(I'm Sorry if I'm taking too long to release my chapters, but things always get in my way and sometimes I don't even touch the story in days and hallway through my Pc crashed and lost half of my chapter, which almost made me give up on this and I'm sorry if it doesn't make sense in the end)
There was a calm feeling within the tank, all eyes focusing straight ahead down the dirt path. Their minds however, were not in sync with the same thoughts, thoughts that could be so vital if a situation appeared. "You're awfully quiet today Saori, what's on your mind?" gently asked Miho as she sat back down into the commander's seat. The orange haired girl was in a deep thought as the words suddenly hit her and she quickly turned her head towards Miho, her eyes as large as plates. "oh, um nothing" she hastily replied, her eyes darting to every direction of the tank interior to avoid the question. "She's thinking of boys" silently and bluntly said the small sleepy girl as she kept driving the Panzer IV. "No I'm not Mako!" swiftly retorted Saori as she turned towards the driver. After a few moments of silence, she slowly began to speak, her tone full of embarrassment. "I mean, I'm curious how they look like. Like what if they look like those cute foreign boys on TV dramas, with their soft defined faces, their soft hair and enchanting voices". At that moment she imagined herself in the arms of a tall, handsome American boy as he said in fluent Japanese" Saori, why hasn't any boy asked you out to be his girl?" She shook her head as said" I'm not pretty enough" Her man of her dreams shook his head and said with a cocky grin "Maybe cause they couldn't compete against me" he then leaned in to kiss her as Yukari suddenly interrupted Saori's daydream. "This isn't a time to be thinking about boys, we have to think about the match, right Miporin?" asked Yukari as she turned to Miho. She remained silent as she thought, her gentle eyes not leaving sight of Saori. She suddenly smiled and gently said; "To be honest, that thought has also crossed my mind a few times, but like Yukari said, we need to focus on the match first" Saori lowered her gaze in shame as she apologized with a sad tone, " I'm sorry, I hope I don't affect the match". Miho kept looking at Saori as she began to feel pity on herself. "Its okay, don't feel bad. We can discus about the boys after the match, alright?" softly said Miho as Saori lifted her gaze. She looked at her commander and saw her smiling back at her; "Okay, ill try my hardest" Saori proudly said. Miho kept smiling as she stuck her body out again of the cupola and looked around. The path was coming to an end as all tanks slowly started to stop as they approached a clearing. There was a three way interstation with an old wooden pole at the end of the path, its signs long rotted away leaving behind the somber piece of wood. There were trees and undergrowth behind the pole that seemed to stretch for miles in either direction, covering all visible traces of the geography. The tanks all stopped as slight dust clouds rose from their sides; all hatches screeching open and clanking against the metal hulls of the tanks, all girls looking at their surroundings and then at Miho. "Where to now?" suddenly asked Yukari as she looked up to Miho, whose eyes were staring straight ahead at the old pole. She then quickly went back into the tank and came out holding a map and a compass. She then neatly placed them on the red-brown colored roof and quickly inspecting them, her finger slowly tracing over their path. As the girls were in their little world, a short, brown haired girl snuck behind a thick tree in the forest in front of Miho's group and laid down next to it, her binoculars quickly scanning the area as she located the tank formation. Her eyes scanned the group and saw Miho and her crew sitting outside the Panzer, all looking at the turret roof. As she moved the binoculars, she saw the flagpole of the carrier tank and glanced down, only to be covered by the Panzer IV. She slightly grit her teeth as she kept looking, "Senpai was right then" she thought to herself as she kept looking through the glasses. Suddenly Yukari and Miho looked at the girl's general direction, their eyes seeming to study the branches of the forest. She quickly put away the binoculars and held her breath as seconds slowly passed by, her eyes staring right at Miho and Yukari. After what seemed like an eternity, all the girls nodded their heads and got back into their tanks as a loud rumbling echoed through the woods as they slowly started moving and turning left down the path. The girls quickly grabbed her binocs and looked though them as the Panzer IV turned, completely exposing the flag tank to the girls peeping eyes. "Duck team then" she surprisingly remarked as the group hastily moved on and disappeared in a cloud of dust. The girl quickly got up and started running back into the forest. She kept running as speckles of light danced on her body, mixing with the shadows of the leaves. She then came upon a bright clearing as the sun's rays blasted on a grassy field where parked in the middle was a dark olive drab M3 Lee with a pink bunny wielding knives painted on its hull, branches covering the tank in rough patches. All the hatches were open and five girls were standing and sitting around, enjoying the bright afternoon sun. "Azusa is back!" yelled a girl with wide glasses that seemed to reflect the sun's rays in every direction. "What did you see?" another girl curiously asked. The girl looked at her teammate with a slight grin on her face; "I found them, exactly where Senpai said they would be. Duck team is the flag carrier, Yuuki can you contact the commanders?" A small girl nodded her head as she hastily hopped back into the Lee and turned on the radio set. Azusa followed behind her as the girl got the frequency of their team.
