5347/AOH: Fan the Flames

AOH: Fan the Flames
Date of Scene:	01 July 2017
Location:	The Great Ocean
Synopsis:	The Black Fleet's next target is a shoreline oil refinery in the Great Ocean.
Cast of Characters:	Midway, Nagato, Shigure, Haguro, 385, Leyanne Mace
Tinyplot:	Abyssal Operation Hydra

---

Midway has posed:
    Sandersfield Oil Refinery is the result of several disparate oil companies pooling their assets into a single facility in the Great Ocean. Taking up the entirety of the island that was purchased for it, Sandersfield is a multi-level facility surrounded by fields of pipes, refinement equipment, and huge cylendrical tanks of oil in various stages of processing. And being its own island, the Sandersfield complex also has its own harbor, designed to handle oil tankers delivering crude or picking up refined products to sell in various places around the Multiverse.

    This is all overseen by the central tower, where the Operations crew has vision on every aspect of the process and the complex below. Partly to ensure workers are working, and partly to react quickly to any accidents. One of the men in charge squints at the coastline, then lifts his binoculars to get a better look. Figures in bulky equipment rising out of the water. Was there a construction operation going on that he'd forgotten about or missed? A puff of smoke causes his eyes to widen.

    The upper level of the main tower explodes, debris raining down on the workers below.

    At the shoreline, the Abyssal Dreadnought Water Demon lowers one of her shield batteries, smoke hissing from the A battery turret. Head turning, she barks at her subordinates, "Weapons HOT! If you are forced into combat, keep in mind you are surrounded by flammables and explosives!"

    "You know what we're here for," a smaller woman in a crisp black uniform mutters, adjusting her peaked cap. The Heavy Cruiser Water Demon, "Take as much as the Wa class can carry and escort them out." Her gaze shifts to one side, fixating on the still smaller girl beside her.

    "Major radio traffic has ceased," the Destroyer Water Demon reports, lowering one massive gauntlet from the side of her head, "But shortband transmissions picked up. So they may still be able to call for help." She turns her violet eyes towards the bulkiest of the trio.

    "Then I will remain here," Dreadnought hauls her shields up, "And keep the escape route secure." Without warning, she slams those shields together, the sound of metal striking metal ringing throughout Sandersfield. This drum of steel sounds as the Destroyer, the Heavy Cruiser, and their fleets of destroyers and transports venture into the oil complex itself.

Nagato has posed:
    With Atago resting up, Nagato in ALO Japan and Musashi at base, protecting it... the only other choice that could come out immediately was a certain light carrier. "Hi hi! Light Carrier Ryuujou coming!" the plucky, red dressed onmyouji carrier calls out on the radio, informing them of her expected arrival. She checks her pockets, looking at the paper talismans that make up her aircraft as her scroll folds out, magic energy coursing through the entire deck.

    "It's good of them to trust me to do this again, it's been a long time since I've been out." she whispers to herself, the Light Carrier moves to pull out a small stack of papers, looking similar to the Type Zero mod.52's. "Okay okay! Come on you carrier based planes, let's show them that we can be like Akagi and Kaga! We can be fleet carriers!" let's start this on a cheerful note, shall we? The planes are lined up on the deck and Ryuujou starts making her hand signs, with the papers alighting in magical energy, they start moving on their own, launching off the flight deck and transforming into those mod.52 fighters!

    With the planes in the air and en route, she turns to the side, looking towards Haguro. "I need you to protect me okay? I don't know if they have any carriers, so... I'll buy you some Mamiya's if you do real well!"

Shigure has posed:
    Yamashiro forms up with the rest of the fleet, the imposing profile of her full Ocean Fit steaming through the water, providing transport for those who need it, and providing a shadow for the smaller form of Shigure's Ocean fit sailing beside her. A fairy sits atop Yamashiro's pagoda mast, binoculars peering towards the target location while the tiny radar dish spins behind it.

    Shigure's radar similarly spins. "Long Range Radar returning multiple surface contacts. At least one Princess-class can be confirmed. Battleship profile."

Haguro has posed:
After overhearing the distress call coming from the Oil Refinery, another shipgirl is arriving on the scene! Haguro's looking about as anxious as ever as she skates along the water with her usual armaments of too-many-guns, keeping in formation with Ryuujou relatively easily while her turrets adjust their angles and prepare to fire. "Understood. I'll.. I'll do my best!"

     Swallowing down some of her anxiety, Haguro manages a quick nod towards Ryuujou before adjusting her speed to keep slightly more to the front of the plane-launcher. The roar of metal slamming on metal has her cringing slightly, but she soon starts to pick up the pace while keeping her arms stretched out and ready to fire her turrets at a moment's notice.

     "Heavy Cruiser Haguro, ready to fire. Do we have visual yet?"

