Gustav and the other german delegates have arrived to Wien Hauptbahnhof in the late afternoon. When he stepped out of the wagon carrying his luggage, a young Austrian boy was already waiting for him on the platform.

"Oh. Guten Tag Anton!" Gustav greeted him with a smile.

"Wilkommen in Wien Leute!" said Anton Groß, a student from the Sensha-Do practicing Viennese Windischgrätz High School as he shook hands with Gustav. "Gertrud." he nodded.

"What brings you here?"

"I was assigned to guide you to your hotel. The other delegations will be waited as well."

"Then I guess we are lucky to be greeted by an old friend." said Gustav.

"Sure you are. Then let's go, shall we?" said Anton.

They exited the railway station. They took tram number 18 and travelled a few stops until they arrived to Fasangasse. Gustav's and his fellows' accommodation, the Hotel König von Ungarn was in its continuation, the Ungargasse.

In the aula of the hotel they met other familiar faces.

"Benvenuto miei amici!" greeted them Lucia Barbella, the roman Giuseppe Verdi High School's Sensha-Do commander and her second in command, Carlo Albergo.

"Macaroni guys." shook their hands Gustav and Gertrud.

"You know I actually prefer Farfalle." said Lucia. "But any way it's nice to see you guys again."

"If only we could meet in more pleasant conditions." said Gertrud.

"Well, yes… But let's leave this topic for tomorrow." replied Lucia. "Until then would you like to do something?"

"What about having a walk in the neighborhood?" asked Gustav. "We are in my second favorite part of Vienna. Would you like to go?"

"What's your favorite part?" asked Anton.

"The Kahlenberg."

"No surprise. We can go if you ask me."

"Same here." said Lucia, Carlo and Gertrud.

And so they went out to the street and had an early evening walk. They visited the nearby Stephansplatz with the Stephansdom, the Stadtpark and the Hofburg on the Michaelerplatz.

Gustav was delighted. He always loved Vienna, though he missed the sea a bit. Those times he visited the banks of the Danube and watched the water of the mighty river streaming.

The rest of the day was spent without anything special. They've had dinner and went to bed to get enough rest.

In mean time the further delegations from other countries were arriving one by one. Of course the delegates from the neighboring and nearby countries were the first to arrive. The germans, italians, hungarians, then the czechs, the french, the spanish, the balkans, the poles, the scandinavians, the russians. Then came the students and other sport association members from Asian countries (including the Japanese Sentoki-Do Federation's delegates), then from Africa like Egypt or South Africa. Then the others from Australia and the countries of the Americas, the USA, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil etc.

They were all accommodated in different hotels across Vienna and they were preparing for the next day and the session of the IMAF's Federal Assembly.

Next day

Shortly after noon our friends left the hotel and headed for the meeting. They travelled through the old town of Vienna until they arrived to Museumstraße. There stood the big, baroque styled building which served as the center of the International Martial Arts Federation.

The decision to house it in Austria's capital city was made in the early 60's when the IMAF was founded and the world was divided in two by an iron curtain. Since Austria though it clearly belonged to the western world has never joined NATO, the Sensha-Do, Sentoki-Do etc. practitioners of the western and the eastern blocks could meet on more or less neutral ground. There is a saying: If the world was governed by sportsmen there wouldn't be wars.

On this day Gustav and his friends were walking up on the stairs to the entrance. There were already many delegates from many parts of the world. Inside there Gustav met more of his fellow commanders, Jacques Chevalier from France, Pedro Fernández from Spain, Alexandr Orlov from Russia, Ryan Peterson from America, Colin Black from England, Albert Enderson from Australia, Stanislaw Petrowszky from Poland, Lauri Erkkila from Finland and Ibrahim Arslan from Turkey.

They've had a bit of time to have a friendly talk before the session begun in the middle of the afternoon.

After that they entered the gradual meeting room and occupied their seats. In mean time the directorate, led by the current director at that time the dutch Daan Vogel, an aged man with grey hair and glasses.

