A hospital room was not the most comfortable place to rest, with its sterile colours constantly reminding the occupants as to why they were there, the only sound being the faint beeps indicating that the man on the bed was still in the land of the living. The young girl in the room had run out of tears to weep long ago, though the occasional tear slipped from her eyes.

Darjeeling looked on from the doorway, silent and tired. The past three days had been quite rough…

Three Days Ago

After everyone had taken their seats, Scott ran an eye over the command staff of each school, taking note of expressions in the hope that they would be able to utilise a limited form of Psychological Warfare. He had just finished running his eyes over the Ooarai contingent when the announcer began speaking, "Good Day everyone, I welcome each of you and your school's to the Drawing Ceremony of the 64th National Senshadou Tournament. The first school to draw their spot is Kuromorimine!"

At that, two girls walked up and Darjeeling leant over and whispered in Scott's ear, "The brown-haired one is Maho Nishizumi, Commander for her mother's school, and the white-haired one is Erika Itsumi, her Vice-Commander."

Scott nodded, "Kuro is one of the only major schools to remain a single-sex school, I suspect the Headmistress' doing in that, even if it would have bolstered their numbers," he muttered, then he studied her and raised an eyebrow, "A mask? What do you have to hide?"

Darjeeling looked to him, "What?"

Scott gestured to Maho, "She's wearing an emotional mask, one that is good enough to fool most people, the clue is in her eyes. Their darting around, as if she's trying to determine when she can drop her mask and let her emotions out."

They were so engrossed in their conversation that they missed hearing what number had been called out, but they paid attention after that. Ooarai, Pravda, Saunders and Koala had been called up then came, "St Gloriana!" and up they went. Upon reaching the table upon which the jar sat, Darjeeling reached in and pulled out a slip of paper, "Number Six!" was called.

Scott and Darjeeling both looked up to see who was in the number five spot and a single word shot through their heads when they saw it, "Bugger!" as the number five spot was held by Kuromorimine.

Walking back to their seats, Scott absentmindedly watched the rest of the proceedings as he had retreated into his mind to work over what all he needed to find out about their opponent. Darjeeling shook him eventually as it had finished. St Gloriana would face Kuromorimine, Saunders and Anzio in spots seven and eight respectively, Pravda and BC Freedom in three and four, Ooarai and Chi-ha-tan in one and two, Jatkosota and Maginot; nine and ten, Bonple and Count High; eleven and twelve, Koala and Yogurt; thirteen and fourteen, leaving Maple and Waffle as fifteen and sixteen. Scott looked at Darjeeling and lent over and whispered in her ear, "Shall we exchange pleasantries with our opponents?"

Darjeeling nodded and so they walked over to the Kuromorimine seats, both Darjeeling's and Scott's crew following. Upon reaching them, Maho greeted them, "Darjeeling, I look forward to our battle," she mentioned.

Darjeeling pursed her lips, recalling the last time they had met on the field of battle. However, she quickly pushed that memory from her mind, "Perhaps, my dear Maho, allow me to introduce Scott Perkins, my Vice Commander," she said, gesturing to him.

Scott bowed, "Greetings young Maho, a pleasure to see you again."

Maho though, didn't have time to greet Scott as Shiho Nishizumi intruded on their conversation, "Maho, why are you conversing with this boy?"

Despite the intrusion, Scott maintained a pleasant attitude to the Nishizumi Matriarch, "Ah, Lady Nishizumi, a pleasure to meet you in person at last. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Scott Perkins. About ten years ago, my father met with you and spoke very highly of you."

While this had been going on, Foster had noticed something odd, a person was walking towards them, wearing a sweatshirt and had the hood up. However, once the person was close, Foster noticed the gun in the person's hand and that it was pointed at Scott. He knew he had to act fast, so with a shout of "Captain get down!" Foster began struggling with the person.

When Foster's shout was heard, the hooded man acted rashly; deciding to continue with whatever his plan was and to bypass Foster, a shot rang out.

For Rosehip, time stood still as she watched Foster get hit and collapse to the ground. After that, the next thing she remembered was holding Foster, begging him to be alive.

Scott though did remember what happened next. Rosehip, with holy fury in her eyes, began pummeling the assailant, before she used her small figure to hoist herself onto the man's back and began to choke him out. By this point, his hood had fallen off and everyone could see that it was Archibald Evans who had shot Foster.

