Always Advancing
A Girls und Panzer fanfic
Part XXV: Lost and Found
by Civilis
"I take it from your expression, Yukari, that Pravda wasn't nearly as exciting as Anzio?" asked Kay as the Saunders C-47 headed back towards the School Carrier.
"It had to be better than Hokkaido," added Arisa, who was clutching a can of tea with shaking hands. "At least, it couldn't have been any colder." She shivered in the radio operator's seat of the plane.
"Aside from the moment when I got hit with a snowball, it was pretty calm," Yukari admitted.
"While we were trudging through the snow-covered steppes of Hokkaido looking at the Pravda Tankery range, you were having a snowball fight," Arisa griped back. "And to make it worse, we just about get the place scouted out when we get word that they're moving the field to the alternate, so the whole thing was useless."
"It was just one snowball. Though it was enough to knock me down and knock my hair loose."
In the pilot's seat, Naomi laughed. "All that goop we used on it, and for nothing. Is that when they made you?"
"They had already made me, that's why they threw the snowball," Yukari confessed.
"One of the perks of being famous," said Kay. "So, was this after you met with Mako?"
"No. For some reason, Nonna herself arranged the meeting after I was a prisoner and even told Mako the story I told her. I still went through telling Mako everything."
"I still think it's a big risk doing that ahead of our match with Pravda," said Arisa. "They could still use her. Did you run into anyone else?"
"Yeah, I found the three girls from our Discipline Committee. They're basically doing the same thing at Pravda as they did at Ōarai," Yukari said with a smile. "It seems to be in their blood, and Pravda's a great place for people like that."
"So we learned nothing, and possibly gave Pravda some new skilled members," Arisa groaned.
"I do think that while Nonna is their team commander and Klara is her deputy, Katyusha is going to be helping them plan," said Yukari.
"I know Nonna. Who are Klara and Katyusha?" asked Arisa.
"Klara is a Russian exchange student, and a capable tanker. Katyusha was their commander in the other timeline. She's a small girl, very immature, but a skilled tactician. She likes long, drawn out battles, and is good at planning traps. She's willing to use her flag tank as bait. We got lucky enough that, unlike Stalingrad, we could fight our way out of her encirclement." Yukari shivered at the memories of the Ōarai vs Pravda battle.
"Since they changed fields on us to one closer to Sapporo, it looks like, instead of General Winter, we'll be facing his deputy, Colonel Mud," said Kay. "Which is okay, as we've been repairing as many of the Shermans with wide tracks as we can."
"All right everyone, please strap yourselves in for landing," announced Naomi.
"When we land, Arisa, Naomi, head to your dorms to get some sleep. Yukari, write up what you know about your four friends from Pravda and about Klara and Katyusha," Kay ordered.
"What about you?" asked Arisa.
"I've got an errand to run," Kay replied.
"This is quite a splendid tank, Rosehip," said Hana, just after the tank came to rest from the recoil of its cannon. "I can see why you wanted a capable crew."
"That was a nice shot, Hana," Rosehip replied from the commander's seat, struggling to hold her teacup steady. "The tank's good, but not perfect."
Yuzu's voice came from the driver's compartment. "I wish we could get the bugs with the engine ironed out. The drive is rather unsteady at high speed."
"Our mechanical team isn't used to the Sensha-Do modified Meteor engine yet. It's based off of an airplane engine, and is a bit different from the Crusader engine our cruiser tank mechanics are used to. In theory, a fast tank section would give us an edge over Kuromorimine, but between the training and the engine issues it may be a matter of 'too little, too late'," Rosehip admitted.
"We do have aircraft mechanic students," said Yuzu. "Have they taken a look at it?"
"Can't hurt at this point," Rosehip admitted. "Let's get this tank into the garage and take one of the Cromwells."
They parked the tank, and Yuzu brought out one of the Cromwells while Rosehip, Hana, and their loader went over to talk to Darjeeling, who was supervising the gunnery practice.
