Blazepanzer here, and yes, it's kinda a double upload. I know I uploaded my previous chapter only yesterday, but to be fair I've had this chapter ready to go long before I finished the previous chapter.
Anyways, Enjoy! Blazepanzer does not own Girls und Panzer.
Her green eyes focused on the three commanders in front of her. One of them had a darker completion and long black hair. The other two had a lighter white-ish skin tone with blond hair and blue eyes. Hm...looks very french...and by Yukari's report...they act like it. Still...It was a good thing I had Fei also scout, otherwise we wouldn't have known that their fights where partially a ruse.
"Ladies, it's time for pre-match procedures, all teams bow."
"Let's have a good match," Hanoashi chorused, bowing alongside Miho and Azusa.
"Let's have a good match."
"Uh...hey, have the commander bow."
"What...no you do it!"
"Why do I have to bow?"
Hanoashi nearly let out a small snicker. That's a very good question, she mused amusingly. After all...we did cheat to win the last tournament...well, I didn't along with over half the team, but Yukari and Miho's cell phone use during the Pravda match almost lost us the title. Dumbass...still, usually is an excellent scout, and in Miho's case, an invaluable commander.
"Um...anyways, shall we just start the match?" Azusa asked.
Hanoashi shot up, realizing that they had been in the bowing position for almost a whole minute. "Er...Judges, if she doesn't want to bow...we're okay with starting the match regardless."
"Oh...okay then...but Marie will be hearing about this later." one of the officials muttered.
As she went to her tank she let out a small laugh. "Why should I have to bow?" she chuckled.
"Commander Katoni?" Azusa asked, clearly confused.
"Azusa-chan," Hanoashi smiled. "She does have one very good reason for not wanting to bow." she commented.
"What reason could that be?" Asuza asked.
"The cell phone usage at Pravda," Hanoashi whispered.
"And you...find that funny?" Asuza tipped her head.
"More absurd than funny, but in a way you can't help but chuckle." Hanoashi soothed as they arrived at the tank line-up.
"I guess I can see that," Miho admitted. "Still, the Sensado federation gets really mad then people don't bow."
"Did they bow in the co-ed leagues...what...no...they don't do they." Asuza almost asked before remembering their match with Nishmari.
"Yeah, we usually just share a handshake and a few pre-match words and that's it." Hanoashi admitted.
Climbing into her panzer, she gazed at her crewmates. Because all winter cup tournaments where elimination, she didn't have to worry too much about picking and choosing which crew to take in. Now if she had a full field of 20 tanks or more, then she would since you couldn't have more than seven tanks more than the opponent.
"This is our first official match together, so let's do our best, alright?" she told her teammates.
"Right, understood," Ayumi smiled, eager to get back into gunnery after being out for a month due to a concussion.
Taking her radio, she adressed the other crews. "Hina, Noriko, you're our scouts, please advance ahead of us, and feel free to take out any FT and S35's you see, just make sure you avoid the ARL's.
"Rodger that ma'am," Hina coursed, having her T-50 veer off into the distance, Noriko's following suit.
"Also, remember the new rule, all commanders are to retreat into the tank with-in ten seconds of being fired upon. Anyone who takes more than twenty seconds will have their tank disqualified for the match."
"Rodger!"
Hanoashi took out her binoculars and gazed around. "Nothing out of the ordinary," she sighed, keeping a close eye out for enemy tanks.
"All units, split up," Hanoashi ordered. "Kestrel, Anteater, you're with me. Anglerfish, you take Sparrow, and Aye-aye. Rabbit, you take everyone else and head to point A 169 east, B-21 north, alright?"
"Rodger," she heard over the radio.
"If you run into a small number of troops, take them out on your own initiative, however, if you see their full formation, retreat. If they give chase, drive them near Azusa only if she's secured point A-169, B-21, that's the plan."
"Understood."
Hanoashi once again took out her binoculars and observed the area as her tanks flew off in different directions. "Nothing out of the ordinary," she announced once again.
"I'm a little nervous, this being my first battle as a commander," Ceaser admitted over the radio.
"You'll do fine, just stay calm and do your best, alright Sempai?"
"I will Commander, thank you," Ceaser breathed other the radio.
"Anglerfish to all, we're under fire, retreating to point…"
"Armadillo to Anglerfish...come in…" Hanoashi began but the announcer's voice cut her off.
"Panzer IV disqualified due to commander remaining out of the tank while under fire for more than 20 seconds.
"Maus dammit it Miho!" Hanoashi screeched. "Fine then! Sparrow, Aye Aye, on me, we'll drive them off. Asuza, prepare to take charge if I'm knocked out."
"Rodger!"