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
As Ryuujou's planes take to the air and expand from slips of paper into actual (if miniature) fighters, they would find they're not alone in the air; Yuna is present as well, clad in the Flight Form variant of her Light Suit, heading towards Sandersfield as quickly as the thruster pack will propel her - which is pretty swift, all things considered. Also with Yuna are the tiny form of the robo-faerie Elner, and the human-sized figures of Jiina and Marina, both in their armored combat forms.

"Marina, I need you to stick close to me," Yuna says, sparing a quick wave to the mod.52s and their fairy pilots. "If I'm forced into the water by anything, I'll need to go Marine Form *immediately* and I may not have time for you to disengage from anything else. Elner, coordinate with the Fleet Daughters on surveillance and sensors; if we need to break out from combat to focus on evacuating the rig's personnel, tell me. Jiina, you're in reserve for now, so stay up here with Elner unless you need to make a head start on evacuation."

There's a chorus of three acknowledgments, and then the Matrix of Light go their not-so-separate ways: the robo-faerie and the green-and-white form staying above the watery battlefield and the oil rig, while Yuna and Marina dive for an initial visual survey of both the rig and its assailants.

Leyanne Mace has posed:
The wooden hull FMS Leeroy Jenkins skips across the water towards the refinery, leaving a long white wake behind it. Instead of the growl of three aviation-grade V12s, the remodelled Elco-80 bears three turboshafts, taken from helicopters that scream like banshees and dump an enormous heat-plume into the air. The boat is moving a little faster than stock PT boats, with a red-armoured mouse at the helm.
All of Leeroy's guns are manned, and the mouse throws the horns to the little fighters as soon as she sees them.
"ROCK AND RIDE! WOO!"

Midway has posed:
    Standing in the harbor on this side of the Sandersfield complex is that woman. Clad in a ragged black uniform, a garrison cap resting askew on her head, the Dreadnought Water Demon slams her shield batteries together in a steady rhythm. Sparks shoot off from each impact, though she's not apparently damaging the blackened steel of her equipment. Even visible on radar, and audible for miles across the sea, she remains steadfast. Violet eyes burn behind her knightly armored visor, almost seeming to leak through the slits like smoke.

    As the Hikari Fleet starts to appear on her own search radar, the pale woman's lips split into a fang-toothed grin. The gun turrets on her shields begin to swivel, coming about. One hand is thrust to one side. Around her, the flotilla of smooth-shelled Abyssal Destroyers scatters in that direction. Her other hand extends, then, just as the turrets on her shields complete their traverse.

    "So you've come. And you brought a battleship to duel me! Excellent!" Leaning forward, she bares her fangs again, "I've been wanting to stretch my legs, Fleet Daughters! Allow me to introduce myself as only a true battleship could!" One after another, a total of twelve guns in six turrets open fire with high-caliber artillery. Given their number, it's a simple matter for Dreadnought to pick multiple targets in the approaching formation-- Two directed at Yamashiro herself, two aimed at the pairing of Ryuujou and Haguro, and two aimed at Mace's PT boat.

    The destoyers, five in total, take on a cross formation to pool their anti-air power, peppering the incoming aircraft with flak. Yuna's larger size and proximity to the Kanmusu planes makes her a tempting target as well, and the destroyers oblige.

    Meanwhile, the Heavy Cruiser and Destroyer Water Demons, leading their escorts and the Transport fleet, move deeper into the facility on foot. While visible from the air, the scattering and evacuating workers pose no threat and therefore this party hasn't had a reason to open fire. They're headed straight for the towering storage tanks, though.

Haguro has posed:
"<<Just what kind of Abyssal is this...?>>" Haguro murmurs over the radio as she watches the Dreadnought Water Demon preparing herself for battle, the Cruiser likewise training her guns on the Abyssal. It's her first time seeing an Abyssal like this, so she's opting for a more cautious approach and sticking closer to Ryuujou. As the Dreadnought's artillery fire comes flying in at the pair, Haguro swerves herself right in the path of the shot aimed at Ryuujou, then brings her arms up to block the shot head on! She's not in great shape after taking that hit so directly, though, losing almost all of the armor on one arm already and looking rather singed everywhere else.

     "That was close... A-are you okay, Ryuujou?" Although she's trying to put on a brave front, Haguro sounds rather terrified already, and her arms are already shaking from both pain and fear. It takes her several long moments to get her nerves back, and then she takes aim with the remaining turrets. Instead of firing at the Dreadnought, though, she instead fires on the destroyers!

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Oh right, thinks Yuna as she comes under attack, kanmusu - and Abyssals - DO have the capacity to shoot at planes. At least, most of them do. Including destroyers.

