Baylee was enjoying a blissful slumber. She'd never admit it, but Claire's bed was truly her favorite place to sleep. For her, no other place provided such complete rest. The moment her body lied down upon the mattress and covered herself with the wonderfully soft blankets, she could feel all the stress and aches from the day melt and be reduced to nothing. A state of total and utter relaxation. She playfully thought to herself that if she slept in Claire's bed enough times, she'd achieve nirvana like some monk meditating in solitude and yet, something felt different. Tonight something disturbed Baylee's rest. What started as a soft tap had quickly become a steady pounding pulling Baylee from her unconscious state.

Cracking an eye open without moving, Baylee inspected her surroundings, "Clock says 02:20, Claire isn't in bed, is she okay? There's a light behind me, and the sound..." Fear crept up her sleepy spine as she considered her options. "I could probably make it to the door if I'm fast enough. But what happened to Claire?"

In her half asleep mind, Baylee's imagination ran wild with all sorts of monsters that could have eaten her friend. She needed to do something. "You need to look! You need to be brave! For Claire!" Finishing her inner pep talk and taking a deep breath she turned around. In that moment fear became despair.

Across the room sat her best friend. Tears streamed down Claire's face, her left hand red from repeatedly punching the desk.

"Claire?" whispered Baylee. She knew this was a delicate situation. All the young teen wanted to do was rush over and hold her friend. But If she handled the next few seconds wrong, things would only get worse. "Claire?" Baylee repeated a little louder

Claire froze in place. Like a child caught doing something wrong she shrunk in her chair. Barely breathing, she looked utterly defeated. Tears dripped from her face onto the desk

Baylee did her best to keep a calm, steady voice. "Claire… Please turn around. It's just me."

Turning slowly, Claire finally released her fist and looked Baylee in the eyes.

As she sat up on the bed, Baylee took a moment to look Claire over. Her medium length indigo hair was a mess. Looking into Claire's blue eyes, Baylee's heart shattered. "She looks so devastated…"

Baylee opened her arms, inviting Claire in. "Come here, let it out."

That was enough, like a burst dam, the tears came back in force. Claire rushed to Baylee. She entered the safety of her friend's arms and tackled her onto the bed.

While they laid together, Baylee let her friend cry. After a few minutes the sobs became light sniffles and the friends separated. "You okay?" Concern laced her voice.

Claire took a second to breathe. She retrieved her new Boko and hugged him tightly. After a moment she spoke. "Y-yeah, just s-some bad news."

"Would you like to talk about it? Can I help?" Baylee didn't want to push. But desperately wished to help. "Whatever it is, I'm here for you"

Touched by her friend's words Claire nodded. "H-here, I'll show you." She let go of her bear and grabbed her mobile off the nightstand by the bed. After pushing some buttons she swiped the screen and the report of Maho Nishizumi's death was projected onto the wall.

Baylee took a moment to read the report. "Oh no." She knew how much Claire looked up to the woman. Baylee doubted there was anyone the indigo haired girl respected more than the now passed Nishizumi. She could remember the countless hours she'd sit with Claire and listen to her friend rave about how amazing the old lady had been. "I'm so sorry Claire. This is horrible."

"I'll never get to meet her now," whispered Claire. "I'll never get to tell her how much she inspired me." with a final sniffle, Claire fell back into the bed.

Rather than ask more questions Baylee laid down and gave Claire one last hug. "Everything will be okay. I promise." Together the girls fell into peaceful sleep.


It was a new day, and Anna hoped to make it a good one. Now out of bed, she fell into her normal start of day-routine. While she brushed her hair, Baylee walked in.

As Baylee looked at Anna she put on a confused face. "Claire? Weren't you just in the bed?"

"Very funny Baylee. You can't go one sleepover without that joke can you?"

Baylee grabbed her tooth brush and prepared to brush her teeth "Oh please you know it's my favorite joke." With a laugh she added, "Your twin hates it too." And with that she started brushing

Anna took a moment to inspect the girl next to her. Baylee had been Claire's friend for as long as she could recall. At points she felt Baylee knew more about her sister than even she knew, but she was thankful her twin had such a loyal friend.

