A Leaf and a Flower

by PsyGuy64

Maple Academy decides to partake in the new Panzerfahren tournament. In doing so, the become allies with the most unlikely of friends from the lowlands. A love letter to Canada and the Netherlands.

2. Chapter 2

A Leaf and a Flower Pt. 2

Camila had her eyes closed. True, paintballs weren't particularly painful, especially with her paratrooper outfit, but it wasn't the physical pain she feared, it was the elimination. She had failed. She had failed her squad, she had failed her team, and most importantly, she had failed herself. Camila was so distraught, she barely heard the sound of the French girl pulling the bolt on her rifle. Right before she went into full sensory shutdown, Camila's eyelids were flooded with light. She dared to open them.

Behind the BC girls, a spotlight was shining its artificial sunlight, washing the world in blinding white. Camila's would-be "killers'' ignored her, distracted by the halogen. Right above the epicenter of the light, Camila could just barely make out a human silhouette. It began talking.

"You French bitches better not touch our girls!"

Camila instantly recognized it.

"Camila, Abby, you better not end up in the friendly fire."

They both had the reflexes to dodge out of the way, while the shocked BC girls stood glued to the ground, straight in Ashley's line of fire. Straight in front of four autocannons. Autocannons that, as Camila learned on the fly, fired paintballs in lieu of shells. After two seconds of intense air-powered automatic action, the French girls were lying on the ground, their uniforms dyed in a lovely shade of red. To say they were eliminated was an understatement. Camila's thought was an obvious one.

"That's going to leave a mark."

Ashley, unfazed by the carnage she had just caused, waved at the Feather girls.

"Come on girls, we've got plenty of space in this rust bucket for the two of you!"

Although Camila hadn't quite processed what happened, she knew of one thing for sure: she was safe. She climbed the Skink's hull, awkwardly slipped into the machine-gunner's hatch, and sat down on the uncomfortable seat, where she immediately dozed off in exhaustion, in spite of the tank's racket. She'd earned it.

Charlotte waited for the impact. She waited a second more. The engine was shaking, was that it? No, instead, all she heard was Clio yelling at her.

"Hey, captain, keep your eyes open!"

Charlotte slowly unfolded her eyelids. From what she could see in the darkness, the Grizzly was driving forward at high speed, while the Char B1 was struggling to keep up. Its turret gun was firing at them, but the one shell that hit merely ricochet off the Canadian tank. Charlotte ducked into her turret, closing the hatch behind her.

"What's happening?"

Clio answered for her.

"Did you forget the enemy studies captain? The Char B1 is a logistical mess and can't be aimed, so any evasive manoeuvre is enough to freak it out."

Suddenly, Charlotte remembered the B1's profile: it may look threatening, but it doesn't take much to defang it. She remembered another aspect too.

"It's good we've avoided it, but now we'll need to shoot it, which we can't do from this range."

Rowan had already set her sights.

"Well can't we just combine fire?"

"Everyone's already left, we can't do that."

Suddenly, Charlotte knew what to do.

"I think there's someone who'd be pretty happy to take it out for us.

"[Crisse, when is the boat going to pick us up?]"

While the québecer commander was busy complaining, her radio operator was busy watching the opposite shore, her hair flowing in the wind, just like Évelyne's.

"[It's okay, it's on it's way, it should be here soon.]"

Suddenly, the radio began crackling, and the radio operator came down her tturret to pick it up, Évelyne following closely.

"Hello, hello, who's calling?"

"Hello, this is Beaver, can you get Caribou on the radio?"

The operator gave Évelyne the monitor.

"[It's the captain, want me to translate?]"

"[No no, it's fine, just give me the radio.]"

The commander put the monitor to her lips.

"Hello?"

"Caribou, I'll need you to deploy, can you do that?"

Évelyne actually understood what her captain was saying, she'd been waiting for two days to do it.

"Oh yes capitaine, I'm ready. Where do you want me to frappe?"

"The Char B1 that's chasing us, if you so please."

Évelyne smiled even more.

"2 minutes capitaine, and you will get it."

Charlotte was getting somewhat tired. No, tired wasn't the right word, she was bored. She'd been dodging the B1 for 5 minutes now, with no one to break the stalemate. It was just moving forwards, moving backwards, dodging a shot, and repeating. She called Évelyne once more.

"Christ, Évelyne, are you ready yet?"

"One seconde capitaine, the obus were under the Kraft Dinner, and it was dur to move them. I'm presque ready."

As soon as the exasperated captain put her set down, a shell landed directly on the B1's rear end. It exploded quite spectacularly, before unfolding a tiny white flag. Rowan sat back from her scope, a red mark already forming on her eye from spending so much time aiming.

"Say captain, these French Canadians may have an attitude problem, but when they want to, they sure aim damn well."

Charlotte responded in a somewhat sarcastic tone.

"Yup, at least they have that going for them, otherwise I would've gotten rid of them long ago, something I very much hope I never have to do."

Clio loudly broke the conversation.

"Uhm, shouldn't we get going?"

"Yes of course, after so many obstacles, I'm glad we'll be able to have a smoother ride."

Charlotte probably cursed them at this very instant, for as soon as the tank cleared the first hill, the captain spotted three French Somua tanks moving in formation towards her Grizzly.

"Gosh Diddly Darn it to Heck!"

"Excuse-me?"

"The heavens have come to punish our arrogance, the captain has the right to be angry, even if it will achieve nothing."

Charlotte ducked in time to avoid a stream of blue machine gun bullets headed her way.

"Nadenka, no time to be poetic, we're in serious shit right now!"

"Glad to see you've regained your sense of swearing, captain."

"Rowan, knock it off, we've got to find a way to fight back or escape. Any ideas?"

While the sounds of battle raged outside, the interior remained silent.

"C'mon Nadenka, not even you, with your immense wisdom, can come up with something?"

"We're exhausted, we're alone, and we're outnumbered, so I think all that is left is to bite our lips and hope for the Soul of the World to favor our journey."

"Great to know you're still the same Nadenka."

As Charlotte was thinking of ways to delay her inevitable elimination, the radio crackled to life.

"I've heard someone needs help here?"

Charlotte had only known that voice for a day, and yet it was instantly recognizable. Hilke was back.

"Hilke, thought you left us!"

"That's not what a real Orange girl would do."

Charlotte cautiously popped her head out of her hatch, where she saw the action unfold. Hilke had managed to flank the Somuass with her tanks, The two Panzer IIIs were taking the two on the side, while the Chaffee was attacking the spearhead. Meanwhile, the Dutch armored car was single-handedly skirmishing two cavalry tanks, using its speed to immobilize them without even having to fear a counter-attack. Hilke's voice came back on the radio.

"If we don't take these French tanks out, at least you'll have time to rejoin our group."

"Well, that doesn't seem to be a problem."

The Chaffee's 75mm shell blew out most of the head Somua's engine and track, rightfully causing the white flag to appear. On the left, the Panzer was even luckier, sending a shell clean into the turret ring, blowing it out quite spectacularly. The remaining Somua, though, had managed to get away.

"Oh no you don't! Rowan, ready, aim, fire!"

Even with the quick aiming, Rowan hit her mark, and the Grizzly's shell exploded underneath the tall tank, blowing it up from the armored car was doing equally well, having already blown up one of the sluggish light tanks, and taking on the other with gusto. Charlotte then turned to the other side, where the final SPG was crawling out of the ferry, while Évelyne was personally firing her "pulpit" .50 calibre machine gun in all directions. Things really were turning around, and Hilke took charge.

Alright, let's head back to our group. Your other tanks have already joined us, and if we hurry, we can keep a good distance with the Escalation ARLs."

"Sounds good. Clio, forward, let's come together."

Clio pushed her levers, and the Grizzly moved forward, meeting up with the victorious Orange tanks, while the SPGs followed as best as they could. The group kept the same speed, with the exception being the Pantserwagen, which sped ahead to scout the path needed to rejoin the main group. As they had made good distance, Carol called over the radio.

"Captain, the Français have caught up with us."

From her own scope, Charlotte could confirm the claim. She saw the distinctive silhouettes of the heavy French tanks heading her way, and with their 75mm cannons, she knew it was very possible for them to begin firing right now.

"Watch out, shells should be incoming right about… now!"

As she said that, a shell crashed in the middle of the group, thankfully sparing all members. Charlotte quickly counted all tanks, before realising something was off.

"Évelyne, where's your second Sexton?"

"Anne is not with us, she's with the deuxième groupe."

"Why didn't you tell me? Let me call her, you keep moving forward."

"Yes capitaine."

Charlotte switched channels as quickly as she could, as another shell narrowly missed a Panzer.

"Anne? Is your Sexton ready?"

"Thank god! Yes, I took the initiative to get it ready, I was just awaiting your order."

"Good, from your scope, can you spot the French tanks?"

"Can you send a flair?"

"I'll try."

Charlotte grabbed the fat revlover-like flare gun she kept in her tank survival kit. She popped her head out of her hatch for a split-second, just in time to fire the bright red flare roughly where the ARLs were. Without a second's delay, a first Sexton shell was fired, hitting the heavy tank right in the weak spot. Rowan was impressed.

"Why do we always hit and the others always miss?"

Nadenka brought her irrefutable wisdom to the mix.

"The Great Writer favors those he likes. I assume we must have done something good to earn his blessing."

Aww, thanks Nadenka, you don't need to do anything "extra" to please me, I'll always love you guys no matter what. In fact, let me help you just a bit more. There, Anne reloaded really fast, and the shell hit the second tank just perfectly. You don't need to ask how or why, just now that I'll always have your back.

"You were saying Rowan?"

"I don't think I need to elaborate, he told me everything I needed to know.

"That… did not make sense."

Charlotte kept looking outside, where the one ARL was still chasing them. She then looked forward, where she could now start to see the other group. A small Japanese tank was coming towards them.

"Hey Charlotte, don't worry, I asked Aung to come escort us."

"Are you mad! You're just putting them in more danger like…"

The ARL fired, but this time, the shell wasn't aimed at the Grizzly. It instead hit the new target, the last Tategoto tank. The tiny tank blew up. With a cheer coming from the French side, a megaphoned voice shouted:

"Tategoto, eliminated!"

The French didn't have much time to cheer though, as all turrets now turned on the last ARL. With the Chaffee, Grizzly, Ram and Sexton all hitting their mark, there was little chance for recovery. And with that, BC disappeared into the night. Charlotte raised her fist. They had lost many people in the fight, and the trials would keep on getting harder, but for the first time, Maple had won. After waving good-bye to the Tategoto girls, and plotting a course, Charlotte, as tired as teen could be, put her cap over eyes, slumped in her uncomfortable turret seat, and dozed off, letting the Chrysler engine rock her to sleep like a baby.

Évelyne shook Juliette's hand. While the Québec commander was busy firing her Priest's "pulpit" mounted .50 caliber machine gun, Juliette was using her own Bren gun to fend off French girls attacking from the rear. She'd been valiantly suppressing and eliminating, before being hit in the neck by a stray BC paintball. The handshake turned into a hug, which Juliette opened up to share with the rest of the team. With the whole crew breaking the hug, and after giving a final wave, the eliminated gunner left her vehicle, going into the night to reach a recovery station. All the following happened without a word, as eliminated girls are not allowed to speak. Once she was gone, Évelyne retarted the SPA.

"[Let's go, we can still rejoin the group.]"

The SPA had not travelled much before Évelyne heard something, a girl crying for help in French..

"[Hello? Is there anyone here?]"

The rest of the crew was worried.

"[Captain, where is this coming from?]"

Évelyne used her binoculars to survey the landscape, finding a wrecked tank. The call was coming from its direction, and while at first, everything pointed to the distressed girl being BC, Évelyne thought otherwise. The tank didn't quite look like anything fielded by the French, and the accent seemed slightly different. Curious, she called her team captain on the radio..

"Hey, Charlotte?"

"Yes?"

"I see a weird char Français, and someone is crying for help. Can I go see it?"

Charlotte was quiet for a moment..

"Okay, we'll slow down so you can catch up, and I'll send Alexis to protect you."

"Merci!"

Évelyne came closer to the tank, matching the speed of Alexis's Ram. Once there, she climbed out of her MG mount, and walked closer to the wreck. The design looked French, but the camouflage looked different, and instead of the red and blue BC hexagon, the logo on the hull looked like a thick waffle, which was hard to tell, as there was a significant shell hole in the tank's hull. Before she could even go around the tank, Évelyne saw the girl she'd been looking for. She was rather small, with a blonde was wearing a blue uniform that seemed to be two sizes too big for her, as well as small glasses. She came down from the tank's turret, where she met face-to-face with the québecer.

"[Who are you?]"

"[I'm Évelyne, of Maple Academy, and you?]"

"[Lucille, of the Waffle school. I'm Belgian, and I'm guessing you're Canadian?]"

Évelyne could barely tolerate her accent, but Charlotte always told her to stay diplomatic, so she tried being as neutral as possible.

"[Yes, I'm Canadian, where's the rest of your team?]"

"[BC completely destroyed us, didn't leave a single scrap, except for me of course.]"

"[Ugh, I hate those French. Luckily, we have help from the Dutch, so we gave those jerks what they deserved.]"

"[I hope those bashi-bazouks all get eliminated.]"

Évelyne suddenly smiled.

"[Wait, you like Tintin?]"

"[I'm Belgian, of course I like Tintin, it's like, our national pride.]"

