Chapter Text
Sitting on the edge of the Academy’s fountain, Hipper texted with Amagi while Blücher danced around, enjoying seeing everything as a living person and not as a warship. The rest of their sisters had to return to their work for the day, Eugen and Weser standing by for the Generaladmiral’s inspection while Tallinn made sure the Northern Parliament were ready as well. Soon two kitsunes approached the sisters, Blücher stopped her dancing and stared at them.
“Hey sis, are we able to have kids? They totally look like mother and daughter!” She said excitedly.
“Yeah we can, but they’re not mother and daughter, the small one is a kid version of the other.” Hipper said as she put her phone away and stood up to greet their new companions.
“Good day, Admiral Hipper. Thank you for letting us join you and your sister.” Amagi said, as her younger self stared at Blücher.
“Well it wasn’t a bad idea from the dummkopf Kommandant for once.” Hipper said, causing Blücher to admonish her.
“Hipper, you need to be nicer to him! He’s a pretty swell guy, you should have gotten your cuddles when I did!”
“Hah? Why would I want that from him?”
“Oh-ho! So you want to cuddle someone else?” Teased Blücher.
“I didn’t say that! Stop putting words into my mouth!”
Amagi-chan looked up at her older self and tugged on her sleeve, “Why does she not want to spend time with Shikikan? He seems very nice.”
Blücher turned to the small fox, “My big sister has a problem with expressing her true feelings. I’m Blücher, by the way, what’s your name?”
“I am Amagi-chan, it’s nice to meet you, Miss Blücher.” The small girl said with a bow.
“Aww, she’s adorable! And look at those tails, they look so fluffy!” Blücher gushed, “Hey, Hipper, why don’t we get cute tails like they did?”
Amagi laughed at Blücher’s enthusiasm, “It’s because of our beliefs in the Sakura Empire, all of us have some sort of animal trait.”
Hipper shook her head, “Some of our new shipgirls have dragon-like traits, August has horns while her rigging beast is a dragon.”
Blücher spun around to her sister, stars in her eyes. “A dragon! I wanna see a dragon, where is she, where is she!”
"She’s back at home, we can’t have all our carriers out here. It took a lot of work just to get the four we do have here. And that's not counting Zeppy either.
“Awww, think the Admiral will let me swing by home real quick to check her out, I bet she’s a cutie too~”
Hipper frowned, “Cute is not what anyone would use to describe her, she’s more like…”
“More like what? Come on Hipper, don't stop in the middle of a sentence!”
“She’s something else is all I can say right now.” Hipper said, glancing down at Amagi-chan.
Blücher caught her hesitation to explain, “Ohh! I get it, she’s super scary if you don’t know her well!”
“Yeah, sure, that works.” Hipper sighed, earning a giggle from Amagi.
"Shall we show our new friends around?" The kitsune asked as she adjusted her parasol, "That building over there will be familiar to you both. It is our Academy and where you both will be attending classes."
"Ooh! What do we do in class?" Blücher asked.
"You study and learn, Schweitzer, from battlefield tactics to history and more." Answered Hipper.
"When will we start our classes?" Inquired Amagi-chan, tails swaying gently.
The older two looked at one another, seemingly talking telepathically before Amagi replied. "We'll have to talk to the teachers and see who can add you to their class. There's a chance you two could be split up but everyone has lunch and breaks at the same time."
Blücher looked at Amagi-chan, "Well that doesn't sound too bad, what do you think?"
The smaller kitsune thought it over and nodded. "I agree, I would like to see my first friend a lot so both of us going to class would help with that."
Blücher lit up and knelt down to hug Amagi-chan, "Yes! We're each other's first friends!"
Hipper and Amagi smiled at the sight, enjoying the cuteness from the newest members of the base.
~~~
"Dunkerque☆ This is amazing!" Blücher said excitedly, "How are you so great at making sweets? Is it because you're so sweet?"
Dunkerque giggled and blushed slightly, "Oh my, thank you for your kind words Blücher."
“Heheh☆ Anytime Dunkerque~” The heavy cruiser ate another bite of her chocolate gateau, giving a bliss filled sigh as she ate. “Can I live here and eat sweets all day long, Hipper?”
“Nein, you’ll be the first shipgirl to get fat.” Hipper said between bites of her own cake, “Besides, how are you going to pay for all of that food without doing any work?”
“Heheh☆ That’s what my darling sisters are for~”
“We are not paying for you to eat Dunkerque out of house and home!”
Amagi, Amagi-chan and Dunkerque laughed at the antics of the sisters, enjoying their own slices of cake as they watched. Hipper and Amagi had shown off most of the base to Blücher and Amagi-chan over the course of the afternoon, they decided to stop by Dunkerque’s shop and have a snack before calling it a day. The group decided to split a chocolate gateau, resulting in the girls' new enthusiasm for food and sweets.
The door jingled the bell and in strolled the Commander and the Admiral, the pair waving to Dunkerque and everyone sitting around the table. “How has the tour gone, Amagi and Hipper?”
Dunkerque got up and served the new arrivals as Amagi replied, “It has been a fun afternoon, Blücher and Amagi-chan have no shortage of energy. How has your own tour gone?”
