Yay first review! Anyways, long chapter, finally answer those questions I put so much emphasis on, and backstory blah blah blah. Dragon's tank has yet to be revealed. I will tell you, no matter what it is, it will have a crew of 2, Oni/Dragon and AID (Dragon/Oni is a mechanical genius, he'll find a way). Girls und Panzer not owned by me. Oni, AID, and this storyline do however. By the way. I did have to rewrite this chapter. The first version was better, but my computer shut down and all I had done was lost. I couldn't remember the first version exactly either.
Commander Nishizumi was currently flying with five others, to a location only she knew. They weren't too far from their destination and they were suspected to arrive within minutes.
"Commander Nishizumi. Where are we going?" Katyusha asked.
"We are headed to Oarai upon the Associations request." The commander stated.
"What did Oni do this time?" Katyusha asked. "One of us always needs to go help him because he's in trouble or has nearly exposed us."
"I thought Oni wasn't supposed to see the five of us." Nonna stated.
"He's not. Seeing him would put any of us in danger. I don't even know why he was sent to Oarai in the first place." Erika said.
"You said the same thing every time he visited Kuromorimine." Maho pointed out.
"Why are the three of us going to Oarai anyway?" Kay said.
"Because, maybe Oni messed up so badly, we need to relocate the five of you." The short blonde responded.
"Do not doubt him, Katyusha. Oni is one of the top junior officers, like you and Maho are. Not to mention that he is also one of the smartest people the Association has. With Oarai winning nationals, Aya and Anzu have been exposed. The Association must have figured that they would be safest with him, rather than without him." Commander Nishizumi said.
"None of us recognized him when he first came to our schools, and he goes by 'Dragon' according to the news, so maybe Aya and Anzu don't know it's him. Then again, if they recognized the name Dragon, he would at least tell Anzu who he is." Erika guessed.
"Why would they recognize the name Dragon?" Kay asked.
"That's right!" Katyusha exclaimed. "He's been searching for the tank thieves, as ordered, only for them to steal from the schools he most recently visited. It started some rumors about him being the tank thief."
"The report says that we are to meet Oni, along with the Oarai tankery team and Darjeeling. It doesn't say anything about the thefts." Maho said.
"Why is that St. Gloriana girl coming?" Katyusha asked.
"The report says Oni discovered a fake Churchill about an hour ago. Darjeeling could have been killed, had she been hit. There hasn't been a casualty since Oni's and this was too close for comfort." Commander Nishizumi responded.
"And there is the fact that the Association wants to recruit Darjeeling as the newest Junior officer." Maho said.
"It does make sense. She was able to perfectly coordinate St. Gloriana's tanks. Skills like those could be valuable to the Associations cause." Erika added.
"I see. We're finally making a move to stop these tank thieves then. The strategist, the genius, the coordinator, the natural born leader, and the nation's top tankery team, all working as one to save the world from tank operating super criminals." Katyusha said, enthusiastically.
Commander Nishizumi simply nodded, just as they landed outside the Oarai garages. "He'll be here soon." She said. "But why does the Association want to make a move now?" she thought.
(Shortly after)
Dragon landed with ease and everyone got off the copter. Oarai's instructor, Ami Chono, directed them into the garage. "Commander Nishizumi, everyone is here." She stated.
"Thank you lieutenant." She said.
"Looks like you haven't broken any bones, Dragon." Katyusha said, grabbing his right hand for a congratulatory hand shake. Dragon winces at the pain as Katyusha began to laugh. "Guess I spoke too soon." She said.
Dragon walked away, mumbling. "For someone smaller than Anzu, she sure has one heck of a grip."
"Mom! Maho! What's going on?" Miho asked.
"Good to see you Miho." Commander Nishizumi said. "As for what's going on... I'm sure at least two of you here have heard about an incident occurring three and a half years ago."
Miho and Yukari both looked at each other. "You mean about the tankery team who had a tank stolen before their biggest match?" Yukari said. Aya froze.
"I remember hearing about that." Darjeeling stated. "Didn't the school ship get shut down afterwards?"
"Yes, it did. No one believed it was safe anymore. Now what you may not know was that the tank was found the day it was stolen, by a brother and a sister. The thieves panicked and fired, knocking both unconscious and severely injured the brother…." She explained.
"NO! NO! I… I DON'T WANT TO REMEMBER THIS!" Aya screamed, trying to make a run for the door. Katyusha and Maho stopped her. The others were worried, but she eventually calmed down.
"There are six people who know the full story; Aya is only one of them." Out from behind some boxes stepped Kay, Nonna, and Erika. "I would like you to meet four of the star members of that schools tankery team." Commander Nishizumi said pointing to the three.
"Four?" Momo asked, confusion apparent in her voice.
Anzu walked over to the three. "I'm the fourth. Together, we made the best team. No other team could ever figure out a way to throw us off balance. Our style was always changing. Nonna was the cautious one, Erika was the tough one, Kay was the inventive one, and I was the wild card." The four foot tall president said proudly. The others were quiet.
