Girls und Panzer: Steel Carnage
Chapter 6: The First Round (End) and Round 2 (Start)
Remaining Oarai Forces
-Anglerfish - Panzer Mk IV Oarai Special
-Duck - Hetzer
-Rabbit - Type 89 I-Go
-Mallard - Char B1 Bis
-Anteater - Tiger(P)
-Mongoose - MHI-Raptor
Remaining Saunders Forces
-Alpha - M4A3E8
-Bravo - Firefly
-Charlie - M4A3
-Echo - M4A3
-Foxtrot - M4A1
-Golf - M4A1
-India - M4A1
-Juliet - M36
-Kilo - Boeing AFK
Knocked Out
-Oarai
-Hippo - StuG III
-Saunders
-Delta - M4A3
-Hotel - M4A1
-STEEL CARNAGE-
The majority of the Saunders team were taking cover behind a large building that was probably meant to be an inn at the entrance of the village. Asuka felt the Raptor lurch as she launched off the ground. The G forces pressed her into her seat as she leapt towards the nearest building, and landed atop it, scattering roof tiles as the two clawed feet landed. As she predicted, the AFK had retreated behind the building and its pilots were not expecting an attack from above. Nor were the five other tanks that were around it.
'... uh oh,' thought Asuka.
"ORAA!"
Asuka steered to Raptor to leap down on top of the AFK. The other tanks were hurriedly trying to rotate their turrets to face the Raptor, but they were too slow. The Raptor landed on the scuttling six legged walking tank, and slammed its hull into the ground with the addition of a surprise twenty two tons. The angulation of the legs meant that the machine was very agile, and increased its ability to absorb the recoil of the main gun. However, its load bearing ability was much poorer than its power to weight ratio may have suggested.
The impact was deafening. Asuka turned on the electromagnets in its feet as she landed on the steel hull of the AFK.
'The pilots are probably stunned,' she thought. Usually, cockpits for vehicles like these were rather cramped, and she knew that she'd essentially just bounced the hull onto the floor like a basketball. The lack of scuttling from the AFK after the landing proved this.
'Five vehicles, all Shermans, rears facing towards the Raptor. Closest target on right is fastest to react.'
The Raptor's right arm began to turn outwards slightly as Asuka turned the torso towards the rear of what she'd later find out was Alisa's M4A3 Sherman. She fired at its rear armour with the right 57mm from point blank range. The shell exploded in a ball of fire and smoke which obscured her vision. Deciding that it was probably safe to move, Asuka pushed the Raptor forward, and purposely aimed to stand on one of the AFK's spindly legs.
The weight of the 22 ton machine was enough to snap the AFK's left middle leg clean off. There was an absolutely deafening screaming noise as the metal twisted and she pushed off the top of the hull. Asuka quickly took a look in the rear mounted camera and saw that the two Shermans on her left were preparing to fire.
'... I've got about five seconds to do something about that tank behind me...' she thought. 'First, dash to the side to lock up its turret, then walk around the body to the flank. Kill with a back kick. Use left gun to disable the gun on the next Sherman on right. This plan is insane!'
But before Asuka could initiate her plan, from around the corner on Asuka's right the Panzer IV skidded around and fired its 75mm gun at point blank range into the nearest tank it could reach, which happened to be Kay's tank, striking its target on the turret and setting off its KO flag. Leopon Team's Tiger (P) approached from Asuka's left, steering across the cover in a wide arc, and aimed down at the rear turret armour of another Sherman aiming for the Raptor.
"Sorry we're late!" said Nakajima from Leopon's Tiger. Mallard and Rabbit teams both appeared from the left and right respectively. They had the whole of Saunders' contingent trapped. A shell bounced off the frontal plate of the Tiger (P), and another off the skirt armour of the Panzer IV. Rabbit and Mallard team were about to round the corner and appear from behind Anglerfish and Leopon respectively...
The ensuing melee was cut off by a surprise radio announcement with the addition of a huge red flare from the southwest portion of the map.
"Saunders University High surrenders! Ooarai Girls School wins!"
"We did it commander!" said Utsugi from Rabbit Team's knocked out tank.
-STEEL CARNAGE-
"And what a day of Senshado we've had today!"
Miho was watching an afternoon re-broadcast of the post-match analysis of the Black Forest vs Maginot match, which as was predicted, was a total stomp. Maho was of course giving an interview, something which she had become very familiar with over the course of her time as the Nishizumi Heiress.
