Chapter 26: We Know Who We'll Follow
"Did you hear that someone on the team got into a fight this morning while handing out flyers for our team?" Yuuki asked on top of the M3 Grant while Rabbit Team waited for the rest of the team to join them for practice.
"Woah, really?" Karina exclaimed.
"Yeah, I heard they beat up another girl really bad, so bad in fact, that she got sent to the hospital," Ayumi added.
"Yeah, I heard a friend of hers said they haven't seen her all day!" Aya said.
The girls sat in shock. "She must have gotten hurt badly!" Karina exclaimed.
"But who did it?" Aya asked.
The group of first-years shrugged. "That's enough!" Asuza ordered from the ground below them. "I'm sure our seniors will provide us with an explanation of what happened. I trust our teammates to not just randomly attack someone."
"Really Azusa? You know, Victoria's kind of a loose cannon," Aya pointed out.
"You don't know everything and be careful with what you hear. People are always trying to stir up trouble," Azusa argued.
The first-years on top of the M3 Grant shrugged. "Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough," Aya said.
"I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding," Azusa reassured, "I know our friends wouldn't hurt anyone."
They were interrupted when the doors of Garage 3 were thrown wide open and, led by Suzu, the members of Baiji Team stormed over to their LVT(A) furiously. Shouts echoed through the building as they bickered between themselves.
"You're not even going to let them explain themselves?!" Mei shouted.
Suzu turned to her with a fury in her eyes. "Why should we? They keep saying one thing and doing another!" she argued.
Ryota solemnly nodded with a frown. "At this point, it's best to cut our losses before we get too invested," she pointed out, "this is just a powder keg waiting to blow up."
Yoichi stood next to Mei with solidarity. "You're blowing this out of proportion. One person doesn't represent the team a-and…" she weakly countered.
"And what? This team is just filled with thugs masquerading as tankers," Suzu insulted. She turned to Ming, who hadn't said a word yet. "Captain, you support us leaving, right?"
Mei and Yoichi looked at their captain with pleading eyes, but Ming turned away. "W-we're done here," she mumbled as the rest of the teams started filing into the garages, each whispering things to each other as an uneasy tenseness fell onto the garage.
"Wise decision captain," Suzu smugly said.
"What was a wise decision?" Anzu darkly asked. In front of the LVT, the student council had quickly closed in behind them.
"We're leaving, and we're taking the LVT with us!" Suzu said.
Anzu and Momo glared at Baiji Team. "That is not an option," Anzu stated, "you're staying."
A crowd of Sensha-do team members was starting to surround the stand-off. "Miss P-President, you can't really just force them to stay," Azusa nervously protested.
"You agreed to fight with us, backing down is desertion!" Erwin declared, "don't support this nonsense Asuza."
Azusa slowly stepped back timidly, but Suzu glared at Erwin. "Desertion? The heat must've gotten to your head 'Desert Fox' because this isn't the military!" she shouted.
"I don't care if this isn't the military!" Anzu interrupted, "we need every tank we can to win the nationals so you can't abandon us!"
"Sorry pipsqueak, we're not helping your 'war effort'. You're a president, not an emperor. We don't bow to you," Suzu countered.
Momo clenched one of her fists and raised the other hand. "Why you little-" she raised her hand to strike when Yuzu desperately grabbed it.
"Momo, stop! Violence isn't the answer," Yuzu pleaded.
Suzu smirked smugly. "Yeah, Momo, you and your team could learn a thing from her, since all you jerks know is fighting!" she shouted.
Suddenly, the crowd started to part, leaving a path for Miho to approach the fight. Already, she looked upset with watering eyes and shaking steps. "Listen, everyone, please calm down, let's talk this through civilly," she weakly pleaded.
"There shouldn't be any appeasement of deserters captain!" Erwin exclaimed.
"Erwin that's enough," Noriko added, "we aren't soldiers, we're a team, and that team needs to let people leave if they aren't satisfied with it."
"That explains why your volleyball team disbanded then," Erwin insulted.
Noriko glared and clenched her fists. "Don't bring our old club into this mess, we're talking about the Sensha-do team, not the volleyball team!" she shouted.
