(I'm alive, and apparently so is this story, barely. After so long being gone, and my current project hitting walls left and right, that being the actual story of these guys I want to do, I've decided to come back for now until I do another hiatus. Granted most of you have forgotten what has happened to this point, don't worry I have too, so I'm sorry if I left this hanging, but I guess my ambitions are getting to high for my other project. And I'm sorry if this chapter is shit but I'm not as good at structure like I used to be )
As the boys were discussing between themselves, Mr. Yamada slowly came up to the weary group and quickly turned his attention to Juan and with a serious looked etched on his face. " The girls agreed to let you clean the tanks, on par with our agreement" he said in his heavy accent to Juan as his crew looked their captain. With a slight nod, Juan turned to Joe and with a loud voice, his southern accent echoing in every word he yelled " Aight fellas, looks like we are gonna clean up sum tanks, lets get our asses in there and get this shit done!" Everyone nodded in agreement, their eyes quickly shifting towards the large green doors as Momo looked in their direction; a chill quickly ran down her spine as her eyes briefly met with the group of boys. She quickly turned towards the Prez with a displeased look on her face, yet Anzu noticed Momo's eyes had a different look to them, one she only saw in horror movies, one of uneasy fear. "Open the doors!" yelled Mr. Yamada in Japanese as his men quickly opened the large green doors as Juan and his crew walked in. Large lights illuminated the interior of the sheds which contained eight different tanks, each covered in mud, grime and grease. Juan's eyes darted from tank to tank, his mind overclocking on which way would be the most productive and efficient to get the job done. " Well Christ!" exclaimed Erik as he immediately added with a joking, yet annoyed tone "I just thought we were going to expect two or three, not the amount of girls I plowed". " I just thought this amount was the times you got rejected Erik" suddenly sneered Tony as the others gave a light chuckle. "yeah, and they are all different too" added Chuck as everyone's eyes scanned each tank, noticing how they were a mix that ranged from German to American. Rick tilted his head slighty as he said with a curious tone in his voice;" Yeah, and look they also have nose art, or uh tank art painted on them"." Shit you're right Rick" quickly retorted Erik " But unfortunately, they aren't as well painted like ours" Juan gently slapped Erik's back as Erik glanced at his captain. With a loud, yet confident tone in his voice Juan quickly announced ;" Alright boys, lets get to work. We'll do this in two teams of five so it'll be easier to clean the whole tank without fucking us up alright?". "Yes chief' everyone said in unison as they began to walk to the tanks.
"Mr. Yamada, I don't think this is a good idea!" exclaimed Momo as her focus fell onto the group of boys, which in her eyes began to defile their tanks with their hands. Mr. yamada continued to stare ahead, his glasses reflecting the bright lights of the roof;" Its part of the deal I made with them vice president, and last time I checked, only the student council president can have a say in these sorts of matters, isn't that correct Student council president Anzu?" Momo's mouth slightly dropped in disbelief as she quickly turned towards the student council president, only to be met with the same stern expression. ' Damn, I cant believe I don't have any say in this!' thought Momo in frustration as she tightened her fists; 'either way I don't want the rest of the girls to see them' she continued to think. Suddenly, within moments her idea was shattered as a female voice quickly yelled within the row of tanks; " Hey, who the hell is yelling this early in the damn morning? We stayed all night fixing these guys!" Momo's eyes widened with horror as she quickly remembered that she let the automotive club stay over night to fix the vehicles. As soon as that thought shot through her mind, a tan skinned girl with fluffy black/brown hair jumped on top of one of the tanks. She was wearing a white tank top and orange mechanic suit that were covered in oil and grime. With a displeased tone she yelled; "Come on Momo-Chan, if you are gonna have us pull an all nightery might as well let us have some peace and.." She immediately stopped as her eyes abruptly fell upon the group of boys as they were examining the tanks. A huge wave of anger was quickly building inside her as her mind was racing to conjure up what phrases to scream at the group when one of the boys with a tan crush cap looked at her. Her eyes instantly widen in fear as she saw the individual, whose bright white pupils contrasted against the black shadow of his cap; " A demon" she whispered in horror. " don't worry about them Hoshino" yelled Anzu as Hoshino's quickly turned towards the student council president with a confused gaze. Hoshino pointed at the boys and replied; " But, aren't these the boys that crashed landed on our ship Prez?" Momo adjusted her monocle and yelled in a demanding tone " It doesn't matter, what matters is that you and the rest of the club go outside immediately, we have a meeting regarding our match with Saunders tomorrow, am I clear?" Hoshino stood silently still as Momo's words hit her like a hammer. "y..yes" she stuttered as she nodded and jumped down from the tank and disappeared. Within seconds she appeared again with three other girls as they tried to take in eyefuls of the mysterious boys as they walked outside.
