43June 4th, 1942, JBCS Akagi, 04:00
Chuichi looked out as he was amazed on what his ships could muster. He knew he was going to bomb Midway first thing as he had his planes up. Several cats padded to him as he was ready to outline their mission.
"Okay your mission is to bomb away at Midway's defenses in the hopes you damage the island as much as possible, the invasion force is still on its way seeing how they are taking a bit. If you got any future orders if we spot those carriers if they decided to show up early. However we can't be caught in transition and make sure that's the case. I'll see you all at supper." Chuichi laid out the order as the cats under his command bowed as they vowed to carry out this mission. They soon walked to their planes as they began to take off one by one. Soon all the planes were gone as one of the bobtails padded over to him.
"What happens if we do find these carriers early?" He asked wondering about the possibility of having the ships arriving here and not the Aleutian Islands.
"Tell them to maintain silence, any calls we get will be picked up by the enemy, we know what those Thunderclan cats are up to." Chuichi hissed as he knew pretty well that they didn't want to get spotted so they had to silence their radios so their chances of getting noticed would be minimized,
Meanwhile on Midway Island, the cats were getting ready for filming as the cats soon got on the top of the centerpiece of the island the reinforced concrete bunker as they knew it would be holding the small force stationed there would be safe and they would spring the traps if they decided to investigate the bunker. The elder tom and his crew soon came to the top of the bunker as they were getting everything in position. He soon folded out the camera's tripod as he sets it down ready to film.
"Okay I need a tom and a She cat to get out on the deck as I would like to begin filming." The elder mewed as he soon grabbed the camera as he began to film. The cats soon began to set up the Thunderclan flag as she attached as they got ready to film. The center of all of this was a dark gray tom as he got into the middle with the other tom and the She-cat as they finished attaching the flag. Soon the She-cat ran back as she got in position. "Okay and we're rolling!" He mewed.
"To all cats on the mainland of Thunderclan, we wish for you to have the best time while we sit on these lonely islands and wait for the so called war to be over but while the flag is being raised on a new day it means one more day until we get home for the holidays of 1942. Just be glad that we're here enjoying the weather and when we get the free time and the weather seems hot enough, go grab your swim gear and head out into the ocean." The flag cat began as the flag was being raised, unknown to him that the buzzing of planes was heard as it was getting closer. They had been spotted as the planes began to take off from the island as they went to go engage planes in the skies. "To all of the cats of Thunderclan we want you too…" He was soon cut off as one of the sentries spotted the planes buzzing to them as it was clear they were under attack.
"Japanese planes! Nine O'Clock!" He shouted. The cats soon ducked as the planes began firing away. The cats ducked down as hid in any holes they could find. The bullets soon flew through as they began striking the elderly tom that didn't get the message. He soon fell as the planes buzzed past the island as they went over their heads. They soon looked down to see the elder lay on the ground bleeding. The Gray tom ran over to him.
"Sir, are you okay? You want to cut the film so we can start from the top?" He asked since they had a rude interrupting when the planes came in but the Elder in his stubbornness knew that he didn't want to do another shot.
"No, keep filming!" He hissed as a couple of she-cats came running to take him away. The planes defending the island buzzed about while anti-aircraft guns opened up wanting to take out the planes.
Chuichi was looking out as he was wondering if all was going according to planned. A tom raced up to him as he had two messages on him as he wanted to explain it to him.
"What is it that you need scamp?" Chuichi mewed as he was wondering what one of his cats needed. As he was panting before he explained.
"We actually got reports that there may be Thunderclan carriers in the area as they didn't go to the Aleutian Islands like what we had planned and second your planes didn't do enough damage to Midway as they held their ground." The tom explained. Chuichi turned to him as he had a few questions for him.
"How many carriers were reported?" Chuichi asked wondering how many of those ships were spotted but the small bobtail didn't understand.
"The numbers weren't clear as we didn't identify the carriers; we're going against a much larger force than what we expect." He mewed as he wanted to tell him that they weren't able to make our carriers but they knew there were a lot more ships they were going up against than expected.
"Report back to me if we find those carriers. Looks like I need to bomb Midway again." Chuichi grumbled as he knew that he didn't have time to prepare for the attack.
