A bit of a one shot I decided to write about a freshman team participating in Kuromorimine's match against Chi-Ha-Tan. Hope you enjoy!
Blazepanzer24 Does not own Girls und Panzer.
Dreary, mountainous grassland.
That is what Hanoashi would have described the landscape surrounding her. She was supposed to be scouting for Chi-Ha-Tan's flag tank, a perfect mission for her roof-mod Panzer II-M. While this tank was equivalent to the original experimental open top experimental panzer, it had a rood mod designed to keep the participants safe from enemy fire.
"You think we'll find anything?" A young girl asked in slightly broken Japanese.
"Probably," Hanoashi admitted, glancing down at her gunner. "It depends on whether they actually charge the main formation or we find them first.
"We'll have to find them and prove ourselves, we might get expelled if we cause Kuromorimine to lose" A brunette girl fretted.
"We'll find them," Hanoashi promised. Would we really be expelled after the instructor did so much for us? She wondered inwardly.
All three girls had found themselves in different situations. She herself had barely graduated middle school before her father died. Shiho had taken her under her wing, apparently her father had stopped an abduction attempt on her eldest daughter, Maho, but asked for no reward other than to have Shiho promise to take her in if something happened to her father.
Her gunner, Alice, had been apparently serving a prison sentence for an talented murder on her brother when her brother had apparently confessed that his parent had made up the accusation. While Alice maintained she had done the action, Shiho had apparently stood up for her irregardless, claiming that Alice's time in prison had made her believe she had done the event. She even went far out as to become Alice's benefactor, paying for her room and board on Kuromorimine.
Her driver, Kayla, had been found naked in a forest, apparently tied up for some reason. She was only alive because Miho and her middle school orientation stumbled upon her before she starved. Aside from some light rope burns, hunger, and enormous embarrassment, She seemed to have been relatively okay compared to how bad it could have been. Shiho agreed to outright adopt Kayla, although she would not receive any inheritance nor would she carry the Nishisumi name.
In fact, had it not been for the instructor, Alice would probably still be rotten in prison, Hanoashi would have been flipping burgers or working at a maid cafe, (If she was even that lucky), and Kayla would be in the orphanage. All three girls had been helped by the instructor, and they where more than eager to repay Shiho in any way they could.
Especially so considering they where mostly foreigners in a foreign land. Hanoashi, dispute having Japanese origins was more Irish, with her natural reddish-orange hair. Alice was mostly French, with light blue eyes and blond hair. Kayla was mostly a mix of German and Finnish, though she had some English blood in her. Given how most foreign citizens of common status did have some trouble in Japan, having someone as important as Shiho Nishizumi as their benefactors made their lives much easier.
Enemy Panzers at two o-clock!" Hanoashi shouted, before picking up her radio. "Tank ten to commander Nishizumi, We've spotted Chi-ha-tan's main forces at 720, awaiting orders."
"Commander to tank ten, We copy that. Keep an eye on them, if they fire back, try and lead them to 221 if you can."
"Rodger Commander Nishisumi, We will comply, Tank ten, out." Hanoashi let out a small sigh before appearing out of her tank. "Kayla, drive us into that dip, Hopefully they'll be too busy charging to notice us."
"Rodger Blaze," Kayla grunted, using Hanoashi's childhood nickname. Although Hanoashi had found the nickname upsetting at first, aimed at her being a natural redhead. However, toward the middle of her grade school years, she began to find it more or less endearing than anything.
It didn't take long for them to park the panzer in the dip. Hanoashi continued scouting, eager to see if there was anything else she could do.
"One of there tanks is coming right toward us?" Kayla whispered.
Hanoashi nodded in silent agreement before ducking into her tank, loading a shell in her tank. "Alice, fire when I give the signal," she whispered before restarting her radio. "Tank ten to Commander Nishisumi, one of the tanks have spotted us, We're going to take it out and head to point 221, over?"
"Rodger, go head tank Ten, we'll be waiting."
Given permission, Hanoashi gave the order to fire, her gunner's aim holding true. Hanoashi watched as the shell hit the opposing tank, A Type 97 Chi-ha by the looks of it. "Alright, now move it!" Hanoashi ordered, fear partially taking control even though she'd be okay physically if she got hit.
It wasn't so much the impact that spooked her rather than the fear of consequences for failing to lead the enemy tanks to the ambush point. Granted, they would not cause Kuromorimine to lose the match and get expelled, but it would be a bit of a blow to their reputation among the school if they only took out one tank in this match.