"[As a québecer, comics are the only European things I enjoy. If you enjoy them too, want to join our crew?]"

"[I could, I don't have any experience with big guns like these, but I can learn, not to mention that I know Flemish, so I could maybe translate the Dutch for you guys.]"

"[Come on, hope in, you'll see, it's as easy as making fries.]"

"[I don't know how to make fries.]"

Évelyne, quite unlike herself, actually felt bad about the stereotype. She was going to say something, but Lucille hopped into the SPA.

"[But I do really like eating them.]"

She began laughing, and so did Évelyne. The commander followed her new recruit into the SPA, and gestured to Alexis.

"Alright, we can quitter."

She put her hand on Lucille's shoulder, and spoke to her radio operator.

"[Call Charlotte, tell her we now have a full crew.]"

The combined teams were driving together, in a loose column without much planning going on. After the events of the previous night, Charlotte noticed how the teams were beginning to defrost in regards to one another. The tanks were completely mixed, and commanders were actually sparking inter-team conversations, seemingly to pass the time. While that was a good thing, it stemmed from the fact that there was nothing to do, which was a bad thing, as that meant that smaller teams were being destroyed, leaving Maple and Orange to face the bigger fish. Charlotte took out her binoculars, and began scanning the countryside. The fields and small woods kept going for quite a bit, with no enemy in sight. On her right, the grass gave way to patchier shrubs, but there was nothing she could see from that angle. That's when the Canadian girl noticed a hill. She called Hilke.

"Hey, could you send one of your vehicles on that hill to scout for other teams?"

"Sure thing, I'm anxious for battle too."

The Panzer II broke off from the column, and crawled towards the hill. Its engine puttered, but got the light tank up on the elevation. From her binoculars, Charlotte could spot the commander watching the land from her hatch.

"Hilke, could you give me your Panzer II's frequency? I'd like to have a line on what's going on too."

"Sure thing, give me a second."

Hilke transmitted the frequency, which Charlotte noted and entered into her own set. After tuning in. The first words to come out of the speaker weren't exactly encouraging.

"Shit! Ze zijn hier! Ann, achteruit, Sabrina, vuur naar believen!"

Charlotte, understanding the meaning behind the orders, pulled her binoculars on the scouting tank once more. It was firing its autocannon fully automatic down the hill, while reversing at full speed down its side. Charlotte only had one second to question the Dutch crew's assailant, before a pack of medium tanks climbed the opposite side of the hill, giving chase to the poor little tank. They were all firing madly.

"Commander, who are these tanks?"

"I think it's Koala Forest! There's a few more tanks going around the hill to meet our group head-on!"

Damn Aussies cursed Charlotte. Koala Forest didn't have the strongest gear, but they were very resourceful, and their independence made them unpredictable as hell, which meant artillery would be hard to use against them. There would have to be coordination between the fast armored cars of Orange and the strong main tanks of Maple to mount a successful defence. Sadly, there was little time for planning such operations. Charlotte would try her best though.

"Okay, so first, we'll have to retreat the SPGs, give them space to fire. Then, send Orange to chase the tanks, and pin them against our Canadian armour. While we hold them, the SPGs finish them off. Yeah, that's sound. Let's do..."

As Charlotte was about to give her order, the tank got a major shake, which made Clio scream. At first, she was scared the tank was hit, but it didn't feel that way. It was too blunt. Charlotte opened her hatch, and so did Camila.

"What the hell?"

Whatever Charlotte had been expecting, this was something else. The Australian tanks had completely mixed with the Maple/Orange column, turning the battle into one massive AP-shell powered mess. Tanks were dodging, driving and shooting indiscriminately, throwing up dust and grime, and turning the whole fight into one cyclone of steel and fire. Instead of wind, the cyclone screamed in Dutch, French, and two different kinds of English, blurring into one uber-western language. It was impressive, in a chaotic way. Wait, what was Charlotte doing? Oh right, something had just struck her tank. She should really stop spending time with Nadenka, despite what novels told you, waxing poetic in the middle of battle was not really a good quality for a leader.

Anyways, Charlotte went back to focusing on the present moment. She turned her head, to be met by an unwieldy sight: a Koala Forest Sentinel tank, seemingly having crashed into her own Grizzly. The top hatch opened, and a blonde girl wearing an Australian bush hat made eye contact with the Canadian captain. This did not make her any less puzzled.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Wallaby, from Koala Forest, and you?"

"Uh, Charlotte, from Maple Academy."

The Australian girl's eyes lit up, and spoke again in her stereotypical twangy accent.

"You girls are Canadians, right?

"That would be the case, we have some Dutch too."

"Bloody Dutch, makin more gold from flowers than any Aussie prospector."

Charlotte was staring blankly at the faux-Australian girl, while the battle still raged on in the background. She kept on going.

"Anyways, you cousins up north are British kids like us, and I tell you what, if you're commonwealth, you're in my mates list. Why are we fighting? Let's put a shrimp on the barbie and have a party. I'm sure you girls deserve it."

Charlotte was unsure how to proceed.

"I don't know if we have the time…"

Camila angrily shouted from her opened hatch.

"Hey, guys, if you're going to be friends, or "mates" or whatever, you could at least tell your teams about it?""

Wallaby slapped her forehead.

"Crikey, why didn't I do so! Just give me a second…"

She grabbed her radio mouthpiece, and Charlotte did the same. They both announced the cease-fire to their teams, and shortly, the fighting stopped.

"I should probably check on my teams to count casualties."

"Wait, our captain has somethin to tell ya."

Charlotte was a bit confused."

"Aren't you the captain?"

"Nah, I'm only vice, but the captain doesn't like the outdoors much, so you'd better visit him inside."

"Wait, a "he" commander?"

"Just climb in mate."

Charlotte, fearing a bit for her safety, subtly checked for her pistol before hopping out of her tank into Wallaby's. Inside, there were a few more girls with the same dorky bush hat and khaki shorts and... a Koala. A living, breathing Koala, resting on a tree trunk in the middle of the tank, eating eucalyptus leaves while blankly staring at the new visitor.

"That's your commander?"

"Bloody right mate, just make sure you're close to him, he doesn't really like to speak up."

With no clue what to do, Charlotte stuck her ear right next to the Koala's large black nose. The Koala made no physical sign that he was communicating, and Charlotte heard nothing, yet somehow, she knew the exact reply.

"Very wise."

Wallaby scratched the Marsupial's ears, all the while talking to Charlotte.

"Yup, he's a clever kid, which is a good thing, otherwise, we wouldn' go through the trouble of keepin' him around."

Charlotte nodded, her uncomfortable expression growing more and more obvious. She didn't want to talk to a Koala, she wanted to check on her girls to count casualties. Luckily, Wallaby seemed to be catching on.

"Anyways, I know I'm botherin' ya, so I say we should split, is that alright mate?"

"Yes, that would be for the best."

"Good, it was nice to meet you canuck, and remember, if you ever need help, call us, commonwealth sticks together."

She handed the Canadian captain a small business card, with a Koala printed upon it. Charlotte took it, smiled, and climbed into the top hatch.

"Don't worry, I will."

She hopped out of the Australian tank, and re-entered her own. Rowan and Camila were waiting for her.

"So, how's the Koala commander?"

"He lives up to his namesake."

Despite the apparent ferocity of the fighting, casualties turned out to be surprisingly light. The only knocked-out vehicle on Charlotte's side was one of the Swedish armored cars, which Hilke shrugged off as being "disposable." More importantly, Charlotte lost a few of her girls to wild machine gun fire. This included the loader and Feather Squad machine-gunner of Anne's Sexton, and the Skink's gunner. After taking a moment to re-organize, and to make sure the eliminated crewmates had been sent to base camp, the group was ready to go, and they went back on their merry way.

It was late afternoon when the group came upon the village. It was a 1930s/40s European pastiche, situated in a bowl-shaped valley, the rim of which was somewhat forested. As to be expected with such a landmark, everyone who owned a pair of binoculars visually scoured the town for evidence of other teams. It didn't take long for the perceptive Orange girls to find it.

"I think I found a tank."

Hilke answered in a matter-of-fact way.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, in a courtyard next to the town square, and I think I know whose team it belongs to."

Sweeping the panorama in the general direction pointed by the Dutch girl, Charlotte saw the rear-end of a tank. On it, there was a distinctive logo, a gray-and-blue shield with bold black lettering.

"Jatkosota."

"That seems to be the case."

Évelyne was the only one without binoculars, but of course, she still had to get in the conversation.

"So what? Our artillerie has plenty of obus for everyone, why don't we just destroy the village and bury the enemis under the débris?"

Charlotte answered tactfully.

"It would be fun, but sadly. this practice would be illegal. We've got no way to know if there are people in the buildings, so if we destroy one of them, someone could very well die, and all of us would probably be banned from stepping in a tank ever again. Knowing the Finns, they most definitely used this to their advantage."

"Okay, so what do we do now?"

Hilke had her usual answer

"How about a map?"

Hilke had set up her table, and hastily drawn a map on it. She was unaccustomed to Aung not being there to help her, so Charlotte had to be there to hand her relevant pencils. Finally, with all the commanders huddled around the large table, Charlotte and Hilke could explain their strategy.

"So the Finns have probably de-centralized their forces, this means that tanks will move on their own, with each having its own strategy."

"What's more, they almost certainly have hidden team members in the buildings."

Charlotte then put Hilke's tank miniatures on the map, and started pointing at it.

"So here's how our plan will work."

"So first, my armored cars will enter through the north gate, they'll do aggressive scouting, baiting and relaying info about the quick Finnish tanks, all the while using their guns to keep them at bay."

Charlotte looked at Camila, who as per usual, was standing apart from the other commanders.

"Camila, you'll go in Speculoos's car, that way Maple we'll be involved in the scouting. You'll relay the positions, and if you see Finns in buildings, you take them out."

"Gotcha."

"Next, while the cars distract the finns, the main tanks will enter the scene."

"They'll go in three groups of two. My Grizzly will go with the Panzer II, the Ram goes with the Chaffee, and the Panzer III is with the Skink."

"Our goal is not mainly to fight the finns, but rather to clear the buildings."

Charlotte scattered Sarah's guitar picks on various drawn buildings, representing Jatkosota girls.

"All of these tanks will carry members of the Feather squad. As soon as we spot people in buildings, Feather will take care of them with a healthy serving of paintball to those finnish campers."

She then removed a pick, and drew an X in its place.

"Then, we'll relay the cleared building to our three pieces of artillery, who'll be staying outside and around the city, with Alexis guarding them with her Ram. As soon as a cluster of buildings is considered clean, you'll raze it with your shells. Repeat this until Jatkosota is forced to clean the cross off their flag to surrender."

"Any objections?"

Everyone looked around. After the fight last time someone tried to object, no one wanted to argue. Cooperation was the key.

"Good, let's go."

Camila didn't know much about the Netherlands. Social studies had never been quite her strong suit, and while she loved her two countries of Canada and Japan, she knew little about the other countries of the world. The most she knew about the Netherlands was that it was a smaller version of Germany where most of the infrastructure was dedicated to making sure the country wouldn't spontaneously flood. As such, it was quite awkward to suddenly be in an armored car with four Dutch girls she had never met before. At least, their commander, Speculoos, was nice enough.

"So you were the machine-gunner in your other tank, is that right?"

"Yes, when I'm not out and about."

"Good, I don't think your job will be all that different. You have your orders outside of that, and I won't interfere. If you need to know anything, ask me, and if I'm not available, Wiske can speak a little English too."

The Wiske in question was a tomboyish blonde girl, who sat at the armored car's steering wheel. She stretched out her hand, which Camila grasped.

"Welcome on board this humble car, I'm glad to be able to spend time with a Canadian."

"No problem."

Speculoos then sat down in the turret, where she would be commanding and loading the car's 37mm main gun. She grabbed her radio, a german design.

"Autos, opmars."

While the armored cars were driving towards the gate, Camila once again checked her gear. In addition to her Tommy gun and her usual backpack, she had brought a portable radio (well, WW2 portable), which she would use to communicate with Charlotte and the rest of the Feather squad. However, before she could get accustomed to her setting, the armored car column entered the city. Speculoos resumed talking.

"Vanaf dit punt gaan we uit elkaar en moet je alleen opereren. Vind Finse tanks, lok ze en als je ze kunt vernietigen. Alles duidelijk?"

After confirming through the radio, the other two Dutch armored cars left and turned into two branching streets. While she didn't understand the order, Camila still knew to prepare herself. They were in the warzone now, and action would not take very long to arrive.

"I'm going to open the hatch, it'll help me find the tanks."

Speculoos did as she announced, and from her position, the Indigenous girl could just barely see her Dutch commander popping out the turret. However, she did not find a tank. What she did find though, was a blonde short-haired girl in a building pointing a sniper rifle straight at Speculoos's face!

"Speculoos, duck!"

The Dutch commander had the reflexes to dip her head inside the car right as a blue-and-white paintball flew over it, before splattering on the curb. Camila ducked into her hatch, as did the other armored car commanders. The Indonesian gunner talked in Dutch to Speculoos, who translated for her Canadian guest.

"Kirana says this girl is probably Youko, the most accurate gunner in the league. She must be an even better sniper if she's out of her tank, which is not a good thing."

As the Dutch girl was talking, various clangs were vibrating the car's thin armor. The gunner Speculoos had called Kirana was looking through her scope and talking, which was again translating.

