3330/Pursuit of the Abyssals

Pursuit of the Abyssals
Date of Scene:	04 November 2015
Location:	Great Ocean - Western Loop
Synopsis:	Nagato and co. find a wounded Wo and move to assault, to devastating effect...
Cast of Characters:	494, Wo, Nagato

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Wo has posed:
    It had been a day or so, since the partially failed attack on the coastal refinery. It had been a refinery that supplies several Union interests, no less, notably among their customers: Hikari Sea Base. It had taken weeks to plan the optimal period to strike, and to confirm those connections. In the end, the bombs that had been planted as a last resort, and the resulting tightening of security to protect the workers attempting to repair the damage, were going to stall shipments, at least for a few weeks. It was not the unqualified success the Wo-class had hoped for, thanks to the unexpectedly dense defending force, but they had done their damage and struck at one critical artery of the fleet daughters in the process.

    Nonetheless, in every situation, there are opportunities. The preparedness of the operation suggested that the Abyssals probably were operating out of a base within striking distance. With damaged ones in their wake, they had to take things more slowly than usual, and surface more frequently. That opened an invitation to attempt to track their movements. The Wo-class that had been the leader of that operation remains the flagship of this worn down fleet, now reduced to herself (back in solely humanoid form) and several escorting Destroyers. More importantly, she is keenly aware that they could be followed. Her radio message sent ahead was a simple one: They would be approaching some shoals in the Western Loop soon, on the last leg of their return. It would be the perfect place to stage an ambush, if her intuitions are correct.

    And so, on this clear and sunny day on the otherwise almost endless seas in this region of the multiverse's oceans, the Abyssal detachment cruises by and then through several of the small islands. Little more than the juttings of rock and coral, honestly. Closeby is a series of atolls. It is curiously uninhabited, even though it would be the ideal place to have some kind of resort. In other words, it is the perfect place to hide something, especially with how deep the waters go in this territory. The Abyssals, themselves, switch on their radars and sonars: They could just as easily become the prey as the predator, in these kinds of waters.

Nagato has posed:
    Nagato got wind of the Abyssal fleet in the area, thanks to the attack upon one of the places that the Fleet had been getting their supplies from. "Atago, Ryuujou. Keep your eyes open. Type 0 Recon planes, north by north west and south by south west." with a nod from both her fleet ships, planes are launched and Atago's eyes are scanning the horizon for what they need to see, the remanents of the Abyssal Fleet. She couldn't sortie in time from the last invasion, but this is different.

    "We're going to strike from behind their fleet when we find them and nothing less than total destruction will finish this. And with hope, we may get a member to come back." Nagato still clung to that hope, eventually one day they would be able to reunite the entire fleet again and cease this war, but for now, guns are trained on the horizon and the two women and a girl sail off towards the atolls.

    "Hey, Nagato..." comes Ryuujou, "Are you sure it's wise for just the three of us? It's a bit dangerous to not go out with a full fleet." Nagato shakes her head, "We need movement and a bit of tactical cunning, making sure we're the first to strike. A full fleet may compromise this and rob us of our head start."

Samar (494) has posed:
    Deep under the water amid those atolls lie that ready ambush. Unfortunately, the person heading them is not exactly the most patient of people.

    Leyte slouches near the sea floor, giant claws tapping against the cannons at her hips as she glares up at the water's surface. She has no interest in waiting for an ambush, but Samar, noticing her agitation recently, ordered her to go out and take care of things to hopefully blow off some steam. This, judging by the frustrated growl that rumbles up from her throat, is not the way she expects to blow off steam.

    "I swear, if they don't show up soon, I'm going to pick up this atoll and throw it at their refinery until they do."

    Fortunately, the far more patient Ta-Class Battleship is with her, the flagship's bright yellow eyes showing her ascended consciousness, along with the fellow Ru-Class Battleship. Ta is certainly not looking at ease with Leyte's fidgeting, but Ru seems more interested in tending to the small group of eerie submarines floating along with them. "Leyte, just wait a little while longer, okay," Ta requests, lifting her hands to the Demon in an attempt at peacekeeping. "I bet they'll be here in just a few more minutes, and then we'll be able to devastate them as much as you want, okay?"

