Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Once again April had come to the base, bringing with it the joyous wonder of pranks. Oh and probably Tirpitz’ launch day. Joshua thought to himself as he stretched in bed. It wouldn’t do to forget about my future sister-in-law, well whenever those two get around to getting hitched.

He looked around the massive bed, spotting the fox he was looking for. Easing himself from Dunkerque and Howe’s embraces, he gently grabbed Shinano and moved her into his former spot, laughing when the pair snuggled up to their new hugee. Zieten rolled over in her sleep and latched onto one of the tails while Hanazuki continued her sleep undisturbed from on top of the pillow nest she had built for herself. One wife was missing but given what today was he was certain Lexington had either snuck off for a shower or to get a jump on breakfast. 

Creeping his way out of the bedroom and up the stairs, he found no signs of Lexi in the kitchen but found her in one of the bathrooms taking a shower. “You can join in if you behave yourself. I don’t know how soon Sara and Gridley will be here.”

As much as he wanted Lexi for breakfast, Joshua behaved himself for the most part. A little tease here, a little lingering touch there, nothing like a little build up to start the day with. In revenge Lexi nearly sucked his tonsils out and left him in the shower to regain his bearings as she began making breakfast for everyone. The others came upstairs after waking up and their own showers, everything finishing just in time for Saratoga to burst through the door and leap at her sister in a flying tackle.

“Good morning, Sara. Are we having breakfast on the floor today?”

“Heheheh maybe we will! I need to make sure my big sis doesn’t help my rival today.”

“I have told you both that I am staying out of your prank war. You can ask any of my wives if they want to help you or not.”

Sara stood up and held a hand out to Lexi, “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. I do have Gridley helping out as always, right Grid?”

The destroyer was too busy showing off her latest photos of Sara to Hana and Dunkerque, while Joshua and Howe finished bringing out the food for everyone. Sara sighed and shook her head, heading up to her girlfriend and snaking her arms around her shoulders. Gridley looked over her shoulder and smooched Sara’s cheek, putting away the camera and digging into the food. All in all it was a delightful upgrade over last year’s set up, no more secrets and one large family sharing breakfast together.

Before too much sentimentality took over, the nine ate, gathered up their things and gifts for Tirpitz and headed off to the Iron Blood Pub for the launch day party. Being paranoid over the events of last year, Saratoga and Joshua entered the pub and searched it top to bottom for any tricks. Once satisfied there wasn’t any they went and said hello to the birthday gal. 

“Paranoid much, you two?” Tirpitz teased the pair, Victorious giggling beside her. “I have no pranks for you two this year, the paranoia will do well enough~”

Joshua looked over to Saratoga, “I think we need a different prank day, we’re starting to rub off on her.”

“We could just prank her instead, we never did get back at her for last year.” Sara said, eyeing the battleship up and down. 

“And what would Lexington say if you two did that?” Tirpitz made a show of looking around for her, “At least the mystery to why she could keep the Kommandant on a tight leash makes sense now.”

“It never hurts to listen to your partner, even if your relationship isn’t supposed to exist yet.”

“True, I’m sure she appreciates that.” She looked around the room and flashed the pair a grin. “Well do you two want to start your prank war now? From what I hear this is going to be the biggest one so far.”

Sara looked at the battleship with surprise, “Are you sure? We haven’t been here all that long.”

“It’s fine, watching you two is pretty fun. I view the prank war as another gift for me, so I’m fine with you two starting now.”

“Well if you say so, just remember if Lexi complains you told us to!” Sara declared as she got ready to run off.

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell her.”

“Then I shall start the show then.” Declared Joshua as he hit his radio, “Attention all personnel! This is Commander Davidson, baring any emergencies I am placing Littorio in charge of the base for the rest of the day effective immediately. You will follow all of her orders so long as you are comfortable with them. Davidson out.”

Lexington was beelining her way towards the pranker pair, wanting to know why they were starting their prank war so soon. Said pair bolted out the door as Tirpitz and Victorious laughed and moved to fill in Lexi. Littorio wasted no time establishing her dominion over all the lovely signora’s of the base.

