Chapter I

(This Fan Fiction does not fully follow the rules of Tankery, but is more of a what if story about a rag tag group of misfits who want to do what people say they will never be able to do to simply prove that they are good for something.)

"On the eve of this great adventure, I send my best wishes" -Bernard Montgomery

Edward scribbled in his note book, putting the finishing touches on a drawing he had been working on all class. He clutched the book for a moment as he felt the room tilt to the left. He sighed and went back to his drawing. He drew a small smoking pipe in the mouth of a French man standing next to a St Chamond. His teacher was drawling on about something Edward couldn't care to learn. Edward glanced at his watch and groaned. The hands ticked by like a snail in molasses. He heard the teacher sigh and Edward slammed his book close. Edward looked up and saw his teacher looking right at him.

"Seeing as Edward is so enthralled in note taking, maybe he could tell the class what the base pairs are in DNA." Mr. Picard said and a marker slid of his desk and down the floor. Edward looked around. All the boys were laughing under their breath and Edward cleared his throat.

"Ummm...I...so, here's the thing...ummm" Mr. Picard shook his head.

"That would appear to be a no. Class, that finishes up our lesson on microscopic bacteria, please study for your test this coming Wednesday, you may talk amongst yourselves until the bell rings." Mr. Picard grumbled as he set down the white board marker, which immediately rolled to the right, the marker on the other side of the room making its way. The biology teacher was an older gentleman, in his seventies at least, he kept a well groomed mustache and had salt and pepper hair. He was dressed in a black pair and dress pants and a black dress shirt. A white tie and red sweater vest completed the teachers outfit. "Edward...to my desk, bring your notebook"

Edward sighed and stood up just as the teacher sat down in a wooden chair that didn't even move an inch. The class erupted in laughter and conversation as Edward walked up the row of desks. He walked up to Mr. Picard's desk and sighed. "Ummm...yes?" Mr. Picard looked up from his desk.

"Let me see your note book." Edward sighed a set the notebook on the desk. The teacher combed through the pages, looking at Edwards notebook, page after page was filled with illustrations of Tanks are armored vehicles. Everything was labeled, caliber of shells, armor thickness, slope, even the company that made the gun. Mr. Picard shook his head.

"What are you doing? You haven't wrote down a single shred of useful information." Edward sighed.

"Well biology isn't exactly my fancy. This notebook is, and…"

"Edward, if you don't want to be bullied at this school, I would suggest you start focusing on something useful. Is that understood?" Edward sighed.

"No not really sir, I have my interests, you have yours. I like to keep a precise catalog of armored vehicles. You sir, like to leave your pants unzipped." Edward grabbed his note book and smirked as Mr. Picard looked down, his face turned red as he quickly did his pants up. Edward gave him and slight nod and walked back to his desk.

Edward sighed and grabbed his sketch pencil. He tucked it inside his note book and pushed his notebook into his book bag. He set his bag on his desk and sat back down. His bag technically wasn't a book bag, it was an old RAF messenger bag he had pulled out of a shed back when he lived in Cardiff.

The school bell suddenly blared and Edward stood up immediately. He grabbed his bag and made a break for the door. He slipped in between two other boys and got into the hallway and sighed. He walked down the hall, slipping his hands into his box's. He stopped by one of the large window and took a glance outside.

He frowned a bit from the view. The school, IBALT was placed directly in the center of the ship, making up the bridge. The school was laid out in a way that the lower your grade level, the closer you were to the ground, so and elementary classes were low, the bridge of the ship was directly in the middle, and all high school classes were above. Every tilt felt like to was multiplied by ten up on the floor for students in the eleventh grade. That was why everything was secured to the floor, glue, bolts, nails, and screws kept the classrooms from sliding around. Usually the ship didn't tilt too much, but the ship had just rounded Scotland and was plowing, full speed, through the north sea. Edward shook his head, he walked down the hallway with his bag, he grabbed his raincoat off a coat rack when he felt the ship lift up.

