Author's Note: As you may have no doubt noticed, I have decided to completely cut out the prologue and will work things a little differently.

This Story Is Dedicated In Memory To My Father.

Chapter One.

Desert Thunder.

In Japan, the sport of armored vehicle combat is known as Sensha-do, and is seen as a woman's martial art, practiced by many girls and young women across the country. In the United States and Canada, however, girls had all but abandoned Tankery - as the sport is called in North America - in favor in flying aircraft. While the girls took to the air, American Tankery had become a boys sport with very few female participants.

In Europe, where the sport had been founded, the Trans-European Panzerkraft League had picked up on these changes and embraced the idea of making European Panzerkraft an equal-opportunity sport; authorizing the creation of teams that were either all-boys or comprised of both members.

As he stood in the hot and arid desert valley, Jeremy Shirokawa fought to keep his nervousness hidden as he made his way towards his opponent for that day's match. Walking beside him was his Vice-Commander, Griselda Adler - or Zelda, as everyone called her. Zelda was a beautiful and aristocratic-looking girl from Germany. With a height of five feet and six inches with a slim figure, dark-blue eyes, and her light-blonde hair tied into a knot on the back part of her head while a remaining strands fell down in front of both ears, it was no wonder that many of the boys would almost break their necks whenever she walked past them.

Jeremy, on the other hand, stood at five-foot-eight. The hot desert wind blew through his dark-brown hair and stung his light-brown eyes. Beads of sweat beginning to fall from his face to splatter on his chest and shirt collar. Like Zelda, Jeremy was dressed in a khaki shirt, olive-colored trousers ( or shorts, in Zelda's case). The outfits had been tailored to resemble those worn by the famed Afrika Korps.

The nervousness Jeremy felt wasn't caused by Zelda's presence or by the fact that he was about to engage in a tough match against England's newest team...

No. It was the fact that he was Kitai International Academy's newest commander and he was leading an entirely new team into its very first real match.

In front of them, Jeremy saw David Sterling, the commander for the Golden Sword Military Academy, waiting with his younger brother, Robert. Robert was Golden Sword's vice-commander. Both young men had the same honey-colored hair and grey eyes but that was as far as the similarities went.

While David was friendly and out-going in addition to being a good sport, Robert was arrogant and boastful. Jeremy was forced to assume that Robert's attitude came from being a spoiled rich boy who had never gone through the same trials that David had.

Like Jeremy and Zelda, David and Robert were also dressed for desert combat. While the Kitai team were wearing Afrika Korps-styled uniforms, the two Golden Sword leaders were both wearing khaki shirts and shorts. On their heads, they each wore a black beret with the Golden Sword emblem of a gold-colored sword thrust into the sands of a beach. The uniforms looked to be a copy of Montgomery's Eighth Army.

Soon, Jeremy and Zelda were standing in front of the Sterling brothers. Immediately, David snapped his fingers, prompting his personal servant to step forward with a tray bearing four small cups and a freshly-brewed pot of tea. It was Golden Sword's tradition to drink tea with their opponents prior to a match.

After the servant, Bascom, had given each of them a cup and filled it with what Jeremy recognized as being gunpowder tea, David held up his own cup in the manner of a toast. "No matter who wins, may we all hope for the best and prepare for the worst!" the English commander stated before gulping down his gunpowder tea.

Following David's example, Jeremy tried not to grimace as he felt the tea laced with alcohol splashed down his throat. Beside him, Zelda made a face as she swallowed her own gunpowder tea as quickly as she could to avoid tasting as much of the beverage as possible.

After the toast was finished, Bascom quickly collected the teacups as David stepped front of Jeremy. Reaching out his hand, David smiled. "Good luck to yourself and your team, Commander Shirokawa!"

"And good luck to you, as well, Commander Sterling." Jeremy said back as he shook David's hand.

At this moment, the Head Judge, a humorless-looking man dressed in black slacks and a white shirt, stepped forward. "And now," he ordered. "Both Commanders and Vice-Commanders will return to their starting positions and remain on standby until the signal to begin the match!"

As he observed the activities taking place via the gigantic monitor screen that had been set up in front of each of the spectator stands, Tsuji Kota smiled to himself in spite of not knowing how the team he had chosen to use for his plans would perform in the upcoming battle.