"My dear fellow sportsmen and sportswomen." Vogel started. "I welcome all of you and thank you for coming here so suddenly even from the far side of the globe. As you probably already know, we are not here because of some usual, everyday matter. No, we are here because of a way more serious problem. Like many of you I have been following the happenings of the japanese Sensha-Do crisis from its beginning with concern. I don't think I need to tell you about it, you likely know what I am talking about. And now our sport Federation has been involved in the conflict between the Japan Sensha-Do Federation and the Confederacy of Independent High Schools. A japanese Sentoki-Do school of ours has been attacked by them. I hope you share my opinion that this is unacceptable! Many months ago we have stopped all tank and ammunition transport to Japan, warned them many times to stop their irregular attacks like the using of tear gas but looks like it was not enough. They've attacked two of their own schools that wanted free will and didn't want to join their war. And now the case of Adlerflügel Girls' High School in Uonuma. I think the time has come for us to make certain necessary steps. Now I'm asking you: do you agree with me?"

"YES!" sounded the reply of the students and adults as one.

"With your permission Mr. Vogel!" said a school director from the Romanian delegation. "If we want to act we need to act fast. The situation of Count High School is more and more desperate as the days are passing by. The air attacks of the Japan Sentoki-Do Federation didn't stop them to withdraw from Soma. Not to mention there are a few Romanian exchange students too who are fighting in the ranks of Count High. We have to do something for them quickly!"

"I can say the same thing about Viggen High School." said a student from the Swedish delegation. "The JSF didn't give up the blockade of their city and they are still threatened."

"I share your opinion." replied Vogel. "We are here to decide how to act. We have to solve the following points: 1.: the JSF's war against the Sensha-Do practicing boys' schools in Japan, 2.: the aggression against Count High School, 3.: the aggression against Viggen High School and 4.: the security of IMAF member schools in Japan. As I see we have two possible solutions: a peaceful and a not peaceful. Before we decide it I suggest listening the two fighting parties. Send them in!"

The crowd begun to whisper excitedly. A few seconds later representatives of the JSF and boys from the Confederacy of Independent High Schools came in and stopped at the two desks which were standing opposite to each other before the seats of the directorate. As they stopped before the assembly both parties bowed as a greeting to those who were present.

"Thank you for coming all the way here." said Vogel to them. "I'd like to ask you first Ms. Okura." he turned to a woman of the JSF. "What do you say to our objections?"

"I'm sorry Vogel-sama, but I must tell they are baseless." This first sentence already caused a hullabaloo in the room. "All we did was in the defense of the Japan Sensha-Do Federation."

"So was the tear gas attacks on our forces?" a confederate representative boy angrily asked.

"Nothing like that happened! And you have no proof!" hissed Okura.

"Mr. Director?" Vogel's secretary whispered into his ears.

"Patience. I'll make them face it tomorrow. I'll show them everything what Chonou Ami sent to us." Vogel replied silently.

"And what about the using of Lahti anti-tank rifles in Shizuoka?" asked Okura her opponents. "Was it within the rules of Sensha-Do?"

"Do you really think it's comparable to your methods? We used a small caliber weapon against your tanks not a cruel aeriform which burns the lungs of your soldiers!"

"Order please!" Vogel said. "What about the offensive against Count and Viggen High School?"

"That's the JSF's own business! We are not members of the IMAF therefore we do not have to explain ourselves to you and you have no right to horn in!"

"Maybe. But if you do not respect the neutrality of one of our schools, we do have right to horn in."

"You are wrong or misinformed. Adlerflügel Girls' High School was the first to descend upon us!"

"Liar!" shouted the delegation of the Japanese Sentoki-Do Federation. "You surrounded them and threatened them with an assault!"

"Order please!"

"You see Vogel-san?" asked the leader of the confederate boys who was no other than Isato, Landsknecht's student council president. "That's the JSF and inter alia that is why we left it."

"Which you had no right to…" murmured Okura.

"And that is why we asked you before to accept us as your members and give us support." As the war was raging on the fronts, those boys who stayed at home didn't idle either. They were continuously working to make the IMAF recognize the Confederacy and claim it as a member. But as the Confederacy was a fighting party and its status was in question the IMAF refused first.

The debate went on until it was late in the night and Vogel decided to continue the session next day. As Gustav and his friends were heading back to the hotel they were thinking about what they saw and heard.

"I don't know what you think about this guys." said Gustav. "But within a few minutes after they came in I was sure who shall we support."

"If you're talking about those boys' schools then I agree." said Gertrud.

