Erika had been rushed to the nurse's office as Maho was sitting outside waiting for the results of her vice commander. She was hoping Erika was going to be okay but the amount of Pervitin she consumed had scared her. A nurse opened the door as she had some news for Maho.
"Well Miss Nishizumi, Erika's going to be fine. Even though her heartbeat was beating rapidly, you were quick to act and stabilize Erika before any major harm had been done to her. The amount of Pervitin in her body was enough to knock her unconscious. She will be released tomorrow morning for the next match coming up but if she is reported to be taking Pervitin again, we might have to do a thorough investigation on where she is getting it from." The nurse reported to Maho about the condition of the vice commander.
"Much appreciated, thank you." Maho responded. She then got up and began walking away as the nurse went back into her room and began to tend to Erika who was recovering from her attempt to find a way out. Maho was walking down the hallway as she didn't know what to do, the match had ruined their morale, the students were demoralized, the loss of the Croatian gang had left them without a skilled gunner and Olivia's decisiveness during the closing part of the match was starting to come into question. Things were going to be at their breaking point. All that remained of the alliance was Kuromorimine, Ooarai, Blue Division, and Bellwall. Maho knew she needed to turn things around.
Meanwhile back with Pravda, the students were celebrating their last victory over Kuromorimine as they had managed to severely damage their will. Natascha was with her four children as Brook handed her mother the burlap sack she had loaded with parcels for her. She had also given her boots to Klara. Olga, Ludmilla and Peter were with her as Natascha opened the sack up. Fortunately everything Brook managed to grab was still in the same shape as she managed to take it.
"This white china is perfect for back home. I've been looking for a set like this ever since I got on the ship so I can spend time with Alexander and Irina when they come over and have their guests. I bet all the old people in Pravda wouldn't mind having some vanilla tea with us." Natascha told her children this was what she wanted. Olga held Brook's hand into the air as Peter yipped and cheered. Ludmilla walked over to her mother as she was excited for her.
"I think our sister is finally seeing the meeting about a lover that can speak with father. His wisdom is bringing us closer." Ludmilla told them as she hugged Brook. Nonna appeared momentarily as she wanted to speak with her.
"I know that's nice but Brook I would like to tell you the news about your foster father according to Kay that I received today. Kay ran into him and he's leaving for Iceland. Do you want to say goodbye to him?" Nonna asked as Brook's remaining foster family was moving away. Brook looked away from Nonna for a moment as she began to think this over.
"I… I don't want to say anything to him. I want to keep going in a straight line because it is the only way to make progress, I don't want to go back to when I have problems. I told you this before, I wanted to move on from the past." Brook responded as she wasn't one to really say goodbye to anyone she didn't want to get a grizzly past. Nonna nodded as she began speaking again.
"Okay I can understand your emotions as this year was a ride for you. I'll tell Kay you're not interested." Nonna told Brook as she began walking away. Brook nodded as she turned back to her mother who was still going through the sack. Nonna walked away as a result.
Tomorrow morning would be the switch up as it was now focused back where Magyar was and on familiar ground. If the students had knowledge of the terrain, this would be their advantage but Kuromorimine was significantly weaker thanks to the previous match. Still, it wasn't going to deter Erika who wanted to take this fight into her hands.
"Well ever since Pravda captured Budapest, we've switched our focus back onto this front to defend our school as they are encroaching onto our territory, we have a large force to defend it but Hungary is the last place we hoped to conduct offensive warfare and I had sent the last of our panzer forces there to pull off an encirclement." Erika began as she was ready to throw everything she had left at Pravda. Maho, Miho, Emi Nakasuga and El were puzzled. Olivia, who was listening, had doubts about this.
"I doubt this is going to work, considering the losses we've taken in the matches previous, I'm going to expect the same results, we're going to be pushed back even farther as the students are exhausted and Maho and I were debating whether or not to just call a surrender of the school so we can actually rest." Olivia commented that the school's Sensha-Do team was in no condition to go on an offensive.
"Olivia you need to learn to take risks, what happened to that balls to the wall insanity you used to have?" Erika asked as she leaned at the Tiger tank commander. Maho decided to answer Erika's question for her apprentice.