"According to her, there are now two machine-gunners hidden in buildings firing at our column. Also, wait what?"

Kirana talked once more, in a frantic tone. The other Dutch crewmembers gasped.

"A light tank has shown up!"

Camila looked through the narrow slit that was given to her to fire her machine gun. Through it, she could see a small, square tank turn a corner into the armored car's street. Its turret slowly turned to face them.

"[That's a T-26, its gun can easily penetrate us, so get ready for evasive manoeuvres.]"

"[I thought every tank could penetrate us?]"

"[I'll admit that's a sad reality, but come on, we move twice as fast as these hypothermic nuts.]"

Unconcerned by the Dutch conversation, Camila was busy calling her team.

"Beaver, this is Eagle, we are engaging a Jakosotka light tank. Buildings A-3 and B-4 are confirmed to have people in them."

"Copy that Eagle."

She then switched frequency to the Feather squad.

"Zoe, there's a sniper on the loose, I would like you to engage her, have a good old one-on-one sniper duel."

Wiske was listening to her while driving the car out of danger.

"So you want to recreate the story of Enemy at the Gates."

"No, that was a clear and appropriate order for the situation."

"No it isn't, you could just go in with your machine gun and give this girl a new hair dye. Clearly you asked for a sniper duel because it's cool."

Camila was about to say something, but just turned her head down.

"Yeah, you're right. I do think sniper duels are epic."

"Eh, I don't mind, for all the film's problems, I thought the scene was pretty cool too."

As a shell narrowly avoided the Dutch armored car to blow up a cobbler shop, Speculoos ducked into the lower compartment of the vehicle.

"It's cute you like the same movies, but we should be working on taking out the tank and these machine-gunners first."

Wiske shifted gears and tilted her head forwards, hands gripping the wheel tightly.

"[We're twice as fast, and the street we're on goes completely around the building. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

A manic grin spread on Speculoos's face. Camila didn't know whether she should be excited or worried.

"[Oh yes, that would be very nice. Margriet, this one might be a little intense for you, can you switch spots with Wiske for the moment?]"

"[Yes commander.]"

As Wiske quickly switched spots with the other girl at the back of the car, Camila finally felt the need to ask.

"Excuse me, what's going on here?"

"The M39 can run just as fast forwards and backwards, and we're about to take advantage of that. As for you, I suggest you grab your personal machine gun and get ready to fire from your hatch, okay?"

"Okay."

As the girl now at the front controls swerved to avoid another shell from the Finnish tank, Wiske was ready at the back.

"[All right girls, let's get ready for some true Dutch-made speed.]"

As Wiske shifted into gear, she started reversing the car, progressively accelerating. The T-26 was already having trouble keeping up, but it was aiming to compensate. As Camila was readying herself for the shot, Wiske drifted around a corner, losing sight of the tank. The armored car kept accelerating, and drifted right once more, just as the slow T-26 was rounding the second corner. From the accelerometer, Camila could see the car was now running at 70km/h, an achievement for a clumsy vehicle on such narrow streets. Wiske drifted on the third corner. knocking down a mailbox in the process. Camila was having trouble at this point hearing the T-26. By that point, the M39 was back on the same street as before.

"Camila, take out the machine-gunners!"

In the split second she was asked to do so, Camila flipped the hatch above her, and pulled out her submachine gun. She spotted the floor where she remembered the Finnish machine gunner, and fired a long burst, spread out by the speed they were currently driving at. Despite this, Camila had a flash of seeing the Finnish girl with red paint on her face. She raised her fist in victory.

"One down!"

Camila could just barely hear her Dutch commander over the roar of the engine.

"Good, stay outside, we'll be coming around."

Then, the armored car rounded yet another corner, where the plan fell together. By virtue of being so fast, the M39 had outrun the T-26 and was now behind it, the Finnish tank too confused to properly respond. As the Dutch turret was travelling to fire the shot of truth, Camila saw the gray-clad Jatkosotka tank commander with her body outside the hatch. With a few rounds still left in her drum, the Canadian decided to layer some damage on.

In almost perfect unison, the M39's gunner fired a 37mm shell into the enemy tank's rear end, just as Camila emptied her magazine into its commander's back. This resulted in the white flag popping out, and the commander, now with a bi-coloured coat, being too dazed to notice. Camila heard the cheers downstairs, but she knew the job wasn't over. She grabbed a stick clip from her leg-bag, slipped it in, pulled the bolt, and readied her aim to the opposite side of her last round. As before, the M39, rounded the corner, this time with a shower of gray paintballs greeting them. Despite this, Camila kept her cool, shouldered her weapon, and pulled the trigger. A lack of return fire confirmed the kill. With her job done, Camile re-entered the car, where there was much cheering.

"Nice job everyone!"

Speculoos shook her hand.

"Good job to you too, it's not a good battle if you don't have a chance to go fast."

"That's great, I just need to make a call to the artillery control so we can blow this block and move on."

Camila turned on her radio, and set it to the frequency she had marked with a pen. A French-tinged voice answered.

"Yes?"

"This is Eagle, Blocks A and B have been cleared. Artillery can be used."

"Copy that Eagle."

As the armored car sped off to another encounter, a salvo of shells fell upon the buildings, while a smile crept on Camila's face. Hanging out with these Dutch was actually kind of fun.

Charlotte was surprised by how empty it was. Despite Camila having already encountered action, Charlotte had yet to do the same. She and the Panzer II's commander in front of her were scouring the mid-century buildings, looking for signs of the Finnish. So far, nothing had been seen after Camila's encounter. It was as if they'd already left. No, that couldn't be right, all the exits had been covered, and the artillery overlooked the town. Where could they be?

As the tension from lack of encounters grew, the Canadian captain's radio started crackling. She picked it up.

"This is Beaver?"

"Watch out, Youko is active in your area!"

"Who is Youko again?"

The following events happened extremely quickly. In the corner of her eye, Charlotte saw a small glint in a window. Without fully processing the information, Charlotte moved, just enough to dodge a gray paintball, followed by a gunshot. Charlotte panicked, and ducked into her turret, in time to spot a girl in the Feather Squad uniform firing her rifle from the opposite building. The red paintball missed its mark, and the two snipers disappeared within their respective buildings. Taking a second to catch her breath, Charlotte asked her crew.

"What the hell was that?"

Clio had the simple answer, as always.

"I believe that was our sniper and their sniper having a little meet-up among friends."

Charlotte looked at the silver stain on her turret.

"Yeah, it's always awkward when you're in the middle of two friends having fun."

"So, do we keep going?"

"Yes Clio, one sniper isn't much of a concern for now."

While it is true that a single sniper isn't much to worry about, a T-34 tank bursting out of a garage right in front of you and shooting your Panzer II is. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened.

"Mio Dio! Where the hell did that come from!"

"I don't know, and I don't think we have time to find out."

Nadenka, who at this point had been silent, gave some much-needed advice.

"Keep your front armor towards it at all times, and do not shoot against its own. Aim for the turret instead."

"You heard that Rowan? Put your sights on it. Clio, start reversing!"

"Hang on, I have a better idea!"

"Clio, what are you doing!?"

Instead of reversing, Clio turned the tank to make an S-turn and go around the T-34 and the Panzer II wreck. While there wasn't enough room for both vehicles on the street, the stolen Soviet tank was positioned right next to a bakery window, which Clio could drive through. She pulled up on the sidewalk, used the left thread to climb on the bakery, crashing through the window, and passing right across the T-34. This was a perfect plan with a good execution… for Clio at least. By being so fast, no one had gotten enough heads-up about the manoeuvre, and even with the Grizzly's powered turret, Rowan had no chance of traversing fast enough to actually shoot the enemy tank. This meant that the Grizzly now had its back to the undamaged T-34, without sufficient space to turn around. Clio did not immediately realise this.

"Now that's how you beat a tank Italian-style!"

Nadenka put her mouth to Clio's ear, speaking in a quiet, matter-of-fact voice.

"Clio, did you hear a shot?"

"No?"

"Did you hear a tank blowing up?"

"No, pretty sure not."

"But do you hear that very same tank moving in position to shoot at us in revenge?"

It didn't take a genius to connect those dots.

"Merda!"

Clio started accelerating as fast as the 9-cylinder engine could take them,

"Wait, Rowan, you can still shoot with the turret, right?"

"Not in movement from this distance, and even if I could, we don't have time when they have a clean shot on our back."

"So what do we do?"

Charlotte poked her head as high as it could go before it risked being hit by the T-34's machine-gun fire. By that point, the Russian-made tank had almost completely turned to place its thick front armor in front of the Grizzly's gun. Charlotte knew there wasn't much time left.

"Clio, get us out of here right now! Rowan, I know we're moving, but you're going to have to take some shots. Nadenka, keep your tools ready, we might have to rescue our engine."

"As you want captain!"

The speeding Grizzly reached the end of the street, where action was going down. The street ended on the town's central plaza, a large circular open space surrounded by restaurants, and ended by a church. On one side, an Orange armored car was firing shots at a Jatkosota light tank, which was doing the same from the opposite extreme. With no time for much planning, Charlotte looked for the widest street she could, before pointing at it to Clio.

"Right there, the street has enough space for two tanks. Let's go in and do a brake-and-dodge."

"Through the shooting?"

"Through the shooting."

The Grizzly, with the T-34 hot on its tail, sailed right through the crossfire, without a single hit. Sadly, the T-34 did the same. Charlotte was hoping for the street to be empty so that the fight could be one-on-one. As it turns out, packing almost thirty vehicles in a small-ish town doesn't leave much room for privacy. About two hundred meters along, Ashley's Skink was busy cleaning out a building with its cannons. Just a few seconds of sustained fire from the four paintball hoses it packed was enough to drive out any Finnish camper, and while that was a good thing in the big picture, right now, the tank was right in Charlotte's way, and they were going too fast to change that. She looked forward, then backwards to where the Jatkosota commander was riding with the hatch open. Charlotte had to yell at Rowan to be heard over the ruckus.

"Ashley's in our way, so you'll have to shoot now!"

"At this speed? Are you daft?"

"Just go! We need to fire at them before they fire at us!"

"As you wish, captain."

It was to be expected, but the shell hit the front hull of the T-34, only to be deflected by the sloped armour with a loud "clang". The Soviet tank was now decorated with a large battle scar, but no real damage was perceived. However, the shot did have one positive. From her viewport, Charlotte could see that Ashley had now noticed the chase, and stopped her tank's firing. However, from the distance left, and the power of the Skink, there was nothing that Ashley could do to help her captain.

Wait, what was she doing? As the tank kept getting closer, Charlotte could see Ashley drawing her pistol, and aiming over the Grizzly. Was she mad? Well, she was, just not at this level. Unless… Charlotte peeked over the rim of her turret, to her chaser. For some reason, the Finnish commander was riding head-out of her turret, tilting her head out of the poorly-designed front-hinged hatch to watch the action. This was their chance.

"Fire Ashley, fire!"

Ashley fired just as Charlotte overtook her, sending three red paintballs sailing over the pavement, eager to meet their target. While the first two rounds ended their mad cruise on a wall, the third came to a rest on the Finn's forehead. Ashley must've done some less-than-legal modifications to her handgun, because not only did it eliminate the hapless commander, it also caused her to faint. From her viewpoint, Charlotte could see the faux-Albertan girl cheering.

The shot had a predictable effect on the rest of the tank. It slowed down, and its movement became increasingly erratic, like a headless chicken, which it kind of was. With this short-term advantage from the Finns' confusion, Charlotte seized the opportunity.

"Alright Rowan, take another shot, but this time, Clio, slow down to give her the accuracy she needs to hit the universal weak spot."

"Oh, that spot, gotcha."

As the T-34 kept on slowing down, Clio did the same, ever moreso, so that the two tanks were nearly touching each other with their cannons. As the Finns' turret clumsily tried to aim, Rowan traversed and elevated with great precision, setting her scope right on the edge where the turret and hull met. With no time to waste, she pulled the trigger, while her commander prayed through her teeth for her success.

After years of Sensha-Do, Charlotte still got impressed with the pyrotechnics involved. She'd seen some mighty explosions before, and this one did not disappoint. As the shell lodged itself into the tank, flames started belching out of the rim, creating a shockwave of smoke and fire. With much commotion, the white flag popped out. A good round of cheers ran through the Grizzly. Clio even popped out of her hatch to wave to Ashley's tank. Charlotte couldn't even stop herself from doing a goofy grin at the Finnish girls carrying their still-unconscious commander to safety. She was brought back to reality by the sound of a 105mm shell destroying a building next to her.

"Alright girls, come back in, we still have a lot of work to do."

As she said that, her radio started crackling, and she couldn't quite believe her eyes. It was Darjeeling's channel! She grabbed the set and turned up the volume.

"Hello Beaver, we have gotten ourselves in a rather unfortunate predicament. Mind you help us?"

Without asking herself how or why she might still be in the game, Charlotte gave her answer.

"I'm coming."

Once more, Camila had found her zone. After the high-speed escapade, she had left the Dutch armored car to join her girls in the indoors fight. All Feather Squad members were now scouring the buildings of the town, using their various automatic weapons to drive the Finnish machine gunners out of their hiding spots, all the while avoiding enemy tanks and the shells their own artillery was firing at a rather fast pace.