“Attention lovely Signora’s~ I, the great and magnificent Littorio, hereby make the following decrees. All of you lovely ladies must strip down to nothing and show the world your beauty~”

Now the base understood why their commander was now running through the base shirtless and why he ordered everyone to conditionally obey Littorio. A few chose to shimmy down to nothing, others opted for wearing more revealing outfits or just their beach wear. And of course most opted to stick to their regular outfits, out of a mix of not wanting to wear less and in some cases they were already dressed pretty light.

~~~

Saratoga ran towards the Sardegnian dorms to rendezvous with Gridley, the pair were working with Kashino for their first prank. With Joshua pranking the base by placing Littorio in charge, Sara’s first prank turned out to be the perfect source of revenge against the battleship. With Kashino’s help they took one of the Sardegnian’s outdoor pools and drained all the water out of it and were in the process of refilling it with pineapple juice. Which is where Kashino came in, she set up the pumps to drain the pool and the hoses to refill it. As far as anyone knew, she was doing some pool cleaning for them so no one suspected her at all. 

Gridley was standing next to Kashino, having managed to sneak out without having to answer some messages from Lexi, unlike Sara. She was watching the pool fill with the yellow liquid, taking a few pictures of the pool and some of Sara running over when Kashino nudged her. “Hey Sara! We're about a quarter of the way done filling the pool!”

“Perfect, gives me just enough time to do this.” And she pulled her girlfriend in for a kiss, making Kashino blush and look away in embarrassment.

Gridley had a happy, dopey grin on her face when they broke apart. She didn't resist when Saratoga took her camera and snapped a few pictures. “You're so cute, Gridley. I'm a little disappointed you didn't change your clothes.”

“Well I was considering wearing my swimsuit but someone wrecked it.” Gridley glared at Sara who suddenly found the sky much more interesting. “I guess I'll have to ask my girlfriend to help me pick out a new one.”

“Ooh! That's a great idea! I know for a fact that your girlfriend has the best taste in swimsuits!”

“Yes she does. Although I wonder why it's St. Louis who offers advice on swimsuits and not my amazing girlfriend.”

“Because your girlfriend has more important things to do, like spending time with you.” The couple kissed again as Kashino fired off a text asking for hazard pay.

The pool took a while to finish being filled, which Sara and Gridley spent discussing their plans for the day, interspersed with some light making out. Kashino kept an eye on the pumps and failed to get any extra compensation for witnessing the couple’s intimate moments. As soon as she was able to, she packed up all the equipment and skedaddled out of there, both to not be associated with the fallout from the prank and to get away from their kissing.

Saratoga and Gridley waited until she was out of sight before breaking down laughing. “Oh that was such a good idea, Grid! She was so tired of us kissing.”

“I dunno why, I could never get tired of kissing you.” Gridley said in a flirty voice, “Shall we track her down and keep this up?”

“Mmm, tomorrow I think. As tempting as it is, we do need to secure our victory today.”

“I suppose I can wait that long. So what's next? Do we go bring someone out here or are we moving to the next prank?”

Saratoga was about to answer when she noticed movement, someone was making their way to the pool. “Uh oh, someone's coming. Run!”

The pair ran off just before Vittorio and Impero reached the pool. The older sister was too busy chatting with her younger sister to pay attention to the pool’s contents. She hopped in as soon as her towel was set on a chair, immediately screaming as she felt the stickiness of the pineapple juice. Impero just shook her head, having noticed before getting in, she could have warned her sister but siblings gonna sibling.

Vittorio wasn't thrilled with her plans being messed with, even if there were six other pools to choose from. “I WILL GET YOU FOR THIS, SARATOGA!”

