The three schools had arrived to the Moskva class Helicopter carrier Leningrad as they promised to pay them a visit. Istria and Dalmatia soon lead them on board as they were beginning to look around. The school looked very run down as there were old wooden buildings showing signs of neglect. Some of the buildings had collapsed in on themselves as the structures simply couldn't hold them up. Pomorie knew there were wooden buildings in her school but not in the condition that this school was in.
"Man SSISSN lives in a dump." Varna was the first to speak as she noticed planks of rotting wood were sprawled across the street. Dalmatia soon turned as she began to speak.
"Yeah. SSISSN never has any money to maintain the property despite the fact we got merged with several schools a few years back. We're still underfunded and lack any good tanks." Dalmatia responded as Erika looked at the copper haired gunner, she definitely felt sorry for her and the fact that the school was in a mess. Erika soon spoke.
"Yeah MEXT says they want to shut down Oorai yet Oorai has buildings that are much more properly maintained than here. This place is a wreck." Erika told Dalmatia as she knew she was right. Dalmatia looked at her as she didn't bother to speak as she didn't know how to respond. Istria soon stepped in as she began to speak to her.
"Yeah sorry if Dalmatia has moments where she can go blank and not verbally respond. She's autistic and yet she managed to try outgunning us all in today's match even if we still lost at the end." Istria responded as Erika looked at the girl. She soon began speaking.
"Well I think she would have been better than the rest of the team, it's clear that they all want to go after me except for your friend since she knows better." Erika responded. Soon a glass bottle shattered as shouting as it seemed a fight was going on. "Is there something wrong?" Erika asked nervously as she heard the bottle shatter. Istria soon looked at her as she knew there was nothing wrong at all.
"Everything is fine, except another gang is starting a fight today." Istria responded as Maho stepped forth as she knew what Olivia was saying earlier today.
"Wait gangs, Olivia said you had about 8 gangs in this school, is that correct?" Maho questioned as they were walking along the junk clogged road. Istria looked at the Kuromorimine tank commander as she began to speak.
"Yes she is right. We're part of the Croatian gang, the only gang that shows any interest in Sensha-Do. The other gangs show little to no interest, one of the gangs even fired BB's at us if we bring up Sensha-Do." Istria responded as Dalmatia soon became frightened. She huddled onto Istria for comfort.
"So what are the other gangs that you might speak of?" Solti asked as she was curious about all of this.
"Well there is the Croatian gang we mentioned earlier, along with the Slovenia gang, the Macedonia gang, the Bosnian gang, the Montenegro gang, the Kosovo gang, the Vojvodina gang and the fiercest gang that SSISSN has to house on this broken ship, the Serbian Gang. The Slovenia gang like art and lavish customs, the Bosnian gang do like each other that I know of, The Montenegro gang is small and relatively peaceful yet fortified in their area. The Kosovo gang and the Vojvodina gangs are splinters of much larger gangs but are more open and friendly. The Macedonian gang really likes history and are the nerds on the ship and then there's the Serbian gang, they like music on how they want to remove Saunders from their lives and they have a huge supply of airsoft rifles that they shoot at all of us if we get close." Istria described the gangs and that they were, some of the students were puzzled as Pomorie began to speak.
"Huh speaking of the Serbian gang? Why do they hate Saunders so much, what did they do to them?" Pomorie asked as she was wondering what was wrong with that gang in particular. Istria soon turned as she soon began speaking to Pomorie.
"The Serbian gang isn't made up of students with special needs, they hate us in particular. They're trouble makers from other schools as they were transferred here as their form of punishment. Many of them come from Saunders in particular as many of them are delinquents and leftovers from the rebellions that took place as many of them deemed that Saunders isn't welcomed. Depending on what gang you are in, you have major schools backing you up and you despise all the other majors." Istria responded. Olivia's mind went blank. She soon closed her eyes as she reflected on what the others were saying. Pomorie was wondering about the rebellions as she was much more curious about them.
