Saunders University High School
The sound of engines roaring, tracks clattering, suspensions squeeking, and lastly, cannons booming. These are the sounds you'll usually hear at Saunders' training grounds. Several Shermans are seen driving around the wide area of grass, mud and soil One M4A1 76W, One Firefly and the rest are regular M4's, though everyone are busy on their training regime, Kay orders her driver to pull over near outside of a hangar.
"Alright! Lisa stop the Sherman!"
With that command, the M4 comes to a full halt, Kay would climb out of the hatch, then jumps off the side and walks inside the hangar, where a long metallic table would be set up as some students look at maps, charts and some are even reading a manual for the Sherman, but this wasn't your average Manual, this was the manual that read "M4A3E2 Field Manual" on the title, Kay would walk towards the one girl looking at a chart.
"Hey, Aya! How's the Jumbo?" Kay asks with her hands clenched in a fist on her waist.
"Um, we just need to install a few things then we're ready to test it out!"
The girl would reply energetically.
Kay then walks over to the microphone connected to a loudspeaker outside and clears her throat before starting to speak.
"Calling on Alisa and Naomi! Report to assembly hangar ASAP!"
Kay's voice would be heard loud and clear through the loudspeakers as all tanks stop to listen.
Alisa and Naomi both drive towards the assembly hangar, parking their tanks in a neat row along with Kay's M4 as commanders of both tanks get off and walk towards Kay who is standing just outside the hangar and waiting for them.
"You called?" Naomi asks, hands in her jacket's pockets.
"Yep! I want to show you both something!" Kay leads the two inside as something comes to their sight, obviously a tank that is under a tarp.
"Let me guess, an A2?" Alisa tries to guess.
"Nope!" Kay teases
"Urgh.. A3?" Alisa tried again but she got close enough
"Close enough!"
With that, Kay pulled a rope with her strength and down the tarp goes revealing a tank painted in olive drab, the Sherman Jumbo, its hull a bit wider and thicker than the normal A3, the turret is also bigger hence the name 'Jumbo'.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Naomi asks.
"Easy Eight?" Alisa's jaw dropped as she smiles at the sight of the tank.
"No silly, it's a jumbo."
"Now we've got something that is equivalent to a heavy tank!" Alisa would still be smiling as she goes around the tank and inspects it.
The Main gun seems to have been removed, Alisa notices the gun mantlet is missing.
"Huh? Where is the..?"
Kay turns her look up at the hangar's upper catwalk where a lift is hanging from the ceiling. The mantlet with what seems to be a long barreled 76 millimeter gun and dangling beside it, the old 75 millimeter short barrel gun.
"We're replacing the '75 with the '76!" Kay replied winking at Alisa and waving one finger back and forth.
"We have this baby to replace an M4." Naomi states.
"Yep, and we still have more coming!"
Kay's statement made Alisa go excited and jumps around.
Honolulu, Hawaii Night.
Saunders' school ship the George Washington, docks at Hawaii at night, the bright white lights glow from one of the ship's cargo bay as several tanks form a neat row in front of the cargo bay. These tanks seem to have long guns and a smaller turret than the jumbo but not smaller than the regular M4. Kay, Alisa and Naomi stood in front of the row of Sherman's, admiring the sleek look of the HVSS or Horizontal Volute Spring Suspension but their admiring was shortly interrupted by a girl approaching them, by the height of 5'1, brown long hair tied in a pony tail, blue eyes and a fair complexion. She seems to have a blue duffel bag strapped on her shoulders, Wearing the Saunders' uniform.
"Excuse me um.." The girl starts, catching the trio's attention as they look at her.
"May I help you?" Kay would ask the girl inspecting her from bottom to top.
"I'm the exchange student from Cola Academy"
Kay would look twice again, seeing that she's already wearing Saunders' uniform. Since Saunders is associated with most American tankery schools, they have established exchange programs with most of these schools. Cola Academy is one of them.
"Oh! I remember now! Welcome! I'm Kay, this is Naomi. "
Kay introduces the girl to the. Firefly's Gunner/Commander, Naomi would raise her arm up to greet then Kay turns to Alisa
"That girl with the grumpy face there is Alisa." Alisa heard it and frowns
"Hey! … Anyways welcome."
"Um.. You haven't … Told us your name… "
The girl would stand fast and straight as she smiles.
"Ingrid Johnson! Reporting!"
After that, everyone goes inside and the crew takes the Shermans inside the ship as the ramp closes, the loud electroning beeping of the ship's ramp can be heard from a distance. After the ramp have been closed, the tanks would have been safely taken inside.