~~~

In a cave at the edge of the base, two girls stood just inside the entrance in complete shock. Someone had vandalised their secret cave, well it wasn’t a mystery as to who did it, there was only one prankster amongst the few people that knew about the cave. It wasn’t so much that the cave was the subject of a prank that shocked them, it was the contents of the prank that was a shock. Nearly every surface of the cave wall was covered in photos of varying sizes, each one an image of one of the two girls smiling. Yes, they were smiling.

Not that they weren’t ever happy or ever smiled, it was more that they weren’t super smiley people like certain sisters of theirs. But more importantly, not that either of them would admit it to the other person let alone anyone else, was that these were excellent photos. Clearly they were stealthily taken as they had no idea they had their photos taken, but the quality of the images spoke to the skill of the photographer. The timing, the lighting, the scenery and background, the entire composition was simply immaculate. 

And that’s without talking about how beautiful the women in the photos are.

Hipper and Takao stood there in shock. Their secret cave plastered wall to wall with gorgeous pictures of each other, with a level of photographic skill reserved for supermodels and the such from before the war. Not that they would admit it to the other, or even themselves.

Thankfully they had nothing to do today and no one was looking for them. They would stand there in shock for a long time still before finally coming back to their senses and putting the images away. In a safe location inside a conveniently left behind suitcase folder that would protect the images from harm. And maybe be easily accessed one day.

~~~

The Sakuran baths were filled with the singing of a phoenix at peace. She had the whole place to herself and no one around to bother her, Albacore was out on a week long patrol. Taihou did wish that Roon or Akagi could join her but they were both busy, Roon out on the same patrol as Albacore and Akagi had a session with Bremerton along with a training session with Kaga, Soryuu and Hiryuu.

Oh well. It’s not often I can get the entire bath to myself. Taihou thought as she stretched out and sank into the water up to her neck. Mmm, this is so delightful ♡

With how relaxed she was, Taihou didn’t notice the two figures sneaking up behind her, nor remember what day today was. Her eyes closed as she drifted off into a state of zenlike bliss, the water at the perfect temperature for her relaxation. At least until freezing cold water was poured on top of her head.

“ALBACOOORE!!” Screeched the phoenix and she jumped up and dashed across the bath. “Why are you not on patrol!”

Turning around she saw Saratoga doubled over laughing and Gridley grinning in triumph. “S-Saratoga?! Why are you pranking me?”

“Hehehe, we knew you wouldn’t expect it with Alba away. Ahh you shoulda seen your face, Taihou.” Saratoga managed to control her laughter enough to stand up straight again. “I’m sorry, Taihou. This was too good of an opportunity to pass up.”

“Hmpf, I suppose I can’t blame you too much. Please don’t be like Albacore and scare me all the time.”

Sara nodded, “Yeah that’s fair. Honestly we’ll probably only purposely scare you when it’s prank day. We don’t want to intrude on Alba’s turf~”

“Hey! Tell her to stop scaring me too! Saratoga!” Her cries fell on deaf ears as the couple scurried out of the baths and off to their next victim. 

~~~

To say that Littorio was in heaven was somehow an understatement. Being assigned to the Bermuda base has been the best thing for her, no humans or men around, just lovely signoras. Ok there was one man around but he didn’t get in her way with the ladies and he granted her one of her wishes, for the ladies of the base to strip down. Sure not everyone did but those who did, well Littorio is many things and being unappreciative of ladies was not one of them. So she did her job as acting base commander, strolling around the base and checking in with everyone on how they were doing. That several of them were wearing less or nothing was an added bonus~ 

Her travels had taken her to the Royal Gardens at last, just in time for tea and hopefully a glimpse of the beauty known as Illustrious. Whistling a tune as she rounded the final corner to the regular tea spot, she stopped in her tracks to stare at the scene before her. Around the table were several of Illustrious’ best friends, from Hood and Ark Royal to Amagi and Kongou, Yorktown and even Her Majesty herself. And every last one of them completely bereft of clothing. Well, all except Illustrious, who was wearing her usual white dress and a warm smile as she spotted her partner.