All that really mattered to him at the moment, was getting his revenge on Anzu Kadotani and the rest of the Ooarai Girls High School Sensha-do team...

Kota ground his teeth in fury as he thought about the one school that had caused him to lose face. It should have been so easy, closing down Ooarai Girls High School. But he, Kota, just had to open his big mouth about Ooarai having an active Sensha-do team in the past, giving Kadotani the idea of resurrecting the long-dead Sensha-do elective with the belief that the school would stay open should the team win.

Kota had agreed to the condition with the belief that Ooarai's Student Council President had no way of pulling off such a miracle. What he hadn't counted on was Kadotani finding a secret weapon...

A girl by the name of Miho Nishizumi...

The second-born hellspawn of Shiho Nishizumi, the current Master of the Nishizumi style of Sensha-do...

It was supposed to have been so easy; let Ooarai participate in the Japanese National Tournament, lose said tournament, and then, close the school. To Kota's surprise, not only did the aforementioned Nishizumi hellspawn lead the small Ooarai team of misfits to victory in the tournament, but she also ended up winning the respect of each of her opponents!

In spite of having made the promise that Ooarai Girls High School would remain open, Kota didn't see the promise as a binding one and so, had authorized the closing of the school and the scrapping of the School Carrier that housed it.

Again, Anzu Kadotani had decided to fight back in spite of Kota's threats of reprisals and had managed to gain the support of the Director of the Japanese Sensha-do Federation and even Shiho Nishizumi herself! Faced with such open rebellion, Tsuji Kota had grasped at the only chance he had at putting Anzu Kadotani and Ooarai Girls High School in their respective proper places: Kadotani in another school and Ooarai Girls High School in the scrapyard.

By having Ooarai face the Selection University team in an Annihilation Match...

With Ooarai having only eight tanks and pitted against Selection University's mighty force of thirty with the addition of the Karl Self-Propelled Siege Gun, Ooarai should have been crushed! And they undoubtedly would have been if it hadn't been for the interference of the team captains from the schools of Kuromorimine, Pravda, Anzio, Saunders, St. Gloriana, and Continuation who had used their own tanks to reinforce Ooarai.

And once more, Ooarai emerged triumphant and Tsuji Kota had been forced to endure criticism from his superiors!

For a long time, Kota had considered hiring a professional to deal with Kadotani and the second-born Nishizumi hellspawn but managed to calm himself down to the point to where he could think things through clearly and logically.

And now, he had come up with the perfect plan. If Kadotani had relied on contracts and Sensha-do to save her beloved school, then Tsuji Kota could use the same weapons to destroy it!

But in order to ensure that his plan succeeded, Kota needed a team from outside Japan. One that neither Kadotani nor Nishizumi held any sway over. A team that would cause the very foundations of Japanese Sensha-do crumble with their mere presence. After hours of searching, Kota had finally found the team that he needed...

The team of Kitai International Academy!

"Are you certain that this is a good idea?"

The sudden question broke into Kota's thoughts, prompting him to glance over towards his companion; an overweight man dressed in a traditional kimono with the emblem of the Japanese Sensha-do Federation embroidered on the upper left breast and on the back. His bald head was covered by a straw hat. Shichiro Kodama was the currently-sitting Director for the Japanese Sensha-do Federation, the organization which oversaw the separate leagues.

Fortunately, the Japanese Sensha-do Federation was under the control of MEXT, making Kota the Director's superior.

In response, Kota smiled as he answered. "As I have explained to you before, MEXT feels that the sport of Sensha-do has grown stale over the years and therefore, we at MEXT feel that in order to ensure the sport's continued survival, it needs a fresh approach. Something to shake things up, if you will."

The statement wasn't exactly a lie but Kota felt the need to twist things slightly in order to make his plan work.

"I understand that." Kodama nodded. "But, to allow a team that's openly led by a boy..."

"We would be taking the sport back to its roots." Kota insisted. "Besides you should know the young man's qualifications. Here, take a look at the data I managed to pick up on him."

As he spoke, Kota dropped a file folder into Kodama's lap, which the man immediately picked up and opened.

"Hmmm..." Kodama's eyes darted left and right as he quickly read the file. "Shirokawa... Vice-Commander at the age of fifteen...recently promoted to Commander...A QUALIFIED SENSHA-DO INSTRUCTOR?"