"Looks like the uniform suits you, Hana," said Darjeeling, as she set down her tea. "I think the red is a splendid color, like that of a rose."
"That reminds me of a request," said Hana. "The day before our match with Kuromorimine, we have the team meeting in the evening. Would there be a way you could spare me some time that morning and early afternoon? While my mother may have disowned me, I still have spaces reserved at the family school Ikebana exhibit, and I want to make sure our club gets its arrangements in."
"Disowned you? Whatever for?" asked Darjeeling.
Next to her, Pekoe set down her teapot and pulled out her gloves.
"She thinks I should concentrate on the family Ikebana school, and disapproves of my taking up Sensha-Do," Hana explained.
"I think we can make arrangements. We did promise to help your club," Darjeeling said.
Hana, Rosehip and her loader crossed over to the waiting Cromwell, and soon were off on a drive to the more industrial vocational school section which taught technical and mechanical skills. They found the aircraft section hangars, where a couple of girls were at work on a reproduction Spitfire.
"Can we help you?" one of the girls asked, as Rosehip dismounted from the tank. "Is that one of your new toys? We've watched you drive it around, and engines are engines, even if they are installed in ungainly ground-bound armored boxes."
"It is. We're looking to see if anyone can help us with an engine problem," said Rosehip. "This thing has a modified aircraft engine, and it's not working right."
"Something certainly sounds off," said the mechanic. "Let's open her up."
A few minutes later, the group of tankers and aircraft mechanics were poking at the tank's engine.
After prodding at the engine with some tools, the lead mechanic turned to Hana. "The engine seems unbalanced and poorly tuned, but I'm also not sure about the linkages to the tank's transmission. That part seems to be more of something for the automobile crew."
One of her subordinates spoke up. "We did loan out one of our spare engines to that group that wanted to see if they could fit it in a car. Some kind of crazy challenge they had among the car people. Let's get them over here."
The tankers were escorted into an improvised lounge area while they waited for the automobile mechanics. The aircraft mechanics offered them coffee, which Rosehip found hilarious.
"Yes! Someone around here doesn't drink tea at all!" Rosehip eagerly took the opportunity to avail herself of something other than tea.
Eventually, a small mob of overall-clad car mechanics arrived and were directed to the parked tank.
"What's this?" asked the lead car mechanic. "You ask us for our help, and it's for a ground vehicle?"
"Take a look," said the lead aircraft mechanic. The pair walked over to jointly look at the tank.
Hana, curious, had wandered over to watch. In doing so, she spotted a familiar face in the crowd of mechanics.
"Satoko?" Hana asked.
"Yeah?" replied Nakajima Satoko, formerly of Ōarai's automotive club.
"Did you used to be at Ōarai?" Hana asked.
"Yeah. A couple of us are from there," Satoko replied.
The lead auto mechanic interrupted, "She's actually the person you probably should be speaking with. Her team's the one that rigged that aircraft engine into a car."
"Did it work?" asked Yuzu.
"It was very fast," said the lead mechanic. "While it lasted."
"We were trying to make our very own Top Gear special," said Satoko.
"Do you think you could fix a tank?" Hana asked.
"I'm not so sure this is a good idea," Yuzu looked at Rosehip for support.
Rosehip, who was on her sixth cup of coffee sludge and seemed to be vibrating slightly, yelled "Go for it!"
Satoko smiled widely, and walked over to the tank. "Tsuchiya! Suzuki! Hoshino! Get the tools!"
"Hello again," said Kay, walking into the gym being used for volleyball club practice with a clipboard full of paper.
"Congratulations on your win," said the team captain. "You looking to borrow some of my members to try something else out? Serve your clipboard, perhaps?"
"No, I just wanted to ask you a quick question. Do you have many contacts with volleyball teams at any other schools?"
"Of course, why do you ask?"
