Pomorie woke up the next morning as there was something in her Sensha-Do info related mailbox. She got on her laptop next and decided to open up some of the tabs as this seemed to be interesting to her. On the headline it read: Erika's bunker investigated, Pervitin found. Erika under questioning for having crystals.
Pomorie continued to read as it turned out Erika's life was collapsing around her. Then another message popped up. It was Ami. Pomorie clicked on it as it was facetime with Ami.
"Morning Pomorie, are you heading to the mall today? Maho's got another match with Darjeeling and Kay." Ami began. Pomorie rushed over as she began getting dressed.
"Yeah, sure, give me a few minutes, I just woke up." Pomorie responded as she yawned. She was tugging her shirt on as Ami continued speaking.
"Okay get your crew together as I am heading to the pet store as well as the veterinary where we took in some of the animals you found a couple days ago." Ami told Pomorie to get Rila and Varna together as she needed to speak to them. Pomorie finished getting dressed as she was concerned.
"What about my chores, do you think it's right to walk away from those?" Pomorie asked as she had a schedule to stick to.
"I spoke to the adults and you three are off the hook, I need to speak to you personally and then you have the rest of the day to yourselves." Ami told Pomorie that this meeting was important and they will be needed.
"Okay we'll be on our way." Pomorie replied as she left the meeting. Now she knew she needed to be able to contend with Ami. Deciding to not waste anymore time. She shut her laptop down and decided to head out to the tram as she was going to invite her crew along with her.
Pomorie, Rila and Varna were all riding to town on one of the trams together. They were curious about what exactly was happening and began talking among themselves.
"Why is Ami calling us to the pet store specifically?" Pomorie began as she seemed curious about the logic behind that decision.
"If it has to do with those animals we found, she wants us to discuss the condition of the animals." Rila responded as she began thinking of the pug she managed to find. Maybe it would be there.
"That's a possibility." Pomorie responded as she began to think about what Ami said afterward.
"After this meeting, we should have the entire day to ourselves so we might want to, you know, hang out?" Varna gave the suggestion that they should try doing something while they were outside of the school. "If Ami has our day cleared, we should make it worth something."
"Let's see what we can find." Pomorie responded as she was getting some vigor into her blood. The tram then stopped as Pomorie and her friends disembarked and began walking their way to the mall.
The pet store was located below the eyeglass store on the first floor. Pomorie and her friends were walking along as they wanted to see what Ami was bringing them in. Pomorie opened the door as a small bell rang as they entered, greeting their arrival. The loud squeaking of birds, some rodents and cages of fish and reptiles were around them as they made their way through the store. Pomorie looked down the isles of supplies for the pets. She turned her head to the right as some of the dogs and cats that they rescued were in their cages. They then made their way to the veterinary part of the store as Ami was waiting for them.
"I see that you're all here." Ami began. Pomorie, Rila and Varna stood together as they nodded. "Okay I have some good news for you three about the Pug that you've found. It's healthy and despite its somewhat emaciated status. And I was thinking about this ever since I saw Rila in that mascot clothing, I thought, would your school benefit from an actual pug to be the mascot." Ami told them as the animal caretaker took the pug out as Rila recognized it. She then walked over to it and began to pet it. The puppy then began to lick Rila in return.
"It's a male puppy so he's really taking a liking to you." The animal caretaker told Rila. "But by the looks of things, we're not ready to give the puppy up as it's still malnourished, come back in a couple of weeks."
"Okay." Rila responded as she returned the puppy to its caretakers. Ami looked at Rila as she began speaking.
"You'll have plenty of time to think of a name for him." Ami laughed. Varna laughed along but Pomorie was still puzzled.
"Is this what you brought us here for?" Pomorie asked as she wanted to figure out was this it?
"Yeah that was what I wanted to tell you about and this Pug will be held onto as it will be given to the school." Ami told Pomorie and her friends. Pomorie nodded as she got up and began to walk away. Rila and Varna followed behind.
The three girls were wandering the mall as they were trying to figure out what to do next. They were bored but since they had the free day, they needed to do something to keep themselves entertained.
"So Ami told us that we're getting a pug and that's about it, dunno what we will do for the rest of the day?" Pomorie asked as she was getting bored already.
"Well I'm in the mood for something sweet so I will be buying for everyone today." Varna told her friends as they were going to get sweets from the shop they went to when Alice came to visit.
"I want a milkshake." Rila told Varna as she followed her friend. Pomorie decided to follow her friends as well.
The three girls entered the same sweet shop they had been to months before and they were now waiting in the short line. Nothing much had changed though the cooler for the cakes was broken and one of the workers was fixing on it. Pomorie and her friends walked up to spot as the worker working behind the counter went up to them.
