A/N: Time for...Guest Reviews!
Kunoichi69: Glad you love the design for the logo. Oh, and that elementary school trip will be a fun one. Can't wait to show it off!
TurboDriver07: Will karma be fast enough? Maybe...maybe not! We'll see! ;)
TankNut: Valarie has indeed learn important lessons. A balance does need to be made and Valarie will try her damnedest to achieve that.
EagleEye: Falcon is a good suggestion so I'll add it to a list of other considerations. Though I can't promise of Mojave Rose will get more artillery, artillery in general will make more appearances in the future!
One more thing regarding guest reviews; I remember one guest reviewer waaay back when this story was still in the early stages of the nationals arc. They went by the name of Object 703-II. They left reviews that I loved to read, with one in particular trying to guess Molly Pitcher's secret tank, with them being right with the E-100. I wonder if that person is still reading, or if that guest review actually made an account and is still a regular reader. Would love to know!
Wow, I still got more stuff to talk about. Geez!
I've made a small error when it comes to the date that appears on the top of almost every chapter by shifting them down a day. They've been corrected and I'm only saying this just in case someone makes a remark on the date.
And lastly, the cover has been revised. Another user has created it for me, and they ask to be only be referred to 'Anonymous'. Mysterious fellow, hmm?
Without further ado, enjoy!
Thursday, September 19th 2013
Earth was one planet with many worlds. A paradoxical declaration on the surface, but when one takes a more in-depth look, they'll learn that it is an axiomatic truth. Life in scorching deserts, underneath the turbulent waves of oceans, in the desolate wastes of tundras, and many more domains in Earth's biosphere exist in their own worlds. Each was vivid, different, and fascinating, even those areas that house little to no life, such as the mouths of roaring volcanoes. Yet, it was only one kind of world that gripped Marielle and captured her imagination. A world that couldn't be seen by the naked eye, but its impact on the human species was undeniable── the microscopic world.
Catalina was an art school; it was what made it so renowned. However, it was still a high school, and thusly, it was mandated by state law to provide students with a comprehensive curriculum to satisfy standards. The math and science courses weren't as high quality as more STEM-focused institutions, such as Golden Gate, though they were respectable enough. They were more than enough to make them Marielle's favorite.
In the late morning, she was in her biology class. It was a lab day, so students in the room were partnered up. Marielle was partnered up with Nathan as she was the only other member of the tankery team in this class period. So, naturally, he gravitated toward her when the time came to partner up as she was the only person he knew, even if only partially.
The pair sat side-by-side at a lab station, with Marielle operating a microscope that looked relatively new and Nathan with a notebook and pencil. Marielle prepared a glass side by applying a drop of collected pond water and inserted it under the microscope. She peered through the eyepiece and found the picture to be incredibly blurry. Adjustments were made with the side knobs and, with one more final twist, got crystal clear quality.
The small pond water drop contained a fantastic world full of squirming microscopic creatures. She immediately spotted a filter feeder called a Stentor, an organism that resembled a funnel. Marielle could see in front of its 'mouth' were small disturbances in the water that was the work of its cilia. These hairlike structures vibrate to generate vortexes to pull in plant matter and unlucky critters that happen to be caught and devoured. She looked around some more and came across creatures that resembled a bear, another very circular in nature, and others wormlike—all swimming in, what was to them, a vast and dangerous ocean. Then she found something that she hoped to come across, a hunt in its final stages.
"Alright, we got two good ones here," Marielle informed. "An amoeba and a paramecium."
"Okay," Nathan replied. He was about to write down what he was told but stopped to look at her. "We get extra credit if we identify specific species."
"Gotcha," she went silent for a moment, not moving from the eyepiece. "Chaos carolinensis and Paramecium aurelia."
"Wanna check the reference sheet? I got that somewhere..."
Nathan reached for his backpack though Marielle raised her hand in protest.
"Nah," she said. "I'm definitely right on the money here."
"Alright, I'll take your word for it," he wrote down the names. "So, what are they doing?"
Marielle lifted her head from the eyepiece and scooted her chair away. She gestured toward the microscope.
"You'll definitely want to see what's about to go down for yourself."