"I'm looking for someone who might know anyone from one of the other teams. Specifically, I'm looking for anyone that might know anyone that was on Ōarai's team before they closed down last year," said Kay. This was a longshot, she knew, but she had to start somewhere.
"They didn't have much of a team last year, but I can help you with that," said the team captain. "Noriko, over here!"
The shorter girl that had helped Kay with her attempts to figure out how to serve a smoke flare got up from her seat against the wall and jogged over. "Hey, Kay. Do you want me to try teaching you again?"
The team captain gestured to Noriko. "Noriko here was at Ōarai last year. Do you know where any of your other teammates ended up?"
"It wasn't much of a team. Most of them were third years, and glad to graduate. I don't know if we would have had enough girls for a team if the school hadn't closed," said Noriko, somewhat bitterly.
"What's your family name?" Kay asked.
"Isobe."
Kay scanned the list of transfer student names. "You said you transferred from Ōarai? I don't see you on here."
"There was a mistake on the paperwork. For some reason, instead of a high school transfer, they had me down as a new first year, like those three," she pointed at the three larger girls sitting against the wall, "My grades weren't that great, but I did advance."
"Are those three from Ōarai as well?" Kay asked, trying not to show her excitement.
"Yeah, they were on our middle school team. They would have been my teammates this year. It's nice here, we have a real team, but we have a ways to go before we're on our main squad," Noriko said.
Kay looked at the volleyball team captain and grinned. "I'm working on a project. I'd like to borrow Noriko and those three over there for a day or two, minimum, later this week. What would it take to get your cooperation?"
"Is this that important?"
"Captain, I know we're not the best players, coming from a small school and joining your massive team, and you've been nice, but we're on the bench. We can help them out," Noriko said.
"All right. Taeko, Shinobu, Akebi! You three and Noriko will be helping the Tankery team with something later this week!" the team captain called. "Be sure to do us and Saunders proud!"
"[Why can't I film this?]" pleaded Klara, in Russian.
"[Because I'm having a hard time keeping a straight face as it is,]" replied Nonna, as the two barged into the Pravda Discipline Committee building on Lubyanka Street and pounded up the stairs.
All the Discipline Committee members turned and watched as the two stomped up to Sodoko, busy planning with Pazomi and Gomoyo.
"Yes?" asked Sodoko. "Is there another spy problem?"
"I have just come from from the Student Council. It has been suggested that the dedicated members of our Discipline Committee would be more than willing to help us to improve school morale and ensure team loyalty in advance of the upcoming match with Saunders," Nonna declared loudly.
Most of the Discipline Committee members moved closer to listen. Gomoyo and Pazomi backed away from their leader.
Nonna leaned over towards Sodoko. "Given your known skill at keeping Reizei in line and your interest in our spy, I would like you and your two assistants to help the team for the good of the school."
Sodoko looked like she was about to object, but Nonna's glare kept her silent.
"Are you willing to volunteer?" Nonna asked.
Sodoko nodded her head weakly.
"Good. Practice field, first thing in the morning tomorrow."
"[I cannot believe this is working!]" added Klara. "[We just walked in and volunteered three members of the Discipline Committee!]"
"[We haven't built up our reputation for nothing,]" Nonna replied. "She says there will be strict punishments if you do not show."
The rest of the building was absolutely quiet as the pair marched out.
"Yukari, I need to apologize," said Kay, as the pair drove in one of Saunders jeeps toward the School Carrier's movie theater multiplex. "We've had a lot of confusion because there are things we know that we don't know that you don't know, and vice versa."
"Like what?" asked Yukari.
"We knew Miho Nishizumi was one of Kuromorimine's rising stars. You knew her as a girl that wanted to escape Sensha-Do. Both of us assumed our knowledge was correct," Kay said. "Pull out the clipboard in my bag."
Yukari pulled out the clipboard and papers from Kay's bag. "This is the list of students from Ōarai you had me look over."
