The Yogurt Academy Sensha-Do club had met in the garage the next morning as Pomorie wanted to chat with the team. Rila and Varna stood on her sides as two tarps had concealed two huge objects behind her. Pomorie tapped the microphone as she wanted to make sure the thing worked.
"Okay can you hear me?" Pomorie began as she wanted to make sure the students could hear her. "Okay, that's good. Now there are a couple of things I want to address following yesterday's victory. We're still keeping our ties with Kuromorimine so after this is all over, we don't sour relationships with our former allies. So no one will be bad mouthing Maho, El, Solti etc. I want you all to behave in a respectable manner. Now the second order of business is that Pravda sent us a present to help out our team try to strive for perfection. It does mean a bit for us as we're still outfitting the team." Pomorie turned behind her as she nodded for Malko, Koprinka, Kamchia and Popovo to pull the tarp off of the tanks. They did so as it revealed two more tanks that they had in their arsenal. A T-34/76 and a T-34/85. They were getting super lucky with the tanks they were receiving,
"Nice tanks, looks like we can be shifting our light tanks out of the way and make room for the bigger tanks and help Pravda with the push." Ticha responded as she was getting the full attention of the group.
"Yeah so I'll be once again deciding on which tanks will get swapped out for these newer tanks as we can't bring more than fifteen tanks onto the field at once but our light tanks are getting a bit long in the tooth and verging on obsoleteness." Pomorie told the group as she wanted to see what tanks they could swap out to make room for these newer tanks. "Okay tanks Jack Russel Terrier and Papillon will be replaced to make room for the T-34's." Pomorie was replacing a couple of the Panzer 35T's as they weren't going to be very useful to them anymore. Some of the students were scratching their heads, Papillon was the name given to the fourth Panzer 35T but this was assigned sometime after the party they had the year before so they needed to make room for these newer tanks.
"Speaking of which the T-34/76 will be known as Boxer and the T-34/85 as Newfouland." Rila named the tanks before anyone else. Popovo gave a nod as she was going to paint the tanks with the words she said.
"Okay I'll get the artists to get the breeds painted on the team." Popovo told the group that the tanks will be painted and sorted. Everyone nodded as Pomorie dismissed the meeting, even though she was feeling a little more comfortable, she felt insecure about what she was going to say to El.
News would quickly come around that another match was being organized at noon as usual so the students had to make due and get their work done and up to scratch. It was going to be happening in the plains past the mountains as the schools were going on open ground once more. Pomorie was relieved as she didn't want to have matches up in the mountains again. Katyusha and Brook were discussing some of the plans they had with the maps they received of the area. Pomorie watched from a safe distance.
"Okay the main objective on where Pravda is going to take and hold is the town right here." Katyusha began as she pointed to the south eastern part of the map where the largest of the towns were. "We'll be advancing along this road straight down. I will be leading it personally. Your job Brook along with Klara, Nina and Alina are to capture these six towns while we start from one town and me and Nonna will capture one before moving in on the ultimate prize. That is where Maho and Miho are holding up in so we expect fighting to be fierce so we're stripping you of your SU-100's and your ISU-122's, you would have to make do with five ISU-152's that we're giving you on this mission." Katyusha laid out the plans for this match. She circled the biggest town when she said what was the ultimate prize for this match.
"I'll see what I can do for you Katyusha." Brook responded as she was going to see what she was able to do.
"That's a good girl, I bet you will need your Papasha for the savage street combat that will be happening?" Katyusha asked if that was the case. Brook nodded as this would be entirely needed.
"Yes." Brook responded. Katyusha nodded as she handed her her Papasha, two drum magazines and six box magazines. Pomorie began to edge closer as she was wondering why this girl was getting decked out with ammunition. Katyusha turned to Pomorie.
"Ah Pomorie, I've seen you've arrived. You've been listening in on our plans or the upcoming match right?" Katyusha asked Pomorie about this and what she had to say about it.
"Yeah I do, so I know you gave us tanks but where are we going to be deployed in this match and our objectives?" Pomorie asked as she wanted to know what exactly was going to happen. Katyusha nodded as she began to speak.