The rest of the time between then and getting to Foster's room was a blur for everyone. Scott vaguely remembered asking some of the girls to take Rosehip home before she turned on him with the same look in her eyes that she had when she took Archibald down and promptly reneged that order.

Back in the present

Darjeeling felt Scott's arms snake around her and lent back into her boyfriend, "You haven't been able to sleep, have you?" she whispered.

Scott scoffed, if the bags under his eyes, dishevelled hair and clothes weren't a dead giveaway, his voice would have betrayed his lack of sleep, "No I haven't," he murmured, "But I've also lost track of the boys, and I daren't leave Rosehip alone," then he sighed, "Though none of us should be alone at this time, even if he was an arse, we Yorkshire people still should have seen this coming, the fact that we didn't…"

Darjeeling nodded, much to the dismay of many St Gloriana Girls, and she was sure some boys were of similar mindset, Archibald survived Rosehip's assault though he was arrested and placed in a heavily guarded prison where he would be watched until his trial, "What do you think will happen to him?" she asked.

Scott shrugged, "I don't know, the laws here in Japan are very different to the laws back home, though I very much doubt he'll be walking free anytime soon for that very reason."

Darjeeling nodded and shut her eyes, "I'll call Assam and Pekoe, they'll find the boys," she said.

Scott raised an eyebrow, "Sweetheart, you do know that we want them in one piece, right?"

It turned out that Scott was right to be concerned, as Assam and Pekoe found their boys… completely smashed, but relatively whole. Though they would have been annoyed normally, with Rosehip having not moved in the past three days, they were willing to cut them a little slack, a little.

Darjeeling and Scott had moved into the room and had convinced Rosehip to sleep a little. They were just covering her with a blanket that the hospital staff were happy to supply when Darjeeling felt her phone buzz. Pulling it out, she just smiled at Assam's response, 'Found them, tell Scott that they won't be in too many pieces after we're done.' Scott just sighed as he read the text over Darjeeling's shoulder. Darjeeling just chuckled, "What? Would you prefer that she not tell us that?"

Scott rubbed his temple, "It's the fact that she felt the need to tell me that that has me worried. Josh and Stan aren't reckless men by nature, but I suspect they went and got hammered so they can't be counted on. Tell me, what do you think they'll do?" he asked.

Darjeeling furrowed her brow, "Well, best case, they take care of them in their current state and in their hungover state. Worst case… oh, I see what you're worried about."

Scott sighed, "I don't think we'll have to worry about harm coming to the boys," he said. Darjeeling was confused so Scott continued, "With the boys unable to be responsible, the girls could have their way, and the beds we have aren't exactly the sturdiest things in the world."

Darjeeling blushed, "Do you really think they'll do that tonight?"

Scott shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not," then he flushed as well, "Perhaps we could leave this topic?"

Darjeeling nodded and they talked about everything and nothing…

Several days later

It started with Pins-and-needles in his arms and legs. Then he slowly started to become aware of his surroundings; the bed he was in, most definitely wasn't his, the clothes he was wearing, not his, at least, he was fairly certain that he didn't have a gown in his wardrobe.

Foster's eyes fluttered open, it was then that he realised that he was in a hospital. He sighed, wondering what had happened when a nurse entered, "Ah, Mr Hall, you're awake."

Foster nodded, "Yes, what happened?"

The nurse thought for a moment, "Well, you were brought here seven days ago after you were shot, where we operated on you. You had been shot in the chest and the bullet was near your heart and lung. It took some time, and we still nearly lost you twice, but you should achieve a full recovery as long as you listen to your doctor," she said.

Foster absently nodded, and the nurse sighed, "You have had visitors for as long as you been here, Mr Perkins and Miss Darjeeling were frequent visitors, but that pink-haired girl only left last night after they had finally worn her resistance down."

Foster's eyes widened, "Rosehip's been here since I was shot?" he whispered.

The nurse nodded, "Yes she had been, I think you got yourself a keeper there lad." she replied, smirking.

Again, Foster just nodded. He absently listened to the doctor order him to take it easy, and explain that he would miss the first match of the tournament. After he got his things, he began to dress, going slow as he ran out of breath often. Eventually, though, he pulled out his phone and texted Scott, 'Doc's released me, care to bring the car round?'