"It's the list of high-school transfer students from Ōarai, so it's only current second and third year students. It doesn't include rising first year students that came from middle school. The Education Ministry categorizes those differently."
"And so it wouldn't show any of the first years…" Yukari realized.
"Or a second year that had been mistakenly listed as one. That's why we're going to the theater a bit before our movie night. I hope you don't mind Goldeneye, since you missed out on a tank chase at Pravda." Kay asked.
Kay parked the jeep in front of the multiplex, and the pair tried to head inside, only to be stopped by a student working as an usher. "Sorry, all theaters are booked for priv… Kay! I thought you'd be inside already? Your film is almost over."
"No, the film wasn't for me. Did you leave the doors open?" Kay asked, as they passed the usher.
"Yeah. I think a couple of the Movie Club girls snuck in. I guess even a movie more than seventy years old is more interesting to some people than The Devil Wears Prada. Are we still running your other movie in an hour?"
"Yep. My people should be in by then," said Kay, as the pair of tankers headed in to the multiplex.
"What movie did you have them show?" asked Yukari.
"Sahara, starring Humphrey Bogart," said Kay, as she headed in to the darkened theater. "The Movie Club is really good about letting us borrow a theater, but the club leader has somewhat stilted tastes in movies. I've been hearing rumors, so I wanted to check something."
On the screen, the credits were just starting. The room looked almost empty, although a couple of heads could be barely made out among some of the middle seats. Yukari headed in to find a good seat for herself. She plopped down in a seat near the very middle, next to one of the girls that had snuck in.
"Did you enjoy the movie?" Yukari asked, but the girl seemed preoccupied with watching the occasional dust mote float through the projector beam.
After the credits finished, and someone in the audience quipped "What? No stinger?", the house lights came on.
Yukari turned to get a better look at the girl next to her, and discovered herself staring at the familiar face of Maruyama Saki, who had been one of her teammates at Ōarai. The girl didn't seem to recognize her, but Saki had always been somewhat spacey, and was even now looking for something else to catch her attention.
Yukari waved at Kay to get her attention, but Kay just winked back at her.
"All right, everyone!" called Kay. "I hope you enjoyed this film brought to you by the Tankery Team! In return, I need a favor."
There was much groaning from the audience. Yukari, in the light, was startled to recognize a few of the other girls in the room as having been members of the Ōarai first years that had crewed the team's M3 Lee. The first years had been notorious as fans of old war movies, which had contributed to their being persuaded to take up crewing an actual tank for Ōarai.
Kay continued, "I understand the next Movie Club movie night is Twilight. I need some volunteers for a special project. If I can get some girls to help us out, I have copies of A Bridge Too Far, The Longest Day, Stalingrad, Tank, The Beast of War and Lebanon… all of them in HD… and I am willing to donate them to the Movie Club. In addition, I will be willing to coincidentally show my copy of Fury at the same time as Twilight. Is anyone interested?"
All the girls in the room, except Saki, raised their hands. Yukari fought the urge to raise her own.
"All right, my eager assistant will be picking the girls to help. Yukari?" Kay pointed to her in the stands, and she stood up.
"Hey! You're the girl from the internet!" came the call from one of the girls. "Is this for another one of your movies?"
"Something like that, yes." Yukari began pointing out the girls from Ōarai. "Azusa, Karina, Ayumi, Yuuki, and Aya. And Saki."
"Saki didn't raise her hand!" griped one of the girls.
"Saki looks like just the kind of girl we need for the part," said Yukari. "Azusa, can you make sure to bring her with you?"
Azusa nodded, "Sure. Saki may not say very much, but she's good at noticing things. She just tends to be a little spacey."
"Just come along to the Tankery team garages this weekend," said Kay. "And if any of you want to stick around, we'll be showing Goldeneye in a little bit. We have free popcorn and sodas!"
Next: XXVI: For Darjeeling and St. Gloriana
Author's Note: Hopefully, some of you caught the foreshadowing back at the beginning...