7 December 1941
Location: Pearl Harbour Multinational Naval Base
Time: 0748
Air raid sirens blared across the base as hundreds of aircraft were spotted by kansens at the outposts, flying straight toward Pearl Harbor. The radar operators had failed to detect the incoming aircrafts earlier because the ground-based radar installation on the east of the island suddenly malfunctioned. Now the entire base was caught off guard by the sudden attack.
"Commander, it's the Sakuran! They've launched air raids against us!" Wales panically reported the situation to the Commander.
"I didn't think they'd have the audacity to attack a base full of kansens. Are they that desperate for resources? Tch, Wales, command every single kansen available to intercept the incoming air raid. I'll alert the base." The commander ordered before sprinting toward the broadcasting studio.
[Attention all kansens at Pearl Harbour naval base. This is Commander speaking. We are suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Sakura Empire. All available kansens, prepare for combat and aircraft interception, this is not a drill! I repeat, this is not a drill! We're waiting for you on the frontline. May the Lord protect us!]
The broadcast brought everyone to their senses. They rushed toward the sea and quickly positioned themselves for the defense of the base.
At the frontline,
"What!? The Sirens are here too! How!?" Wales shouted loudly, her eyes wide with disbelief as she stared at the horizon.
"What!?" Cleveland could not help but shout too.
In a sudden, a loud explosion rocked the base. They then looked back at the row of battleships shooting their anti-air guns behind them, one of the ships was listing heavily. A series of explosions followed from the same direction. In an instant, eight battleships in the rows were crippled and burned wildly.
"Holy Smokes! That's Eagle Union's battleship rows!" Cleveland ran toward the rows, intending to help them.
"Be careful, Cleveland!" Wales worriedly shouted to Cleveland as she refocused her attention toward the fleet of Sirens.
"Commander, this is Wales. A fleet of Sirens showed up and started bombarding the base." Wales reported with a desperate tone.
[Tch, and now the Sirens are knocking at our door. Thank you, Wales, can you and other battleships move to deal with Sirens fleet? Give the command of aircraft interception to Illustrious. I'll request reinforcement from nearby bases.] Commander calmly replied to Wales.
"Copy that." Wales observed her surroundings and began to put together every battleship at her sight.
Wales was grateful that the Commander was still calm and clear headed amid the chaos. If not, organizing many kansens under one command would be a nightmare. But for the Sakura Empire and Sirens attacked at the same time, Wales found it to be eerily suspicious.
In the chaotic frontline, Javelin and Laffey did their utmost to shoot down the planes.
"Javelin! Full power!" shouted Javelin as she wielded her trident and main gun.
"Conditions: Green.. Let's go." murmured Laffey as she gripped her main gun with both hands.
Just as it seemed they were gaining control over the airspace, a sudden storm of sakura petals descended onto the frontline.
"What's this? Sakura petals? Tch, they're coming!" Wales waited cautiously and silhouettes of two girls came out from the storm.
"Yes, we were created by humanity to combat the Sirens…" a calm voice came from one of the silhouettes.
"But differing treatments fractured the four great camps into two opposing factions," other silhouettes continued.
From the view, a flurry of sakura petals danced in the wind as two imposing figures began to emerge. Wales and the others watched intently, their eyes and ears focused on the mysterious voices.
"One faction colonized many parts of the world without anyone batting an eye. That includes you—the Eagle Union and the Royal Navy." the voice kept talking as their figures became more and more visible, "The other faction is…"
The figures became fully visible, revealing themselves as familiar aircraft carriers, two of them, side by side.
"As expected, It's you!" Wales hissed as she took a stance with her sword at hand.
"The other is unjustly treated and disrespected on the world stage. That's us, the Sakura Empire and Iron Blood." The voice came from a fox girl in black and red.
"Sakura Empire 1st Carrier Division, Akagi." The fox girl in black and red, Akagi, bowed gracefully.
"Sakura Empire 1st Carrier Division, Kaga." The other fox girl, Kaga, just stood with hands on her hips.
"Behold and tremble!"
Waves after waves of aircraft showed up from the sky behind both fox girls. A6M fighters in formation escorted the dive bombers and torpedo bombers. D3A dive bombers readied their approach to bomb vital land installations while B5N torpedo bombers moved targeting ships that anchored on harbor.
"Many more are coming!" Javelin warned kansens on the frontline.