"Rebellions? What are you talking about?" Pomorie asked. Soon four students came out from the shadows as they were indeed students from Saunders. Kay was led by her vice commanders, Alisa and Naomi. As well as a fourth student who looked Asian in her appearance. Black hair and dark brown eyes. She was carrying a tool box as Kay began speaking.
"Saunders suffered two rebellions in the span of a couple of years. Most of the Delinquent students in the Serbian gang are from the first Saunders rebellion from what we gathered, many of the students still hate us despite changing the rules so much. And because of that we suffered attacks throughout the summer months." Kay responded as Olivia began to think. She was much younger, thinner and quicker on her feet. She was carrying her Gewehr 98 with a plastic rifle bayonet charging through a field with firecrackers being shot off and into the enemy fortifications. Enemy PM M1910's were spraying their BB's at the charging students while students with rifles fired upon as the sight of the charging students needed to be cut down. Barbed wire was strung out to try to stall their advance but that wasn't going to slow her down. She soon took out her stick grenade as she pulled the primer and quickly tossed it at the Machine gun nest. The grenade exploded as the students inside were hollering from the burn the firecracker had on them. Soon a voice called out as it was trying to get through to her.
"Olivia, is there something wrong?" Maho asked her as she found out that her mind went blank. She soon turned to Maho as she knew there was clearly something wrong.
"Yes there is, I wish to speak to you later on when we get settled down." Olivia responded as she knew she needed to confess to Maho about this. Soon the giggling of students came from the ship, two 7th graders ran along as they were banging cans as they were screaming in their play. They were two boys as it was clear which school they belonged to.
"I see Middle schoolers still crawl through the ship, have you found a home for them yet?" Kay asked as she noticed some of the students were still walking about through the ship, they looked too young and didn't belong to SSISSN.
"Srednyaya shkola russkikh koroley middle school Students? Sadly we haven't. It's such a shame since they want to change their school name already seeing how they came out of a communist revolution and are eager to get a school ship to replace the one they lost in the straits of Tsushima a couple of years ago. We continued bringing it up to MEXT but they always seemed to toss it away and into the side. I am saddened over the fact that we're suffering from overcrowding and MEXT has its head turned away from us." Istria wheezed from lack of air, she soon took out her inhaler and gave it a puff. Erika soon thought about it for a moment as she knew she needed to contact one member of MEXT and the Sensha-Do team in particular as she knew there was a way out of this.
"Have you contacted Renta Tsuji yet? I think last time we brought the issue up he said he was going to think about it and that was about when Olivia came to Kuromorimine about a year ago so you tell me." Erika suggested contacting and bringing up the issue to see if he had made a decision. Istria thought about it as she knew that they could contact him online and bring it up. She was hoping he would say yes.
"We haven't. But we're out of options and desperate to get rid of these middle schoolers from our ship. We had to spend a lot of money to keep them happy and we're in a lot of debt because of it. We need to rebuild the school and try to make sure we don't get ourselves into more neglect." Istria told them as Erika soon had an idea. She remembered that she wanted to take tanks from the other schools but she knew she had the best idea possible. She soon knew that this would be the best thing to do for the school.
"Istria I know this might sound difficult, but I suggest you sell off your tanks to combat your debt. Keep a few tanks you will use and we can begin rebuilding your Sensha-Do team from there. You will be a fledgling force much like the smaller schools we're helping out." Erika suggested as she wanted to dismantle their team and try to rebuild them from the ground up. Istria soon knew Erika was right.
"Okay we'll do it but the end result isn't going to be pretty." Istria responded. Erika soon walked off with Istria to find their tanks and to sell them away. Pomorie knew the team could use another tank or two if Srebarna was willing to burn a hole in her pocket to bolster their numbers.
Kay, Olivia and Maho sat down somewhere secluded as they wanted to find out what Olivia was talking about when she said she had something to confess to.
"Olivia what is it that you need to confess to?" Maho asked as she was worried about what was happening with her friend. Kay watched as Olivia turned to face them.