"Ever since we started to go on our losing streak, she kind of renounced offensive plans altogether. You know, after the Kursk match and all." Maho responded as she knew her apprentice was being cautious and going to play it safe.
"Well that was a major let down." Erika responded as she was still going to push the Kuromorimine team to its limits. "Also I think I know a substance that would make us fight even harder, It's called Pervitin. Take one." Erika handed out the mint-like substance as she knew that the students would be more alert. Olivia tossed hers to the side as Maho and much of Ooarai did the same. El was inspecting hers but decided to tell her crew one thing.
"This doesn't seem safe, dispose of it at once." El told her teammates to not take the supposed mint. They did as they tossed them aside. Erika was unaware of this but she began the deployment of the students as she in theory knew that she was going to be able to pull this off. However, theory was different to reality.
Katyusha meanwhile was organizing her team as she wanted to get the maximum results from this and continue the drive to push Kuromorimine back. She knew what was happening.
"Nina gave me some information telling me that Erika was planning on going on the offensive first and I'm worried that this might be disastrous as Erika thinks she might be able to have the upper hand." Katyusha began as she was able to confirm this by her student.
"Yeah her confidence is overextending farther than her grip on reality, we should be able to demolish her with a few quick blows." Tocai responded as this was nothing new for her.
"Especially in the last few days, she's beginning to lose it." Nonna told Tocai as Nina looked at her friend.
"So what's the plan that I told you about?" Nina asked as she wanted to figure out what Katyusha had in mind.
"So we're going to let Erika attack first as I think with what remaining steam she does have, she will quickly exhaust herself and once she's exhausted, we will go on the offensive, encircle her as her tank is the flag tank and take her out right there and then." Katyusha laid out her plan as she was going to be taking this a little more passively than the previous matches. Nina got up as she walked over to Katyusha and handed her the plans for Erika's offensive. "So Erika's group will be split into six groups. The one that will be conducting the offensive will be her, Maho, Miho and Emi from Bellwall. El has the flanks guarded and the last group Olivia Kaya will be moving from the south to link up with her. So the defenses I will be setting up will involve me, Nonna and Klara will be fighting the expected bulk of the group. Noemi, Lasina and Brook will be north of the group while Maiko, Nina, Alina and Pomorie will be in the south."
"Okay I think that will be fair." Pomorie responded as she was in no rush to make accusations against Katyusha. Katyusha looked at Pomorie as she began to speak to her.
"Okay I want you to be leading the defense against Olivia personally, I know what your school is capable of so I don't want you to upset almighty Katyusha." Katyusha decided to personally assign Pomorie to lead her school into this plan personally. Pomorie was eager but at the same time nervous.
"Okay." Pomorie gulped as she was nervous to Katyusha's demands.
"Okay good, the match begins within two hours so any questions?" Katyusha asked as Lasina raised her hand. "What is it Lasina?" Katyusha asked as she wanted to figure out what she needed.
"So did Erika come up with a name for this operation?" Lasina asked as she seemed curious about what Erika was going to name it.
"She calls it Operation Spring Awakening." Katyusha responded. She got off of her chair as Nina shuts off the projector, Erika's last attack was coming.
On the field, Erika was ready to begin her offensive that was going to encircle a good chunk of the group if she had her way. Maho, Miho and Emi Nakasuga were all looking at each other as they didn't have a concrete plan.
"This is going to be a bad idea." Maho began as she was being a little more cautious than usual. Erika looked at Maho as she knew nothing was going to go wrong.
"Admit it, you wanted to do something like this like we did in the beginning, remember?" Erika asked as she clutched her Pervitin tablet in her palm.
"Yeah but I'm pulling all of us out the very moment something goes wrong." Maho responded. Erika nodded as she decided to take her Pervitin tablet as she had plenty of those on her. With her tank being the flag tank, she thought that she had everything in place. However, she was going to vastly under-estimate what Pravda could throw at her. A distant gun went off as the next match had begun. The tanks began to roll forward as Erika was once again taking command of the situation.