And in this case, 'planes' technically does indeed include Yuna herself. She yelps - mostly in surprise, maybe partly in pain as some of the anti-air shells go off close enough to batter her with the explosive force, shrapnel, and whatnot - and tries not to get hit by more of that flak than she absolutely can't avoid. And the shells are going off *around* her - even if she could take a moment to conjure Shugoseiheki, the shield would only protect her from *one* side, plus it would cut down on her aerial maneuverability. It's a tradeoff she's reckoned with before; this time, she just tries to stay as evasive a target as possible.

Marina, for her part, is actually forced away from Yuna's side by the anti-air shelling; she may be tough enough physically to weather it, but she doesn't have much staying power on her own. "Yuna, be careful!" the reddish-orange and white android shouts over the sound of shells detonating ... and then she launches a barrage of her own, ten microtorpedoes arcing through the air to descend among the Abyssal destroyers. They may not do a whole lot, but if it breaks up the anti-air enough for Yuna (and Ryuujou's fighters) to recover, that's not nothing.

Shigure has posed:
    Yamashiro says, "Shigure, peel off hard port!" The incoming shells strike home, one glancing harmlessly off of the Super Dreadnaught's belt armour at a steep angle, the other punching straight through the superstructure, splashing down after going on to skim just past Shigure's bridge mast. The Battleship traverses her own turrets, and angles all of them to fire back along the trajectory at Dreadnaught Princess. "You rain fire upon me. Allow me to return it!" Twelve shells arc out in a staggered fire pattern, before the Battleship shifts from Ocean to Land fit.

    Shigure peels off just in time to avoid being over-penetration sniped, and shifts back to land fitout too. "Ryuujou, can you confirm movement in the facility? Radar contacts have merged with the buildings and I can't get a read on them."

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leyanne Mace begins to swerve as soon as soon as she hears the shells firing. Not that it helps all that much; the shells still splash down close enough to shake the little wooden boat violently. There's a crunching sound as something in the keel area takes a bit too much stress... but for now at least, Leeroy remains seaworthy.
Hm. Bofors won't hit at this range... hokay! "Do we have radar lock on the big bogey? Fox one!" Tiny shouts.
The gunner on the starboard exocet launcher gives a thumbs-up and gets to work, the two-round turret turning to lock onto the I-class. As soon as it's locked, the first sea-skimming missile is launched.
<<Fox one sea-skimmer!>> Tiny radios

Nagato has posed:
    With the fairies reporting in on what's going on, the visual given... with the destroyers providing anti air and some wa-class transports and their... strange escorts, and miss Battleship herself. "Jeeze, what are they fielding with this new Abyssal army?" she questions a bit out loud to Haguro, joining her in her question. Though the bang of guns causes the carrier to pause a moment, where has she heard that sound before. THere's a sinking feeling in Ryuujou's gut as something tells her it's not good.

    "Crap." Ryuujou tries to make herself a smaller target by... cowering a bit under her deck... but when the explosions are heard and she's not underwater yet... she looks, "A... AH?! HAGURO!? Th..thanks." she whispers to the heavy cruiser, "I'm fine but they won't be soon!" she pats the Cruiser on the shoulder and angles a bit, "Okay, let's go... fighters, break off and head to the harbor. Don't fire on anything there, it's an oil rig, we don't want to blow them up!"

    With that out of the way, she pulls out some more paper, "Hehe, I borrowed these from Jun'you, don't tell her." she smiles a bit at Haguro as she places Ryuusei torpedo bombers on and makes her normal hand signs. "Okay, half fighter wing join up with the Ryuusei! We'll show them!" a few moments later, the Ryuusei are up in the air and making a beeline towards the heavy enemy ship! "Fighters, give the Ryuusei some cover."

Midway has posed:
    Dreadnought draws her sheilds inward when Yamashiro targets her. The shells are larger due to the Shipgirl's ocean fit-out, and each impact is enough to push the Water Demon back across the sea's surface. More shells splash around her, beyond the three that struck her batteries with enough force to explode. Smoke surrounds the Abyssal, obscuring her for a few moments.

    The destroyer squadron, having moved off to one side, is mercifully spared from the bulk of bombardment hammering Dreadnought. A spread of torpedoes causes them to break formation, going on the evasive and temporarily disrupting the focus of their anti-air cover. There are several solid impacts, though being mini-torpedoes, it'll take more than that to bring down an Abyssal warship. The three that took hits do leak an oily substance into the water as they swerve back into formation.

    Haguro's salvo catches the rear-most Ho-class destroyer as it's returning. Eight inch guns work wonders, tearing the smaller ship to pieces. It never makes the formation, slowing to a stop and sinking in a pool of burning oil. Mace's missile strikes solidly against one of the mid-line destroyers, an I-class, which leans out of formation with a screech. Burning intensely, the ship submerges, leaving behind an oil slick.