"That should take care of that then" commented the student council president as she turned towards Momo; " I guess we should go outside too, besides I'm beginning to hear a commotion taking place outside" she added. Momo slowly began to hear familiar voices outside of the building and promptly nodded as they both turned around and walked outside. The sky was still light grey with a few rays of pale yellow sun breaking through the grey monotony. Outside on the dirty yard stood a huge group of girls all wearing different outfits that ranged from school uniforms to sweatpants and t-shirts. 'As long as they don't find out that the boys are in the sheds, I think we will be fine' Momo thought to herself. Anzu glanced at the group and started counting in her head, her eyes darting between girl to girl seeing faces she knew like her own. "is everyone here?" asked Momo as she too glanced at the large group. Anzu slowly shook her head, replied in a cool and calm tone ;" No, we are missing Hippo and anglerfish" All of a sudden, in the distance a low rumble began to emanate from the sea of houses and telephone wires. With each passing second the rumble began to get louder as more sounds were added into the mix. The screeching of metal tracks became more audible as all eyes turned towards the entrance of the dirt yard. All of a sudden a brown panzer IV rolled into the yard as heads and girls were sticking out from every direction. " There they are" grinned Anzu as she began to confidently walk towards the group. With a jolt the Panzer stopped as everyone jumped off and joined the rest of the group. " You're late" commented Momo as she adjusted her monocle. Mako rubbed her eyes as she sleepily replied " Sorry, I'm not used to waking up this early, and I didn't even wanted to come anyways" The sudent council president slowly raised her right hand high in the sky as she said in a loud tone. " Alright girls, now I'm sure you are all curious on why I called all of you out this early. The thing is I wanted to discuss with all of you about tomorrow's match. Granted I'm sure most, if not all of you feel that this game will be easy, but unfortunately I feel that wont be the case here." Everyone looked at her with curious expressions etched on their faces. " What do you mean Prez?' blurted out a voice. Anzu lowered her hand as her face tightened, her mind breaking as she tried to figure out what to say next. She gritted her teeth as she continued; " I know that Saunders will use their school to their advantage, and I know our dear Yukari infiltrated Saunders before, but the thing is she didn't film the terrain of the ship itself, only the school and the tanks. So we will be at a disadvantage there, another thing I want to mention is that our opponents will probably be fighting more because of the bet" The words hit the group as a loud "what" was yelled in unison by the freshman. " With all due respect President" abruptly commented Momo as she turned towards Anzu;" Why do you think Saunders will fight harder than the previous match we had with them? Are you saying that a group of random delinquent boys are worth more than a winner's title to them?" Anzu's eyes darted towards Momo and with a slight grin suddenly appearing on her face she replied " yes actually, just think about. A Japanese school teaching it's students on the ways and practices of being an 'American'. Besides the only 'Americans' they have are half Japanese and the exchange students that come from the American private schools that are on carriers like ours. Having an opportunity to meet Americans from the mainland will give them a great insight on their customs and personalities."