    A furious red glare from the Southern Demon makes Ta squeak a little as she opens up the safe distance between them.

Wo has posed:
    The shoals make things a bit harder to scout. Native sea life causes more than a few false detections for the fairies, but are soon resolved. It doesn't help that Abyssal destroyers resemble some of those same life forms of the multiverse's oceans, so closely. However, diligence eventually pays off, and the cruise projections prove accurate. The far more distinctive shape of a Wo-class' flight deck, partially damaged, passing over the waves and slipping between two of the islands is a bit harder to mistake, especially with seven of those streamlined shapes sticking close. The detection is not unidirectional, either: The distant hum of a piston-driven aircraft confirms the radar returns the gargles and growls the Destroyers pass among themselves. They've been spotted.

    "Are you - there," she wonders, adding her own voice to the same shared pool of them that other nearby Abyssals add to. Hers being clearer, rather than pained groans and screeching, makes it fairly easy to pick out for the waiting trio and their submarine friends. "They're here. They've - likely, seen us." Her voice is interrupted briefly by the agitated, and excited, chatter of the Abyssal Destroyers that are accompanying her, before she seems to settle them back down. "--we'll, lead them past. Then. ...strike - from be-hind." With that spoken, the Wo-class carrier picks up her speed, and the escorts do their best to keep up, though with a few of them already battle-damaged and having to maneuver through the islands, they appear to become slightly separated.

    Eventually they approach the atolls and begin to cruise past. Hopefully, to the eyes of the fleet daughters, were they truly noticed, it would appear they are trying to spread out and escape back out into the open sea, where they could likely vanish without a visible trace. This might be the only chance to make a strike, especially at that Wo-class flagship that already has fractures over most of her outer shell and body, enough to snuff out the inner light from one of her flight deck's normally glowing exhaust ports. She had been spared frequently by Nagato's underlings that considered her a friend. Perhaps it's time to relieve them of that responsibility?

Nagato has posed:
    "Contacts spotted, Nagato!" comes Ryuujou's cheerful voice from the report from her planes, "A damaged Wo-Class and multiple destroyer contacts. They're wiggling through the atoll, it looks like they're trying to go back." A firm nod is given as the trio of girls pick up speed as they head towards the Atoll. "Alright, reverse arrow pattern, we're going to destroy their line. Atago, main guns. Ryuujou, torpedo bombers and fighters. May we find victory on the dawn's horizon!"

    The trio moves into a pattern, Ryuujou in the rear with Atago and Nagato flanking her from the front. "Type Three Shells loaded, main turrets, fire!" "Pan Paka paaan~" "Let this be a lesson! Go Type Ninety-sevens!" a barrage of main gun fire, some splitting into multiple flak rounds to pepper the area and paper talismans that fly off the scroll and into the air head off towards the retreating set of ships, the planes closing in to drop the torpedoes that speed off to some of the destroyers.

    "Let's not let them escape, we'll follow them through the Atoll." comes the Flagship's orders, the trio getting closer and closer to that spot..

Samar (494) has posed:
    Leyte's head suddenly perks up at the sound of Wo's voice. That frown spreads across her face into a vicious, eager grin, and she braces herself against the sea floor, ready to move. "/Finally/. Ta, Ru, get ready to open the assault. Once they move past, send up the torpedoes; we'll give them a good shock before we go in ourselves."

    Ta and Ru nod their affirmation, Ta looking more than a little relieved that Leyte's agitation isn't going to suddenly explode on them. Ru's heavy walls of artillery move in an upward gesture to the Ka-Class submarines, who look up to the flickering ocean's surface and begin to slowly swim upward. Just a little more...a little more...

    Just as soon as Nagato's fleet passes the signal point, the submarines launch their torpedoes speeding up to the trio of ships. Leyte kicks off the ocean floor a second earlier, speeding up toward the ocean's surface; a moment after those torpedoes detonate, the Southern Ocean Demon is bursting out of the sea, one heavy claw cocked back in a coiled fist, ready to slam right into Nagato's back with a punch that could cave in steel.

    "SURPRISE, SHITBAGS!"