Miho looked around her for some support, some help in defusing the crisis. But all she saw were troubled, conflicted faces who seemed to mess together into a large, dark crowd circling around her. Nobody knew what to do…
She was all alone in trying to defuse a bomb planted directly in the heart of the team. She took a shaky deep breath. "Everyone, stop talking! Right now!" she demanded.
Instantly the garage went silent. Perhaps it was her inner-Nishizumi finally erupted or just pent-up frustration with the lies and chaos following the beginning of the nationals. Regardless, everyone looked at someone new. Miho's face lost all of its color, her eyes grew stern and emotionless, and she stood unflinchingly at Baiji Team. "Leave right now," she flatly demanded.
Suzu glared at Miho with disgust. "With pleasure, 'Captain Nishizumi,'" she spat. Suzu and Ryota stepped past the student council and climbed onto their LVT. Ming just silently followed, but Mei and Yoichi turned to Miho with pleading eyes.
Miho cut them down. "No," she said, not even letting them speak. They just sadly looked down and followed the rest of Baiji Team to the LVT. Everyone stepped aside as its engines fired up and the tank slowly drove past them and out of the garage. As it left, Miho fell to her knees. She coughed as tears started falling from her eyes. Anglerfish Team and William rushed over to help her, but she held up a hand to stop them. "I-I-" she began before coughing again. "I need to speak with the commanders, only the commanders…" she stuttered.
Everyone stayed frozen until William took action. "Alright, everyone!" he shouted, "listen up, if you aren't a tank commander, please step out of the garage for a… well however long it takes."
Slowly everyone began filing out. William glared at Momo and Yuzu, who hadn't moved. "That includes you two. Anzu is your listed commander," he demanded.
Anzu nodded and gestured them away to their surprise. They followed her orders nonetheless. Finally, Miho gestured Anglerfish Team away as well before shakily getting up, leaving her with her tank commanders. All of them, except for one.
"Hey, leave him alone!" a young girl, no older than third grade, demanded. Children ran around them, playing on the recess playground without a care for the poor boy hiding under a picnic table surrounded by older boys trying to kick him.
The oldest boy in the group, a 5th grader, glared at her. "And why should we listen to you?" he asked rhetorically.
Jody growled and ran at him. With all her strength, she shoved him to the ground. "Because I said so!" she screamed. Without another word, the bullies ran off in a panic.
"How did a girl two years younger than us push you down?!" one of the panicked boys asked as they ran. Jody didn't care to give them any more of her attention. Instead, she knelt next to the picnic table and crawled under it. Hiding from the older boys, was another boy with short light brown hair.
"Are you okay?" Jody asked.
The boy looked up and rubbed tears from his eyes. "I-I'm o-okay," he stuttered.
"They didn't hurt you did they?" Jody asked with concern.
The boy shook his head. "I-I'm Ross…" he mumbled.
"I'm Jody," she replied, "why were those boys being mean to you?"
"They said it was stupid for boys to wear necklaces…" Ross answered.
"What? That's so dumb!" Jody huffed, "don't listen to them, necklaces are cool!"
Ross sat up, revealing a small silver chain on his neck with a small locket attached to it. "Really?" he asked.
"Of course!" Jody reassured with a smile.
"D-do you want to see mine?" he asked, grabbing the locket.
Jody nodded eagerly. Ross held out the locket and Jody opened it. Inside was a picture of two parents. The mother was holding a little baby in her arms. "Are they your parents?" Jody asked.
Ross nodded. "That's Mama," he said, pointing to the woman. "And that's Daddy," he said, pointing to his father. "And I'm the little baby!" he exclaimed, pointing to the small bundle in the woman's arms.
"You must love them lots to have a locket with them!" Jody exclaimed.
Ross nodded. "I do, I love them a lot," he replied, "Mama gave it to me since… since…" he frowned and looked away.
"C'mon, let's go play in the sandbox," Jody suggested, noticing he was looking sad again.
"Okay!" Ross replied.