"Okay Pomorie you're being grouped with Brook, your task is to follow her and capture these two towns directly to our west, when they are captured, report the results back to me and then you will be moving south to assist the other groups in taking key objectives, if we need help we'll radio to you about it." Nonna explained to Pomorie about what her job would be and how she was going to do to achieve it.
"Okay got you." Pomorie responded as Nonna gave her the instructions on what she was going to be doing. Pomorie nodded as she turned and walked back to her team. When she arrived back a minute later, Rila and Varna were chatting to two students from SSISSN's Partisan team. Pomorie was surprised by the students that were chatting as she managed to recognize one of them. "Lasina, what are you doing here?" Pomorie asked as it was a one in a million chance that she would see Lasina here.
"Pravda is helping the Partisans out, they gave us a bunch of brand new T-34's to help with our aging pile of light tanks that you like to take out so much." Lasina responded as a second student had walked over to join her.
"I see that you've finally made up your mind and have joined the enemy Kuromorimine had sought to destroy." Pomorie couldn't believe her eyes on who had joined the side of the Partisans but more importantly Pravda.
"Tocai? What are you doing here?" Pomorie asked as she wanted to find out what her motive behind all of this was going to be.
"After the fight with the Partisans, we were essentially punished but that didn't stop any of us from developing loyalties with them. After a while I saw it was just easier to side with them as we decided what was the worst thing that would happen while Kuromorimine was crumbling. I see you and Count High School have changed sides and you're both fighting with Pravda?" Tocai responded as she looked at them both.
"It was against our own will to change sides but I wasn't in charge of the school as much as the Sensha-Do team." Pomorie responded as she was staring at the two students.
"Well that means we can continue onward to victory I can assume?" Lasina asked as she was more than excited for this next match to begin.
"Yep that's it." Rila gave her words. She then began to think on where the Partisans were going to be grouped with. "So you guys are being sent off in another group?"
"Yeah with Nina, hopefully she can bring her guns to bear when it comes to much more risky targets such as these." Lasina told Rila who they were grouped together with.
"Well good luck." Varna responded as the three students then turned and began to walk away. The next match was about to start.
Pomorie and the others were on the field as the Vickers tank rode up next to the T-34's the paint job on the side gave their insignia of what each tank was going to be named and therefore have an easier time figuring out who was who. Brook's T-34/85 rolled up next to Pomorie as she had a gift for her.
"A present from Nonna herself." Brook told Pomorie as she showed her a PPS-43 SMG. Brook tossed it to Pomorie as she caught it.
"Thanks." Pomorie responded. Brook had something more for her as she tossed Pomorie four thirty-five round box magazines. Pomorie caught them all as Brook was surprised.
"Nice reflexes. Did you play catch growing up?" Brook asked Pomorie if she played a child's game as a kid.
"A little." Pomorie responded as she got herself situated. Brook nodded as she had her Papasha-41 slung behind her back.
"Okay we're ready, let's tell Katyusha that our group is ready to roll." Brook told Pomorie.
"Right on." Pomorie responded awkwardly. She wasn't used to Brook as much as she was used to Maho. With what Srebarna had thrown her into, she knew she had to make do with what she had. The cannon fired off as the match had begun.
The tank groups had begun to split up as they were going to divide and conquer. Pomorie's group followed Brook as they were going to go off on their own little quest. Brook began to lay out the instructions for the students to follow.
"Okay Katyusha told us that we need to capture two towns in the northwestern area of the map. I want everyone to move in quickly and take control of the major roads so that the student's cannot drive away to escape. Don't get caught out in the open and watch each other's backs." Brook began as she was taking the lead of this group. They were traveling along a two lane road towards the first town they were said to take control of.
"Okay got it." The students in her group responded. Brook knew that the town was just about in their sights as they were driving at a pace to where everyone could keep up. Brook decided to stop the tanks as she waved up her hand. She got out her binoculars and decided to take a look around. The town was a small one but the lumber and storehouses were perfect for storing the enemy inside. Brook began to devise a plan on how to draw the enemies out into the open.
"ISU-152's cone up and begin shelling the town." Brook ordered as her T-34 withdrew from the lead and the ISU-152's rolled up into a straight line. Brook nodded as she was devising a plan on what to do. "Okay the ISU-152's will be firing on the move and we advance behind them. Once we get to the town, we sweep the area clean and look for the enemies. Once done, we report back to Katyusha about our progress."
