Kdramon's here again!~
Okay, here's my 1st chapter. A real one :v Not like the crappy prologue that I somehow messed up. But I will try my best to provide as many as needed details as possible.
And, special thanks to Kilo 6 and Theralion who had corrected my prologue and gave supporting ideas! I really appreciate it guys, arigatou~
I'm not going to talk a lot over this, I'm excited to keep continuing the story. And I apologize to all the other readers of all the other fanfics I had, I need to keep them waiting even longer. Because I'm just so excited about this one *_*
Oh yeah, please don't blame me if there was a serious amount of FAN-based work here. I modified ALL of Ooarai's tanks. The way it got modified is also exclusive, and may not make sense. I warned you (?)
Enjoy Chapter One!
Girls Und Panzer:
Gray Steel, Warm Hearts
Chapter One: Revamped
-normal POV-
It was a clear day, in Ooarai Academy Ship. The radiant sunlight pierced some trees' canopy, making light spots all over the jungle part. Birds and squirrels were chirping everywhere, before they were startled by a roar of an engine. A Panzerkampfwagen IV Schmalturm wandered around, its turret rotating back, and forth, and back again.
Suddenly, there was a large booming sound. There was an explosion of dirt and grass in front of the tank, and as fast as possible, the Panzer backed up, reversing far away from the source of the shot.
"Mako, try reaching the eastern part of the training grounds without getting spotted by the enemy."
"Roger that." Some voices, small ones, spoke from inside the PzIV S. The commander of the Panzer, as we all know, Nishizumi Miho, popped her head out of the turret. She took out a binocular, and started to look around the place. Apprehensive, she ordered Reizei Mako, the driver, to halt.
Then it came again. A second missed shot. This time it nearly hit Miho's head, which is out on the top of the tank, and struck the set of trees behind them. This time, Miho's apprehensiveness gone, Mako drove further ahead, before reaching the foot of what looked like a hill- shrouded by thick vegetation. Most normal people would not fire at an unclear target. But Miho had instincts- and as she ordered her loader, Akiyama Yukari, to ready a heat shell, she spied yet one more time with her binoculars.
"Identified, Hana-chan."
"But there was nothing there-"
"Fire at what you call straight ahead. I'm sure."
"Trust Miporin, Hana-chan. She knows what she's doing, I'm sure." Takeba Saori, the radio operator, replied too. And so Hana straightened her vision of the gun, and with the 7,5 cm KwK L/70 cannon, she fired at what Miho told her- in a straight line.
To everyone's surprise, something like a hard steel that got shot was heard, and soon they also heard the sound of a flag clicking- the sign that indicates a tank got destroyed, in Sensha-do style. There was actually a M4 Sherman hidden from plain sight there- now the back armor had been pierced, while the turret had been rotated 180 degrees, a hint that it almost fired another shot at the PzIV S.
"Aah, our team got wiped out again!" cried a voice from inside the Sherman. The voice was no doubt the ex-commander of Ooarai's previous M3 Lee- now remodeled and revamped to be a M4 Sherman- Sawa Azusa.
"Don't feel down like that, guys," Miho said with a reassuring voice, trying to rebuild their self-confidence. "It's just training, not the real thing."
"But.. but.." Sakaguchi Karina, the team's driver, looks like she's about to cry.
"Now, now," said Hana, as she crawled out of the Panzer. "Let's just all go back and relax at the school, after a long training we're all definitely tired."
As soon as the group of tanks- the M4 Sherman, an IS, a Porsche Tiger, led by Miho and her team's Panzer IV S arrived at school, there stood the student council, with Kawashima Momo having an unhappy and irritated face. Kadotani Anzu and Koyama Yuzu, the other two, look relaxed and happy.
"What's wrong, Momo-chan?" Miho slowly walked towards Momo, who seems to be the only one having a bad time.
Momo didn't answer right away. Instead, she pointed at the Iosef Stalin- the IS.
"EXPLAIN TO ME WHY OUR SCHOOL FUNDS ARE AT A CRISIS."
Miho and the others backed down. They knew it was their fault, for many of the tanks in Ooarai broke down soon after a friendly rematch. The Char B1 Bis, the Type 89, the M3 Lee, the Hetzer, and the Chi-Nu all lost their durability and were beyond repair. In their last friendly match against , the team didn't expect the sudden power difference. Suddenly they were faced no longer against Matildas and Churchills, but against Centurions and AT-7s. Darjeerling herself no longer used the Churchill VII, she now used the powerful Conqueror, which can deflect easily all of Ooarai tanks' shots.
And so, Ooarai's Sensha-do (supported by the Student Council Leader, of course) bought a few new tanks and/or modifications.
