Yeah I finally got around to editing this one. A few things have changed but its overall theme is relatively unchanged.

Chapter 1

School was set to begin its Spring Semester, and every student of Ooarai Girls High School was excited for it to begin. They'd set sail just last night from their home port and were supposed to be out on a rotational circuit around the Pacific where ships as large as academy ships can sail worry free of dealing with such things as shallow water and other ships. It was January, but where they were going no one would tell, but the problem this morning was that it was still chilly like it had been when they'd left port in Japan.

The ringing of her alarm clock awoke young Miho Nishizumi from her peaceful slumber. It was her own habit to get up early on the weekends so she could appreciate the free days that were Saturday and Sunday. But it was never very pleasant until she was fully awake. She reached out, waving around, trying to find the source of the noise she fell out of bed, and that sure woke her up. Once she had silenced her alarm she stood up, groaning slightly as she stretched and looked out the window to her right.

"Huh?" she mumbled to herself, seeing a thick blanket of fog outside her window. In her entire school career aboard academy ships she'd never seen fog so thick. She went to her window and saw that it too had a thin layer of condensation around its edges.

Then Miho heard a buzz from her desk where she kept her phone. She walked over and picked it up, and was surprised to see thirty texts and five missed calls, all from Saori, go figure, she saw the most recent text and read it.

OMG Miporin did you hear? We're going back to port! The text read.

"Why would we be going back to port?" Miho wondered aloud, and then tapped the buttons on her phone.

Why?

Not even five seconds later Saori replied, We're combining schools XDXDXD!

"Combining?" Miho mumbled as she sat on her bed and tapped her phone in reply.

Combining with which school?

Who else, Ooarai! Duh!

Miho had to read that text again, it didn't make any sense. Why would they have to combine schools with themselves?

? Miho typed in, trying to get Saori to elaborate.

Ooarai Boys High School! Their ship failed its five year inspection and it has to be drydocked for the semester. So the schoolboard decided to combine schools with us because our ships are identical and we have the same academic program. Isn't this awesome?!

I never heard about it, when are they joining? Miho asked in her next text.

TODAY! You can see their ship right next to us!

"What?" Miho stuttered, and then looked out the window and sure enough, something she hadn't noticed before, immediately drew her attention. An identical island superstructure with the Ooarai crest upon it was shooting up out of the fog, "How did I miss that?"

We're going to greet the boys when they come aboard. You coming? Saori texted again before Miho could respond.

We? Miho texted.

Me, Hana, and Yukari says she's on her way. Mako didn't want to get up.

"Figures," Miho laughed to herself, and then looked at the clock, "Oh why not?"

OK, where are you?

The loading ramp. Hurry up! XOXO

Miho put her phone down and then quickly grabbed a pair of jeans and slipped some socks on along with one of her long sleeved shirts, it was cold outside after all. She then snatched her purse, which she had bought while on a shopping spree with Saori, Hana, Yukari, and Mako, and put her phone inside, making certain she had her key in her pocket before heading out the door. But a sudden chilly wind made her rethink going out and she ran back inside to grab the same jacket that she and the Sensha-do Team had made for their matches. So slipping this added layer on she locked her door behind her and ran down the stairs to get to the loading ramp to find her friends.

It didn't take all that long before she was at her destination. It was on her side of the ship and her apartment building was directly above it. So it was only a matter of going to the nearest stairwell. She was quite surprised to see quite a few of the other girls of the school up and about, with many looking a bit more dressed up than they usually were. This sort of made Miho wonder if she should have added a little makeup or put on a less modest outfit. But the thought left as quickly as it came, she didn't really care all that much, she wasn't Saori.

"Miss Nishizumi!" a familiar voice called out from behind her as she walked down the stairs.

"Oh, good morning Yukari!" Miho waved, seeing her friend coming down the stairs to join her.

"Did you hear?" Yukari asked, practically vibrating with excitement.