"Okay We're splitting into two groups, Maho you're with me, Emi and Miho you two will go together to the right." Erika began as she was giving out orders. The students nervously nodded as they didn't know what was going to lie ahead of them. Erika and Maho's groups went left as Miho and Emi's group went right. Pravda was watching from a couple of T-34/84's off in the distance as they were going to predict Erika's every move.
"They're splitting up, perfect." Katyusha began. She was ready to relay the information back to Nonna to begin the attack. "Okay Nonna, the group has split into two, I'll take on Miho while you deal with Erika, once we have them pinned, we'll order the others to come in with an encirclement and trap Erika by blocking the only road out of here."
"I got that Katyusha." Nonna responded as she was ready to begin making the moves of her own, they were withdrawing to give Erika the impression of regaining lost ground. But, they were getting ready to spring their own trap. Nonna was watching as several tank destroyers were concealed in the bushes and ready to move in. "Now." Nonna called out. The tank destroyers opened fire as a Panther tank was immediately taken out in the opening wave. Erika decided to answer back as she fired her gun, the gun knocked out a SU-100 as she was beginning to fight back. Maho turned her head to hear the distant sounds of the second group as they had run into Katyusha. Maho was hoping for a fast fight and her apprentice to relieve them. This wasn't going to be the case.
Pomorie and Yogurt Academy were resting their tanks on some hills as Olivia was going to have an uphill battle to reach her friends.
"Okay this is the only obstacle that is separating Olivia from the group and from what Katyusha has reported, they got the group entangled, Erika is fighting back harder than expected as they just lost five tanks compared to Erika who's lost three so far but the numbers will quickly pile up." Pomorie announced that Katyusha was engaged in heavy fighting and had stopped Erika's plans. "While Katyusha is doing her job, we must do ours." Pomorie called out. Beli was keeping a look out as she was going to raise the alarm. She spotted a group of tanks heading up a road that was going to crest over the hills. More importantly, she found the scorpion marking.
"Olivia's coming, we must be ready to take her out." Beli told Pomorie that the group was now heading up the hill. Pomorie knew she needed to plan this accordingly as taking out these tanks could mean the difference between a victory or a defeat.
"Okay plan is we take out the Tiger 1 first, then the rear of the tank and we'll destroy all the tanks in the column as they have no way of retreating or moving forward." Olivia told the group about their plan to take out every last tank in the group.
"That sounds like a plan, tell us when we're ready to fire." Malko nodded with agreement. She was ready to do it. Olivia meanwhile was unaware that she was heading right for a trap.
"Okay this seems suspicious, I'm on the edge, keep an eye out for enemy tanks as we might be walking into a trap. Watch each other's backs, don't get caught out in the open." Olivia instructed the students to keep an eye out for suspicious activity. Pomorie was watching from a distance as she wanted to strike first in this fight. Sensing the tiger 1 was in a favorable range, Pomorie motioned all the guns to focus on that as she wanted to take it out fast.
"Fire." Pomorie called out as the tank was in perfect range. Pomorie was the first to fire as the stubby gun of her Vickers six ton wasn't going to do much. The small shell just splattered on the side of the Tiger tank as The Panther was the next to open fire, striking the other side of the Tiger as Olivia had no idea where this fire was coming from.
"Find some cover, fast!" Olivia called out as two tank destroyers fired on her Tiger next. Both shots landed straight into the sides of the mighty tank and within moments, the tank stopped completely and a white flag popped out. Pomorie was impressed that they just knocked out Olivia's tank right from the start as she was the one normally to go down in the ending minutes of a match. The other tanks began to target the Panther tank at the very back of the group. Just like the tiger, it was no match for Pomorie's focusing on overwhelming firepower. That tank was now out of the question as another white flag popped out. Two down, thirteen to go. Pomorie decided to give out more orders.
"Olivia's down and so is the tank in the rear, begin eliminating as many tanks as possible before they can escape." Pomorie called out that they should finish this line off. The others nodded as they began focusing on the smaller panzer tanks as they were now ready.