The Duck team- previous owners of the Type 89- now used the mighty Iosef Stalin, or the IS. With a 100 mm D10T gun- the 1D10T, and a V-2-54IS engine equipped right after they bought it, the gun mantle and turret can easily deflect shots fired by medium or smaller heavies such as the T1 Heavy or the Churchill. Having better speed than other heavies, the IS can't be used like a normal heavy, for it is somewhat a medium heavy. Its frontal armor is 120 mm, and is pretty much rendered useless when facing stronger tanks such as the King Tiger one-on-one. But when it comes to team play, the IS can easily move behind and sting the enemies' backs.
B1 is much more shown useless when faced against nowadays' school tanks. It goes head to head with Anzio's new AMX 50 100, and boom. It's like an insect to a titan. So, the B1 is heavily remodeled with dozens of parts, and now is a swift French light tank, the AMX 12t. With a top speed of 60 km/h (and can go even faster when downhill) and the auto-loader gun, it's no longer a crushed insect, now a smart insect that can confuse titans. Of course, mastery of the tank is never easy, for Sono Midoriko's Mallard team (previous owners of the Char B1 Bis) had to relearn from scratch, mainly because of the far different way of play.
M3 Lee, there's nothing much to be mentioned. The 'medication' for the M-san is quite easy to do, since it was converted into M4 Sherman, a similar yet stronger American tank. The only difference is that they need only one gunner now, which is why Ayumi (previous gunner of the second hull gun) decided to resign.
Hetzer, or the Jagdpanther 38 (t) had been crushed by the Maus, at the finals of the last Sensha-do championship. It turns out that it cannot be repaired, considering the overwhelming difference of Maus' weight and what the fragile paper armor of Hetzer's can handle. And so the Student Council bought a new Jagdpanzer IV to replace it. It was, well, far better than the Hetzer, of course. Using the base chassis of the Panzer IV, and a 8,8 cm gun that seemingly matches StuGIII's 7,5 cm, it's no longer a sniper tank, rather an assault gun- and luckily the Turtle team doesn't have to relearn the uses of the tank, since the mastery of JagdPanzer IV with an 8,8 cm gun is very, very similar to Hetzer's.
Last but not the least tank wrecked is the chinese Chi-Nu. As Anteater team still cannot use a real life tank effectively, most of the time they'll be a part of the emergency backup. Luckily, Ooarai bought just the right tank for them. A British light tank, the Crusader. Though it may not have the exact top speed to match scouting tanks such as the Panzer 38 nA or the M5 Stuart, it is like a medium tank with light armor, and that it can be played alongside the Panzer IV, IS, Porsche Tiger, even the StuG. It's capable of shifting roles, and that is a crucial point in using the Crusader.
The tanks mentioned earlier lined up inside the garage. It is now a well balanced team, with light, medium, heavy, and tank destroyers equivalent to each other. But then Momo noticed yet another large structure behind the M4.
"Are you guys still hiding something from me?" she said, as she stomped madly towards the cloth-hidden structure. She brushed off the blanket that was covering it, and there was a shiny weird-looking panzer.
Miho then explained that it was an artillery- or self propelled gun (SPG)-, the Panzerfeldhaubitze 18M auf Geschutzwagen III/IV (Sf) Hummel, short as the Hummel. It looked nothing like the tanks they had faced before, with turrets and frontal sloped armor. This one, based on the chassis of the prototype Panzer III/IV, has a large gun platform and a 150mm sFH 18 L/30 howitzer gun attached to it. The gun itself can switch between two modes, the original tank destroyer mode, OR the new artillery mode- danger from above. Put it simple, the new Hummel is a bombardier.
Momo looked devastated at the fact of their funds dropping to near zero, while the other two Student Council members just grinned and laughed there. Miho sighed, for she do not know if buying the new tanks will be effective or not. Her friends, Saori, Yukari, Hana, and Mako comes over to reassure her that she made a right decision.
"Yeah, the new tanks will definitely be a right decision," she restated, now with confidence from her friends. "Now if only we could find a crew for the Hummel.."
Meanwhile, at the port where every academy ship docked, there was a small commotion.
The reason behind it? None other than a KV-1 driving its way down Pravda's academy ship and into a transport small ship, which will be used to carry transfers between academies.
"Now listen, dear Touya. You are my eldest son, therefore I'm trusting you with Shunjuki clan's pride, your grandfather's possession. Take good care of it, for I will not come with you." Shunjuki Haruka was delivering a farewell speech to her son, because there's a sudden change that made her stayed in the mainland instead. There was not enough land for a new house, is the reason.