Wo has posed:
    On the up shot, it seems the fleet daughters had taken the bait. Though crippled from the previous battle and unable to spare time to attempt field repairs, the Abyssals in Wo's care still make good speed through the islands. Perhaps in the interests of keeping up her speed, the Wo-class hasn't launched air cover of her own, immediately. The tense atmosphere finally breaks for the worse, as Nagato gives the orders to initiate and commit to the attack. That's the down side of this: They might have willingly lead the fleet daughters into an ambush, but those wounds on their armor are the real deal. Hearing the density of piston-driven aircraft picking up, as well as the distant reports of artillery fire, they all brace as well as they can, appearing to simply be trying to outrun it at the moment.

    Then the show really begins.

    As the Wo-class and the destroyers make their way toward the far side of this edge of the archipelago, the large and 'medium' caliber shells begin falling closer and closer to their vicinity. The destroyers don't bother trying to return fire at this range, as much as they would like to, instead focusing on their flight along with the Wo-class. One of the crippled Ro-class destroyers runs aground while making a desperate attempt at evading incoming shells, leaving it a sitting duck while pinned between two crags of rock. When the debris clears, there's little remaining of either rock or ship, save a partially congealed and lumpy oil slick, with several pieces of debris bobbing up and down in it. Another falls victim to aircraft-launched torpedoes, not able to keep up the speed or maneuverability necessary to dodge it, and listing onto its side, growling in a combination of annoyance and pain as a similar fluid oozes from its gaping wound. The Wo-class winces from their shared connection, ordering the other destroyers to attempt to find shelter wherever they can find it, rather than attempting to outrun their pursuers.

    They had accomplished their main objective, which was to lure them into Leyte's waiting jaws. Unfortunately, the incoming fire continues to fall, no matter the outcome. The Wo-class herself attempts to slip behind one of the small islands, to recover enough to join the others, but the shots were already finding their mark long before that. The small shoal instead practically vaporizes from behind her, showering her with jagged pieces, and leaving her already cracked body oozing oil from several fresh gashes. She breathes raggedly, a gout of blue flame visibly forming at her left eye for a moment. Not here, not like a cornered dog. Hopefully Leyte and the others can buy her enough time to allow her to add her own air cover.

Nagato has posed:
    Shells pouring down from the girls, torpedoes being launched but with them not firing back, Ryuujou gets a sinking feeling of dread. "Nagato... something's wrong." she whispered over the hail of gunfire. And soon, they were beyond the point of no return. Another report of gunfire from the battleship and cruiser drowns out the sound of a warning signal... torpedoes. Only when the next reload is done, do they notice it a bit late... and the explosion.

    Atago's hit with the torpedo barrage, sending her carreening away, sinking just a couple inches under the water, a glancing hit but the surprise of being torpedoed, with Ryuujou's information incomplete, the normally cheerful Secretary Ship is stunned, quickly looking around in the direction it came from. "Atago!" comes Nagato's shout, only to be caved in the back by a heavy punch from SOMETHING, sending her skidding across the water and into one of the jutting rocks.

    Shaking her head, she coughs a bit and turns around, eyes scowling at Leyte, those 41cm guns rotating and leveling off, training themselves onto the Southern Ocean Demon. "I would expect an ambush, a low form of combat..." she scoffs as Ryuujou sails behind one of the rocks to launch a few more planes, still aiming towards the Wo Class and the destroyers, can't leave that much backup there.

    "You'll regret facing me. Tell Samar I said hello..." the report of cannons fire, sending armor peircing shells straight towards Leyte, "How dare you interfere in this!"

Samar (494) has posed:
    Leyte doesn't seem to care about the supposed insult from Nagato. Once she skids to a halt on the water's surface, she takes a minute to flex her claws and grin at the battleship. "Hey, at least I gave you a second to react. What, would you rather I just sank you right away instead?"

    Shells fly toward Leyte, and the comparitively agile Abyssal Demon skates aside to try and dodge the blasts. A couple whizz by, but one strikes dead into the 'forehead' of one of her side cannon arrays, punching in and bursting on impact. Leyte skids aside from the force of the blast, but she's already back in action after twisting with the explosion to propel herself forward toward Nagato. "It's not interfering when you stumble your dumb face into a trap, idiot!"

    Her arm lifts, the cannons along her forearm blasting to life to fire shell after shell on the Fleet leader in front of her.