"Yeah, am I missing something because I didn't hear about the boys combining with us until this morning."

"Well the schoolboard wanted to keep it quiet until they had exhausted every other option. The schools didn't want them to combine with another boys school, them being boys and all there might have been some incidents. But I only heard from Saori this morning. Apparently one of the Rabbit Team's boyfriends texted them about it and the word spread from there."

"Figures it was one of those girls," Miho giggled, knowing her youngest team, "But how are we supposed to get all those boys aboard?"

"Well apparently the board has been working on getting this set up since before Christmas when their ship failed its inspection," Yukari shrugged, "They didn't want us to worry about it or get excited and then be disappointed about the boys not coming."

"The Morals Committee isn't going to like this very much are they?" Miho giggled, imagining the complete anxiety attacks those three girls probably had upon hearing about this.

"Oh I bet not!" Yukari said, and this gave both of them a good laugh.

The two of them made it to the right location to see quite a crowd of girls had amassed along with a few adults with some carts of food and snacks to potentially sell to the newcomers.

"Miporin! Over here!" Miho and Yukari heard their friend Saori yell out.

Miho and Yukari followed the voice to Saori and Hana who were on one of the walkways crowded with girls wanting to greet the arriving boys. But the actual road in was blocked off so traffic could move. Miho saw that both Hana and especially Saori, had dressed for the occasion. Hana had applied a bit of make-up, which wasn't unusual for her, but she was wearing a pair of jeans that were quite tight and weren't what Miho would call modest. She was wearing a light blue hooded jacket which was about as bright as Saori's bright pink one. Saori had applied quite of make-up, and was wearing a pair of jeans with some of those fake jewels embedded into them with a jean skirt of the pants themselves. Miho also saw quite a few girls from the Sensha-do team around as well. The Rabbit Team was out in force standing just a few meters to left of the Anglerfish girls, Duck Team was a bit farther to the left, and Miho thought that she saw Anzu walking around near the vendors.

"Miho why didn't you wear that cute jacket I picked out for you?" Saori immediately whined, seeing Miho in the rather bland looking tank jacket instead of the great looking red coat with the fur-lined hood she'd picked out on their last shopping outing.

"Oh, I guess I forgot about it, sorry Saori," Miho shrugged slightly.

"And Yukari why are you dressed like that? This is your chance to have a boy to fall for you," Saori then turned on Yukari who was wearing a baggy pair of military style pants and a matching uniform jacket.

"But I don't get to wear this very much," Yukari countered, "Besides, there'll be plenty of time to look pretty later."

"First impressions are the key to getting a man to like you. What does this say?" Saori ticked, wagging her finger in a condescending tone.

"That I'm toasty warm?" Yukari replied.

"Yes-I mean no! You're not avoiding the question this time!" she fumed, turning to Yukari.

"Hey! You can't be here like this!" another familiar voice yelled out, and many of the girls turned to Midoriko Sono, Moyoko Gotou, and Nozomi Konparu standing there in their school uniforms and looking none too pleased, "This behavior isn't becoming of our standards as a school."

"But what about the boys? It's rude to not greet them!" Saori pleaded.

"But my boyfriend's coming aboard today!" someone else yelled out.

"It's only my brother!" another girl added.

The calls and complaints came in greater waves as many turned on the three third years or ignored them entirely. Sodoko and her team knew that this was one gathering that they seemed to be powerless to stop from happening. So she just huffed in irritation and left, leaving them all to their planned welcoming party of sorts.

