, Zuikaku understood that in a one-on-one battle against an American carrier who could unload her planes quickly, there was no time to go through the "eight stages of shooting" in Japanese archery, Kyudo.
So she grimaced as she performed evasive maneuvers while pulling out three arrows from her arrow quiver, holding them in her right hand as she loaded them one at a time while keeping the other arrows in her grasp, holding her longbow at a lower angle so as to perform an unorthodox, but often-practiced art of quick-firing.
Different scenarios required different techniques to handle the situation, and one style which quickly developed for a bow-and-arrow carrying Japanese carrier was to grab a bunch of random arrows, quickly aim one at the enemy, draw and immediately release it while preparing the next arrow.
It was often looked down upon as a desperate and an extremely ungraceful move when compared to the Kyudo style of arrow shooting, where patience, beauty and perfection were paramount, but in a war where efficiency and practicality were the deciding factors in a battle, quick-release shooting was commonly taught to make sure that every bow-carrying carrier could summon planes en masse if required.
Saratoga was surprised when Zuikaku quick-fired her arrows, the arrows bursting into flames as the Fairy pilots quickly pulled up to meet the Avengers halfway, who had already dropped their payloads into the water and were now struggling to evade the incoming Type 0 Fighters (Model 52) who hounded them.
Zuikaku strafed to the left and lifted her right feet in order to evade the torpedo salvo, but Saratoga was mirroring her movements as she sailed in a counterclockwise direction to intercept her, pressing the first gun trigger twice while turning a dial on the firearm in order to load another two planes on the flight deck of her Thompson submachine gun.
Pressing the second trigger, she summoned a Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat and a Douglas SBD Dauntless to substitute the two retreating Avengers, who safely landed on Saratoga's firearm in order to load up another torpedo.
The Avengers landed on the flight deck and stopped on the lift before Saratoga pressed the first trigger, twisting the dial and pressing the gun trigger again to retrieve both Avengers, Zuikaku surmising that the first gun trigger was to activate the flight deck lift either to load or store an aircraft, the switch was to control which lift was to be selected while the second trigger was to launch the planes.
Zuikaku repaid the favor in kind by pressing a hidden button on her longbow twice, and her arrow quiver extruded two arrows for her to grasp, aim and fire at once to summon as many planes as possible to stop Saratoga, the arrows transforming after bursting into flames like phoenixes to turn into Tenzan torpedo bombers.
But as the two Tenzan planes tried to home in onto a moving Saratoga, the Lexington-Class carrier got her cannons to depress low enough while leaning forward to help them in that regard as they deliberately fired into the ocean, producing columns of water that threw their aim off, one Tenzan losing control and spiraling into the water after failing to evade in time and flying straight through said water column.
Saratoga looked down at the Japanese Fairy which popped up on the surface of the ocean with a life-jacket around its chest, apologizing to an apoplectic Fairy who was shaking its tiny fist at her not unlike a certain World War 1 Flying Ace beagle who was cursing his mortal enemy, the Red Baron.
"I'm really sorry, Fairy-san!"
Zuikaku wasn't exactly worried about the Fairy's safety or the state of the lost Tenzan, since unmanned submarines often patrolled the training grounds in order to retrieve lost weapons before restoring them to working order, while all Fairy planes were capable of safely ejecting the pilot even while underwater.
Even so, she sailed over towards the Fairy in order to retrieve it while Saratoga was still sailing counterclockwise, and Zuikaku was starting to face away from the sun as Saratoga was beginning to look at the sun behind the Lucky Crane, but the two reloaded TBF Avengers took off from the American's firearm along with the lone SBD Dauntless dive bomber, which broke past her planes' defenses to fly towards her.
Caught in the midst of a triple-threat, Zuikaku hastily resorted to another last-resort move to save her own skin, stepping forwards as she raised her left foot backwards and posed as though she were preparing to kick a soccer ball.
Digging her boat slipper into the ocean at an angle, she followed through by thrusting her foot and boat slipper forwards, kicking up seawater as she performed a powerful kick in order to throw the TBF Avenger torpedo bombers off with the resulting spray, shouting,
"Storm Leg!"