With some excitement, Nathan hopped on the microscope and saw, and Marielle observed. He first noticed the amoeba, the larger of the two critters. It genuinely fit the definition of a blob with no defined shape at all. At one end of it extended two arm-like projections called pseudopodia, where they were used to move the amoeba toward its prey.
Ahead of it was the paramecium, a much smaller organism that matched the archetypal appearance of microscopic life with its oval-ish shape. The paramecium was swimming around near the amoeba, none the wiser to the predator making its move. As the pseudopodia of the amoeba began to capture its meal, the paramecium bumped into the more enormous blob and, upon making contact, would jolt away, but it never made any kind of attempt to swim for safety. Perhaps it didn't realize the danger it was in, though that hinged on the idea that such small organisms even had the capacity to perceive it was in danger at all. Whether it could think to escape or not, that option was now off the table when the amoeba completed its encirclement.
The paramecium swam around in its cytoplasm prison when the walls began to contract around it. The condemned creature began to flair wildly as it tried to escape from its enclosure to live another day. Watching the small organism futilely fight to surprise was a scene Nathan couldn't look away from. He wondered if the flailing microbe was a sign that such creatures were capable of feeling things like fear or panic. As his lessons taught him, they didn't have brains or nervous systems of any of the sort, so it was certainly not the case. That paramecium was merely acting on chemical instinct, but still, like any other living thing, it wanted to live, and with how it acted, it sure as hell looked like it was in sheer panic.
Digestive enzymes were ejected from the amoeba, which covered the paramecium, with its movement stopping not long after. Soon, it became difficult to distinguish between the remains of the paramecium and the cytoplasm of the amoeba.
"Woah," Nathan uttered under his breath. He got off the microscope. "I wonder what that would taste like."
"It'd probably be slimy, gross, and beyond awful," Marielle said with a half chuckle. "Still, if I had a chunk of cell cytoplasm, man, I'd be tempted to give it a bite."
"Ew."
"I bet it's an acquired taste, and it's gonna be the new superfood of the future." Marielle was teasing him now.
"Please stop."
"Oh, alright, for your sake," she smirked. "Now, lemme hop back on the microscope. We got more work to do by identifying more microbes. Plus...looking at them is beyond cool."
For the next several minutes, the pair went about completing their assignment. On the microscope, Marielle identified microorganisms by their scientific name left and right, which didn't do Nathan much favors as he would often have to quadruple check his spelling as scientific names can be obnoxiously lengthy. But, for extra credit, this endeavor was more than worth it. They were among the first people done with their work, and with a few more minutes left in the class period, they cleaned their lab station and held their bags close to them as they waited for the bell. Though, being silent wasn't something they were going to do.
"So, ah, I gotta ask," Marielle said with care. A series of 'uhs' and 'ums' escaped her mouth. "What were you thinking with tankathlon, man?"
Nathan gave his initial answer with a shrug. He looked away for a few minutes before returning her gaze upon the Hispanic girl once he found the words.
"I love spending time with my sister. We played together a lot when we were younger, coming up with all sorts of games and just having tons of fun. As we got older...the time to play grew less and less, but when Cassidy got super into baseball, we were back in the groove."
"She's some fan, isn't she?" Marielle asked with a grin.
"Totally. You should see her room back home. When she got into baseball, so did I. I became her ever-reliable catcher and pitcher. Whenever we had free time, she'd throw a mitt at me and 'politely ask' that I play with her," he laughed a little. "Always fun with her."
Marielle had an 'a-ha' face.
"So, that's why you two got into tankery, huh? To still have fun together?"
Nathan smiled and nodded.
"There's a funny story about that. Cassidy tore an ACL sometime before joining the team, so she couldn't do baseball or, well, run, really. She still wanted to do some kind of sport, so when she learned that the tankery team had two openings, she took it, and I went along with her. For about a month after we joined the team, I would help her out a lot 'cause she wore that leg brace...only that she didn't need the brace anymore. She faked still needing it so that I could still bring her food and stuff like that. Wanted to milk me being a servant for just a little longer."
"That's awful," Marielle said, seriously at first, but laughter came out soon after. "I'm not gonna lie. I'd do the same thing."
"Well, aren't you just lovely?"
"Hey, who doesn't like being pampered?"
