My entrance into multi part writing. I am nervous as i hope i finish this story and it is actually good. Please give me any feedback that you have as writing is something I'm new to. Edit: I made a minor cock up that has been fixed now, my bad

Tale of Verdun

Two MEXT representatives sat inside their office, looking at a document that they had been provided. It was in regard to a new scheme, a tournament to see if boys schools had what it took to join MEXT. Their job was to rig this as much in their favor as possible so the boys would lose and not be able to join. One school would be allowed to enter an up-coming tournament. They now looked over their lists.

They began to think about what lead to this. It was rather simple really, all of the schools on the list before them had all complained about a lack of representation in the Sensha-Do community. So to shut them up a compromise was made, 1 Team would be let into a tournament between most other Sensha-Do schools and if they won, boys would be allowed to partake. If they lost, no such event like this would ever happen again.

There were many schools that stood out, There was Caen Academy, Brandenburg High, Highland Academy and many more. They all had good equipment and solid leadership. As they passed through page after page on each school, they found one that stood out.

Verdun High

The two figures looked to each other before exchanging smiles and looking over the roster of tanks this school had

Saint-Chamonds: X5

Mark V landships: X5

Renault FT-17s: X4

A7Vs: X3

Unknowns: X3

The unknowns were a bit confusing but with such a poor selection of tanks this school was bound to lose. They stamped the seal of approval and walked out of the office, satisfied they had picked the worst team they could.

One week later

The student council of Verdun High looked over the letter. The two were downcast. The letter said they had been chosen to partake in the upcoming tournament. Now they were regretting sending their complaints to MEXT.

Verdun High was good in Sensha-Do. But were they good enough? The Student council president, Louis, Went to the PA system nearby him and called their teams commander up. Two minutes later there was a gentle tap on the door to which Louis said "Come in."

A 5 foot 7 boy walked into the room and made his way over to the desk. He noticed the looks he was getting and said "I'm guessing we were chosen?"

Louis merely nodded. The boy buried his head into his hands and said. "Told you we shouldn't have entered."

Louis then said in a extremely pissed off tone "It doesn't matter now, does it Pétain?"

The boy, often referred to by the name he had taken on, Pétain, now sat down on one of the provided desks and stared at Louis. He then asked "Have the new tanks arrived?"

The vice president of the council, Julien, said "Yes they have. We moved them to the sheds discreetly to avoid people seeing them. Do you think they could help us?"

Pétain started to smile and said "While they're not as armored as most tanks. They will definitely intimidate our opponents"

Louis then said "They better win us the tournament with how much we spent on them."

Pétain then said "I'm sure they will be of great use for us. I'll go talk to Hindenburg and French"

Louis sighed and said "Fine. Also, You Sensha-Do boys have my permission to skip class every one in a while to practice. I need you three to win us this tournament. If we don't, we'll never be allowed to fight any other school again."

Pétain looked at Louis with steely determination and said "Ils ne passeront pas!"

And walked out of the office. Julien then turned to Louis and said "Do you think they have a chance?"

Louis sighed and said "Maybe, we need to support them though. They are the only shot boys have to get into this sport. At worst, I want them to lose valiantly."

Julien nodded and went to look into potential opponents. Louis sighed and lay his head onto his desk. Clearly frustrated with the turn of events.

At the time Pétain was making his way around the school to gather the Sensha-Do team. This even included the special reserves he had been training up for the newest tanks in their arsenal. He first went to one of the maths rooms and opened the door. He said to the teacher "Sorry for the disturbance. I need Hindenburg and French."

The teacher looked to Pétain and asked "How badly?"

He sighed and said "Very Badly."

She sighed and said "Fine, You two need to catch up on work though."

Two boys made mumbles of agreement as they gathered their things and stood up. Hindenburg was 5 foot 5 and French was about 5 foot 7. Hindenburg was charming and a good person to be around while French was often criticized for his ability to find faults in everything. Still, the two made excellent co-commanders and the three were often called the 'Triple Entente' despite the fact it made no historical sense.

They grabbed their bags and walked out of the room into the corridor. Once the door was closed Hindenburg was first to speak up "What's new?"

Pétain sighed and said "Good and bad news."

French looked at Pétain inquisitively and asked "Bad news first?"