At that moment the first of what was going to be a great many busses started rolling up the ramp and started opening up their doors and a whole lot of high school aged boys started walking out to cheers and greetings from the girls up on the catwalk above them. Many waved back, some searched for a family member, girlfriend or prospective girlfriend. All of them were wearing their own school uniform, which was a pair of dark slacks, and light blue suit jackets with the Ooarai crest on it along with their names. They all started taking their luggage off of the busses, many hoisting their large bags with little effort to try and impress the swarms of girls up above. A school counselor was directing them through to the main deck where the town and school themselves were located. Miho recognized the counselor as one of their own, and could tell that she was not too happy about having all these boys on their ship. But she was not the only one. There were male counselors as well, walking around with roll calls on clipboards along with maps as they shepherded the boys along, trying to keep them from interacting with the girls trying to greet them and get their attention.

Miho wasn't really one to get into something like this, and didn't exactly feel very comfortable waving and yelling like Saori was doing along with many of the girls around her. And neither was Yukari, who tugged on Miho's shoulder to gain her attention.

"Wow look at that! A Willis Jeep!" she said, pointing at four large military style trucks led by what she'd originally noticed, a replica Willis Jeep manufactured during and after World War Two, "Those must belong to the boys' Combat Team."

"Combat Team?" Miho asked, not quite sure what Yukari was talking about.

"It's the boys' version of tankery. They saw we got to fight with tanks for sport so they adopted some of the technologies developed for it and created their own sport based on infantry combat. No big guns, no vehicles, not even anything larger than a twenty millimeter. It's a bit of a ripoff of airsoft and paintball, but it's cool. Not as cool as tankery though," Yukari said with a smile, nudging Miho with her elbow.

"I guess not, it's just different," Miho said with a shrug.

"Very different, the only similarity is the time period they are limited to with their weapons and equipment."

"Wait a minute, where are they supposed to put this equipment?" Miho asked, more to herself than to Yukari.

"That's a good question. I'd guess they'd be told to put it near us, seeing as we're the closest thing to the same sport as there is."

"Well I didn't notice anything near the hangar they could use. Do you think they'll use our hangar?"

"I don't see why not, we trust it with our tanks, why not trust it with their stuff?"

The welcoming party didn't last all that long, and there wasn't the amount of co-ed interaction that Saori had been hoping for. And soon enough everyone was starting to file out of the loading bay to either go back to bed or hunt down someone to flirt with. Miho however didn't have that luxury, school started on Monday, and she needed to go to the hanger where they kept their tanks and speak with the Automotive Club about possible spaces for some new equipment like a pit that they'd just received the funding to make for getting underneath the tanks and working on the chassis and not having to roll around under the tank and be cramped below those steel behemoths. There was also pair of new jacks for lifting even the Tiger(P) clean off the ground to be able to change out anything from the road wheels entire leaf springs and shocks. They also had some new diagnostics gear that was able to be plugged into the tanks' onboard computers to see in great detail what all was wrong with them whenever a visual or audio examination didn't reveal the problem. But they were also having an issue with where to store their ammunition and spare parts. The problem was this, they had such a wide variety of tanks from so many sources that hardly anything from one tank to another was interchangeable. And this meant they had a large amount of stuff that needed to be stored, and stored securely because of its expensive and dangerous nature. This was a problem, especially with these boys now strutting around.

So Miho made her way there, seeing quite a few boys walking around with pieces of paper in hand, looking for wherever they were going to. Many of the girls also with some of the boys would wave hello to her and she'd wave back, adding a name if she recognized the face. Soon Miho was at the hanger and was quite surprised to see that those same four trucks she and Yukari had noticed were parked just outside the hanger and several boys wearing a different uniform than the one that the others were wearing were waiting behind the trucks.

These uniforms had olive green background with specks of tan, brown, and darker green all over them. On the back of each uniform's jacket they had their names and a patch on their shoulders matching the Ooarai crest. Their leader had a pair of silver bars on his collar and on his hat signifying some kind of rank. They also had some matching caps on their heads Miho saw that the several members of the Automotive Club were outside in their own orange jumpsuits, with smears of grease on them, as usual. They were speaking with one of the boys in some not-so-friendly tones as they gestured back forth between the garage and the trucks.

Uh oh, Miho grimaced, not too happy that there was already some head-butting going on.