"You got me there."
Conversation petered out after that. There was still time left to burn in class, and Nathan, though at times a shy boy, he felt at ease with members of the team, and what more, felt a certain kind of awe for people like Marielle as she was part of the initial group of people when the tankery team was new, with the only vehicle they had was the IS-3 everyone had to train on. This initial group called themselves the Inaugurals. Others on the team referred to them, half-jokingly, as the 'OGs', though 'Inaugurals' was the preferred moniker as people liked the grandeur surrounding the word. He also had further awe for Marielle, specifically about extensive knowledge about the microbes the pair observed.
"So, how do you know all that stuff?" he asked.
"What, knowing exact species names?"
"Yeah, how do you know?"
"Man, I love everything microscopic!" her face exploded in excitement. "If there is anything on earth that is gonna like an alien, it'll be some microorganism. I especially love bacteria and viruses. I can read about those things all day."
"I guess you wanna be a microbiologist or something?"
"That's the dream! I want to be the kind that's out in the field doing research in some far-flung place...ahh, that'd be the life right there. So, what do you wanna do?"
"Ah, well," he brought his hands together and rocked in his chair. "I don't know exactly, but probably something with chemistry."
"You like the subject, huh?"
"Yup! It's a favorite of mine. I got my chemistry class next period, and I'm honestly excited about it."
"Wait," Marielle was puzzled. "You're doing two science classes? Chemistry and Biology?"
"AP Chemistry and regular Biology," he specified. "Not taking more than one AP class for my freshman year. I want some kind of breathing room here."
"...You're a freshman?" Marielle asked incredulously. Only now did Nathan's babyface really set in for her. "How old are you?"
"Thirteen."
"How are you a freshman at thirteen?"
"I skipped the seventh grade in middle school, so I only had to do one year, and I was off to high school."
"Oh wow! Didn't know I was sitting next to a future valedictorian. You already thinking of the speech you gonna make?"
That got a blush out of him, where he then looked away.
"Oh...stop."
The bell rang, and all the students in the room got up and made their departure. Outside the classroom, as a sea of students walked past, they stood by the door.
"See you at the meeting later," Marielle said. A smile then creased her face. "I hear that a certain someone with his sister and three other friends are gonna maintain the VK later today."
He sighed, but a soft laugh did leave his mouth.
"Yeah...enjoy not getting covered with grease, oil, and god knows what else for a day."
"Hey, cheer up," she said with a playful tap on his shoulder. "At least you don't have to replace the transmission."
The lunch break had arrived for, but for a trio, they weren't particularly hungry; instead, they were committed to solving a little mystery of theirs. Aurora, Riley, and Avery set forth to a place on campus to aid in their efforts to solve it. They were looking for a certain kind of instrument, and with Catalina being an art school, there wasn't a doubt in their minds that the school had it. It was just a matter of finding it, but that was easier said than done. The place they went to wasn't some room for a music class; there were many such classes on campus, so looking in each one would be laborious, not to mention the teachers wouldn't take it kindly if three people were to snoop in their classes. Where the Puma crew went to was the primary storage room for the school's instruments. It was a prominent place, with an entire floor of a building dedicated to it. When the trio entered the storage room, they were presented with instruments of all origins, types, and sizes, all neatly stored on racks, shelves, or stacked on top of each other in cases. In the center of the room was a girl behind a desk, who frankly looked bored as she played on her phone. When the Puma crew approached, she had a face of relief. She finally had something to do.
"Ah!" she exclaimed. "Here to check-out an instrument? We got it all, and believe me, we do."
"Uh, we're not here to check-out...check-out? Like check-out a book?"
"Yep!" the girl sure had pep. "This isn't just a storeroom; it's also Catalina's Musical Instrument Library! Students can check out any instrument they want for any reason. So, what's your flavor? I'm the librarian, so I know my stuff."
"Actually, we're not here to check-out anything."
"Oh..."
There was defeat in her voice.
"But we are here to learn about a specific instrument." Aurora clarified
"I can help with that!" the energy returned to the librarian. "So, what instrument?"
"That's the thing, we don't know. We only heard music from it."
The librarian giggled.