"When they said the first rebellion, I began reflecting on my past. I became worried that my past will catch up to me and bite me back. Even though I was the best of my old sport, it was very gritty and we expected to be violent, I know I had a fire inside of me but a part of me regrets hurting all those from other schools especially since I wanted to get into where I am now. I feel guilty because of it." Olivia soon buried her head in her hands, she wasn't crying but she was on the verge of shedding a tear. Maho soon leaned down as she knew her friend needed some comfort.
"I know how you feel but you need to understand you need to make a sacrifice every once in a while, like losing a match for example, and if you thought the way you do back then, you wouldn't be nowhere near my best student. Or even my sibling for that matter." Maho responded as she soon put her arms around Olivia. "I like the fact you came so far but you don't want to look down where you came from but instead keep looking up as your goals will be ahead of you. Hopefully you will be in the same place as me one day." Maho soon turned Olivia to her as she knew the girl needed some comfort and affection even if she does admit to her mistakes. Her eyes closed as she leaned in, soon she planted her lips on Olivia's. Olivia was taken by surprise as she soon melted in and returned the gesture as she had her commander kissing her. Maho pulled away before planting a finger on her nose. "Erwin would want to do that to you one day as he loves you as much as I do." Kay, who was watching all of this, smiled as she reflected on what Maho said. Soon her heart ached for Brook as she wanted to do that to her what Maho did to Olivia. She soon spoke.
"So the rumors were true, you really do love her." Kay told Maho as she watched the two of them. Maho looked at her as she had Olivia in her arms.
"As much as I do love Miho." Maho responded as she was thinking of her little sister. Dalmatia walked over as she soon began speaking to Kay.
"Ehh we do have our moments where we just want affection, I sense that you definitely want to find someone significant in your life even for what you have been through. Question stems from `` who is the person you like?" Dalmatia asked as Kay began to think, a noise was heard as her mind went blank as she turned to the student who was making the noise.
"Sima Mei!" Kay shouted for her attention, the asian student looked up to Kay as she had interrupted their conversation as she knew she needed to make an explanation.
"Yeah sorry about that I was tinkering with my tool box and I just dropped it on my foot… again." Sima responded as she picked up her tool box from her foot as Maho looked at Kay. She knew she needed to ask something all of this time.
"Yeah why are you on this ship first of all? Is there a reason why?" Maho asked as she was puzzled about the Saunder students being at this school in particular. Kay looked at her as she began to speak.
"That's our Sophomore Sima Mei, she's one of the school's mechanics and she's just been promoted to head mechanic after our last one graduated, she's here on a test that we had to attend earlier for her to get this position." Kay responded. Sima looked at them as she soon began speaking.
"I'm not kidding, is this a position to be proud of? Missing tools, poor part quality for the tanks, and not any grease between here and Chicago?! What place is Saunders in?" Sima complained as she wanted to find out what she needed to properly maintain the tanks. Kay looked at her as she knew she was a few steps ahead of her.
"I'm telling you Sima, those problems are being sorted." Kay told her as she knew that something like this wasn't going to be left unnoticed. Sima groaned as she looked at Kay as she soon began to walk away, She saw no point in continuing the conversation.
"I'm going to go to SSISSN's tank garage to find the tanks we should sell off we should give them about 5 tanks so they can start off with the same number as Oorai did." Sima soon turned as she picked up her tool box and walked off to go find the tank storage room to get the tanks rounded up and sold. Kay nodded and it was nice to meet you type of gesture and she soon walked off following Sima. Dalmatia looked at the two of them before she went off to find Istria. Maho looked at Olivia as she began to speak to her.
"Just because you feel guilty of something doesn't mean you should give up, you never gave up in the worst situations that you were in. Maybe if you follow my advice and play your options carefully, someday you will be a good student." Maho soon got up as she began to walk away. Olivia soon followed behind her as she didn't want to be left alone.