    The smoke surrounding Dreadnought dissipates, and she stands firm, her shoulders shaking. Lowering her shields, the woman bares her fangs with a laugh. "Yes! YES! The fight I've always wanted! Show me how strong you are when you're restricted to such a form!" She slams her shields together once, twice, and then accelerates in a smooth arc, "Prove your pagoda was worth constructing, Japanese Battleship!" Both shields are thrust forward, the six pairs of cannons opening fire on Yamashiro in the distance. However, she's not ignoring the other shipgirls or boats present. Along either side of those shields, smaller secondary guns sweep out and select their own targets. These aren't large calibers like her main battery, more like the medium calibers found on light cruisers instead, hurling artillery at the Leeroy, Haguro, and Ryuujou as they draw closer.

    The remaining three destroyers come about, returning to Dreadnought to cover her with their anti-air batteries when the torpedo bombers come in. And when their weakened fire proves not to be adequate, one actually moves itself in the way, taking two torpedoes for the Abyssal Battleship. It screeches, keeling over in the water and sliding to a stop before it starts to submerge.

    "Dreadnought has engaged the response team," Destroyer Water Demon mutters, glancing towards the cacophony of combat in the distance. Her eyes return to her comrade, "We don't have time. And we'll need a new exit strategy."

    "Tch..." Heavy Cruiser adjusts her cap with one hand, then snaps her gaze the opposite direction, "We'll guide the Wa class out that way, where the humans are evacuating. They wouldn't dare shoot us then." Her gaze shifts to the transports, guzzling black oil from broken pipes at the base of one of the storage tanks, "We're at a disadvantage. I hope Big Sister holds them off long enough. Or She'll be mad again..."

    With a nod, Destroyer Water Demon glances up, squinting at the aircraft passing over the oil refinery.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
With the destroyers' formation and focus diverted from saturating the sky with explosions, Yuna has a chance to collect herself and head towards the oil rig proper. Marina joins her en route, as does Jiina - whatever Ryuujou picked up on, Yuna's in the best position to try and do something about it. Elner remains high overhead, continuing to monitor the area as best the robo-faerie can.

And soon enough (or all too soon), Yuna sights the Abyssals trying to siphon oil from the tanks. She can't have *that* - but incautious shots will rupture the tanks, and/or set the oil on fire, neither of which is *remotely* acceptable to her. She settles for a weakened barrage from her pulse-blasters, aimed across the side of the Abyssal group (Destroyer WD, Havy Cruiser, and transports) that's *away* from the tanks and clear of transfer pipes.

"Hate to interrupt the buffet," Yuna calls out as Marina and Jiina take an aerial position to either side of her, "but you weren't invited and you haven't paid for that oil you're taking. Seal the pipes back up if you're able, and surrender immediately. You won't be harmed unless you force the issue."

For some people, that would be a threat couched in an ultimatum. For Yuna ... she genuinely doesn't *want* to hurt the Abyssals if it can be avoided, and it shows in her voice.

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leyanne Mace gets orders over the radio and nods, pulling away from the big target a little to start a run on the destroyers. A shell rocks the boat as it begins its run, the PT boat's bow showing quite the nasty cave-in from the shockwave and shrapnel. There's a scream, and one of the gunnery crew is dragged back into the boat's cabin, wounded.
Four torpedoes are loosed into the water in a spread across the Destroyer formation, before the light little PT boat turns hard and begins to de-ass the immediate firezone in a hit-and-run strike.
The white smoke trailing from one of the wide, fat tailpipes is a little thicker. The boat is definitely taking a pounding.

Shigure has posed:
    Yamashiro banks hard into a turn, having dropped out of Ocean Fit to engage Dreadnaught more evenly. She jukes between incoming shells, using the broad flats of her turret caps to deflect some incoming shots she can't evade. She then comes up, steadying her cannons as smaller weapons unfold from the armour plates, all angling onto Dreadnaught. "Main Battery. Secondary Battery, focus fire on the enemy battleship! FIRE!"

    Shigure, meanwhile, has been powering away from Yamashiro's course, angling out and around the combat zone, to come in from a flank. She squats low, pouring on speed before pinging sonar. "Confirm torpedoes this bearing..." the thigh launchers then swivel down into position. "Destroyer Shigure, entering the fray. Be advised, eight torpedoes, my bearing. Ten degree spread." The launchers hiss as they eject the cylindrical weapons into the water on compressed air, before swiveling back up into reload position.

Midway has posed:
FACILITY
    When Yuna issues her ultimatum, both Water Demons freeze. They glance towards one another, then turn. The taller of the two wears a ragged black uniform of indeterminate origin, topped with a peaked cap. Heavy armor adorns her forearms and legs, and her main armament consists of snake-like tails from the small of her back, each one ending with a toothed head with guns protruding from where eyes should be.

    The other is a young white-haired girl in a black, ragged sailor suit, a torn dixie cup hat resting askew on her head. And her armament is affixed to her arms-- Huge gauntlets made out of black metal, the fingers tipped with red warheads-- Torpedoes.

