Chapter 6:

Thursday's school day came and ever so slowly went, with the girls from Tokyo disappointed to find that no Sensha-do classes were scheduled until the following morning. After the final bell had ended their last class and the girls trekked toward their apartments, Usagi grumbled, "Today was brutal! I never realized how much I miss riding in our Panzer instead of sitting in boring class the whole day."

"Be sure to study your trigonometry lessons later, Usagi-chan" Ami reminded her. "Don't forget about the test we have tomorrow afternoon."

"I won't forget. But I wish I could!" the blonde muttered. "Stupid trigonometry, with its triangles and weird symbols and complicated formulas! I nearly fell asleep!" She asked, "Minna, what should we do this evening? After dinner, let's have fun together and forget about school for a few hours."

"How about a shopping trip?" Minako suggested. "Hana told me that the Zuikaku has a really nice shopping plaza in the center of town with all the latest fashions and everything!"

"Aren't you forgetting something, Minako-chan?" Rei spoke. "If we purchase anything here, we can't bring it with us when we return home to our dimension."

"Oh. That's right" the bubbly blonde sighed. "Well, I'm fresh out of ideas. Or maybe not..." She giggled, "I could give Miho and her Anglerfish team another fun-filled love and romance lecture! There's way more Phase Three topics I can tell them about!"

Usagi stared at her. "There is?"

"Forget it!" Makoto glared sternly at her future sister-in-law. "Save your advice on that subject for later, Minako-chan. The last thing the girls need is to get distracted before Saturday's big match in Nagasaki. Miho is really worried about competing against her sister again, and I promised her we'll do our absolute best to help her and our school win."

"Hai, though we'll certainly have to perform better in battle than we've managed to do in most of our practice skirmishes" Ami agreed. "I'm quite sure Maho is bound to seek personal revenge on Miho after losing to Ooarai in the national tournament, Mako-chan. The loss of face she felt that day must have been tremendous."

"Well she'd better get used to it, Ami-chan, because she's going to feel that same way again real soon" Makoto vowed. "Minna, it's past time we stop thinking and acting like regular high school girls when we're doing Sensha-do. We can't become Sailor Senshi in this dimension, but we can still use at least some of our knowledge and experience about fighting youma to give us the edge we need." The sixteen-year-old reincarnation of Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Jupiter growled, her vivid green eyes flashing with grim determination, "I don't give a damn about Kuramorimine's so-called expert tactics or how powerful their tanks are supposed to be. This Saturday, come hell or high water, they're going down!"

. . . . .

The next morning...

"Fire!"

"Hai!" Ami instantly responded with a firm squeeze on the trigger.

Her Panzer's gun surged backward, recoiling along its guide tracks and sending its shell blitzing through the air.

Makoto stood in the turret, watching with satisfaction as the round caught Anzu's Hetzer in mid-turn, burrowing deeply into its hull. "There's the white flag. Turtle team is out of action. Minna, there's one last tank hiding in the woods to our right, and it's Rabbit team's Lee. That's our next target."

"I didn't see anything over that way" her driver replied. "Are you sure, Mako-chan?"

"Hai, I'm sure. I can feel it." Makoto ordered her crew, "Ami-chan, center your gun. We're going to attack them from the rear, so they can't return fire with their main gun without turning their tank around. Minako-chan, turn hard right and take us into that gully, quick as you can. When it ends, slow down and go left after we climb out."

"On it!"

Luna team's tank heeled sharply around and roared downhill into the wide chasm with Minako joyfully pinning the accelerator pedal to the floor.

From the top of a hill at one side of the practice area, Miho's Panzer IV sat with its engine shut down, its crew acting temporarily as non-combatant observers for the day's skirmish. The entire Anglerfish team stood watching beside their open hatches as the other Panzer quickly disappeared into the crevasse.

"Very sneaky!" Miho smiled approvingly, instinctively knowing her brunette friend's next move. "That's exactly what I would have done."

"Luna team is on fire today, Nishizumi-dono!" Yukari exclaimed. "The've already knocked out two tanks in five minutes!"

"And they'll get a third if Azusa doesn't spot them in time!" her commander giggled. "I'm tempted to warn her, but that wouldn't be fair. If Makoto's crew manages to disable Rabbit team, we'll let them know we're rejoining the action and try to make things more interesting for our friends."

