Chapter 26:

In the Hetzer, things were not going well for the Turtle team. The initial shot fired by one of the Matildas back in the dense forest had caught the girls completely by surprise, their attention too fixated on the clearing in front of them. The shell, fired from somewhere off the front right corner of their tank, came whoosing out from between the trees, grazing their front armor before imbedding itself deeply into the base of the nearby hill.

"Yuzu, back up!"

The School Council's vice-president pulled the shift lever into reverse and gunned her engine, clearing their parking spot moments before a second shell plowed into it, throwing clumps of wet dirt and sod across the front of their tank. "My window is blocked with mud!" Yuzu groaned. "I can't see anything!"

"You don't need to see!" Momo yelled. "We're going backwards!" She rested her finger on her loaded gun's trigger, but without a turret she had no way of accurately training her weapon on their attackers.

Anzu jammed down the button on her microphone, sending out a frantic distress call to the other teams as the pair of Matildas emerged from their hiding place, both turrets swinging to bring their guns to bear on the retreating Hetzer.

. . . . .

In the second Panzer IV, Makoto heard Usagi's urgent message and quickly studied her map. "There's no chance we can get all the way over there in time to help Anzu" the frustrated brunette muttered. "That big hill the Anglerfish team is sitting on would slow us down too much." She was tempted to try anyway, but another radio message, this time from Saori, changed her plan.

"Mako-chan!" Usagi spoke breathlessly over the intercom, "Miho's tank is going to assist Turtle team! There's a Matilda in a big field in front of us! Miho wants us to pair up with Hippo team and take it out!"

"With pleasure" her commander answered in a low growl. "Minako-chan, take us to the edge of this hill! I want to see exactly where our target is before we kill it."

"Hai!" Minako jabbed the starter button and her Panzer soon crossed the last fifty meters of woodland blocking their view, halting near the steep downward slope of Hill 14.

"There you are..." the tall brunette smiled, spotting the lone Matilda in the distance, still trundling slowly towards the east from the far end of the field. She lowered her binoculars, feeling Ami slowly traverse the turret from left to right.

The turret stopped. "I have the Matilda in my sights" Ami calmly spoke. "It's still well out of range of our gun, Mako-chan."

Makoto then spied Erwin's STuG on her far right, charging out of the gap between the two hills and into the clearing. She watched the tank pick up speed as it roared onto the grassy field, heading directly towards the Matilda.

"Minako-chan! We need to assist Hippo team! Take us down there as quick as you can! Panzer Vor!"

"Hai!" The blonde in the driver's seat accelerated her Panzer so forcefully, it jumped a meter into the air as it leapt over the crest of the hill and came crashing back to earth on the hill's downward grade.

"Ow! I bumped my elbow!" Usagi groaned. "Minako-chan, our tank isn't supposed to fly!"

"It will if I'm driving it" Minako laughed above the raucous bellow of an engine being pushed to its absolute limit. Her blue eyes gleamed with a lustful desire for even more power. "Do it, baby!" she urged her straining Panzer as it raced down the hill, the blonde pressing even harder on the already-floored accelerator pedal. "Go faster! Faster! Momma Minako wants more!"

Rei grinned at Ami. "Baby? Momma Minako? Ami-chan, I think we know now what Taro hears in bed every night!"

The blue-haired girl to her left leaned closer to the miko, her cheeks blushing. "Hai! After this battle is over" Ami giggled, "It'll be Minako-chan who really wants a cigarette!"

. . . . .

In the STuG, Erwin peered through her binocular scope at the solitary Matilda. "We're nearly close enough to unleash our fury upon the enemy. Do not deviate from our chosen path, Oryou."

"I will stay the course" her driver solemnly replied.

Inside the Matilda they were preparing to attack, the commander of the St. Gloriana tank calmly sipped her tea. "It seems we have our first guest of the afternoon" Nilgiri told her gunner. "Do prepare an appropriate welcome for them."

"With pleasure, Nilgiri-san." The Matilda's turret began to revolve, directing its 40 millimeter gun toward the rapidly approaching Ooarai STuG.

. . . . .

At Hill 15...

While Miho's tank sped to the aid of Anzu's beleaguered Hetzer, the twin Matildas split up. In the first tank, Commander Rukuriri ordered the driver to stop and instructed her gunner, who was carefully tracking the second Ooarai tank's progress, "Discharge your weapon the very instant Miho's Panzer reaches the bottom of the hill. We will allow them no opportunity to take aim at us."

The second Matilda relentlessly charged after the still-fleeing-in-reverse Hetzer, firing another round on the move that sailed just above the top armor plating of the lower-slung vehicle. Despite its lesser top speed, it slowly closed the gap between them due to the lower reversing speed of Turtle team's tank.

Anzu again dared to open the top hatch slightly and raise her eyes a few centimeters above its rim, peeking to the tank's rear. "Keep going, Yuzu! We're almost at the- aahhh!"

The Hetzer abruptly dropped away from beneath the Council President, leaving her floating in mid-air for an instant before she dropped back inside the hull. Her tank plummeted nearly three meters before striking the bottom of a steep-walled ditch it had driven into. Another massive jolt rattled the Hetzer and its crew as it crunched into the ditch's opposite vertical bank, completely stopping its retreat and stalling its engine.

Momo clambered back into her gunner's seat and straightened her half-glasses. "What happened, Anzu?"

"We fell in a hole! Yuzu, get us out of here! That Matilda will be on top of us any second now!"

Yuzu pressed the starter button, hearing her engine turn over but refuse to ignite. She tried again, frantically pumping the gas pedal for good measure but still without success. "It won't start!"

"Keep trying!" Anzu hissed.

Anzu's worries about the approaching Matilda proved to be uncannily accurate. The gunner of the pursuing tank spoke from her scope, "Our quarry has disappeared from view. Rather odd..."

"Continue our pursuit" her commander ordered. "They must be descending a sharp grade."

Their driver did so until it was too late. Despite her quick reflexes, she did not brake early enough to stop the speeding Matilda from crossing over the edge of the suddenly-appearing ditch as well. An ear-splitting screech of metal-on-metal followed as the St. Gloriana tank came to an abrupt, grinding halt on top of the motionless Hetzer.

. . . . .