It was sometime later as the cats began to send out the second wave of bombers to try to bomb Midway again since not enough damage was done to it. The crew of the Soryu were putting fuel and munitions on the deck so rearming the planes would be faster as they really wanted to destroy the island. Soon the same tom came back as he had some news for him.
"Sir I have more news." He stuttered nervously as he was wondering about what was going on Chuichi turned to him as he was wondering about if they found the information.
"Were you able to identify how many carriers were up against?" Chuichi growled as he wanted to find out what their strength was in terms of the carriers.
"No sir but we did manage to spot the Thunderclan fleet 200 miles to the northeast of the Midway invasion force heading to the northwest. The pilots said they didn't have enough time to count the number of ships thoroughly as they were under heavy flak fire." He mewed as they managed to determine what their position was and what their direction they were heading but they still didn't find out what their strength was.
While the two of them kept chatting, a Thunderclan Submarine was slipping under the carrier force as they were surfacing only for a few moments to spy on them and gather their position. They soon began giving out the information to them.
"We're right below the carriers, we will keep a close eye on them, send all your planes out if you can." The cat in the submarine mewed. One of them looked away as he was waiting for orders. The radio clicked once more.
"Okay we're sending the planes over to you. Try to sink some of the ships if you could." The cat responded. They nodded as they were now planning out their orders.
The cats on the Enterprise were getting ready for lift off as Sivermist and Bushytail got in. Their leader spoke as they were getting ready. The others soon got in their planes as they turned the engines on.
"Okay, we want you to go looking for the carrier force seeing we have found their location and now we need to destroy them. If we would ultimately declare victory, we need to bomb away at their forces." He mewed. They got in their planes as it was clear the Yorktown launched all the planes first. The planes soon began to take off as they began to fly away. Bushytail soon pushed the plane's gear forward as it began to pick up speed. The wind buffering off of the aircraft as it soon lifted off from the runway with many other planes flying up, they were now in pursuit of the carriers.
Chuichi was beginning to have second thoughts about this as he knew that he was had the entire battle resting on him, does he bomb Midway again or prepare for a naval battle with Thunderclan ships? Soon his thoughts were interrupted as a swarm of planes from the Midway airbase were coming about him. He couldn't believe it, how could they be able to fend off his planes. But more importantly, how they were able to find his fleet so quickly? Did they know his position in advance? That wasn't the only surprise waiting for him:
TcS Nautilus, 07:10
Crowpool had been working around the clock to make sure the submarine was in working order, she needed some fresh air, and fortunately they were going to surface as they wanted to size up the situation. The submarine soon broke the surface as they were in the center of the fleet. Crowpool took out the periscope to the submarine as she took around, panting. There laid Chuichi's flag ship, Akagi. Crowpool got off the periscope as she turned to the commander of the submarine.
"We found them, we were given orders to try to sink the carriers with torpedoes and we have them right where we want them." Crowpool mewed as she had them in their sights. The commander of the submarine knew that he needed every cat secured to make sure they were in position before they began to fire.
"All cat's to battle stations! Let's move come on!" The commander shouted as all the cats hurried to the security of their bunks as they all hopped in, the submarine soon went back under as the torpedoes were armed and ready to fire. "Let's save these chums for the sharks below." He mewed. He gave the signal to fire the torpedoes as the hatches for the torpedoes opened as the water missiles began to fly along. Chuichi looked down as he didn't spot the submarine but rather the two torpedoes heading for his carrier.
"We got a Submarine in the area and we need to get these torpedoes out of here!" The bobtail began to panic as he got onto one of the anti-aircraft guns shoving some of the bobtails away as he began to fire away trying to seize the torpedoes. The shots weren't connecting to the metal water missiles as they were getting closer, explosions sent the water flying a couple of feet but they kept getting closer, at this point, it was no use to try to destroy them but fortunately for him, the first torpedo streaked past him followed by the second one which didn't even scratch the carrier. Breathing a sigh of relief, he soon turned as he spoke. "Get the destroyers to take care of that submarine; I don't want to be sunk by a lone wolf. Got that?" The two smaller bobtails nodded as they raced off wanting to be nothing more than a hissing snake ready to strike.
Crowpool looked over the periscope as she saw the Akagi was still afloat with no damage done to it. They soon went back under as they wanted to report it.