    Meanwhile, Atago's stun is something the rising submarines seem intent on taking advantage of. The eerie Abyssals slink out of the ocean and start grasping onto the heavy cruiser, clutching at her and trying to drag her below the ocean's surface. Ta is staying underwater nearby for now; if Atago resists, she'll be on hand to help those submarines out.

    At the same time, a dark, tall shape suddenly looms behind Ryuujou in her space behind a rock. Two giant walls of cannons lift up behind her as Ru silently readies her attack, and while Ryuujou may certainly notice that ominous shadow covering her, the sudden /slam/ of those two massive walls coming down to crush her may be difficult to avoid if she doesn't!

Wo has posed:
    An order, unheard from the fleet daughters, had been given to the Abyssal destroyers that were attempting to shelter from the shells and being strafed by Ryuujou's fighters. They're trying to be sneaky about it, but ultimately they are only destroyers with a bit better than animal intelligence, and not really created with subtlety in mind. While trying to avoid more harassment from Ryuujou, the remaining five begin moving in a loosely defined circle of the perimeter of the battlefield, to encircle it as best as they can. One experiences a close call as a torpedo from a bomber lands in the water immediately next to it. It takes a strike to its aft quarters, briefly knocking out its tail fluke's operation, which is equivalent to a ship's rudder. It is not a fatal strike, however, and it continues on with reduced speed, using its own propulsion to steer with reduced agility. Once in position, they continue playing this dangerous game of tag, finally returning fire; five inch guns springing from their mouths, and beginning counter-shelling. They do not fully commit: Their objective is to add to the confusion of the battlefield. It is not like their shells would seriously damage Nagato, or even Atago, unless it was a lucky hit.

    The Wo-class was pinned down for a moment by strafing fighters, herself, but eventually, the distractions give her enough of a window to hinge open the jaw of her hat-like flight deck. It is at reduced capacity with the damage to it, but it nonetheless manages to launch a small wing of three Abyssal fighters, the meter-wide beasts growing to their full size of two meters shortly after launch. They quickly climb to the same cruising altitude as Ryuujou's fighters, greeting them with both that characteristically awful buzzing, as well as automatic cannon fire. The torpedo bombers, except for some anti-air from the Wo-class' defensive batteries, remain undisturbed for the time being from her side of the conflict. Once the pistons and jet turbine sounds retreat from her position, for a moment, she lets out a grunt, as she twists out one particularly long and jagged piece of the coral, from where it had lodged in her abdomen, sending more of that sickly sludge spilling out. "Planes - in the air," she rasps. "Will add more - as I can." Even against a light carrier like the fleet daughters have, this much air cover is enough only to add some parity, at best. It's the best she can do for the time being, though. The fighters will also keep their non-existant eyes peeled for any approach of fleet daughter reinforcements, or other unwelcome parties.

Nagato has posed:
    Ryuujou's planes start returning after the bomb drops but with fighters on their tail, some of them don't make it back, the little pilot fairies bailing ship and parachuting down to cling to the rocks nearby. Ryuujou's head shakes and with the darkening of the sky, something felt really wrong. She turns around and starts to sail away from the sudden appearance of that Ru. "Aaaah, battleship!"

    Atago struggles from the grasp of submarines latching onto her legs, aiming her guns down to try and fire at them. "HEy, let go! I'm not going under just yet! I said get OFF!" reports of gunfire are launched into the water, with little probability that they'd injure but enough to try and scare off the submarines to get the hell off the Heavy Cruiser, "Nagato! Incoming fire!"

    Nagato herself takes to skating along, a couple of the shells from Leyte's cannon strike home on the armor belt and penetrate through, leaving a hole under one of the main turrets while the random gunfire from the destroyers just bounce off, a few of them making knicks and cuts into Nagato's flesh, "It won't happen again, I will assure you that." she scoffs, moving to sail closer to return that punch with a shell powered recoil punch, two of the cannons aimed backwads, partially aimed towards one of the destroyers.