    Even the rotund Wa class cease their feast, staring at Yuna with blank, eyeless tooth-lined helmets. While two were at it, there's half a dozen in all, and it looks like at least two others have already had their fill.

    The younger Water Demon swings her hand forward at a downward angle. Her fingers spread out and the palm of her hand discharges an explosive round into the sandy soil between herself and Yuna, throwing up a cloud of dust. Promptly, she comes leaping through it, fist drawn back to lead with a heavy metal-knuckled punch. Curiously, she's also leaking a great deal of thick white smoke that lingers even as the dust cloud begins to settle.

    A smokescreen that Heavy Cruiser Water Demon uses to try and usher the gaggle of transports out of danger. She'll leave the fighting to Destroyer, whose equipment is better suited to close quarters combat.

Haguro has posed:
"Eh? Well... A-as long as you're careful, Ryuujou." Haguro giggles lightly as she turns back to Ryuujou, then takes a deep breath to steel herself before turning back to the threats in front of her. She's starting to find her footing when her shots make their mark against one of the Destroyers, watching it sink for a moment before turning to watch the Dreadnought again. She's not foolish enough to forget its existence completely just because she hasn't shot back at it yet, and her diligence is rewarded!

     ... With more shelling. Haguro actually manages to avoid taking a direct hit this time, only taking a glancing blow against her side and staggering over before the shell can detonate right on top of her. "<<If she's just going to keep firing like that... Ah, but the destroyers...>>" The Heavy Cruiser actually slows to a stop for a moment, looking around rapidly to try and get a better idea of where things are going in the battle. "<<... Haguro, moving in. I-if I can distract the destroyers, then we should be able to take control of the air!">>

     With that, Haguro surges torwards the side of the Dreadnought, all while her turrets start firing on the Destroyers grouping up near it. It's probably rather clear she's trying to draw their attention away from the air, but she /is/ making herself a rather easy target, and she's drawing closer by the second!

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Getting a better look at the Abyssal 'officers' confirms Yuna's suspicion that they were Demon-types, but she stands her ground ... in the air. And then she gets pounced by the Destroyer-class, coming at her after setting up that 'smokescreen' from all of the raised dust. Yuna manages to bring her arms up to try and absorb the impact of that initial punch, but protecting her vitals doesn't nullify the kinetic force involved, and the impact carries her to the ground as well.

The smokescreen is also enough to keep Jiina or Marina from trying to fire upon the retreating Abyssals; besides, Jiina is particularly worried about whether Yuna needs to swap armors. Flight Form is great for getting around quickly and not getting hit, but it's arguably Yuna's weakest form in defensive terms - even the default Light Suit is better suited to slugging it out toe-to-toe. Still, as long as Yuna's locked in close combat with the Destroyer Water Demon, there's no chance for her to switch out.

And while Yuna doesn't usually do very well relying on her wits, once the initial surprise is past she's able to try and strategize. She keeps her guard up, expecting more punches, maybe kicks as well, possibly weaponry. A shout of "Shugoseiheki!" heralds the appearance of Yuna's kite shield, affixed to her left forearm - halving her useful weapons but giving her a chance to hold her ground, even as she attempts to circle around the Destroyer so that those storage tanks won't be in *her* line of fire ...

Nagato has posed:
    The anti-air fire manages to knock a few of the planes down from the air... Jun'you's gonna be mad at this if she doesn't replace them somehow... "Nngh, I'm losing aircraft, you two! I can't do much without them, y'know! No guns!" she advances more, allowing some of the undamaged ones to return, her flight deck moving in place for the landing. Seems Yuna's got the ground covered and Tiny, Haguro, Yamashiro and Shigure's got the water. So what does Ryuujou do?

    "Tenzan's, let's go back up Yuna, ok? There's some escaping Abyssals! And your bombs are a bit more precise, so let's do this, ok?" she smiles brightly at a new pack of planes and sends them off towards the retreating 'Demon' and transports along with a small wave of fighters to provide some distraction in case of anti air!

    "Yuna, I'm on my way to get the retreating enemies with a wave of dive bombers. I can be more accurate with them!"

Midway has posed:
HARBOR
    Two destroyers are left after that one took the airstrike for Dreadnought, and they scatter on the evasive when Haguro dives in to attack them. Dreadnought, too, leans outboard of her turn, to slide through the eye of the needle, torpedoes from Leeroy sliding past on either side. If the formation had been more dense, or if she'd have been larger, that would have had a much nastier outcome. As it is, only one strikes the leading destroyer in the formation, and the creature disappears in a spray of water and oil. The other turns sharply to avoid another torpedo and takes fire from Haguro's artillery. Though she's lost her escorts, Dreadnought leans the other way, her gaze locked on Yamashiro.