"This is gonna be a fun day...let's find out then!" she stood up from her desk. "Got any details to steer us in the right direction?"
"It was for sure some kind of string instrument."
"Gotcha," the librarian pointed to two sections of the room. "We can rule them out; those instruments are wind and percussion. Follow me."
The librarian led the trio to an aisle filled with instruments that hanged on racks. She grabbed one at random, a guitar.
"Let's start with the obvious. An acoustic guitar," she strummed it, tuned it a little, and then played a little tune. "Is this your mystery instrument?"
All three girls shook their heads.
"No," Riley said. "That's not it."
"Hmm," the librarian hummed as she returned the guitar. She perused the aisle a bit more and got another instrument, a banjo, and played that one. No dice. More searching, and she came across a cello. That she didn't pick up. "You got any more details for me?"
Aurora looked embarrassed.
"Okay, this is gonna sound weird, but...it would be something you can play inside a tank. So it can't be too big."
"A...tank?" echoed the librarian. She brought a finger to her chin. "Don't know a thing about tanks, other than they're cramped...which in our circumstances, is all I need to know! Alright, so that removes anything from the guitar family, cellos, and anything that you need a bow to strum the strings."
"That narrows down a lot, yeah?" Avery questioned.
"Indeed it does! Come along now, we got some more aisles to go up and down on."
The librarian showed them more wind instruments; lutes, sitars, small harps, even a hurdy-gurdy. No matter what she played for the Puma crew, the sounds being made weren't what their adversary made from within the BT-2. This went on for a solid twenty minutes, where they then returned to the center of the room with no answers.
"Well, I'll be," the librarian remarked with surprise. "We went through every string instrument we have, and none of them fit the bill. I dare say that we don't have what you heard, which is a real shame because we have a comprehensive collection. Not comprehensive enough, it seems."
"Thanks for the help anyway. At least we know what it wasn't." Aurora responded.
"My pleasure. Feel free to come back anytime. We get new instruments every so often, so what you heard could just be a shipment away."
"We'll be sure to do that," Aurora turned to her crew. "C'mon, let's go get lunch."
The librarian bid them farewell as the Puma crew made their way toward the door. The trio was halfway to the exit when the sound of musical notes stopped them dead in their tracks. They turned their heads toward the source, obscured by rows of shelves. Riley slowly walked ahead of her friends, her eyes squinted as she listened closely.
"Is that──"
"Yes, it is!" Aurora exclaimed, cutting off Riley. She rushed ahead of her. "It's...it's over there!"
The Puma crew rushed over to where the music was being played from, with the librarian following quickly behind. They rapidly passed by aisles and stacks of cases to get to the source of the music. In one of the far corners of the storage room was a girl who fashioned her own little space. A girl with dark blonde hair and big rimmed gold-colored glasses sat on stacked empty guitar cases, her feet resting on a big drum. On her lap was a string instrument that she plucked with her fingers. The librarian instantly recognized who she was.
"Andromeda!" she exclaimed, her hands placed firmly on her hips. "How long were you here?"
"Here before you were here," Andromeda answered. She didn't turn to look at the group; instead, she remained staring at a wall as she had done since she first arrived.
"Don't tell me you broke in here!"
"A guard you are not," Andromeda got a key from her pocket, showed it to her, and tucked it back safely before it could be yanked away. "If you were tasked to protect this place with a maze, you would've made it a straight line."
"Rude..."
"That's a...unique name," Aurora remarked.
"Indeed..." Andromeda said slowly. She twisted her head to look at her. "Aurora is unique as well."
"How do you...oh, well, you probably overhead my name when we were all looking for an instrument, and I am damn sure that what's on your lap is it."
Andromeda strummed her instrument.
"Oh, it produces a beautiful sound, does it not? The notes wonderfully fly in the air to land on the ears of those blessed to hear it."
"Blessed," Aurora repeated. She laughed at that. "When my friends and I last heard these sounds, it came from an instrument of armageddon, rather than one that makes you feel lucky. What is that, anyway?"
Andromeda looked down at her lap and inspected the instrument as if it was the first time she ever laid hands on it.
"Truthfully, I've plucked these strings occasionally but never took the few short seconds to learn its proper name," she presented it to the librarian. "Indulge us with your knowledge."