"Yes Taylor-San!" The Pravda students in her group cheered as they were going to take this strongpoint.
"Okay cannons away!" Brook called out. The ISU-152 fired off their first barrage and began to roll up. A huge chunk of the town was obliterated in the opening shots as the massive SPG's fired again. More of the town was getting leveled as the other tanks began to advance. The tanks continued firing away as Brook observed the progress of the town getting leveled to the ground. After all the tanks fired about five rounds off. Brook ordered them to stop. "Okay conserve your ammunition, we flattened this town far enough."
"Okay so what's the next plan?" Pomorie asked as she wanted to find out what Brook had in mind.
"Surround this town so we don't let them get out." Brook gave the order to encircle the town so that no one could leave. The tanks rushed around leaving Yogurt Academy, Brook and the SPG's right outside of the town.
"That doesn't answer my question." Pomorie told Brook as she wanted to know what she had in mind. Brook turned her head to Pomorie as she began to speak.
"Okay we're going to clear out this town as we want to know how many tanks are knocked out and how many there are so we can clear them out. Once we clear this town out, we move onto the next one." Brook told Pomorie what her plan was.
"Okay." Pomorie gulped because she felt nervous. Brook began to plan out on splitting the group up.
"Good. Okay we're splitting into groups of four, I want Pomorie's tank, Malko's tank and Koprinka's tank with me. We're going to move in." Brook gave the order to choose who she wanted in the group. "We're group yellow." Brook gave the color code on what exactly they were going to do. She then began to assign the areas of the color code on where they were going to check. Red has got the left, Green the right and blue on the top. "We're going to check the center." Brook told the group as the T-34 lead the way. Pomorie and her friends followed up behind as they were going to clear their section of the city.
The four tanks rode off to the center. Brook looked out ahead as she was keeping watch in case the enemy was going to fire back. She began to give a warning to the tanks.
"Okay we reported that there was a large amount of enemy activity in this area so don't wander off." Brook told the students about it. She grabbed one of the box magazines for her Papasha-41 and loaded it in. Pomorie grabbed her magazine for the PPS-43 and loaded it up as well. The tanks began to patrol the area as they were looking for the enemy.
"See anything?" Malko asked as she wanted to figure out where this enemy was.
"Nothing here." Pomorie told Malko as they continued to patrol the area. Brook stopped her tank as she got out, she sensed something was off.
"Pomorie, come with me, everyone else, be prepared for trouble so keep on your guard." Brook told them as Pomorie climbed out of her tank. Both students walked off and to the storeroom that was getting Brook's attention. Brook approached the entrance with her Papasha-41 in her hands as she was ready to spray it into the storeroom when breaching it. "Okay Pomorie, back me up when I kick down this door." Brook told Pomorie to watch her back. Pomorie didn't respond as all she responded with was a gulp. Brook nodded as she raised her foot up and kicked the door open. She rushed in followed by Pomorie as they began to look around in the storeroom. No sign of the enemy. Brook looked at Pomorie as she was having trouble finding anything. "Got a flashlight on ya?" Brook asked as she needed some light to see something.
"I don't but I can use my phone for some light." Pomorie responded as decided to light the room up with her phone. Finally some light. Brook began to walk around as she was looking for any sign of the enemy. Pomorie looked around as she was having trouble seeing something as well. She looked up to see a massive hole in the roof where one of the ISU-152 shells had come raining down earlier. She decided to assume there was a tank in here. Pomorie began to feel her fingers around to see if there was a tank inside of this room. She began to feel cold metal on her fingers. She turned her phone's light to see if it was true. It was indeed a tank, more specifically a M13/40. "Brook, we got a tank in here." Pomorie told Brook as she looked up. Pomorie raised her phone up to see if this tank was still active. A white flag was already out as Brook observed what had happened.
"Oh yeah, that tank didn't stand a chance, we should report to the others and find any clues about what happened to the others." Brook told Pomorie as they weren't going to get their fight today. Pomorie nodded as they began to make their way outside.
Brook and Pomorie emerged from the storehouse as Brook decided to share the news.