"You saw something in the woods too right?" asked Yukari as she turned towards Miho. " I think I did, and if its what I think it is, Team 2 knows our location and our heading" said Miho softly, her mind thinking of multiple ways to counter Team 2. "The high ground is about six clicks ahead, but there is a couple of paths that lead up to it. We have to find out what path team 2 is taking, so we can ambush them by setting up a defensive perimeter." she added. Yukari looked up at her friend and slowly said " And if they make it to the location before we do?"; her tone full of doubt and curiosity. Miho quickly looked at Yukari, her eyes focusing on her friend. She remained quiet as she thought deeply, finally breaking the silence after a few moments with a confident grin "Then we'll see what we will do then".
"How long have we been in here man?" slowly asked Brock, his eyes staring at Joe who was standing next to the window and trying to enjoy the outside view. A loud grumbling noise echoed throughout the cell as Joe looked down at his stomach. "I don't know, but however long we've been in here, the real question is why haven't these bastards given us anything to eat." At that moment four officers walked in front of the bars, each holding small boxes that were stacked on top of each other. All nine boys looked at them with curious eyes. One of the guards had a worried look upon his face as he tried to fumble in his pocket, his hand trying hard to pull something out. Joe noticed this, his mind quickly shifting to multiple ideas of what it could be. After a struggle, the guard pulled out a bundle of keys that clinked and clanked as they hit each other on the ring they were connected to. All eyes quickly turned to the keys, much to the distress of the four officers. Joe looked at all of the boys, who in returned looked at him with looks of nervousness and self restraint. The officer put the boxes on the ground and started flipping through keys to find the correct one; he was in his mid 30's and based on his fumbling through the keys, hadn't much experience being an officer. After what seemed like hours, he slightly smiled when he picked a key and held it in front of his face. He then followed by slowly putting it in the keyhole of the barred door, which made a metallic click. He then turned to the other three officers, who looked back at him with faces of concern and fear. Without a clue, he then turned the key; the lock clicked open. All nine boys stayed where they were sitting or standing, their eyes focused on the one officer who then kneeled and picked up the boxes. The three others slightly swayed back as the door slowly opened as the lonely officer entered the cell. He looked at the boys that were on all sides of the cell, their eyes glaring at him and the open door. Chris slowly positioned himself towards the door, as if he was about to bolt out of the jail cell. At that moment the other three officers stood in front of the open door, forming a wall. There was an intense feeling of nervousness and tension in the cell as the officer stopped in the middle of the cell, his eyes glancing at the boys and the boxes that he was carrying. He slowly kneeled and softly dropped the boxes on the floor; all eyes now staring down the boxes in the middle of the cell. He looked up moved his gaze towards James who was sitting down in front of him. With glaring eyes James looked back at the officer, his eyes quickly shifting to the stacked boxes with a curious intent. The officer noticed this and grabbed one of the boxes, placing his hand on the side and slowly opening the top of the box to reveal the contents. Steam poured out of the box which had rice and different meats that were fried, with vegetables in the corner of the box. James' eyes widen as his stomach began to growl, which was suddenly followed by a crescendo of loud growls as a pleasant smell of warm food covered the cell in a warm blanket of blissful joy. The officer shook the box towards James, motioning it for him to grab it. Without hesitation, James slowly moved over to the officer, their eyes locked as he got closer and closer. he then looked at the box, his instincts urging him to snatch it out of the man's hands. He reached out and slowly grabbed it, his hands feeling the warm plastic as he held it so dearly. The officer motioned for the other to grab some, which they did without a second thought, growing smiles stretching across their faces as they