"Yeah mother, I'll take care of myself. Fuuka, too. You don't have to worry about us," said Shunjuki Touya, as he gave his mother a heartfelt hug, before his little sister Shunjuki Fuuka yelled at him to hurry up and load the tank into the transport.
The guy- the 3rd in line of the Shunjuki household- Shunjuki Touya, is a boy with average height (178 cm) and slightly golden black hair. His body is well-built, considering the training he had been through as the grandchild of a war veteran. His eyes are uniquely sky-blue, with a tint of navy at some parts. He is somewhat kind, especially to people who needs him, like his sister Fuuka or his mother Haruka. But he was never careful about language, and even though he calls his parents by formality, in everyday language he didn't as much as cared if he had used inappropriate words.
As he sat down inside the KV-1 and drove it as much as he can towards the transport, Touya felt a surge of happiness. The tank itself haven't been restored ever since he got the 'relics' from his father. So, he never did experience driving the Russian tank. He recalled his father told him that Shunjuki Tora- none other than his grandfather- got this KV-1 at his 16th mission. At that time, he and his designated squad destroyed a fleet of Russian army. But right at the corner of his eye, he spotted a struggling large heavy tank- struggling to escape a wrecked bridge. Its track is broken, and most of the part is destroyed. Out of kindness, he drove his Type 4 Chi-to and pushed the tank as fast and as hard as he can.
At last the tank broke free of the bridge, with the expense of his own Chi-to falling off the cliff. The Russian soldier, gratefully, handed his tank upon him. It was a half-broken KV-1, but still can run.
And that's how the KV-1 remain until now, passed down for generations. Touya ended his recognition of the past, and peeked out of the turret hole. Suddenly he noticed something gravely wrong.
The KV-1 had broken down again. He had no idea how to fix a tank on the move, but one thing's certain- he can't get it off the transport without repairing it first. Or with a big help.
Luckily, as if a savior had come upon him, Akiyama Yukari was out on a stroll inside the ship. The inside had an amazing port used even when the main ship is on the move, with rubber floating pads that connects a transport with the main port. That's when she saw a transport about to load its contents inside Ooarai. And she did happen to glance at the KV-1, and immediately recognized it was broken.
"Hey! You over there! That tank is broken!" she shouted, whilst running towards the KV-1.
Touya turned his head to the sound of the voice. He immediately recognized it as a girl, and waved back at her. After a while of explaining the problem, Yukari, like Albert Einstein on tanks, stood up and noticed a solution.
"I know," she said. "I can get help from my friends to tow your KV-1! And then, I'll take care of the rest, including the repairs!" Touya is dumbfounded. He had never met a girl who, without hesitation, offered help to him, a total stranger. Touya glanced at the girl, Yukari, texting someone at her phone. Minutes later, a Porsche Tiger and an IS had been given permission to enter the port area through the exit, and used a long steel cable to pull the remnants of a broken KV-1 back to the surface.
Touya, and his sister, who had been inside the tank for a while, noticed that they took them to his new school, Ooarai Academy. He became even more puzzled as the tank got pulled inside a large storehouse, which beside him lined tanks from different countries, different shape, size, and color. Finally, his curiosity peaked, and he asked Yukari about the situation he- no, the tank- is in.
"Emm, excuse me. Yukari-san, was it?" Yukari perked up at the call of her name.
"Yes! How may I help you, Touya?"
"I was just wondering how my KV-1 is going to be repaired.. Is it staying the same KV-1? Because I'm afraid it might broke unexpectedly again if it stays the same tank again-" Before his statement is finished, Yukari held up a finger in front of Touya.
"Fret not! After my repair is finished, the KV will, yes, be different. But I'm not sure about this.."
"About what?"
"Let's see.. After the repair, your KV-1 will become a KV-13 medium tank..."
-TO BE CONTINUED-
I dunno about this. I'm so crushed. I SUCK A LOT AT WRITING.
Well, nobody cares. I need reviews for how this chapter goes so far, and I can't say it's good. Let's just all say I did what I can do (?)
I really liked the cliffhanger on the chapter, though. And, forgive me again, if the way of my remodeling and repairs of the tanks are wrong. For example, a M3 to a M4.. I don't think that's possible, but that idea of totally restructuring the tank set had been on my mind way back before the prologue is made.
One more thing.. I don't think Momo and the SC had that much money to really buy tanks, and I don't recall there IS even a tank shop, but let's just say they DO have it. Just for the story to continue.
And yes, I didn't put much impression on Fuuka here... Maybe in later chapters. Next will be the members sorting.. Argh, I hate more OCs.
So, that's all I can offer for now. Please spare me if there's grave mistakes *-* Kdramon out!~