Finished with her task, Baylee spit into the sink and looked at Anna in the mirror "See anything you like, Anna? You've been staring for a bit. Also, are you done with that brush? It hasn't moved in a while."

"Huh? Oh," Anna shook her head quickly "Sorry, got lost in thought."

"You sure you're not Claire?" Baylee asked with a smirk. "Anna isn't the type to go all 'Lost in Wonderland'," Baylee added with finger quotes.

This got a chuckle from the dark haired girl. "Okay that one was funny, jerk. Anyway, what are you two gonna do today? Knowing you, there has to be a plan."

"Guilty as charged. We're going to do some last minute school shopping and see what we can find out about the tankery program."

"Oh…" Anna considered her words, "would you mind if I came along? It's been awhile since we all hung out. Maybe Miranda could come too! Just like old times, yeah?

"That would be wonderful! You two should absolutely come!" beamed Baylee "This is perfect! Claire is going to be so happy!"

With that, Anna stepped out of the restroom "I'll be ready whenever you two are, I'm going to call Miranda and see if she wants to come along."

"Sounds good!" Baylee shouted out the door.


Across the valley, Miranda sat at her desk inside her home. On her calendar she saw school was only two days away. She wanted to make the most of her summer, and debated what to do with the day.

"I could go for a drive. Maybe I'll see what Anna is up to." Miranda pulled out her mobile and brought up Anna's contact info. A sudden nervous feeling stopped Miranda from hitting the call icon. "Maybe she's busy, I shouldn't bug her this early." With a sad sigh she set the device down on her desk.

As Miranda stood to leave she suddenly heard the discarded mobile chirp. On the screen was the very friend she wanted to call. She looked up and thanked whatever deity blessed her with this call and moved to answer. With a swipe of a hand Anna's face appeared on the screen on her desk. As Miranda sat she waved to her friend.

"Morning Anna! How are you?"

"Hey there Mara!" Anna waved back, "I'm pretty good! The dorks and I are going to hang out and see what we can learn about the school's new tankery program. Would you like to join us?"

Miranda immediately lit up. "Hell yes! I was hoping we'd all get together before school starts! When should I be ready?" In her head she cheered. Her wish to see Anna today was coming true.

Anna appeared to be thinking. She moved her hand under her chin and spoke. "My guess would be an hour and a half, we still have to eat, and I'm willing to bet a certain twin isn't out of bed yet." With a mischievous smirk she spoke to herself. "Maybe I'll do something about that."

A shiver creeped down Miranda's Spine. "Alright… don't scare her too badly," followed with a nervous laugh.

"Yeah, yeah I'll see you when we get there!" With another wave Anna was gone.

With a cheer Miranda dove onto her bed "YES!" Today was going to be great, she knew it.


Baylee gently shook Claire. "Hey there sleepy head, you gotta get up."

A soft moan from Claire became a single stretched out word; "Noooo."

She shook harder. "Come on, please get up. Everyone is up already."

"Claire wants to sleep, leave Claire alone," came the sleepy girl's reply.

"Great, she's in the third person now. Ugh I need a new approach, I'll try bribery." As she attempted to pull the blanket off Claire she spoke, " But your mom is making breakfast, French toast! Your favorite!"

"Claire isn't hungry, Claire is sad, Claire wants sleep. Go awayyyy."

Baylee thought about the night before, her friend crying at the desk. Not wanting to upset Claire further she released the blankets. "Alright, but I'm going to make you a plate, please be up by the time I get back…" As she walked out of the room and into the hallway Baylee bumped heads with Anna.

"Ouch, Sorry Baylee. Is Claire up yet?" asked Anna as she rubbed her forehead.

"No not yet" Baylee wasn't sure what to say. "Do I tell her about Claire being sad? No, that's Claire's business to share, not mine."

"Hmm. I can handle that. Excuse me." Anna pushed Baylee aside and walked into Claire's room.

Baylee started a mental countdown from ten. When the clock hit one there was a loud "THUMP" and Anna flew out the room landing face first on the ground. "Oh, hey Anna, did I mention Claire is in a bad mood?" she asked with a kind smile, helping Anna to stand.