"So ladies, what can I get for you?" He asked. Pomorie looked down as blocks of Ice were keeping the cakes cool as the normal way to cooling them off wasn't working.
"Three milkshakes for us." Pomorie told the worker as he began writing the order down.
"Flavors?" He asked as he wanted to figure out what they wanted.
"Vanilla should be fine." Pomorie responded as she wanted to get something simple and to go.
"Any toppings? Candies, syrup, whipped cream?" He asked as he was writing it down.
"Peanut butter candies, chocolate and caramel syrup." Pomorie told the man.
"Chocolate candies and syrup." Varna responded.
"Toffee candies with mine." Rila told the man as he wrote that down.
"Is that what you need and is this to go?" He asked.
"Yep that's it and it's to go." Varna responded. The man nodded as Pomorie and her friends knew they needed to kill off some time if they were going to be able to make the most with the free time of their day left. Within a couple of minutes, their shakes were handed to them as the man began ringing up the price.
"Sixty Yen." He responded. Varna decided to pay up for her friends as they grabbed their shakes and their spoons that came along with them. "Have a nice day."
"You too." Pomorie responded as she and her friends walked out of the place. They continued to explore the mall as they were wondering what they were going to do next.
The three of them were walking along as they were looking around for stuff to do, sipping their milkshakes as they walked along.
"So what exactly do we do now?" Rila asked as she seemed bored out of her mind.
"We can stream the Kuromorimine match against Darjeeling and Kay as they cross the Rhine." Varna suggested that was happening.
"Yeah but really we should see if we can run into someone that we know and try to hang out with them." Pomorie responded as they kept sipping their drinks. Rila decided to scan around looking for someone they could find. They found two students walking together but it was obvious they didn't go to the same school.
"I see someone, two of them." Rila told Pomorie and Varna as she got up and began walking over to them. Varna and Pomorie got up and followed behind them. The two girls looked behind them as they quickly recognized who was coming up behind them.
"Oh Pug team, I didn't recognize you for a second." Solti began. Pomorie and Varna stopped by Rila's side as this was a pleasant surprise to see Solti at their mall.
"Oh It's nice to meet you too on this lovely day." Pomorie greeted Solti as the two girls shook hands. The second girl began to speak as she went over to Pomorie and shook her hand.
"I haven't seen you in a long while, how are you holding up?" Dalmatia asked as she was spending time with Solti.
"I'm doing well Dalmatia, why are you hanging out with Solti?" Pomorie asked as this was a strange occurrence. Normally Dalmatia would be hanging out with Istria but today seemed to be an exception.
"Well Dalmatia kind of became my friend, well with the assistance from Istria as Dalmatia seems shy and doesn't know how to socialize that well. I've decided to take her out and around as I feel that we should be turning a new page with her." Solti replied as she hugged Dalmatia gently.
"So what do you plan on doing?" Pomorie asked her friends what they had plans to do.
"We were planning to go to the retro museum that is located on this floor and we could look around and discuss the events following the previous two matches." Solti told Pomorie about her plans. Pomorie and her friends began to think about it as this meant some of their freetime could be used for today.
"Sure since we're here, we can come." Pomorie and her friends decided as this was something that they wanted to do for a while now and it could mean something nice for them.
"Okay follow me then." Solti replied as she began to lead them to the museum. The five girls would arrive at the museum as an old bike was sitting outside. Pomorie and her friends were waiting around as they were getting ready to head on in. Solti and Dalmatia looked in as they seemed excited yet a little nervous.
"Okay we've arrived, so let me get us some tickets and we can begin looking around." Pomorie told her friends as they were still drinking their milkshakes. Pomorie walked up to the front desk and began to get the tickets.
"Hey, how can I help you?" She asked. She looked at Pomorie and her friends before she continued speaking. "I recognize you three in the papers, you must be that Pug team Trio that Ami has mentioned in the papers."
"Yeah that's us. We've brought along a couple of our friends too to see this place as well." Pomorie responded as Solti and Dalmatia walked up to greet the lady.
"Oh so pay your about 100 yen for the five tickets as we would like to discuss something with you later on as I get to finish up a couple of things." She responded as she slid the tickets forward. Pomorie decided to pay up the five tickets as this was a sweet deal. "Have a nice time." Pomorie and her friends nodded as they began walking into the museum.
This museum wasn't big but it had plenty of stuff in it. Many vehicles were from the days of Yogurt Academy's early times as the five girls wandered around. They had taken their shoes off as it was a velvet carpet that laid all around.
"I like the no shoes policy that this place has, the velvet feels soft on my feet." Varna admitted as her feet felt nice and cushioned. Solti laughed as Dalmatia was walking around and enjoying herself.
"I know Dalmatia likes the floor, her feet feel so cushioned on there." Solti responded as Dalmatia was looking at the vintage televisions, radios and cassette tapes.