"The torpedoes missed sir." She mewed as she knew they wasted two torpedoes on a fast moving target but before they could decide on what to do next, an explosion rattled the submarine as they were looking around when it was a good time to resurface but another explosion rattled her and the command crew.
"Depth charges!" The commander knew what was going on as the destroyers were slipping the depth charges off of their destroyers. Crowpool knew that it was only a matter of time before there could be a breach in the submarine so they decided to dive deeper to try to escape the destroyers. All Crowpool was praying for is for the planes to show up and destroy the carriers.
The planes were flying along as they were being led by Blackice and Darkpool. Bushytail looked down but he could see no ships. He wanted to tell them about this but he had to maintain silence. And they were running dangerously low on fuel. Bushytail was left with a tough decision, does he head back with the rest of the crew to the Enterprise to refuel or risk it and head for the correct position of the carriers, soon they turned around as they started to head back. Bushytail soon turned left as he began to head away from the group on gut instinct. Silvermist was surprised as she wasn't expecting this and one by one, the planes began to turn as they all began to head for the carriers. It was a risk that they had to take.
Chuichi looked over the carnage that he was liked to see, they were able to take down most of the planes in the two attacks unaware that another wave was following up. A bobtail rushed over to him
"Sir we have found one carrier in the area, it's the Yorktown." The little bobtail mewed as he wanted to make his announcement clear.
"Good now we shall get our planes ready for that…" But before Chuichi could finished. He looked up to see an angry Bushytail and the planes from the Enterprise appear from a cloud bank. Their target, Kaga.
"You ready to do this?" Bushytail mewed as he was confident to follow up on this plan. Silvermist looked at him as he was a mad lad but she soon smiled to him.
"I surely am." She responded. Bushytail soon shuts off the engine to conserve fuel for the return trip as he dived down to the Kaga carrier. The bomb he had was a 500 pounder and was meant to destroy huge ships like these. He soon began firing the Machine guns that he had on has the bullets rip through the wood, he soon turned up and started the engines up again picking up speed. The bobtails were surprised as bullets from Bushytail began ripping them apart. Soon Bushytail saw the huge red dot the Bobtails were known for on their flag. He dropped the bomb as the bomb shatter the runway as it plunged down. Chuichi looked up as he saw all of this as more bombs were being dropped on Kaga exploding. Sandleaf and Dewpelt's bomb was the last to be dropped as it strikes a gasoline truck near the bridge that ends up killing all of the command staff. The ship remains standing but ablaze. Chuichi decided to send the fighters up to deal with the threat.
"That's one down and…" He suddenly stopped as he heard the sound of enemy planes in the air, they were retaliating. "Zeroes coming in fast!" He shouted as he knew they had disturbed a hornet's nest.
Silvermist saw the planes were trying to gather speed but she knew it was valuable time to take them out. Soon she began firing away with the twin Brownings she had as the first burst completely nails the plane sending it into the ocean. She turned as she kept firing again as Bushytail made an evasive turn to try to shake the planes off but he knew he was running out of fuel so he. He had one option in mind. He soon shot upward as the fighters followed. Silvermist was still shooting away in bursts as she wanted to nail another one of those planes. Soon Bushytail turned off the engine again as the plane tilted to the point where they were upside down. Soon they began free falling. The enemy planes were confused by this action as they were falling through the clouds. It almost felt like heaven as they kept falling.
"This is so beautiful." Silvermist mewed as she felt she was free to fly. They weren't being held or anything as they were just falling through with nothing holding them back.
"I know." Bushytail mewed back to her smiling. He soon turned on the engines again as he decided to flip around but he heard the buzzing of more planes, more of theirs.
Planes from the Yorktown were dispatched to help take care of the carriers as anti-aircraft guns opened up on them. Their target was the Soryu. Bushytail was now flying straight seeing the planes descend on the Soryu as three bombs exploded on the port side of the ship which was the start of a chain reaction. Since the fuel and munitions were on the deck, they began to explode as they cooked sending anti-aircraft shells and bullets flying in many different directions causing the deck to catch fire rather quickly.
"Get yourselves back to refuel; we'll take care of the carriers for you." A pilot from one of the Yorktown planes told Bushytail and the others from the Enterprise.