each grabbed a box. The rest of the officer slowly entered the cell and offered their boxes as each boy grabbed one. "these aren't the violent criminals we met earlier Hiroji" whispered one officer to his co-worker. The other officer looked back at him and calmly replied "That's because humans are humans, we are very unpredictable". As the guys ate happily away, Doc suddenly thought of something that slipped his mind. Slowly he asked as she looked up from his bento box; "Uh, hey guys? Do any of ya'll know if they give these meals in jails? Cause I know back home they give prisoners school food pretty much" At that moment the rest of them stopped and looked at their boxes with curious eyes. "Now that you mention it, I think Japanese jails and prisons give their inmates the same food too." commented Rick as he used his chopsticks and started moving his food in small circles as he continued to think. "Then why did they give us this then?" immediately asked Chris "Does that mean we aren't prisoners?" Everybody then looked at Chris, all wide eyed as they let the question sink into their minds.
The StuG carried on with its small formation as they drove down a dusty path, all eyes scanning the horizon and surroundings for any possible ambush sites. "Hey Erwin, did you think it was odd that the Prez knows so much about the terrain and best possible areas to strike. She crossed out like half of the locations we marked on there, and some I personally thought were pretty good." asked Caesar as she grabbed the map again and stared down at all the crossed out circles and X's. Erwin looked back at Caesar with a look of curiosity, her eyes quickly shifting back onto the road; "It does seem odd that she did that, and her knowledge as well, however I can say this, we don't know that much about Prez, maybe she has more things she's hidden from us." "Senpai, Senpai, we found them!" unexpectedly yelled an energetic voice on the radio. Erwin grabbed her throat mic and tried to hide back her enthusiasm as she hastily asked a burning question that she dearly wanted to know. "Where, where did you spot them?!" There was silence after she asked, her heart slightly racing as her desire of knowledge took over her mind. "we spotted them about 4 miles west from the big hill, but they are heading towards it as we speak" suddenly said Azusa calmly. Erwin and Caesar looked at each other and then quickly at the map as they tried to find the hill. Erwin grabbed her mic and ordered for all tanks to stop as they tried to figure out where they were; a large cloud of dust covered the path as all tanks halted. Out of the Hetzer popped out the president as she unplugged her headset and jumped off the light tank destroyer. She then hopped on the StuG and with a cocky grin on her face she asked "So what's going on? Any luck?" "Uh, yes Prez, our scout has found the enemy team here and she said that they are going towards the big hill down this path right here." confidently said Erwin as she moved her finger down a small line on the map that was leading to a large colored blob. Anzu looked at the map and glanced at their position and the heading of Team 1. "mmm, alright, so what do you think Erwin, what is your plan to attack them?" she asked as she kept staring at the map. Erwin slightly jumped to the unexpected question. "Uh, well, uh we could call Rabbit Team to meet us up and attack Team 1 with a full force instead of three tanks." said Erwin, slight doubt ridden in her words. "Damn it Erwin, why didn't you think of an attack plan yet?" she asked herself. "It is quite surprising we found Team 1 this quickly, I feel that Miho has something good up her sleeve." said Anzu as she looked up towards Erwin and Caesar who both had serious looks on their faces. "I think we should have our scout follow them and see if they can get Miho off guard." said the Prez. "It might be too risky, what if Miho saw them?" calmly asked Caesar. "We need to come up with something" suddenly blurted out Erwin, nervousness in every word. "each minute we waste is giving Team 1 a greater advantage over us; we'll move out and think of something on the way, hopefully by the time we encounter Team 1 we have a plan." she added. Caesar and Anzu looked at her, their eyes unmoving from the blonde haired girl. After a few moment, they both nodded as Anzu jumped of the StuG. "Looks like we are becoming more like Saunders by each passing minute" she thought walking back to the Hetzer.