Jody sadly looked over the shelves of Teruo's Sensha-do store idly. She didn't really want to buy anything, but it got her away from everyone else. I've really screwed up now… why couldn't I just be calmer, she thought, berating herself. She clenched her fists angrily before forcing herself to relax. "Say you want to be more level-headed and immediately start getting angry at yourself, isn't that contradictory…" she bitterly muttered. Her eyes fell on a box sitting high on the shelf that grabbed her attention. Displayed proudly on the box was a Porsche Type 100, just like the one she crewed with Leopard Team. She reached up weakly to grab the box, but it was just out of reach.
"Having trouble?" Ross asked from behind her.
Jody nearly jumped out of her shoes and retracted her hand. Ross just sighed and grabbed the box for her. "Um… thanks," she mumbled.
"You're welcome, now can we talk?" he asked.
Jody looked down at the box. "I'm sorry."
"It's alright," Ross said while putting a hand over her shoulder. "You know, I do appreciate that you wanted to stand up for me, but we can't hurt people doing it."
"I know… I let my anger get to me," she mumbled.
Ross smiled. "And you're acknowledging it, so you're already ahead of a lot of people," he pointed out, "we've all done things in the heat of the moment. But we still have a chance to fix things after we calm down. That's what matters most."
Jody wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "Okay, I guess I'll have to do that then."
"Good to hear," Ross replied. He moved to pat Jody's head before she slapped it away playfully.
"I'm not a kid you know, I'm only a year younger than you," she playfully complained.
Ross rolled his eyes. "But your antics are like that of a five-year-old, so you had me confused," he joked.
Jody lightly kicked him. "Jerk, now I'm going to buy this model, and then we're heading back to see what the student council wants to do for punishment," she explained.
"Good enough for me," Ross said.
In front of her commanders, Miho shakily stood in front of them with tired, sad eyes. "I-I…" she stuttered, "I can't do this anymore."
Everyone's eyes widened with concern and shock. "Miho…" Azusa whispered.
"All I'm doing is holding you all back!" Miho cried out, "you would all be better off without me messing everything up. I can't keep this team out of trouble, I can't keep it together!"
Silence suffocated the room. Nobody knew what to say for a moment before someone surprising stepped forward. "Miho," Laika said, "I can't think of anyone on this team more capable of leading than you."
"She's right," Canaveral added, "you were a key role in reuniting the rocket club and gave us the opportunity to do something new."
"B-but after the first match, you were frustrated because you got taken out without fighting," Miho tearfully argued.
"And who allowed me to be put on the frontlines the next match?" Laika countered.
"And who ran next to me when the Elefant caught fire to help pull its crew away?" William added.
"And who trusted me to go after Chi-Ha-Tan during the second round?" Azusa added, "William's given me a lot of advice, but you are in command for a reason, you know how to make good decisions and use each of us to the fullest!"
"She's right you know," Erwin said, "you've put the StuG III in good positions for ambushes."
"Miho, you're the heart of the team and you're not a bad captain. What's happened isn't your fault and could hardly have been prevented by you alone," Noriko assured.
Anzu stepped forward. "I know we only wanted you to be captain since you were the only Japanese student who had Sensha-do experience back then, but…" she trailed off, "but you've done nothing that would betray our trust. We want you to be captain because you are the best person for the job."
Miho stared at everyone with surprise. "I-I thought everything that has gone wrong would make you want to get rid of me…" Miho whispered.
"We've had our troubles, but not everything is on your shoulders. You can't control all the tanks and prevent every problem so we'll all share some part of the blame when things go wrong," William said.
Miho shakily wiped away her tears. "Okay…" She felt some confidence return, confidence that had been lost after the 62nd Nationals, after the verbal abuse and pressure of her family, and the fear of failure. "Let everyone else in, I want to address everyone," she ordered. She turned around and climbed onto the PT-1A's turret roof.
The garage door for Garage 3 was opened and people started filing back in, including Ross and Jody who had returned. "Can I have everyone's attention please?" Miho asked loudly over the crowd. Everyone fell silent and looked up at her. "Lately, things have been a little hectic so I'm going to provide some answers. First, this morning during a recruitment activity, one of our teammates-"
"It was me! I did, and I want to explain myself to everyone!" Jody cried out. She pushed to the front of the crowd before turning to face them. "This morning, Hana and I were trying to recruit students for the PT-1A, but during that time I approached a girl who was part of the blackshirt gang," she explained, "she provoked me, and I let my emotions out. However, the fight was broken up before things got serious. What really happened to her was that we found out she was part of the group that attacked William, Ross, and Joseph a week before our Saunders match, and she was taken back into police custody."