Edward toppled back, as well as everyone else. The ship traveled over a huge wave throwing everyone to the floor. Suddenly the ship began to slam down again and Edward felt weightless. He floated off the floor for a brief moment before crashing down, another student landing ontop of him. They slid down the hallway about ten feet before the ship leveled itself back out and went back to its normal sway. Edward let out a gasp and winced as the boy got off of him. Edward rolled over onto his back and looked up, seeing the grinning face of Nick McCloskey.

Nick was short, probably four foot seven. He had messy blonde hair, and the only thing that was a bigger mess was his uniform, the white tie was completely loose, and the black dress shirt had the buttons in the wrong holes. He had sparkling white teeth and freckles that dotted his face. More importantly, he was Edward's best friend.

"Quite a ride there eh?" Mike said and laughed. Edward shook his head and sat up, groaning.

"For a little guy, you sure are heavy…" Edward winced and he forced himself to stand up. Other students had their stuff strewn about the hall, collecting it before it rolled away. Edward leaned against the window.

"Don't be such a bore, that was pretty fun!" Mike said and moved to stand next to him. Edward was a whole head taller than Mike, so it was a wonder that they were even in the same grade.

"Yeah alright, it was pretty fun...let's get out of here before the waves decide to knock us about again." Edward smiled and bit and pushed himself off the wall. They walked down the hall and took a sharp left to the eleventh floors small lobby. One kid was sticking his hand up into the vending machine, trying to grab snack that had been knocked down off the machine. Lucas Gomez pulled out a bag of funyuns and frowned.

"I hate funyuns...anyone want some funyuns?" Edward raised his hand as he walked passed and Lucas tossed them over to Edward.

"Thanks Gomez!" Edward said and Lucas sighed. Edward opened the bag and munched on one as the room swayed back and forth. He reached over pressed the elevator button and sighed.

"So how was bio?" Mike said and Edward sighed.

"It's biology, what do you expect?" Mike giggled a bit.

"I don't know….maybe it's fun. Hey, did you hear the school board is looking for some new mandatory electives?" Edward raised an eyebrow.

"Makes sense, we had what? Chess and...what was it?"

"Chess and, that plane shit...remember." Edward laughed.

"Oh yeah, we were supposed to learn how to fly right, it was like Tankery but planes. Then all the school could afford was a Twin Otter, fun plane, but still, I expected to fly a Typhoon or something." Mike nodded and Edward ate another funyun. The elevator door beeped and it opened. Edward and Mike stepped in.

Mike pressed the button labeled deck. The door slowly closed and Edward leaned on the wall. The elevator went down and Mike looked over. "So um, what would you suggest for an elective. I wouldn't mind fishing." Edward nodded and sighed.

"I don't know. You remember that fishing trip we took as kids? Our dad's took us up to Llanfairfechan, you got pneumonia." Edward laughed a bit and Mike laughed.

"Yeah, I remember that, I was out of school for about two months. Why?" Edward sighed.

"Remember who got us too the hospital? That." Mike raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, the Welsh Tankery team was having a practice match in the area and…" Mike paused before bursting out laughing. "Edward...no, next thing you know we'll be wearing skirts and having a tea ceremony." Edward laughed half heartedly and sighed.

"Yeah, that would be funny huh...just a joke." Edward looked up and the elevator stopped, the door slid open, Edward walked out.

"Edward, where are you going?" Mike yelled and ran to catch up.

"I got homework…catch up with you later." Edward sighed.

"Yeah, okay, see ya" Mike said and turned down one of the other hallways as Edward walked out the front door. He paused and put his raincoat on, even though the rain had turned to sleet. Edward shoved his hands in his pockets and walked down the sidewalk. A raven squawked as it flew overhead. Other boys were getting picked up in cars and Edward looked over at the school.