"Yup, I'm talking about them."

"That woman said we do not have right to complain about those two assaulted girls' schools. Honestly, I don't think so." added Lucia.

"Plus, likely those pilot girls didn't take off and fired on their tanks just for fun." said Carlo.

"I wonder how this will turn out." said Anton.

"For some reason I feel that it will be very "exciting."" replied Gustav.

"Tomorrow we will see it."

24 hours later

The Assembly gathered together once more. Everyone was curious to see how the JSF members will react seeing the different types of documents Ami sent to the IMAF through Vladivostok and Aleksey.

"Ms. Okura. The day before you said that you've never used tear gas against the confederate army, right?"

"Like you said Vogel-san."

"Then… what do you think about these?" asked the IMAF's director and showed up photos from the southern front taken by the boys. They showed the huge, white cloud of the closing gas.

"That can be anything." said Okura. "Fog for example."

"Indeed, that could be possible… if we wouldn't have these." said Vogel and took out further papers from an envelope. "These are bills Ms. Okura. Evidences of the JSF's request to a big company to produce and deliver a big amount of tear gas for you. Furthermore, here are the statements from the generals, other officers and soldiers of the boys' schools."

Okura didn't reply but her face told everyone that she got confused this time.

"And then here is another statement from four students from Habsburg Boys' High School and De Gaulle Boys' High School who were sent by their commanders in Shizuoka to take positions on rooftops with Lahti anti-tank rifles. They said that your tanks fired their main cannons at them. I guess it's not necessary to remind you that this is strictly against the JSF's rules as well. And speaking about documents…" Vogel reached under his table and placed so many envelopes and papers on it that they covered almost the whole table top. "An unnamed japanese person who listened to her conscience found these in the JSF's archives and sent them to us. The oldest ones are from the late 80's when you allowed the boys' schools to join Sensha-Do. These papers are talking about their exploitation, embezzlement, the intentionally blocking of the boys' schools access to money, or in one word: corruption."

Silence lapsed in the meeting room. The present delegates already knew about some of these things but the new facts shocked them. The JSF delegates were standing speechless while the confederate boys had satisfied grins on their faces. They knew that they won this battle.

"Excuse me." said Okura then she and her company quickly ran out of the meeting room.

Next day the Assembly was waiting for them in vain. Soon they've learnt that the JSF delegation left Vienna and flew back to Japan during the night.

If there were still people who doubted the JSF's responsibility, their escape convinced them too.

For the next five days the IMAF and the JSF were communicating with each other in letters. These "conversations" however led nowhere. The IMAF wanted the JSF to negotiate with the Confederacy to restore peace finally within the japanese Sensha-Do. They wanted them to leave Count and Viggen High School alone. And finally they wanted them to stop threatening the interests of the IMAF in the land of the rising Sun. But the JSF never gave any useful replies and apparently did nothing. Count High School's situation was now very desperate for example. They were now almost pushed into the ocean in Soma.

One week after the delegates arrived to Vienna, Vogel spoke up more seriously than before.

"Ladies and gentleman. In my opinion the time has come for drastic steps!"

After the vote Gustav felt pressure on his heart. He knew that this was necessary but he really wasn't a man of violence. He thought that these sports should remain sports. Despite of this the voice in his head told him to vote with a "yes" and eventually he did so.

Ami's POV, Yokosuka

Ami was on a day off from the Self Defense Force in the moment, and was walking on a busy avenue in her hometown, Yokosuka. It was still early in the morning and she decided to have a cup of coffee in a nearby café. After she got it she sat down at a table on the street. She looked up at the sky, closed her eyes, took a deep breath and let out a huge sigh. Although the weather was nice, her thoughts were troubled.

After a few minutes she noticed that more and more people were standing before the neighboring newsstand. She got curious. She finished her coffee, stood up and went to see what happened. She took a newspaper from the stand. On its front page there was the headline with huge letters: IMAF THREATENS JSF WITH AIRSTRIKES.

"Alright. Now I'm really getting freaked out."

That's right folks! Expect more excitement in the close future!

In case I do not post until then: on 25 March, it will be the one year anniversary of the story's first chapter! Let me thank all of you the wonderful support you're giving me! It really helps a lot!

Panzer vor!