Sierra Armored Academy – Docked in San Francisco Bay, Circa 0600 Hours PST, August 14
The dawn's light filtering in through the windows of his cabin awoke Commander Jeremiah Maxson. Well, that and the distant booming of tank cannons. Getting dressed in a set of sweat-pants, he walked over to his private refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of vitamin-enriched water. Flipping the bottle in his hand, he walked out to the balcony on the carrier's island. As he looked out over the city, he twisted the top off the bottle and took a swig.
Or, rather, he tried, but his flipping of the bottle had caused some condensation to drip down over the lid, making it too slick for his fingers to latch onto. He sighed. "Goddammit." A tissue grabbed from a nearby box provided enough friction, and the plastic connections snapped.
Now, he was able to take a drink of the water, enjoying the stevia-sweetened orange taste as the liquid flowed down his throat. Settling against the railing, he looked out over the school carrier and back over the city. Down on the deck, he could see the tankers' gunnery target range set up with a pair of M4 Shermans on the firing lines, practicing their 200-yard precision shots. Any greater distance would require setting tread on land.
At the base of the carrier's island sat the defining feature of the ship Sierra had once been: her two turrets mounting two 8-inch/55 calibers Mk 9 guns, each, the as-constructed primary armament of the USS Saratoga. The academy's founder had managed to save the ship from her planned demise in the Crossroads-Baker atomic bomb test and restored the ship to a mixture of her pre- and post-'42 refit armaments. The 5-inch/38 calibers guns that had replaced the Mk 9s had been reverted back, but the rest of the weapons from the '42 and '44 refits remained.
She wasn't the only thing our founder saved, Jeremiah thought as he remembered the number of rare and even unique vehicle designs stashed in what had once been the fighter hangar of the old carrier.
Beyond the ship, he could see the modern skyline of San Francisco, with the morning fog casting a slight haze over the city. It was thickest near the Golden Gate Bridge, the red steel structure standing tall and isolated in appearance. He laughed under his breath; compared to San Francisco, Sierra Academy looked rather out of place.
Jeremiah was shaken from his musings when someone knocked on his cabin door. A quick donning of a shirt was all he bothered with before opening the door. He almost thought that someone on the ship was playing a prank when he saw no one there, and then he saw the perfectly-styled straight black hair at the bottom of his eye level. "Ah, Captain. What can I do for you?"
His second-in-command on the school's Armored Gladiator team, Hidaka Saegusa, stood before him, a tablet in her hands pressed against her abdomen. "Commander, I have a request." He waved his hand to signal for her to go on. "I was watching the Japanese National Sensha-do Tournament finals, and I was wondering if we could set up a friendly match against the winning team."
He tilted his head. "You watch the National Tournament every year and haven't made this request before. Why this year's winners?"
"It's Ōarai Girls' High School."
He rocked his head back. "Ah. Got it. I'll talk to Captain Taylor and see if he'll be willing to get us there. Why don't you compose a request message for Ōarai's Sensha-do commander to set us up a match?"
She bowed. "Arigato, sempai."
He tousled her hair. "Don't thank me just yet. We don't know if we'll get either bit of permission."
"Hey!" Hidaka hurriedly worked to straighten her hair, but he saw that little smile on her face.
Jeremiah chuckled. "Now, go on. Enjoy your day." After she left, he heard the distinct sound of a Calliope joining the Sherman guns.
With a sigh, he took another sip of his water and walked over to the fridge. Captain Taylor was not someone you just simply talked to out of the blue if you wanted him to be in a good mood. As this would be out of the blue, a little liquid courage wouldn't go amiss.
The bottle looked to have about five ounces left in it. "Hmm. Note to self: Next shore leave, buy a new bottle of mead." He added about an ounce to the vitamin water and put both bottles back into the fridge. After changing into his uniform, he reclaimed the water bottle and set off for the ship Captain's Quarters.
Ōarai Girls' High School – Docked at Ōarai, Japan, Approximately 5:00 AM JST (Next Day)
Yuzu was skimming through the school emails, sorting out which ones would be forwarded to which member of the school staff/student body, when one made her eyebrows shoot upward; she wondered who would be emailing the school at midnight, and then she realized that the timing was due to where the email was sent from. "Um, President, I think you should take a look at this."