Miho raised her binoculars to better glimpse the action occuring within the distant trees. "Minna, it looks like Makoto's Panzer is out of the gully, about seven or eight hundred meters from Rabbit. They've slowed down and are trying to sneak behind the Lee."

"I don't think Ami will shoot yet" her gunner mused. "At that range, she isn't guaranteed a kill."

"I agree, Hana" Miho replied. "If I was commanding Luna, I'd close to within- and there they go! Azusa must've heard the Panzer's engine, they're making a run for it!"

She heard Ami fire again, but couldn't immediately tell if the blue-haired girl's rushed shot was on target. "Rabbit is still moving, so I'd call that a near miss."

Seconds later, the other teens of Anglerfish team spotted the Lee charge into view, fleeing for its life into the flat clearing beyond the forest.

"That's a serious mistake" Mako murmured from the top of the hull. "Azusa is trying to outrun a tank that has a faster top speed than hers, and with a relatively weak gun in her turret, she's putting herself in a hopeless position."

"Hai" Miho nodded, lowering her binoculars. "A problem she may face again this weekend. I'll talk to her later and suggest something else she can try." The Anglerfish commander soon spied Makoto's Panzer appear, racing in hot pursuit of their now zig-zagging quarry. "Minako certainly enjoys squeezing the most out of her tank's engine!" she said as she watched the gap between the two tanks rapidly close. She smiled at Mako. "Just like my driver does."

"I wonder who would win if Mako and Minako had a race with their Panzers, Miho?" her radio operator asked.

"That sounds like a fun experiment, Saori!" Miho laughed. "Maybe we should try it sometime after Saturday's match. Think you can beat her, Mako?"

"If it's a straight line race, I predict a tie, Miho-san. We'd need to include a few sharp turns around obstacles or other tanks to compare our maneuvering skills."

"Good idea! I'll definitely keep that in mind." The Anglerfish girls heard another loud blast echo off their hill as Ami again fired her weapon. "Impressive!" Miho exclaimed. "That's three quick kills for Ami and Luna team today!" She told her radio operator, "Saori, make the call. Let Makoto know we're back in action. Minna, to your stations, please!"

. . . . .

Ten minutes later, the last surviving tank of the day rumbled up alongside Makoto's now-disabled Panzer. The girl in command of Luna team chuckled and shook her head as Miho smiled and waved at her.

"You got us again, Miho-san. And this time, I didn't see or hear your tank coming at us until Hana's shot hit our turret! How on earth can you do that?"

"That's how a real anglerfish survives in the ocean, Makoto-san. Its prey may see its esca, but completely miss the wide-open mouth and rows of sharp teeth behind it until it's too late. But there's no reason to feel let down" Miho smiled brightly. "Your team's effort during today's practice was nothing less than fantastic! If my other tanks perform on Saturday as well as you did today, maybe we will have some small hope of victory in our battle against Kuramorimine and Saunders."

"Damn right we will!" the tall brunette grinned.

. . . . .

Early that evening, Miho sat at her apartment's study desk, facing a single sheet of paper. At the top of the page she had written 'Tactics for Nagasaki Match' but the remainder of the paper was still blank. 'I'm really having trouble coming up with a good counter to Maho and Kay' she thought with a sigh. 'And our match is tomorrow afternoon. I'm running out of time.'

As she sat lost in thought pondering her school's limited options, her door buzzer sounded. Not expecting anyone to drop by until sometime later, Miho inquisitively hurried over to answer it.

"Yes?"

The muffled voice of a young male replied through the closed door. "Uh... I have a special delivery for Nishizumi Miho from St. Gloriana Girls College."

"Oh! You must be the Sunkus courier with our tea!" Thinking it rather odd that the delivery to her apartment was being made by a guy, she unlocked the door and reached for its handle to swing it open. "Arigatou. Please bring it... in..."

But the sight of the teenage boy she found standing in the hallway, wearing a Sunkus uniform and holding a large cardboard box in his hands, sprang her eyes open as wide as saucers. The stunned girl gasped, then blurted his name.

"Yusei?!"

Her boyfriend smiled shyly back. "Konnichiwa, Miho-san."

. . . . .