"Fire away." Rila called out. Pomorie nodded as she targeted a Panzer 1. She fired as the shot splattered onto the Panzer 1 as Pomorie fired up a second shot a moment later. That tank was taken out as the rest of the school closed in and began firing all of their shots on the remaining tank. The remaining tanks were now trapped as Yogurt Academy took them out one at a time. Within a few minutes, all fifteen tanks of the group were out.
"Olivia isn't going to be reinforcing her mentor now." Pomorie smiled as they managed to take out an entire group of tanks by themselves.
"Okay so what next, Kaya-san is no longer a threat as we managed to take her out." Shiroka asked as she didn't know what was next on their mind. Pomorie began to think as she didn't know what to do next, might as well consult Katyusha about this.
Brook meanwhile knew that the road that Kuromorimine was traveling down could be cut off and all of the tanks trapped. She was in a position that she could go onto the road and cut them off.
"Okay tell the group we're moving out as I want to cut off Erika's escape route. I'm sensing that Erika and the others are starting to pull back as we just need to complete this so they don't escape, prepare to move." Brook called out to her group as they were going to take the road to trap Erika.
"What will your little operation be called?" One of her teammates called out as she was curious about this.
"I won't be calling it anything but I will be adding one important part of this match." Brook responded as she continued speaking. "Introducing the Bay Leaf. Or four, and add some sugar because why not." The tanks began to roll to the road but Brook hadn't received any permission from Katyusha to do such a move.
All four groups that Erika had sent were suffering heavy losses, despite taking out about thirty-five tanks between the groups, they had lost about thirty-two tanks. Plus with the news that Olivia's group had been completely wiped out, they knew that their only hope now lay in evacuation. They were now making a headlong rush out of there.
"I think someone will be blocking the road by the time we get ourselves out of there." Maho told the others as she was certain that escape was going to be hard to accomplish. Miho on the other hand knew a way to get out of there.
"If the road is blocked, follow me." Miho called out as her six remaining Ooarai tanks decided to travel on the grass instead of the main road. The remaining Kuromorimine tanks followed along as they were hoping Miho would be right. Maybe this alternative route could be their way out.
Brook was waiting on the road as she was expecting to trap Kuromorimine in the trap but she had been sitting there for a few and was growing impatient.
"Christ, I know I've been waiting for several minutes now but they should be here by now." Brook sighed as she didn't like waiting around for the enemy. She heard a noise as she was wondering if they were here. Getting out her binoculars she began looking around, Kuromorimine wasn't heading down the main road but instead taking an alternating route away from the main road. This made Brook a little angry. "Why didn't you seal up the circle all the way, there is a gap and Kuromorimine is using it to escape." Brook asked as she knew that the tanks were going to get away.
"Beats me, we only advanced up to the road. We didn't go farther thinking they were going to stop there." One of the tank commanders responded. Brook knew her chance of trapping them was dashed. Because she didn't close the trap all the way. Katyusha decided to speak on the radio giving out a new order.
"We couldn't catch Erika so we have a new plan, pursue them down and eliminate them if you can. We will prevent them from being able to regroup." Katyusha called out that the first plan didn't work and now the only solution left was to pursue them and eliminate them. A new offensive had begun.
Yogurt Academy was on their high after managing to destroy an entire group by themselves. They were now on the offensive. Pomorie was pleased about the results and how they managed to turn out.
"We were still able to do that with not even a single tank taken out, we know that Kuromorimine is pulling back and is planning to make their stand in the cities. We're still waiting for which city that we'll be assigned to." Pomorie told the group that they were going to pursue the enemy down. The radio buzzed with Katyusha's words as she was giving out orders.
"Okay the plan was ineffective as someone moved up without authorization and Erika being the sly fox she is, slipped past the encirclement as someone didn't block up the exit." Katyusha began. "Kuromorimine and its allies are racing westward but we know that they are fleeing to two cities that are becoming a focus point for our success. Bratislava and Vienna." Katyusha marked the map off at where Kuromorimine was fleeing to prepare their defenses. Nonna decided to take over.
"While Brook wanted to contribute, I wouldn't punish her for trying to help but she will be tasked with splitting off from the main front. She will be taking Klara, Lasina, and Noemi's groups to capture Bratislava, while everyone else is needed to capture Vienna. Okay?" Nonna decided to make herself clear if this was the case,
"Yes this is the case." Brook responded as she wanted to represent everyone.