Meanwhile Istria had booted her laptop up in her battered room, the sheets were torn in a couple places and the threads were coming off of the pillows as she and Erika were in one of the dorm rooms as they needed to contact Renta to see what he had to say on the matters. Soon the screen popped up as Renta was busy taking care of some papers, Istria and Erika looked at the man as they soon began to speak.
"Hello there." Erika greeted Renta. Renta looked at her as he was wondering what they needed. He began to speak.
"Hello there, I assume you want to talk about the middle school infestation again?" Renta asked them as he was curious about what was going on. Erika and Istria looked at each other with one odd look as they were trying to figure out what they were going to do next. Istria sighed as she knew she wasn't wheezing as she turned back to Renta as she began to speak.
"Yes, that is the reason why we decided to contact you. Have you found a solution to this problem yet? We can't keep paying for the students to stay on the ship, we're nearly bankrupt." Istria told Renta if he had a solution. Renta looked at Istria as he knew he had a few questions for her.
"Did you find any short term solutions?" Renta asked her as if she found a temporary fix. Istria looked at Renta from the video as she began to speak.
"Yes we sold off most of our tanks to other schools that might need them seeing they would be more useful there than here the only tanks we have are 2 FT Renaults and 3 R35's we agreed to not sell off as we plan on rebuilding from those 5 tanks." Istria responded as Renta nodded. He soon looked at Erika as he knew the other schools would go out of their way and go crazy with tanks for sale.
"I see, Dunno, how much money the tanks will rake in seeing your school is in a terrible state of neglect. Hopefully I can send in some construction workers as they can do a partial rebuilding of the school and get you some new pillows, sheets and mattresses to sleep on." Renta responded as he knew he had a plan. Erika soon decided to butt in as there was a question still lingering over her head.
"What about the middle school students, are you going to relocate them?" Erika asked him if he had found a home for them. Renta began thinking about this as he organized some papers as he looked onward before he came to the conclusion of what his plan was.
"For them I was thinking about shutting down Oorai at the end of this year. My reasoning goes as followed: first off, despite repaying back that loan, we don't want to keep funding them seeing their school has no common theme with the other schools and thus we can use the tanks of the team for other much more underfunded schools that need them and the students like Count and Kebab. Yogurt has been expanding rapidly over the past couple of months but they are still quite a small school so might as well give them a few of what Oorai has to offer, with Oorai small and therefore very underpopulated like the highest number of students in a classroom is about 10 students from what I have gathered, I do not want to be funding a school that doesn't have anything significant to do with the sport other than last year's victory. Second is that with Oorai gone, the ship will be free as I was thinking of selling it off to the Middle School that SSISSN is housing, refurbish it, and then move the students in seeing their school ship despite being commissioned, is taking a long time to build and the ship builders are lacking funds for the ships construction so might as well sell off a smaller school and use that ship to build one for another school." Renta explained his reasoning, it was reasonable to recycle something that someone else used and have it given to someone else. However this left a couple of questions floating around in their heads as there were a few holes into the plans.
"What about those people staying on the Oorai school ship and their businesses, where will they go?" Erika asked as she was curious about the people who make a living on a ship like this. Renta looked at Erika as he began explaining.
"They'll have to pack their bags and move their businesses somewhere else seeing as we come in, we're not going to be stopping for anyone. They'll have a week to move out and hopefully they'll find business somewhere else, either on the mainland or among the other school ships." Renta responded as he knew that it was cruel but it would be good if they packed up and left. Erika spoke out next.
"What about the student's? Commander Nishizumi has a younger sister that goes to Oorai, where will she and her fellow classmates go?" Erika asked as she was wondering about where the students will be sent to seeing how they have nowhere to go. Renta looked at them as he began to speak.
"The students we don't know exactly for sure but for the Sensha-Do club, they'll be heading to schools that still practice it. Was thinking of sending commander Nishizumi's younger sister off to Yogurt or Maginot, her team will be split with the radio operator heading to Count, the loader to Bonple, the gunner to Magyar and the driver to SSISSN. The rest of the students will be dispersed to smaller schools in a desperate need of students to fill their ranks." Renta explained his plans but that is what he had so far. Istria looked at him as if he was crazy.
