After reading through a number of stories here, I felt compelled to try my own jab at writing one of these.

She felt the light rolling of the ocean under her hull, the smell of saltwater under her nose, the Pacific, just as she remembered it. Smelling it was technically new, yet it seemed all too familiar to her, a part of her being from before her second life. That had thrown her for a loop, she admitted, alongside the new human body replacing her hull. For all the looks of reverence, the plastered smiles, the pity she wrought, all it brought her was confusion. She still had trouble believing it, even after standing over the remains of her rusting hull.

Arizona was glad to be getting away from Pearl after that, volunteering at first chance to truly earn a battle star. Endless ocean was more soothing than the thought she had missed an entire war. Neither was it comforting to not be the flagship of her little task force, but at least it was steady battleship North Carolina who took up that duty. Her white uniform top and light blue skirt was a tad more revealing than Arizona would have expected from an American Battleship, unlike the longer, more standard garb of her deep blue uniform, befitting of a fleet commander. And battleships like her, no longer the center of the fleet? Preposterous! She'd believe that when she saw it, battle records be damned.

"Tomorrow morning, at latest afternoon," she heard Carol voice to the two destroyers, neither a class she had seen until her 'return.' She'd yet to gauge either of them or their sisters, having set out with scant more than two dozen United States Navy 'ship-girls' yet summoned, tending to stay away from as many new faces as possible for all the pity she'd thus far received. North Carolina had been a breath of fresh air in comparison, but regretted missing Enterprise by only a few days.

Arizona let out a light laugh, thinking about little E being the hero ship everyone looked up to. The poor girl. She had to admit, she'd be happy to see little E again once they reached Japan.

"Couldn't we be there by tonight if we just sped up?" asked the slightly taller of the two destroyers, Frank Knox. Like most of the destroyers Arizona had known, she was energetic, if a bit more rough than the most, with short, black hair. What was particularly odd of the girl was her thoughtfulness of politics, particularly foreign affairs and dislike of secrets. In a word, blunt.

"We could," answered Carol, "but you don't really want to leave Langley and the transports out here to fend for herself, do you Knox?" Arizona glanced back at the converted carrier and her dark red hair, same as Arizona's own. Langley was the only other carrier summoned besides Enterprise, though radio reported that several more had been summoned shortly after leaving Pearl.

"I can't say I mind the pace, myself," Arizona added. She didn't have anything against the poor girl, even if she was rather slow. Both destroyers had originally mistaken her for something called an Escort Carrier early in the journey, prompting a discussion between herself and the two destroyers. Apparently, Langley herself had been sunk not long into the war. As a carrier, she had a few shortcomings compared to the larger, faster flattops.

Then again, the brass had stuck her with the odd cruiser called San Diego, to offset her own "poor" anti-aircraft armament. An Atlanta-class cruiser, Diego was a top-heavy light cruiser who's main battery was nearly identical to Arizona's and Carol's secondary guns, guns she would occasionally catch the light cruiser staring at before looking away. She sailed off to Arizona's port, between herself and Langley, with Arizona's starboard taken up by another familiar face.

"What about you, Minnie?" Arizona asked her friend, cruiser Minneapolis. "It's nice to have a slower jaunt across the Pacific from time to time, don't you think?" Both cruisers shared outfits similar to North Carolina, but it would be hard to mix up the mid-length blond hair of Minneapolis with the long browns of her battleship companion, or the short, light brown of Diego.

"As long as it's relaxing, Ari," Minnie smiled, then added a smirk to her midwestern complexion. "And not too hot."

"Hot?" gasped Arizona in mock indignation. "Hot is never so much a bother as the frigid cold of the north, my good cruiser!" She turned and, grin growing, hollered over to the other battleship of the group. "Present company excluded, of course."

North Carolina put a hand in her face and groaned, Diego laughing and nodding in agreement with the older battleship. Edwards, the other destroyer in their little fleet, looked ready to test her on her Japanese once more. Knox watched from the side with disciplined eyes, before snapped them to the horizon. North Carolina appeared to be looking to the south now as well, as was San Diego. Arizona squinted, lamenting her lack of radar.

"Two destroyers, one light cruiser by the looks of things," Diego conveyed to her and Langley, the carrier girl pulling out an arrow for her old bow. By the sounds of things, Arizona was glad she wouldn't have to deal with aircraft, at least not this time. Turning her turrets about, she felt a thrill pulse through her that she'd never felt in her old life, and beamed.