Samar (494) has posed:
    Ru's giant armaments slam into the ocean's surface, kicking up large torrents of water where Ryuujou was a moment ago. The battleship smirks as she turns toward the carrier's retreat, dragging her gun arrays into alignment. "What's wrong, little girl? Are you /scared/ of me?" The Abyssal lets out a menacing laugh at her own taunting, one that's quickly muted by the multiple reports coming from the cannons blasting shells over Ryuujou over and over again, forcing the carrier to stay on her toes if she doesn't want to be blown up. Slow though Ru may be, she's doing her best to keep Ryuujou covered, though she can only really manage one direction...

    Shots fly toward the sumbarines, but it seems like it's going to take more than that to just scare them off. They're determined, almost zombie-like in their ravenous assault. One suffers a shell through the forehead, but after lurching back briefly, it soon resumes its determined assault on Atago. And as if that weren't enough, Ta suddenly bursts out of the water herself in front of the cruiser, and beneath her wide sleeves those strange gun-headed mouths slither out on their extended tubes to chomp down on her arms and hinder things even more. The battleship's eyes flare with a yellow light that echoes her menacing grin; there's no way she's not relishing the chance to literally drag this Fleet Daughter down into the depths.

    Leyte, meanwhile, almost seems to be having the time of her life. She rushes toward Nagato, but only just in time for that punch to swing out straight for her relatively unprotected gut. Surprise jolts through her expression, and the Demon is stopped in her tracks as she's bent forward, groaning and wincing. "...nice one," she grumbles. "But...how about /this/?"

    Her metal claw clenched into another tight fist, Leyte suddenly straightens up, driving a second punch up to Nagato's stomach. This time, she's going to double it up: the moment that strike impacts, the cannons on her forearm blast to life for a close-range blast to add even more punch to her...well, punch.

Wo has posed:
    The destroyer with compromised steering, it wasn't exactly experting a shell fired backwards from Nagato. Especially not from that awkward angle. Nonetheless, the flight time gives it plenty of a chance to try to avoid the trajectory, and it likely could have if it were able to navigate at full speed. As it is, a near miss is still enough explosive power to finish the job, causing it to roll over onto its side and the blast of water sending it crashing into the rocks, turning its defensive position into a liability. It is not quite a clean break in two, but it's enough that after a few moments of struggle, the inner light in its eyes dims, and it rolls off to be carried away on, and then under, the waves. The four remaining destroyers, sensing things are in their favor, make audible clanking sounds, as it seems they are switching ammunition types on the fly. When they resume fire, it's to put up a cloud of anti-air fire, setting a relatively low ceiling on air cover, and aiming to assist their Wo-class flagship in maintaining the skies, and darkening with smoke and flak what had been a pristine day.

    The Abyssal fleet carrier, herself, isn't in much shape to do much maneuvering, so it's a good thing that Leyte, Ru and Ta were doing such a masterful job of keeping them tied up. She clutches her open wound as she drags herself up against another rocky island, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, while looking through the vision of her planes. The assault is going well, she sees. Possibly a little one-sided, but that was part of the plan, wasn't it? Where were their friends? Shouldn't they have been here by now? She gives a shake of her head to clear it of distracting thoughts, instead willing the maw of her flight deck open again. It launches not only the last two fighters of her first wing, but adds two dive bombers. They cruise below the curtain of anti-air from the destroyers, and skipping over Ryuujou, instead buzz out of the skies from behind Nagato, opening up with their belly guns. Strafes of this caliber are likely to do little more than tickle, but it's just another distraction she'll have to deal with.

Nagato has posed:
    "Nngh, I can't launch any planes! Too much fire!" Ryuujou shouts, fleeing from the Ru-class that's on her aft, "Nagato! Help!" she shouts, looking at possible retreat options, but with the shark circle of destroyers, they may end up with torpedo fire if they try. Atago, however, frowns at the suddenness of another battleship, that Ta-class' chomps on Atago's arm has her with a scream of pain from it, struggling to try and fight off not only multiple submarines but a battleship intent on dragging the Heavy Cruiser down to a watery hell. "Le.... let go!" those guns on Atago's side send out a report of fire towards the Ta-class, unaimed from the struggling, however, she's down to her calves in water.

    Meanwhile, the aircraft fire plinks into Nagato's back causing the battleship to twitch and the feeling of Leyte's fist connecting into the Admiral's stomach, then the forearm blast has the Admiral coughing up something black-ish, her eyes widening. A penetrating hit from that close. The chink of ammunition being swapped out as Nagato stares upwards at the Demon, coughing a bit. "Fire..." she whispers out, with this close range, the Type 94 AP Shells should give a good punch and penetration from this close. "Go to hell."

