Petals of Soliloquy: Sakura Shenanigans

Chapter 6: The Silver Lining

In accordance with Shikikan's plans a small group of six shipgirls were sent out alongside other more conventional ships to investigate the strange object that was located in the Eagle Union territory and Naganami was quickly called into battle. She, Atago and Takao made up the front vanguard should the group encounter any resistance, and following close behind were Amagi, Akagi and Kaga; Shikikan himself was flying alongside in a recon plane.

"Anything out of the ordinary so far?" Shikikan asks through a radio.

"Nothing really to note." Amagi's voice crackles. "I'm seeing nothing but clear oceans and blue skies."

"Keep your eyes peeled though, who knows what the Eagle Union girls have up their sleeves." Shikikan says as he continues flying about. It's not long before the reconnaissance fleet leaves Sakura Empire territory and begins treading on Eagle Union waters, and everyone immediately goes into high alert.

"Watch yourselves everyone, who knows what these girls are packing." Takao says, and Atago nods in agreement.

"You might want to land soon Shikikan." Akagi's voice crackles. "The Eagle Union are known for their ferocious anti air."

"Good point." Shikikan says as he goes to land on a nearby carrier. Before he can make the landing though, a volley of anti air rounds shreds up the wings on his plane and he ungracefully crashes onto the strip, taking out many other planes that are innocently parked on said strip.

"Shikikan!" Akagi shouts as she quickly sails over and sees the smoldering wreckage but Shikikan has successfully crawled out of it, albeit covered in soot and ashes.

"Ow... What hit me?!" Shikikan mumbles as he coughs not unlike Amagi before getting back on his feet.

"Well whatever it was, it came from over there." Takao says. "Naga, think you can check it out?"

"Of course!" Naganami replies as she slowly sails over to see what in the world shot down Shikikan. Very quickly a light cruiser emerges from hiding and she has her AA guns pointed at the Sakura destroyer. She has reddish hair and blue eyes, and she looks ready to blow away Naganami in the blink of an eye.

"Sorry! I'm afraid I can't let you do that!" The girl shouts in a sing-song voice.

"Who are you?!" Shikikan asks.

"None other than the Eagle Union's number one idol, San Diego!" The girl shouts. "Whatever you're doing, you're going to go back!"

"Or else what?" Shikikan asks, and Amagi looks on with worry.

"Shikikan... Don't get ahead of yourself..." Amagi mumbles.

"THIS!" San Diego shouts as she fires her AA guns like a madman. The resulting fire also attracts the attention of a heavy cruiser who looks like she could pass off as San Diego's older sister had it not been for the silver streaks in her hair.

"What the?!" Shikikan yells. "They've been waiting for us this whole time!"

"Don't think that you would get away with just having some of the most powerful guns floating around for "no apparent reason" you little prick!" The heavy cruiser shouts. "Everyone move out! They came just as we expected them to!"

"Shit!" Shikikan shouts. "Everyone return fire!"

"Roger!" Takao shouts as the Sakura girls begin firing at the emerging ships. The ships range from small torpedo boats to giant battleships, and the resulting cannonfire puts pressure on Shikikan and everyone else as he attempts to avoid some wild shells.

"Bremerton! Over there!" San Diego calls out as she notices some of the smaller and faster ships trying to sneak through.

"I got you!" Bremerton shouts as she charges forth and fires a salvo of high explosive shells, turning the destroyers into fireballs.

"Shit, this isn't going all too well..." Shikikan grumbles, but then he notices that all of the Eagle Union ships are too preoccupied. "Kaga!"

"Huh?" Kaga asks, turning her head to see Shikikan waving for her.

"Send out a plane and I'll get on!" Shikikan calls out. That's when Kaga also notices how driven the Eagle Union girls are and she simply nods in response.

"Hope you can pull this off!" Kaga shouts as she wildly throws a paper effigy of a plane and it proceeds to burst into flames before transforming into a real plane, and it begins flying towards Shikikan's direction.

"Sister?! What are you doing?!" Akagi asks in disbelief as she watches Kaga's plane charge at Shikikan, but with refined skills only stuntmen could achieve he manages to hop into the cockpit and take control for himself, easily slipping through the Eagle Union offensive and navigating through the clouds of anti air fire with the tactics of a true ace.

"What the hell?! How did we miss one?!" Bremerton shouts.

"We'll worry about that later!" San Diego shouts back with a more grim expression on her face. "These girls matter more!"

"And now I see what they were hiding all this time..." Shikikan mumbles as he spots the strange object that was located on the radar. "Everyone fall back. We got what we came for." He says through the radio as he takes a picture and flies off.