The librarian looked at it for a second and snapped her fingers.
"Oh, it's a kantele!" she exclaimed with glee. "We only have the one. Figures it was you that had it while we turned this place upside down to look for it."
"What country did the kantele come from?" Aurora inquired.
"Finland," the librarian expediently answered. "It's a traditional instrument."
Aurora gathered her crew where they huddled together.
"Finns," Aurora uttered.
"Girls from Finland defeated us, hmm?" Riley remarked. "That's pretty far from Chile."
"So is Barstow," Avery reminded.
"Ah, well...yeah."
"Is Finland in the tournament?" Aurora wondered.
"They are," answered Riley. "I checked whose still left in the competition, and Finland is still kicking. I also checked what other countries from the New World are still in the running. There's only three left: Canada, Argentina, and the U.S."
"Gotcha," Aurora remarked. "Let's hope we get matched against Finland sometime in the future. With any luck, those girls in the BT will be part of the Finnish team, and we'll have our payback."
They all exchanged grins. With their business now concluded, they prepared to take their leave.
"Thanks for both of you guy's help," Aurora spoke. "We learned what we wanted."
"Excellent!" cheered the librarian. "Always happy to help and feel free to come back if you want to check-out an instrument. I'm now more confident to say that we do have everything."
Andromeda rose from her makeshift chair and got close to the Puma crew. She looked at them all with a fixated gaze, arms behind her back, her head tilted to the side.
"I've had a vision the previous night regarding you and your fellow compatriots who ride the steel chariots. Great woes, pestilence and fire, have set their sights on your company of cavalry. These wicked riders, their spears sharp and at the ready, are soon to make their final charge into your ranks. After that...it gets cloudy. All I hear is the wails of souls in disarray, imprisoned by the shackles of pandemonium. Well. That's all I can remember. Farewell!"
Andromeda left the room, leaving the group silent for a bit before Aurora spoke aloud.
"Dude. Is she high?"
"Well, it would explain a lot." noted the librarian.
Golden Gate's School Carrier
With the school day at a close, Juliana retired to her dorm. The autumn season hasn't properly started, but the cooling temperatures have encouraged most to don sweaters and double up on blankets when in bed. A bed was where Juliana lied in, all snug underneath her blankets, resting comfortably on a pillow. The television in her room was on, but she didn't pay much mind to it. The day she had was long, her schedule filled to its brim. Now with it all over, she longed for nothing else but to relax and perhaps just turn in early. Her gaze, slowly getting dimmer, then instantly refocused when she glanced upon her fencing equipment stashed in the corner. Feelings of humiliation came upon her like ferocious waves of an ocean that pummeled her. A desire within her, one that she had for so long, grew stronger with each passing of the day. She wanted to right a wrong—that fencing match between her and Madison, where she was dealt the worst defeat of her life. The pain of that day still lingered and would continue to do so until she felt the ecstasy of victory, to triumph over Madison. How, she did not know. What she did want to do right now was to get her fencing gear out of her sight. Juliana hopped out of bed and threw her gear into the closet, and slammed the door shut. As she was about to crawl back into bed, there was a knock at her door, which irked her. Sleep beckoned her, but it won't come with those knocks. She muttered a curse under her breath as she went to answer the door. The person who wanted her attention was a girl with wavy black hair.
"Alright, what do you...hold on..." Juliana's eyes squinted as she analyzed. The facial features were familiar. "...Cassandra?"
"Dig the new look?"
"Well, look at that. You've dyed your hair."
The former blonde grinned.
"Yep. It serves a purpose beyond me loving the hell out of it."
"And that would be?"
"Can't walk around Catalina's campus with how I looked before. They are a few members of the Mojave Rose team who would recognize me, and since so much time has passed since our last interaction, I have to assume every member of that team knows who I am."
"Ah, I see. Going incognito. Must be related to that plan of yours."
"It is. It'll be a two-phase operation. Phase me will be a reconnaissance mission. I'll waltz around Catalina's campus to find the information I'm looking for. Of course, I'll also keep an ear out for any info that'll help you out in your task regarding their captain."
"Mmm, thank you. What will phase two entail?"