Samar (494) has posed:
    Ru is keeping her attention focused still on keeping Ryuujou harassed, firing shell after shell over the continued laughter of the Abyssal battleship. Ta, meanwhile, suffers a good strike from Atago's panic: a blast shoots through her stomach, blasting a ghostly hole in her side. She gasps in pain, her gaze shifting between that wound and Atago, before her expression hardens with anger. "You're only just making it harder on yourself, you little..."

    Before she can figure out how to insult the cruiser, though, she suddenly lurches forward to deliver a strong headbutt to Atago in an attempt to stun her more and give those submarines an easier time tugging her down.

    Leyte's arm pulls back after that strike, claws flexing and curling as she looks down at her handiwork. "...hn. Are you already gonna fall over from that? Come on, big girl, I thought you could do better than-"

    BOOM.

    Leyte's one visible eye snaps open in shock at the blast from Nagato, blowing through a good chunk of her torso with the shells' burst. She staggers back, her wound dripping that black goop still; it's a few moments before she can recover her senses, and when she does, all of them are directed toward anger.

    The Demon doesn't give another word. Instead, she just lurches foward toward Nagato again, reaching out her hand to grab Nagato by the neck and simply /slam/ her down to the ocean below, fury driving her raw strength toward that one goal.

Wo has posed:
    More than any words over the radio, the deeper connections of the Abyssal fleet alert the Wo-class to some of her sisters in the area getting return fire. It causes the wound in her stomach to ache, as well, sympathetically. 'Why did they have to attempt to follow us? This was their own fault.' It's that fact that the carrier reassures herself with, as the dive bombers she can afford to field climb to the safe ceiling, one far lower thanks to their own destroyers' cover of fire. The planes buzz, having spotted something curious below. It's the fleet daughters' light carrier withdrawing a paper that could become a plane and preparing to use it with her scroll of a flight deck. For a moment, they begin a dive toward her, their turbines roaring. But at the last moment, they appear to notice something, or perhaps are toying with her, and pull up without dropping their payload. Instead, the two dive bombers join the fighters in their helping Leyte to harass Nagato, waiting for the opening to drop their bombs upon the battleship.

    The destroyers have to take a brief break from their continuous anti-air fire, in order to reload, if the mechanical clattering from deep inside their bodies is any indication. They continue to shift from island to island, every so often, glaring at anything that gets close to their perimeter. Their torpedo stocks are low; it's not out of the question for healthy ships to be able to run their blockade. But in the fleet daughters' current quagmire, it might be a bit more difficult. The Wo-class continues watching through the eyes of her aircraft, and eventually recalls the first three fighters she was able to launch, with their fuel reserves beginning to deplete, and two of them still in the air.

Nagato has posed:
    With the Ru-Class trying to get close, Ryuujou ducks behind another one of the pillars of rock, a peice of paper out and flight deck stretched out, "I'm trusting you, get there. There's no anti air fire so you should have a clear shot now." a few hand symbols later, magic pours into the paper and it shoots off, becoming another recon plane that flies towards the east, ready to meet up with Isuzu and the rest. After the plane's launched, the Ru's shells blow the cover away, sending the girl into the water with chunks of rock embedded in her leg.!

    Meanwhile, Atago is not only harried by submarines and a Ta class, but the Ta class gets herself in and the headbutt connects, causing the cruiser to wobble in place, dropping a bit more in the water, "U..ugh.. my head.. hurts now." she groaned out, the turrets slowly moving before launching another rapport of shells at the Ru and Ta. "I... I will not give up! I will not sink so long as I have another shell to fire!"

    Nagato, however, takes a look towards the struggling Atago as two of the four turrets start aiming towards that direction, "YOu're making light of the Big Seven. You'll wish you haven't." four shells are launched with an impressive cloud of smoke and fire from those turrets, whizzing directly towards the Ta class. This distraction in trying to save one of her own ends up with Leyte's hand connecting and full body meeting water, what armor is over the water starts peppering Leyte with secondary fire, definately smaller caliber, but it should drive her away enough to get back up... hopefully.

