Together as One (Z23, Azur Lane)

A Baptism of Fire

"You'll be fine Nimi~" The Commander whispered in a soft tone, flashing her a smile as he sat next to her in the ready room.

Upon hearing his name for her Z23 blushed heavily and looked away slightly.

"T-Thank you..." She replied shakily, turning back towards him slowly.

Upon seeing her blushing face the Commander felt his own heat up as well, realising how nonchalantly he'd just said that to her.

"I-I'm sorry... I shouldn't have c-called you that... If you want me to-"

"N-No! I-I'm f-fine with it..." interrupted, covering her face slightly upon realising she'd raised her voice quite a bit.

Upon hearing this the commander let out a short sigh.

"I'm glad~" He then whispered.

"I-It's just... That's the first time anyone's called me by t-that name..."

"Oh..."

"I-I l-like it~" She then added with a growing smile, turning towards him and looking up into his eyes.

"Uh..." The Commander muttered, captivated by her gaze and innocent expression.

"Next!" The sergeant near the entrance to the ready room yelled out, bring both the Commander and Z23 back to reality.

"R-Right!" He stuttered as he quickly rose to his feet, followed by Z23 who followed him as they proceeded towards the door...

---Timeskip---

After following the sergeant for what seemed like a long while, they reached a long dock and were handed their orders for their final test.

"This seems to be straight forward enough..." The commander muttered to himself as he slipped into the seat and command desk assigned to him, taking in a deep breath as he realised that this was it, his final test to become and officer of the Iron Blood.

"Are you okay Commander?..." Z23 asked, slight worry in her voice as he appeared to be shaking slightly.

Upon hearing her words he turned to her and stopped shaking for a moment, "I'm fine... Thanks Nimi~"

Z23 became slightly flustered upon hearing him call her that again, a smile forming on her face as she turned and entered the water. As she did she looked over her shoulder and saw the Commander putting on a pair of headphones and turning on the computer before him.

(Z23 in head) "It feels so nice whenever he calls me that..." Z23 began to think as she watched him become much more confident again as he began to work.

"Testing, one, two, three. Can you hear me?", he then called out through the radio into her headset, causing her to jump slightly in shock.

"Y-Yeah it's working!" She affirmed as she slipped down into the water and started to move forward slowly.

"Alright, I'll talk you through the path to the battle site and what we should expect from our opposition..." The Commander started as Z23 followed his directions to the letter and listened intently to every word he said.

---Timeskip---

"Alright I see the ships Kommandant. Should I engage?" Z23 asked tentatively as she spotted a pair of practice warships in the distance.

"I can't see why not..." He responded slowly, raising his hand to his chin as a contemplative expression formed on his face.

"Engage!" He then yelled loudly with conviction, after taking a moment to compose himself.

"Jawohl Kommandant!" She yelled in reply, readying her guns as she started to speed towards the enemy vessels...

---Timeskip---

Within minutes the two ships were reduced to flaming hulks and Z23 reported back to her Commander...

"Targets destroyed Kommandant~" Z23 reported, a smile forming on her face as she breathed deeply, her heart racing from the excitement of her first realistic combat action.

"Good job Nimi~" He responded, letting out a sigh of relief that she wasn't hurt in any way. "On to the next targets then"

"Jawohl!" She responded, turning on her heel and heading back towards the Commanders position in order to get resupply her torpedoes and ammunition.

---Timeskip---

Leaning back in his chair for a moment, the Commander whispered to himself, "I'm glad she's okay..."

*Boom!* *Bang!* *Boom!*

A series of loud explosions and shock waves sent him leaning forward quickly gripping the desk before him to steady himself.

"What the-" he started, looking up for a moment to see Siren war planes flying overhead. 

Watching in horror as a flight of them headed for the main Iron blood base, strafing and bombing the ships moored in the harbour as they went.

A distressed expression forming on his face as he watched the bombs hit their marks, ships being set ablaze as siren attack intensified.

"Kommandant!" Z23 yelled through her microphone, as she quickly approached the Commander's position worried as she saw multiple planes dive in his direction.

"Nimi!" He yelled back, leaning down as a group of three planes strafed him.

Z23 winced as the planes did so, a horrified expression covering her face as all of the bullets barely missed their target.

"I'm alive!" The Commander yelled to himself laughing slightly as he was surprised he hadn't even been wounded.

"Come on cadet, let's get you out of here!" He then heard the sergeant yell, pulling to his feet.

"I'm still waiting for-" He started, turning to see Z23 approaching in the distance. He stood and began waving to her, smiling in relief as she waved back, appearing unharmed.

Just as she reached close to his position however, one of the Siren planes made another pass in their direction and dived on Z23 as she sped towards her Commander.

This caused the Commanders expression to change from one of relief to one of shock as he watched a drop drop onto the water near Z23, detonating on impact...

He then gasped as Z23 was thrown off balance by the blast and sent bouncing along the water towards the Commander.

When the Commander saw this he felt his heart knot up, clenching his fists tightly.

"We've got to go!" The sergeant yelled again, grabbing his arm tightly while trying to pull him away.

The Commander then shook the sergeant off and threw off his hat and boots, running off towards the end of the dock and diving into the water.

He swam furiously as he watched Z23 struggling to stay afloat due to her being wounded. Gasping again as he saw her put her hand up for a moment before slipping below the water...