Major Jim was as happy as always to see his crew, his life blood flow through him again. He had been waiting all day to come to life. Now that he was, he would make sure that he did his best in even the most mundane tasks his crew did on him.

"Hey Maria, why did we name the tank Major Jim again?" Abriga asked.

Maria smiled at the question, pausing her cleaning of her optics. "We named him after Major James Simmerman, he commanded an M4 sherman in North Africa."

"Really?" Abriga asked in disbelief, she was surprised that the name actually had a person behind it.

"Yep, ask him about it. I'm sure he'd love to answer."

The tank roared its response. His engine was revving in happiness, so they knew.

"Major Jim isn't the name of the tank, he is this tank." Maria continued. "I don't know how or why, but when he died, his soul found its way into this tank."

"So that means," Sadie chimed in, she had no clue about any of this either.

"I'm not sure what it means honestly, but this tank officially has 5 crew members, but unofficially it has 6." Maria said.

"Now let's get back to practice, we're supposed to have a mock battle against Koala once we reach Kiel in a few days, and I would like to show them what we're made of. Major Jim roared his approval.

The next few days were as boring as living a life knowing you murdered someone could get. Maria appreciated her time in Maki's house, but it would not be forever.

One day after school, Maria was in her temporary room, reading memoirs of Montgomery, she liked to read what generals thought, their memories on the battlefield, they were interesting to her. Maki came in with a small envelope in her hands.

"This was addressed to you." she said simply, Maria saw that her face seemed to be trembling, almost in fear. Maki never showed her fear, if she experienced any, even not to Maria.

"Well, I'll leave you too it then." she said.

Maria read the address.

Sensha-Do federation

Kyoto, Japan

Maria Wallner, commander of Maple-Koala Sensha-Do team

435 central housing unit no.31

Carrier Graz, hull number CVA-22

Maria opened the letter with an overwhelming amount of anxiousness.

Dear Maria Wallner,

We have written to inform you that there has been a change of rules in this upcoming season of Sensha-do. From the quarter finals on, these change of rules will be underway. Shells will be changed from practice shells with microchips, to live ammunition provided by our private arms manufacturer. All matches will be elimination, instead of the usual flag tank matches. Rules have yet to be final, and some change will be underway. Please do not discuss this with your Sensha-Do team, you will be sacked of your position and punished if you do.

We will address you again once the rules are verified.

Sensha-Do committee.

Maria was speechless. It felt like someone had punched in the stomach with brass knuckles. Not only was there a chance that they would be killed by a supersonic shell piercing through steel, creating super hot fragments that in itself could kill anyone unlucky enough to be in their path, but she wasn't even allowed to tell her team about any of this. She had read plenty of tanker memoirs, and what it all boiled down to, was if you were hit, you'd be as good as dead, provided if the shell penetrated. In German tanks, the weld quality was often so poor that a high explosive shell would hit the armour, and shatter the steel, crushing the crew and and at the same time burning them alive. She could even smell burning flesh in her nose. She knelt over to the garbage can next to her desk, and vomited.

Maria's entire body felt like it was in knots. In the back of her throat she had a burning sensation, like it was on fire. A million memories raced in her mind, and above all else was the dream she had just a few nights ago, which might as well been years ago. She needed to protect her family, for if she lost them, she would lose the last bit of herself. Questions and emotions raced through her mind like traffic in London.

After a few minutes, the traffic in her head died down. She looked around her room, everything was the same, however different her head had made it. The power of a few paragraphs and a fancy font, evidently more than the power of common sense.

She tay herself down at her small wooden desk, and began to think. She wiped any vomit she had left on her face, and started to cry. Tears streamed down her face like rain drops on a car window.

"Why would they do such a thing?" she asked herself. It was a meaningless question with no answer in sight. What will happen will happen. The only thing she could do now is prepare herself and her team for the reaper's blade. She went to her bag, gratefully provided to her by Maki, took out a box of Eckstein cigarettes and her great great grandfather's WW1 era brass lighter. She took a long drag, and exhaled a puff of smoke, and repeated it.

After her fifth cigarette, she put the pack away. That was enough poison injected into her lungs for today.

She went towards the far side of her room, where the window was. The sun setting looked like God was trying to hide the sun from the earth, we didn't deserve it after all. She wished the sun had never set, she wished many things, none of which would come true.