The One Who Fell From Grace

Chapter 8: new base and new friends!

Time skip 2 hours

Now Intrepid had shown Airi most of the base, where the repair baths were, the docks, mess hall, and so on. Though as the day progressed Airi could see a few ships leaving and entering the port, for their patrols. But now they passed by a large building with what looked like an Abyssal factory connected to it. Though Airi wasn't entirely sure if it was an Abyssal factory or not.

"This is the R&D building on base" Intrepid said "though most of us don't go there unless we're needed. Like if you're getting a retrofit"

"Hmm, do you know what they make there?" Airi asked, though she tried to make it more innocent sounding.

Intrepid shrugged her shoulders "Eh, not really. Besides the semi-modern equipment they're making, most equipment apparently never gets used" now she started to walk away "though I have heard that somethings are crazy"

Now Airi ran a bit to catch up with her and asked "like what?"

Intrepid stopped now and looked around before leaning in near Airi's ear "I heard from a friend that apparently they're making cats" Now she leaned away from her, but had a smug look like she had just said something fantastic.

Airi stared at her confused and just said "cats?"

"Well that's the most I heard" Intrepid said "maybe they're cats that can shoot lasers out of their eyes"

Airi was just confused by what she said and didn't know how to respond. So after a while she asked "so where to next?"

"Hmm, let's see, I showed you the repair baths, mess hall... oh! I forgot something near the dorms! There's a bunch of shops that some ship girls run in their free time. Oh! And the dorms themselves!" now she grabbed Airi's wrist and tugged on her "come on! Follow me!"

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Time skip 10 minutes, Location San Diego Naval base, shops

"Here we are" Intrepid now said. Now she and Airi could be seen on a road lined with shops. Though the shops only went on for about 50 meters before ending, there were quite a lot, mainly open stalls with different trinkets and candy shops.

"Ooh" Airi said as she now looked down the road at the shops, seemingly overwhelmed by how many there were.

"Most of these are run by ship girls in their spare time, though some humans take care of them when the ship girls can't take care of them" though now she tugged on Airi's hand "come on, there's a really good candy shop here. I'll get you something if you want"

Now Airi went along, and stared at everything in awe. While the road was lined with shops, there were dozens of other ships girls and naval personnel there. Though part of her felt like she was just being dragged along by Intrepid. But she liked the upbeat and cheerful attitude the carrier had.

But now as she and Intrepid stood at one of the stalls to a candy shop, she thought of what she should try and find out first. She knew that the R&D building would be a prime target, but first she needed to find an excuse for going there. Or if she snuck in she had to have an excuse of why she was there.

She was so engulfed in thinking about this, that she didn't notice Intrepid trying to get her attention. "Airi, Airi?" Now she put a hand on her shoulder and said "Airi, What do you want?"

Airi snapped out of thinking now and paused "oh, uh..." she looked up at the menu and was surprised that such a little shop had such a vast menu. "Uh... you can choose what you think is best" she responded. Intrepid smiled now at her and ordered 2 donuts.