"This is going to be a huge problem. Hey, look out!" Laffey's uncharacteristic shout cut through the chaos.
In a pinch of time, several Seafire fighters came out of nowhere to intercept torpedo bombers targeting Javelin.
"Interceptors!" Javelin breathed in relief.
"Don't touch my friend!" from one of the piers, Unicorn yelled.
After that, Yuu-chan, the unicorn doll, turned into a huge white unicorn. Unicorn hopped on Yuu-chan's back as they flew toward the frontline. She launched more and more Seafires to protect her friends.
As if a predator locked on to its prey, Kaga saw Unicorn with a dangerous smirk.
"An aircraft carrier? No, just a light carrier.. well, even that counts as a kill." sneered Kaga as she jumped forward and threw her fox mask.
The fox mask disintegrated into light particles together with Kaga's rigging. Both fused together into a gigantic white fox creature covered in metallic rigging and flight deck. The giant fox howled and chased after Yuu-chan that was flying on the frontline.
Javelin and Laffey were flabbergasted looking at the clash between two huge creatures. They were so immersed in the battle that they did not notice a dive bomber was already in a diving position toward them.
But no bomb was able to reach them. The dive bomber was slashed on air by a kansen.
"Hey, focus! We've also got our own battle to fight!" Ayanami reprimanded both dazed destroyers.
"Ah, thank you, Ayanami-chan!" Javelin was taken back to reality.
"Um!" said Laffey as she refocused her attention toward airplanes above.
"Please be careful next time." Ayanami said, already firing her anti-air gun.
"Ah, Ayanami-chan, are you okay? Your nation attacked our base even though they know you're here!" asked Javelin as she was concerned about Ayanami's predicament.
"It hurts to be betrayed by my own country, but it's what happened. My home isn't the Sakura Empire anymore, my home is here with you all as part of the Azur Lane!" Ayanami made a speech with such determination that it moved Javelin's heart.
"Yes, you're here with us! We're your friend!" Javelin with a bright smile reassured Ayanami.
The sky above Pearl Harbour was filled with aircrafts and anti-air shells. The defenders were overwhelmed by the sheer number of attacking aircrafts. While on the ground, several vital land installations such as dormitories and warehouses were burned down. Casualties from the defending side were also increasing every minute passed. The situation for the Azur Lane was grimm.
It was not until a secured radio message through Azur Lane encrypted transmission was received by every Azur Lane kansen.
[Attention every kansen. This is Commander speaking. We have a plan. When you see the signal, retreat immediately and stay clear of the giant fox and the Siren fleet. I repeat, when you see the signal, retreat and stay clear of the giant fox and the Siren fleet! The signal is... Meteor Showers!"]
They acknowledged the plan, and waited for the signal as they kept doing their best to defend the base.
Quarter an hour after the broadcast message, lots of streaks of light could be seen coming from the southeastern sky. Azur Lane kansens saw this 'meteor shower' and quickly moved away from Siren's battle line. Shouts of retreat were heard throughout the frontline. Unicorn followed, keeping pace with the others.
Kaga and Akagi were confused looking at the retreating kansens.
"What are they doing? A feigned retreat?" Kaga scoffed and looked down on her enemies.
Akagi then noticed the meteor shower. Her survival instinct screamed at her. But it was too late, the targets were already locked.
The light trails rapidly descended toward Siren ships. And at the contact with those light trails, the entire Siren fleet exploded one after another. More than sixty ships were instantly sunk while the rest were engulfed in huge fire.
"Sister! What just happened to the Siren ships!?" Kaga was utterly shocked looking at all of the Siren ships exploding in just a second.
[1st Carrier Division, this is Shokaku. We've been attacked by what looks like flying torpedoes! Hiryuu and Soryuu were hit and listed heavily. The damage is too severe! We couldn't tow them as we're afraid of letting more water flood their ships!]
Akagi and Kaga were speechless hearing what had happened in their backline.
Unbeknownst to them, there was another streak of light that was coming from the same direction. The streak of light was already at the end of its terminal phase and in the blink of an eye, the huge fox was struck by a ludicrously fast flying object. The huge fox had no time to process what had happened when its body exploded spectacularly.
After looking at such a massive explosion happening to Kaga's soul shard, which was the huge fox, Akagi moved her eyes away to check on her dear sister. Kaga was there floating on water unconsciously with many fatal wounds and high degree burns across her body.
"KAGA!"
_________________________________________________________________________________________________