As before, it was a tight routine, and one Camila could execute flawlessly. She quickly yet silently ran up the stairs, having previously noticed the steel pointing out the third floor window. She drew her gun, and waited for the blonde Finnish girl to be busy firing, before aiming her own submachine gun and letting loose a burst in her back. Then, with an apologetic look on her face, Camila showed the now-silent eliminated Finn to the door. This time though, Camila looked through the Jatkosota girl's supplies. Her main weapon had been a Soviet DT light machine gun, probably removed from a tank, as it had no bipod. On the side, a small milk crate held a few circular pan-shaped magazines. On the other side, there were a pair of old binoculars, a half-eaten smoked salmon sandwich, a thermos full of Lingonberry juice, which the forest-loving Camila gulped down with pleasure, and most importantly a Suomi KP/-31. Camila had heard many stories about the Finnish submachine gun, and she'd always wanted to try one out. Luckily for her, there was now enough room in her backpack for two of the Suomi's drum magazines, which she took with her, along with the gun itself, of course. As she packed up and readied herself to go to the next building, she heard the door creaking behind her. She turned around, brandishing both SMGs at the room's entrance, only to be met by another Feather Squad girl. The short red hair, freckles and large bolt-action rifle on her back identified her as Zoe, the squad's sharpshooter. Camila was relieved.

"Zoe, nice to see you!"

Her expression was one of distress.

"Camila, watch out!"

Camila sidestepped to barely avoid a high-powered gray paintball that landed on the wall opposite to where her body had been just a second ago. Camila glanced outside, spotting a dash of white-blonde in a window before it disappeared in the shadows. Zoe did the same, before walking up to her commander.

"That was Youko, right?"

"Yes, I've been chasing her since I've entered this town. She's one tough sneak."

"I could already tell that. Has she taken out anyone else?"

"Ivy got shot in the shoulder, and Alexis got a bullet in the back of her head while scouting outside her hatch. I've heard the same happened to a Dutch commander too."

"Alexis got shot?"

"Yes, and that's why I was going to ask you to help me. If we combine my long-range ability with your short-range fighting, we should be able to corner the White Witch and dominate the rest of the Jatkosota footsoldiers."

Camila looked at the paintball-splattered mute machine-gunner making her way downstairs. This was going to be a lot more dangerous than shooting drunk french girls and oblivious Finns. Could she handle the forethought and planning necessary for the job? Well, she did have a good friend.

"Alright, I'll help you, but promise to always cover my back."

"I would take a paintball for you commander."

"I hope we can kill that Finn before it gets to that."

Camila and Zoe both stalked through buildings together, heading in the general direction of the Finnish sniper. To really hunt her though, they would have to know of her next kill. Luckily for them, Camila's radio lit up. A familiar voice spoke in the tinny tone of the old radio.

"Camila, sorry, Eagle, this is Speculoos, we just avoided another attack by the Finnish sniper. Can you send someone to take her out? We're in the 3rd quadrant."

Camila confirmed the request, and looked at her ally.

"We've got a target, let's go."

The 3rd quadrant wasn't very far, so the duo sprinted through the buildings, jumping across balconies to reach the place of the crime, marked by gray paintball stains on the road.

"So now we have to figure out where Youko went."

Zoe was looking through the window, while keeping most of her body hidden behind the wall.

"That won't be necessary."

Camila did the same as Zoe, trying to scour as much of the panorama while keeping behind cover. From her perspective, she could just barely spot a shrouded scope hidden in the fourth floor of the opposite building. She gestured at Zoe to duck into the adjacent, windowless bathroom. In between the vintage chamber pots and towels, the duo strategized.

"So what do we do?"

"Well, you're the commander, I say you should give the orders, not me."

"Okay, let me figure something out."

Camila was stuck. What was she supposed to do? She then thought back to something Charlotte had taught her: the smaller it is, the simpler it should be. What simple strategy could work against someone as obviously fearsome as the Finnish sniper? Well, the classic technique in dealing with campers of all kind has always been to take them out from the back, but Youko would be too smart for that, unless, she was too distracted to think about it. Hmm, maybe that could work.

"Okay, I've got an idea, but it'll require splitting up."

Zoe did not look convinced.

"Yes, because that always works."

"No, no, this time it will, but it'll require coordination."

"I don't have anything else, so what are you thinking?"

"Okay, so, the room next to us is a kitchen."

"That was pretty obvious."

"Cut the snark before I cut you out of the squad."

Zoe tilted her head forward in shame, before putting on a more focused expression.

"Yes, so what did you want me to do?

"Okay, let me explain…"

Camila only had 5 minutes to explain her plan, so it wasn't perfect, but she had hope. She was currently right next to the ground-level doorway of the house she and the Canadian sniper had been hiding in. With some stretching, she could just barely see Youko in the window of the opposite bookstore. From her discreet earpiece, she was waiting for Zoe's signal.

"Okay Camila, in 3, 2, 1, go!"

She heard a crashing sound. Zoe had just knocked over a pot right in the window. This led the ultra-perceptive Finn to jerk just a bit in response to the movement, which was a sign of her being distracted. Seizing the opportunity, Camila sprinted outside the doorway, crossed the narrow-ish street, and slid into the service entrance of the bookstore, without the Sniper inside noticing. In her lowest perceptible voice, Camila spoke to Zoe.

"I'm inside the building, part 2 can begin."

Part 2 would consist of Camila climbing the three flights of stairs to shoot Youko in the back. To be as stealthy as possible, Camila had gotten rid of everything except for her KP/-31, which she was planning on ditching after the kill. Despite this, she would probably still be noticed, as being a sniper meant sharpening all of one's senses, even hearing. To counter this, Zoe would roll between windows, randomly popping out from each to take shots. While it was impossible for her to take aim long enough to shoot Youko without being shot first, the noise from the shots would mask her hearing, while hunting the enemy sniper would busy her mind, all of which would hopefully be enough to let Camila slip through the cracks and take out the White Witch.

Everytime a shot rang, Camila ran to the next landing. So far, the three shots had allowed her to reach the midpoint of the climb to the second floor, which itself was half of the way she needed to go to reach the third floor. She heard the fourth shot go off, and ran up the stairs, ducking into the doorway as she did so. Having reached cover, Camila dared calling her partner.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, although I'm afraid, Youko is getting more and more accurate."

"It's okay, I'm almost there."

"Good, I'm firing now- Oh shit!"

"What?"

With that, Camila heard a gunshot, but it clearly came from the upper floor. Her radio went dead, and no further shots were heard. With the elimination of her teammate, Camila had to reconsider. She thought for a bit, before looking down at her Finnish submachine gun.

"Well, go for broke I guess."

Stealth would no longer be a part of the operation, it was time to go back to what Camila was good at: shooting things. She cocked her gun, and climbed the remaining flight of stairs as quickly as possible. Once up there, she was immediately met by a heavily camouflaged white-haired girl, who was pointing a massive scoped rifle straight at her. Acting on instinct, Camila unconsciously recreated her favorite action movie stunt: diving to the side while shooting madly. It shouldn't have worked, but against all odds, it did. The burst of gray paintballs fired from Camila's SMG hit Youko right in the chest, and she dropped her rifle before she had a chance to fire back. The only thing that went "wrong" was Camila hitting her head on a table, but she shrugged it off, got up, and walked up to the now eliminated Finn, SMG still hot.

"That's for killing Zoe you bitch."

And without a word, she walked away.

Charlotte could not have arrived fast enough. Darjeeling had given her approximate position, while staying vague enough to avoid tapping. Clio pulled into the small side-street, just barely wide enough to let the medium tank through. It was then that Charlotte noticed even scrape marks running across both walls. Churchill tanks are pretty wide, she told herself. The tank slowly passed by the buildings, with Nadenka keeping her coaxial machine-gun hot and ready to fire in case of an ambush. It was not a good idea to fire the main gun here, as the buildings could very crumble and block passage. For the umpteenth time, Charlotte wished she had installed a heavy .50 calibre machine gun on her turret, like the ones mounted on American Shermans. With its tracks crackling across the cobblestones, the Grizzly passed a building with a surprisingly large courtyard. It would've gone completely unnoticed, had Charlotte's radio not sprung to life.

"Hey, you're right in front of us."

Charlotte immediately turned to the side. Looking carefully at the house, she could see a hint of steel grey behind a bunch of crates. Grabbing her pistol, the Maple captain hopped out of her turret, while Rowan traversed it, to allow Nadenka's machine gun to cover her captain. Carefully walking up to the crates, she climbed on top of them, to land right on top of a flat turret. A flat turret set upon a much too big, flat body. A sigh of relief filled her, exacerbated when the turret opened up, and a set of memorable blonde braids popped out. The head under them was smiling.

"Darjeeling!"

"Charlotte!"

"What happened? I was told by everyone that you were dead!"

"Well, we were in a big melee with the Kuromorimine students, and they were obliterating us. I was holding back my tank, trying to command, when three Panthers tried to take me down at a close range. As I was about to get knocked out, Anzio launched all of their tankettes in a disorganized charge at the spearhead, which took away the Krauts' two big advantages: their range and their rigidness. While they were trying to fend off the Italian onslaught, I was able to use a forest to hide myself, and like Sun Tzu and many others told, won by knowing not to fight. We stayed there a night, and then came out, when we saw Pravda roaming nearby. We had to quickly hide in the town to evade them, without knowing Jatkosota was there. In retrospect, their presence was probably the only reason we avoided the Russian Bear. We've once again kept a low profile, and I don't think they've found us yet."

Just as the British commander said that, The house behind them completely collapsed. Behind the rubble a BT-42 was there, its gun still smoking. As if it couldn't be any worse, two more Finns popped out of windows with submachine guns, and a modified Panzer IV rounded the corner behind. It was at this moment Charlotte realised she was standing outside of her tank, and with the exception of the BT-42, all of her enemies were equipped with automatic paintballs.

"Darjeeling, let me in!"

She spoke through the smallest crack in her hatch she could make.

"Sorry my dear, we're already over capacity. Rosehip! Could you give her your Sten gun? She'll need it to get back to her tank.

The Finns were already firing, and Charlotte had to find what cover she could behind the Churchill's turret to avoid the hail of grey paintballs. It was at this moment that another hatch opened, letting Charlotte peek at a pair of eyes under a fringe of pink hair. A hand under the hatch pushed out a small, all-steel, tube-shaped weapon, while Rosehip's voice rang from under the armour.

"You'll need this, desu-wa."

Charlotte grabbed the Sten gun as quickly as possible, and the hatch firmly closed right behind her.

"Thanks I guess."

Charlotte then went back to her tank, firing back with the Sten. She hopped on the Grizzly's hull, and just as she was about to take cover, a grey bullet hit her in the arm.

Charlotte always kept a damage recognition book with her, and she now needed to open it as quickly as possible. In Panzerfahren, if one was hit in the middle of battle, there were certain "preliminary checks" that could be quickly made to ascertain if the victim was dead or not. If these requirements were met, the person could continue fighting. Then, once the fighting was over, a referee could verify if the hit really did kill or not. Charlotte went through the three steps: 1, was the bullet in a "critical" spot? No, the arm was fine. 2, did the bullet have yellow streaks in the paintball, indicating a special round? No, it was all-grey. Finally, the moment of truth. Charlotte would hold the book's printed ruler up to the splatter. If the paintball was smaller than the ruler, she was good. She checked once, checked twice, and breathed in relief. She was safe. She checked her Sten gun. There were about three rounds left in the box magazine. Using split-second tactics, she fired a burst out of the side of the turret, before quickly hopping through the top. This time, she totally avoided enemy fire.

"Rowan! Status report!"

"By my own initiative, I asked Captain Darjeeling to destroy buildings with me. This way, we've delayed the BT-42 a bit as it goes around the block. We're now exchanging fire with the Panzer IV, which is having technical difficulties."

"Classic Jatkosota."

As Charlotte affirmed this, Nadenka fired a really long burst from her Browning machine gun. She then turned around, and smiled.

"Captain, I have eliminated the Finskiye machine gunners. They're currently exiting the building."

Rowan fired another shot at the Panzer IV, which unfortunately bounced off its souped-up armor.

"Nadenka, are you saying what I'm thinking you're saying?"

"Her radio frequency should already be set."

Charlotte grabbed her radio set, and tuned it up.

"Évelyne, our sector's buildings are clear, you can fire the full battery, just make sure not to hit us."

"Capitaine, the whole village is clear, we can demolir this place like the rue principale."

"If that's what you want, go ahead."

"Compris Capitaine!"

Charlotte then tuned her radio to Darjeeling, telling her to stand still and ready. Both tanks stopped engaging the adversary, and just as the BT-42 rounded the corner, a storm of shells fell upon the city.

Évelyne was proud. Her artillery was totally wrecking the city, shells endlessly crashing on its streets. There were no more Finnish troops in the ruins, while the Canado-Dutch troops were in the process of exiting the warzone. All that was left was a gigantic explosion, and it was marvelous.

"[Look at that Louise, isn't it wonderful?]"

Louise was the SPA's second gunner, a nihilistic metalhead who wore piercings and black makeup in equally extreme quantities. According to her, she joined Sensha-Do because it was the closest legal substitute to murder. This had the predictable effect of making the rest of the crew very nervous around her. The tone of her voice was as dark as her personality.

"Killing is my business, and business is good."

"[What did you say?]"

"[It's the title of a Megadeth album.]"