"Well we got one, it's clear the Croatian gang is stationed here." Brook told everyone about who was here and what they should watch out for.
"Wow, we don't know how many are there still in this area. We should report to the others about this knocked out tank." Koprinka told the group that they had got one.
"Let's be observant and continue patrolling the area, maybe we can find out more about what's happening." Pomorie told the rest as Brook marked off the area where they found the knocked out tank. Once they had boarded and settled back in, they took off as they continued to patrol their marked section of the town.
"Anyone seeing tank tracks?" Pomorie asked as she looked down. It seemed to be whatever was here is now gone. Pomorie studied the tracks much more closely, it appeared that the tanks were fleeing from the area.
"I do." Malko responded as she continued to look down at the tracks.
"Well we should report this to the group that we got some tanks that were trying to get away." Pomorie told Malko about the finding. Malko nodded but they should do it after the search.
Once the search was done. Brook was analyzing the information that they had gathered to see if their information was correct.
"So that's nine tanks knocked out from the Croatian Gang in this sector and the rest had escaped I assume?" Brook decided to run through the results.
"Yeah looks like they escaped long before we arrived." Pomorie told Brook as she looked down to the tracks. They were leading away from the town. Brook nodded as she decided to grab the radio.
"Nonna, you there?" Brook asked as she wanted to report about the outcome of their progress.
"Yes Brook, what is it?" Nonna asked as she wanted to find out what it was that she wanted.
"We had taken the first of two towns, nine tanks had been knocked out from their side." Brook reported to Nonna. Nonna nodded as she wanted to ask her a question.
"How many tanks from our side did we lose in that engagement?" Nonna asked to see what their losses were.
"None. No tank has been knocked out so far, they completely abandoned the town before we entered it, it's a ghost town here." Brook gave the notion that there were no losses so far.
"Okay that's good." Nonna replied as she input the information. "We're in the progress of taking our first town. Klara has laid siege to her first objective and Nina and Alina are clearing out their towns and will be used as reserves for reinforcements."
"Okay so if you're willing to send us over some extras, would you send us Nina?" Brook asked as they were finished securing the town.
"Permission denied, Katyusha will be needing those for when we take the grand prize as that is where all the tanks are held up in." Nonna wasn't going to hand Brook the tanks over as she needed them to complete her own objectives.
"Okay we'll be moving out in a few." Brook responded as she was going to plan on taking over the next city and with no losses on her end, she thought this was going to be a walk in the park. "Okay all tanks on me, we have to take the next town. I don't want any complaints from any of you."
"We got you!" The students yipped and cheered. Brook nodded as she turned the other way.
"All tanks follow me." Brook gave the order as her T-34 was the first to roll out, the other tanks followed behind as they were ready to capture the second objective. They were now moving south.
The tanks would drive along the main road southward to their second objective as they were told that they would be captured. Brook was confident that if she was able to surround the next town and lay siege, they would lose their morale and go down without a fight. Brook wasn't going to get that wish. Dug in ahead of her were two tanks. Panzer 2's to be exact and they were going to act as the scouts for the incoming assault.
"We were more than fortunate enough to have escaped with our lives seeing those ISU-152 shells raining down on us. We've lost our best tanks in that mess and now we don't think we will be able to hold Pravda back." Syrah told the Panzer 2 crew about the situation. The Panzer 2 crew nodded but they heard a rumbling that was coming, "Oh goodness! Pravda's here already?!" Syrah called out. The Panzer 2 crew looked around as they noticed she was right, Pravda was indeed coming.
Brook was leading the way as she was beginning to plan out on what she wanted to do, she didn't want the enemy to escape like last time so she had to refine her plans to make sure that no one was getting out.
"Okay all tanks in my group except for the ISU-152's and Yogurt Academy, surround the town." Brook gave the order. The T-34's began rushing past the defenses to quickly cut off any escape routes that the enemy was willing to take. Syrah looked out as she knew that Pravda was getting into favorable distance where they could start to fire.
