~ CHAPTER TEN ~
"Is everyone here?" Anzu's voice rang out loudly through the garage.
"Yes!" came the reply from the mass of Oorai students gathered early in the morning. Facing them were the three members of the Student council. Momo adjusted her glasses and cleared her throat.
"Right. We've got our new tanks all lined up, so! Automotive club!" Momo turned to the group of overall-clad girls.
"Yes!" Sakoto held up a piece of paper, visibly excited from the new hardware they had come across. "Commencing tank listing!"
"Anglerfish team, Leman Russ, ready for duty!
Hippo team, Siege tank, ready for duty!
Turtle team. Tachikomas 1-3, ready for duty!
Duck team, Nod Scorpion tank, ready for duty!
Rabbit team, UNSC SP42 Cobra, ready for duty!
Mallard team, Neotank, ready for duty!
Anteater team, Mass Production Guntank, ready for duty!
Leopon team, T4-B Heavy tank, ready for duty!"
"Excellent!" Momo turned back to the mass of students. "For the rest of today, you are to practice driving your new tanks! You may use any of the school's facilities! Dismissed!"
The crowd of girls quickly scattered as they streamed to their new vehicles with the faces of five-year-olds at Christmas. Each team ran up to their tanks and…
...tried their best to find the entrances.
"How do we get into this thing?" Nekota stared at the towering tank-mecha hybrid.
"Let's re-watch Gundam to find out!" Momogawa suggested, pulling out a CD case.
"Ooh, that sounds good!" Piyotan chimed in.
"ANTEATER TEAM! PRIORITIES!" Momo's voice rang out, striking the three otaku. "Yuzu's giving each team instruction manuals made by the Automotive club, so no more nonsense!"
Momo turned to her blue spider-like machine. "You there!" she barked at the machine.
"What is it?" it responded in a childlike voice.
"Open up so I can pilot you!"
"If you're going to be so rude about it, no can do!" The tachikoma did its best impression of a pout.
"Grr." Momo seethed with frustration. "Anzu! Help me out here!"
"Having problems?" Anzu was already climbing into the open back of her own tank. "Alright, Tachy, go persuade that other one for me, will you?" she addressed the tank.
"Anything for you, Anzu-sama!" The tank gleefully obliged, wheeling over to its sibling.
As the tanks conversed, Momo was dumbfounded. "How on earth did you get it to be so obedient?"
"I don't know." Anzu shrugged. "I guess it's just your personality. Gotta learn how to assert command."
Elsewhere, four history buffs drove around in their new tank. "Whooo! This feels great!" Caesar admired the various monitors around her, showing her a view of the area around her. "Nice to be able to see what's going on so well!"
"It's about as fast as the StuG too, even though it's so heavy." Oryou manipulated the driving gears with ease. "This thing's so advanced."
"With this technology level we'll be able to breeze through the competition!" Saemonza announced.
Erwin adjusted her hat. "When I think of racing for technology, I think of…"
"World War II, isn't it?" Caesar ventured.
"That's right!"
The tank rumbled along. Soon they came to the top of a hill.
"What can this tank do, anyway?" Saemonza questioned.
"From what I read, it's some kind of mobile artillery." Erwin rifled through a manual. On its front was printed: 'Siege Tank Feldwebel, Oorai Automotive Club'
"It's got some kind of artillery mode. The switch should be around here somewhere… Aha!"
Erwin yanked a heavy lever jutting out of the hull. The sound of large electric motors and armour locking into place could be heard, along with two thumps on the ground outside. "Did that do it?"
"I'll check." Caesar opened a hatch and stepped out of the tank. What she saw now was a massive gun pointed high into the air, supported by four spread tracks and two pneumatic legs. Unable to contain her excitement, she clambered back inside.
"It worked!"
"Ooh! I wanna fire! Let's test the range!" Saemonza manned the gun. She aimed far past the side of the school carrier. "FIRE!"
A thundering blast shook the entire tank. The supersonic shell flew out of the barrel of the tank, past the bounds of the school carrier, over a vast expanse of sea, across the horizon and disappeared from sight. The four members of Hippo team sat there dumbfounded. A long pause followed.