"Assuming phase one is a success, that's when I return to Catalina and...break some hearts."
"I quite like the sound of that," Juliana remarked with a grin. "So, when is phase one a go?"
"When my mock Catalina uniform is ready."
Catalina's School Carrier
"It's all wired up?"
"Yup."
"Bolted tightly into place?"
"Yes."
"Cool! Let's test it out."
The Churchill crew have busied themselves with adding a new piece of equipment to their tank. Claudia knelt on the top of the turret as she looked down through the open commander's hatch as her gunner, Millie, prepared to test their new piece of tech. From above, Claudia heard the sound of water being poured into a container, a lid being slammed shut, and a button being pressed. It was followed by a humming noise that persisted for a few minutes, a passage of time Claudia was more than happy to be patient for. Soon, a hand shot out of the turret where, in its grasp, was a stainless steel coffee mug with hot steam coming out from its opening.
"Nice," Claudia remarked as she grabbed the mug. She took a sip. "People are too hard on instant coffee. This stuff is great," she had another drink. "God, I love it."
The Churchill NA 75 was now the closest thing the team had to a mobile field kitchen. The crew has installed an electric boiling vessel within the fighting compartment, which would provide them with hot water on demand. It's the little comforts that can make all the difference in the world.
"And we can make more than just coffee," Millie chimed in, her head out of the hatch. "We can put hot water in those instant noodle cups and have nice little meals."
"Speaking of meals," Cody, the loader, then said. "We can chuck in those MRE pouches in the vessel for them to cook."
"Can't forget tea, can we?" Noah, the Churchill's driver, added. "It is a British tank, after all."
"Ehhh, tea is not really my style," Claudia said. "I'm more of a coffee kind of girl." she inspected her cup as another sip was taken. "We'll need more of these cups."
"Can we get something flashier? Those steel mugs look dull." Millie suggested
"What, you wanna bring something like porcelain? Look, when the guns start blasting, we're gonna drop our cups sooner or later. The last thing I want is some fancy teacup smashing on the floor, the shards all over the place. The last tankery team I was on had girls who drank from fragile cups, and it didn't end well. They...they were a bunch of dumbasses, really."
As the Churchill NA 75 crew prided themselves in making their machine a combination tank and coffee shop, elsewhere in the garage, did work of a different sort occur. One that involved paper and pencil. Heather approached Gabrielle in the garage's office and presented her the design proposal for the team's shoulder insignia. It was now in color, with each rose in the bundle in a brilliant and vibrant crimson red. Valarie also shared her input on the design, whose suggestions were added to the final design. In the background of the bouquet of roses was a gun reticle, the typical telescopic sight, in a distinct black that contrasted to the bright colors of the flowers.
"Girls," Gabrielle said as she an eyeful of the design. "This is damn good."
Heather was blushing.
"Aww, you really think so?"
"I'm declaring this the winner right here. This contest wasn't very long, I know, but the sooner we have them made and in our hands, the better."
"Yay!" Heather exclaimed with a joyful childlike squeal. It was the most emotion Gabrielle has ever seen come out of her, one that was as brief as it was bright. She composed herself. "Have you seen the other designs Valarie had suggested? She wants special patches for certain people in the team."
Gabrielle flipped to the next page in the notebook she was given. She nodded.
"Oooh, I like these too. They'll be made as well."
"Cool!"
Heather departed the garage office, descended back down the stairs to return to the ground floor, and made her way toward her machine. Naturally, with the main doors wide open, her eyes wandered toward the opening, and that was where she spotted a boy walk in with a bag slung over one of his shoulders. It wasn't any of the boys on the team. She would've recognized them since they were so few males on the team. This was a boy she hasn't seen before, and as such, she had more suspicion within her than the blood in her veins. She changed directions and started a slow walk toward the guest. Heather studied him, watched his every move. The boy strolled through the garage's center, looking with interest at all the people on the team working on their tanks and performing related tasks. It was then he stopped and opened his bag, where he took out a camera. The moment Heather saw it, her suspicion faded to anger, and her walk transformed into a sprint. She was on him in less than a second and snatched the camera from his hands.
"You take a damn picture in here, and the next one coming out of this camera will be for your obituary."