"But does that necessarily excuse attacking her…" Azusa weakly asked.
Jody smiled reassuringly at her. "No, it doesn't, so I'm probably going to get detention or something, as I should. Violence isn't the answer in this situation."
Everyone nodded in agreement. That part of the team's troubles was smoothed over. "However, that wasn't conveyed to the swimming team, who have taken back their LVT and quit the team," Miho said. Everyone frowned and looked disappointed. "But, if we do well in our matches and dispel these rumors and incidents, I'm sure they'll come back!" she exclaimed.
"They better come back!" Erwin declared.
"Erwin, settle down," Miho requested. "Now I'm sure this has shaken our resolve, but I'm sure that we'll bounce back from this because I have faith in everyone here to do it!"
"Yeah!" everyone cheered.
"Now let's get to practice!" Miho exclaimed.
"Yes ma'am!" everyone replied.
A few days passed after the incident, and the team was returning to normal, except for one problem. Despite their efforts, nobody had joined the team to crew the PT-1A. Miho, Hana, and the rest of the commanders met in the newly refurbished team headquarters to discuss the problem. "I should have expected that it would be hard to get new members. Everyone else likely already joined a club or two and the demanding practice schedule isn't terribly accommodating," Yuzu said.
"I still thought we could get one or two," Hana added with a hint of disappointment.
Everyone was sitting around a table in chairs that were similar to the ones in the student council's office. "Does anyone have any idea why?" Miho asked.
"Maybe Sensha-do just isn't popular here. It is seen as somewhat old-fashioned," Azusa proposed.
Everyone considered it for a moment. "Or it could just be the bad press we've had," Noriko added.
"Maybe the influence of the Blackshirts runs deeper than we think, what if they're threatening anyone who wants to join?" Azusa said,
"Maybe it's a bit of everything?" Erwin proposed.
"Wow, to think people would think negatively of Sensha-do here… that would never fly at Chi-Ha-Tan," Fukuda said.
Patty nodded. "Even if they aren't part of the team, the girls at Saunders still love their team," she added.
"We can speculate as long as we want, but I think it's a little late for that," Miho said, "we've only got one more week until the next match. That's just not enough time to train a completely new crew."
"What if the crew wasn't new?" William asked.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Miho asked.
"Well, could we put a current crew in it if it's an upgrade from their previous tank?" William proposed.
Miho thought for a moment. While none of our tanks would be a one-to-one conversion, it would be easier to retrain them on a new tank over a new crew and new tank, she thought. "Well it would, but who could we swap out? For most of our crews, it would be either a downgrade or leave crewmates behind."
"The PT-1A needs four crew members and would be an upgrade over the Type 89B. The frontal armor has more complex angling, a much better gun, and amphibious capabilities with much more mobility. It'd be fairly simple to swap Duck Team out from the Type 89B to the PT-1A," William said. "What do you think, Noriko?" he asked.
"I don't know, my team is pretty comfortable with the Type 89B and we like it a lot…" Noriko said.
"I understand, but the PT-1A would be more beneficial to the team than the Type 89B. The PT-1A will give you a much better chance to take out enemy tanks and could even swim behind enemy lines," William added.
"What do you think, Miho? Would we be better off with Duck Team in the PT-1A?" Noriko asked.
"It's definitely an improvement over the Type 89B, but if you're not comfortable with leaving the Type 89B then that's okay," Miho answered.
Noriko sighed in thought. "Well if it helps the team then let's do it," she decided.
William and Miho smiled. "Thank you, Noriko, we appreciate it," William said.
Noriko nodded. "Your welcome, if it increases our odds of winning, then it's worth it."
"You know, this discussion has got me thinking," Joseph said, "there are still lots of things we could do with our tanks if we want to squeeze their potential out."
"Things like?" Miho asked.
"Well, we can put schürzen skirts of the Panzer IV and StuG III for one. It'll give you a little boost in armor. The Panzer IV is also still missing the Nahverteidigungswaffe port, right?" Joseph asked.