“Very well, I am pleased that your Commander hasn’t broken the place yet.” Teased the Admiral as she took a seat at the next table.
“I could break more stuff if HQ would approve my requests.” Muttered the Commander as he paid.
“Not even us top level brass can wrangle you more shipgirls, Josh. Convincing each government to send more has been a struggle for this entire war.”
"Well on the plus side, we all get to enjoy Dunkerque's Sweets." He said, taking a seat. "Honestly, I hope you keep this shop going after the war, Dunkerque."
“I most likely will, although I would like to travel the world after the war.” She said, taking her seat once more.
Blücher held Dunkerque’s hands in her own, “Let’s travel together! I wanna snowboard on different mountains all over!”
“Hah? You don’t even know how to snowboard yet, learn that first then go travelling.” Said Hipper.
“But we don’t have any snow or mountains here, how am I supposed to learn?”
“If only you knew someone who came from a country with plenty of places to ski or snowboard.” Hummed the Admiral with a smile.
Blücher thought it over for a second before spinning around to the Commander. “Oh yeah! The Maple Monarchy has loads of places like that, can you take me next day off? Pretty please~”
“You do know that it’s going to take more than a day just to get to the slopes right?” Replied the Commander, “You’re going to want at least a week long vacation, and before you ask, you don’t get one anytime soon. Sorry but you need to earn your keep first.”
“Bwaaa, ok I guess, but only if you give me a hug Commander!” Her arms stretched wide waiting.
The Commander smiled and gave Blücher the hug she wanted, earning a request for a hug from Amagi-chan who had been watching everything quietly. The large group finished their food and showered Dunkerque in praise, causing the battleship to giggle and blush slightly. Everyone bid each other farewell and headed off to their own dorms, with the officers returning to the Command Centre. Amagi and Amagi-chan walked towards the Sakura Dorms, the smaller girl lost in thought.
“Something on your mind, little one?” Asked Amagi.
Amagi-chan looked up at her older self, “I was thinking about how Hipper and Blücher are sisters but act very differently. Blücher is energetic and affectionate but Hipper is grumpy.”
Amagi chuckled, “Wait until you meet our sister, Akagi and her sister Kaga. They are very different as well.”
“Why is Kaga a sister to Akagi but not you?”
“Hmm, how much of our past as ships do you remember?”
Amagi-chan blinked, “We were ships?”
The elder Amagi stopped walking with her head tilted to the side. "I shouldn't be surprised, I haven't had a chance to talk to anyone about the other young ships much yet.
She pulled out her phone and found the number of someone who could help her. "Good afternoon, Belfast. Are you busy? Perfect, I need your help and possibly Miss Illustrious and Graf Zeppelin. Training grounds in three hours, alright we'll see you there, thank you."
Amagi-chan watched her older self make her call, tails swishing in interest at what was happening. Amagi made another call to one of the people she mentioned earlier, Graf Zeppelin. After the call, Amagi returned her phone to her pocket and looked down at her younger self.
"We'll be able to answer your questions later once the training grounds are free. For now, let's get you a place to sleep in my room."
Amagi-chan nodded and followed Amagi to the Sakura dorms.
~~~
The Amagis walked up to the training grounds, the sun had mostly set but thankfully it was still fairly bright out for summer time. On the observation deck was a small crowd waiting for them to arrive, Belfast and Little Bel, Graf Zeppelin and Zeppy, Illustrious and Little Illustrious. Surprisingly a few others were also there, Mutsu and Mikasa, the entirety of the Hipper clan as well as the Commander and a very bruised Zieten.
Amagi walked up to the smirking head maid, “I wasn’t expecting so many others, what is this all about?”
“After I contacted Illustrious about your request, I asked Mikasa and Mutsu to join us as they are also battleships and could help in that regard.”
Graf gave her customary frown, “I invited Hipper to bring Blücher since she’ll need practice with her rigging too. Eugen caught wind of it and invited all of her sisters along.”
Amagi nodded and looked at the Commander who shrugged, “I’ve been here since Dunkerque’s, it was a safe bet our new friends would end up coming here to try out their rigging and abilities. Zieten is technically AWOL from Vestal and is more interested in meeting new people than recovering.”
The bruised battleship stuck her tongue out while a voice from the far end of the pier called out to them. “Come on over everyone, I have everything set up now.”
The voice belonged to the Admiral who had started up the viewing screens and was giving instructions to the Manjuu film crew. The group split into two, Amagi, Belfast, Graf Zeppelin and Illustrious headed down to the shore with their younger selves accompanied by Blücher and Hipper. The rest gathered along the railing of the observation deck or near the mounted monitors to watch the proceedings.
Amagi stood away from the group, turning around to address Amagi-chan. “As a shipgirl we have a second body if you will. A ship body or hull as we like to call it, and you are able to control it from a distance.
A sizable battlecruiser appeared before them, sailing into view from behind a rock formation. Five turrets of twin forty-one centimetre cannons rotated to the port side and opened fire on a mass production heavy cruiser. Amagi-chan’s eyes lit up at the fire power demonstration before turning her focus back to Amagi.