"Hmm?" Anzu gulped down the sweet potato she had been eating and walked over. After a moment of reading, she smiled. "Oh. Now that's interesting. We'd be happy to oblige."
Momo looked toward them from the door where she was just entering. "Oblige what?"
"An American Sensha-do school wants to have a match with us. I don't see any reason to say no. Do you?"
"No, ma'am."
"I thought so."
The vice president had shot off a reply email while the other two were talking, and, to her mild surprise, received a response a moment later. After reading it through, she spoke up again. "They thank us and say that they should be here in a little under a month."
The president leaned in. "A month, huh? Well, that'll give us time for that victory match we were planning."
"Are you sure that that's wise, having two friendly matches scheduled that closely together?"
Anzu waved Momo off. "It'll be fine. Based on the schedule we were planning, there'll be a three-week gap between the two."
"If you say so, President."
Sierra Armored Academy – One Week Later
It had been a surprise, albeit not an unpleasant one, when Captain Taylor had readily agreed to the idea of having a friendly match against the Ōarai team. Everyone was given a week to get their affairs in order in preparation for the upwards of two months they would be away from their home port. For Jeremiah, that had been visiting his mother to make sure she was well and hoping that she would still be there when he returned. There wasn't much else, as he had no other family, and his only friends were on the academy ship with him.
The academy maintenance crews had worked feverishly to ensure that the Academy and its equipment were all set and ready for the voyage. The fuel tanks had been topped off, shells were loaded into storage, and the ship's food and water stores were full. In a few words, Sierra Armored Academy was fully supplied.
On the last night before they were scheduled to depart, he logged into his "World of SPGs" account to have a last few games before he had to drop into blackout. Judging from the number of usernames he recognized while he waited for the first match to start, he wasn't the only one with that idea. He pinged the friendly Tiger(P) with a platoon request and activated his microphone. "Hey, Hidaka. Do our usual team attack pattern?"
"You know it. Get your lumbering beast into position."
"Hey! The Churchill's a good tank." Still, he set the war machine into motion to reach a position where he could side-scrape without exposing the weaker hull armor.
A third tank, a Škoda T-25, joined their platoon. "Then why's it at a lower tier than either of our tanks?"
"Quiet. No one asked you, Nikos."
Amidst chuckling across the comm., he could hear music filtering in from the line of Carol Nikos, President of the Anime Club and gunner of the tank its members rode in. "Oi, oi, oi, hey Smith!" The ongoing combat was the only thing that prevented him from pressing his palm to his face as he recognized the song.
"Really, Carol? You girls chose one from that anime?" Before she could retort, he checked the minimap and saw that Hidaka had taken up her sniper's post in the northeast corner of the battle area. Meanwhile, he had parked himself along the second intersection leading into the town, able to cover most approaches to the friendly cap circle. That left… "By the way, Carol, guess who gets to be our scout?"
Even through the music, he could hear her groan and smirked a little. This was going to be a fun match.
Halfway through their journey, they stopped off and resupplied their food, water, and fuel stores at Midway island. It would be another two weeks before they reached Ōarai, so the armored cadets worked on their physical fitness as best they could: using the stairs between decks and the former air deck for stair-climbs and runs, respectively; loaders practiced loading their tank's cannons as quickly and efficiently as possible to train their upper bodies; everyone else did their own choice exercises as they saw fit.
One day, the tank gunners got the chance to drill their skills thanks to an unseasonably early and unusually far south iceberg that came into view of the carrier. A few dozen armor-piercing and high-explosive shells reduced the mighty chunk of ice to slush. Carol, the gunner of one of their M36 Jacksons, had especially enjoyed the activity, as it allowed her to burn off some of the boredom she had acquired over the past couple of weeks.
Two days before they were to arrive, Jeremiah stood on the deck at the front of the academy ship, staring out to the West. "Penny for your thoughts?"
He looked back and beheld a member of his own tank's crew, loader Elaine Dewitt, a woman of Amazonian build thanks to the heavy tank shells she had to move routinely. "For the moment, no. I'm just… pondering."
"Oh? What about? Our upcoming match against Ōarai?"
He nodded. "I just have this… feeling, that something happened, something big, while we've been in transit."
"Well, we'll be in range of Japan's wireless internet signals tomorrow, so you can check then."