"[Don't know them, but I think I can guess the theme of their music.]"

"[They hate the government, the weak-spirited, and basic human decency. I think we should all think that way.]"

Évelyne took a step away from Louise.

"[That sounds very pleasant.]"

Évelyne resumed watching the bombardment, until she saw something on the horizon. She asked Lucille to give her the binoculars, which she put to her eyes. There, she saw a dust cloud, through which she could see green steel. The shade of green was very distinctive and there was a lot of it. She did not wait to call Charlotte.

"Capitaine! Capitaine!"

"What, Évelyne?"

"They're coming! The Americans are coming!]"

"There's a column of vert tanks coming towards nous. I think they're Américain."

She heard Charlotte swear on the other side of the monitor.

"Tiens, it's funny, I think I can hear musique."

Through the chaotic fire and flames, there was music loud enough to be heard, carrying a fast-paced guitar rhythm. Charlotte answered.

"I can hear it too, and I think it confirms who we are facing."

Évelyne didn't know what she was talking about, until she heard the lyrics.

"Some folks were born, made to raise the flag, ooh they're in red white and blue."

"There's only Americans who can proudly play Fortunate Son going into battle."

Charlotte wasn't ready to talk to Saunders. She was still covered in gunpowder and rubble dust, and, along with the rest of her alliance, the battle with Jatkosota had exhausted her. She wanted to set camp, rest and recuperate, and working diplomatically with the Yanks did not meet any of these criteria.

"Stupid Americans, why can't they keep to themselves."

Hilke was riding next to her.

"I've never really dealt with Saunders, how are they?"

"Loud, in all senses of the word."

This was already proven when the Saunders team met the alliance. While their Shermans weren't any more powerful than Charlotte's Grizzly and Hilke's Chaffee, they had more than 20 tanks, making for a rather overwhelming roar. Covering her ears, Charlotte yelled into her radio.

"Saunders captain? Could you turn off your engines? I would like to talk face to face."

Slowly, all the Americans turned off the engines, as did the Canadians and Dutch. Charlotte, Hilke and Darjeeling climbed out of their tanks, and walked up to the flag Sherman. Its hatch opened, letting two girls out. A thin, black-haired girl wearing the green Saunders jacket and a beret, and a taller, grinning blonde with aviator shades half-covering her eyes. The beret girl spoke first.

"Hi, I'm Megumi, and this is my vice-captain Kay. Who might you be?"

Megumi raised her hand, which Charlotte shook.

"I'm Charlotte, captain of Maple Academy, and these are my allies: Hilke of Orange College, and Darjeeling of St. Gloriana."

The blonde girl, Kay, spoke up.

"St. Gloriana, didn't they get eliminated?"

Charlotte took the lead.

"Nope, they survived, and together, we totally wrecked Jatkosota. If there's anyone who's eliminated, it's most definitely them."

Hilke and Darjeeling were both internally impressed at just how well Charlotte changed her mannerisms to approach Saunders. Megumi didn't seem to be too convinced however.

"Jatkosota must've been particularly burned-out today."

"What?"

"Come on, we could crush you guys without bending a little finger. Thanks for clearing those Finns, but why shouldn't we just annihilate you?"

Charlotte kept her cool, putting ever more subtle manipulation into her speech.

"You could fight us, but I don't think it would be that easy. Why don't you let us go, and focus your attention on a bigger threat? I've heard Pravda's doing very well."

Megumi did a slight smile, while Kay burst out laughing.

"Yo, you think we're stupid enough to throw ourselves against Pravda? If you want to push us away to stab us in the back tomorrow, you'll have to try harder."

Damn it, they're smarter than I remembered.

"Ah come on, we can come up with a deal, if we start shooting now, it'll be a real mess."

Darjeeling, who'd been sipping tea for the entire conversation, spoke up.

"Could we offer you anything?"

Megumi thought for a bit, and whispered with her vice-captain, before giving her judgement.

"Well, there's one thing. We've just had a long-range engagement with Kuromorimine. They've been hit pretty hard, and retreated to a hill about two miles from here. If you head their way and take them out. We'll leave you alone. We don't want the Germans to kill us, especially after last time."

After their notorious victory against Maple last year, their curb-stomp loss to Kuromorimine at the season's finals was pretty shameful for the arrogant American school.

"Is this good? Because the other option is to battle to the death with us."

Megumi made an obvious gesture towards her massive army. Charlotte turned towards Hilke and Darjeeling.

"You know, there's no proof that Kuro's stricken. We could very well be facing four Tigers at once."

"So what? We either fight outnumbered against a big team, or we might fight outnumbered against a big team. There isn't much choice here."

"I agree with the Dutch here. Megumi is right, we can't win against them."

Charlotte had to agree, no convincing was necessary.

"Okay Megumi, we'll tak Kuromorimine. Just show us where they are, and we'll head for them before long."

With no heads-up, Kay went for a rather large hug with Charlotte, which surprised the Canadian captain.

"Thank you thank you thank you!"

"Err, you're welcome I guess?"

Megumi grinned once more, bearing a slight ill will. Charlotte did not like that. She rounded up the rest of her group, and left towards the Kuro hill.

With the Canadians and Dutch gone, Kay spoke to her captain.

"I know Kuro's been pretty reduced, but they're still significant. Not to mention, won't we still eventually take them out ? There aren't that many people left."

"Someone has to take on Kuro, and if Maple is our only opponent left, so be it."

"That doesn't sound very fun for either of us. We'll kick the dog while it's down, with no challenge to it, and they won't even be able to do anything about it."

"War's war, not everything is "fun."

Kay pouted.

"Sensha-Do isn't war, and you know I stayed in Sensha-Do for fun."

"Hey, I know we've talked about this before, but after last year, I want to win before I graduate. If you want to have fun when you're captain, be my guest, but right now, I'm in charge."

Kay smiled.

"Really? I can be captain?"

"I'm sure you will, you've already proven yourself enough."

Kay now hugged Megumi, and the two walked back to their tank. She still wasn't happy with the trap, but Megumi did promise her a big fight with Pravda and command later on, so she went along with it.

Before long, Saunders left, leaving nothing but a crate of burgers. Carol and an Orange girl had to fight over it. The early-autumn sun was already getting close to the horizon, and the hilly fields were quite open. Hilke asked the obvious question.

"How about we settle down here?"

"That would be nice.

It took 20 minutes to organize all the vehicles in their defensive positions and another 45 to setup camp. Grabbing Hilke's megaphone, Charlotte climbed on top of her tank, and turned up the volume.

"Attention everyone, by order of Hilke, Darjeeling and myself, we have a rule for tonight. All vehicle crews must eat with at least one other crew that isn't from their own school, and you must talk with one another. Don't worry, I will be doing the same with my fellow team captains and vice-captains. I really hope you'll get along, okay?"

There was a curious, if hopeful response among everyone, before they mixed and matched, trying to find another crew to eat with. FInally, the schools were bonding.

The biggest group was formed around the crews of the captains' tanks. Hence, the Grizzly team, the Chaffee team, the Churchill team and the Pantserwagen team were all eating together. Team Grizzly was eating Clio's Spaghetti, which they had shared with team Chaffee, glad to be eating something other than Stoompot. Team Pantserwagen was eating various Dutch fried snacks, especially Frikandelle, the seminal spiced sausage. Team Churchill had their pies, a celebration of surviving one more time. However, the center of attention was the oddball, the first Ram crew, and it wasn't for food. They'd been invited by Camila, and Sarah was doing her usual, improvising on her guitar. She wasn't used to this many eyes though. Through two bites of Spaghetti, a Dutch girl was talking for her non-English speaking gang.

"Hey, guitar girl, play us a song!"

Sarah looked up, and diligently answered.

"Hmm, okay, well, I did learn this song, it's a bit outside my usual scope, you may now it under the name Sk8er Boy"

She played the punk-pop song at a slower pace, turning the rebellious original into a softer, "Unplugged" style ballad.

"He was a skater boy

She said, "See you later, boy"

He wasn't good enough for her

She had a pretty face

But her head was up in space

She needed to come back down to earth"

"No, that's too upbeat, we're at war, this needs to be dark."

"Okay, dark song it is. I know you Dutch like ships, so this should be pretty dark."

"The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down, of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee. The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead, when the skies of November turn gloomy. With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more, than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty. That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed, when the gales of November came early"

"No, too dark, and like, boat songs, really?"

Camila joined in.

"Yeah, plus, you already played that other shipwreck song on the transport to death, play something else."

Sarah thought for a bit, for this was a tough crowd. Canadians, Dutch and Brits, plus an Italian, a Russian, an Irish and a Scot. How do you keep them into it? Not to mention, the song needs to be not too dark, not too light. Hmm, she had an idea…

"So you may know this one, or not, but it's one of my favorites.

"I've got guns in my head and they won't go, Spirits in my head and they won't go. I've got guns in my head and they won't go, Spirits in my head and they won't…"

Normally, the song should burst into a massive strings-and-keyboard symphony, but Sarah made-do, as she always did. She sang the first verse.

"I've been looking at the stars tonight, and I think, ooh, how I miss the bright sun. I'll be a dreamer 'til the day I die, and they say ooh, how the good die young. But we're all strange, and maybe we don't wanna stay the same…"

And with that, Sarah knew she had them hooked. It could be read in their eyes. With the fire dancing in their pupils, the music ringing in their souls, Sarah could see their eyes fill with wonder. This was what she was looking for. She was a musician to fill their eyes with wonder, and she had succeeded.

"I've got guns in my head and they won't go, Spirits in my head and they won't go. I've got guns in my head and they won't go, Spirits in my head and they won't go. But the gun still rattles, the gun still rattles, oh. I've got guns in my head and they won't go, Spirits in my head and they won't go."

When Spirits was over, Sarah was greeted with a hearty round of applause. This brought Sarah to do something she didn't do often, and that was smiling. She was smiling, and passionate all at the same time. She grabbed her sunglasses, and threw them on the ground. She would let her audience see into her eyes, just like she did into them. The Dutch girl tapped Sarah on the shoulder.

"Wow, that was really good. What's the name of the group?"

She smiled just a bit more.

"The Strumbellas."

And with that, she played some more, from Shovels and Dirt, to War, to her favorite, Sailing, and even Salvation, through the whole evening. The crowd was addicted, and Sarah too. They were no longer Maple, Orange or St. Gloriana, they were an audience, and the concert was simply great. Of course, she needed to finish it, and for that, she had an idea. She looked directly at her gunner, and made a few key gestures. The girl ran to her tank, and came back with a small case.

"And now, joining me for our finale, Annalee of Shamrock School for girls!"

Another round of applause went around the ring, with even the brits reluctantly joining in. The short red-haired girl waved, her fire-lit face showing pride. She opened her case, producing a fiddle. with the associated bow. she put the instrument up to her shoulder, and looked at Sarah. The Canadian counted in, and began singing.

"Well I know, it gets harder every single day. And I know, my darkness will never go away."

Sarah was strumming along, the guitar resonating across the camp.

"Well it's hard when you're living and you don't feel much, and you're down and hoping that things are going to change."

It was then that Annalee joined in, bringing a melancholic violin, quite unlike her usual playing style. It was Sarah herself who had taught her the song, helping her branch out into music other than Irish folk. Despite the vast differences in the two styles, Annalee excelled, bringing emotion and depth to the song that meshed wonderfully with Sarah's more hopeful guitar. Quite intentionally so, the lyrics Sarah sang resonated with the audience unlike any of the other songs played that night. Even if they didn't know what would happen, they would pull through victorious.

"Oh, we don't know, the roads that we're heading down. We all know, if there's hope, then we'll be okay. We don't know, if we leave then we'll make it home, we all know, if there's hope, then we'll be okay."

The duo did it great, and by the time Annalee had finished her solo, the whole group was singing along. When the song came to an end, the performers did a curtsy, and the cheering reached its peak. The Dutch girl who had originally asked for Sarah, and Camila, both hugged the duo, as they did to each other. If Charlotte and Hilke wanted to boost their teams' morale, Sarah had succeeded.

Leentje wanted a bit more quiet. While she was impressed with the Canadian girl's performance, she knew she had to rest up for the following day, so she wanted to relax a bit before going to bed. She looked around, and saw that there was one other group left, and it was much smaller. Without making much noise, she slipped within them, taking in the heat from their campfire. There was only one conversation, in English, taking place between the commander of one of the Panzer IIIs, and a Canadian girl, who was wearing a weird yellow hat. They were talking fishing.

"So then, I pulled, and for some reason, he came just like that, no more struggle, and my god, it was the biggest trout I'd ever seen. It was big like this."

The Canadian girl spoke with her hands, using them to visualise the probably exaggerated size of her catch. The Dutch girl she was talking to was Wilhelmina, a massive fishing fan herself, so the two seemed to have hit it off.

"Personally, I don't really fish line, but now that you say it, I really want to give it another try."

"As we say it, c'est la belle vie."

Leentje immediately perked up. What did that girl say? She looked around, and then saw the self-propelled artillery in the background. It hit her, she was with the French-Canadians! Here they were, just chilling with Dutch girls, like nothing happened. Leentje on the other hand, was anxious, and shifted around as she was trying to leave the circle. Before she could do so however, the girl next to her put her arm on her shoulder, and spoke in very primitive English.

"Hey Hollande girl, you look lost. Can I help you?"