"Fire." Syrah gave the order. The Panzer 2's began opening up with their cannons. The cannons did little against the T-34/85 as Brook was going to stand there and absorb the fire. The static position of the tank gave the opportunity for the rest of the tanks to bypass the Panzer 2's and trap the city in an encirclement, Brook focused her gun on one of the Panzer 2's but she wasn't going to give the command to fire, she was going to take them out herself. She then fired her first shot into one of the Panzer 2's knocking it out. The T-34's turret traversed as Brook prepared to take Syrah out. She then fired as the Panzer 2 was taken out, poking her head out, she noticed that her tank was riddled with paintball splatters. But that didn't matter, the threat had been dealt with for now. The ISU-152 battery came up to take its place as it began to flatten the second town out.
"Hammer it to dust!" Brook gave the order to use up the remaining amount of their ammunition to get as many of the targets in there. She then turned to Pomorie and her friends as she was going to lay out the plan on taking the town with minimal resistance. "Okay while the ISU-152's are demolishing the town. I have a plan on how we could take the town without losing a single tank." Brook began as she began to think. Pomorie, and Mandra began to speak while she was thinking.
"What do you think she has in mind?" Mandra asked as she seemed curious about what was going on.
"She's thinking of something, give her a moment." Pomorie told Mandra as she wanted to keep Mandra quiet while Brook was thinking.
"Okay so here's the plan, once the guns fall silent, we're going to be scanning the town again for the enemy within our respected areas. With the enemy encircled however, the likelihood of them escaping is close to zero. Now let's just wait for the guns to fall silent before we begin our hunt." Brook told them as she began to organize the tanks into groups again and give them designated areas to hunt tanks down in. "Okay, same tanks in a group but this time Red top, Blue left, Yellow right and Green Center."
"We got you." Pomorie responded as Brook nodded with approval. It would be fifteen minutes before the ISU-152's fell silent as one of the crews began to give her report.
"Brook, all the ISU-152's had used up all of their ammunition." She reported. Brook nodded as the tanks were silent but this meant if Kuromorimine were to lead a breakout attempt for the encircled tanks they wouldn't have any heavy howitzer artillery to back them up. The sixteen tanks made their way into the ruined town.
The tanks had split up into their respective groups as they began the hunt for the remaining tanks that were stationed here. Brook began to lay out what they were looking for.
"We got reports that Blue Division was also in this area when we shelled it not too long ago so we might get a bunch of knocked out tanks." Brook told the group what they were going to be looking for. Pomorie heard the news as she began thinking about El and what she was going to say to her when she had the chance. She was still worried about her being angry with her for betrayal of their alliance as it loomed over her head. The radio crackled as it was one of the tanks from the outside of the town they were laying siege to.
"We knocked out a few tanks that tried to make an escape. Don't know how many more will try to break out." She told Brook about it.
"How many?" Brook asked to see how many they were able to knock out.
"Only four but we suspect that there might be more in the city that are limping around or are alone." She gave Brook on how many tanks they were able to snag.
"That's good. Keep an eye out for any other tank that tries to mount a breakout." Brook told her. Then the radio crackled as it was the other groups as they were reporting the news.
"This is group Red, three knocked out tanks found in this area and a Panzer 3 we're in the heat of battle with." Kamchia told Brook about what they found.
"Two knocked out tanks in group Blue's sector." Ticha told Brook about it. Brook was jotting the notes down as the radio crackled once more.
"Three knocked out tanks in group Green's sector." A jagdpanzer 4 commander called out.
"Okay we're getting knocked out tank reports so we're going to split up to see what we can find." Brook told the others that they were going on their own to see if they could find knocked out tanks. The crews nodded as they began to split up.
The minutes began to tick by as Pomorie was scouting around to find any knocked out tanks. She stuck her head out of the turret to see if she could find anything that might peak her interest. She looked around and spotted a StuG 3 and a T-26 from Blue division laying in a smoldering pile of paint with their white flags out.
"Oof they didn't stand a chance." Pomorie began as she looked at the pile. She decided to get out her radio and give the findings.
"Okay we found two knocked out tanks in our sector." Pomorie began. Brook began to speak with her findings.
"Two more in my area." Brook gave her words about the finding.
"We're still searching." Korpinka told Pomorie as they had found nothing so far.
"One in my area." Malko reported. Pomorie was jotting down the notes as she continued to speak over the radio.