"Yeah, you're right." Jeremiah shrugged. "It's probably nothing, and I'm being superstitious." Then he planted his face in his palm. "And by saying that, I've probably tempted fate into making it something."
She laughed. "Come on, now you're sounding superstitious."
"'Superstitious' is what I am only if it doesn't come true."
A sigh deflated Elaine's chest. "You're weird. This isn't some story we're in."
With a last look toward still-distant Japan, he turned to walk back to his cabin. "You never know."
The next day, shortly after Sierra had entered signal range, the commanders of the Academy's all-female tank teams were called to the ship's briefing room. A laptop was already hooked up to the ceiling-mounted projector. Jeremiah and Hidaka were the first to arrive and watched the others filter into the room.
Next to arrive was Lieutenant Sharon Shianus, Commander of the Anime Club's Jackson. Like Hidaka, she was a third-year cadet, a year and a half from graduation. She was tall, with blue eyes and dyed blonde hair; her ruddy brown roots showed that she hadn't dyed recently. Her clothing echoed her namesake, with a white shirt and black pants, as a skirt wouldn't work in their field.
Right behind her was Lieutenant Sarah Wolfgang, of the Music Club and roommate of Carol Nikos. Because of that, the Anime and Music clubs worked together quite a bit, with the Anime Club providing songs for the Music Club to practice and blare as battle themes during exercises and matches. They used an M4A1(76)W Sherman.
The fourth commander did her best to slink in without anyone else noticing. Were Jeremiah not watching for her, she would have. "Margaret, glad you could join us."
"Eep." A small mouse of a woman, Lieutenant Margaret Agna of the Tabletop Games Club was someone who wouldn't stand out in a crowd. Other than standing a little under five feet tall, there was really nothing to visibly distinguish her. Behind the plain features and brown eyes and hair, however, was a very sharp mind that missed no details and was quick enough to formulate complex strategies on the fly. Fittingly, she commanded one of their M24 Chaffee scouting tanks.
Conversely, the next commander to enter was a boisterous firebrand lieutenant called Samantha Pevensie, with red hair that matched her personality. "Hiya, everyone!" It was amusing that she ran the Literary Club on campus.
"Morning, Sam."
Finally, the commander of the Linguistics Club's M36 Jackson, Lieutenant Isabella Lupus, walked in. Well, "walked" didn't properly describe the grace and elegance with which she arrived in the room. Jeremiah had no idea how, but she managed to make a trench coat look like something a proper lady would wear.
Once everyone was seated, he cleared his throat. "Well, now that we're all here, we can begin. However, as she will be commanding you in this match, Captain Saegusa will be handling this briefing. Hidaka, the floor is yours." With that, he walked over to the back of the room and took his own seat.
She stepped forward. "Thank you, Commander." She slotted a USB into the laptop and opened up the slide-show she had prepared. "As you may have heard, we'll be facing Ōarai Girls' Academy in two days. They're a relatively poor school with eight tanks at their disposal."
Samantha raised her hand. "Eight? Why are we only bringing six to this fight?"
Jeremiah cleared his throat, again. "That one, I can answer. We're deploying only six tanks, Samantha, because we will be respecting Japan's rules for Sensha-do."
"Sen-what?"
"'Sensha-do,' or 'Tankery' is the Japanese version of Armored Gladiators, and it is for girls, only. Unfortunately, that means that I won't be joining you on the ground this time."
Hidaka rapped her knuckles on the table to bring the conversation back into line. "The Commander is right. Anyway, the eight tanks Ōarai currently uses are the following."
The first slideshow picture was of a greenish tank with a snub-barreled cannon on one side of its turret and a machine gun on the other along with a second machine gun on the front of the hull. Lieutenant Lupus tilted her head. "Pardon my language, but is that a fucking I-Go?"
The Captain nodded. "It is, but Ōarai is well aware of its weaknesses against later tanks. In exchange, they have tuned up the Type 89's suspension to allow it to practically reach its theoretical top speed and use it as their primary scout and harassment unit. Additionally, it was instrumental in a gambit to defeat a Maus."
"Wait, what?!"
"…So we should not underestimate any of their vehicles, no matter how weak and obsolete they may be."
Samantha waved her hands. "No, no, no. Go back. 1) Who the hell fielded a Maus, and 2) how the hell did an I-Go take that monster out?"