Momo tightened her face as she accepted Anzu's words. Within moments the student council president continued with her speech with the same loud and vibrant tone in her voice;" So that being said, instead of doing another round versing each other like we did yesterday, I want each and every team to rest up for tomorrow. We will be against some pretty high odds, I want to make sure we will beat them, like we have many times before, because we are Ooarai and every other school in this league knows this, that we wont back down from anything". Silence immediately consumed the yard as each and every girl stood still, their eyes burning bright with victory. " So go home, get some rest and we will have another meeting later this evening for just the commanders of each tank and a general briefing tomorrow morning" she finally added as she nodded and looked towards Momo. With a blunt tone she told her" Have Leopon team take the Panzer IV into the sheds and begin work immediately. Momo's was appalled by Anzu's request as she looked wide eyed at the student council president; "But I don't want the girls.." stuttered Momo as she quickly cut off, the student council president looked at her with a serious face, a face that Momo-Chan has only seen a few times of her life. Momo tightened her fists as she bowed and acknowledged the President's request. With a swift movement she adjusted her monocle and with her usual attention grabbing tone she announced " leopon team, take Anglerfish's Panzer IV in the shop and commence the repair for it!" The four dirty and grease covered girls nodded in agreement, though their faces showed another emotion. As they began to climb onto the brown and beat up panzer IV, Momo quickly turned her attention to the rest of the large group as she tried her hardest to keep her swirling emotions of anger and agitation from coming out. "For the rest of you, like the student council president said, head home and rest. We have a long and tough game for us tomorrow, so get as much rest as you need. For the commanders the meeting will be at seven tonight" she announced as she put both hands behind her back, still clenching with frustration. "Yukari!" loudly added Momo as Yukari rapidly looked at the vice president who continued " I also want you to come along to the meeting tonight and I would like if you can bring your previous information about Saunders that you collect and any new rumors you might have heard about them regarding their ever growing list of AFV's" With a big smile and eyes that gleamed like the sun Yukari saluted Momo as she agreed. The Panzer Iv's engines suddenly roared to life, it's grey and white smoke flying upwards and disappearing into the salty morning wind. With her last bit of vocal energy left Momo announced " The general briefing will be at eight in the morning so make sure you wake up early, PANZER VOR!" With that the group began to dissipate as each team began to walk towards the main gate as laughing and discussion broke out amongst themselves.
Erwin and Yukari glanced at each other as they looked towards two black sedans and a jeep they haven't seen before. "Hey Erwin" whispered Yukari as Erwin leaned closer, her eyes glaring down the vehicles that seemed to go unnoticed to the rest of the group. Yukari quickly darted her eyes towards Saori before she slowly continued, hoping that her friend wont hear; " I think our 'friends' from before are here don't you think?" Erwin nodded her head as she quickly shifted her attention towards the large green doors of the garage that for some reason were shut closed. " I think you might be right Guderian. You noticed that most times they usually keep those doors open when we have a meeting; but for some odd reason they seemed to be shut tight". Yukari nodded as her eyes swiftly shifted towards the large doors, curiosity beginning to overtake her mind. " I'm wondering why the student council are hiding them from us" asked Yukari as she turned her gaze back towards her friend who was deep in thought. " I'm not sure" replied Erwin with a confused look on her face; " I doubt they are hiding them from us because they are afraid they're going to violate us in our sleep or that all of us will be impregnated by them" she added as Yukari softly chucked shaking her head. Erwin's face tensed up ;" But in all honesty I believe the reason why they are keeping us in the dark about them is the sport they play. The video back in the house will give us a great insight about this aerial sport those boys play" Yukari nodded in agreement as Saori abruptly boke the pair's train of thought and with a cheerful expression turned towards Miho and the others " You girls want to go and get some breakfast?" "Sure" Miho nodded in agreement as Mako and Hana also agreed to the plan. Saori turned towards Yukari and waited for an answer. Yukari glanced at the Hippo team who all stared back at her. waiting for her response. After a few seconds she slowly spoke" I'm sorry but I got some things to do unfortunately, but I'm open to eat dinner with you guys later tonight after the meeting if you want?" A pouting expression quickly appeared on Saori's face as she agreed to the plan and turned towards the rest of her crew and began to walk away from the Hippo team and Yukari. "Why didn't you go with them Yukari?" asked Erwin in confusion." Because we were watching a video weren't we?" Yukari grinned. "You could have agreed and invited us you know, I'm starving!" suddenly blurted out Caesar. Everyone chuckled as Saemonza said " Don't worry Caesar, we'll get some food on the way home; I don't want to watch a vid on an empty stomach" All of Hippo team nodded in unison as the group began to walk down the street of houses as life on the ship began to wake up to the hazy morning.