Again, this technique was a crude, yet effective way of deterring torpedo bombers, mostly utilized by standard carriers as a last resort and was also seen as a rather unsightly move since ladies, as per human societal customs, weren't supposed to perform powerful kicks while wearing short skirts.
But then again, they were in the midst of a war against innumerable Abyssals, where they could afford to sacrifice some dignity for the sake of surviving to see tomorrow…
The two TBF Avengers performed evasive maneuvers, one banking tightly to evade the sudden spray while the other pulled up, almost grazing Zuikaku's hair as the Shokaku-Class carrier ducked in order to avoid getting hit by the careening Avenger, the Fairy ejecting before the out-of-control torpedo bomber hit the ocean.
Bending her knees, she propelled herself to the side in order to avoid the Dauntless's dropped bomb as it pulled up, the bomb detonation throwing up seawater which slightly soaked the Shokaku-Class carrier as she sailed away, untouched.
Saratoga was again surprised to see Zuikaku defy her expectations by using simple, yet unorthodox defensive and offensive moves, commenting as she evaded the gunfire of her Type 0 Fighters (Model 52) fighter planes and a torpedo that was dropped into the water courtesy of Zuikaku's Tenzan.
"How interesting, that you use everything on hand to keep yourself alive. Is this how Japanese carriers normally fight?"
Zuikaku grimaced as she retorted,
"Well, this is how every carrier in the world's taught to fight if they want to live to see tomorrow! It may be unsightly and crude, but it works, so shut up!"
Saratoga's eyes slightly widened before narrowing, breaking out into a small smile a she remarked.
"Well, if I can push you to the point where you're forced to use these moves against me, then it means that you view me as quite the threat, right? I'm touched."
Zuikaku's right eye twitched as she pressed on a few buttons and pulled out the extruded arrows offered by her quiver before quick-firing them, exclaiming.
"W-Well, you're still the newcomer here, so don't get ahead of yourself!"
A Suisei Dive Bomber and a Type 99 Dive Bomber emerged, engines whirring as they flew towards Saratoga, the Anti-Aircraft cannons of both ship girls doing their best to protect their respective ship girls.
And finally, Zuikaku's planes scored a hit as Saratoga was hit by the Suisei as it came in hard and dropped its payload on Saratoga's rigging, the training bombs created to never be able to inflict a lethal wound on a ship girl as the American carrier emerged, smoking, bruised and coughing up a fit, but still in fighting condition.
Zuikaku noted that the American upped the ante by summoning two Grumman F6F Hellcats in order to fend off the horde of Japanese planes that were harassing her, and Zuikaku was now put on the defensive as she had to evade the incoming Hellcats, Wildcats and Avengers, all of which were headed towards her.
She simultaneously summoned another two Type 0 Fighter (Model 32) planes so as not to leave herself completely defenseless, and began to perform evasive maneuvers just as the Hellcats and Wildcats opened fire, preventing her from performing another Storm Leg to stop the Avengers from dropping their payloads into the ocean, using her boost gauges in order to evade the torpedoes at the last second.
But Saratoga surprised her as she charged in with all her might, ignoring the bullets of the Type 0 Fighter planes that were punching through her uniform and drawing blood in minute amounts as she raised her Thompson submachine gun, a heavy Anti-Abyssal weapon in and of itself, and attempted to melee Zuikaku.
Zuikaku was stuck in motion and had no way to evade the blow, so she raised her left arm to intercept the incoming blow before attempting to return the favor in kind with the arm which held her bow, Saratoga also grabbing her incoming in order to prevent the blow from connecting.
Now in a deadlock with both carriers attempting to physically overpower each other, Zuikaku grimaced as she saw Saratoga mirror her fierce expression, since she was an American carrier and genuinely wanted to go all-out in a fair battle against her, despite wanting to help her win Kaga's heart.
Noting the position of the three-position rotary dial at the foot of the firearm trigger, Zuikaku noted the,
"T", "D", "F",
Settings on the rotary dial which was set to "D", Zuikaku remembered too late that Saratoga's Dive Bombers, which the "D" likely stood for, were already loaded via the first trigger, and since they would be stuck to the flight deck, likely via magnetism, even when the Thompson was orientated differently, that meant…
Zuikaku could see Saratoga's slender fingers pulling on the second trigger, two more SBD Dauntless dive bombers shooting vertically upwards while the Hellcats took advantage of the opening the Wildcats had bought them while dueling with the Type 0 Fighters to make a beeline towards her.