"Well then… what do you think that'll do to the enemy?" Saemonza finally said.
Beneath them, at the foot of the mountain, the Morals committee stumbled around in their ball-shaped tank. It's four legs moved back and forth while Moyoko tried in vain to handle its controls.
"Driving this is like trying to ride an epileptic horse!"
"Don't give up hope!" Sodoko yelled over the roar of the engine, holding on to her seat. "If we can master this, it'll be the fastest and strongest on the battlefield!"
As they stumbled and rolled around, two large shells cut through the air at blinding speed, striking the side of their tank. The Neotank flew back a large distance and tumbled on the ground, further confusing the already disoriented crew members. Getting up, Sodoko angrily picked up the radio.
"Who on earth was that!?" she screamed at every team. A silence followed.
"Sorry, that was us," Nekota responded. Several hundred meters away in a forest, a tall mecha-tank hybrid stuck its head and twin cannons above the trees. "We just wanted to see how good these guns are."
"This thing may be slow, but the controls are easier than the Chi-Nu!" Momogawa easily pushed buttons on a panel, instructing the tank where to go next. "It turns much faster too!"
Nekota stared at a large viewscreen, zoomed in on the toppled target. "Hmm, it doesn't seem as though you were hurt. All's well that ends well, I guess?"
"Like hell it is!" Sodoko screamed at them. "This is now an all-out war! I declare it this instant!"
The eyes of every Oorai member save Miho lit up. "Is it a practice match? Is it?" Noriko grinned widely from inside her new tank. "Woohoo! Let's go get revenge for the first time!" Duck team steered the Scorpion off towards the nearest pillar of smoke.
Elsewhere, Momo snapped into serious mode. "Tachikoma! I heard you can turn invisible! Do it now so we can sneak attack the enemy!"
"Ehhh?" The tank grumbled. "Hmmph! Not until you give me a name! Anzu-sama already named hers!"
"You don't need a name! Calling you Tachikoma is fine" Momo snapped.
"No!"
"...Fine then!" Momo thought awhile. "How about Hetzer?"
"Ehh, so unimaginative." The tank folded its pincer arms.
"Shut up!"
While Momo bickered with her tank, she failed to notice the loud rumbling sound emanating from the 10-meter long machine behind her. A massive bolt of energy flew towards her at blinding speed, instantly exploding and sending her flying into a grove of trees. Due to the advanced carbon coating, however, she was unhurt by what would have vaporised a small house. A small bamboo flag popped out of the Tachikoma's head.
On a guard tower several kilometers away, a military-uniform clad woman frantically raced up the stairs, carrying a portable radio and a pair of binoculars. She reached the top and gazed through the binoculars, searching for something. Finding her target, she pulled out her radio and announced, proudly,
"Turtle Team #2, knocked out!"
The voice came as a surprise to the various tank crews, for it was a familiar one, yet not one they had expected to hear. "Instructor Chouno?"
"Yep! Just got here!" Chouno Ami surveyed the new equipment. "Looks like you all got some new tanks. Are they for that new competition which just came about?"
Anzu took the opportunity to respond. "Yeah, they are. You gonna be there?"
"You bet! Everyone, GOOD JOB, VERY NICE! I'll leave you to practice, then. Don't mind me, just a referee."
In her defeated tank, Momo shook out of her confusion. "What on earth was that? Who did that?" she wondered, looking at the various screens around her. She saw a large futuristic tank with two large guns on each side of its immense turret, both pointed her way. On the front of the hull was painted a familiar lion insignia.
"That'll be us!" A tan-faced girl announced from inside her powerful tank. "This thing may be slow as molasses flowing through mud, but it's certainly got the firepower and armour where it counts!"
Rapid banging noises came from the side of the T4-B. The turret quickly turned to face the new threat, finding a small red and black three-tracked tank. Inside it, the four members of the volleyball club tried over and over again to dent the heavy tank's armour.