The girls would settle down, some checking the tanks, the others resting. Kay, Naomi, Alisa and Ingrid went inside the Commander's office, Kay would push the hatch open as Naomi and Alisa went ahead, Naomi sitting down on the sofa and putting her feet up the coffee table. Alisa sits beside her, pulling out her reading glasses and a pocket book about radio. Kay would stand beside the door way and invites Ingrid in. The girl immediately finds a seat in front of the two girls inside as Kay closes the hatch and walks behind her desk and grabs a seat. She would pull out a record book and scribbles on the few pages before putting it back in the drawer.
"So, Ingrid how are things in Cola?" Kay asks.
"We've recently acquired Easy Eights and other tanks."
Kay nods at that and looks out the window seeing the M4A3E8s outside then after a short time, Kay turns back to Ingrid.
"Alisa!" Kay starts and Alisa folds her pocket book and takes her glasses off then standing up.
"Go show Ingrid to her room."
"Yes ma'am" Ingrid gets up and follows Alias across the row of tanks until they reach the other side where a doorway with stairs leading up waits for them. They proceed up and up some levels until finally reaching the living quarters. The hallway is well furnished instead of it being a ship's hallway. Wooden doors would stand before them.
Alisa keeps looking at Ingrid as they walk, out of curiosity Alisa seems to wonder about her experience in the tankery team. The twin tailed girl pauses and asks Ingrid.
"Say, Ingrid…" She begins and Ingrid turns around to face her.
"Say, how's your tankery record doing back in Cola?"
Ingrid raises her brows at that question and giggles causing Alisa to raise her brow as well. Ingrid clears her throat after a few seconds.
"Well, as far as I've studied at Cola, I've been on twenty battles since first year."
Alisa wasn't surprised at that number but then another question came into her mind as she tries to find a chance to ask it to Ingrid.
"So… How many of those were victories? And … Your record said you were a gunner-slash-commander in the Easy-Eight… How's your kill record?"
Ingrid, after hearing that question grins, crossing her arms then closing her eyes as she ckears her throat once again and finally speaks after a short moment.
"Nineteen of those … were victories as for my kill record, um… I've only got sixty-three under my name."
Now Alisa is shocked, this third-year transferee has sixty-three kills under her name in twenty battles, the part that got her was when she referred to sixty-three as 'only' and it ticked her a little bit but Alisa knew that it was worth taking pride on having only one defeat whereas for Saunders have been defeated so many times before.
"Si-sixty-three?! … Ahem… well um… that last match… What happened? The one where you lost?"
"Oh that, um… we were up against Carius University of Tankery … during the international finals and I tell you, they're a pain in the ass and you might not want to go up against them when the international league comes again. Man I hate that Jagdtiger."
Alisa nods, finally satisfied of the answers they continue to walk until they reach the room where Ingrid will be staying. Alisa would then go back to Kay and Naomi in the office and report back.
And several minutes later…
"SHE'S WHAT?!"
A loud shriek is heard from the office as Kay was shocked to hear what Alisa found out about Ingrid.
"I thought the exchange program only gives us the inexperienced?!" Alisa adds.
Naomi would boot up the laptop and look up about Ingrid Johnson in tankery records. After a few seconds of loading, Ingrid's tankery profile popped out and Naomi could not believe what she saw.
"It says here that Ingrid is one of America's top scoring sensha-do aces out of … three, she's the second placer!"
"Wait, hold on what?" Alisa leans in to see what is written there.
Kay does the same and looks at the pictures of Ingrid during the matches. The pictures would span from her first years up to her current year. Then the final picture with a brief description under it appears as Naomi scrolls down further. A picture of Ingrid next to what seemed to be a knocked out M4A3E8, she looks like she's being scolded by someone.
"It says here that after an incident where she got into an argument with her commander Louisa Johnson… her sister? … to which she charged in alone to confront the enemy team taking out half of the enemy team however, as Louisa tried to get Ingrid to come back, Ingrid… she … Incidentally shot at their flag tank, Louisa Johnson's tank knocking it out which lead to an instant humiliating defeat for their school. As punishment, she was to be transferred to another school for discipline."
The trio were silent, they immediately knew that there was something up with Ingrid despite her ace status.
"Looks like we're gonna have a really big problem." Kay stretches her arms up as she then puts her fist into her other hand and grins.
"But problems are meant to be solved!"
Chapter 3 Ends here, please leave a review to let me know what to add and take out thank you.