"We are nearly to the hill" softly said Mako, the small girl seeming to dove off to sleep as she drove the metal beast that screeched and clanked. Miho popped out of the cupola and saw in the distance a hill with a slight flat top that rose above the sea of tree tops. "Mako, please stop at the end of the road when we get there" said Miho as she held her throat mic. The group slowly went forward as the end of the road appeared before them, which had a fork with many paths intersecting it. There was a post in the middle with multiple signs that had writing on them pointing out different paths to lead out of the forest, with two leading to the hill. "This is where we will try to ambush Team 2" said Miho with a serious tone, her eyes scanning the edges of the forest for perfect places to hide the tanks. "Two hatches clanked open as Yukari and a girl with black, silk like hair, sat at each side of the turret, looking around at the vegetation and trees that covered the undergrowth in a black cloak. "where do you think might be a good position to ambush them Hana?" asked Miho as she looked down at her friend. She looked around at the forest edges and focused on certain areas as she squinted her eyes. " I think that place right there might be good, but the trees aren't too close together to provide much cover, but perfect to get clear shots." she pointed. Miho glanced at the area and nodded her head in agreement. 'So what's the plan then Miho?" curiously asked Yukari as she looked at Miho who was still glancing around. "We will split the group into two parts, one covering each path. The opposite team will have to choose one path, and when they do we will surround them from both ends" commented Miho as she looked at both trails, her mind placing imaginary tanks in defensive positions. "What will we call it?" added Yukari as she began to get excited. Miho softly smiled at her friend and thought deeply. "Um, Let's call it Operation Snake Eater" she promptly said. Both girls looked at her with expressions of confusion written on each of their faces; "Snake Eater?" asked Yukari with a confused tone. Miho nodded as she explained "Yes, Snake Eater because we will be the snake's mouth and the opposing team with be the food, so we will be like a snake eating." Yukari and Hana looked at each other still confused, trying to figure out the odd choice of name; "So then, lets commence Operation Snake Eater" said Miho as she looked at her crewmates, who both looked at her with fresh expressions of confidence. She grabbed a pair of binoculars and grabbed her throat mic; her eyes looked at every tank that was beside them and with a proud tone she said "Panzer Vor!"
The tanks stared moving again as the group split into two smaller groups consisting of two each, with one heading down one path and the other heading down the other path. After a short period they both hid themselves in the forest, each group covering their vehicles with branches and flora. "We're Ready over here" silently said a voice on the radio. "Leopon Team and Mallard teams are ready Miho" said Saori as she kept adjusting the dials at her station. Miho nodded as she peeked out of her cupola and stared at the bright dusty path. The tanks were well hidden under the branches of the trees that were above them, covering them with a dark shadow that blended the outlines of the tanks with the background of the dark forest. "Yukari, is the gun loaded?" said Miho,her sights not straying off the paths. "Yes Miporin, I have the next in my hands" answered Yukari with a cocky girn. "Hana, be ready when I give the word" added Miho; "Understood" agreed Hana as she closed one of her eyes as she aimed down her gun sight, a feeling of tension growing on her;Her demeanor showing the exact opposite of what she was feeling. There was a silence within the tank as everybody waited for the moment the opposing team will show up over the horizon. Moments turned into excruciating minutes as everybody kept waiting, the late afternoon heat bearing down hard on the awaiting fighters. "What if they are on top of the hill already?" suddenly asked Saori; "I don't think so, they would have fired upon us when we arrived here" replied Miho as she looked down into the tank, he eyes immediately shifting at Saori who was wearing a metal headset, her glasses slightly enlarging her eyes. "Contacts, straight ahead of us" abruptly said Hana as she stared down her sight. Miho quickly stuck her head out of the cupola and observed the situation through her binoculars. In the distance, down two paths began to emerge dust clouds that seemed to get larger and larger as they got closer to Miho's position. "This is going to be simple" silently commented Yukari as she eyed the breech of the Panzer's cannon. Miho's heart began to race as she kept glaring down the dust clouds, her mind beginning to think of different attack strategies that could be used in the quickly approaching battle.