“Ahh! Miss Commander, please join us!” That smile and cheerful, peaceful voice was always something that made Littorio’s heart beat a little faster. And somehow her being the only person dressed around the table just made her even more alluring to the stunned battleship.

“I think your partner has malfunctioned, Lusty.” Teased Elizabeth holding out her cup for an equally naked Belfast to refill. 

“I-I-I…” Littorio.exe has stopped working.

Belfast pulled out a chair while Suffolk popped out of nowhere and escorted the malfunctioning battleship over to it. Food and tea was placed before her for whenever she regained her senses.

“My, and I thought today was going to be uneventful.” Illustrious said to the laughter of everyone, “Could you imagine her reaction if I was naked?”

Littorio.exe would not resume for quite awhile.

~~~

Joshua’s day was not going according to plan at all. Or whatever that other word Ayaya was trying to teach him the other day. He didn’t have many prank ideas for this year, having focused on quality over quantity for some pretty big pranks. His first one probably worked, given that he hadn’t seen Hipper or Takao all day, his next one hit a major snag. His annual joke with Eugen about pompoms was in need of a last second redesign. He had spent a couple of months planning and practicing doing a burlesque show for the prank, alongside several others all of whom suddenly had other matters to attend to. Wales, Tashkent, Minsk and Roma ended up having to go on patrol, while Arizona got kidnapped for a volleyball tournament which left New Jersey who got distracted by ice cream in the most blatant act of sabotage he’d ever seen. Though he was equally surprised at Kashino offering the ice cream herself.

He sighed once more, his mind racing to come up with some sort of joke at the last minute. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice a cheerful pink haired woman beside him until she gave him a little hip bump. “Oh, hey sweetie. How is your day going?”

“Better than yours it seems. While I did say I would stay neutral in your prank war with Sara, well l was looking after the younglings and she might have put an idea in their heads.” She waved a hand at the gaggle of younglings who were standing there quietly staring at him.

“Oh wow, I was really out of it if I didn’t notice any of you lot come up to me.”

“Hehehe! We’re super sneaky!” Declared Zeppy and Clevelad as the others nodded in agreement. 

“I see that. I might have to send you for stealth mission training.” He was half serious as as much fun and chaos there would be if they were even sneakier, he knew he’d be sunk in the fountain if he allowed it to happen. “So what did Saratoga want you to ask me?”

“She said you would show us some of your dancing!”

“Yeah she said you’d put on a show for us!”

“Please show us something impressive, Master.”

He crossed his arms and closed his eyes in thought, “Hmm, I guess I could. Let me think of something cool to show you.”

Even with his eyes closed he could tell they were all leaning in closer, barely able to keep their excitement contained. He opened one eye and looked at Lexington who was curious at what he would do. “Could you grab me two swords please, sweetie? And probably whoever is free to watch and record it.”

Lexi nodded and hurried off leaving Joshua to turn to the younglings vibrating with excitement. “Now I need all of you to grab as many people as you can to watch and meet over there where I’ll be setting up.”

The group cheered and scattered across the base. Joshua walked over to where his original prank was set up with the stage and seating all ready to be used. Thanks to the chaotic genius of the R&D team their phones now had the ability to save and play songs as well as connect to speakers. He picked the perfect song that he got from a begrudging Friedrich, connected to the speakers, put on his ballet slippers he had stashed for his original prank and checked that he was still shirtless. 

It didn’t take long for everyone to return, the younglings having grabbed a couple dozen people and filling in the seats nicely. Lexi handed him two swords she took from the Sakuran armoury. Hana, Shinano, Dunkerque and Howe arrived to watch with Zieten suspiciously missing. Problem for later. He waited until everyone was settled in their spots before heading onto the stage and behind the curtain, glad it was very large for the dancing they originally planned to do on it as the one he came up with would take up a fair amount of space.

Giving it another moment for the audience to fully quieten down, he double checked that everything on him was ready to go. And then he sprinted onto the stage and leapt into the middle of the back side with a manic grin. The music was perfectly timed to his movements as he swung the swords out and brought one down to clang against the other, the music kicking in with an extremely enthusiastic timpani and snare drum line. He spun his outstretched arms in circles as if limbering up before his performance and the xylophone and wind instruments hit the famous high speed staccato notes that everyone was familiar with.