"Wha──" the boy began to say by Heather cut him off. She held his camera in both of her hands.
"You better give me a real good reason as to why you're here, or else I'll smash this thing right into the damn ground!"
"I─I was invited here." the boy stammered.
Heather looked right into his eyes.
"Liar."
She raised the device high in the air, but before the ground could be showered with electronic shrapnel, Heather felt a firm arm suddenly grasp her wrist. She twisted her head to find that it was Valarie.
"Heather," she said calmly. "Give him back the camera. I'm the one who invited him."
Valarie softened her grip. Heather continued to look at her for a moment before looking back at the boy who was clearly rattled. She brought her arms down and returned the camera.
"...Sorry," she muttered with her face ablaze with embarrassment. "I'm, ah, I'm just gonna go..."
Heather quickly left for the T-44. Valarie let out a breath now that all the drama was all over.
"Sorry about that, Zack," Valarie apologized. "Heather is very, well, let's just say defensive when it comes to the wellbeing on this team."
He laughed a little as he checked his camera for any damages.
"My dad often said to me, you can't fault people for being passionate. She has passion...and some passion is it."
"Ain't that the truth. Now, I gotta say. I expected you to come here much earlier."
"I had tons to do. I had photoshoots in Inspiration Park and some headshots to do for students. I was gonna come after that, but when I found out this ship was heading to Chile, I just had to take photos of the city and surrounding scenery. Only now do I have the time to come to your garage."
"Great! Feel free to get started."
"I will in due time. Once my lovely assistant arrives, we'll get right to business."
"Gotcha,"
It wasn't long before this 'lovely assistant' made their arrival. From the entrance came another boy, this one with black hair and carrying a tripod. He quickly made his way to where Zack was and set up the tripod.
"Wow, look at all these tanks!" he exclaimed with wonder. "This'll get us a good grade for sure."
"Oh, it will!" Zack responded with equal glee. "Now, let's get started."
The pair got right to work and began taking photos of the Super Pershing crew maintaining their machine without even noticing that their photos were being taken. That is, Zack was the one taking the photos. The other boy who had brought the tripod didn't take any pictures. Not of the Super Pershing crew, nor of any of the other tank crews they photographed, other than on very few occasions. This, Valarie, watched with intense curiosity. She was with the pair as they did their photoshoot, letting people know what was going on so that they wouldn't be too alarmed. The term 'lovely assistant' was on her mind the entire time. It obviously referred to the boy that arrived after him, but why would he call him that? Could it be just a name said in jest? To make him riled up? Valarie initially thought so, but during the few times the other boy would operate the camera, she would see Zack get real close to him, hands on his shoulders, his head next to his, where he then laid a quick kiss on his cheek. When she saw that, it clicked. Zack did indeed mean 'lovely assistant' in the most genuine way.
Later, with the meeting coming to a close, Zack and his clearly-more-than-a-friend companion set up the camera in front of the Churchill. It was the last tank they have yet to snap some photos of.
"I do believe this is a British tank," Zack remarked as he readied the camera. "Only right for something elegant to cap off this lovely evening."
Just as he was to take a photo, Valarie saw what they were about to do, rushed over, and cupped the lens with her hand.
"Sorry," she said to him sternly. "But that tank hasn't been in a match yet, so other tankery teams don't know we have it. I'd like that secret to remain secret till that tank's debut."
Zack smiled as he put on the lens cap.
"Of course, we are your guests here after all. We got a treasure trove of photos nonetheless. You can expect copies of them soon once I touch them up to make them superb."
"Oh, I can't wait!" Valarie remarked, all excited. The pair packed up their things and were about to leave. Though, before they did, Valarie had a burning question to ask that she already knew the answer to. She wanted to hear it from them. "Hey, are you two...a thing?"
Zack blushed and chuckled at the question, where they then both hands held hands.
"This is my boyfriend, Kenny. I adore him to death."
"Oooh," Kenny uttered. He covered his face with his hands. "Don't make me blush in front of so many people!"
Zack wrapped his arms around him.
"You make it so easy that it's impossible not to. Then again...I do love seeing your face turn red."
They hugged for several long seconds before breaking it, though they still held hands.