And with that Leentje was forced to sit back down, having to say something to the blonde French-Canadian in her own basic English.

"I'm sorry, I, err, should leave now."

"Where to? This groupe is good."

Because of her lack of English skills, and mounting frustration, Leentje was looking for her words. As the rest of the group were starting to stare, the Dutch girl snapped.

"[I'm sorry, I don't really speak English or French, can we just speak Japanese, off the record?]"

The blonde girl looked at her for a bit, before laughing.

"[Phew, I was waiting for someone to say that! I love French, but It's hard not being able to speak to anyone outside your group. Of course, I should speak my language and stuff, but yeah, for everyone's sake, I think we should speak Japanese. So, what did you want to tell me?]"

Leentje looked at the ground. Now that she was actually speaking to the French Canadians in English, she couldn't really put her disdain into words. She couldn't say it convincingly to the Canadian's face, so she tried to avoid conversation instead.

"[Oh, nothing, I was just worried because I couldn't talk with you. Now I'm fine.]"

"[Come on, if I'm going to speak Japanese, I want to at least have a good conversation. I haven't really gotten to talk to you Hollanders. What is it like being a student at Orange?]"

Leentje was surprised. Why would these hostile French-Canadians want to know anything about Dutch? She spoke her mind.

"[Why would you want to know anything about me? You didn't even want to speak English, so why should you care?]"

Évelyne gently smiled. Leentje didn't know it but Évelyne was surprised by her own behaviour too. Normally, she would've immediately shooed the Dutch girl away and stuck to French, but something had changed. She'd seen how Charlotte and Hilke talked diplomatically, worked together, and how great it was to fight with the Dutch. She'd spent more time with Lucille, and came to like other schools even more. Instead of just turning her back on members outside her group, she tried something different, she wanted to look outside and she would make it work.

"[I asked because I wanted to know. We may seem strange, with our own language and culture, but beyond being just Québecers, we are Canadians. Franco-Canadians, French Canadians of America, and other variations of the term, and if there's one thing Canadians are, it's nice people. So as a nice French-Canadian, I want to ask a simple question, are the Dutch nice too?]"

Leentje looked at the girl. Were the Dutch really nice? That was hard to answer. She now knew she wasn't nice though. Who was she to judge others that way? Maybe it wasn't by pure malice though, she didn't know any better. She recognized what she did was wrong, and was more than humbled by the girl's acceptance. Thinking back to Hilke, and her crew, she came to one realisation.

"[I may not have been nice, but the Dutch are nice people. Nice as can be, and I was a bad ambassador for them. So yeah, I hope your opinion of us hasn't been "tainted" by me.]"

Évelyne leaned back, looking at the dancing flames in front of them.

"[Nah, it's fine, I wasn't great either. Should really get good at English, and just learn to be better with strangers, but I don't think you're a stranger.]"

"[No?]"

"[Nope, here, we're all friends of the great Québec-Canada-Netherlands group, and you've just entered with flying colours, so tabarnak à toi, you're a Québecer now.]"

Everyone cheered at the exaggerated claim.

"[Thanks, I'm glad I could earn your trust.]"

"[Anytime my friend.]"

As Leentje was grabbing a non-alcoholic beer from the cooler, a pink-haired girl ran at full speed into the circle, almost tripping into the fire in the process. With the catastrophe averted, she turned to face an amused Évelyne.

"Your Captain requests you at her tank desu-wa."

Sighing, Évelyne put her can down and got up.

"Well, so much for bonding tonight."

Speculoos stood back, her campfire having reached a satisfying intensity. It wasn't as good as the ones Kim, the Maple team's outdoors expert, would make, but it would do. Around the yellow flames, the officers of the three teams had congregated. Hilke and Speculoos from Orange, blanket on their lap and coffee in hand, Darjeeling and her vice Pekoe, legs properly crossed, tea cups held daintily like the fine ladies they were. And finally, against the looming shadow of her Grizzly tank, Charlotte sat with Évelyne, whom she had reluctantly decided to invite to the strategy meeting. With everyone here, Charlotte got up.

"Alright everyone, so as you probably have guessed, tomorrow, we're going to have a pretty big battle. Probably the biggest we'll fight in this marathon. Our opponent is, of course, the big bad wolf, Kuromorimine themselves. Queens of burying everyone with over engineered steel titans. Even if their numbers are reduced, we'll still be facing tanks that are much stronger than ours, meaning we'll have to use what advantages we can scrape, as well as our own wits, tactical and strategic planning, battlefield training, and maybe just a bit of luck to beat the evil Krauts. Before we start getting into the battle plan, any remarks?

Hilke raised her hand.

"I have a question. If I'm going to be mapping the battle, what should we call the hill where the Germans are hiding?"

Darjeeling set her teacup down.

"If they're Krauts, and they're hiding on a rock, shouldn't it be called Kraut Rock? I could even ask your guitar girl to play some Neu! when we attack them."

"No clue what Neu is, but I agree, Kraut Rock is a good name. Now that we're done, let's get to the plan proper. First, we have to think, what are our advantages against Kuro?"

Speculoos jumped in.

"We're much faster than them, especially with the cars."

Évelyne was getting into it.

"We have artillerie, that can tirer far and in an arc."

And Darjeeling contributed.

"We're flexible, and can improvise and adapt easily to any changes in opportunities in the battle."

Charlotte was noting all of this in her little notebook.

"Good, good, those are all very good advantages. So let's put this in action in our plan.

Hilke was already drawing her map.

"I say I should lead my armored cars myself, and keep low contact with the main group, that way I can remain fast and flexible."

"St. Gloriana should remain independent too, I am still technically Maple's CO after all."

"Wow, how is it that the Britannique can commander her own char, when it would be more efficace to have independant artillerie?"

"That is insane! Why would…"

Charlotte was tired with everyone fighting.

"Everyone, stop!"

Everyone did, in fact, stop.

"We fought before, and things didn't work out. We finally got a victory, and it was because we stuck together. There was no fighting, no breaching the plan, we fought as one. If we are to even stand a chance in beating Kuromorimine, we'll have to do the same, and the first step towards that is to not fight amongst ourselves. We all have different ideas, opinions, and tactics, and that's fine, but instead of arguing, we should respect each other, and keep the fighting for the enemy, because we're allies, and we should assume it. So, how about we chart a proper plan?"

And so, the group spent the next 2 hours charting the plan. It would have to be simple, but still account for as many different outcomes and variables as possible. In short, the group would be split in three. Charlotte would lead the main assault against the hill, with all the other medium and heavy tanks with her. This included the Rams, the Panzer IIIs, and the Churchill. The latter, compensating for its low firepower, would carry the remaining members of the Feather Squad on its hull, all wielding Bren guns and PIATs. Then, to cause havoc in the Germans' supplies, Speculoos and Camila would attack the rear-lines with the Orange Armored cars. Finally, the main grunt of destroying Kuro's notorious heavy tanks would fall upon Évelyne's artillery, who'd use all available shells to pound the hill into submission. Everyone was very enthusiastic about the plan, and once Hilke's annotated battle-map was done, they all shook hands. Proud of her teams, Charlotte raised her Cider glass.

"To inter-school cooperation."

Everyone raised their respective drinks in return.

"To cooperation!"

And with that, Charlotte would finally sleep.

Maho walked up to the command tent, a large dark green tarp dug into a hill, guarded by a young tanker with an MP-40. She saluted.

"Heil."

Maho raised her arm in return.

"Heil"

She entered the tent, where an oppressive atmosphere hung around. Lanterns hung on the beams, illuminating a high-detail map of the island covered in tokens, too few of which bore the Kuromorimine cross. Assorted uniforms, gear and weapons were littered around the tent, a disgrace to Maho's organisational perfectionism. Unfortunately, there were more pressing matters than unfolded pants. Upon seeing her, the only other two girls in the tent, vice-commanders Erika and Miho, raised their tired arms, both wearing exhaustion on their faces, much like Maho guessed she did.

"Heil!"

Maho weakly did the salute, her tone perfectly implying her state of mind.

"Heil."

Erika spoke first.

"[Maho, our scouts have spotted some new Panzers.]"

"[Which School?]"

"[The Kanadier, Maple, the Niederländisch, Orange, and a St. Gloriana Churchill Panzer.]"

"Verdammt!"

Miho pounded her fist on the table, which shook the tank tokens across the map. While meticulously replacing them, Miho spoke up.

["It's okay, none of the schools have any good panzers. We fought Maple and St. Gloriana three days ago, and they were a pushover.]"

"[Yes, but we are now weaker, and they are now stronger, and together.]"

Erika had to bring her captain in line. This defeatism was ridiculous.

"[Stronger, but not strong enough! We will win, we always win!]"

"[I don't know.]"

Without any warning, Erika pulled out her Luger, and shot Maho in the chest. The former captain could only gasp in shock. Miho was equally surprised.

"[Erika, why the hell did you do that? She's my sister!]"

Erika holstered her pistol, and glared at the short vice-commander, her face looking particularly evil.

"[She was weak. I'm the going to be captain, and I will show no mercy.]"

For the first time, Miho showed sympathy for her opponent. This was going to be a massacre, for Erika was going to have to justify shooting her superior, making her even more cruel than usual. Few could live to tell a first-hand account of Erika's fury.

Heavy fog covered the hills. Normally, this would be a major disadvantage. But not with Hilke. The two Landswerk had reported all morning, which Hilke had used to make an impressively detailed map of "Kraut Rock." With the data in hand, the artillery girl didn't even need their binoculars. Hidden behind a smaller land formation, Charlotte readied herself for battle.

This is it, your moment of glory, your chance to prove yourself. Everyone is ready, and so are you. You hold them together, keep them from fighting among themselves, and they'll fight the enemy, and they fight damn well. It's your strategy, you trained those girls, so be proud of yourself. If we win, you win. Winning would mean everything.

With her motivational speech given, she called her final in-game ritual

"All right girls, a round of luck to all?"

Clio started.

"Buona Fortuna!"

Next it was Nadenka.

"Удачи!"

Rowan didn't technically speak another language, but she could still join in.

"Good luck to ye, lass!"

Camila abstained, for there was no Haida word for good luck. Instead, she usually spoke with Charlotte, which was impossible due to her absence.

"Good luck to you all."

With everyone in her tank ready, she could now ready the rest of the army. She climbed out of her hatch, looking around the battlefield. While there was still too much fog to see the enemy, her team was in full view. Hilke's Chaffee and Darjeeling's Chruchill flanked her, the latter carrying the remaining members of the feather squad on its wide hull. Beyond, the Panzer IIIs and the one remaining Ram stood upon the same line, ready to begin the assault main assault. If she squinted, she could just barely make out the armored cars in the distance, ready to flank when the moment was right. Camila was in one of them. As for the artillery, at 6km distance, spotting them would be quite impossible. With every vehicle ready, she opened her radio, and set it to the common channel.

"It is 6:00 AM, and it is now time for the assault. You all have your plan, you all know what to do, and I know you will do it. We may come from different schools, we may have had our differences, but today, we win together. I want all of you to fight as if you were one, for that is how battles are won, not through the individual tank, not through the individual school, but the individual team. I know you girls are ready for your fight, so without further waiting..."

She paused for a second, getting to look at her crew's face, and feeling the emotion.

"Artillery, begin firing."

As the first shells whistled overhead, Charlotte told herself, "This is going to be a long day."

The battle was already raging when Speculoos and Camila got involved. Along with the Panzer II and remaining armored car, the M79 would use its quick speed to rush through the Kuromorimine rear-lines, and hopefully destroy supplies and lighter-armored vehicles, along with any students unprotected against machine-gun fire. From her viewpoint inside the Dutch car's hull, the Feather squad leader used her viewport and binoculars to survey the scene.

"Our tanks should be contacting the enemy soon. Haha, the shells have already taken out a Panzer IV! There are two more Panthers coming down, our tanks should be able to take them on, and…"

On the opposite side of the hill, looking through the explosions and landscape, Camila spotted the smallest sliver of tank. She knew her binoculars weren't the greatest though, so she had to ask Speculoos.

"Commander, I think I see some forces that aren't on the map. Could you use your scope to spot them? They're at 3 o'clock, next to that split rock at the back."

"That's weird, I thought we'd seen every Kuro tank that was on their list, there shouldn't be any more, not legally anyways."

Speculoos put the gunnery scope to her eye, and looked to the rock indicated by Camila. Not only could she see better, but she could also make out the tank's type, a T-34 Soviet tank.

"That's weird, it's a T-34 there. Kuro doesn't have any of those."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes I am, let me check again…"

Speculoos refocused the scope, bringing out some crucial details.

"Crikey."

"What?"

Everyone looked at the commander now.

"Rosehip taught me that one, but that's not the point. I saw the logo on the T-34, it belongs to Kebab, the Turkish school."

Camila slapped her forehead.

"Of course! Kebab, we hadn't heard about them! Those Germans have probably been keeping their little allies a secret!"

"And now, just when we are beginning to win, they'll unleash them, and we won't stand a chance."

"I've got to tell Charlotte about this!"

Camila quickly turned on the radio, which was already set to her captain's frequency.

"Captain! We've just spotted Kebab tanks on the west side of the hill! We think they're going to ambush us!"

Charlotte's silence, which lasted for a few moments,indicated she was thinking.

"Okay Camila, I think I have a solution. Just sit tight, and go through your orders as intended."

Camila was still a bit nervous, but she knew Charlotte had a plan.

