Prologue: New Beginnings

September 20th

3:15 am

Somewhere in Siberia

The prison was in chaos, alarms blazing, officers trying to keep the peace and prisoners taking advantage of the situation. But the T-62 main battle tank that is blasting its way through the walls takes the center stage.

"This is like shooting fish in a barrel!" shouted a skinny blonde man as he arms the turret machine gun, bearing it to anyone offering.

"We should be near, that looks like the warden's office," Samogan said while looking at a map.

A door suddenly opened and men in uniform came spilling out. Most of them are carrying AK-12 assault rifles and a few RPG-7 rocket launchers. Meanwhile, an officer is talking to a radio set, asking for reinforcements.

"There is it, the tank!" the officer shouted "We got visual, send backup. We need hel-"but the rest of the message was drowned out by a powerful explosion.

"Targets eliminated, good shooting Sir," the blonde, whose name was Gin, said as the tank's auto-loader loads a fresh shell into the gun breech.

"No problem, anyway Rakia take a turn here," Samogan orders to his mute driver, who only responded with only a nod.

"Look out, RPG!" Gins shouted as he sees a man preparing to fire a disposable RPG 22.

The tank screeched into a halt, causing most of its crewmen to fall. The projectile flew to where the tank should have been had it not for Rakia's reflexes.

"That was a close shave, Gin, take out that RPG!" Samogan commanded after getting back on his seat.

"Aye, aye captain," replied the blonde as he showers the shooter with rubber bullets, knocking him out cold.

"Okay, let's go, we still have a job to finish" Samogan ordered as the tank lurched forward.

After a minute of silence, the radio squawked into life and a deep voice came through. "Absinthe here, incoming enemy copters to your position, T minus 15 minutes!" the man on the other end said before cutting off.

"Okay! Double time people," the commander/gunner of the tank announced.

As they crossed a courtyard, they found their path blocked by a BTR-80 armored personnel carrier. The APC began bombarding them with heavy machine gun fire, making the sound of heavy rainfall on their sloped armor.

"Shit, it's an APC!" Gin swore as he swung the machine gun to the new target. "I told you we should have brought live rounds rather than these rubber heads!" He added as the rubber bullets bounce from the steel plates of the carrier.

"The HEAT shells will take care of it" Samogan replied nonchalantly as he took careful aim of the BTR.

"You can't just stand the sight of blood, you scaredy cat" Gin mocked as the tank's 115mm smoothbore cannon fired its round, hitting the APC causing it to explode a fireball.

"Just shut up and continue sweeping the place for stranglers," Samogan replied.

While traveling through the wide corridors of the prison, they came across a white-haired old man crawling on all fours, carrying an RPG 16.

"You bastards! Set him free and he'll kill more with that monstrosity of yours!" The man cursed as he struggles to go to the appropriate firing stance for the rocket launcher.

"Shut up, old man" Gin said as he fired a burst of rubber bullets to the man before the tank tracks crushed the man, spilling his guts and brains out.

After a few more minutes of silence, Samogan announced "We're here." and the tank halted in front of a heavy steel door that is otherwise unmarked except for the label "Prisoner 032201"

"Okay, here goes nothing," he said as he took aim at the steel door.

The cannon of the T-62 spat out a shell once more and blows the steel door off its hinges with a loud report, the threes tank crew waits for the smoke to clear.

"About time you showed up," a man said as he slowly steps out of the smoke. The most noteworthy thing about the man is his eye patch but his evil manic smile takes a close second.

"All three of you did great, especially you Samogan" the man said as he began climbing the tank

"Vodka, it's been an honor sir," Samogan replied as he reached out to help the man climb the tank.

"Your arrival is perfect timing too, just in time for the qualifiers. Now it's time to show the world our true strength" Vodka said as he takes his position in the tank's hatch.

"Welcome back commander!" The three others said as they saluted their leader, who, without their intervention should have been incarcerated for the rest of his life.\

6:15 am

Kyoto, Japan

The biting autumn air blows through the school grounds of Sakura Girls' High School, where the trees are nearly done in shedding their leaves. Everything seems normal except that the once unblemished fields of grass were now scared with muddy tank tracks. The sturdy looking buildings are now damaged by misfired shells. And various knocked out tanks are scattered throughout the grounds, their white flags fluttering in the wind.

In the center of the field, a Heuschrecke 10 "Waffentrager" self-propelled gun is surrounded by five other tanks, including an M47 Patton main battle tank. In the cupola of the Waffentrager, a girl with long brown hair tied with a white bow stares at an old man in the M47.

"I must say, Ms. Hideyoshi, you and your ragtag group of bookworms have fought well but it all ends now," The man announced with a booming voice. "Surrender now and we'll let you off the hook or get hurt trying to fight a battle in which you will suffer defeat."

"In return will you let us form the club yet again, Mr. Principal?" the girl asked unaware of the cold morning air despite only wearing her school uniform.

"There's nothing I can do about that, a decision has been made. The literature club will still be disbanded." The man gave a long sigh. "Hideyoshi, Monika. Top athlete, honor student, a senior member of the infamous debate club, and one of the best students the school ever had. And guess what? She throws all this away to lead a bunch of misfits, running this so-called "club" at the expense of herself."

"How dare you call my club members a bunch of misfits?! This is the last straw Mr. Principal, we will fight all of you even if it's the last thing we'll do." Monika looked inside the tank. "Sayori, get us out here and Yuri, paint the town red."

"So it seems you have made a decision," the old man says and looks at the other tanks in the formation. "Boys, take them out!"