    The Dreadnought Water Demon hauls her shields up, covering her sides against incoming fire bursting on her armor. One ricochets into the sea. Another penetrates, exploding between her arm and body. Trailing smoke, the Abyssal laughs, "What is that! Fourteen inch!? You reload so slowly!" Though the reload between the two seems to be...about the same. What kind of battleship banter is this?

    As Dreadnought swings her shield forward to bring her gun turrets to bear, one of Shigure's torpedoes slips in under her notice, exploding at her feet in a spray of water. She lets out a choked noise, her speed decreasing as black smoke erupts from the top of her right shield. Gritting her teeth, she lifts her weapon once more, loosing shells with the three turrets fitted to it. Her right shield, undamaged, is brought around to hurl main battery artillery after the fleeing Leeroy. All the while, her secondary guns are popping off, flinging explosive rounds at everyone within range of her.

    However, she has no escorts left, and Ryuujou's aircraft have little trouble determining that this Abyssal, by herself, has very poor air defenses.

Midway has posed:
FACILITY
    Heavy Cruiser Water Demon hisses, pushing the Wa-class away from the tank. They complain in non-words but comply, recognizing the danger they're in with the loads they're carrying. As the transports waddle along in a line, Cruiser turns her gaze back to the fight between Yuna and her smaller comrade. Violet eyes lift, fixating on the Savior of Light's companions. Snake-tails tipped with guns raise into threatening positions, and she backs away, covering the transports but not opening fire. Her eyes dart to the inbound aircraft, narrowing, and the heads of her tails unfurl smaller-caliber defensive weapons.

    Destroyer Water Demon does not let up after her initial hit. Darting, she keeps her huge gauntlets raised like a boxer, keeping herself close, following Yuna's movements but never quite allowing the Savior to lead. A thrust, a jab. The energy shield comes into existence, and Destroyer lashes out again. This time, she slams the shield with her open palm rather than a fist.

    The young girl sneers, showing her fanged grin as she opens fire point-blank against the shield. All the while she's fighting Yuna, her gloves keep pouring out that dense white smokescreen, obscuring the melee.

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leyanne Mace yelps loudly as those big shells rain down around the fragile little PT boat. At first it's splashes closer but then there's the terrifying whistle-crunch of the armour piercing rounds smashing through the wooden hull. One of them smashes clean through the sickened engine, causing a great gout of fire to vomit from the tailpipe before someone steps into extinguish the flames.
Tiny begins to jink and dodge with the boat, powering up the backup engine to run the generators and allow the gas turbines to power the props.
The explosive shells... well, one of them strikes home on the forward quarter, blasting the supports out from under one of the exocet launchers and leaving a vicious gaping wound just above the waterline.
"Shit shit shit shit..." Tiny mutters. <<Leeroy's taking a beating.>>

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
*BOOM!!!*

The impact and detonation of the shell against Yuna's kite shield sends the blonde staggering back; for a critical moment, she's off-balance, but she manages to interpose Shugoseiheki again before the next impact - and this time, she's expecting such things as point-black cannonfire, bracing herself better against that possibility as the battle continues. Getting staggered like that threw off her sense of positioning, but ...

The vambrace on Yuna's right arm slides open, and a single barrage is launched - barely more than pellets, not enough to damage the storage tanks or the pipes that feed to and from them, probably not even enough for the Destroyer Water Demon to notice as more than a vague, passing nuisance. But the point isn't to do damage ... yet.

Because Jiina and Marina are still *outside* of the cloud, above the smokescreen, and they can confirm which way Yuna's facing, just by tracking where that burst of pulse bolts emerges from the thick white smoke. It doesn't matter that much where the Destroyer is - Yuna knows the Abyssal is right in front of her, and it was a wide-angled burst. With the Matrix of Light confirming which direction Yuna's currently facing in, Yuna can tell whether her back is to that big storage tank.

She just has to stay on her feet a little longer, vambrace closing up once more as she shifts back to full defense ...

Haguro has posed:
Haguro's finding her footing more and more as the battle progresses, deflty swerving around as the last of the Abyssal destroyers goes down. As she reloads her turrets, she's already swinging around to circle around the Dreadnought Water Demon. Her arms get brought up to defend herself against those explosive rounds flying right at her, crying out when some of them hit the mark and blow off yet more of her weaponry and armor.

     "You... You enjoy talking a lot, don't you, Miss Abyssal?" Haguro keeps circling around her instead of backing off, trying to remain at a right angle with her and where Yamashiro's and Ryuujou's shots and planes are coming from. Instead of firing from afar, though, Haguro starts moving in closer! She doesn't close into actual melee range, but she does move quickly to act like she's planning on doing just that in an attempt to distract her once more. Instead of actually doing that, though, she instead stops abruptly to finally fire a barrage of shells at the Dreadnought!

