Prologue:
"She did what?" Ikidzu shouted, her mouth agape, and eyes wide open.
"I know…" Itoku said, rubbing her temples. "She's just…"
"Completely strategically inept?"
"Yep, that's it."
Ikidzu began tapping her fingers against the metal wall of the tank turret. "God, it's gonna be a massacre! We'll be the tankery laughing stock for the next ten years! There's no way we can win!"
Itoku sighed, leaning back in her driver's seat. "Our only hope is if we can get one lucky shot. The KV-1 does have weak spots."
"Itoku, you know as well as I do that as soon as we get close enough to shoot at them, we'll be blasted into the stratosphere," Ikidzu said.
"You know, you could always talk to her yourself. You seem to know more about strategy than her."
"Like she'd listen to me. If she can't see the obvious, she won't listen to it either."
Itoku and Ikidzu stood at attention outside of their Type 95 tank, their skirts flitting gently in the wind. Doronuma, the tankery team's overall commander, walked by and inspected each team down to the last detail. When she got to Itoku and Ikidzu however, she took her time, relishing something behind her sly smirk. She passed by them with a small chuckle under her breath.
"I think she knows we were talking about her," Itoku whispered.
"What do you mean? She made us the flag tank before we…"
Before the pair could finish their conversation, Doronuma began shouting instructions.
"Soldiers! All of you know we only have a single opponent, and simple math will tell you that we have the upper hand. So our plan will be simple. We're going to divide and conquer, first taking the town, and moving on from there. Simple as that. Am I clear?"
"Yes ma'am!" Ikidzu and the other girls shouted reluctantly.
"Good. Everyone, man your tanks. We shall attack on my signal." Doronuma said.
Ikidzu and Itoku climbed into their tanks, as well as the other girls. Itoku opened her two-piece hatch on the front of the tank and hunkered down into the driver's seat, while Ikidzu pulled herself onto the engine deck, and then onto the turret entering through the commander's hatch.
"Here's to hoping we get taken out first. Itoku said, shutting her hatches.
Ikidzu sighed as she loaded an armor-piercing round into the main gun. "Let's just get this over with."
Chapter One:
Ikidzu and Itoku followed close behind Doronuma's tank as they traveled down an asphalt road leading to a small town arena. Behind them was another Type 95 and behind that a Type 89. "Commander, where's our fifth tank?" Ikidzu asked using a throat radio.
"Scouting. Were you not listening?" Doronuma snapped.
"No Commander, I guess I wasn't," Ikidzu said with contempt in her voice. She slinked back into her turret and took her headset off.
"Hey, did you hear her say anything about the M3?" Ikidzu shouted down to Itoku.
Itoku, trying to focus on the road shook her head. "I didn't hear anything."
Ikidzu growled to herself. "Go figure," she scoffed.
Ikidzu slid her headset back on and stuck her head and body out of the turret hatch, and scanned the area around them once more. They had gotten closer to the town, and we're getting closer to the main road. Before they entered, however, Doronuma halted her tank. One after the other, Ikidzu's tank and the two others stopped within a meter of each other.
Through the radio, she began relaying orders. "Time to initiate Operation Incognito. Grab your fake flags and spread out!" she said. Immediately after giving the order, one person from all the other tanks, including Doronuma's tank, climbed out and planted a small blue flag on their radio antennae.
"Ikidzu, You're first. Head down the main road, and bring Obutsu with you." Doronuma ordered.
Ikidzu sighed and relayed the order to Itoku, who pulled the tank out of formation with Obutsu's Type 95 driving behind their own. Doronuma's Type 97 went down a side road near the main road, and the Type 89 took the long way, traveling along the outskirts of the town.
"Itoku, Obutsu, shift down to gear one, and keep quiet," Ikidzu said using the radio. Obotsu's tank pulled up next to theirs and did so, with Itoku following the order shortly after. Obutsu undid her turret hatch and stuck her head out.
"This is cheating, right?" Obutsu asked, shouting instead of using her radio. Ikidzu just shrugged in response.
"Who knows." She shouted back
Their conversation was abruptly interrupted by a crack of thunder resonating through the town. Instinctively the pair ducked into their turrets. For what felt like a solid minute, Obutsu and Ikidzu's tanks sat completely still until the voice of the match announcer broke the silence.
"Genkan's M3 Stuart is knocked out! Four Genkan tanks remain!" The announcer said. The faint sound of a cheering crowd could be heard from a mile away.
"Poor Sokudo. I hope she didn't get hurt." Itoku said.
"If she was scouting she would be..." Ikidzu said. She pulled a map out of her jacket and examined it. The map was a nearly exact copy of the battlefield, but without the markings of a strategic plan. Looking to the left of the map, she could see the area the M3 supposedly traveled through, and began narrowing down the location of the enemy tank. Within seconds, Ikidzu concluded that the enemy tank would have to have been in a treeline near the M3 Stuart.
"Commander, I know the whereabouts of the enemy tank," Ikidzu said over the radio.
Doronuma immediately picked up and began yelling at Ikidzu. "What?! Where are you! You've disobeyed direct orders!" She said.