Samar (494) has posed:
    It takes a bit for Ru to notice that fleeing recon plane; by the time she does in a brief lull from her rapid cannon fire, it's gone too far for her to do much about it. All she can spare is a sharp curse under her breath before her attention turns back to Ryuujou. "Dammit. Guess I'll just have to sink you faster, before any of your friends come along." The battleship begins moving on toward Ryuujou, then: her cannons seem to need a bit of cooling time, but with the carrier down for the moment, those giant masses of metal should be the /perfect/ crushing implements in the meantime.

    Ta doesn't exactly shrug off that headbutt on her end. Those kinds of things are more in Ru's specialty, and while Atago is left reeling...so is Ta, to a lesser extent. At least those mouths aren't clamped on the cruiser's arms anymore, and the next shot from Atago blasts into Ta's shoulder. With a cry of pain, she's sent stumbling back and clutching her blasted shoulder, but those submarines take the opportunity to simply start clambering over Atago in their efforts to drag her into the depths. They groan, clutch, and pull, trying to simply overwhelm her and pull her under!

    Ta, still recovering, gets another several blasts from Nagato's assault, bursting against her again and again and causing more than a bit of damage to her more delicate frame as she's pushed away from Atago. Leyte suffers a smaller assault, too, shots popping against the black armor of her arms and bursting into pale skin, but she seems far too furious to register it as much more than even more pain. In her rage, she pushes through as best as she can, ignorant of the damage starting to punch holes in her armor and body. Her drive is purely to smash Nagato down, and the moment she's close enough again, that she does.

    Each word she shouts in rage at Nagato is punctuated with another powerful slam of her metal fists. "JUST. GIVE. UP. ALREADY. YOU. USELESS. LITTLE..." Both of the Demon's fists clench together and lift above her head, and that last sentence is paired with the sudden descent of a hammerfist onto Nagato from above. "/BITCH/!"

Wo has posed:
    Left to her own devices, for the most part, the Wo-class continues shuffling aircraft to keep fresh ones in the sky. The dive bombers, perhaps wanting to avoid accidentally striking Leyte while she's at close range, are a bit more deliberately careful with aiming their ordinance than they usually would be, and apparently they fall to either side of the stubborn Nagato. The bombs themselves have additional fuses, and detonate beneath, instead. A narrow miss. Unfortunately for them, it's one bomb per sortie, but they turn their even lighter caliber guns on Nagato, maneuvering close like mosquitos and one even doing a barrel roll between the pronged horns of her headgear, giving a buzzing as it goes, but also opening itself to small caliber anti-air fire, should she find the time to spare it. Wo quickly brings the others back into line; they all climb back to the effective operating ceiling, and break off from the attack, instead moving into a patrol formation.

    Immediately after Ryuujou manages to get the scout in the air, meanwhile, the destroyers have finished their staggered reloads, and continue their full anti-air blanket. It was just one scout plane that got through their screen, what good would that do besides finding some dolphins? They buzz and chatter nonsensically between each other at their shared joke, one of them ill-behaved and unable to resist temptation, and beginning to inch closer to Ryuujou's position. When it gets close enough, it leaps at her with its cannon withdrawing, jaws first. It looks like it's taking a cue from some of the bigger sisters in the area, and is wanting to chomp onto her leg to hold her fast there. The throaty sounds from deep inside its body almost makes it sound like the attack dog its behavior emulates. A late model destroyer, its pale grey stubs of legs wiggle and writhe in the air, whether or not it finds its mark. The air cover thins that much more with its preoccupation, but it's not like Ryuujou is in a position to take advantage of that, is it?

Nagato has posed:
    All three women are harried from every direction. The destroyer that gets near Ryuujou manages to sink its teeth into Ryuujou's leg, sending the girl face first into the water, various bits of paper aircraft flying everywhichway while Atago struggles with now just the submarines trying to pull her under. "Kyaaa, I said leave me be!" as she lets another rapport of shells head down into the water at the subs, at the arms to try to sever them from this.