"It is. Let's put those down for purchase when the budget allows for it. Anything else?" Miho asked.
"Let's see… the KV-1K should be able to receive the applique armor from the KV-1E. Another thing we can do is mount tracks or sandbags on tanks like the T34 Calliope, Panzer IV, and StuG III. I think a few more tanks can get an AA machine gun for suppression…" Joseph rambled.
"He's in a whole different world now," William said.
Joseph cupped his face while brainstorming ideas for upgrades. "I wonder if there's anything funky we can do with the engines…" he mumbled.
"We just need to make sure everything we do is legal, alright?" Miho said.
"Yeah, yeah, there's nothing in the rules against bringing personal effects…" Joseph mumbled.
Miho laughed dryly. "Well, I guess there isn't…"
"So, who will be our next opponent, Miho?" Canaveral asked.
"Oh yeah, our next opponent-"
Miho was interrupted by the door to the meeting room flying wide open, causing many commanders to jump out of surprise. "I'm back!" Yukari declared as she held the doors open. She was dressed strangely, wearing a convenience store uniform.
"Oh welcome back Yukari!" Yuzu exclaimed.
Joseph was broken from his thoughts by Yukari's dramatic entrance. "Hey, you're back!" he greeted cheerfully, "how'd Operation: Stromboli go?"
"Operation… Stromboli?" Miho asked.
"Stop calling it that Joseph, we're not calling the Anzio infiltration Operation: Stromboli!" Yukari protested.
"Why? It's a great name," Joseph argued, "oh yeah, did you at least bring me back something? I heard Anzio's food is top-notch."
Yukari huffed and dropped a take-out bag next to Joseph. "Only because you got this uniform for me," she answered.
"Sick!" Joseph cheered and pulled out the styrofoam box. He opened it excited to see a fresh, warm pepperoni stromboli inside. "How'd you know that stromboli's my favorite?"
"Because you keep trying to call the infiltration mission Operation: Stromboli," Yukari answered with annoyance.
Joseph dug into his treat. "Fair point," he mumbled between bites.
Yukari held back an eye roll and handed Miho a flash drive. "Here you go Miho. One infiltration video of our next opponent," she said.
Miho took the flash drive gratefully. "Thank you Yukari, but how do you know that Anzio would be our opponent?" she asked.
"Oh, their match was today so I just made a quick visit after it was over. It does look like Anzio will be a much bigger threat this year," Yukari answered.
Miho nodded. "If they made it past the second round they're either really lucky or have changed some things since last year."
"Guessing from the name and Joseph's Stromboli, Anzio is an Italian school right?" Ross asked.
"Yeah, I think the founder was Italian or something…" Anzu replied.
"Yes, Anzio uses Italian tanks, which means-"
Joseph couldn't help but pipe in. "That they suck?" he jokingly asked.
"Oh, oh, how do you stop an Italian armored advance?" Ross asked.
"You shoot the guys pushing the tankettes!" Joseph replied. The whole room filled with laughter and giggles, except Miho and Yukari, who didn't join.
"Ahem!" Miho called out, bringing the room back to the meeting, "While I know Italian armor design is… far from perfect, that doesn't mean we should make fun of them or underestimate them. They've made it past the first two rounds, so they should be respected and taken as such," Miho said.
"Right, right," William said, holding back his own chuckles, "let's check out the video then."
Yuzu took the drive from Miho and connected it to her laptop which was connected to a projector. Once the projector was turned on, it shone the laptop screen onto the plain white wall. Yuzu started the video.
Yukari anxiously stepped onto the Anzio campus grounds. The area was filled with students in the Anzio uniform consisting of a white collared shirt, black skirt, white leggings, black shoes, and a black beret. She looked around momentarily before whispering into her spy glass's microphone, "I've managed to infiltrate the main campus grounds. It looks like there is a lot of activity with students returning from their match."
Yukari walked forward into the crowd of students that were gathering in front of food stalls. She skillfully made her way through until she came upon a stall with its roof shaped like a Semovente assault gun. "Oh, that looks interesting," she said and walked up to it. On the other side of the counter was a girl with silvery black hair stirring a pot of boiling pasta. "Um, excuse me…"
The girl looked up from the pasta and flashed Yukari a bright smile. "Hey girl, what can I get for you? Stromboli? Spaghetti? Pizza?" she asked.