"We'll need to move quickly, the goal is to lead them into a charge against our comrades so that they can wipe them out with one move."
Glancing down at her driver, Hanoashi winced as the tank nearly flipped over from a sharp turn. "Keep going like that, but be a bit more careful not to turn us over." She chided.
"Alright," Kayla grunted in acknowledgment.
"Should we turn our turret around and fire back?" Alice suggested.
Hanoashi glanced at her for a brief second, but then shook her head. "No, we might dissuade them from continuing the charge. If, and only if they stop charging will we turn and engage them." She decided. Better we take two of them out if they don't continue their charge then score only one kill and flee back to our comrades without any prey
Hanoashi noticed that the firing had stoped and glanced out to see that Chi-Ha-Tan had indeed stopped chasing her. " Tun us around driver, we're going on a hunt," She declared before loading a shell. "Alice, pick your targets at will, but do not fire at the flag tank."
Activating her radio she quickly contacted Commander Nishisumi. "Tank Ten reporting, the enemy has canceled their pursuit, we're going to try and re-instigate the pursuit but they may have already wised up to the plan."
"Commander Nishisumi to Tank Ten, we acknowledge. You taking out the flag tank?"
"Tank ten to Commander Nishisumi, no maim, we're going to take out as many as we can, Be a different story if we faced a more well armed school."
"Rodger tank ten, good foresight. Commander Nishisumi out."
Letting out a small sigh of relief, her green eyes canvased the battlefield as her gunner managed to get her third tank kill of the day. "That will do Alice," she ordered, and her gunner leaned back, taking a small breather.
"Tank Ten to Commander Nishisumi, we've managed to take out an additional two tanks for a kill count of three, but the enemy is still fleeing, awaiting orders."
"Commander Nishisumi to tank Ten, continue scouting, we're going to try and cut them off. Don't fire anymore, just observe them for now" Maho ordered.
"Rodger that, tank Ten copies." Glancing at Kayla, she gave the order for them to move out,which snapped Kayla into overdrive.
"Remember, we are now just observing their movements, so don't fire unless we have to." Hanoashi glanced at the fleeing tanks. "Still heading back towards point 720," She reported on her radio.
Following them, surprised as they turned again and made a hasty retreat, she activated her radio.
"Heading to point 520, Copy."
"Rodger, copy." Hanoashi took a small swig of water form her canteen, her mouth dry from all the reporting. Although commanders or radio operators tended to use more wordy radio transmissions, sometimes they did shorten them, especially if everyone knows what was going on or if a wordy transmission would place other tanks at risk.
The chase lasted for what seemed to be three hours, though Hanoashi's combat watch only read that it had been about forty minutes since she had began scouting. "Still heading towards 430," she reported.
"Tank Ten, move out of firing angle once they cross the crest at hill 470," Maho ordered.
"Copy," Hanoashi apologized. "Now!"
At her command Kayla turned rapidly, moving the Panzer II out of the way. "Here it comes," Hanoashi whispered softly as Nine high powered German Panzers opened fired on the seven remaining enemy tanks.
"All of Chi Ha Tan's tanks are eliminated, Kuromorimine wins the match." The three girls let out a collective sigh of relief as they knew their hard work was almost done for the day. All they had left was the closing ceremony and the debriefing.
"Feels good," Hanoashi smiled. "We've managed to knock out three tanks in our first match."
"Maho's going to love us forever!" Kayla nearly squealed.
"Really Kayla?" Alice deadpanned, though she was smiling. "I'm sure she's proud of our preform, just don't let it go to our heads," she warmed.
"Way to be a buzz kill, Alice!" Kayla teased. "But I guess you are right. Maybe they'll let us fight in the next match?"
Hanoashi let out a small shudder. "We'd be facing Jatkasota High, so probably not," she mused apologetically. "But we did good this match so there is a chance," she added quickly.
"You're probably right commander, Jatkasota High is supposed to be strong, so the chances are low, albeit there."
"Either way, I'm certain we'll be moving up in the near future," Alice stated.
Did you see us Shiho? I hope we made you proud of us today. Hanoashi knew that defeating Chi-Ha-Tan wasn't really all that big of a deal, but she did believe that they where on the right track. Maybe she was proud of them, maybe she would barley acknowledge their performance. All the knew was that they did their best and no one could argue against that.