Midway has posed:
FACILITY
    Destroyer rears back, trailing smoke from her firing hand. Quickly, she balls her fingers up into a fist and lashes out against that shield again. Before she can close the steps to do so, that bracer gun comes up, and the Abyssal uses her guantlets to shield her face and upper body from the pellets without realizing the barrage is mostly harmless.

    What is this light fighter up to? Destroyer Water Demon focuses on the task at hand instead, her face tense and focused as she slams her fist into that shield again.

    Whatever Yuna's trying to do to ascertain her positioning in the smoke cloud with Destroyer Water Demon, her comrade the Heavy Cruiser continues to act as rear guard for the fleeing transport flotilla. Violet eyes drift from Elner to Marina to the incoming dive bombers. Reaching a decision, she opens fire. The aircraft are the most immediate threat, as it looks like the two girls are busy supporting Yuna somehow. Flak and machinegun fire fills the air around those planes from the Cruiser's four snake-like tail weapons.

Nagato has posed:
    The Suisei's buzz towards the target location, semaphore being thrown everywhere to communicate position as Ryuujou listens in on it. She's got her girls helping to protect the carrier and well, Haguro's hurt because of her inattentiveness, the Admiral won't be too happy about that. Ryuujou shakes her head and directs the Suisei's towards the Heavy Cruiser Water Demon's escape plans, and, judging for the least amount of damage to everything else, move to drop their load, with some of them exploding mid air from the barrage given by the Heavy Cruiser!

    Then it hits her with the planes information. The destroyers are gone thanks to everyone's efforts and there's very little Anti Air around the Dreadnaught. She waits for the Suisei's to come back and reloads one more set of Ryuusei. "Good good! I'm sure Akagi or Kaga could do this much better but... We're showing them! We're doing a good job!" planes land, the carrier makes hand seals and sends up the Ryuusei to help finish off Miss Dreadnaught McSteelGauntlets. "Go my pretties! Let's torpedo the heck out of them! They can't stop us!"

Shigure has posed:
    Yamashiro hunkers to weather the incoming fire, then rotates her turrets AWAY from Dreadnaught. She fires behind her, using the recoil to fling her forwards, where she aims to just straight up SLUG Dreadnaught in the face, before ducking to sweep at her legs.

    Shigure grunts. "Kusou... Battleship in a knife-fight duel. All points be advised!" she says, urgently, but not raising her voice.

Midway has posed:
HARBOR
    Spotting the smoke from the distant PT boat, Dreadnought pulls her attention from it completely to focus on the others around her who are still able to fight. Teeth bared, she swings around on Haguro next when the cruiser dives in for some close range gunnery. Shells explode against her shield battery, shoulder, and face with enough force to knock her head back.

    With a roar, Dreadnought takes that one step or so closer to the cruiser girl and sweeps, using her gun-covered shield in an attempt to bludgeon Haguro and knock her away, "Begone with you!"

    Suddenly Yamashiro in melee range. The impact of the battelship's fist is enough to knock Dreadnought right off her feet, laying the Abyssal out on the water's surface where she slides to a stop. Once she realizes what hit her, she closes her eyes with a laugh, "Well! What a punch! A worthy duel!" Aircraft zip overhead, and Dreadnought turns her gaze to the torpedoes splashing into the water on their way towards her, "--Were it not so rudely interrupted..!"

    Dreadnought slides her shield in between herself and the torpedo barrage, though laid out as she is, she can't hope to avoid the aerial attack. Instead, she takes the spread to her side, using her shield battery to mitigate it. As the plumes of water from the repeated impacts drop back down and no longer obscure her, Dreadnought's already submerged herself, leaving behind an oil slick.

    Shigure's sonar should be able to pick her up, descending and moving away as many Abyssals do.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Fortunately (?) for the Heavy Cruiser Water Demon, it doesn't seem like either of the airborne androids are that concerned now with the escaping transports. It could just be that they trust their allies to handle the situation, but both Jiina and Marina are focused on the white cloud of the Destryoer's smokescreen, seemingly to the exclusion of all else.

And when the few 'pellets' that Destroyer's armor DIDN'T tank emerge and the two androids relay the angles to Yuna? That's all she needed to know.

Yuna opens fire again with the pulse blasters in her right vambrace, and this time it's full-force: not anything that would kill an ordinary human, even with the sustained barrage that she's suddenly meteing out to her Abyssal opponent, but a steady assault of concussive light-bolts, meant to wear away at an opponent's endurance. Given the fact that her opponent *is* an Abyssal, Yuna's not entirely sure what her limit is ... but at the moment, she just wants to drive her opponent off.

And she's not doing it alone.