"Yes sir!"

Back in the Grizzly, Charlotte closed her link to Camila, and dug through her pocket. She found the eucalyptus-scented piece of paper, and set her radio to the frequency listed.

"Wallaby? I think I have a target for you."

Sarah had little time to question why the Australians were fighting T-34s on the side of the hill. She was in a groove, her fingers dancing across the fretboard, coming up with a new, twisting melody. A little G major here, a C here, a D, but minor this time, because why not? To most, improvising music in the middle of a battle would be folly, but not for Sarah. It kept the unpredictable part of her mind out of the way, letting her focus on fighting 100%. Plus, the rest of the crew got to listen to sick jams while doing their job.

"Geddie, wait another two seconds to load! Annalee, put your scope on the Hetzer on the Panzer IV at 1 o'clock! Alexa, get ready to make an S-turn to dodge the fire! Nelly, don't fire your MG now, save your ammo for when we come across foot soldiers!"

"There will be foot soldiers?"

"Kuro lost a lot of tanks, so I'm guessing they'll have surplus girls. Better give 'em a rifle and send 'em to fight than leave 'em hanging around, isn't it?"

"Right, great deduction captain!"

The Ram fought onwards, crashing through the explosions and turmoil. The gap between the alliance forces and Kraut Rock was getting smaller by the second, and Sarah was the one making the most progress, speeding through like no one else. That is, until a Panther got involved. Its large, angular body quickly bursting through the fog, with the intimidatingly long 75mm cannon leading the charge.

"Panther coming through the mist!"

"I can see it. Engage formation three, Tapping Solo!"

What made Sarah's formations great, was that beyond being just named after guitar techniques, she based the motion of the tank specifically around the sound and rhythm of the technique, and would dictate the formation's execution wordlessly by playing her guitar. Of course, Van Halen wasn't exactly Sarah's musical niche, but it made for a great offensive manoeuvre. As she played the notes faster and higher, the tank's movement became more focused, closing in for the kill. Just four more measures…

"Captain, they've already reloaded!"

For the first time in the battle, Sarah missed a note. Which was bad, even before the Panther fired.

Panther tanks aren't well suited for close-range combat, their 88-esque long cannons being rather clumsy at short distances. This is one of the factors that lost Germany the battle of Kursk, and it is probably what saved Sarah's Ram. The shell just missed, cutting the edge of the turret very deep, but just short of elimination. The turret would not be able to rotate 360 degrees now, but it would still suffice. The real damage would come to the Ram's morale. In a scarily short amount of time, everyone realised its commander's guitar was now broken. Sarah clutched at the instrument, its broken neck hanging on limply by the E and B strings, the only two that didn't snap. Something snapped inside Sarah too.

"What am I going to do?"

"We'll have to fight, captain!"

"But, I can't play music!"

"You'll have to take the reins, captain, if you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of a fight with the pinnacle of German engineering. We've fought so long, I think we can fight on our own for just this little while."

For what was probably the first time in Sarah's life, music wasn't the answer. But Sarah thought back to her years of Sensha-Do. She knew what to do. All of them knew what to do.

"Okay, engage in formation six, 10/8, without the prog rock this time!"

"Aye."

The Panther fired again, this time hitting nothing. The girls were actually doing it, going through with the fast-paced evasion, with no sound but those of the battlefield. Sarah verbally walked through all of it, even though that wasn't really necessary. Everyone had the music etched into their soul, and it's what led them to pulling it off. With the formation over, the Panther now looked disoriented.

"Girls, let's go for the kill, formation one, power chord!"

It was short, sharp and swift. A charge, a swerve, a cannon shot in the rear. While that didn't do it, a second 6 pound shell did prove enough, and the panther's engine burst into flames. Much cheering ensued.

"Yeah! We did it!"

"All right!"

Sarah looked at her broken guitar. Now that she could command without it, it didn't seem that important, just a cheap travel guitar she could easily repair or replace.

"Good job girls, I did not think we could do this, but we did."

"So, will you still play music while commanding?"

Sarah thought about it for a bit. The answer was easy.

"Of course! But now I know I can go without. I'd rather we still listen to something though, even if it's not my own."

She quickly picked up a well-worn cassette, the words "Freedom" written on the blue label. The on-board stereo clicked for a bit, before the deep hum of the tape came in. Everyone felt it at the same time.

"Oh, yeah."

And then the distorted guitar came in.

There's colors on the street

Red, white and blue

People shufflin' their feet

People sleepin' in their shoes

But there's a warnin' sign on the road ahead

There's a lot of people sayin' we'd be better off dead

Don't feel like Satan, but I am to them

So I try to forget it any way I can

Sarah was back in business.

Keep on rockin' in the free world.

The fire was dizzying in its artillery was firing at a record pace, and the Germans were taking the full brunt of the force. In a perfect salvo formation, the three pieces were stomping Kraut Rock, obliterating the Boches's giant tanks all the while avoiding those allied with the Canadians. At the center of the storm, Évelyne controlled it all, leading the artillery's aim and coordination, with a lot of colourful Québécois jargon sprinkled throughout. It went without saying that she was in her element.

"[Let's go gang! Keep up the pace! You certainly don't want to fall behind the Acadiens, don't you? Elizabeth, use your muscle, 105mm shells aren't that heavy! Marthe, don't fall asleep, we'll need you soon. Louise, can you play some tunes for us?]"

"[Yeah sure, I've got my Voivod mixtape, it's really deafening.]"

"[Louise, I'm already going deaf from this assault, I don't care.]"

"[True.]"

Louise put the CD in the stereo and began playing the Québec Metal band's cover of Pink Floyd's Astronomy Domine.

Lime and limpid green, a second scene

A fight between the blue you once knew

Floating down, the sound resounds

Around the icy waters underground

Jupiter and Saturn, Oberon, Miranda and Titania

Neptune, Titan, stars can frighten…

"[Pink Floyd, metal, made in Québec? Now that's what I call a Montreal concert!]"

Évelyne didn't have time to appreciate the music, as her radio chimed. She had to ask Louise to turn the volume down before responding to the call.

"Service d'extermination à l'appareil, oui bonjour?"

"Évelyne, no time for French! We've got two big cats coming towards us, and we can't fight them on our own. We need our support!"

Louise was right behind her.

"[Captain, we don't need to help the anglos like that, they can take care of themselves.]"

"[You're damn right, we better stick to the plan.]"

The radio was still open

"[Please! Help us! They're coming!]"

Évelyne was perfectly ready to maintain the attack as intended, but a thought entered her head. Why wasn't she helping them? Her role was to protect the medium tanks, and that was who needed help. She knew why she didn't want to help them. They were anglos, and she wasn't supposed to like anglos. Anglos didn't deserve help, for she was loyal to no one but herself and fellow , she thought of the girl last night. How she also didn't like strangers. And how the two understood each other. She had learned to respect francos, but maybe Evelyne should do the same. Respect the Anglos instead of hating them. Yeah, maybe she should do that. So, thinking of Leentje, she turned on the radio, and gave orders to her tank.

"Alright everyone, let's help them."

Camila was still impressed by the speed of the armored cars. According to Speculoos, the Pantserwagen could reach speeds of 75 km/h, and after spending all her time in a Grizzly that struggled to reach 40, Camila enjoyed the swiftness. Even inside the cramped hull, the sense of speed was exhilarating, especially with the battle surrounding her. However, the armored cars weren't fighting the main battle, they were assaulting the rear-lines, destroying supplies, artillery, and any girl unlucky enough to be caught outside a tank. Camila was very useful in this, firing her hull Vickers machine gun, spitting orange paintballs all around. Together, the Pantserwagen and two Landswerk cars had managed to destroy 10 ammo crates, 6 tents, A StuG III, a Jagdpanther, and 12 girls. Charlotte had already called to thank them for being so useful in the fight, and everyone could hardly believe how well they were doing. However, as the day progressed, the fog was lifting, which brought a new threat.

If there was one thing you could say about German armored vehicles, it is that they rarely failed to be impressive. Their armored cars were no different. Slowly moving towards them, Camila could make out a fiercely angled hull, topped by a similarly-shaped turret, one wielding a gun of equally large proportions. Its 8 wheels weren't just numerous, they were big, dwarfing the small road wheels on the Dutch cars. As soon as its engine turned on, Camila's confidence and momentum instantly faded. It was big, it was scary, and it was going to attack them.

"Speculoos! What do we do?"

"We need to figure something out…"

Speculoos didn't even have time to finish her sentence, when the German armored car fired. If the canon looked impressive, it sounded even more so, rivalling the Panzer clashing below. The Landswerk it was aiming at did not stand a chance, and was instantly eliminated. Speculoos did not have much of a choice.

"Everyone, charge!"

Beyond having just numerical power, the armored car also had a very sound tactician at its helm. This was apparent by the location of its attack. Instead of going on a wide field, where an armored car had space to accelerate and turn, the Kuro commander had instead placed the battle on a narrow ridge, forcing a gun-to-gun battle with limited dodging. Since the German car had twice the armor and firepower as its Dutch counterpart, it could handily win this situation. The only way Speculoos could hope to avoid a hit, was to "joust" her opponent. She charged with the Landswerk at her side, while the German returned the favor. Things instantly went wrong, as the enemy reloaded surprisingly fast, and used this advantage to shoot down the other Landswerk right at the beginning of its charge. It too was toast. Speculoos was even more determined to win.

"[We gotta make this count.]"

"[Commander, when should I fire?]"

"[Wait until the very last moment.]"

The two cars kept accelerating, moving ever closer to one another. Luckily, the Germans were still reloading, but Speculoos was cautious.

"[Can I fire now?]"

"[Not yet.]"

Kirana kept on traversing the turret ever so slightly, trying to keep the Puma within their sights. This however, brought forth one of the M39's flaws: due to having a weak bracing, firing the turret outside the forward or rear arc would break the bracing, and incapacitate the turret, and possibly, the whole car. Kirana was aware of this, but unfortunately, Speculoos, in all of her nervousness, seemed to have forgotten.

"[Commander, we're getting close to the danger zone. We should fire now.]"

"[What danger zone?]"

"[Commander, now!]"

The Puma was so close, it was almost touching its opponent.

"[Fire!]"

Unfortunately, it was too late. Kirana attempted to traverse the turret back, but it was futile, and when she fired, not only did the shell miss the Puma, it still broke the ring. The turret was now officially out of order. The Puma still didn't fire, it's own turret too slow to do so, but without opposition, it would get the shot in next time.

"Verdomd!"

"[What are we going to do now?]"

"[I'm sorry Kirana, but I think we're officially screwed.]"

Camila, who was always listening attentively, was actually starting to pick up Dutch. While she still had to express herself in English, at least, she knew what the rest of the crew were talking about.

"The turret is broken?"

"Yes, that is right. Call your captain to tell her we're done."

"You guys can still reverse super fast, right?"

"Our drive still seems to be working correctly, why?"

"I have a plan, just begin reversing at full speed towards the German car, I'll handle the rest. Now!"

Speculoos asked the reverse driver to do so, and she obliged. Camila poked her head outside the hatch, seeing the Puma still traversing its turret, and beginning to reverse too.

"Faster!"

"Sneller!"

The M39 was once more very close to the Puma, but this time, it had the initiative. It was now Camila's time to play. She grabbed her trusty Thompson, and climbed out of her hatch. Holding on to the M39's broken canon, she stood on the Dutch car's hull, waiting for its German counterpart to pass. It's machine gun was starting to fire a stream of black paintballs, but it was too late. Camila took a deep breath, and jumped, adrenaline coursing through her veins. It seemed to last forever, but she landed on steel, and even more incredibly, she kept her balance. Her focus as sharp as a spear, she walked to the Puma's turret hatch, and ripped it open. The look on the young German girls inside was one of pure panic. Camila cocked her Tommy...

"Auf wiedersehn, bitches."

And gave the cabin a lovely red-and-white paint job.

"The great painter of chaos lays a crimson foundation on his human canvas,

as the ashes of man's tools of war mix with those of man himself

With deft brushstrokes, he paints a portrait of the animal we all hide within,

and this all falls within his plan, for I am mortal, and mortals can only die."

"Nice, but I'm pretty sure I've heard that last line before."

"She took it from Marillion's Forgotten Sons, Sarah showed it to me when she went on her prog rock trip."

"блин, I love that line, and I can't find a good replacement for it!"

"Hey, this is a tank, not the Pushkin appreciation society, go back to doing your jobs!"

The assault on Kraut Rock was climaxing, with the alliance tanks pushing ever forwards toward the Kuromorimine lines. In an unusual turn of event, the German girls had retreated their tanks, meaning the Canadians were reaching the final climb unopposed, at least, unopposed directly.

"So what if we chat a bit? There's nothing in our way, we're fine."

"Have you not read the Sensha-Do manual? Being aware of our surroundings is like the 4th rule! Kuro can strike back at any time, especially now that the fog is clear…"

Without so much as a warning, Kuro's tank-hunters began firing, sweeping the fields in heavy shells. Charlotte had a déjà-vu moment. The situation was nearly identical to the initial landing, which had happened merely a week ago. It was the Canadian tanks against the uphill German forces. Except this time, it was different. Orange had the flanks, and Maple the artillery. But the most important thing the alliance had was courage. They weren't going to run away, they would keep on fighting, no matter what. She didn't know if she was going to make it, and that was fine. For what was probably going to be the last time, she broadcast her radio on all allied frequencies.