"I'm telling you we don't have room for your trucks. We already have storage problems of our own," Hoshino was clearly heard saying as Miho walked up to the group.

"But we're not allowed to store this stuff in an unsecured location, your hanger is the only really safe place for us to put it. And if something happened to someone with this stuff it'll be my ass," the leader of the group said matching the irritated tone being taken by the girls he was arguing with.

"What's going on here?" Miho asked as she walked up and saw, up close, the irritation in the eyes of her mechanics/Tiger crew.

"Thank God you're here commander. These guys say they're putting their trucks and equipment in the hanger. But this place is tank team only," Nakajima said, looking right at the boy, "And we have some real storage issues here. We don't have room and last time I checked, you don't have permission."

"Listen we're not asking for much, just enough room to park our trucks until we can have our storage units here. Seriously you can't have that big of a storage issue. This hangar is huge," the guy groaned, "And my CO is going to get proof we do have permission anyway so it can't be that big a deal."

"Do you have any idea-"

"Nakajima it's alright," Miho said, trying to keep her calm, "I'm sure we can find someplace to put them. But Nakajima's right, we can't keep them here indefinitely."

"Oh it won't be indefinite. We'll have our own storage units here tomorrow and get them out of your way I promise. Our trucks are carrying our weapons, ammo, and the vast bulk of our equipment. This stuff is expensive, and dangerous."

"Oh a bunch of little stun guns, do you expect us to leave a tank out to protect them?" Hoshino huffed.

"Well if you think about it a tank is less dangerous than our guns in the wrong hands, first you need someone who can drive a tank. I'd imagine it's rather difficult and I would assume you don't just leave the keys left out unlocked. Second I would also assume you don't keep them loaded with ammunition, and the ammo you do have is locked away as well. And I also heard your tanks are programmed to be shut down remotely in case it was hijacked so that's another reason. But with our guns you can just pick it up, pop a magazine in, and start shooting. It's so simple in theory a chimp can do it," he stated with a well-rehearsed monologue.

"I actually saw that video on Youtube! That was hilarious how that monkey waved the gun around in the air and ran off with it!" Hoshino laughed, but then regained her composure.

"That was pretty good reasoning," Nakajima whispered to the other girls.

"I'm on the debate team," the boy shrugged, then saw the surprised faces on the girls, "And I also have good hearing."

The thing was, as much as Miho didn't want to admit it, the guy was right. There were so many complexities to driving a tank and making use of it. They did lock up the tanks and drain the tanks of diesel, they did store the ammo in a secured locker in the hanger, and they were notoriously difficult to use in all respects. But a gun was a different story entirely. These boys couldn't leave their weapons and equipment outside unsecured. But best not to admit it. It was a kind of unspoken rule of women, never admit a boy was correct because you'll never hear the end of it.

"Nakajima, see if you can fit their trucks into the hanger. If you need to move one of the tanks outside go ahead, I don't think anyone's going to or is able to steal one of them," Miho calmly ordered, "Only for the night though."

"Thanks, we'll be out of here by tomorrow," the boy breathed in relief.

"But which tank would we move?" she asked.

"The least dangerous I guess."

"The Type-89," every single one of the Leopon girls replied in tandem.

"But only if there is no room!" Tsuchiya added on, getting some eye rolls from some of the boys.

"Alright, don't touch anything!" Nakajima growled as she walked into the hanger as Suzuki and Tsuchiya opened the doors.

Miho couldn't help but shake her head and smile at how fervently protective the Automotive Club was being right now. To be fair she couldn't blame them, the reputation of boys being generally destructive was well known, especially to those girls who had brothers. And when you combined that kind of reputation with a group that treated their tanks like their own children you would expect such a butting of heads to happen if boys came anywhere near their tanks.

"Alright, bring 'em in boys!" the guy called out, signaling his drivers to start bringing their trucks into the hanger where they assumed that they would be safe.