"To answer your questions, the Maus was deployed by Kuromorimine, and I will be showing a video near the end of the briefing showing the entirety of the match between them and Ōarai. Anyway, continuing on." The image switched to a long tank with a small gun in a turret and a large-bore, short-barreled gun in the body which had the same greenish paint job as the Type 89. "The Char B1 bis. An interwar heavy tank with a 47mm gun in the turret and a hull-mounted 75mm howitzer. I would suggest staying away from in front of it and hitting from the sides and rear."
"And, with that pea-shooter in the turret, it can't really hurt us in a broadside," muttered Wolfgang.
"Don't get overconfident. That 'pea-shooter' can still punch a hole through the armor of your Sherman, or even the Chaffee if you give it half a chance." She switched to the next tank, a grey-green beast with a large cannon in a turret. "Their least-used tank, a Type 3 Chi-Nu. It has a 75mm long-barreled main gun, more than equal to that of an M4. The armor is a little thinner, but it has a comparable top speed." Another switch, and a familiar American tank was brought into view.
"Hey, that's an M3 Medium."
"Correct, Sharon. Specifically, one in the American 'Lee' configuration with a turret-mounted 37-millimeter gun and an M2 75mm in a frontal hull-mounted sponson, though its cupola-mounted machine gun has been removed. Its frontal armor is of decent thickness and angling, meaning that some of our guns will have difficulty punching through. From the footage I've seen, its crew has specialized in pinning down and dominating heavier, slower tanks."
Amidst some snickers at Hidaka's word choice, everyone looked at Samantha, since her tank fit that description, perfectly. "What? Mine might be a heavy tank, but it's still got good agility, speed, armor, and firepower."
"Riiight. Anyway, on to the next one." This picture depicted a squat, yellow tank destroyer/assault gun with its large gun mounted in the hull and Ōarai's logo emblazoned on the hull next to the gun. "A Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer. Its small size, low profile, and powerful 7.5cm Pak 39 L/48 gun make it a potent ambush-based tank destroyer. Additionally, it has thick, for its size, well-angled armor, making it difficult to take out quickly even after it's spotted."
"It may be a tough nut, but sufficient force will crack even the toughest nuts." That one came from Lieutenant Shianus.
The transition to the next slide came with no preamble, with an image of what looked like a larger Hetzer in dark grey. "One of Ōarai's most powerful vehicles is their Sturmgeschütz III assault gun. It has all of the advantages of the smaller Hetzer with the addition of even thicker armor."
"A ninja, striking from the shadows and melting away," was the murmured assessment of Lieutenant Agna.
She put down the remote and leaned forward, bracing herself against the table. "The last two of Ōarai's tanks are their command tank, like my Pershing, and their heaviest hitter, like your beast, Samantha."
"Hey! My tank has an official designation!"
"And, for ease of reference, we ignore it in favor of the nickname."
Samantha slumped in her seat, conceding the point; after all, one syllable was faster to say than six.
Hidaka took up the remote again. A click heralded the display of a brown-painted tank with several spaced armor plates. "The Panzer IV. When Ōarai had shut down their Sensha-do program twenty years ago, the tank had been in the Ausf. D configuration, but the revived team has since upgraded the medium tank into the Ausf. H with schürzen armored skirts and a long-barreled KwK 40 L/48 7.5cm cannon. Their driver can pull off some truly insane feats such as drifting the tank along dry ground, and their gunner is equally impressive, scoring a kill shot from several hundred feet away with the Ausf. D's L/24 gun."
Margaret raised her hand. "So, she's the priority target?"
"Yes and no. The school's Sensha-do captain, Miho Nishizumi, is a very dangerous tanker, and removing her would reduce Ōarai's capacity for tactics and strategy, they can still operate without her direct orders. The Panzer IV is definitely in the top two tanks to eliminate from Ōarai's team." Her features softened. "The other is her."
The slideshow transitioned to a large, long grey tank with a familiar-looking turret mounting a truly massive cannon.
"The Porsche Tiger, a rare design originally developed as a prototype for what would become the Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger. She has heavy armor and the same 88mm L/56 gun as the Tiger with a forward-mounted turret. She masses 59 tonnes and has an official top speed of 40 kilometers per hour, but her users have managed to make some Sensha-do-legal modifications that boost that speed to upwards of 49 or even 65."