"I had one of these televisions growing up." Dalmatia responded as she looked at her television. Solti walked up to her as she was looking at the television.
"I know so did you have any tapes that you loved while growing up?" Solti asked as she wanted to figure out if Dalmatia had any favorite shows or movies she watched.
"Well I watched this television show with small white hippos that had these tails. I had three cassettes of them I watched when I was five as well as a plush that I still have in my room. They changed colors to show their emotions and I never understood what language they were speaking but I only know two words by the Papa. Njet Molotoff. Njet Molotoff. Valehtelit enemmän kuin itse Bobrikoff." Dalmatia explained what she watched as a child. Solti, Pomorie, Rila and Varna looked at each other.
"How does Dalmatia know Suomi? Has Jatkosota been infiltrating SSISSN again?" Pomorie asked Solti if this was the case as she was puzzled about this.
"Sinne taas matkalla oli Iivana." Dalmatia responded as she continued to prance around the museum in a carefree manner. Rila decided to guess for them.
"Probably Mika's been sneaking into the school again and influencing Dalmatia." Rila decided to come to the conclusion that the burrower was coming in.
"Who knows, Mika could just borrow Dalmatia one day and never return her." Solti responded as she hoped that wasn't the case.
"I hope that doesn't happen." Pomorie responded as Dalmatia continued to prance around.
"Let's catch up to her so something doesn't happen to her." Varna suggested as they wanted to make sure she didn't get into trouble. The four girls began their journey as they were going to see what else was around this Museum.
Pomorie and her friends were looking at some cars as they noticed a massive blank spot in the middle, what was this spot going to be used for and why was it that way?
"What is this spot going to be used for?" Pomorie asked as she wanted to figure out what this empty space was going to have its purpose for. The lady that Pomorie saw earlier walked forward as she decided to explain it to Pomorie.
"That spot is for the Tank when you finish your match with Kuromorimine and its allies. It will be on display for two days so that the school would welcome the best of Yogurt Academy. I'm sure you girls will be off doing other stuff in the meantime?" She asked if this was going to be the case. Pomorie decided to think as she remembered something.
"Rila is going to have eye surgery in about four days so we'll be tied up or at least one of us will be." Pomorie responded as she somewhat forgot about that. The lady nodded as she understood.
"Okay so I'll get to see you when you decide to come back here?" She asked if this was going to be the case.
"Yeah, hopefully we will return later. Make sure you send some pictures of the display and the people who decided to visit the tank. We wish the enthusiasts good luck." Pomorie responded as she and the others turned away. Solti decided to pull Pomorie over to the side as she wanted to speak to her.
"Hey Pomorie, I want to speak to you for the last couple of matches that have occurred." Solti began. Pomorie looked at Solti as she seemed curious about what was happening.
"So what is it that you want to talk about?" Pomorie asked as she was wondering what Solti was going to need her for.
"So I mentioned that Magyar had dropped out of the matches due to financial reasons, that was only part of the story. Me and the students were thinking that since we were going to drop out, we might as well cheer you on the side lines. It will be great if we did as this means that we can see you and your team go on and beat Kuromorimine to the ground. Erika hasn't really been herself as of these past few days and we greatly feared her wrath." Solti told Pomorie why they dropped out of the matches.
"So you want to cheer us on while we push forward to victory?" Pomorie asked if this was going to be the case.
"Yeah that's the case. Also we heard the Croatian gang has been dissolved so we decided to try getting into a friendship with the recently dissolved gang and I decided to befriend Dalmatia who was bummed out about the loss of her gang but she's cute so I invited her out here. She wishes to keep cheering you on Pomorie." Solti asked Pomorie if she would agree with her. Pomorie looked away from Solti for a moment as she began to think.
"Well it looks like we will need all the support we can get. If Kuromorimine is defeated within a few more days. I think we should have enough time to rest and get ready for the rest of the year." Pomorie responded as she looked back to Solti as she was ready to finish off the matches.
"Once Maho decided to give up on the Free for All matches, we can claim victory, I wish you luck Pomorie." Solti told Pomorie as she was somewhat confident about the upcoming victory. Dalmatia walked with Solti to Pomorie as she was ready to wish her some luck.
"Yeah I want you to win this." Dalmatia responded as she shook Pomorie's hand.
"Thank you Dalmatia." Pomorie responded. Dalmatia and Solti nodded as the lady they saw came up to them as she was ready to get them to sign the information about their tank. Pomorie looked at her as she began laying out the instructions.
"Sign here about the information of your tank and what day you're willing to hand it to us." She told Pomorie to fill out the information that lay before her. Pomorie nodded as she grabbed the pen and began signing the information about the tank. After a couple of minutes, she finished signing the information about the tank and handed the papers back to her. "Thank you, we'll come May 2nd for the tank.