"Nishizumi Maho-san, this is your first win under the Steel Carnage rules, how do you feel?" asked 'Miss Suzuka'. She still had the look of someone who simply didn't belong near machinery
"This wasn't too different from a regular Sensha-do match. Maginot didn't have a Walking Tank deployed and neither do we."
'Sis doesn't like the new presenter that much,' thought Miho as she continued.
"Do you rate your chances against St Gloriana-BAE next round?"
"St Gloriana are a strong team. But Nishizumi Ryu means finding a way to move forward, no matter what."
A loud crash outside grabbed Miho's attention. She ducked out of her room at the back and rushed towards the space between the tank hangars.
"You should be ashamed of yourself! Apologize to nee-chan for scaring her."
A pravda girl was shouting at an older girl, both of them wearing pilot suits. Miho recognized the older one as Rei Amemiya.
"And what business is it to you? Don't you have a loser's bracket match to prepare for, Zueva three?"
"RRRGH! It's not Zueva Three! It's Riko Zueva!"
"Yeah yeah," said Rei, continuing to walk back towards the CalorieMate-Caterpillar hangar. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm busy."
"I'm not done with you!" shouted Riko as they crossed the threshold of CalorieMate-Caterpillar's hangar. The instant she set foot inside the hangar, Rei spun around, and grabbed her by the collar.
"GET OUT OF MY PIT!" shouted Rei. She pushed Riko out of the building, and a front kick to her chest sent her flying. Other teams who had come out to watch the commotion gasped in shock as the shorter girl bounced off the hard cracked dirt.
Miho didn't know what came over her at that point. Maybe it was because she wasn't used to seeing someone being bullied like that. Maybe hanging around the volleyball team for the past academic year lit a fire somewhere in the corner of her heart. But when she saw the Pravda team sprinting across the field, she was the first to run up to stop what looked like a brawl about to break out. What must have been half of Ooarai's hangar emptied.
However it wasn't needed. Rei slammed personnel entrance to the hangar shut, leaving a dirtied and crying Riko Zueva to be lead back to the Pravda hangar by her team, some of who were shooting dirty looks at the CalorieMate-Caterpillar Hangar.
"... classic Rei," said Asuka as she caught up with everyone else from Ooarai. Though what she said could have been a joke, there was no humour in Asuka's voice. Miho continued to watch as Riko was lead away by Nanami Zueva and Nonna.
"... Captain," said Momo to Miho. "We have to beat her," she half growled, half spat. The rest of the Ooarai team were in silent agreement. It felt as if this battle just got personal for everyone involved.
-STEEL CARNAGE-
DAY 4 Matches
Upper Bracket
-Black Forest vs St Gloriana-BAE [Overwatch]
-CalorieMate-CAT vs Ooarai-Mitsubishi [Twin Snakes]
Lower Bracket (Losers place joint 7th)
-Maginot vs Anzio [Showdown]
-Pravda-Polyot vs Saunders-Boeing [Ninjutsu]
-STEEL CARNAGE-
Three days was all they had to prepare for their next match. Those three days seemed to fly by. The automotive club was working overtime trying to get the tanks ready for action, and it became clear why Saunders had surrendered so quickly; the extensive damage that Asuka had dealt to the Boeing AFK, a more advanced machine, would take much longer to repair than those of a few tanks, whose parts were readily available. Which was why Kay did not to invite the Ooarai girls over to their camp to have dinner and a few laughs; she was too busy supervising the repairs to their tanks.
The lack of invitation seemed to herald the start of a change in everyone's mood, and after the three days were up, they all were shipped out to the islands, there was an air of tension that wasn't present during the first round.
The pre match meet and greet was done without any fanfare. Miho shook hands with Rei, but the two of them didn't even meet eyes.
'Perhaps Rei's a little embarrassed about what happened yesterday with Riko Zueva?' thought Miho as they walked off after exchanging pleasantries.
This time, Asuka was the first in the car before the rest of the team.
"Asuka-chan," said Miho. "Are you still nervous?"
"Yes. The only good weakness I could find on the CAT 01 was the lateral side of the knee joint. But we can't just hope to topple it by shooting its side, because Rei will roll the machine to it's feet before you even realize what's going on."