Edward shrugged and kept walking, splashing a puddle as he walked by. The sleet came down harder and Edward sighed. He looked around and saw a dimly lit shop. He grumbled and walked over the the door. He opened it and stepped inside, the wall of warm air hitting him hard. He took down his hood and walked around inside, the shop had multiple jerseys, caps, and other sport memorabilia. Edward shrugged and decided to walk around. He passed by a section of Tankery jerseys and decided to take a look. He walked by and saw jerseys for the national teams for Germany, Italy, Greece, Slovakia, and even the team from New Zealand.

He walked to the end of the row when the sight of red and green caught his eye. He walked over and looked at the Welsh team jersey. The logo of a Welsh dragon crushing a tank under its claw was emblazoned on the front. He shrugged and pulled it off and walked up to the clerk. The clerk raised and eyebrow and scanned the shirt.

"Ten euros." Edward sighed and fished around in his pocket. He pulled out his wallet and paid for the jersey. The clerk put the jersey in bag and handed it to Edward.

"Thanks." Edward mumbled and walked over to the door. He put his hood back up and opened the door. As soon as he was back outside, the wind and rain whipping at his face. He let out a groan, continuing to walk, he had about a block to go. He walked up to a street and sighed, the indicated said he couldn't walk but there wasn't a car in sight. He grumbled and crossed the street, worms wiggling across, trying to escape the rain.

He got to the other side and paused. He looked behind him and saw a head disappear behind a bush. He shrugged and kept walked, not thinking much of it. When Edward finally reached the large dorm complex, he tried the door.

"Locked...where is my card." He mumbled and dug around in his book bag. He found a small, smooth flat rectangle and pulled out his apartment pass. He tapped it on a small black card reader and waited three second before it opened with a quiet *click*.

Edward threw himself through the door into the lobby and gasped, taking the warm air into his lungs. He glanced around, no one was in the lobby. Edward sighed and walked past the elevator, an out of order sign hung loosely like a decoration. He walked over to the stairwell and began the grueling climb up the stairs.

When he finally reached the second floor, his legs burned. Edward walked down the long, almost featureless hallway. He passed the never-ending blue doors until he came to his. He took his key from his pocket and unlocked the door, pushing it open slowly.

"Home sweet….whatever." He grumbled and walked inside. He closed the door gently and flicked on the lights in the main room. They flickered on and filled the room. He took of his shoes, hung is coat on the door and set the bag with the jersey on the counter.

He flicked on the bathroom light and sighed, taking a look in the mirror. Edward was tall, probably five foot nine, and slim, a pair of glasses settled on the bridge of his nose. His hair, a dirty blond, was short and messy and his eyes were teal. He sighed undid his tie and tossed it next to the sink, then took his shirt off.

He grabbed a shirt that hung on the towel rack and put it on. The shirt was a basic green long sleeve shirt, nothing special about it. Edward smiled and turned off the light. He walked back out into the small living room. His boxes were still stacked up in the corner and had barely been touched. Only one had been opened and the only thing in that box had been a toaster, which Edward hadn't even bothered to plug in.

Edward sat down on the couch and sighed, he grabbed the remote of the small coffee table and turned on the TV. A Norwegian weather channel blared on and Edward sighed. He switched off the TV and and glanced over at the boxes.

"I might as well unpack some…" Edward shrugged and stood up. He took the empty boy that held the toaster and tossed it off to the side. He grabbed the next box and set it on the coffee table, opening it. Inside was a an overturned picture frame. He picked it up and flipped it over. There was picture of Edward and his dog Dexter. Edward smiled and set the photo on a nearby self. U dear the photo was a model of .234 Puma, perfectly painted. Edward gently lifted it out and looked around at it, he turned it upside down, and printed on the bottom were his initials, E.I.L. Edward Iorwerth Lewis.

He placed the model next to the photo and map unpacking. After about half an hour he had unpacked about half the boxes and took a look around the room. It was decorated with posters, pictures, and models, and he now had a full cooking set.