Shit.
Zuikaku flexed her ship girl muscles in order to free herself before the Hellcats zeroed in on her exposed back and opened fire with their machine guns.
The fact that the two Dauntless dive bombers that flew vertically upwards had deliberately stalled so as to drop back down in order to home in on her, drop their payloads and pull up at the last second didn't escape her notice either.
Unfortunately, Zuikaku's 160,000 horsepower out slowly lost to Saratoga's 180,000 horsepower output as the Lexington-Class carrier slowly overwhelmed her, and Zuikaku immediately changed tactics as she brought up her armored boot in order to stamp on Saratoga's feet.
The two of tussled in a dance of death, either trying to kick at or stomp on the other's feet while physically wrestling with each other, Zuikaku feeling her two hearts working at full capacity as the sweat freely flowed from her forehead while the engine buzz of the four American planes surrounding her got progressively louder to indicate her imminent doom.
Finally, Saratoga tried to break the physical deadlock by leaning backwards, Zuikaku quickly and accurately predicting that she was going for a headbutt, understandable since the Lexington-Class carrier didn't want to get caught in the blast radius of the dive bombers as they dropped their payloads.
But it was the wrong move to use in this situation.
She felt that Saratoga was trying to shift away from pushing Zuikaku back to pulling her in while throwing her head forwards for maximum damage.
Zuikaku used this situation to turn the tables by pushing her arms into an almost-straight position while the Shokaku-Class carrier raised her left knee to allow the American carrier, who was stuck in motion, to smash her nose into Zuikaku's armored knee-guard.
Everyone audibly "OHHHHH!"ed at the sound of Saratoga's nose breaking in a sickening crunch , the American carrier almost dropping her Thompson submachine gun as Zuikaku, in a moment of mercy, grimaced as she threw her sparring partner out of the blast radius before emptying her boost gauge in order to accelerate from a resting position.
She barely evaded the two bombs that were dropped by the Dauntless dive bombers, although she didn't get away scot-free as the Hellcats managed to get some good hits on her back and rigging.
Their miniature bullets stung Zuikaku's back as she winced and futilely tried to swat the two fighter planes out of the air, sharply inhaling through clenched teeth as she reminded herself that these were practice rounds, and in battle, these wounds were supposed to hurt a lot more.
Turning back as she panted, she saw that Saratoga was holding her bloody nose as the blood flow was partially stemmed, dripping onto the ocean as Saratoga's pained voice was a little high-pitched since she was holding her nose.
"You… You protected me from my own bombers…"
Zuikaku took a deep breath before remarking about how she couldn't leave her in a situation where she'd get hurt.
"Look… Call me soft, call me weak, but you're our comrade. I admit if you were an enemy Wo-Class, I wouldn't have done the same. But despite what we've been through in the past, there's no point in being a total bitch and leaving you out to dry when we're on the same side now, right?"
Saratoga's eyes widened as Zuikaku warily eyed the airborne Japanese and American planes, still fighting for air supremacy as she commented.
"Well, if you want to thank me, you can start by admitting defeat, because if we were on a real battlefield, let's face it, you'd be on a one-way trip to Davy Jones' Locker right now. You got outplayed, although I will admit that it was only because of your inexperience. So how about calling it a day, here and now?"
Zuikaku raised her right hand in order to draw another arrow and quick-fire it, and since Saratoga previously summoned two Dauntless dive bombers to try and take Zuikaku out while danger close, she would have to wait for her Thompson to load another two planes, and Zuikaku would have already sent out two torpedo cruisers in order to drop her by then.
Saratoga exhaled through her mouth, considering the proposal as she looked down at the ocean and the drops of blood dripping into it, her internal systems stemming the bleeding and was evident as the blood flow, previously an unbroken trickle of blood, now slowed to a few occasional drops as she responded.
"Alright then. I admit, it's my loss. But for a newcomer, I sure gave you quite the run for your money, hmm?"
Zuikaku closed her eyes and exhaled through her nose as she lifted an eyebrow to concede the point as she used her palms to form a "T" motion, and the planes halted their heated battle after their respective carriers had stopped the battle.