A large, two-handed 'rifle' of sorts appears in Jiina's hands, and she aims down into the smoke cloud, gauging Yuna's position and firing a powerful bolt into the cloud in front of Yuna. Destroyer Water Demon *should* be right there - and again, while Jiina's not shooting to 'kill,' it's going to hit pretty hard. Marina, on the other hand, isn't shooting anything; her 'pigtails' are aligned to fire as well, pointing into the cloud, but she needs a better fix on her target before letting anything fly.

Haguro has posed:
Just as planned! It's not as painless as Haguro would like, but the Cruiser is ready for that big blow coming her way as she brings her already-damaged arms up to defend herself from the blow and gets battered anyway. The impact from Dreadnought's shield slamming right into Haguro knocks her back several yards and even has her skipping across the water a few times before she finally stops and drifts along on her side.

     The sight of the Dreadnought being forced to retreat from Yamashiro's own melee strikes and Ryuujou's torpedo bombers is some small relief, at least, even if Haguro's finding it hard just to stay conscious at this point. "<<Have we... Driven them back...?>>"

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Now Leeroy's not under fire, Leyanne eases off the throttle, listening to the shouts of the boat's crew to let her know what's going on, damage-wise. Tiny shakes her head a little. "Poor Leeroy." She circles around to join the fleet.
One of the rodentine crewmen of the PT boat begins making the damaged exocet launcher safe, dismounting the missiles so they won't fall off and explode.
<<Tiny here. I'm either going to need a tow-line or some diesel, I've lost one of my main engines.>>

Midway has posed:
FACILITY
    Heavy Cruiser Water Demon bares her teeth, tracking the bombers as they come in on the transports. She swings around while following their arc of flight, keeping the anti-air guns hot until the flight is either destroyed or out of range-- whichever comes first. Though their bombs are hardly a non-issue. The lead transport takes a hit. With a screech, the Abyssal staggers, the cargo bulge cracking, but it does not detonate. This one hadn't had a chance to take on oil, yet.

    Two slots back, a second Wa-class manages a near miss, the bomb hitting the ground beside it. As the transport shuffles back into formation, a thin stream of oil follows it.

    In the smokescreen, Destroyer Water Demon keeps her hands up much like a boxer, and so when Yuna suddenly switches to the offensive, she's ready to protect herself. She tightens her gauntlets together, concussive bolts striking her arms like a hammer hitting metal. She jerks slightly with each blow, taking a step back, and then another, growling tensely from behind her gloves.

    And then, out of nowhere, a bolt of light slams into Destroyer's back, from an angle she hadn't been expecting to be attacked from. She lets out a childish cry, stumbling forward, black ichorous oil splattering the dusty ground behind her. Her mind races, shot through with pain, on how to get out of this...

    In full view of Yuna, Destroyer Water Demon straightens the fingers on her right hand, and then jettisons her fingers as live torpedoes. These are caught in her left hand. And then, instead of menacing the Savior of Light, she throws them in high arcs to the side, sailing up and out of the smokescreen.

    Leaving Yuna and her friends to deal with five live warheads moving in parabolic arcs, Destroyer Water Demon whirls around and dashes off through her own smokescreen. From outside, the smokescreen simply seems to extend, as she's still producing the dense mist during her retreat.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna isn't the sort to be happy when she hears an enemy in pain, but there's no time for that now - just a passing relief that she's managed to interrupt the Abyssal girl's assault. The sight of the Water Demon's fingers detaching prompts a wince from the ever-compassionate blonde -

A wince which becomes a look of outright shock as the torpedoes are lobbed high and away. There's no way Yuna is going to give chase now; she's more worried about trying to make sure the tossed torpedoes don't have a *chance* to explode, not this close to the storage tanks or any of the pipes. Fortunately, Marina is already on it - two of her own micromissiles flying to blast the uppermost of the torpedoes before they can endanger anything.

Yuna simply flies, literally, and sprays pulse blasts upwards to try and take out the others. She may wind up physically catching one rather than let it hit the ground ...

Midway has posed:
FACILITY
    The entire purpose of Destroyer Water Demon's action was to throw Yuna and her companions off from chasing her. She doesn't have any investment in whether those discarded torpedoes hit the ground and explode or not. It's entirely a distraction. She doesn't flinch in the slightest when Marina's missiles intercept two of them, or when two more are caught by Yuna's pulse gun. Or even when one is caught by Yuna directly. That final torpedo just whirrs, the propeller spinning insistently to push it through water that simply isn't there. It'll run out of fuel eventually and just ... stop doing anything. But it should be properly disposed of. It'll only explode if someone is foolish enough to hit the red warhead against something.

    The Demon herself rushes ahead, passing the transports as they ease into the water on the far side of the island. Heavy Cruiser follows up as rear guard, and the group makes its way out to sea with their damaged transports, amidst the Civilian evacuation boats and one particularly determined oil tanker loaded down with rig workers.

    The smoke cloud that Destroyer had initially created around her battle with Yuna is, mercifully, starting to dissipate into a thin haze.