"It'll be fine. The opportunity to hit it will present itself," assured Miho.
"I hope you're right..."
-Ooarai vs Caloriemate [Twin Snakes]-
Miho had her head outside of the hatch, waiting for the signal to start at the south east plateau of Twin Snakes.
"So, one last time," said Miho. "The plan is this; Mallard should move towards the south end of the southern plateau to provide ground level vision and to cover the central pass and Anteater team should do the same from the north of the middle plateau. Turtle and Hippo will hold the east plateau to provide cover fire into the central pass. Anglerfish, Leopon, Rabbit and Mongoose will make a push through the centre and will be the offensive unit. Duck team will be the scout unit to look for any ambushes towards the northeast. Any questions?"
"None," was the general consensus. As they replied, the white signal flare fired off from the mast in their base area, signalling for the match to begin.
"All teams begin Operation Crab Pincer."
The eight tanks and single mecha of the Ooarai senshado team set off. Miho was sure she heard a clipping noise through the radio, which must have been the oxygen mask from inside the Raptor.
The way the map was laid out, both sides could see each other's bases from their start points. If they looked hard enough, they could see each other's lineups from the opposite sides of the area. However the only ramp leading to the base faced away from any kind of route that could be used to take the bases.
As the white go flare was released, Miho was sure that she saw two of the tanks on Caterpillar-Caloriemate not moving from their start position. She couldn't tell which models they were from her position, but was sure that they had their reasons for not moving.
'Maybe they're leaving a defensive force behind, and aren't interested in advancing down the middle..."
Within minutes both teams were in position to advance down the middle. Miho could see the five P40 tanks lined up, ready to fire on anyone that came in range...
'To be honest, their positioning isn't the greatest.'
"All teams halt!" said Miho. She scanned the clifftops with her binoculars, making sure that there were no possible flanks incoming. "Turtle, Hippo, do you see any targets on the west plateau?"
"No. We're totally clear," said Erwin.
"Okay," said Miho. "Assault unit, prepare to fire." As the Tiger P and the Panzer IV both lined up and prepared to advance, the five P40s were doing the same. They were both preparing to move forward.
'This is perfect. Anteater and Mallard should have a flank on them.'
"Mallard, Anteater, are you both ready?"
"Mallard, not ready yet," said Midoriko.
"Anteater is in position."
"Heads up! CAT 01 spotted by the north!" said Taeko. This was followed shortly by an explosion as Duck team was hit by a shell. It's white flag deployed, signalling first blood.
"ASUKA!"
The shout echoed across from the other side of the massive canyon. There, in its yellow and black trim, was the CAT 01, piloted by Rei Amemiya. The sound echoed throughout the central pass of the battle area, the sound bouncing and reverberating off the cliffs. It was picked up by the Raptor's microphone, and it blared inside Asuka's cockpit.
"REI!" shouted Asuka back through her own loudspeaker. That sound also echoed through the central pass of the map, and the Raptor broke out of cover, and out of formation.
"Wait! Asuka-san hold position!"
"I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!" shouted Asuka as the P40s tried to close in to trap the Raptor. But the Raptor's movement speed was much too high for a manually aimed gun to get a proper bearing. She was bearing down on the CAT 01, which wasn't even beginning to fire. Instead, it was also sprinting towards the Raptor at full speed.
"All teams, spring the ambush on the P40s in the central region!" said Miho.
-NEXT TIME ON STEEL CARNAGE-
The Raptor was leaning forward into its charge, whilst the CAT 01 was doing the same. From above, it looked like the Raptor was going to just bull rush into the CAT 01 and knock it out using its speed and slamming its entire weight into the humanoid machine.
Just a split second before the Raptor was about to hit the CAT 01, it dashed to its left side, and was about to point its gun at the side of the Raptor, when the Raptor leapt towards its right, and the two bodies crunched into each other. The CAT 01's gun missed as its barrel was pushed aside by the Raptor's chassis.
The two walking tanks separated by about two metres after the impact. As the CAT 01 shifted back, the Raptor took an enormous step to its right, pushing the right side of it's hull into the chest region of the CAT 01. The CAT 01 tried to bring its left arm back to swing in for a punch, but the Raptor took another step in to the right whilst spinning the torso to the right, which threw the CAT 01 away.
The Raptor and the CAT 01 faced each other head on; their fight was only just beginning.
-Asuka vs Rei-