"Case in point, when talking about armour." Hoshino pointed the guns downward and fired two shots. A massive smoke cloud was created from the blasts, obscuring all spectator's vision. When it cleared, Leopon team was surprised to find not a trace of the Scorpion.
"Oh dear, did we wipe them out completely?" Satoko joked, knowing what had actually happened.
Blasts shook the opposite side of the T4-B as Duck team revealed their new position, having used their superb mobility to circle the slow, lumbering tank. Still these blasts managed to barely dent the armour of the thing. As the T4-B turned, Duck team fell back on their most reliable strategy.
"RETREAT!" Noriko yelled from the translucent red cockpit. "WITH GUTS!" she added as an afterthought. Duck team thus turned and ran with their tail between their tracks, while the pitifully slow T4-B tried in vain to catch up.
"Ah, well. Guess we'll have to let them go for now." Satoko lay back in her chair. Before she could catch a break, two high-powered blasts slammed into the T4-B, much different from the ones before. The shells exploded on impact, sending it skidding along the ground, a huge hole now in the side of its armour. "What on Earth was that?" Satoko questioned out loud.
"LEOPON TEAM, KNOCKED OUT!"
Far, far away, atop a mountain, Hippo team sat in their Siege tank, fully deployed and aimed at the freshly-eliminated team. Next to them was a green six-wheeled tank, also deployed in an artillery mode. The bright symbol on its side was of a knife-wielding rabbit, and the crew had grown to be as cunning as their avatar.
"Hippo team, we got them!" Azusa announced in delight to their partners in crime.
"Great job! Long-range bombardment is as effective now as in history!" Caesar eyed a silhouette on the Siege tank's screens. "New target! Anteater's Guntank, 3 o'clock!"
"Aye aye aye!" Karina bounced in her seat. "The driver doesn't get to do much in siege mode, I'm bored!"
"Just wait a while, Karina." Azusa smiled at her teammate. "Once we wipe out all the enemies we can see from this hill, we'll start moving again."
"Still, this partnership is working out quite well." Aya adjusted her sights to the tall mech rumbling along slowly.
"Sure is!" Saemonza aimed for the same target. Firing in 3... 2… 1…
"Oh, is that so?" A very familiar voice came from in between the two artillery. "Then how will you deal with a forceful breakup?"
A previously invisible tank materialized in the middle of the two confused teams. Anzu swallowed her sweet potato and grinned widely. "Shall we begin the fun?"
"They're in our lines!" Aya screamed
"The enemy is here!" Saemonza shouted.
In abject terror, the Siege tank and Cobra both turned their turrets around. "UNDEPLOY! UNDEPLOY!" Oryou screamed as she struggled with the locked driving gear.
As Erwin hurried to find the transformation lever, Hippo team's partner tank turned its guns in their direction. This did not escape Caesar's attention.
"ET TU, RABBIT TEAM?!"
"No! We're just trying to get them off you!" Ayumi pleaded. "Just stay still, we won't mess this up."
Anzu scuttled to and fro, waiting for Rabbit team to make a move. "Hey, Tachitachi," she addressed her tank.
"Yes, Anzu-sama?"
"Could you take control of the green one's targeting systems?
"Anything for you, Anzu-sama!"
With two cables, Anzu's tachikoma latched onto Rabbit team and got to work. The screens inside the Cobra flickered with static before being taken over by an image of Anzu's face. Outside, the turret moved of its own accord, now pointing at the transforming Hippo team.
"No no no no!" Azusa pounded on the digital face of the president. This only made the image gain a caption "Hetzers gonna Hetz", and did nothing to stop the firing of the Cobra's main gun on the defenceless Siege tank, easily bursting through its armour.
"HIPPO TEAM, KNOCKED OUT!"
"Now, how do I deal with you?"
Anzu's Tachikoma detached from the Cobra, freeing them from its digital attack. As the team of six attempted to face their opponent, Anzu deftly maneuvered around to the opposite side of Rabbit team. Analyzing the advanced armour of the SP42, Anzu found a chink and fired the Tachikoma's sole explosive charge at the gap. At point-blank range with no way to miss, their fate was sealed.
"RABBIT TEAM, KNOCKED OUT!"