"But I'm not done yet." Bushytail mewed as he wanted to damage one more ship before heading back, readying up another bomb. He spotted planes sitting on the deck of the Akagi as anti-aircraft guns opened up trying to get him but he knew he had a plan. "This one is for you Nagumo." Many planes began to descend on it as Bushytail began spraying the Machine guns that he had as the bullets began to take out the planes on the Akagi, one at a time. Soon he released the bomb striking it dead center on the ship. Silvermist and the other fighters cleaned up the scraps shooting away trying to cause as much damage as possible. Chuichi looked up as several cats pulled him off as a destroyer was nearby.
"This ship is a burning dark forest; we need to get you out of here." A bobtail ordered him as they picked him as they began to carry him off of the burning Akagi as they boarded the destroyer in one piece. He decided to radio his friend about how the whole situation has gone downhill really fast.
"Isoroku? Are you here?" Chuichi asked wondering where his friend was.
JBBS Yamato, 600 miles west of Midway, 10:00
The ships were battling a vicious storm as they were barely able to make any progress as they knew the conditions were too rough to make it there swiftly. Isoroku walked over as he wanted to speak to his friend.
"Hello?" Isoroku mewed to his friend. Chuichi soon shouted in the radio about how bad the situation was.
"Isoroku! I am now on a destroyer since several planes flew in and completely blew up three of my carriers within minutes!" Chuichi shouted as he wanted to let his friend know on how everything is falling to pieces. Isoroku didn't know what it was as they knew the Hiryu was the only carrier that was still functioning.
"I can't see what's happening, are we boned?" Isoroku asked wondering on how this battle was evolving, it was clear that it was slipping away from them rather quickly.
"Yeah were boned." Chuichi responded as he sighed. He soon angrily hung up seeing how he lost his carriers.
Back on the Kaga, the bobtails rushed around as the fire was still engulfing the carrier. There was no way they could get themselves out of this situation.
"Sir the power is out! We can't start pumping CO2 into the area to douse the flames." He mewed. Before the high command could answer, an explosion was sounded as it ripped its way through the carrier as it soon blew out with the ship being cut into two. Crowpool was watching from the safety of the submarine as she knew the carrier was done for.
Bushytail and his friends flew back onto the decks of the Enterprise as he had no time to stop and relax. He hopped out of his plane as he ran over wanting to get the next free plane over to the carrier.
"Sir, is there any available planes I can take?" Bushytail asked wanting to finish this battle decisively. Silvermist hopped out of the plane as it was clear they were hungry for more destruction.
"Not that I know of…" But before he could finish. Bushytail and Silvermist got into a Dauntless bomber as he and 39 others began to take off without fighter escorts. The fighters were going to stay behind to defend the carriers.
"We'll be back, I promise." He mewed. He looked on to see the Hornet contributing some planes of their own. He was hoping that this would be a success.
Meanwhile Ocelot and Pepper were surveying the carnage from the safety of the radio room as they were getting many messages about how the situation has gone downhill for the Bobtails when a disturbing message was coming through.
TcCS Yorktown, 14:55
Planes from the Hiryu had struck the ship twice and with this attack landed two bombs onto us, the ship soon tilted 26 degrees to the port side with the flight deck nearly touching the water, we've given the order to abandon ship.
Ocelot knew what the situation was when you decided to bail from the ship seeing how it would be a loss since it was bombed twice in a row, he was now hoping the same thing could be done for the Hiryu.
The forty unescorted Dauntless planes had now spotted the Hiryu as they began to do their attack run with Bushytail leading the operation. He soon dived down as he got ready the torpedo ready to take the last carrier down. The ship Anti-Aircraft guns began roaring determined to take down some of the planes. Bushytail looked up to see fellow planes of his exploding as they were shot with anti-aircraft shells. Soon he got low enough as he released his payload being the torpedo. The torpedo soon flew through the water as bombs were being dropped on top of the deck as they fell through the wooden runway. The torpedo soon exploded as it ripped a hole into the side of the Hiryu as the planes flew away with Bushytail feeling proud of himself today.
"YEE HAW!" Bushytail shouted as he was super excited as the he helped destroy three carriers in the course of one battle. Silvermist laughed as she watched the remaining planes finish off the Hiryu leaving the ship heavily damaged but still afloat.