Momo's eyes glared at the gate as the last of the girls walked out of the yard. After she made sure that they were out of sight she turned towards the student council president with eyes mixed of agitation and confusion. "Why are we letting Leopon team take the tank to the garage?" she exclaimed as Anzu rubbed her eyes;" what's the point in trying to hide them from the girls? They already know they are here on this ship and I'm sure some other girls beside Leopon have already caught a glimpse of them" Momo remained silent as the realization of reality hit her. The low hum of the Panzer IV echoed throughout the empty lot as the student council president walked over towards the large green doors, waving at the tank to move forward. The engine suddenly roared as the tank crept forward slowly towards the large sheds; to be touched by hands other than the gentle hands of steel hearted maidens. Momo cringed at the thought of that event, the pride and face of her beloved school's Sensha-do team to be defiled by a bunch of what she viewed as barbaric boys who knew nothing of the elegance and grace of the sport. Anzu walked into the shed as she directed the tank, her hands spinning in front of her as she walked backwards. With a thoughtful expression etched on her face she saw the Panzer IV go into the garages and out of sight. Within moments the Student council president walked out and looked at Momo who glared back at her with displeased eyes. With a confident grin, Anzu slapped Momo-chan's shoulder and quickly whistled loudly which suddenly was followed by a hum of an open topped grey Kubelwagen with large Ooarai emblems on its hood and doors as it drove in front of the girls. It screeched as it stopped as small clouds of dust rose from the vehicle, its air-cooled flat four humming in an ear pleasing rhythm. Anzu reached for the door and opened it, gesturing for the vice president to go in first. Momo charged in without saying a single word as sat down with a thud, her eyes staring forward as she thought to herself. The student council president quickly followed in the car and shut the door behind her and immediately slapped the door twice and within moments the kubel's engine sputtered to life as it moved forward and drove out of the dusty yard.
The Panzer IV's engine echoed loudly throughout the the garage as Juan and the others instantly turned their attention to the brown colored tank with vibrant pink cartoon anglerfish markings painted on the turret. Juan noticed that the tank suffered damage due to some spots that seemed to have ricochet hits. 'Seems like these girls fire with live ammo' Juan thought to himself as he plunged his broom into a large metal bucket that was overflowing with pink soap bubbles that splashed out to the concrete floor. "Jesus why the fuck are those bitches looking at us like that?" abruptly commented Brock as Juan turned his attention towards the tank and saw the oil covered girls he saw earlier glaring back at him and his crew. Juan noticed that they had an expression that was mixed between curiosity and nervousness. Joe walked over to Juan with his broom lugged over his shoulder and with a cocky grin asked " Dya think this might be their first time seeing foreign people in person Juan?" Juan nodded as his eyes fell upon the group of girls as the tank moved towards the far end of the line of dirty tanks; "Probably" he muttered as he turned towards Erik who was standing on top of a grey Stug III whose gaze still was focused on the girls. " Didn't your mom say it was a bad custom to stare at people Erik, especially attractive girls?" loudly yelled Juan, putting his hand next to his mouth to make his voice louder. Erik shrugged looking back at Juan with a devilish smile crawling across his face; " If they don't say something it means they want to be looked at, otherwise they would have spoke up right?" he commented. " Maybe its because they don't know fucking English man" chuckled Tony who was scrubbing away on the front of the Stug. " But they should know some English right? I mean every time I see a slice of life or romcom anime it seems like they are in English class" commented Rick. " But if you have noticed those fuckers are either asleep or not paying two shits in those classes" retorted Brock; Rick tilted his head as he replied "fair enough". "Alright alright boys I'm loving the enthusiasm but we should turn our attention back to these tanks otherwise we won't get em' done" announced Joe as everyone grunted and went back to their duties. Brock suddenly raised his hand as he shouted " Alright before we get back to work boys, I just want your opinion on one thing." Everyone remained silent as they waited for Brock's opinion; " You guys think those girls look like the type to suck the soul out of a man if you get my drift?" Everyone chuckled as Juan shook his head and chuckled under his breath " Jesus Christ Brock"