The normal landing procedure for a bow-wielding carrier was to fly towards her as she grabbed a handle beneath her flight deck to hold it out horizontally in order for the plane to land before turning back into an arrow in a burst of flames, the carrier then picking up the arrow and storing it in her arrow quiver.
The mechanism which attached their flight decks to their shoulders would maintain the previous position of the flight deck (in this case raised and positioned horizontally forwards) unless the carrier moved it again, and their arrow quivers would automatically arrange the received arrow for them.
A slightly riskier, yet faster alternative was to allow the warplane to slow down to an extremely slow speed before turning back into an arrow in mid-air, and the carrier could snatch the arrow out of the air and store it.
But since this was training, and the harbor wasn't that far away, the planes flew back towards the harbor in order to land on a landing strip there, and when the harbor helped the carriers unload their riggings, the mechanical system would arrange everything for them.
Saratoga used a bit of force in order to shift her nose back in place, the spectators all wincing again as Saratoga started bleeding again from the nose, but she looked a little better now that her nose was straight again.
Kaga walked up to Zuikaku, and the Shoukaku-Class carrier could feel her cheeks color a little in anticipation for what her mentor and rival had to say about her performance, lowering her eyes for the incoming head pat as Kaga raised her gloved right palm.
And immediately formed a blade and lightly karate-chopped Zuikaku's head.
Everyone looked on, clearly expecting a head pat and was surprised to find that their expectations were subverted, Zuikaku starting to tremble like an erupting volcano before exploding, throwing her arms into the air as a vein bulged on her temple.
"What the hell was that for, huh?!"
Kaga immediately went into full-on lecturer mode, explaining.
"You were easily thrown off by Saratoga-san and Junyou-san's opening move, and you were slowly caught up in their rhythm as you gave chase. What you should have done was stay still and launch your planes, not engage in a game of tag with the enemy across the battlefield. That is not our forte."
Zuikaku flinched as Kaga listed several mistakes that she committed, like assuming that Saratoga wouldn't be able to launch her planes while in a physical deadlock, even when she knew that unlike Japanese carriers, Saratoga only needed a few planes on her flight deck, and all she had to do was pull a trigger to launch them.
Junyou was now cringing, not expecting Kaga to be so blunt with her observations, but before she could interrupt her lecture, Kaga's voice softened as she commended.
"Well, I do admit that you and Saratoga-san are almost evenly matched, and while this wasn't the most graceful of victories, you did win. There's a lot more you need to learn, lest Saratoga-san improve with time and learn how to counter some of your moves, but I will say this. You pulled out all the stops in order to beat her, and I think that it was a wise decision after seeing who you're going up against. Well done."
Kaga now patted Zuikaku on the head as she gave the faintest of smiles, and everyone could see that the Shoukaku-Class carrier was failing to contain her blush as she looked down, too embarrassed to look her crush in the eye as she meekly nodded.
Kaga now turned to look at Saratoga, noting the blood on her face as she commented on the American carrier's performance.
"You did well too. We will be teaching you a few close-quarters combat moves that are specially developed for carriers, as well as the situations where it's appropriate to use them. That headbutt, although potent, exposed you at a crucial moment and left you open to friendly fire.
But we can see that you're skilled, and I look forward to working with you in the future."
Saratoga's expression brightened as she broke out into a small smile, bowing respectfully as Kaga turned to Junyou, looking at her with a deadpan expression.
And after five seconds of absolute silence from her, Kaga turned away without saying a word as Junyou blinked, unsure of how to respond to such a cold-shoulder treatment from her.
But then again, in Kaga's eyes, Junyou was breaking out the alcohol when she was still recovering, and attempted to corrupt Saratoga into doing her bidding…
Kaga announced,
"We'll be taking an early lunch break before resuming our training."
As she set sail for the harbor without looking back, everyone giving the Shoukaku-Class carrier hidden thumbs ups and small, congratulatory smirks as Zuikaku performed a small bow towards the crowd of spectators and to Junyou and Saratoga to thank them for their commendations and their efforts in helping her win Kaga's heart, a reserved smile gracing her red face as she threatened to tear up.