"Okay we'll head to the hospital for Rila's eye surgery." Pomorie responded as she told her that was the day they were going to be gone. "If you want to arrange that with Ami let her know as she will coordinate the tank movement."
"I will." The attendant responded as she walked up to Rila. "Good luck, I hope everything goes smoothly."
"Yes thank you." Rila responded as she shook her hand. The Attendant nodded as she turned and left. Pomorie and the rest of her friends looked at Rila as they began thinking.
"Well we've seen everything, we might as well get ready for tomorrow." Varna told the group that they managed to arrange the tank to be moved into the museum and be on display. Pomorie began to lead the group outside of the museum as Solti and Dalmatia looked at Pomorie as they were ready to say goodbye.
"I hope to see you from the crowd tomorrow." Solti told Pomorie as she wished her luck. She shook Pomorie's hand one last time as she then turned and began to walk away. Dalmatia turned as she began to follow her friend.
"Goodbye!" Dalmatia squeaked as she ran after Solti.
"Well we know what we are doing for the next few days. We got our tank on display, Rila will have her eyesight fixed and Kuromorimine will finally be finished off." Pomorie told her friends as she placed her arms around them.
"Well we're all ready." Varna responded as they were still drinking their milkshakes.
Back with Kuromorimine, things were still souring against them as the recent match had turned out to be a disaster.
"Kay managed to cross the river in several places and we weren't able to hold the river line. After crossing the river, they pinned most of us down and encircled most of our tanks in the Ruhr area. Olivia managed to knock out ten tanks until Darjeeling flanked around from behind and took her out. We also got the news that our Jagdpanther commander Emi has been captured by Naomi so we're down a capable commander. Erika's still suffering and only a few of us will still be in good condition to keep the pressure on." Maho was talking to Miho, Emi Nakasuga and El as she laid out the results from the match that had occurred.
"Yeah Ooarai is fighting with entire group as we weren't able to plug up all of the breaches from the encirclement of the Ruhr, I congratulate Onee-San's Apprentice for taking out, Naomi, Alisa and Kay at the same time from her concealed position but even that wasn't enough." Miho responded as things were going worse for them.
"I guess things are still growing more and more dire for us as we aren't able to hold everyone off at the same time. The stress is becoming too great for us and at this rate Kuromorimine will be out of oil and money. I think we should see where these next two matches will take us." Maho responded as there was no way that they would be able to hold the alliance for any longer. It was only a matter of time before things completely collapsed.
Meanwhile, Kay, Darjeeling and Katyusha were taking matters into their own hands as they reckoned that Kuromorimine's collapse was near.
"With Olivia still being a constant thorn in our side, other than that we've encountered little resistance after we encircled Emi's tank destroyer group in the Ruhr. We've spread out almost unopposed as we could simply bypass Olivia and trap her from all sides, even though she's deadly where her cannon is, she can easily be surrounded and cut off." Kay began as she was satisfied with the match's results but she still had some concern on her mind.
"Yeah you can say that so we're still fighting a fierce battle as we managed to keep going." Darjeeling responded as she was sipping her tea. Kay began laying out what she had in mind next.
"We've pushed up to the Elbe river and that's where we decided that is where we are going to stop for a bulk of the matches to come. We have our minds on something else." Kay told Katyusha as she was studying the map as the blue was where Kay and Darjeeling's team was, the red was where Katyusha's team was and the gray was where Kuromorimine's team was. Things were getting close.
"What is it that you want to focus on that you want to not commit the rest of the Sensha-Do team to?" Katyusha asked as she wanted to see what Kay's attention would be focused on if it wasn't the matches.
"We're hosting a carnival like usual but we're moving it to May 9th as we think that is when Kuromorimine will be finished off and it will give us time to build up the rides. Let's just hope no one gets shot this year as opposed to last year." Kay told Katyusha what her intentions were. "Everyone's invited and I hope to see you." Darjeeling and Katyusha nodded as Darjeeling spoke next to Katyusha.
"Katyusha I am instructing you to deliver the finishing blow to Kuromorimine, We're going to be busy so it's up to you to deliver the last punch to knock them out." Darjeeling told Katyusha that it will now be up to her to finish off a weakened Kuromorimine.
"Katyusha will not be set back by these obstacles, April 29th is here and one last operation to strike them in the heart will be here." Katyusha responded as this was going to be the spectacular show she had been waiting for.
She knew that everything rested with her alliance and the last, final push was about to begin.
[A/N]: A pretty short chapter on my end as this didn't take much time to write out which I am happy about but this is mostly building up to the next chapter which will be the beginning of Katyusha's last push into Kuromorimine. Three matches remain and this match will begin the next chapter from now. See you later.