"Okay so that's five tanks knocked out of…" Pomorie stopped as she heard a noise coming from the rubble. It was a Panzer 2 that must've survived the onslaught. It was bearing the Blue Division logo. Pomorie knew she needed to take it out. "We got one tank still alive. I'm going to take it." Pomorie told Brook as she decided to go after it. She ducked back down into the tank and closed the hatch behind her. The Vickers sped up as it began to chase the Panzer 2 down. Pomorie fired the first shot but it missed as the Panzer 2 turned right. Varna leaned over once turning had decided to fire away the Vickers machine gun to try coaxing the tank into a trap.
Varna was in an awkward position as Rila decided to take the time and fire. The shot missed the Panzer 2 but Pomorie wasn't one to give up. The Panzer 2's turret began to turn to face the Vickers that was charging at it. Pomorie opened the hatch and began peppering the Panzer 2 with her PPS-43. Thankfully the gun had a steady rate of rifre of six hundred rounds a minute so Pomorie was firing in small bursts to get this tank's attention. Once the turret hat turned, Pomorie ducked back down into her tank as she wanted to figure out if the run was ready.
"Is it ready?" Pomorie asked Rila if the cannon was loaded and ready to fire.
"Yes it is." Rila responded. Pomorie grabbed the gun as she got herself ready, aiming it. She fired it at the gun of the Panzer 2. The Panzer 2 tried to retaliate but it only got one shot off. Varna shifted gears quickly as the Vickers swerved out of the way as Rila got another shot ready. "Ready at your mark."
Pomorie nodded as she had another choice to target, the engine. The Panzer 2 fired off three more shots as Varna shifted gears as fast as possible to dodge the incoming shot. Once Pomorie was able to refocus on the rear of the Panzer 2, she fired. The shot taking out the engine of the tank as the Panzer 2 ground to a halt. The Vickers rammed the rear of it as Rila prepared one more shot for Pomorie to fire.
"Ready." Rila told Pomorie as she stuffed the shell in. Pomorie nodded as she fired at the turret of the Panzer 2. Finally ending the chase. It was over, the white flag popped up as Pomorie was grateful.
"Okay Brook we found a Panzer 2 in this mess but we managed to take it out." Pomorie decided to give Brook the good news. Brook nodded as all the tanks in this area had been cleared out.
"Katyusha, this is Brook, we've just taken the second town and the ISU-152's had used up all of their ammunition." Brook gave her status on what had happened.
"Good we're just finishing up with the prize of all of this. Nina, Alina and Klara had finished their objectives so we should be good." Katyusha responded as the IS-2 fired a shot taking out the Tiger 2 flag tank. Pravda had once again won.
Pomorie got out of her tank as the field was being cleaned up. El was chatting nearby as she decided to turn to Pomorie.
"El, can I talk to you for a second?" Pomorie asked El if she had a moment.
"Sure what is it?" El asked as she was curious about what Pomorie wanted.
"Well we're on Pravda's side now, and I have no control over that. Are you mad at me?" Pomorie asked El if she was angry by betraying the alliance. El gave it some thought about it. Instead she wrapped her arms around Pomorie embracing her in a hug.
"I'm not mad at you silly. I actually enjoyed our duel today. You damaged our gun though we could only fire one shot at a time. I hope we can have another duel with you and I will get out ahead of you." El told Pomorie as she released the girl. El then poked Pomorie's nose as she was thrilled.
"Okay good. I thought you would be angry for leaving you." Pomorie responded if El would be mad at her.
"Not in the slightest." El responded. She knew she needed to go as she shook Pomorie's hand. "I'll get to see you in the next match hopefully, I'll always be your friend."
"Sure thing." Pomorie responded as she felt more relaxed knowing that El wasn't mad at her. El nodded as she released Pomoroe's hand and began to walk away.
"Well at least you have a good friend to rely on." Varna responded as she placed her hand on Pomorie's side.
"Yeah you and Rila have some much more to do with me before this year is over." Pomorie responded as she felt more confident. What would this weekend bring?
Trouble.
[A/N]: This one was rapidly made as I'm finally getting some steam back, the view count is going through the roof and I'm super excited about it. Next chapter won't have to do with a match but something about Gregor so pay attention to that. See you in the next chapter, goodbye.