Normally it was a dance for multiple people but he made due with such short notice and everyone missing. This just allowed him full use of the stage as he bounced about with swords flashing through the air. Pirouettes here, leaping spin jumps there, he kept up with the typical dance for the song as best as he could remember but it seemed too slow to him. He stopped in the middle, leaping in place and swinging one sword down and just past the tip of the other like the other dancers would be doing. As soon as the song returned to its fast paced section he bounded upwards in a twirl, landing and immediately moving into a twirling pirouette that spun him in time with the music. His manic smile grew as he gave himself over to the music, leaping and twirling across the stage with swords flashing as if leaving after images of their movements. All too soon the song and dance ended, he gave a flourishing bow to the audience as they gave him a standing ovation.

Joshua placed the swords down on the stage and hopped off the front to accept the praise from the younglings who raced up towards him. “That was so cool!”

“And really fast!”

“I can’t believe you didn’t cut yourself there.”

“Can you do it again?”

Joshua shook his head at all of their comments, “Well I’m glad you all enjoyed that but that’s the only one I’m going to do.”

“What if I request you to do it again? And instead of swords you use these.” A pair of cheerleading pompoms were held out to him. Looking over he saw it was a very smug looking Eugen.

“Fiiiiiine. Only because I refuse to miss out on our annual joke due to sabotage.”

With the younglings satisfied at a second run through of the dance, everyone else dispersed back to what they were doing beforehand. Lexington wrangled the younglings away after congratulating her husband on his dances. Eugen told him he had to pay her bar tab for her saving his ass, he agreed and made plans to meet up later that night. With everyone gone he took a moment to rest and think of how to get back at Saratoga.

A familiar, old melody reached his ears. Turning towards the direction it came from he saw a marching band of Manjuu leading several singing girls. 

Ob’s stürmt oder schneit,

Ob die Sonne uns lacht,

Der Tag glühend heiß

Oder eiskalt die Nacht,

Bestaubt sind die Gesichter,

Doch froh ist unser Sinn,

Ja unser Sinn.

Es braust unser Panzer

Im Sturmwind dahin.

Joshua wasn’t sure why they chose Panzerlied until he saw the seven girls dressed up. For some reason they were dressed up like some sort of tank girl. He was pretty sure it was Saratoga’s idea until he noticed Zieten at the back of the line, which explained where she was hiding earlier.

U-557 led the line of tankgirls, wearing what appeared to be grey armour plating on her arms and legs. In her hands was a miniature Panzer One turret, shrunk down like some of the girls’ handheld parts of their riggings.

Blücher was next in line, looking overjoyed at being roped into the nonsense. Her limbs were armoured the same way as U-557’s, the turret she held in hand only had one cannon vs the two that U-557’s had. Her self restraint was impressive as she only waved at him instead of her usual high speed, high impact hug.

Z24 gleefully pointed her larger turret at everything in sight, holding it with ease with her metal claws equipped. Her armour plating looked stronger while the long cannon paired with the six miniature wheels attached to the back of her boots suggested she was going with one of the later versions.

Unsurprisingly Nimi was chosen to be the Panzer Four, a hard worker for the army workhorse. In addition to her armour pieces on her legs, the armour on her arms were larger, forming a shield reminiscent of the schürzen of the IV-G version. 

Scharnhorst was next as the Panzer known as the Panther, with her snow leopard named Schnee walking beside her. She did up her hair like her baby sister, grinning and flexing her costume. Compared to the others it was just bigger with nothing too visually different. Schnee was wearing a special saddle that was her version of the tank, a two for one deal in outfits.

The younger sister followed next as the fearsome Tiger tank, a lollipop stick hanging out of her mouth marking her bribe to join in. The “rigging” turret was designed to be worn like a shield, with it covering her right arm, she was able to enjoy her lollipop with no impediments. The underside of the shield just above the arm straps had a removable door, inside of which held her stash of lollipops.

Upon seeing the final member of the group, Joshua wondered how long she was planning this. Her tank rigging looked like it was actual rigging, with two arms supporting armoured plates with track links for extra protection. The third rigging arm held the massive (in comparison to the others) turret in the pre-production style, which seemed to have a sound system installed going by how much louder Zieten’s singing was.

The six tank girls came to a stop before him and saluted, holding the pose as Joshua sighed and shook his head. He pulled out his phone and fired a text off to Saratoga, accepting his defeat for this year. He looked up at his grinning wife, “Are you able to stash that away?”

“I can. Akashi managed to design it to work as actual rigging.” Zieten unsummoned her tank rigging and walked up to her husband, “Was there something you needed from your cute tank girl wife without her rigging~”