"Oh, could I get a pepperoni stromboli?" Yukari asked.
"Sure thing! Pepperoni's my specialty!" she exclaimed and went to work. She pulled a pre-made stromboli from a refrigerator below the counter and put it in a portable oven behind her. "So did you see the match today?" she asked, trying to make small talk.
"I did! I'm surprised Anzio did so well," Yukari praised.
"No need to be surprised. It all comes down to hard work! We don't need big scary tanks like Pravda or Kuromormine. I'd take the Sahariano over a T-34 any day!" the girl boasted.
"So you're on the team?" Yukari asked.
"You must be new here. I'm Pepperoni, one of the vice-captains of the team!" Pepperoni answered.
Yukari's eyes widened. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't know," she said.
Pepperoni smiled. "No worries, you're buying from my stall so I'll let it slide," she jokingly replied.
"Thank you," Yukari said, "so how do you guys do it? Anzio seems to be doing much better than last year."
"That, my friend, is due to Duce Anchovy's hard work, dedication, and our new suppliers!" Pepperoni answered cheerfully.
"New suppliers?" Yukari asked.
"That's right! I'm sure you noticed our new tanks in action!" Pepperoni exclaimed.
Yukari scratched her fluffy head. "Oh yeah, the L3/33's have been upgraded to the L3/38's right?" she asked.
Pepperoni laughed. "Yes, my L3 squadron has been improved moderately, but I think the biggest improvement is the AB 43."
"Oh yeah, the AB 43! That's a pretty advanced armored car!"
Pepperoni nodded confidently. "There's no way we don't make it to the finals, not when we also have Kuromormine helping us!" she exclaimed.
"What's Kuromormine doing?"
"Hold on, pause the video," William requested. Yuzu paused the video. "Thank you. So according to this vice-captain, Kuromormine is helping Anzio, Miho do you know anything about this?"
Miho shook her head. "No, this would be something out of left field with them. Kuromormine's never aided another school before," she answered.
"Well, something changed and now they are. Were there any German tanks in their match, Yukari?" he asked.
Yukari shook her head. "They didn't even field twelve tanks in the match against Count High School. Only three Semoventes, one Autoblinda 43, four L3/38s, one Celere Sahariano, and one M14/40," she answered.
Miho pulled papers on each of the tanks out onto the coffee table in the center of the room. "For Italian armor, that's fairly well outfitted," she noted.
"Those Semoventes are nasty business. 100 mm of penetration with HEAT? Yikes," William added, looking over a spreadsheet.
"It's not much, but the AB 43 is fast and will be hard to hit and its gun is good enough to damage or destroy tanks at close ranges," Ross said.
"Those L3/38's are similar," Azusa added, "they'll get a maximum 27mm of penetration with the 13.2mm Breda M31, which is better than the nothing they'd get with the L3/33s or L3/35s."
"Let's not get psyched out though!" Noriko warned, "we've still got bigger tanks and bigger guns than them."
"Dang right we do!" Victoria cheered, "one shot from my howitzer and all those Italians will be dust!"
"We won't get psyched out or overconfident," Miho advised, "but it's better to be cautious and prepared for anything."
"Right, so let's keep watching the video. If they run the same lineup as their first matches, they'll still have five tanks to add," William said.
"Kuromormine?" Yukari asked.
"Hm? Did I say Kurmormine? My bad, we've just got enough funds to buy a brand new heavy and you're going to love it!" Pepperoni answered.
"If it's a heavy tank then it must be the P26/40 right?" Yukari asked.
"Yeah, that's the one! If you stick around, Duce Anchovy will be at the Coliseum to speak to everyone soon," Pepperoni said, pulling the stromboli out of the oven and putting it in a takeout box. "That'll be three million lire!"
"Wait what? What exchange rate are you using?!" Yukari asked, flabbergastingly pulling out her wallet.
"Oh, uh 300 Yen," Pepperoni answered.