Scott was there in less than five minutes, though he was a bit enthusiastic and hadn't thought about the fact that Foster would be in a wheelchair and had brought the Centurion to collect him, "Captain! When I asked for the car, I didn't think you'd bring the Centurion! What gives?" Foster asked jokingly.

Scott smiled, "Eh, you know, I found the first vehicle I could find, besides, the commute is amazing in this thing, no one tries to cut you off," he replied before clasping Foster's shoulder, "It's good to have you back, Foster."

Foster smiled, "It's good to be back, granted I can't drive for three weeks so I'll miss the first match," he commented.

Scott shrugged, "Eh, we'll just have to beat Kuro so you can get in the driver's seat for a match."

Foster nodded, "Aye sir, why don't we get me loaded then you can tell me what all happened that the nurse and doctors didn't tell me?"

Scott grimaced and soon Foster had found out why, they had been about halfway home before Scott had finished and Foster was astonished, "You are telling me that my brother and Stanley went and got thoroughly pissed, and nothing came of it?"

Scott pursed his lips, "Well, not exactly, Assam and Pekoe are still letting them stew in their mistakes, and Darjeeling and I are still disappointed in them, but we think that what Assam and Pekoe are doing is punishment enough."

Foster nodded, planning on having some words with his brother, Stan, Pekoe and Assam. Then he focused on something that the nurse had told him, "Rosehip stayed there with me until last night?"

Scott looked at him incredulously, "Mate, I watched as she first pummeled, then choked out Archibald, I wasn't going to try and risk my neck to convince her to come home until last night when she asked to go home and fell asleep the moment we got there."

Foster said nothing, so Scott looked back at him and noticed his pensive look, "Speak it out Foster, it helps,"

Foster sighed, "I've noticed since about a month ago that my crush on Jasmine has diminished and that I've grown feelings for Rosehip, but I don't want to risk it if she doesn't feel the same,"

Scott sighed, "Foster, I'm going to stop you right there. When I look into your eyes, I see that you honestly care about Rosehip, I'd even say that you are in love with her. When I look into Rosehip's, I see the exact mirror, she cares, even loves you, she all but admitted it last night when Darjeeling and I were driving her home when she said that she couldn't remember why she decided to hold you when you were bleeding out, but she felt as if that was where she belonged."

Foster didn't say anything for a moment, before finally saying, "I'll speak with her,"

It didn't take them that much longer before they reached the girls' place. It was rather quiet when Scott opened the door, Assam and Pekoe were in the front sitting room, quietly sipping tea. It took a moment for them to realise who had come in, but when they did, they both embraced him, "Foster, thank goodness you're home now," Assam said before they both left the embrace and rushed off.

Foster was slightly confused, then Scott simply said, "Rosehip," and his confusion lifted. In much her usual style, all that Scott and Foster saw of Rosehip was a bright pink blur before she ended up wrapped around Foster. Scott wisely left the room to allow them to talk and so sought out Darjeeling.

Foster though, with his arms and lap occupied by Rosehip, who was holding on to him as if he would disappear, was glad for the relative privacy, "Rosehip," he whispered, bringing her attention to his face, "I'll be fine after three weeks of rest, then I'll be able to drive again."

Rosehip buried her face in his chest, "I thought I lost you," she murmured.

Foster rubbed her back as soothingly as he could, "I'm fine Rosehip, honest."

Scott and Darjeeling were a few rooms over, "How are they?" she asked.

Scott smirked, "I believe they'll be dating within the hour."

Darjeeling rolled her eyes, "I knew that! I was referring to their reactions to each other!"

Scott laughed, "What do you think I was referring to? I saw a pink blur before realising that Rosehip was around him and seemed to be trying to suck his face off."

Darjeeling sighed, though Scott was amused, "What? You asked!" he said.

She looked up, "I guess I did," she muttered. Then she walked over to the table, "Just as I guess we should begin preparing for our fight with Kuromorimine,"

Scott nodded, "Right," he said as he too walked over to the table, "With the number of tanks that they own, it is virtually impossible to even begin to formulate a guess as to what we could face, the only thing that I am certain of is the fact that we could very well face at least one Tiger of some description; whether that is the King Tiger or one of the Tiger I's that they own, well your guess is as good as mine."

Darjeeling frowned, "It's unlikely that the Headmistress has changed her doctrine just because she lost against her youngest daughter, so it is more likely that we'll be facing tanks like the Jagdpanther, King Tiger, perhaps even their Maus,"

Scott raised an eyebrow, "When tanks like the Panzer IV, Jagdpanzer 38(t) and the Type 89B quite handily took it out with only damage from the Maus trying to crush it causing the 38(t) to give up the ghost. Is Shiho idiotic or insane?" he exclaimed.