"So two weeks then? That's how long it will take this ship to dock at your home port?" asked Juan, his tone slowly changing to one of assurance. Like how the past hours went, there was a brief silence before the interpreter spoke, translating word for word what he said, or at least he hoped it was word for word. The man nodded in reply to Juan's question. The man suddenly spoke, his tone sounding a bit lighter than to what Juan was used to hearing. The woman spoke as soon as he finished, Juan listening, his ears fixating on the woman's voice. " Mr. Yamada has said that you and your crew will have housing and spending money for the time you will be staying". Juan's eyebrows lifted high above as he repeated what the woman said; "We.. we will have housing and spending money?" The man nodded in agreement, knowing what the question was about due to Juan's face of confusion. "Along with that, he also said you all may interact with the students as well". Juan's mouth slightly opened as his face completely distorted in confusion. "What? Wait wait wait... so you're saying that we will be able to freely live on this ship until it docks? I mean I know we are too far for pickup, but I thought we were going to rot in the jail you through us in, which makes me ask as well why did you do that if in the end you were going to let us live in a house!?" Juan slightly moved forward in his chair, his heart pounding, his voice full of agitation. All of a sudden, the man slowly stood up from his chair and said something to the woman on the laptop. She replied and spoke to Juan with a professional tone, the same tone she displayed during the whole debriefing; " It was a pleasure interpreting for you , I hope we will be able to see you and your whole crew very soon Mr. Rodriguez." With that there was a beep and then nothing but silence followed. 'What did she mean by that?' Juan thought to himself as she glanced at the man. Mr. Yamada slowly closed the laptop and walked to the edge of the desk, his hands burrowing deep into his pockets. He looked down at the floor, with heavy words he slowly and roughly spoke. "I...I had nefyou in G.A.C." Juan's eyes widen as he asked with complete surprise, completely dumbstruck at what he just heard. "You speak English?" Mr. Yamada turned around and held out his hand, his index finger and thumb parallel to each other, showing that he only knew a little. "Then, why are you speaking English now? Why not to continue using the interpreter?" added Juan as he kept staring. The man narrowed his eyes on the Mexican; "personal" he roughly spoke. Juan slowly leaned forward, his elbows on his knees giving his undivided attention to the man that was standing a few feet away from him.
Mr. Yamada noticed this and continue with his explanation. " He was fifth highest hace in Japan; Me and my sister were proud of him. My sister was in debt, and he joined to help. He put himself in...dan..danger to help his mother." Juan glanced at Mr. Yamada's face and noticed a tear began to run down his cheek; "Howevar, he..died five yeers ago after fighting German school. He barley was entering manhood when he was killed". Juan saddened a bit when the words hit him, his mind imagining what the boy's mother went through after hearing her son was killed; the same thing most families go through when they hear that their sons wont be coming home ever again. A heavy feeling hit Juan as he felt his heart sink, imaging what his parents would feel when they hear he bit the dust 25'000 feet in the freezing sky. "That ish why I am being so nice to you, I know what you boys go through and I want to give you some break from your gamesh. You will have house and yen, and you can talk to the girls, but do not go more than that, or I will assign guards to all of you." the man spoke as he swiftly wiped the tear from his face. Juan looked up at him, his eyes bright pink as tears began to form; "Thank you, thank you very much Mr. Yamada, I am very grateful for this". The man softly smiled, walking towards Juan who still had tears in his eyes. He then placed his hand on Juan's shoulder and happily said with a pure grin "Enjoi life, for we onry have thish moment"
