Chapter 10: Wounded in Action/WIA

My eyes opened up when the sunlight hit my face. I sat up and wiped my eyes, yawning.

Realizing I was in my Mod. 1 MAV, I stood up and looked out at the surrounding countryside. It was late morning, the area looking serene.

I remembered why I was travelling in the first place, to deliver something for Kikai, and I started up the engine of my MAV. I turned the turret to make sure it wasn't jammed or not working otherwise, and I accelerated forwards, to the Human Village.

"Eye'm da be-" someone said, before I heard the sounds of something crunching under my tracks. Stopping my vehicle, reversing, and looking down, I saw a spot of light blue dust where my tracks just were.

"Whoops."

Assuming I accidentally ran over someone, I drove around the stain on the ground and shifted my attention elsewhere.

Nearing the Human Village, an explosion rang out next to my vehicle. I stepped on the brakes. Up ahead, a figure was on the road.

Looking through my monocular, I saw a woman there. She had long light blue hair and atop her head was a strange-looking hat. She was wearing a long, blue dress that was white at the end.

Since I was feeling slightly defiant today, I moved forwards. When I was roughly 150 meters away from her, she held up one hand and yelled,"Stop immediately!"

I just sped up. Knowing she will load up a Danmaku attack, I loaded a normal HE Danmaku into the cannon, ducked inside my MAV, closed the hatch, and braced. When I reached 50 meters from her, I fired off the shot. She jumped out of the way, just in time to miss my vehicle.

My relief lasted momentarily, as a loud bang resounded on the side of my MAV. I nearly spun out of control before I managed to keep it steady, only for my tracks to be hit. I heard the somewhat familiar snap of the tracks, as they fell right off.

Now, if I had built my vehicle with the Christie suspension, which were a track type that could go without tracks, I would've been fine. However, I built it with a Bogie suspension instead to make it quicker and easier to build. However, I believe Bogie suspensions don't work too well without the track part.

My vehicle skidded off the road to the right. The MAV hit a tree. The collision jolted me forwards.

...and I don't think the engine is supposed to emit that much smoke. I realized i forgot to shut off the engine, and I quickly did. I opened up the hatch of my tank, and I saw a human holding a spear, prodding the front wheel of my MAV. I loaded in a blank Danmaku shot, and fired into the sky to scare him off. However, right after I did that, one Danmaku hit the back of my helmet. It bounced off harmlessly.

I turned around to face my attacker. It was that same woman again, with that blue outfit and weird hat.

"What's your problem?" I asked. "I'm just trying to get into the Human Village."

"And that is my problem, believe it or not," she replied coolly. I knew I was in a vulnerable position. Since my MAV's turret was turned forwards, and she was standing about five meters away at the rear of my tank, my cannon and all my spellcards would be useless as my cannon wasn't pointed anywhere near her.

"I have never met you, miss. How in the world could you have problems with me?"

She was holding some paper in her hands. "Although the Bunbunmaru Newspaper is not very reliable, it is very good at alerting anyone in Gensoukyou of one's presence. You just had the luck of being on front page. It talks very extensively about your threats and power."

Wait, Bunbunmaru? Wasn't that the one... oh great. That annoying Aya person wasn't kidding about that newspaper, were they?

I suddenly realized that the cannon I installed on my MAV was detachable, just in case. I pulled the cannon off and replied,"Let's have a duel, then. If you win, I'll leave the Human Village alone. If I win, I gain entry. Deal?"

"Is it rude to duel without knowing each other's names?" she asked. "I'll introduce first: I'm Keine Kamishirasawa, guardian of the Human Village. You can just call me Keine. And what is your name?"

I simply replied,"Fleety. Let's fight."

Slightly off-guard by my way to initiate the battle, I leapt off my MAV and, with an HE Danmaku loaded, I fired. She dodged the initial shot, however the scattering Danmaku grazed her a bit. I loaded in another HE Danmaku, before I had to jump down, as she fired off blue Danmaku in my direction. I returned fire, before standing back up again.

I decided I wanted to test my spellcards in battle. I pulled out my HESH spellcard and yelled:

"「HESH: High Explosive Squash Head」!"

As my cannon was charged with the powerful shot, I stayed down to prevent being hit. I then fired off the HESH.

Keine dodged that one easily, but was hit by the explosion and subsequent Danmaku from it.

"Looks like I have no choice," she replied, pulling out a spellcard.

Before she could activate it, though, I heard a relatively familiar voice.

"Hey! You're da one that ran me over! Fight me, 'cuz eye'm da strongest!"

A childish looking person, with icicles floating around their back and was wearing a blue dress, flew in front of me. So I resorted to another good tactic of mine.

"「APCR: Armor Piercing Composite Rigid」!"

The APCR Danmaku I shot went right through her, and she turned into a bunch of dust and snow. It also hit Keine, too, somehow, knocking her out of the sky.

I walked up to Keine, who was struggling to stand up, and I pointed my cannon at her, loading in an AP Danmaku.

"「Spirit Sign "Fantasy Seal"」!"

Knowing that someone just used a spellcard, I jumped down. Of course, a bunch of bright lightly-colored orbs hit me, and a few exploded. My eardrums rang for about five seconds, and my vision was blurry for said amount of time.

Despite my stinging back, I stood up in defiance and faced my other attacker. However, my legs gave way, and I saw nothing.

Sorry for the short period of inactivity. I needed a bit of a break from writing, and I admit I'm only *slightly* addicted to War Thunder and the Touhou games.

Saint [GUEST]: I believe APDS and APFSDS rounds weren't used until the Cold War? AP, HE, APCR, HESH, and HEAT were all used in WWII, if you can see a pattern.

EDIT: Nevermind, APDS was used in late WWII.