“Yeah this.” And without giving her a chance to react he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He ignored everyone else and walked off in the direction of his office, being much closer than the house or anyone’s hull.

Scharnhorst sighed and held a hand out to Gneisenau, who placed a lollipop in her hand. Scharn popped it into her mouth and gave Schnee some ear scratches. “Well that prank didn’t last long at all.”

“What’s the Commander doing with Zee?” Asked a confused 557, watching Zee lightly struggle to escape as they slowly faded from sight.

“He’s going to give her some…” Scharnhorst paused for a moment to choose her wording, “Lessons on proper etiquette, or how to not betray her husband for their sister-in-law.”

“Huh. Doesn’t make much sense to me.”

A heavily blushing Nimi patted her shoulder, “Don’t worry about it. Let’s just get these costumes off and go home.”

Zieten’s correction would find everyone banned from the Commander’s Office for a few hours. Which was her plan all along, with the added benefit of giving Saratoga the win for the day.

Chapter Text

Inside one of the many warehouses on the base a trio of girls crouched around the miniature map the purple one had drawn in the dirt. They were planning on raiding the one warehouse they weren’t allowed inside, the one owned by Akashi to store her wares and whatever oddities she had built that wasn’t locked up in the labs. There were rumours that something was in there for each of the girls, they just needed to get inside and grab them. And so one of the Universal Bulins and one of Prototype Bulins roped in Iridiana to help them with their heist. 

“Buli! All we gotta do is run over there, bust out our tools and break in!” Declared the Universal Bulin.

Prototype Bulin nodded in agreement, “It’s the perfect plan, purin!” 

“My little sisters, you are too simple, Bulin!” Iridiana sighed at her sisters, “What do we do if anyone sees us heading over there?”

“Buli! No one will care! They trust you to make us behave, buli!”

Iridiana had no rebuttal for that point. “...O-ok, then what about if someone sees us as we’re breaking in?”

The two of them summoned up their tools, “I’ll use the power of my wrench, buli!” “I’ll use the power of my drill, purin!”

“NO! NO BEATING PEOPLE UP, BULIN!”

“Awww.”

Iridiana sighed into her facepalm, she was only helping because there was apparently a super special hammer for her in Akashi’s stash. She loved her Kitty Kabam Hammer, but this new hammer would put it to shame. She looked up at her two sisters and nodded. “Ok, let’s go before anyone finds us, bulin.”

“Buli! Yay!”

“Purin! Yay!”

The three girls scampered out of the warehouse and ran halfway across base to Akashi’s warehouse. Only Iridiana was aware enough to enjoy the idea of running from one warehouse to raid another one. As soon as they got there, the purple bulin ran around the building in one direction while her golden sister went the opposite direction. Iridiana opted to be the lookout, her sisters didn’t take long to circle the building and return, and no one had come by either.

“There’s no doors, buli!”

“Or any windows low enough for us to use, purin!”

“I guess we gotta break down the wall.”

The pair pulled out their tools and charged the wall.

“This is the blow that pierces the earth, buli!” “This is the blow that pierces the heavens, purin!”

“OH NO YOU DON’T!” Iridiana swiftly grabbed both sisters before they could cause any damage. “What are you doing? If you’re not careful you could break the stuff we’re trying to get, bulin!”

“Oh! That makes sense, buli.”

“I agree, purin.”

“Perfect now stand back!” And as soon as her sister did, Iridiana pulled out her hammer and smashed it into the wall. A massive hole appeared as her sisters glared at her.

“You just wanted to do it yourself, buli!”

“Yeah! What about being careful not to wreck stuff, purin!”

Iridiana just stuck out her tongue and walked inside. Nothing of value (to them) was wrecked, just a few odds and ends and gems scattered about. The trio had no need for useless red gems so they didn't bother pocketing any of them, they never used Akashi’s shop. The few coins that spilled out of a ripped bag were gathered up, everyone paid for their food at Dunkerque’s cafe~

“I wonder where the stuff we want is, purin?”

“I don't see it in any of these crates, buli.”

“What's that on the shelf over there, bulin?”

The trio walked over to said shelf and stared at the object. A round item the size of one of Howe’s cookies sat inside a small case with the lid flipped open. A piece of paper was taped to the open lid bearing the words ‘Universal Enhanced Rigging (Experimental) +α’.

“Ooh this looks interesting, buli.” Said the purple Bulin, picking up the cookie-like object and staring at it in awe.

The golden Bulin noticed something else further down on the same row of shelving, a second case with the same object inside. This time it was labelled ‘Prototype Advanced Weaponry’. “Purin! I found my loot!”

On another shelf in the opposite direction sat a miniature rainbow hammer in a third case. This one was simply labelled ‘Ultra Rainbow Hammer’. “I can feel the power flowing through this, bulin!”

The three sisters pocketed their newly liberated goodies and escaped the warehouse, making their way down to the training grounds to test their new powers out. Not a soul saw their break in and escape.