Jeremiah stood up and distributed a bundle of tablets. "On those tablets are the schematics for Ōarai's eight tanks, with corrections based on observed modifications, and profiles for what we know of their crews. We'll view footage of their final match in the 63rd National Sensha-do Tournament and then brainstorm battle plans for our match."
Jeremiah plopped down in the computer chair in his dorm, almost exhausted. But it was a good kind of exhausted, the kind that signified the completion of a hard day's work. The planning session had lasted for hours, covering as many contingencies as could be conceived of from watching Miho Nishizumi's performance in the 63rd Nationals.
As it was still too early to go to bed, he booted up the computer and started up a session of World of SPGs, thankful that the ship was now in range to connect to the game's Asian server. Yet again, he wasn't the only one with the same idea. Before entering the battle matchmaker, he platooned his Firefly up with Hidaka's Tiger(P) and Sharon's M6 Heavy. When they entered the match, they saw that the game was Tiers V-VII, with the bottom-tier tanks being a platoon of three Type-3 Chi-nus.
A rare evil laugh echoed from Sharon's line as the timer ticked down. "Easy prey."
"Easy there, Lieutenant. Never underestimate your opponents. Look at their stats. All three of them are unicums."
"Whoa-oa. What? Over twenty thousand games played, each, and a minimum win-rate of 63%? And they still drive Tier 5?"
"Some people have a favorite tank that they will drive even if they have better tanks available. Look at Hidaka. She drives the Tiger(P) almost exclusively despite having the entire German tech tree unlocked."
"Eh, I guess."
When the match started, Jeremiah immediately moved to a tree-covered hilltop where he could put the long range of the Firefly's 17-pounder to good use while Sharon and Hidaka advanced.
Sharon was the first to run into the Chi-nu platoon, and was force-fed her words as the three Tier Vs circled from cover to cover around her heavy tank, popping into view for just long enough to fire a shot, denying her teammates return fire on any of them, while using their 75mm guns to make the M6 almost literally melt around her. As the last shot was fired, they slipped away into the middle of the map. Not even friendly artillery had managed to get a shot in. Her response was apt. "What. The. Hell. Was that?"
"That, Lieutenant, was a group of players who know each other like the backs of their hands. Imagine if they were a tank crew."
Miho stood on the back of the Ōarai school carrier, looking out over the ocean. "Miporin, what are you doing here?"
She looked over her shoulder and saw her Panzer IV's crew approaching, led by Saori. Even Mako was there. "Oh. Hi, Saori. The student council said that a Sensha-do team from America is coming, and I wanted to see if I could catch their arrival."
"Why is an American team coming here?"
Miho looked at her feet and kicked a stone. "We're going to have a match."
Saori gasped. "Again? We just had that one against the University Team!"
"Anzu told me that they'd agreed to it before the friendly we had with Chi-Ha-Tan against St. Gloriana and Pravda."
Hana nodded in understanding. "I see. And if they're coming in their school ship, they'll have been at sea for weeks, now. It would be impolite to turn them away after all that time and make their journey a waste."
Yukari was practically dancing with excitement at this point. "Oh, I can't believe we're going to meet a real foreign Sensha-do team! I've heard so many stories about the American Unlimited League. Apparently, they can mount post-War equipment on their tanks! There was this one Sherman that was modified with–"
Mako raised a hand and pointed to the horizon. "Oh, look, there they are."
Miho strained her eyes to see, but the chronically-tired driver was right. Out on the horizon was a little speck that slowly resolved itself into the form of an aircraft carrier. Beside her, Yukari gasped. "Wow. It's based on the Lexington-class. I can see the big gun turrets in front of the conn. tower."
As the ship drew closer, Ōarai's commander corrected her loader. "Yukari, I don't think it's based on a Lexington, I think it is a Lexington."
"What?! I thought both of them had been sunk!"
With her typical dry tone, Mako replied, "Evidently not."
By this point, the American ship had approached to a close enough range that almost every detail could be made out. Saori pointed out the obvious. "It's so small."
Yukari took a moment to pick her jaw up. "That's the USS Saratoga. She was two hundred seventy meters long when she was built. I'd thought she was sunk in one of the American nuclear tests after the War, but it looks like she wasn't. Unlike Ōarai, it looks like she was converted into a school ship rather than being purpose-built for the duty."