"This is Beaver, or as you may really know me, Charlotte. This is going to be the last assault, the climax of our Panzerfahren, and the greatest fucking battle they'll ever see. I've nothing more to add, for there is no strategy to be made. You all know what to do. So without further ado, CHARGE!"

All at once, the Sherman-derived tanks, the Panzer IIIs and the Chruchill began their climb, wildly firing uphill. While this on its own didn't do much damage against the Germans, the artillery hit them with ever-precise strikes, while the Pantserwagen kept up its campaign of terror in the rear lines. This still didn't make the allies invulnerable, though. The first casualty was a Panzer III, but soon after, a more important target fell.

Despite its St. Gloriana-made improved engine, the Churchill's bulk still made it struggle up the hill. This, combined with its large profile, made it the ideal target. Darjeeling had the good sense of ordering the Feather Squad and a heavily-armed Rosehip to leave the tank on foot, but that was all that could be done. Before any proper evasive manoeuvres could be made (if you could even call the limited movements that), A shell hit the heavy tank's hull, instantly destroying the engine, and showing the white flag in the process. Charlotte felt her heart wrench a bit. She lost Darjeeling for a second time, but now she knew for sure it was permanent.

Her sentimentality was cut short by a rather loud battle cry. The Canadian captain used her scope to look outside, only to see an incredible scene. A massive group of Kuromorimine girls, armed with StG 44s and Panzerfausts, were counterattacking down the hill, wildly firing paintballs, rockets and rifle grenades at anything that moved. Charlotte questioned the tactics, until she remembered Camila saying that most of the vehicles her group destroyed were unmanned. As mildly impressive as the assault was, .30 calibre machine gun fire from the tanks, and .303 from Feather's Bren guns, was all that was necessary to stop the attack dead in its tracks. The tanks just barely avoided running over the black-clad Kuro girls, now standing out with the red, orange and blue stains covering all of them. Riding above her hatch, Charlotte encouraged her team.

"Come on everyone! Don't let this slow you down! We're halfway to the hill, the Germans will fall! For Canada, Nederland, England, and all! Kill the krauts!"

As if on cue, a fearsome Tiger I appeared on top of the crest, its square hulk coming down the hill to meet the allies head-on. Charlotte didn't lose her cool.

"Come on everyone, keep going, if we move fast enough, we can pass it and do a flank!"

"We can't! It's already aiming at us! We're screwed!"

Another radio added itself to the mix.

"Let me distract them, I can hold its cannon while you go."

It was Sarah, her voice sounding remarkably calm.

"Sarah! Don't do this! We can do this, we can't afford to lose you!"

"My time has come, I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose freewill."

"Freewill? There's no freewill in death!"

"It's not death, we'll meet again soon."

Not slowing down in the slightest, Sarah's Ram charged at the Tiger head-on, its 6-pounder firing madly at the German heavy tank, and completely failing to pierce its remarkable frontal armor. Charlotte passed it the second its fate came true. The Tiger fired, its 88mm shell making quite a mess of the Canadian tank. Escaping the smoke of the explosion, Charlotte came upon the big cat's exposed rear, putting her plan into motion. It was then Charlotte realised there weren't really any vehicles on her side left, except for a Panzer III and Hilke's chaffee. This didn't stop her.

"Everyone, fire!"

The 76mm shell found its goal, destroying the Tiger's engine. In doing so, Charlotte reached the top of the hill, where she was met with an unwieldy sight: nothing but dead and decayed tanks, splattered crew girls, with nothing alive save for an even bigger Kônigstiger. Charlotte knew what had to be done.

"Hilke, call for the artillery, I'm going to hold our opponent for now.

In an incredibly daring move, she opened her hatch and poked her head outside. Even more incredibly the Kuromorimine captain, a white-haired, steel-faced girl, made the same move, allowing for some diplomatic talking, Charlotte's favorite.

"Seems like the Giant has fallen."

"You vulture, you took advantage of the weakened, like a coward would."

"You had to die, and it was always going to be someone's job. But you know, we've made some weird allies in this war. More importantly, weaker allies. I say we should think of a deal. After all, neither of us have much left."

"The dying bartering with the dead, how charming."

Charlotte noticed the German girl was clearly reaching for a weapon in her turret. She knew there wasn't much time left.

"You know, I say, Québec has one major defining feature you can always count on.

"What is it?"

"You never know what they'll do next."

Charlotte's timing was off. The shells weren't there yet.

"Nonsense, I'll shut you up for that!"

As predicted, Erika pulled out an FG-42, which she used to generously spray Charlotte in black paintball, something she didn't even mind that much. To add insult to the injury though, the Tiger II also fired its gun, annihilating the Grizzly. Erika had a predictable reaction.

"Ha ha ha! And so dies the one who claimed death!"

The timing did turn out to be good, as it was at this exact moment that a salvo of Évelyne's shells fell upon the last German tank, eliminating it and Erika immediately.

The battle was won, but it was rather pyrrhic. The only vehicles left were the Chaffee, one Panzer III, the M39 and the SPGs. With Charlotte gone, Hilke was left to run the coalition herself, which wasn't too much of a problem, as the number of people left was obviously very small. They'd considered stealing Kuromorimine tanks to make the scraps of the team a bit stronger, but there simply weren't enough people left to man the German behemoths. Not even Koala Forrest could help, their victory destroyed by a hail of unprovoked Katyusha rockets launched by the unseen Pravda forces.

The only thing Hilke could do was organise her vehicles in what resembled a defensive circle, and hope for the best. Around the fire, the celebration was minimal. Once the initial rush of defeating Kuromorimine had faded, the realisation came like a blast of blizzard wind, or the tidal wave when the dyke fell. The coalition was weak, and it was alone. Once everyone was done eating, they all went to their tents. No singing, no talking, only the sweet relief of sleep could help the tired and demoralised troops.

The only one still awake was Hilke, who was scouring the landscape with a pair of infra-red night vision goggles she had stolen from the Kuro command tent. On her shoulder was a Bren gun, a necessary measure in the dangerous world. Unfortunately, her fears were to be proven true. It went through the three usual stages. First, the innate feel of the rumble of the tracks. Then, just visible in the green tinge of the binoculars, a cloud of dust. The only indication of the nationality though, was the sound. Music, played at deafening levels.

Born in the USA, Born in the USA!

America was back to claim its due. While Hilke tried to fire her light machine gun from the hip, the horde of Shermans fired their green paintballs at anything that moved, and shells at anything that didn't. They didn't stop, bulldozing all that was in their way. Évelyne, Speculoos, Camila, all were thoroughly drenched in green paintball. It was a massacre, and Megumi didn't even look back. Maple, Orange and St. Gloriana were all officially eliminated.

It took another day for the battle to end. Charlotte didn't notice. The two remaining teams, Saunders and Pravda, as well as the fragments of the other teams fighting with them, had spent most of the time stalking each other on the island. That wasn't very interesting. The finale clash however, was something to behold, two titans mutually annihilating one another in one giant clash of armor. Hilke didn't care. In the end Saunders came out victorious, putting the Maple-Saunders-St. Gloriana alliance in third place. Everyone was happy for that at least. All of this was going on around the Canadians and the Dutch, and while everyone was talking about it in the debriefing buildings, the alliance was the exception. for they were too busy socialising. Charlotte and Hilke's objective of bringing everyone closer together had succeeded, unlike any of their expectations, and in just a couple of days, the two schools acted like they'd been best friends since the beginning. Canadians and Dutch were casually mingling, talking about everything and nothing. It was almost impossible to sort them out, so close they were mixed, especially when they started trading uniforms for fun. It was with great sadness that both captains had to announce the teams would have to leave the island on seperate ships, but this sadness was short-lived, as the new friends had all shared their contact information, meaning they could text and chat all the way home. Charlotte was happy. Beyond the nice bronze tank-shaped trophy she could add to the school's hockey-filled trophy case, she had made something more than her usual repertoire of allies, an actual friend, both in school and personal terms. If the future was uncertain, there was one thing she was sure about, Orange and Maple would become very good friends.

A few months later.

"Why do we have to wear our uniforms again? It's not like we're on school grounds."

"I know we're all friends, but we've got to make a good impression. Plus, it's cold, I'm sure the bear hug keeps you warm."

It was December the 15, the exact midpoint between Sinterklaas and Christmas, so Charlotte had decided to organise a combined holiday. She was wearing Maple's mountie-inspired winter uniform, nicknamed the bear hug, along with her tank captain cap. Following her were Sarah, Évelyne and Camila, all wearing similar clothes. They were walking along the main canal of the Orange schoolship, the canal houses being rather imposing and pretty compared to the bland concrete of Maple. As the girls walked through the clean, narrow streets of Orange, they kept conversing in Japanese.

"So, what do we have planned for this weekend?"

Sarah tapped the large bag on her back.

"I brought my real guitar, so you may have a little show tonight."

Éveleyne peeked into one of the coffee shops that lined the canal.

"I was told they sold under-the-counter beer in these parts."

Camila listened to the winter breeze flying over the schoolship.

"Speculoos wanted to give me a tour of the windmill and surrounding green space."

Charlotte stopped in front of a fire station with a tank sign hanging from it.

"I just want to hang out with my friend."

Charlotte had heard Hilke's stories about how abandoned the Sensha-Do HQ used to be, so she was pleasantly surprised by how well the former fire station had been restored. She walked up to the door, and pulled the large lion-shaped door knocker. The eye-slit opened almost immediately.

"Hey! It's you! Come in!"

The doors opened, revealing a large garage, the fire truck fixtures replaced with tank gear. Currently, the team's two new vehicles, a Puma and a Panther, were inside, getting well-earned restoration. Hilke and Speculoos were on the side, looking at German schematics, and directing the engineers. They immediately stopped when they saw the Canadians.

"Goedemiddag!"

"Hi Hilke!"

The two girls went in for a hug, Hilke still trouncing Charlotte in height. Speculoos and the other Canadians still kept it at a wave though. There were the usual greetings, how do you dos and so on, and when those were over, Hilke asked:

"So, what do you want to do?"

Sarah was the first to speak.

"Uh, I have a meet-up with Mona, at the Artists' Guild, I should go before I'm late."

As soon as the guitarist left, Évelyne made a similar declaration.

"I wanted to do a tour with my friend too, if that's fine."

Charlotte nodded, and Évelyne left, her blonde hair contrasting on her red coat. Almost like clockwork, Camila asked.

"Speculoos wanted to show me the Soccer, sorry, Football field, so can we leave?"

Hilke had a hushed laugh, Charlotte merely smiled.

"It's okay, we came here to have fun with our friends at Orange, you can do whatever you want with them."

"Thanks Captain!"

Camila ran out with her Dutch friends, leaving Hilke and Charlotte to look at the restoration being done on Orange's new toys.

"That's some nice stuff you got there, did the Stocks Association finally give you funding?"

"The Puma, I got it from Kuro themselves, it's the one Speculoos and Camila destroyed. The Germans felt armored cars weren't a good investment anymore, so they got rid of it at clearance price, as long as I would repair it myself. The Panther though, that's fun. Daimler wanted to use Kuromorimine to advertise their tanks, but when they failed, they decided to give us the Panther to promote them, since we're the one who've had the most media coverage, as "The little team that could". Right now, we're just making it more compatible with our repair methods, but from what I tried, fighting with that thing is going to be massive fun. Did you guys get anything new?"

"Yup, two new Shermans, though these ones were American built, a second-hand Chaffee, as I was quite impressed by yours, and most importantly, Darjeeling gave me a reduction on one of her custom Churchills, with the Griffin super-engine and 75mm gun, just to give us some proper heavy armor to counter those Germans for real. But yeah, overall, a pretty nice haul. Did the Stocks Association at least give you a bit more respect?"

"No, this is about the least amount of money they could give me without it being too ridiculously low. They would only give me decent funds if I got real first-place victories, which sucks, as A), the football team gets way more money, and they always lose to Saunders and Kuromorimine, and B), we still got way more publicity than Pravda in second place, so they should capitalise. That being said, they did tell me something interesting. They said that while Sensha-Do was futile and barely brought any real cash for how much it costs, and that I should give up my dreams and go back to making money like a real Dutch should, there was one good thing that had come out of it. That being, in just a week, we made stronger friendships with your school than any relationship they made in the past 5 years. Not only is it fun, but most importantly, we can siphon your cash and exports, so they actually thanked me for my services, and even gave me a bit of extra cash, under the table.

Without missing a beat, Charlotte answered.

"I guess the real victory is the friends we made along the way."

The two captains looked at each other for a second, and burst out laughing.

"That is the stupidest yet most true thing I heard in a while!"

Charlotte put her arm around her much taller Dutch counterpart.

"I'm glad I have a friend who can share my passions, fight with me, and exploit my school's money."

Hilke replied the gesture.

"Yes, I can definitely see both of our schools being good friends for quite a while."

The End

Enjoyed this story? Want to read more of Maple and Orange? Keep an eye out for Tales from the Leaf and the Flower, a new anthology fic coming to you soon!

Acknowledgements are mostly the same as the first chapter, so I won't repeat myself. I'm just glad I'm finally done with this project, it was quite the wild ride. Since the writing for this one was pretty guerilla and disorganized, I sadly do not have a playlist, but I think there's enough references here to give you a good idea of what to listen to. See you next time y'all.