Kota grinned evilly as Kodama fumbled to keep himself from dropping the file. "Yes. He is a fully qualified and licensed Sensha-do instructor. Possibly the youngest in the sport's entire history. If that doesn't make the likes of Masters Nishizumi and Shimada stand up and take notice..."

Kota trailed off he allowed Kodama to absorb the information that he had just been given as well as letting the man's mind subject him to the possibilities. In the meantime, Kota would simply enjoy the match and think of the ways he could use Shirokawa to do his dirty work for him.

When Jeremy and Zelda finally arrived at Kitai's starting point located on the west side of the desert battlefield, Jeremy was pleased to see that each of Kitai's nine tanks, as well as their crews, were lined up and waiting for the kick-off.

In addition to Jeremy's own tank, a Tiger I Ausf. H. and Zelda's Panther Ausf. G., there was also an Australian Sentinel Mk. IV armed with an Ordinance Quick-Firing seventeen pounder, a Russian SU-85 tank destroyer, a German StuG IV, an American M4A3E8 Sherman, a Japanese Type 4 Chi-To, a German Panzer IV Ausf. G., and a British A34 Mark 1 Comet.

Each tank had been painted in a manner that perfectly matched the terrain while the Kitai International Academy emblem; a blue shield bearing a single white rose had been placed on their left front hulls.

As Jeremy and Zelda exited the Willys Jeep that they had been riding in, they immediately found themselves facing the other tank commanders...

The commander of the Sentinel was fifteen year old Erin Richter, an American girl with shoulder-length blonde hair with bangs that had been squared-off just above her eyebrows while pink hair clips held things in place.

Command of the SU-85 had been given to Russian-born Anya Kirov, a red haired and brown-eyed girl who hailed from a small village on the Russian-Ukraine border.

The StuG IV was under the command of Eiji Miyazaki, another First Year who was a member of a group of boys who were collectively known as the Gremlin Gang due to their love of playing pranks. His messy black hair was blowing in the breeze and his dark eyes were shining in anticipation.

From France came the commander of the Sherman, Christine Bouchard. Her hair was such a light shade of blonde that it was almost white. Her blue-grey eyes always alert and watchful.

The Chi-To and the Panzer IV were commanded by Jeremy's two younger sisters, fifteen year old Lena and thirteen year old Miyoko, respectively. Lena wore her own dark-brown hair long and loose while her blue eyes revealed that she was eager to get the match started.

Adopted into the Shirokawa family after she had been found abandoned in a garbage can in Tokyo as an infant, Miyoko Shirokawa had originally been frightened of tanks. So much so that she refused to even go near the tank storage areas at the Shirokawa family dojo. It had taken some creativity along with some trickery on Jeremy's part to help her get over her... panzerphobia. Since then, Miyoko had come to love tanks as much as the rest of the family.

And since it was Jeremy that Miyoko looked up to and wanted to emulate, Jeremy often did his best to do all of the right things in order to set an example for her to follow...

Miyoko had light-brown hair that she wore in a bunch on the top right side of her head and dark-brown eyes set inside a beaming face.

Penelope Stevens, the commander of the Comet, had transferred from the Ridgewater Prep School for Girls in London, England. Possessing a sweet and gentle demeanor that was reflected in her light-blue eyes, Penelope had been bullied mercilessly in her previous school for having come from a poor farming family. Her brownish-blonde hair was fixed in a long braid.

Wasting no time, Jeremy pulled out his map of the battlefield. "Alright." he said to his sub-commanders. "Let's go over the plan one more time." He then laid the map on the ground and gestured at it. "The topography shows that the battlefield consists of this small area that's dotted with trenches and concrete bunkers. In the middle is a network of canyons that join together in a half-moon shape. This is where the action's going to take place! Golden Sword has more tanks fielded than we do so the only way we're going to stand a chance is to take and hold three areas."

Jeremy pointed at one area of the map. "Zelda, you'll be in charge of Bravo Platoon. You'll take the SU-85 and the Sentinel to this area here 107B. Once you're in place, this spot will give you a wide field of fire and the enemy will have no place to hide once you open up."

"Jawohl, Kommandant!" the German girl nodded.