Of course, length wasn't the only area where the American vessel was smaller than the Japanese, as the bridge only came up to Ōarai's city deck. Hana tapped Miho on the shoulder. "As Captain of our Sensha-do team, I think you should get to the loading dock to greet them."
"Oh, right."
"We'll come with you, Miporin."
"Thanks, guys."
Anzu waved to Miho when they arrived. "Nishizumi-chan, you're just in time."
Beside her, Momo frowned. "I see you brought your crew with you."
Miho shrugged. "They wanted to come."
Any further discussion was tabled when the gangplank connecting the two ships clanged into place. From the Saratoga's side came a young man flanked by six young women. Miho's tactical mind immediately zeroed in on the most distressing aspects of the man: a gun at his waist and a knife in his boot. Her hard-drilled combat instincts started running scenarios, but she tamped down on them when he showed no hostility. Instead, he came to a stop precisely six meters away and saluted. "Kon'nichiwa. I hate to ask, but, do any of you speak English?"
Before anyone of the Ōarai girls could react, the brown-haired Japanese girl to his right held up a hand. "Don't be offended. It's just, Commander Maxson can't speak much Japanese."
Miho, Anzu, and, most surprisingly, Saori waved their concern off. "It's alright. I can speak English."
"Me, too."
"So can I."
Maxson smiled. "Whew. I was afraid things were going to be awkward, for a moment." He cleared his throat. "So, who is your Sensha-do team captain?"
Wordlessly, everyone of Ōarai's present members pointed at Miho, who meekly raised her hand at being suddenly on the spot. "I am."
He stepped forward halfway and held out his hand. "Commander Jeremiah Maxson, Sierra Armored Academy of the United States Army."
Following his example, Miho walked toward him and accepted his handshake. "Miho Nishizumi, Ōarai Girls' Academy."
His grip was strong, yet gentle. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Nishizumi." He stepped back and gestured to the woman who had spoken for him a moment earlier. "This is my second-in-command, Captain Hidaka Saegusa."
"Kon'nichiwa." She bowed in respect.
Jeremiah shifted his gesture to the redhead beside her. "Lieutenant Samantha Pevensie."
"Yo." A cursory wave of her hand accompanied the greeting. Hidaka looked to be resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
The blonde at the end of that side was next. "Lieutenant Sharon Shianus."
She gave a bow of her own, though a sweeping European style one. "Good afternoon."
He swung his introductions to his left side, starting with a woman who, despite her long coat, looked every inch an immaculate lady, reinforced by dyed silver hair. "Lieutenant Isabella Lupus."
She curtsied. "An honor to meet you, ma'am."
As she rose, she gently tugged a small girl (practically Katyusha's size) out from behind her. "Lieutenant Margaret Agna." The girl simply waved. Jeremiah pointed at the last girl, a brunette with earrings shaped like musical notes. "Lieutenant Sarah Wolfgang."
A subtle bow of the head prefaced her greeting. "Hello to you."
With a bow of her own, Miho replied, "It's an honor to meet you all."
"Likewise." Commander Maxson rubbed his hands together. "Now, I believe our match is scheduled for tomorrow, so, in the meantime, would you like a tour of our hangar?"
"A tour of your hangar?"
Yukari lit up. "A tour?!"
"Of course. We used our transit time to study your tanks, so it would only be fair that you got some time before the match to study ours."
Miho clenched her hands together and bit her lip. "Um…"
Anzu preempted her. "We'd love to. Give us some time to gather our tank commanders."
Jeremiah bowed his head. "I understand. Take your time. If I may ask, is there anywhere in town you would suggest would be a good place for my men and women to take some R&R for tonight?"
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Well, that became a lot longer than I thought it would. 4897 words.
Before a few weeks ago, I had no idea what Girls und Panzer even was. Then I read the chapters of ElfCollaborator's "Weiss Reacts" that crossed over RWBY with the series and became interested. Then I watched the series on Crunchyroll and became smitten. Within days, the basic idea for this fic began to form and became this. For this, I have done more research on tanks in the past few weeks than I ever had before. And that research will show… next chapter.
This fic won't be a long one, just a few chapters.
EDIT: Props to anyone who can spot the shoutouts I put in this chapter.