It didn't take very long for them to find each other. Behind them Hanoashi found two ARL's and three FT's. "Open fire, Kestrel, Aye-aye, focus on the two ARL's, I'll take out the FT's."
Glancing down at her gunner, the ginger let out a faint smile. "Ayumi, ready to give em hell?"
"Ready commander!"
"Loading complete!"
"Don't wait on me to say so, fire at will!"
And Asuza did, knocking out the first FT.
" ARL Taken out!" Nykona reported happily.
"ARL Detracked!" Ceaser smiled.
"Leopon open fire on the ARL, everyone else, fire on the FT's!"
Marie POV:
"I wonder what will happen first, me eating this cake or they getting knocked out?"
"I really don't know how to respond to that."
"Relax Alexa, they've lost their wonder girl, the idiot actually got herself disqualified. Without Miho, Ooarai is nothing."
"And with Miho, they are nothing but a bunch of cheaters."
"Plus, Katoni's only in charge because she's the vice heiress and according to Sensado rules, a vice heiress or the main heiress must be in sensado if possible." Marie paused to eat a bite of cake. "No name Katoni's a rookie, she has no chance in this match."
"This is commander Rema, 1st platoon is eliminated."
Marie nearly choked on her cake. "Eliminated, everyone?" she asked desperately. "That's a third of our force!"
"Sorry commander, we've lost to that Katoni chick, she's a lot better than we thought," Rema admitted.
"Understood, everyone okay?"
"Yes ma'am, we're fine."
"Rest up then," Marie whispered, before gazing out on the battlefield. "It's up to those two now...if they can work together."
"So...no-name Katoni huh?"
Glancing down, Marie gave a small hum. "You think that Hanoashi could be a veteran and we don't know it?"
"If she was, then either she was a sleeping giant or a veteran of the co-ed grade school league. If the latter, then we wouldn't know about it due to our league's sexism." Alexa admitted.
"Either ways, we need to reevaluate this commander Katoni in the future." Marie grunted.
Miho POV:
I can't fucking believe this! Miho seethed in anger as she and her team where driven back to the crew areas. And right after she reminded us of that rule as well!
"You okay Nishisumi?" Yukari asked gently.
"I guess I'm just disappointed in myself." Miho sighed.
"Hanoashi isn't going to punish you, is she?" Saori asked, concern filled with her voice.
"She won't want to, but she has no choice...Sensado requirements demand that in addition to getting disqualified for remaining out of the tank more than 20 seconds once under fire, a sensado commander must punish that commander in some way."
"In what way will you be punished?" Hana asked, her blue eyes glittering with worry.
"You'll see Monday…" Miho groaned, before cupping her face into her hands. "I'm such an idiot!"
Hanoashi pov:
I hope Miho's not betting herself up too much over what happened, she hoped fervently. She was no longer frustrated over her vice commander getting disqualified, those feelings of anger and frustration now replaced with worry about her vice commander. It's only a week, and she'll still be my vice commander...though if it happens again, she let out a shudder.
"Commander, we have the remaining ARL's in sight, shall we open fire?" Asuza asked.
"Yes please, take out the ARL's " Hanoashi smiled, glad of the distraction."
"You alright commander?" Ayumi asked, tipping her head.
"I guess...just worried about my vice commander."
"She broke the new rule," Ayumi shrugged.
"Still...it's kinda unfair to her, given she's so used to being able to keep herself half out of the tank during a firefight."
"Oh...I see," Ayumi mused. "What was the punishment for that again...I heard that in addition to the disqualification we have to…"
"That'll be announced on Monday. Anywho, we need to focus on the match ad hand." Hanoashi interrupted, tired of talking about punishments.
"So...what's our plan?" Satako asked.
"We need to proceed toward their starting area, but let's be cautious, alright?"
"Rodger that!"
Erwin POV:
Huh...there's three ARL's remaining, and none of them seem to be housed by Oshida… "Erwin to Katoni, something's off here," she reported.
"Please continue," Hanoashi reported.
"There's three ARL's instead of two and non appear to be commanded by Oshida, is our intelligence even more off?"
"Seems that way, please eliminate the three ARL's and any tanks you encounter." Hanoashi commanded.
"Understood." Erwin sighed. This could be a mistake...but…
"Four Shermans to our right! All tanks open fire!" Asuza ordered suddenly.
Erwin was about to tell her driver to punch it, but her gunner suddenly fired right before the Stug III erupted into a rather serious vibration. Her eyes shut as the familiar white flag erupted.
"Damn it, we're out," Erwin announced.
"I think I managed to take out one of their ARL's though," Saemonza stammered.
Peering through her periscope, Erwin let out a smiled. "Two of the ARL's are neutralized." she sighed in relief.