"Ouch again," Anna said with a laugh. "Thanks for the warning, wise ass. Let's wake her up after breakfast, deal?"

"Deal."


As Claire laid alone she thought about the previous night. Her childhood hero was gone. At the time this had made her fall apart inside. At the moment however, she just felt numb. "You're being stupid. You can't stay in bed all day."

Knowing the voice in her head was right she sluggishly rose from bed. Still in her pajamas, she lazily walked to the kitchen. A beautiful smell pulled her from the negative thoughts. "French toast…" Her frown turned to a small smile and her walk became a run as she charged into the kitchen.

"Good morning Claire! How did you sleep?"

"Morning Mom! I uh… slept good" Claire lied, "No point in bumming everyone else out."

Baylee gave her a skeptical look but didn't say anything about it. "Hey, saved you a plate."

"You're the best, thank you Baylee!" Claire took the seat next to Baylee and dug into her breakfast.

Down the table Anna looked up from her plate. "Hey Claire, I talked to Baylee already, was thinking Miranda and I could tag along for your adventures today. That okay?"

Shocked that Anna wanted to come, Claire almost choked on her food in an attempted reply. "S-sure! That sounds fun! We're going to be looking into the tankery program! Though i'm not too sure where to look for info, maybe Lloyd will know something?"

"Lloyd might know, I mean he's usually well informed about most things around here," Baylee added, happy to see Claire smiling again. "Let's ask him after we pick up Miranda!"

Anna chose this time to ask something that had been on her mind. "I wonder what tanks they'll have. I can't imagine Cattle Kate having the money for many nice ones. So probably no Tigers. What do you think, Claire?"

"Hmm, I'd bet you're right. maybe some shermans, those are cheap and everywhere. Also maybe the school kept some from the old team. Or we could end up with some other schools cast outs or some junkyard finds, No matter, it'll be okay! As long as we do our best I'm positive things will work out."

Everyone could agree with that, and with some more small talk they finished their breakfast and got ready to leave. Claire took a little while to get ready but they still had plenty of time to make the drive to pick Miranda up.


Now loaded into Baylees truck, the girls set off. As they drove the topic immediately returned to their thoughts on tankery.

"I hope a lot of students join. I'd hate to have a small team," Anna started.

Claire could only agree. "No joke! Imagine if it's just us."

With a fake announcer's voice Baylee shouted, "Introducing Cattle Kate's Tankery… tank." As she giggled she added "Yeah not much of a ring to that, let's hope for a lot of teammates."

As they laughed, they made the turn leaving the twins hometown of Freedom and continued toward Miranda's home in Osmond. Living in Star Valley wasn't like other places. Having been founded in the late 1870s as a collection of small distant towns between the mountains surrounding them, it largely remained the same as time went on. Small towns separated by ranchers, hills, and trees, each as beautiful and unique as the last. One could easily fall for the beauty and simplicity of life in the valley.

From Freedom, it was roughly thirty minutes of driving to reach Miranda's home. An average drive for any local. The girls made their way through two of the hub towns, Thane and Afton. Being connected by the highway these towns saw the most business and growth. These two towns had stores, restaurants and more. Cattle Kate High was located in Afton as well.

"Should we stop in Afton and get snacks?" Asked Baylee.

"Let's stop on our way back, so Miranda can get something too," Anna responded

They left Afton and were on the final stretch to Osmond. Anna used this time to message Miranda and tell her they were close.

Right as the girls pulled up to Miranda's house, the short girl of five foot four came running out. Now all together they were off.

Claire noticed a change in the girl. " You cut your hair!"

Miranda had short auburn hair somewhat framing a delicate face and light brown eyes. "It's nothing special, just a haircut."

"It looks nice, it suits you," Anna said from the seat next to her.

Miranda tried poorly to hide her immediate blush. "Th-thank you Anna!"

Baylee and Claire shared a laugh from the front. "I wish we had that effect on people, right Claire?

"Right!"

From the back a clueless Anna hugged Miranda. "They're just jealous of how cool I am, right Miranda? Miranda?!"

Silence was all that came from the limp body in Anna's arms. The girl had fainted from all the attention her crush had given her.