Darjeeling shrugged, "Stubborn is what I think you're looking for,"

Scott sighed and rubbed his brow, "Right, so assume they're going to use their Maus, as well as their Elfant and King Tigers and throw in a Panzer III for scouting purposes, maybe a Jagdtiger as well, their biggest guns and strongest armour against us."

Darjeeling tapped on a laptop and caused the tanks in question to appear on the wall courtesy a projector, "Right, so the Centurion is a must, the gun can knock out the Maus from the rear,"

Scott interrupted, "Anywhere if we can hit the turret traverse mechanism,"

Darjeeling nodded, "Right, the three Comets and two FVs would bring us up to six, leaving four spots open,"

Scott pinched the bridge of his nose, "What about an AT2 and three Matildas?"

Darjeeling quirked an eyebrow, "Explain," she demanded.

Scott quickly supplied, "The AT2 has a six pounder gun and the same armour that the Centurion has at the front, 152mm, now, nothing can survive a hit from the Maus' main gun, but it can pen it from the rear if the APCR is loaded. The Matilda has the Armour, if angled, to bounce many shots, should they land a hit, which is unlikely."

Darjeeling looked even more confused, so Scott explained, "I calculated rough percentages for accuracy, surprisingly, KMM only has about an eight percent chance of hitting a target in the finals and far less than that if they want to disable it with disables being considered anything from the flag popping to tracking the tank, for comparison, Ooarai in your match had a twenty-six per cent chance of hitting and approximately fifteen per cent of those hits caused the tanks to be disabled, this number jumps with training and, by that final match, their accuracy is about sixty per cent and fifty per cent based on what I could see."

Darjeeling was shocked, "Where do we fall?"

Scott grimaced, "Admittedly, far better than schools such as Saunders and Pravda, but we're at about fifty and thirty-three by my maths," then he sighed, "And then there is Anglerfish…"

"Oh?" Darjeeling asked, intrigued.

Scott leaned back in his chair, "The gunner for Anglerfish, Hana Isuzu, has a ninety-five per cent chance of hitting a target based on practice records and match data, with a probability of knocking you out of the match of fifty-fifty."

One could hear a pin drop at Scott's pronouncement of the numbers. But Scott stood and walked to the wall with the pictures of the tanks that they though Kuromorimine would deploy, "Contingencies should be made just in case they throw us for a loop."

Darjeeling nodded, "Yes, but that can wait for now, until we get the tank commanders involved at least."

It was Scott's turn to raise an eyebrow, "And what do you have in mind to do?"

Darjeeling just offered a smile as she walked over to the door and made sure it was locked before saying, "Well, let's see if you can keep up."

Scott's other eyebrow joined his other one but that was all he could do as Darjeeling moved with rather surprisingly speed and began kissing him very passionately. Of course, this took away most of his brain power, but he was able to use what brain power was left to reciprocate her affections.

Scott wasn't quite sure what he was expecting, but he jumped slightly when he felt Darjeeling's hand slip under his shirt. This caused Darjeeling to pull back, "Did I…" she began before Scott cut her off.

"Fine, wasn't expecting is all," he whispered before beginning their passion again. Darjeeling was quite eager to push as far as he was willing to go and soon her tongue was licking his lips, begging for entrance, which he was more than willing to give.

Soon, their passion came to a head when Darjeeling, pressed tightly against Scott, felt something press against her leg. Pulling back to catch her breath and discover what it was, Darjeeling turned as red as the St Gloriana Senshadou uniform. Scott though, was slightly confused until he followed her gaze and flushed red as well, "What can I say?" he murmured, "You arouse me."

Darjeeling, despite, or rather because of her embarrassment, smirked, and began her assault on Scott anew.

If anyone suspected what the two commanders got up to that night, no one voiced their suspicions, even when neither Scott nor Darjeeling could look at the other without turning the colour of a tomato. However, the lack of gossip could very well have been down to the fact that they were three days away from their match with Kuromorimine.

True to what one of the last thoughts they had before the night they had, Scott and Darjeeling called a meeting of the Tank Commanders, everyone was just getting settled when Scott rose, "Good morning everyone, last night, Commander Darjeeling and I went over several possible events that could come to pass in three days time," Scott said.