“Now we have one other main trick we can do, watch closely.”
A blue glow surrounded the battlecruiser before it broke apart into cubes and flew at high speed towards Amagi. The cubes rapidly spun around her, glowing brightly and taking the shape of cannons and other ship parts, her rigging. Amagi-chan gasped in surprise and awe, her tails waving about with her excitement as she watched Amagi step backwards into the water. Or onto the surface of, surprising the small kitsune and earning the knowing grins of the others.
"So we can walk on water with that? What is that called? Do I have my own ship?" Came the barrage of questions.
Amagi laughed, "Walking on water isn't quite accurate, we can skim on the surface with our rigging. And you should have your own ship around here somewhere."
A second battlecruiser sailed into view looking like an exact replica of the first one. It gently cruised through the training grounds and came to a stop at the nearby dock. A gangplank rolled out and unleashed a wave of Manjuu and one purple haired Meowfficer who snapped off a salute to the Commander and Admiral.
"Now then, Amagi-chan, you should be able to reach out to your ship. Do you feel it?" Said Amagi.
The small kitsune cutely scrunched up her face in concentration, her small body vibrating from the excitement and over effort she put into feeling her ship. Suddenly her eyes shot open wide and she stood still, she had made contact with her ship body and was experiencing her new, wide array of senses.
Information flooded her mind, current wind speed, air pressure, ammo and fuel status and much more. Amagi-chan stiffened from the amount of information pouring in but soon relaxed as it quietened down and became background noise, eventually turning from raw information to something she instinctively knew. She waved her hands around and watched as her turrets spun as she gestured.
She looked up at her elder self with a questioning look, Amagi nodded. “Go ahead, see if you can summon your rigging.”
Everyone stepped back from Amagi-chan as she scrunched up her face once more. After a moment, a blue glow emanated from her ship and it soon dissolved into cubes and flew towards their owner. Once the resulting bright light faded sounds of surprise came from everyone who looked at the small battlecruiser’s rigging.
Surrounding the child size kitsune was a massive set of rigging similar to Amagi’s own. Two twin turrets were attached to pieces of hull on either side of her, the fifth one sat on a rigging arm that extended over her head. Amagi-chan looked at her rigging with surprise written all over her face, she did not expect something the same size as her older self. She took a few slow, careful steps forward, moving faster once she realised that the rigging wasn’t weighing her down at all.
She skimmed around on the water, following Amagi further out away from shore with the other younger ships and Blücher calling up their own rigging and joining in. Little Illustrious grabbed Amagi-chan by the hands and led her in a little dance on the water, Zeppy and Little Bel joining in to form a circle. Amagi held her hand out to Blücher and they had their own little dance next to the younglings, while Mutsu grabbed Mikasa and dragged her out onto the water, everyone watching cheering them on as the Manjuu filmed everything.
The younger ships eventually stopped their dance and called their older selves and Hipper over. Standing in a long line with the younger ones in front of their elders, they waited for the signal to start their impromptu gunnery challenge. Several target ships sailed out to provide targets as the audience got ready to watch the fireworks.
“All ships ready?” Came the Commander’s voice.
“Aye!” Came the replies in unison.
“Begin!”
Cannons roared and bombers screamed down upon their targets, the ships sinking in quick succession from the firepower displayed. The younglings were very competitive, pushing their reload speeds to the limit, even their older selves were struggling to keep up at times. As for who landed what hits, well they forgot to switch to the practice ammo that left a coloured mark. Not that anyone seemed to care judging by the joyful shouts every time a hit landed.
Unfortunately for everyone, the target ships soon ran out and the fun had to end. Everyone skimmed over to the observation deck and waited for the Commander's judgement of the winning pair. After a very "long" and "intense" debate with the Admiral, they were ready to announce the results.
"And the winner is!" He paused and looked around to draw it out. "Me! I get to be your Commander and I am proud of everyone's skills. So we shall hit up Dunkerque's tomorrow and snacks are on me!"
The younglings gathered up in a circle to have a quick discussion before sending their representative, Little Bel, to negotiate with the Commander.
"Master, we would like you to choose who actually won the contest. Please don't just choose yourself so you can declare us all winners."
"Yeah! We already know we're winners so who's the super winner!" Yelled Zeppy.
The Commander looked to the Admiral who shrugged, Hipper's sisters and Zieten were equally uncaring of his predicament. "Alright, alright, I will decide a winner tomorrow. Let me look over the footage the Manjuu took and think on what I saw."
Little Bel turned to her friends who all nodded. "This is acceptable, thank you Master." She gave a small curtsy.
The Commander dismissed everyone, and headed to his office to start going over the footage. Everyone else dispersed back to their dorms, Amagi-chan and Blücher taking the opportunity to pilot their ships remotely. A certain purple battlecruiser was seen running from an angry, short nun much to everyone's amusement.
Amagi-chan curled up on her futon next to Amagi, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. It had been a long and eventful first day of her life. Blücher and her sisters set themselves up in Hipper’s living room and fell asleep in a pile around the last sister. And far out to sea, returning from patrol, a certain orange haired destroyer caught the scent of a new fox for her to hunt.