    Nagato, however, is not faring well. The constant peppering from the machine guns from those abyssal fighters, the two bombs that miss but explode shrapnel still manages to cut into the Battleship's legs, Nagato looks quite injured from all this, even small damage can add up. And there's not close to enough room to go into Ocean Fit. She's trying now to just defend her fleet instead of herself, turning around t fire a couple of shots towards the Ru.. "Get away from my carrier!" she shouts, those armor peircing shells making a high arc towards that battleship.

    Nagato is breathing heavy, turning around with a fist prepped, but those slams of metal fists cause her to spit out more of that black fluid, each slam causing her to sink lower and lower and that last one, before it lands, "I will not... give up..." she coughs, then the hammerfist to her head and she falls down face first into the ocean. And doesn't seem to move.

Samar (494) has posed:
    Shots blast off the limbs of those submarines, making it harder for them to successfully continue dragging Atago down. A couple are forced to sink down into the waves; not built for direct combat, it's difficult for them to keep things up by now, leaving only two more to keep their deathgrip on Atago. Ta, at least, is recovering from her various assaults, but she's definitely looking worse for the wear there. She's trying to keep her distance, until something sounds like it needs her intervention.

    Ru, meanwhile, continues her approach toward Ryuujou, until several piercing shells suddenly slam into her unguarded back. One after another explodes into her, blasting on impact and sending the battleship stumbling forward in her shocked imbalance. "Wha-" That /hurt/ - Ryuujou's going to have a few moments to recover there, if the destroyers don't manage to finish up.

    And Leyte just stands over Nagato, panting and hissing crimson steam from between her teeth. It actually takes her several moments to realize...Nagato's not getting up.

    She's actually not getting up.

    Leyte stares...then laughs. First an uncertain chuckle, then rising into a louder and louder cackle, one of menacing, satisfied victory. She did it. She /did/ it. /Now/ see if Rossel and Anchorage keep taunting her! /Now/ see if anyone calls her weak after /this/!

    Ta is not nearly so caught up in things. The agile battleship overhears Wo's warning that reinforcements are on the way, and she's quick to skate over and pick up Ru from where the siser battleship is trying to recover. Soft words and easy lifting help make sure Ru is stable, and all at once, Ru and the submarines quickly slip beneath the ocean's surface to retreat. Ta glances over to give Wo a quick nod that everything's in order before - very carefully - making her way to Leyte.

    Fortunately, the Demon is so distracted with her victory that she can easily be led out. That laughter fades under the waves, echoing with faint disbelief: "I did it...I finally...!"

Wo has posed:
    It was hard to believe. And yet it was there before Wo's eyes, or more specifically, to her planes'. Nagato was face down in the water, bobbing and not moving, and not getting back up. Leyte's laughter rings out across the seas, and even if they were the same kind of being, it's a little chilling. You would think she had conquered the world with that sort of cackle. All of the destroyers still on the fringes seem to slow down their fire, as well, not seeming to believe it themselves, or perhaps hesitating from that same sound. The relative quiet only makes it punctuate the surroundings, that much more. It's about that time that the Wo-class' planes, as well as herself, pick up something on radar, from around the echos of the shoals. Incoming ships -- small and fast ones, but after the fight the fleet daughters put up, they're realistically in no shape to deal with a second round. Especially not Wo, that was already well-damaged before this began. The information is shared among those Abyssals that are still sane enough to hear it.

    The destroyer that was biting onto Ryuujou's leg hesitantly releases its clench, leaving her behind and giving a kick-off with its tail fluke, before growling. It's almost like a grumbling. The other destroyers break off of their perimeter picket, and begin heading back towards clear, deeper water. Along with them, they stop by the island that the Wo-class had been on, firing tow-cables out of their outer shells before beginning to drag her through the water behind them. She's not able to contribute much more; she'll rely on the Ta-class and Ru-class battleships to handle clearing Leyte out of the area.

    But it's not over, not fully. From where Nagato is bobbing up and down in the water, something bubbles up next to her. It's the Ro-class that had been presumed sunk earlier. Is it intending to claim the final victory for itself? Instead of firing or making any aggressive move, it bobs up under her body, appearing to be trying to support it, as it gurgles and strains. A light encompasses its body briefly. It's only just enough until the reinforcements can arrive, but it's doing its best until then. Unfortunately, that strength depletes shortly after, as well as whatever 'GET!' they might have received, if only circumstances were less dire.