Miranda awoke to loud country music and Baylee's horrible singing. Taking a moment to stretch she looked around. "We're in Afton, near the fairgrounds. Wonder where we're going." Her thoughts ended as a drink and bag of candy landed in her lap.

"Morning." Anna spoke hesitantly, "You okay? Sorry if I hugged you too tightly."

"What?" The memories returned to Miranda in a rush,"Did i really pass out again? Thought I was over that. N-no, I'm okay! Everything is fine." Taking a second to sip her drink and compose herself, she spoke again. "Where are we going? The fairgrounds?"

"Yeah, Baylee needs to feed the horses. But before she does that, we're going to the old terminal to bug Lloyd, see what the weirdo knows about the tankery program."

As Miranda tore into her snacks she thought about Lloyd. "He's not that weird. Just tough to talk to."

"Yeah yeah, It's the county's fault. Making him sound all western. I get it, we're in the 'cowboy state', but does the AI really have to sound like some wild west cowboy? And he's just so dumb."

"But he's only an infrastructural AI, give the poor guy some credit, he's super helpful."

"Sure, for the ranchers and businesses, but what does he do for us?"

A little annoyed that her crush didn't see Lloyd's worth, Miranda began to list, "You mean other than helping the ranchers and businesses we rely on? Well, he helps the mine and each town in more ways than I can count, he manages the wind and solar farms, and I hear he's also teaching a class this year at Cattle Kate! How's that for 'what does he do for us'?" Coming out of her rant, she noticed Anna was laughing at her

"Christ you're fun to fire up," Anna giggled. "But you're right, he's pretty helpful. So let's go see if he can help us."


Claire walked around the station with minor interest, walking to the terminal to contact Lloyd she asked, "Anna, do you remember how to turn this thing on? I wasn't really paying attention when dad showed us."

"Yeah. The red lever around the back, flip that and it should boot up."

Claire reached around and found the lever. Pulling it up, there was an audible pop, and the old device powered up. A second later a small orange hologram appeared on the terminal.

Dressed in classic cowboy attire, one hand on a holster and another tipping his hat, Lloyd spoke, "Well howdy there, Claire Cody, Anna Cody, Baylee Merli, and Miranda Starr. How may I help ya'll today?

Claire saw Anna cringe from Lloyd's speech. "We were curious if you knew anything about the tankery program the high school is starting."

Lloyd made a show of looking like he was deep in thought flipping through the pages of a hologram book as though the information he needed was inside. "I reckon I might know a thing or two. What would you like to know?"

Claire couldn't stop herself. "Anything you can tell us! Who's the coach? How many tanks do we have? What kind are they? Do you know how… huh"

Lloyd appeared frozen and lagged for a full two seconds before answering. "Woah woah hang on there partner, one at a time. There hasn't been much talk about the Cattle Kate Tankery Team, what I do know is the team officially starts September 14th, and the coach is Miss Lindsey Bates." he appeared like he was going to say more, but stopped himself.

As Claire began cheering, Miranda stepped up and spoke, "Lloyd, do you know if this coach is around town? Could we visit her?"

Lloyd took a thinking pose as he answered. "Well I reckon I could ask her if you'd like."

"Yeah, that would be fine. Please inform her we'd like the chance to meet and learn more about the team, maybe even help if she needs it."

Lloyds avatar appeared to write Miranda's words on a notepad, as he folded it up a mailbox appeared and Lloyd threw the holographic letter in. "If she accepts I'll send directions to your tablets. Anything else this here cowboy can help with?"

"Are the theatrics really ness-ouch!"

"No, thank you Lloyd, have a good day!" Miranda said with one hand in a wave and the other on the back of Anna's head.

Lloyd chuckled, tipped his hat, and disappeared, leaving the girls to go about their day.


Sitting on the horse corral fence, Claire watched the others work. Any normal day Claire would be helping but she had asked for a moment to herself, pretending to mess with her mobile as she thought about the previous night. Learning of the loss of her hero.

She could remember the first time she heard of the woman. Years ago, while watching old tankery VODs with her dad, a teenage Maho appeared atop her Tiger 1. She looked so brave and strong that the young Claire immediately wanted to know more about her. With help from her father, Claire had spent weeks reading about the woman, her family, and her many achievements both inside and outside tanks all throughout her long life. From then on she'd become hooked, a fan for life, and it truly pained her to know she'd never meet her idol.