Yukari handed her the money and took the box before leaving with a friendly smile and wave. "A speech at the Coliseum? If everyone's going to be there, then their garages will be wide-open…" she excitedly whispered to herself and the camera. Yukari quickly moved through the crowd when she had to jump aside to avoid an L3/33 sputtering along with an Italian flag with the logo of Anzio fluttering above it. "Wow, it looks like a miniature version of Hippo Team," she commented.
She eventually found her way out of the crowd at the front of the campus building and went inside the main building, which was styled after Renaissance-style architecture. Just as she predicted, the building was empty. She slowly walked through the empty halls and admired the craftsmanship of the building, which utilized various bricks and stones to create a sturdy, but beautiful building. She stopped to admire the large dome that capped the main entrance. High windows allowed the sun to pierce through, creating beautiful rays that illuminated the dome. Yukari looked in awe before shaking her head free of architectural admiration. "I can't get distracted," she whispered before starting again. Thankfully, unlike Saunders, Anzio had marked out where everything was on the walls with impressively crafted plaques of stone. She followed the Sensha-do plaque that pointed down a hallway that would lead her to the Sensha-do garage.
Eventually, she stepped into a large garage, which was connected to the school. A large brick building housed Anzio's Sensha-do team and continued the Renaissance architecture style. Each tank was held in its own section that stretched out far from the main school. Yukari rushed in and started looking over the tanks, stall by stall. The first few stalls held the old L3/33 tankettes that weren't used in Anzio's first matches. The school had five of them in the garage, but one was missing, probably the one out parading around.
In the seventh, eighth, and ninth stalls from the entrance were three Semovente 75/18 assault guns. They were boxy, had a 75mm gun, and riveted armor, but also a short statue. "Wow… to finally see so many Italian tanks…" Yukari whispered.
After the Semovente's came the AB 43. It was an armored car with a 47mm gun. It had a slanted front and a spare pair of tires mounted to the sides with a round turret. It was painted in yellow, red, and dark green camouflage. "So cool…"
After the AB 43 came the Celere Sahariano. It was a medium tank with a similar 47mm gun as the AB 43, but it had much thicker, slanted riveted armor all around the tank. "This is a rare one! I could look at those slopes all day…" But she moved on to the next stall.
In the next four stalls, four L3/38s were lined up together. "Aw, they're kinda cute," Yukari said. The L3/38s were armed with 13.2mm Breda M31 machine guns which, combined with its super short profile and speed, would be a good vehicle for scouting and ambushing lighter vehicles.
The next stall had an M14/40 medium tank. Its hull was similar in shape to the Semoventes and L3s, but it had a turret with a 47mm gun like the Sahariano. It also had riveted armor like the others. "Not bad, I guess," Yukari commented.
The next stall had the mother load, the true pride of Anzio's team, the powerhouse of Italian armored design. Yukari walked over and looked into the stall. Her eyes widened in surprise. Towering above her was a familiar vehicle with a long 75mm gun. "What's Anzio doing with a Panzer IV?" Yukari asked with shock.
She quickly looked through the rest of the stalls, finding another Panzer IV Ausf. G, two Panzer III Ausf. Ns without the schürtzen skirts, and two empty stalls. "But they faced Maginot and Count, these tanks can't be captured…" she muttered as she entered the final stall. Suddenly, from behind her, the wooden garage door started to open. Acting fast, Yukari ran over to the last Panzer III's stall and dove under the tank to hide.
The wooden doors opened full with a creak and a girl with curly reddish-brown stepped inside, followed by a medium tank with a 75mm short-barreled gun.
"Wow, is that a Turan II? They must have captured it from Count," Yukari commented. She adjusted herself to get a better view of the girl and the Turan II.
Miho's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "Koume?!"
DUN DUN DUN! Big surprise! I changed the traditional 000 transitions for the built-in horizontal line and I hope it's a better transition because I think it looks much better. I've also heard that there may be some problems with text-to-speech with the 000 so I hope this fixes that problem as well. If you guys like it, I'll go back through the previous chapters and swap the 000 out with the line.
Anyways that concludes another chapter and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Thank you all for reading and a special thank you for the favorites, follows, and reviews. I especially love reading the reviews. Onto the next chapter!
Next Time on Girls und Panzer Tank Aces!
Chapter 27: Hunting for More Tanks!