Hanoashi pov:
"Commander Katoni, we're engaged with four Shermans...what's going on I thought BC freedom was supposed to be a French biased team?"
"Don't worry about it, it's just Frence variants on the M4," Hanoashi reported. "Can you take them out?"
"Yes commander, we've already taken out the ARL's and one of the Shermans."
"Good, take the other three out if you can and report back to me, Katoni out."
"We're not going to help them out?" Ayumi asked, her blue eyes glittering with worry.
"We'd never make it in time," Hanoashi sighed. "Besides, I trust Asuza to handle that issue, we need to be prepared to finish off the remainder of the enemy's tanks."
Noriko's pov:
"Is that...commander eating cake during the middle of battle."
"That bastard didn't even bow during the greetings," Hina growled, clearly upset about what had happened!
"Language," Noriko whispered over the radio. "But yeah, she looks like a total snob."
"Let's take her out quick and then make our getaway," Hina hissed.
"Should we make the report?" Noriko asked.
"You go on ahead, then."
"Noriko to Hanoashi, we've got the enemy commander in sight, shall we take her out?"
"What tank is she commanding."
"One of the FT-17's."
"Take her out and get out of there. Let me know if the enemy follows you," Hanoashi ordered.
"Rodger that Katoni, Noriko over and out."
"So we fire?" Hina asked.
"Yes, but gun it as soon as the tank is out. Also fire a small burst of machine gun fire so their commander has time to duck into her tank." Noriko requested.
Azumi pov:
"Miho...you alright?"
Azumi couldn't help but comfort the young vice commander after seeing her get disqualified like that. It's so unfair, no one's complained about us staying out of the tank like that before...why so harsh now?
"I...I think so," Miho sighed. "More ashamed and disappointed in myself than anything."
"Don't be...we're all used to doing it, heck I wouldn't be surprised of a lot of disqualifications started happening because of the new rule."
"Maybe you are right Azumi...but Hanoashi reminded all of us about the new rule and less than an hour later...I go and break it."
"Is...this Hanoashi your new commander?" Azumi asked suddenly.
Miho nodded. "She was the commander at Nishmari middle school, and our Vice heiress."
"Nishmari…" Azumi paused. "My parents almost moved there...but then I took up Sensado and well…" Glancing up at the monitor, Marie let out a silent sigh. "She's good...isn't she?"
"Yeah, she's still got quite a lot to learn...but she's a very competent commander," Miho admitted.
"You don't think she'll be too harsh on you?"
Miho glanced down. "Hanoashi-san is tough about rule breaking...but fair. She won't give me any breaks or worse punishments."
"I see...well….it was nice talking with you Nishizumi-san," Azumi bowed.
"Likewise Azumi," Miho smiled, brightening up. "Oh...by the way, how is Alice doing?"
Azumi shifted a bit to make herself a bit comfortable. "Well...funny story about Alice that happened recently….
Marie pov:
Hm...machine gun fire...probably just Andu and Oshido having a spat… Marie brushed away any concern she had about the possibility of Ooarai having found her. She took another bite of her cake, completely oblivious to the two rather angry T-50's approaching her rear.
Without warning, two shells flew past, taking out the guard S-35 and FT-17. "What the hell are you doing An….du…" she trailed off, her face turning pale as she spotted the two Ooarai T-50's, one in standard green with the other in a green and tan camo-job.
"Fuck," she whispered as she entered the tank, pressing the button to deploy her flag tank as she did so.
"BC freedom S35 and two FT-17s have been knocked out."
"Marie to Oshida, it's up to you now, I'm out."
"Coward!" Hina shouted. "Let's get out of here Noriko," she added.
"Don't have to tell us twice!" Noriko smiled.
"Did you see how she cowered into her tank?"
"Yes, we where totally epic!" Noriko cried happily.
The two let out a small laugh as they continued on.
"You know what though...even though I miss the type 89, I love this tank!" Noriko smiled.
"It's one of the best scout tanks you can have," Hina smiled. "Did you know Hanoashi used to drive one back in the co-ed league?"
"No...I had no idea…" Noriko admitted. "Though from the way you speak of her...it sounds like you really like her."
"I...look up to her, see her as a source of inspiration," Hina admitted. "But...I don't love her...romantically anyways."
Looking up, Hina let out a gusty sigh. "That's why it hurt so much when my sister tried to falsely get her expelled like that." she added.
"Hey listen…" Noriko begin as they drove on. "That...what Ami did wasn't your fault. We all understand that."
"Thanks," Hina smiled in relief. "Now...we should get back to scouting."
Hanoashi pov:
How many tanks does BC have on the field again?… Let's see...they can have a max of 20, and we have knocked out a total of...15 tanks, so he have at most five to go.