"This will be a hard process but I wish you luck." Istria told him as she felt defeated, there was no way Renta was going to tear into Oorai like that and scatter the pieces to the other schools. Erika felt much the same way.
"Take care." That was all Erika spoke with as she signed off. Renta had found a solution but the solution was going to be a violent one. "Okay Commander Nishizumi will lay out the instructions for the fledgling Croatian gang Sensha-Do team. She doesn't know who will be in charge of the team but she wants Yogurt to train them up while she has another match she wishes to set up. She wants to use them in a future match to see what they are capable of. Other than that, take care." Erika got up as she left the room as the students were going to be heading back to their respective ships and call it a night. Istria nodded as she watched Erika walk away. Yogurt was going to be busy with their hands full for the next few days.
"Gah my head!" A voice called out. That voice belonged to Brook as Nonna was holding her as they went to see Grigori about the matter seeing the girl was in pain. Grigori was setting up pictures of the Principal as he showed remarkable interest with his wife. He soon turned as Nonna laid the girl down onto the examination table.
"Nonna is there something you want to speak to me about? Does your friend need healing?" Grigori asked as he was looking at Nonna. Nonna looked back at him as she spoke.
"Yes, Brook is in a lot of pain, her head hurts really badly and the aspirin isn't cutting it. I was wondering since you're a holy healer, you can heal her right?" Nonna asked as she had her friend pinned down so she didn't kick or squirm. Grigori got up as he had a brown beaded clarity bracelet as on the end was a cross.
"I can heal the girl from her condition." Grigori responded as he puts his left hand on her forehead and the right hand held the bracelet over her face. Grigori began to play. "May the lord have mercy on this girl's soul. Vanquish all the demons inside her! Begone satanic spirits that plague the girl! Begone!" It almost became hypnotic as the way he was speaking he continued to feel energy flow through his hands. May god forgive you for your sins, the angels will bless you from then on! Begone satanic spirits, leave the poor girl alone!" Grigori stopped as Brook had passed out from the mystic's spell. Grigori soon turned to Nonna as he had some advice. "You should stop giving the girl that medicine. She needs to be healed spiritually." Nonna had a couple more questions left on what to do with the girl who had passed out.
"I can't drag her back to her room, can someone do it for me?" Nonna asked Grigori if he could get some assistants to get Brook back to her dorm and put her to sleep.
"I can get a couple of workers down here and they'll carry her back up." Grigori responded. Nonna nodded but something else soon came to her mind. She began speaking.
"Grigori? I know you interest me a lot but as far as my family goes, we're not that inbred." Nonna began with a joke as her family wasn't inbred at all as she was making fun of a royal family. "But they're inbred enough for my youngest cousin Alexey to get Hemophilia. Or to put it in simplest terms, he cannot stop bleeding every time he gets a cut or busts his nose." Nonna told him that her cousin has a severe blood disorder as Grigori turned his head as he went to face Nonna.
"Blood? Never stop, I would try to vanquish the spirits from his body in the hope that the holy spirit will protect him and make sure that the spirits don't return." Grigori responded as Nonna nodded.
"Okay when you get a moment, arrange something with them and try finding a way to heal Alexey." Nonna told him as she was going to tuck an unconscious Brook into her bed. Two people arrived as they picked the girl up and they were going to bring her back. Nonna turned and followed as she bided Grigori farewell.
"Take care and may the holy spirit be with you." Grigori responded as he watched her walk away. He soon began looking at the photo of the Principal's wife again. It turned out things were going to get freaky.
[A/N]: Was originally going to make this one big long chapter but decided to split it down into two as I feel like I don't want to do one very long chapter for you. Other than that there is nothing new to report about. Will resume with the training of the new gang.
Also there will be a lot of foreshadowing to the events that will continue onward after this story is over, I'm teasing out a couple for now but you should quickly put two and two together at this point with this chapter. Goodbye.