Claire had to laugh as she remembered how mad Anna would get. When they were young and their dad would read them stories every night, Claire would beg for him to read about the Nishizumis and Anna would get beyond upset. But they took turns picking stories so Anna would cope.

"I miss those days..."

Just then a memory snapped her back to reality, "No matter what befall us, we advance!" A popular saying in the Nishizumi family, and one Claire took to heart.

"Snap out of it Claire! You're just now taking your first steps into tankery and all your friends are coming too. The past may be gone, but the future is bright!" Moving her hands from the railing, she slapped her cheeks and let out a yell "OUCH!"

Stunned, Baylee looked in Claire's direction. "You okay Claire?"

With a loud laugh Claire jumped from the fence, ran to Baylee, and wrapped her friend in a hug. "Were going to do tankery!"

"Uhh yes? We've known this for two days. Really now, are you okay?"

Ignoring Baylees concerns, Claire yelled out "Let's do our best!"

Claire's awkward happiness was infectious, causing Anna and Miranda to cheer along.

Baylee, in a confused but happy voice, finally joined in "Y-yeah! Uhh let's do it!"


Alone in her apartment, Lindsey Bates was reading some news on American tankery. She had spent the last week preparing what she could for her new job; Head Coach of the Cattle Kate Tankery Team, so new that the team didn't even have a name. She looked over her plans one last time. "It's unlikely any of these kids have any tankery experience, some fans maybe. Best we keep it simple." Looking over some simple safety drills and the basic rule documents provided to all teams, Lindsey crafted the teams early training plans.

Now finished with her task she noticed a notification. "From Lloyd? What's the AI want with me?" The coach tapped the icon, and on her screen the image of four girls appeared on her screen with the message: Howdy Miss! These Lovely ladies and one other would like to ask some questions about Cattle Kate's Tankery team. They hoped to meet with you and seemed very interested in helping any way they could.

"Some early help would go a long way, maybe some team leaders in this group." Lindsey tapped the reply icon and spoke "Sure Lloyd, send them here please"

As she looked at the image of the four teens, she decided to learn what she could. Once again she pushed the button to speak to the AI, "Lloyd, please display their names and school records from last year"

Four names appeared above the girls. "Anna Cody, Miranda Starr, Claire Cody, and Baylee Merli Hmm, Let's start with Anna. 2.7 GPA, decent attendance, bit of a troublemaker it seems." In a note one teacher had written, Anna's a bit of a class clown, nothing too disruptive but she can get carried away. I would also note she's very defensive of her sister Claire. Seating them together often puts a stop to Anna's antics.

Next was Miranda "3.6 GPA, good attendance, but what's this?" Once again Lindsey was drawn to the notes left by teachers, most were positive, but one note caught her eye, Miranda is a great student, very vocal about her opinions. However, her friendship with Anna Cody often leaves her distracted. I recommend separating them during class.

Now it was Claire's turn. "Woah, 4.0 GPA, near perfect attendance. I wonder what the teachers have to say about her." Scrolling down, Lindsey found multiple notes; most praising Claire. Yet there was one that surprised her, from the Freshman English class, Claire's a smart student, yet her obsession with tankery continues to amaze me. Perhaps if our school had a team she'd make more friends.

"A tankery fan huh. Well that's a start." Lindey said. "Now then, lets see the last girl."

"Baylee Merli, 3.8 GPA, very good attendance, and as expected a couple notes. Baylee is a smart one. She can provide a class halting comment to nearly anything. Would advise any future teachers to be prepared as she often outwits the best of us.

"Huh… shes interesting. Sounds like fun."

"I think these four will do nicely." Lindsey looked at the time, "12:40, I'd better get ready, no telling when they'll arrive." Lindsey was looking forward to this.

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Another chapter done! Thank you so much for reading! ^_^ Id like to thank AAHW and Rihnoswirl for Beta reading and helping me make it so much better! If you enjoyed please follow for more! and I love any feedback so please don't hesitate to share! Till next time! 3