The Kubelwagen hummed as it drove on as house after house went by. Momo's hair softly flew around her face as she placed her hand beside her head. " I know what you're feeling Momo" suddenly said Anzu as Momo quickly turned towards her friend, only to see her look out at the sea of house and wires they grew up with. The student council president then leaned on her arm as she slouched towards the door;" I didn't like the idea either at first, but I had a change of heart somewhere along the way I guess". Momo's built up agitation finally broke free as she yelled in confusion " What do you mean you had a change of heart?" The Prez's eyes turned towards her friend whose face was becoming red with anger. " They have good hearts within them" commented Anzu as she turned towards her vice president who was beginning to look more perplexed than angry. " What do you mean by that?" Momo asked as she looked at Anzu whose face became distant, as if she was remembering a childhood memory. " I'm guessing Mr. Yamada's comment about them hasn't fully settled in yet has it Momo-Chan?" asked Anzu; "I noticed earlier that you seemed to have a different look in your eyes after you saw their eyes". Momo looked down at the metal floor as she remembered the gazes of the group as she got goosebumps. Slowly she replied " Something seemed off about them, like compared to the girls, their eyes seemed so, so different than what I'm used to" Silence consumed the car as its engine continued to sing its mechanical song. " You couldn't see their innocence did you?" asked Anzu with a heartfelt and somber voice. Momo sat silently as she realized Anzu was right. The student council president continued with the same tone " It's what happens when you see death over and over again, when you see how fragile a human life can be" Momo's gaze became distant as her mind tried to think how it react to the given information. She tried to say something but she couldn't bring herself to say anything so somber. Silence consumed the two of them yet again as they both looked out towards the passing scenery." I don't want to continue this anymore Momo. Just let them be for now, if Saunders's gets them tomorrow then that will be the end of that, but in the off chance we get stuck with them, we can discuss this later on" abruptly said Anzu as she kept looking out towards the town. The car suddenly stopped as both girls were brought back into reality and looked up to see a red light above them. " Looks like we are almost to your house Momo" said the Prez as Momo looked around; " I guess you're right Prez" she replied as the light turned green and the car continued onward. "Listen Momo, I know you care about the girls and this school very much, extremely to be exact" Anzu chuckled, turning towards Momo as she continued " I know you're just worried about what this situation can do to the girls or the school, but you shouldn't go stressing to death over it. Plus I've been hearing you're searching for another tank for our team" The vice president tightened her face as she nodded; " Word travels fast doesn't it?" she muttered. All of a sudden, the Kubel lunged forward as it abruptly stopped sending its occupants leaning forward; " Guess we are at your place" said the student council president as Momo looked up and saw her home. She grabbed the door handle and with a click she turned it and jumped out of the car as Anzu yelled to her "Momo, its good that you have dedicated almost all of your years towards the ship. That being said however, if you dedicate all your time on something that isn't yourself, its never going to end well." Momo stood silently as she looked towards Anzu as she added with a concerned motherly tone in her voice;" You should start worrying about getting your grades up before our time here ends, make finding that tank your second objective if you can". With that the Prez slapped the side of the Kubel twice and it drove off as Momo stood still, her hair gently flowing as she continued to look at the car until it disappeared, the presidents words burying deep within her mind as the sound of the gentle breeze sang through the trees.