"We'll be taking our leave now," Zack informed Valarie, who too was blushing. "See you around, Valarie. Thanks for the opportunity...oh, and don't forget that I want to take photos of just you as well. That'll be another time."
"I'm looking forward to that," Valarie responded. "And, you're welcome."
Zack and Kenny left the garage. Valarie still had some redness on her face when she returned to her T-44, which her crew noticed.
"Alright, what did you see?" Ashley questioned.
"Something beyond adorable," Valarie responded. She placed a hand over her heart. "Just...lovely."
.
.
.
Barstow
There was a home in this desert town that felt empty. Two people lived within it, but that feeling of emptiness was strong and weighed heavy on their hearts. They did have each other, and every moment spent together was something they did truly cherish. Many years of marriage and their love had never waned. If anything, their feelings for each other had only strengthened to be stronger than diamonds. What made their home feel empty was the fact that their daughter was gone. She's been gone for several months, but every day without her felt like eons. Preston and Katherine Woodlin missed Valarie terribly. Empty-nest syndrome has hit them like a runaway truck.
In Valarie's room, Katherine laid on the bed with a remote in her hand. When she first entered the room, she popped a VHS tape into Valarie's TV and pressed play on the remote. The machine whirred for a moment before the screen came alive with sounds and pictures.
"Valarieeeee!" Katherine heard her own voice as the TV showed a ten-month-old Valarie. She sounded so young back then. "C'mon Val, say 'mommy'. Please?"
"Mmmm," An incredibly young Valarie uttered. She looked super focused "Mmmommy."
"YES!" Katherine heard herself scream. The picture grew dark, which was when she remembered that when she first heard Valarie's first word, she got so excited that she dropped the camera. "Preston! She said her first word, and it was 'mommy'! I win!"
"Oooh, cooome ooon!" Preston complained out of view.
Katherine laughed as she reminisced that moment all those years ago. The footage then had a hard cut, where it now showed a four-year old Valarie.
"First day of kindergarten! Are you excited?"
"Uh...no."
"Aw, why not?"
"I'm scared! I don't want to leave you!"
"Oh, Val, you'll be coming back. Kindergarten will be fun for you. You'll make lots of friends, and I bet tomorrow, you'll be waking us up and ordering us to take you to class."
"I dunno..."
Preston appeared out of frame, picked up Valarie, and raised her high in the air. She laughed like crazy as she 'flew'.
"How 'bout I take you to school in the truck, Val?" Preston said. Upon hearing that, Valarie showed a face of awe.
"Truck! Truck! Truck! Truck!"
"Let's go, little lady!"
There was another hard cut as another memory played on the TV. Katherine then heard a knock by the doorframe and saw Preston leaning against it.
"Watching your favorite actor and actress, huh" he teased.
"The best in the world," Katherine replied with a soft grin. Her husband joined her on the bed and wrapped his arms around her. "God, I miss her so much."
Preston laid a gentle finger on Katherine's cheek and found a tear strolling down it. He hugged her tighter.
"This is one hell of a struggle," he said softly. "At the same time, she's making us so proud."
"I didn't think I could be more proud of her when I first held her in my hands after giving birth," Katherine said. She paused to sniffle. "We tried so hard to have a child that we thought it'd never happen...but it did. Lord, did we get a child of our own. And now, she makes me prouder every day."
"Do you remember the names we went through before we settled on Valarie?"
"Oh man," she muttered. "We went through many names that I forgot most of them. I do remember that it was between Claire and Valarie," Katherine chuckled. "Only near the end of pregnancy did we make a choice."
"I remember that," Preston said with a snort. "Your water broke right in the kitchen. You looked right at me and said, 'Valarie's coming,' with a deadpan expression. Damn, I laughed so hard at that."
For the remainder of the night, Valarie's parents watched the memories they've made over the years, a delightful trip to the past. It wasn't long before slumber overtook them, and they slept in their daughter's bed. It was fairly small for the two of them, so they had to hold each other close so that none of them would roll off and hit the floor. Even though their own bed was bigger than Valarie's, what they did was something they've done before multiple times. Sleeping in their daughter's bed made them feel close to her, that no matter how many miles Valarie was away from them, they would always feel like she was right there with them.
It was a comfort like nothing else.
