Azur Lane: Dragon Rising

Ch5: Our First Encounter

We're currently speeding towards the distress call. According to Yat-Sen's report, it's from two girls I haven't met yet that are from the Dragon Empery. Apparently, they were sent to recon the Siren's strange movements in the region. Ning Hai and Ping Hai, if I'm not mistaken. It's been some time since we got the distress call but even with the upgrades done to everyone to increase their speed and agility to somewhat match that of Dalian and me, we're still having to travel slower than we'd like. Some things just haven't been invented as yet.

Me: 1st Squadron, prepare for launch!

Because I'm in my Kansen form, my runway begins to glow as I line up for safe launches. A unique perk of this form is that the planes don't have to be lifted by the lifts to the flight deck. Instead, they simply appear on deck with whatever loadout I request all ready to go.

Me: Launch!

BOOM!

To my surprise, as they leave the runway they create a sonic boom. I'm so startled that I almost mess up entirely but manage to catch my balance at the last second and successfully launch the remaining planes. I wonder briefly why this launch was different. Is it possible that my emotions affect my ship's and planes' abilities? Or have I gotten stronger?

Dalian: The sky's getting darker.

Ying: Yeah, the waves are getting larger as well. We might be heading into a storm.

Me: Stay on guard!

All: Right!

As the 1st Squadron thunders through the sky, I ready the 2nd just in case they call for assistance.

Dalian: Say, do you think we could use our helicopters to travel?

Me: Hmm? Oh. I've never thought about it but I suppose it should be possible.

Dalian: Yeah. Would help us not burn so much fuel as well.

Me: Well I'm not actually burning fuel while travelling to and fro so that bonus wouldn't quite apply to me.

Dalian: Hmm. I guess not.

Me: Besides, even if we can, using our aircraft to travel would be unwise in this weather.

Dalian: I suppose. Still, I say we try it sometime!

Well someone's eager to try an experiment that could result in complete disaster.

J-16 #1: [Enemies located.]

Me: [Have you identified our ships?]

J-16 #1: [Allied ships successfully identified.]

Me: [Good, then eliminate all else within the area. We'll arrive as quickly as we can.]

I can't quite put my finger on it but this feels like more than just your average weather. There might be a much more powerful enemy here than we expect. As a precaution more than anything really, I launch the 2nd Squadron to provide assistance and have everyone in our group move into an attacking formation.

BOOM BOOM

Dadadadadadadada

BOOM BOOM

Up ahead, it looks like a massive battle is taking place. Even from where I am, I can see that air and naval battles are taking place. Using the direct connections to my aircraft, I'm able to use their sensors to detect, analyze and identify all the supposed enemies on the battlefield then thanks to Dalian's and my built-in systems, I'm able to transmit the data directly to her. She uses the data to lock onto all the enemy ships in the area and begins firing off her missiles.