Edward sighed and walked over to a window. He opened the curtains and the sun shined into the room. He sighed and closed the curtain.

"I should get a jog in…" Edward mumbled to himself and walked over to the door. He slipped on his shoes and put on a hoodie, walking out of the room. He went back down the stairs and outside. He looked around and watched as a couple cars drove by. . He walked along the sidewalk, stepping in the small puddles that had formed. His form building was right on the edge of the large pane forest, a walking path running all throughout.

Edward would jog the path about twice a week to stay in shape, sometime he would jog it with Mike but that was rare. As Edward ran along he stopped to catch his breath. He looked at his watch and sighed. If he ran for about twenty minutes he could see the sun set, but then again, Edward wasn't much of a romantic. He shrugged and turned around, he could just sleep instead.

Edward threw open his door in a panic. He sprinted down the hall, his tie loose and holding one if of his shoes. He started going in the one foot, trying to put it on as he ran but instead he just fell over. He sighed and got on one knee, slipping the shoe on and tying it before taking off again. He burned down down the stairs and bolted through the lobby.

He made it too the street and took off toward the school. He glanced at his watch. The school bell had woken him up when it rang five minutes ago. He ran across the street without even taking a glance and almost got pegged by a car. He shook off the sudden jolt immediately and kept on running. He could here over the intercom, half a block away.

"All grade Eleven students, please make your way to the gymnasium." The school board must be having an assembly, Edward figured as the front door of the school complex came into view. He tore across the parking lot, squeezing between cars. He shoved his way through the front doors and says the line of kids making their way to the gym.

Edward saw Mike and forced his way into the line, standing next to him..

"Hey Edward, are you okay." Edward gasped and leaned on Mike's should.

"Yeah…..fine" Edward wheezed and Mike laughed.

"For your information, they called the senior high classes to discuss our mandatory electives...remember?" Edward nodded, His head spinning.

"Yeah...right." Edward mumbled and they walked into the gymnasium. They sat down near the back of the gym and waited. Edward looked at the floor as Mike talked to someone next to him.

"Alright, quiet down!" A voice with a greek accent boomed through the speakers. Edward looked up at the speaker who walked across the gym stage. The speaker was slim man in his very early, he wore a pair of no grain glasses and a black suit and white shirt. He held a clipboard. The gym slowly quieted down.

"Thank you, now I know our MEs were a bit lackluster last year. But that thankfully we have allocated some of the budget. We will be able to offer four new MEs." There was a mild and slow clapping and Edward sighed.

"Our first option is once again chess. I know some of you will be glad to hear that, we had some great players last year and placed third in the South American high school chess championship." There was louder clapping this time.

"Second, well, some students requested we start and acting program. We will be looking for students directors so we can be ready for the one act festival in British Columbia this upcoming spring. For the third ME, we plan to start a football team...and before someone asks, it's not American football." A few students groaned.

"Unfortunately the board is split on what we use the final quarter of the budget, so is any student has a suggestion, they can come up to the board room at lunch." Edward paused and looked at the the floor.

"Thank your for your attention students." If you could stack the chairs in stacks of three, that would be great."

Edward waited the entire day for lunch and as soon as the bell rang he made his way to the board room office. He got lost somewhere along the way and ended up in the janitor's closet. When he finally made it to the room, the five members were just packing up when Edward opened the door.

"Well it would appear I was wrong!" On to the board members, a younger blond women said. "Well, you appear to be the only one who has a suggestion, so whatever it is, please tell us."

Edward sighed and took a deep breath. "I would like to suggest…" Edward paused and looked down.

"Well come on now, spit it out." The head of the board said, sitting back down. Edward sighed and looked back up.

"I would like to suggest Tankery!"

((I would like to thank everyone who has supported me and this story, this revision process will be long, but it should be worth it, tell me what you think. So yeh, I guess there is only one thing to say as we move forward...Panzer vor!))