"Okay, now let's split up." Nonna told the groups to split and try contesting with what remained of the tanks from the enemy team. Brook's group split up and headed right while Katyusha's group went straight ahead. The capture of an important strongpoint was going to be critical.
The lack of speed that Kuromorimine was facing was proving to be a hindrance as they were running out of places to run to. In the city, Maho was calculating the losses to see what they had left to defend themselves.
"Olivia's group has been completely wiped out. What remains of Blue Division, Bellwall and Ooarai are in Bratislava and the remaining of Pravda is going to quickly encircle us and besiege us. There is no way out of this." Maho told herself as their defeat seemed certain.
"Yeah Koume's group was lost, Emi's group was partially destroyed and Geshiko's group was lost in the retreat. Now all of the resistance will be reduced greatly before we can do anything." Emi gave the statistics to add insult to injury. Maho sighed as the first shells began to rain down from the ISU-152's
"They're here already." Maho sighed as their defeat was certain.
"I hope Brook learned her mistakes from the East Prussian Campaign so she's being given a much softer target to push on through." Katyusha began. The bombardment from the ISU-152's would last for a few minutes before the barrage went silent. Katyusha began making plans that would involve a headlong rush into the city.
"Pomorie I'm impressed with your leadership on through so you'll be given the task of taking out the remaining Tiger 2 which is the flag tank, everyone else will take out the resistance that lay in the city." Katyusha told Pomorie about what she will be doing.
"Where will Erika be located?" Pomorie asked as she wanted some clarification at where this tank was located.
"The tank will be located at the very gates of the city at the western entrance. Erika is defending the route if we attack head on. It'll be up to you and Bonple to clear that area while we move in and sweep the remaining defenders out. Your tanks will be focusing on that tank only. You will need to prove yourselves first before we give you more plans in the future for future matches." Katyusha told Pomorie that she would be tasked with just taking Erika out. Katyusha would be engaging with everyone else. Pomorie nodded as she began speaking.
"Understood." Pomorie gave the reply. Suddenly the radio began buzzing as if it was a call to Katyusha. She decided to pause Pomorie off for a moment as she picked up the radio. "Hello?" Katyusha began.
"Yeah this is Brook, I would like to give the news that we've just cleared Bratislava." Brook gave the news that another city had been captured. Katyusha was surprised.
"You captured it that fast?" Katyusha asked as she was trying to figure out if that was the truth.
"Yep, we lost two tanks in the process while taking out about six. However the survivors have escaped and we're preparing to get the jump on them to the next town over." Brook replied as they were taking a pause before continuing the pursuit.
"Okay you keep doing that, I'm preparing to make my own moves." Katyusha told Brook to keep doing what she was going to do best.
"Okay we're ready to move out now." Brook replied as she hung up. Katyusha nodded as she began to speak.
"Okay we push into the city to see what kind of resistance that we do come across." Katyusha told them as all the tanks began to close in on the city. Pomorie knew she didn't want to get caught out like the foe she took down but with nearly thirty or so tanks by her side, she hoped that the entire team was going to be able to make it through. Pomorie was near the enemy entrance as Katyusha began to speak. "There is barely any resistance and whatever tanks that are holding up as getting taken care of, the ISU-152 barrage has pretty much wiped out most of the tanks in this area."
"Good Katyusha, maybe we could…" Pomorie paused as she had spotted something at the very corner of her eyes. "Hold the phone." What Pomorie had spotted was Erika's Tiger 2, the heavy tank wasn't harmed through the barrage and Erika was ready to take out any tank that she saw. Pomorie knew she needed to quickly devise a plan to take the Tiger 2 out.
Pomorie fired the first shot as the small caliber shot struck the gun of the Tiger 2. The gun began to traverse as the grabbed the radio and began to speak.