"Now That you mention it… there was a huge story in the news about one of the strongest tankery teams, and their 'miracle' mechanic, about a month prior. Every team in the nation saw that interview, hoping to learn their secrets." Darjeeling stated. "But after the school was shut down… they disappeared. There were no recorded matches, no videos, photos, interviews, or much of anything about them. It was as if they never existed."
"Right! That was the Association's work, which was necessary for our protection. It ended our reputation as a team. But the others were perfect for commander and sub commander positions at their schools, so they could still partake in tankery and remake their names. But I was the wild card, I never could be a commander on my own, and strategy was never something I could do alone. That was why I asked Miho to be commander when Oarai started tankery again." Anzu stated.
"Why couldn't you tell us any of this before?" Yuzu asked.
"I couldn't put Aya or myself in any situation that would cause us harm or put us in danger. Not speaking about our relation was the only way we could be sure no one would overhear us." The council president said.
"So what happened?" Caesar questioned, wanting to hear about the incident.
Aya was the one to speak. "My brother… my brother and I were on our way to watch the tankery match. This was after the tank was stolen and we were running late." She took a deep breath. "We decided to head through an alley, as a shortcut. We didn't know that's where the thieves were. My… my brother fought them, his left arm getting dislocated in the process. Well, I started to run away and one of the thieves noticed. He got in the tank and took aim. My brother tackled me to the ground, using his body to shield me, but at the same time, lost his arm because of the explosion." Several of the tankery members were crying at this point, as was Aya. "I woke up in the hospital a day later, the thieves had gotten away. I… I remember looking over at my brother, his arm missing, and bandages wrapped around him. It took three weeks for him to wake up. I asked him why he risked his life for me when he did, and he said…"
"And I said, because my life wouldn't have been worth it if I allowed you to die." Dragon said.
Aya turned towards him. "Oni?... Is that you?"
"Sorry I couldn't tell you earlier." Oni said. Aya just ran up and embraced him, crying into his shoulder. "I know… It's been far too long… too long to be separated from my little sister."
The others all gasped at the unexpected revelation. "You were separated?" Azusa asked.
"All of us were. The thieves had spies in the school, so the six of us were separated, except Anzu and Aya." Nonna said.
"Every school has an officer, someone to alert the Association of any information about any serious events involving tanks, like the thefts. They made sure the thieves couldn't get to any of us so that they could get to another." Erika said.
"All of us couldn't stay together, it would have left too big of a target. That's why almost all of us went to separate schools." Kay finished.
"Is that why you called Anzu 'Anzi' before our match?" Yuzu asked.
"Yeah, that was a little slip up on my part. Anzi was my nickname for her." Kay chuckled.
"So how are all of you related?" Momo asked, still confused about how she hadn't known about this. She knew there were topics Anzu didn't want to talk about, but she thought she had figured them out.
"Aya and Oni's father was our uncle." Anzu said. "So we're all cousins."
Oni looked at her. "You know what happened with our parents." He said bitterly.
"What does he mean? I know they weren't allowed to see them after that visit in the hospital but what else happened?" Katyusha said.
Aya began crying again. "They blamed me for what happened. They saw Oni as a genius, which he was, but when he lost his arm… they were so mad that they disowned me. Oni got into a fight with them because of that." She said.
"I told them that if they didn't want anything to do with Aya, they didn't want anything to do with me, since I was the one who decided to shield her. I was the one who decided to do something." Oni said, pausing for a moment. "And not once did I regret telling them that. They disowned me with her, saying 'Well, if you're dumb enough to ruin your life, you can go with her.' I never heard from them after that."
"You have been through a lot… I'm sorry." Ami said.
"Don't be sorry. If our parents were like that, then disowning us was the best thing they've done for us. Someone who can simply ignore a girl like Aya will never seem like a parent to me." Oni said.
"Enough about the past for now, I have more pressing matters. In one month, the Association plans to have an international tournament. The top 16 nations will send their top tankery teams here, to Japan. The tournament will be bait for the thieves; hopefully you can catch them before the tournament is over. Those of you here not part of Oarai will be joining them for this tournament. Tanks must be ready in three weeks' time; so you have until then to procure any tanks you need. I do not know where you'll get more tanks, but if you wish, crews can be sent from your own schools." Commander Nishizumi said.
"Yes Commander!" Maho, Katyusha, and Oni exclaimed, while the rest gave a simple "Yes".
"I'm sure we'll find a few tanks around." Anzu said.
"Very well, then I better be off. Good luck, to all of you?" Commander Nishizumi said, before exiting the garage.
"How are we going to find tanks?" Erika asked.
"We'll go looking tomorrow. I assume that using another school's tanks will be considered cheating." Oni stated.
"Then we'll need our rest." Maho said.
"But who's staying with who?" Anzu asked cheerfully.
"I'll be staying with Aya." Oni said. AID growled happily at this. "I would like to be with my sister some more." Oni stated. Anzu agreed. In the end, Kay was staying with Anzu, Katyusha with Erwin, Nonna with Momo, Maho with Miho, Erika with Yuzu, and Darjeeling was staying with Mako.
Ok, I lied, I'm not done with these footnote things, for they are really convenient. Anyways, I revealed more tanks are needed, but I already have them picked out. The only one I need is Oni's. And yes, from here on out it is Oni, but his team will be Dragon team.