~~~

While Bulins normally didn’t participate in actual fighting like regular shipgirls it wasn’t because they weren’t strong, they were more like Kashino, physically very strong but extremely weak armour. In the case of the Bulins their armour was so thin that soggy paper would be an improvement. They also had the ability to skim across the water like every other shipgirl, allowing them to zip about the fleet when they joined in for battlefield repairs.

So no one really batted an eye at the three Bulins who took over one of the empty training grounds. They skimmed out and spread out with their tools and rigging out, close enough to see each other but far enough that if something exploded it wouldn’t harm the others. Each one held their looted objects in hand and with a shared nod of determination they ate the cookies.

The purple Bulin was covered in a bright glowing light, similar to when a shipgirl was brought to life. Her wrench grew to be taller than she was and now sported a glowing wisdom cube between the jaws. Her left hand became enclosed within a golden drill that wasn’t dissimilar to the handle grip on her wrench. Her dress puffed out and lengthened, now sporting a golden colour and cat theme. A meowfficer on the front of her dress with two gold cat paws acting as her new shoes, she was quite pleased with her new look.

Her golden sister vanished from sight, only for a gigantic golden robot modelled after her appeared instead. The mecha sported a massive drill on each arm in place of hands, the mouth opened and glowed as if charging some sort of energy weapon. The girl herself was inside the head, sitting in a half ball barely large enough to seat her and some levers. Her outfit changed as well, sporting some shades and a scarf on top of a new white one piece with matching leggings. A short jacket covered her shoulders and arms in a stylish gold and black colouring. 

Iridiana didn’t change appearance at all after using her item, which was more of an augment than an upgrade item. Her hammer had grown to twice its size and bolts of lightning sparked from it, not unlike Eldridge when she’s overly excited or angry. A few test swings let her find the new balance in her upgraded weapon, she noted it wouldn’t take long to be as used to it as her old hammer.

The three sisters looked over one another, praising each other on their new gear and looks. The purple sister pulled out a pad and activated the training ground to test out their new capabilities. Someone (probably Zieten) had gotten the R&D team to make some special drones that looked and acted like Purifier, with the very classy name of Lord of Evil (courtesy of San Diego). The drone sailed onto the field and the purple Bulin went first.

