The Cadillac engine of the growled, as the tank grinded to a halt, engine smoking, before the white flag popped out of its chamber.
"Koala Forest flag tank is disabled. St. Gloriana has won."
Wallaby sighed, as she picked up her hat off the floor of the Sentinel, fashioned in the same way as the hats the ANZACs of the First World War wore, before fitting it firmly on her head. Climbing out of the tank, she could see the recovery vehicles come into view, and behind them, a VAB marked clearly with red crosses driving towards them. Sliding down the turret, she landed on the sandy grounds of Tottori's sand dunes, before helping Platypus down. Once her crew was out of the tank and on the ground, she rushed towards the Churchill and Stuart, as the Churchill turret crew opened their hatches. Examining them, only the gunner Assam was injured, holding an ice pack to her hand as Orange Pekoe held the broken remains of the shattered porcelain tea cups and tea pot. Miraculously, Darjeeling's broken tea cup that she had dropped still sat on top of the turret, as Pekoe began to brush the shards into a plastic bag, the shattered remains hitting the other broken porcelain items. The commander's hatch of the Stuart opened, as Victoria crawled out, holding a blood soaked rag to her head, before the driver's hatch flew open. Gibson's head emerged, as she tumbled out of the tank, before reaching inside and dragging out the unconscious driver. Finally, the hull machine gunner's hatch opened, as Simpson's bruised body struggled to get out. Rushing to the Stuart, Wallaby climbed up its sloped frame, before extending her hand into the tank. A hand gripped her arm, as Wallaby pulled with all her might. Simpson flew out of the tank, as both girls tumbled to the ground, where Wallaby could see the rest of her team except Eyre and her crew, crowding around her. Getting to her feet, she could see Darjeeling approach her alongside her loader and her gunner, while her subordinates watched from the cliff above.
"This has been the most interesting of battles, don't you agree, Wallaby?" Darjeeling spoke, as she instinctively went to sip from her missing tea cup, before stopping.
Wallaby scratched her head, before readjusting her hat. "It certainly has been, Darjeeling. I did not expect the battle to turn out this way. Still kinda sucks that we lost, since we clearly had a chance to win at the end."
"What is defeat? Nothing but education, nothing but the first step to something better. Even though you lost today, you will become stronger the more you fight." Darjeeling spoke, with a certain elegance to her words, while Wallaby and Platypus scratched their heads in confusion. An awkward silence engulfed the two, before Platypus stepped in.
"We're holding a barbecue for all schools to come, wanna join us?" she said enthusiastically, as the other girls giggled with excitement.
"Very well."
As soon as Wallaby and Platypus heard the reply, they immediately turned around and headed for the recovery vehicles as they hooked onto the remains of the destroyed tanks and began to head back. She looked over to the VAB armoured personnel carrier, as the injured Stuart crew was loaded in, before its engine started again. Climbing onto the hull of her Sentinel as the tank was dragged back to the storage area, she could see the Stuart, as it was lifted and placed on a trailer towed by a truck, with the Churchill loaded onto the neighboring truck. One by one, each of the destroyed tanks were loaded onto trailers, as their crews climbed in to be taken back to the storage areas. The drive back was relatively smooth, as the Sentinel rolled across the flat plains, towed by a modified Centurion tank. The trucks, with tanks stored on trailers behind them, matched their speed with the leading Centurion. Reaching the spectator's area, the Centurion took a right turn towards the temporary storage areas. Wallaby could see the awe and excitement of the spectators, as destroyed tanks rolled by, led by an armoured recovery vehicle. Arriving at the storage areas, Wallaby could see Koala Forest students setting up the barbecue, among them, dozens of Anzio students helping to set up the tables, as they brought monstrous amounts of Italian cuisine. The armoured recovery vehicle finally stopped, as Wallaby climbed out, she could see the commanders of various schools approach her. First was the commander of Anzio, Anchovy, who was dressed in a black apron.
"We're just about finished setting everything up for the barbecue, Wallaby. Congratulations. Even though you didn't win, you managed to white-flag four of their tanks, so well done." Anchovy quickly turned and ran towards a group of Anzio students, yelling at them for overcooking the pasta, as Kay approached her. Behind her, Wallaby could see Kay's two vice commanders carrying a cooler full of Coke, as well as ridiculous amounts of chicken and cooking oil.
"Wallaby," Kay said. "You never fail to surprise me! That match was epic! The falling Stuart, St. Gloriana's ambush, the whole shebang! Also, I'm not gonna lie, I really like this barbecue thing. Next time, come over to our schoolship. Alisa and Naomi always seem to find a way to stuff everything up."
Behind Kay, who walked over to Darjeeling to congratulate her on her victory, Wallaby could see both Maho and Erika from the Kuromorimine, dressed in traditional Dirndl outfits. She could see Erika carrying ludicrous amounts of Hamburg steaks stacked tall on one plate, as well as all sorts of sausages on another, while Maho somehow held five mugs filled to the brim with beer with her two hands. The two quickly passed by, as Wallaby stood confused at the two normally very serious girls acting rather lively in front of her. A small explosion sound echoed throughout the barbecue area, as one of the barbecues created a pillar fire at least five metres tall. Placing at least ten hamburg steaks on it taken from Erika's plate, Anchovy began to sizzle them, completely oblivious to the mini fire tornado that had formed over her station. Staring at the crowd of people, she suddenly realised a surprise she had prepared, as she raced to the vehicle storage area and climbed into a Dingo scout car, before hooking a large trailer holding a shipping container. The small engine groaned as the car began to pick up speed, before entering the barbecue area, and stopping the car. Everyone now gathered around the scout car and the shipping container it had lugged over, except Erika and Anchovy, who were busy preparing the Hamburg steaks, as Wallaby climbed out of the Dingo scout car and rushed to the back of the storage container. The girls crowding around the container began to murmur, as no one knew what was inside, before Wallaby spoke up.
"Don't worry girls, I have enough for everybody," as she opened the container, revealing stacks and stacks of crates, all of them containing the words 'Victorian Bitter'.