The trucks were started up, their big diesels roaring to life, and were driven forward in a column into the hanger doors. As they drove forward, Miho heard the sound of a jeep driving up behind her and turned to see the vehicle in question stop to her left with two boys inside. The passenger got out, and signaled the driver to head into the hanger as he took out a folder. Miho assumed that this was the written permission that had been promised earlier, although it didn't seem to matter all that much since they were getting into the hanger without it. So she walked over to the boy who she noticed immediately was quite a looker. He was a full head taller than her, had a messy mop of light brown hair, and was in the same uniform as the other members of the combat team. But on his uniform was a trio of silver diamond shaped insignias. He also carried himself like someone who was in charge, yet didn't have the kind of strutting swagger that Miho would have assumed.

But when it came to her experience with Combat Team CO's the only reference point she had was her sister's boyfriend. He was the commander of Kuromorimine Boys High School's own championship Combat Team and was quite the show off and bragger. She never did like him very much, and neither did her mother, which made this one of the only things that her mother didn't like about her eldest daughter.

However it wasn't something that Miho could really say she did very well, she'd never had a boyfriend, and her mother wasn't a big fan of that. But the current situation aboard the ship with the boys being brought aboard could change that.

"I see we don't need this after all," the boy said, tapping the green folder against his palm.

"Your friend made quite a good case for it," Miho stated, getting his attention.

"Oh, I guess you're Miho Nishizumi," the guy said, "Kendo Motoya, I'm the Combat Team commander."

"Nice to meet you Kendo," Miho said respectfully.

"Likewise," he said with a smile, "We've heard a lot about how you and the tankery team saved both of our schools."

"I don't understand, both of our schools?" Miho asked, not quite understanding what he meant.

"Yeah, for each girls high school there's a boy's high school and our schools are no exception. They build these ships and schools in pairs you know. We're basically the same aside from a few minor details," Kendo chuckled, "What did you think us guys just grew out of holes in the ground whenever you're around?"

"I guess so. Wait a minute, Anzu and Momo said that they never saw our shutdown coming. Did your school have something to do with it?" Miho asked, now suspicious.

"Well…yes and no. I don't know the whole story so don't take my word for it. Apparently we were having some kind of stupid combination of rise of gas prices, which affected both ships, expensive mechanical issues aboard the ship, new renovations to our campus, a drop in the student population, and some bad monetary management."

"Wait, that was your fault!" Miho scoffed.

"Like I said I don't know the whole story," Kendo responded sheepishly, "But our sports teams not winning very many matches the entire fall semester might have had something to do with it too. Shoot our Combat Team didn't win a single Exhibition Match last semester! It's kinda why I'm the commander now."

"That must be part of it huh?" Miho growled, not liking that the Ooarai boys apparently didn't have a great reputation of being able to pull their own weight, "Well I sure hope that's changed, for all of our sakes."

"Don't worry, we hit rock bottom last time. There's only one way to go now right?" Kendo chuckled.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Hoshino's voice cried out in that moment from inside hanger where the boys driving the Combat Team's trucks were trying to squeeze in so they'd be safe.

At that moment there was a tremendous crashing noise with the sound metal falling onto concrete and wood crunching and shattering. It had come from the hanger, and predictably, the Automotive Club went absolutely nuts.

"Oops…"

"Now look at what you've done!"

"Those were our spare engine parts for the StuG you numbskulls!"

"You'd better start running because if anything's broken I'll break you!"

Kendo didn't bother looking over at the growing chaos. Instead he sighed heavily as he took his hand and rubbed along the ridge of his nose and shook his head. Miho didn't need to say anything, she knew what they were both thinking. It was going to be a long semester.

Well I did decide to scratch off my last GuP story in favor of this one. I sort of set myself up for failure with that last attempt but this kind seemed a bit more feasible. So we'll see where this one takes us.

Next Chapter Preview: First day of a long semester.