Ikidzu waited impatiently for an opening and spoke with a fabricated calmness. "Commander, I narrowed down the location via the map, and the path the M3 was traveling. The enemy should be near grid zone 5E." She said.
Doronuma scoffed into the microphone. "And why should I believe that? You're on the other side of the battlefield!"
Ikidzu ground her teeth. "Do I have permission to engage?" She asked with a firm sternness.
"No., " Doronuma said. "Send Obutsu in your place. She, Mokuzai, and I will engage. You are to stay in the town and hold it, in the likely situation you are wrong."
"Yes, Commander." Ikidzu snarled. "Obutsu. Commander Doronuma wants you to meet up with her near grid zone 5E. You better get going."
Obutsu said nothing, and saluted, slinking back down into her turret. She then sped away down the road, taking a left at a three way intersection. Once she disappeared, Ikidzu slammed her fist down onto the turret roof. Ducking into her turret, Itoku was looking back at her.
"Itoku, get us moving. We're disobeying another order." She said
Itoku grinned. "You better hope whatever it is that you're doing, it works."
"It will work, now let's get going. Take us down and around grid zone 4D. We're gonna flank them."
"I like the way you think."
Immediately, Itoku and Ikidzu darted down the road, taking the central road through the town and arriving at an outer road. Itoku pulled the tank onto the road and began driving down it, passing by simulated scenery, like fake huts, and fences. Small trees and bamboo clusters dotted the area, whether they were real or fake as well, they couldn't tell.
Ikidzu popped back up from the turret and scanned the area as they drove along. Soon they were out of the wooded area and were greeted with a rolling green field. The sounds of ambient battle greeted them as they got closer, and as they continued driving down the road, a large olive green tank came into view, of which was being struck again and again by what Ikidzu would assume to be her comrades.
The tank returned fire, and the thunderous boom it called forth sent shivers down Ikidzu's spine. The announcer's voice sounded again, and relayed, "Genkan's Type 97 was taken out! Three genkan tanks remain!" Upon hearing this, Ikidzu grinned madly. By perfect chance, Doronuma lost her iron grip on the team, leaving Ikidzu the only person capable of leading.
"Mokuzai, Obutsu! It's just us three!" Ikidzu said through the radio
"What should we do? We can't kill it!" Mokuzai, the Type 89 commander responded.
"Do you remember how Ooarai took out the Maus last year?" Ikidzu said. "We're gonna try and get some altitude, you two distract it until we can get a clear shot."
Obutsu and Mokuzai advanced on the tank, drawing its fire. The KV-1 fired again, but Obutsu pulled out of the way just in time to dodge the round. Meanwhile, Ikidzu and Itoku moved their tank from behind the KV-1 and began heading for any form of high ground.
"Itoku! There's a hill about seventy meters to the left! Take us over there!" Ikidzu shouted. Itoku sped over to the hill, and looped around it, making sure the front of the tank was facing the enemy. Looking through her vision port, she could see the KV-1's turret following Mokuzai's tank, which was driving around sporadically. The KV-1 fired once more, striking Mokuzai's tank with such ferocity that it nearly flipped it on its side.
"Genkan's Type 89 has been taken out!" The announcer said, "Two Genkan tanks remain!"
"Ikidzu, we're running out of people! It's now or never!" Itoku said, her calm physique slipping away.
"I'm working on it!" Ikidzu shouted back.
Ikidzu began rotating the turret and adjusting the gun. Using the telescopic sight, she focused on the KV-1's engine deck. Before she pulled the trigger, Obutsu began speaking over the radio.
"Commander, it's looking right at us!" She cried.
"Bob and weave! Don't let it hit you!" Ikidzu replied, lacking any form of patience.
"But what if it does? It's gonna…" Obutsu said, before being cut off. Ikidzu turned the radio off and focused back in on the gun sight. Almost immediately she fired the cannon and watched the shell travel on its path. Time seemed to move in slow motion as the bright, red hot chunk of metal whizzed towards its target, and made contact.
Sparks flew off of both surfaces as they ground against each other, but due to the angle of the hill, and the angle of the tank, the shell ricocheted off of the KV-1 and whizzed away. Time sped back up again, and Ikidzu began to panic. The KV-1 fired another round, and almost immediately, the announcer began relaying information.
"One of Genkan's Type 95's is destroyed! Only one Genkan tank remains!" The announcer said, seeming a little more excited than before, like she knew that Pravda would win, even with a single tank. Like she was waiting for the inevitable.
"Ikidzu! It's turning towards us!" Itoku shouted.
"Full reverse! Full reverse!" Ikidzu said, trying to pick around off of the rack. She could see through her cupola the KV-1 turning to face them, with its gun on target. Itoku put the tank into reverse so abruptly, that Ikidzu hit her head on the walls of the turret, and dropped the round she was holding.
"Brace! Brace!" Itoku shouted.
Ikidzu immediately hunkered down below the gun and covered her head. The KV-1 fired one last time, and the shell collided with the front of Ikidzu and Itoku's tank. The last thing she saw was Itoku with her hands on her head, cowering in front of the drivers' controls before the tank was struck with such ferocity, it flipped over and began rolling down the hill.