Pétain looked at him and said "No. The good news is that our new tanks came in"

Hindenburg punched the air in celebration but French was still looking deep into Pétains eyes. He then asked "And the bad news?"

Pétain started to rub the back of his neck as he said "We were chosen to compete in the upcoming tournament to see if boys are good enough for Sensha-Do."

One could see the colour drain from both Hindenburg's and French's faces. They both looked extremely concerned and Hindenburg was just about able to say "We still could win."

French then crossed his arms and shook head. He said "Not likely."

Pétain smiled and said "Come on French, it's worth giving a try isn't it? besides this is what we've always wanted. The chance to join the JSF and not be some splinter school like all the other boys schools. This is our chance to show our skill and win this tournament for every boys school."

French gave Pétain a rare smile and said "Gather the crews. I want them to know what their fighting for"

Pétain smiled and said "This will be our finest hour. For King and Kaiser!"

Hindenburg and French laughed at the joke. Hindenburg followed it up by saying "For this government until the next one revolts and takes over!"

Pétain laughed at the joke despite how bad it was. The trio then went to various classrooms and gathered the Sensha-Do team in the courtyard outside. Once gathered he saw the various teams in there various factions.

The British faction had gathered around French. Pétain liked to refer to this British faction as Charley's War in reference to a WW1 comic he had read. The German faction were gathered around Hindenburg. Hindenburg called his faction 'The Empire' which Pétain thought was a bit much. Pétain stood before The French faction which he called 'The French'... As Mr French said, Very creative.

There were a large group off to the side. There were two groups of 19 people in german tank crew uniforms and one group of twelve in french tank uniforms. People were looking at them with confusion as Pétain, Hindenburg and French had kept the new tanks and their crews secret.

Pétain raised his hand and stopped all the talking near immediately. Even though All three leaders were only second years, each commanded a level of respect as they had lead Verdun High to victory over a American themed school called Maryland High. It was a proud day as the trio had lost their first two matches and people were beginning to doubt their leadership skills. Maryland High had become close allies of Verdun High after that as the rather flamboyant commander of the team, one James Pershing, respected Verdun for being able to beat his 9 Shermans with a selection of WW1 tanks.

Once the crowd had become silent Pétain started by saying "Good to see you all today" To which Everyone gave their greetings and French continued on "Well we have some...Interesting news

People gave confused glances and murmurs began to rise. Hindenburg raised his hand and silenced the crowd. He excitedly picked up where French had left off. "Well, We've been chosen to fight in the upcoming Sensha-Do tournament!"

The crowd was silent for a moment and the three began to fear the worst. Then all of a sudden cheers of triumph erupted and the crowd went electric. They were excited. Even French couldn't hold back a massive grin at the sight of their boys so excited for such a daunting task.

Pétain finally shouted. "Alright!"

To which the crowd gradually began to quieten down. He then went on to point toward the new large crowd and say "I'm sure you've noticed are new crews."

Murmurs of agreement began to ripple through the crowd. After the murmurs died down he went on to say "Well they're for our brand new... Stalemate breakers!"

People began to look around in confusion and some even spotted that the crews had now gone and that the massive doors of the tank sheds were now open. Then the loud chorus of tank engines filled the air.

People cleared to one side of the doors and began to wait in earnest to see what came out. The ground began to rumble and out of the shed came a massive Char 2C. Pétain then said "This will be our main Stalemate breaker. with roughly 70mm of frontal armor, one 75mm field gun and the ability to cross incredible gaps. This is the best tank we now own."

Excited voices could be heard happily chatting away as the tank rumbled to a stop a few meters away. Then the ground began to rumble again and two K-wagens lumbered out of the shed at a blistering 5km/h. Hindenburg happily exclaimed "These will be our moving fortresses. With 19 crewmen inside as we don't need machine gunners. This monster will provide fire support and protection to all tanks on the field. With large arcs of fire and using 77mm guns. This monster will be our weapon of use on tougher targets!"

The crowd was in awe at the sight of the lumbering monsters as they finally came to a stop on either side of the Char 2C. Pétain then hugged Hindenburg and French around the shoulders as the crews made their way to the new tanks. He then said to his friends. "With these, we might just be in with a chance. We just need careful planning and good tactics now."

The three then smiled and made their way over to the rest of the team. Ready to give official Sensha-Do their very best.