"All tanks begin to split up, Erika's gun can't be everywhere at once." Pomorie called out, the tanks began to split up as they were going to find a way to blow this Tiger 2 up to the ground. The Tiger 2 fired as the first shot managed to miss aas Pomorie fired again along with a Panzer 35T and the Panther, the three shots struck the armor of the tank as it didn't do much with the Panther doing the most damage surprisingly. The tanks began to flank around as the distant battles with the individual tanks continued to rage in the background. Pomorie fired off three more shots in the meantime as they didn't do much against the Tiger 2. In fact the Panther and the T-34/85 were the only tanks that were able to deal any significant blows to the tank. Pomorie knew she needed to find a way to take out the Tiger 2 before any of their tanks were taken out themselves. Beli, you and the JagdPanzer 4 get to the rear, other tanks distract the Tiger." Pomorie gave the orders as she wanted a couple of her stronger tanks to assist her. Beli nodded as her Panther went to go flank and help flank around and take out the Tiger.
Pomorie, Beli and the Jagdpanzer 4 tank crew had flanked to the rear as they thought the engine was the weakest part of the tank. Pomorie knew this shot needed to be aimed well. The other tanks poked their noses out and kept firing at Erika to keep her distracted from the real objective.
"Grr! Why don't you want to keep yourselves out long enough for me to hit you?!" Erika shouted as her gunner fired again and missed. Pomorie and the others were now in a prime position to finish this match once and for all.
"Okay we're behind Erika, get ready to fire on my mark." Pomorie told the gunners. Their gunners pointed their guns at the rear of the tiger while the other twelve tanks kept Erika distracted. "Ready and fire!" Pomorie shouted. The Vickers opened first followed by the Jagdpanzer 4 and then the Panther as they fired simultaneously together. The rear of the Tiger 2 was pelted by three shells but the tank was still up.
"Erika's still in the fight." Beli called out to Pomorie as the first barrage didn't have much effect. Pomorie knew another barrage would do the trick.
"Okay we'll retry the same thing. Fire!" Pomorie shouted as the gunners got ready. They all fired again at the same time as the Tiger 2 was hit with another barrage of fire as the Tiger 2 finally stopped as the engine fell silent. A white flag popped up as Pomorie knew that it worked.
"We won." Ticha smiled as they managed to take out the flag tank together.
"We did it!" Beli cheered as they managed to knock out the flag tank.
"Katyusha, we won, the flag tank has been taken out." Pomorie began to speak over the radio about their success. Katyusha smiled with approval.
"Good job Pomorie, I knew you could do it." Katyusha smiled with glee. Suddenly her radio began to buzz as more good news was on the way.
"Katyusha, we caught up and encircled the remaining tanks in Brno and took them out swiftly." Brook gave her insight to Katyusha.
"Nice job and Pomorie just took out the flag tank so you're fine." Katyusha replied as this match had ended in a disaster for Erika, the secret weapon of hers didn't work.
Maho was walking in after bidding her apprentice farewell for the day to check on Erika as she was once again in her bunker. She opened the door to see Erika's face planted onto her desk.
"It didn't work. Why can't anything work?!" Erika wept as she was trying to figure out what was wrong.
"Erika what's the matter, maybe I could help you." Maho told her as she wanted to be there for her friend. Maho tried to put her hand forth but Erika lashed out.
"Don't touch me!" Erika shouted at Maho, her eyes were puffy as she had been crying for most of the afternoon. "I'm going to be sick!"
"You want to go to the nurse or something?" Maho asked as she wanted to give her any kind of relief. Erika looked at Maho as she didn't want to go back there.
"No. This is my medication." Erika responded. She then laid down a small trail of fine powdery white stuff that was her ground up pervitin and she snorted it up her nose. Maho was shocked with disbelief.
"I knew it!" Maho shrieked. She then turned and ran out the room, she needed to tell someone about this.
[A/N]: Finally this chapter is done, this was a bit more of a hassle as it took some research to get this together. I was originally going to split it into four chapters but thought that would be too much so I decided to combine this into one chapter as it would be pretty lengthy to make and I want to finish this story hopefully and move on from there to something a little more silly so I don't get bored with this.
Also three more matches are coming up and the next chapter will be a bit of downtime with two special minor characters coming to visit Pomorie and her friends. Keep an eye out for that. That is all for now.