Soon the afternoon turned to evening as Bushytail and the remaining Dauntless planes returned back. The leader padded out to him as he was speechless. Bushytail and Silvermist exited the plane as he padded over.
"Bushytail, Silvermist, I never knew that you had such bravery on you. You undertook I myself never knew that you had it in you and I am proud that you took out those carriers in the course of one battle." He soon turned as he wanted to make an announcement. "My fellow cats on the carrier I got some good news and bad news today. The bad news is that we lost the Yorktown in the course of this battle but the good news is that the enemy carriers, Kaga, Akagi, Hiryu and Soryu are all sunk or heavily damaged. And this results in a Thunderclan victory. Here I have two cats who took it upon themselves to make the most important decisions for the course of the battle. Silvermist, I am promoting you to Pilot seeing how you were the most valuable at keeping the tail of the honored safe as you destroyed one plane in the battle as you kept the tail completely cleared. And Bushytail for using the bravery of helping to destroy three out of the four carriers, I am promoting you to squad leader. Your bravery is beyond those than what we can muster compared to you. You've come such a long way from a frightened kitten when you first came in 7 months ago to the best pilot out of us all. And as a result, you get something from me." He mewed as he soon pulled up a small box as he was considering this reward for some time now but he felt like now was a good time to reward him this. He opened the box containing a medal which was the Ace of the Skies. A cross medal with a circle and diamond across it. He soon picked it up as he puts it on him. The cats cheered as they wanted to celebrate. Silvermist soon puts her paw around him as she was so happy for him. She kissed him on the cheek as she was really proud of him and herself over the course of the action for today. Things couldn't be happier.
Meanwhile on the damaged Hiryu, the cats were wondering on what they should do with it. They knew they had to do something.
"Cats of the Hiryu, I've decided that we should abandon ship as we have plans on scuttling it so it doesn't fall into the paws of the enemy. As your captain, I've decided that I want to go down with my ship as I felt like I didn't do enough to pull us a victory." He mewed as he wanted to make it clear. His closest friend padded over to him as he wanted to make his decision too.
"I will go down with you too." He mewed. A Bobtail apprentice raced over as he felt like he wasn't honorable in his act of the battle.
"I want to go down with the best cats that I have ever known on this carrier." The apprentice mewed his decision, but the older cats knew that the youngster had a better life ahead of him. Why waste it here?
"No, go live another day fledgling cricket, the old bugs will sink, and you deserve another day of success." The old Bobtail mewed to him. Soon two cats grabbed onto him as they began to drag him away to a nearby ship.
"I don't want to leave you!" he wailed. But it was no use, those who wanted to stay, stayed while everyone else was pulled away. The cat was chained as the two bobtails got out their sake as they began to drink it. It would be their last ration together. Soon the ships launched their torpedoes as they struck the side of the Hiryu. The apprentice wailed as he saw the carrier slip into the abyss below never to see his favorite cats again.
This battle was the day that Thunderclan neutered the Bobtail's navy as they went from a striking force to a shell of its former self losing four of their best carriers in the course of one battle. It was a battle that they will never recover from.
[A/N]: How is that conclusion for this fanfic? Do you feel like it's a fair way to end off a story like this or did you feel like there could have been more to do with this story than it meets the eye? Leave your opinions on this story overall and what I should do in the near future when I decide to make more stories such as this?
Also my heart goes out to the real people who fought in Midway, both countries did well and suffered considerable losses but was the victory really worth it and would it be the turning point of the war? Rest in peace the veterans and those that were killed in the war.
Also I was expecting 25 reviews but we hit that, I was expecting 30 reviews but we also surpassed that and we should surpass 35 reviews and 300 views when this story is over. I feel so proud for all of those that have supported me over the course of this story. I hope the veterans could find this and analyze it themselves. I want to do more war stories such as this as it would be a good understanding for you all.
Also if you find this story confusing, I suggest looking up the Battle of Midway itself. (Upon which this fanfiction is based off of as well as the events leading up to it) or the movie that came out days before I started work on this. So that could give you some understanding about what this story is.
Also everyone have a wonderful holiday (Since this is being posted on a holiday.) And I will see you after this chapter with another short work before I begin teasing the Power of Three story. Be very well prepared for it when that day comes. Cheers.