The Lord of Evil drone had multiple difficulty levels, at level one in terms of durability and physical strength it was about on par with Friedrich, which was something far more powerful than a Bulin could handle. But now wasn’t the time to test her skills against a more appropriate enemy, now was the time to pierce the earth and her enemy!

“Witness the power of my new rigging, bulin!” Declared the purple sister as she swung her wrench with all her might.

The Lord of Evil casually brought her arms up to defend against the blow, the drone’s eyes going wide alongside everyone else’s at the force of the impact. The drone slid backwards a tiny bit and the armour bracers were cracked at the point of impact. 

The purple Bulin cackled in glee, “Within my equipment is the power to end all creation!”

And she swung a second time. The blow did not connect with its target. A menacing shadow loomed over the Bulin as she realised just how badly this was going to go. “Bulin?! I'm in trouble, bulin!”

It took the drone six seconds to chase down the Bulin and punch her hard to fly out of the training grounds. The Manjuu were not going to be happy with the new impact crater on the shore. 

Not wasting a moment, the golden mecha stepped up to the drone. “Purin! Behold my superpowered form!” 

The mecha swung one of the Super Drills at the drone, which brought up its arms to block once more. The force of the blow was about the same, but hitting a previously weakened spot caused the damage to spiral more than usual. One arm was virtually useless now.

The golden Bulin was already gloating over her enemy. “Purin~! I'm the strongest!”

She hit the giant red button to activate her beam cannon. The mecha’s mouth opened and glowed a deadly golden colour, ready to annihilate the drone. Just as it was about to fire, the Lord of Evil ripped off its useless arm and threw it perfectly into the mecha’s mouth, causing an explosion as it detonated the energy early. The golden sister flew out of the battlefield and created a second impact crater for the Manjuu to fix.

Being the smartest Bulin of the entire bunch, Iridiana quickly realised that her hammer needed time to charge up to be at its most powerful. While the battles her sisters had were short it was just enough time for her hammer to be fully charged.

“Hope you like the taste of rainbow punch, bulin!” Cried Iridiana as she swung her Ultra Rainbow Hammer with all of her might, catching the Lord of Evil dead centre and causing it to be launched into the shore in a third impact crater.

If drones could be shocked this one definitely would be. Instead it continued its silent robotic nature and charged right at its enemy. Iridiana was ready for it, part of her time going to school was combat training so she knew not to brag until the battle was won, unlike a certain pair of sisters. As the Lord of Evil got closer she raised her hammer high over her head and swung downwards.

“My hammer is the hammer that will bring down the stars, bulin!”

No stars were brought down by the blow, but the drone was shattered into pieces. Iridiana stood victorious against her foe. “My Ultra Rainbow Hammer is the strongest around, bulin!”

As she sailed her way to shore and her sisters, a lone shipgirl grabbed the nearest keyboard at the observation hut, saving the footage to an external drive to show the Commander. Reno paused as she thought about what she had heard earlier in the day. “Maybe I’ll save this for tomorrow, I don’t want to walk in on him punishing Zee.”

Iridiana found her sisters waiting for her, having already put away their new rigging and dusted themselves off. “Good job you two! I think you both deserve a reward, bulin!”

“Ooh! What kind of reward?”

“Free food?”

“Even better!” Iridiana flashed them both a peace sign, “I’m gonna give you both your own names!”

“Buli? I guess that’s fine.”

“Purin, sure why not.”

“You could sound a little more enthusiastic, bulin.” Iridiana sighed and continued on.” You, my purple sister shall now be called Viola. And you, my golden sister shall be called Aurelia.”

Viola and Aurelia tried out their new names and nodded, happy with their new names from their sister. The pair grabbed Iridiana in a big hug then hauled her off to the warehouse all the Bulins had taken over and converted into their barracks. No one was going to sleep that night, there was much celebrating to be done~