Darjeeling rose and turned on a projector which showed the battlefield, showing that it was the same that Ooarai had faced Kuromorimine on during the finals, "This is our field of battle, our starting positions marked, leaving the only unknown variable: the tanks that Kuromorimine will field."

Scott picked up seamlessly from Darjeeling, "We currently have three possibilities as to our opponent's composition. Option one: They choose to field a similar line-up to that which they fielded against Ooarai, heavy tanks, super-heavy tanks, and the like. Option two: They learned a small amount from the thrashing Ooarai gave them and field a mix of lighter tanks such as the Panzer III and IV while still fielding one or two of their heavy tanks. Finally: They've completely changed their tactics and field only lighter tanks."

"As this is the first round, we are limited to ten tanks, and we believe that the Centurion, the three Comets, two FV304s, one AT2 and three Matilda IIs would suffice as our Cromwells are in various states of repair and the Churchill VII could become a liability as it did last time," Darjeeling began, taking over for her parched lover, "Since Cadet Hall is unable to crew his position in the Centurion, and we believe that we shouldn't take the Churchill, Captain Perkins will take over driving duties until Cadet Hall is well enough to rejoin us, and I will command from the Centurion."

This shocked the Gloriana Girls as Darjeeling had always favoured the slower Infantry Tanks over the Cavalry Tanks. But Scott kept the surprises rolling, "Jasmine, operational control of the Comet Squads will be transferred to Lady Rosehip post-battle, we are giving her this battle off considering the events of the past week have put her through one hell of an emotional rollercoaster,"

Jasmine nodded, "Right brother, how is she doing now anyway?"

Scott smiled, "Actually, a hell of a lot better now that Foster has been released from casualty."

Darjeeling smiled as well, but focused them back on the task at hand, "Thoughts on tactics?" she asked the group.

A couple of people had some ideas, but Rhys spoke up, "Why not hunker in the town and reverse side-scrape to take them down? It eliminates the advantage of the lighter tanks, but also makes it that much harder for their heavy tanks to blast us to the next town."

Scott thought for a moment, "We could also hold some tanks to the side streets, flank them that way," he remarked before turning to Rhys, "An excellent idea Rhys, bravo,"

Peppermint though saw a flaw in the plan, "What if they account for it and spread out to counter?"

Darjeeling frowned, it could happen after all but they had nothing else, "Even the best-laid plans rarely survive contact with the enemy," she muttered.

Scott raised an eyebrow, "Quoting Eisenhower?" he chuckled, before getting serious, "Darjeeling is correct though, the best-laid plans often fail and fail spectacularly, it is rather our ability to think on our feet that would carry the day then."

Rukuriri though had a final question, "And if they bring their Maus?"

Darjeeling and Scott grimaced, though the Centurion could, theoretically, take the Maus out, it would be hit or miss. So to answer her, Scott said the only word that came to mind, "Pray."

Phew, Chapter Nine done and dusted, let's go over the battles in the tournament.

Battle One: St Gloriana Versus Kuromorimine

Battle Two: Saunders Versus Anzio

Battle Three: Pravda Versus BC Freedom

Battle Four: Ooarai Versus Chi-Ha-Tan

Battle Five: Jatkosota Versus Maginot

Battle Six: Bonple Versus Count

Battle Seven: Koala Versus Yogurt

Battle Eight: Maple Versus Waffle

(Q1) Battle Nine: The winners of Battle One Versus Battle Two

(Q2) Battle Ten: Battle Three Versus Battle Four

(Q3) Battle Eleven: Battle Five Versus Battle Six

(Q4) Battle Twelve: Battle Seven Versus Battle Eight

(S1) Battle Thirteen: Battle Nine Versus Battle Ten

(S2) Battle Fourteen: Battle Eleven Versus Battle Twelve

(F) Battle Fifteen: Battle Thirteen Versus Battle Fourteen

The way that I determine the outcome of battles is simple: if you are not St Gloriana, but you ARE a major school, you win against a minor school. If you are not St Gloriana and you are not a major school, your battle will be decided by coin flip. If you are not St Gloriana but you are a major school facing another major school, you battle will be decided by coin flip. If you are St Gloriana, your battle(s) will be decided through several rolls of some amount of d20s, ranging from two to twenty dice.

Until next time: PANZER VOR!