Suddenly she felt a harsh rocking and the pop of her flag. "Hanoashi to Azusa, I'm out, it's up to you, alright. Don't worry, you'll do fine," she reassured her."
"Understood commander, I'll do my best."
Don't worry about losing Azusa, we're not in any danger of closing down anymore, so it's fine if we lose. Sort of...
Hanoashi wished she could tell her deputy commander that, however she knew that she didn't really have the ability. According to the rules, you can make a quick report, tell who's in charge, affirm you're alright, and give a bit of encouragement when you where knocked out. Nothing else.
"So...what now? Ren asked.
"Now, we wait." Hanoashi smiled.
"By the way, I saw Dan looking at you quite a bit the past few days," Ayumi mused.
Hanoashi let out a small blush. She knew Dan was into her, and she had to admit, she liked his personality. "If he asked be out, I wouldn't say no," she whispered.
In truth, while Hanoashi had put High school English teacher first on her report, followed by Daycare worker and housewife, she had only done so for the sake of looking like she was more into the career life as apposed to a more...domestic life. Better for colleges that way. That being said, the reality was that housewife was number one, with High school teacher being a distant 50, with the other 48 slots between them was blanks.
"No hickies," Ren teased.
"Don't worry, I'm not that easy to snag," Hanoashi laughed..."I hope..."
Her crew looked at her like she gained a second head, which sent the ginger laughing.
"Relax girls, I'm kidding." After a bit she grew serious. "But in all truth if Dan does ask me out I'm saying yes,"
Ashley pov:
Setting besides Kuro, Ashley let out a sigh as her sister got knocked out. "Poor sis," she whispered.
Kuro nodded. "Yeah, though I feel more sorry about Miho."
"Miho?" Ashley whispered hastily. "Why?"
"Well, from my studies, It seems like being able to poke your head out of the take has been A-okay up until the start of this tournament. And Miho, being used to that is going to have a harder time with the rule than most."
"I guess I understand."
"That, and Miho's my sister, so..." Kuro trailed off.
"I think I understand," Ashley patted her friend sympathetically. You wanted to see your sister in action and seeing her disqualified in the first minutes of the match is the last thing you wanted. She added silently.
"All of BC freedom's tanks are inoperable, therefore, Ooarai wins the match!."
"Well, that was...interesting." Kuro rose up and yawned. "Anyways, want to go and grab some lunch?"
"You bet!" Ashley smiled, before rising up and following her friend out of the stands.
In reality neither of them wanted to see what would happen to Miho.
Hanoashi pov:
"Thank you for the match," Hanoashi recanted before rising.
"Um...Katoni-san?"
Hanoashi was a bit surprised at Marie's address, but nodded. "What is it, Marie-sempai?" she asked.
"I'd...like to apologize for not bowing at the start of the match." Marie began. "Also...would you like some cake?"
"I accept your apology...though I have to pass on the cake. Kinda Diabetic," Hanoashi smiled.
"Oh, sorry, didn't know!" Marie squeaked, embarrassed.
"It's quite alright Marie-san," Hanoashi reassured her. "I'm not sensitive about it, so no worries."
No need to tell her it's SC-type 4 Diabetes, she told herself. The term Diabetes was a misnomer when it came to the SC, or Special case forms, like her SC-type 4.
"Also...you did really well on the battle field...are you a veteran?" Marie asked.
Hanoashi shrugged. "If you count the co-ed academies, then yes. Actually on the mainline championship once," she bragged on herself.
"I guess we will have to reevaluate the co-ed leagues then," Marie sighed.
"It wasn't just me though," Hanoashi pointed out. "It was all of us, we worked together to achieve victory, both at the co-ed league and here at Ooarai."
"Even Miho?" Marie dared to ask.
Hanoashi could tell that her teammates where very curious as to what she would say about their former captain, given she got disqualified during the start of the match. "Especially Miho, without her, our academy would not have the skills to acquire victory."
She paused a bit before continuing. "And that especially hold true for this match. Even though the got knocked out early, her invaluable training and teaching brought us this victory."
"That's a very mature way of looking at it," Marie smiled. "Anyways, It was nice talking to you, Katoni-san."
"Likewise, Marie-sempai," Hanoashi bowed in departure before walking up to Miho and placing her hand gently on her friends shoulder.
"I meant what I said," Hanoashi whispered. "You should go and celebrate with your friends. Don't worry about what happened, we'll deal with that next week, alright?"
"Oh, alright then," Miho nodded.
"Let's go get something to eat, Miproin!" Saori smiled encouragingly.
"Right," Miho smiled back, feeling better.
Hanoashi nodded approvingly before walking back over to her tanks, gazing at them in slight disappointment. One thought rang through her mind.
We need to do better.
Much better.