The Betrayed Commander and The Abandoned Tsundere (Azur Lane: Origins 1)

Chapter 21: Chie Flower

Sora floated over to the gateway. Admiral Hipper joined him and the commander looked at her. 'Ready?' Hipper nodded. The gateway was around half a metre above the ocean surface so Sora and Hipper had to jump to pass through it.

Nothing happened. The other side was the same as the side they came from. 'Hey science dude! Was that supposed to happen?'

The scientist took some offense at being called a 'science dude' but he still answered Sora. 'The gateway isn't a portal to a new world, it just allows you to interact with the island that the Chie Flowers grow on. I forgot to tell you that in our simulations, you can only successfully pass through the gateway at higher speeds than that. An aircraft carrier's plane should be fast enough.'

Sora wasn't very impressed. He looked back at Graf Zeppelin and she nodded. The commander and Admiral Hipper floated back over to Zeppelin as she launched a plane. The bomber flew low enough to allow Sora and Hipper to jump onto its wings. Thanks to plot convenience, this did not affect the aircraft's ability to fly.

The bomber circled around and flew at the gateway. At the last second, Sora and Hipper jumped off and passed through the gateway. This time, some of the blue light that made up the gateway stuck to them for a few seconds.

Sora spun in a circle, searching for anything that indicated the presence of an island. After looking very closely, he saw the silhouette of an island on the horizon. He pointed at it and said, 'Look, Hipper. The island is there.' She turned and stared in the direction Sora was pointing and saw the island as well.

With no communication, the commander and Admiral Hipper began the journey to the island.

The island was further away than Sora realised. They had arrived several hours after the set off. Sora and Hipper stepped onto the island. After looking around for several minutes, the commander stumbled into a clearing. It was full of Chie Flowers. They were the same pale blue colour as Wisdom Cubes. He was about to call out to Hipper when he noticed her head pop out from a large cluster of foliage.

Sora bent down and picked a single Flower from the grass as Admiral Hipper crossed the clearing to join him. 'It feels like a waste to take hours upon hours to get here just for a single flower.'

'Well, the science dudes said we only need one,' Sora responded as he stood up. 'Alright, let's head back.'

The two of walked onto the edge of the island. Sora attempted to contact Graf Zeppelin with his radio but there was only static. 'Dang it! Hello? Can anyone here me?' More static. The commander had an idea. 'Hipper, please can you summon the other Admiral Hipper?' She nodded and her Rigging disappeared. The German heavy cruiser, Admiral Hipper, appeared off the shore of the island. 'Now please can you shoot the gateway?' Now Hipper looked slightly confused and worried but she did it anyway.

As the shell passed through the gateway, Sora could just barely make out a very surprised Graf Zeppelin.

The commander now had a plan to get them back through the gateway. The original Admiral Hipper would fire at the gateway again. Once it does, Hipper would summon her gear and use it as a shield to protect them from the shell, using it to accelerate them to a high enough speed to pass through the gateway. Once Sora told Hipper the plan, she agreed.

The Admiral Hipper fired the shell. Sora jumped up with Hipper clinging to his back. Hipper's gear reappeared just in time for the shell to hit it. There was a loud crunch and the sound of crumpling metal as Sora and Hipper suddenly shot towards the gateway.

The crunching grew louder and Hipper cried out in pain. The shell passed through the first turret and hit the second one. The shell penetrated the third turret and Hipper cried out again. They were approaching the gateway. The shell made its way through the fourth and final turret. The damaged turrets began falling away from the rest of Hipper's Rigging. Hipper began crying as the shell began to pass through the first hull section of her Rigging. Sora and Hipper passed through the gateway, just barely missing the top Wisdom Cube.

Just before Sora passed through the gateway, he began aiming his guns. He fired them as they shot through the gateway. There was another loud crunch as the shell bit deeper into Hipper's Rigging but the plan worked; they had slowed down enough to splat when they hit the ocean.

As Sora fired his guns, he turned his head and yelled at Graf Zeppelin, 'Zeppelin, prepare for emergency first aid and repairs!' Sora and Hipper were still going too fast to have a comfortable landing so the commander aimed his secondary gun turrets. Sora glanced down and saw the damaged gun turrets crashing into the ocean surface.

The commander fired his secondary guns just before they hit the water. A massive fireball erupted around Sora and Hipper. Bits of the shells and other shrapnel flew back from the force of them fireball and tore through Sora's Riggings. The increased volume of Hipper's crying indicated that the shrapnel was hitting her as well. The cold ocean surface rushed up to the commander's face.