"Christine, you'll be leading Charlie Platoon with Penelope and Eiji. Your designated area will be our right flank here at Point 907A. It's further away and you'll have to move as fast as you can to secure it if we're to have any chance of winning."

"Understood." the French girl answered.

"Meanwhile, Lena and Miyoko will join me in Alpha Platoon. We'll position ourselves at this crossroad here in the center of the map. The crossroads are the only way Golden Sword can flank Bravo and Charlie Platoons so we'll need to hold that area as long as we can until we can break Golden Sword down to where we can launch a direct assault and finish them off!"

"So, what are Golden Sword coming after us with?" Eiji asked.

On the other side of the battlefield, David Sterling sat in the cupola of his Churchill Mark VIII, examining his own map of the battlefield. The more he examined the area of the canyon, the better he felt about using the type of tanks that Golden Sword currently had. The game type of the match was a Full Force Annihilation match, which meant that each team could deploy each and every vehicle in their arsenal.

The Golden Sword used various American or American-based vehicles and David currently had ten M4A2 Shermans, four Sherman Fireflies, and five M3 Grants in addition to his 95mm howitzer armed Churchill.

Activating his communications, David began speaking into the mic. "Robert, you will lead Platoon Galahad to Point 107B and secure the area. Platoon Bedivere will proceed to 907A. Meanwhile, the Grants will accompany me to the crossroads at Point 026R! Shirokawa will no doubt realize the importance of these areas and will no doubt be sending his own tanks to these areas. So, stay alert, everyone!"

"We have nothing to worry about!" Robert's voice came over David's headset. "They're a Japanese school for crying out loud! All they'll have are those Ha-Ha tanks or whatever they're called!"

Sighing heavily in irritation, David's voice was tightly clipped as he stated. "Don't get arrogant, Robert! When Kitai first opened in the early-1980's, they did use a combination of American and Japanese tanks. But, that doesn't mean that they're still using them! They might have changed over the years!"

David was saved from Robert's reply by the sound of the five-minute warning alarm sounded, alerting both teams that the final countdown had begun...

"We all set to go in here?" Jeremy asked as he eased himself through the Tiger's Commander's hatch.

"We're all ready to get this show on the road. Commander!" the Tiger's driver, a sixteen year old girl reported. Her name was Gabrielle Brixton but she preferred to be called Mouse since it was her nickname that she had earned during her tenure as a tankette racer. She had won the American Tri-State Tankette Rally three years in a row before deciding that she wanted a change and joined the Panzerkraft team. Mouse was a short girl who stood at a mere five feet in height with long and stringy blonde hair. In addition to her combat uniform, Mouse wore her Afrika Korps-styled kepi with a pair of racing goggles while her hands were adorned with her old racing gloves.

At the radio station, Gina Correlli, Jeremy's Italian radio officer gave him a thumbs up as she said. "The new radio's working perfectly and I have you patched in to the other tanks!"

After she finished tying her raven-black hair into her usual twin tails and securing them with white ribbons, Gina slipped her headphones back on and adjusted her throat mic.

"The 88's ready!" Jeremy's gunner, a Chinese-American girl named Susan Li, stated as she patted the gun scope.

To Jeremy's right, his Loader, Josh Hampton ran a hand through his blonde hair before putting his baseball cap back on. "I finally got the shells in order." he grumbled. As he spoke, Josh indicated the eighty-eight millimeter shells that he had finished arranging into groups depending on their types.

Smiling a bit at his loader's grumpiness, Jeremy then activated his own throat mic. "Alright guys, we're fifteen seconds from kick-off! All commanders, report your status!"

"Shogun Bravo is ready!"

"Shogun Charlie is ready!"

"Alpha Two, ready!"

"Alpha Three is ready to go, Onii-chan!"

"Bravo Two here! We're ready too!"

"Bravo Three, ready!"

"Charlie Two, ready!"

"Charlie Three is prepared for combat!"

Just as the other Kitai commanders completed their status reports, a flare was fired off in the distance and Jeremy watched as it exploded in a flash of brilliant green at the same time the Head Judge's voice ordered. "BEGIN COMBAT!"

"Kitai Academy!" Jeremy ordered, as his adrenaline surged through his body. "ROLL OUT!"

And that's the end of Chapter One. A bit lame, I know but I was anxious to get the action started.