Chapter 23:

Miho's Panzer followed behind Makoto's tank, wending their way through a narrow path between the trees until eventually reaching the open field.

"There's Maho's Tiger" the brunette spoke into her microphone as Minako halted the Panzer. "She's stopped about a kilometer from here. It's almost like she wants us to make the first move."

Miho replied on the radio, "That's a standard Kuromorimine tactic they use when they find themselves outnumbered, Makoto-san. As soon as one of us tries to approach her tank, Maho will shoot from maximum range. Her shells can reach us long before we're able to close within our guns' optimum range of her Tiger."

"Her gun is that powerful?"

"Hai. But there is one tactic we can use. It will only work if we have really good drivers" Miho spoke. She smiled, "Which shouldn't be a problem, considering Mako and Minako are the two best drivers in our school."

Minako turned around in her seat and beamed at Ami. "Did you hear that compliment, Ami-chan? I'm officially in the Ooarai top two!"

"We all heard it" Rei grumbled. "And if we somehow survive this battle, something tells me we'll never stop hearing about it, Minako-chan."

"Of course you won't!" Minako giggled.

"So... how do you propose we do this, Miho-san?" Makoto pondered, trying to ignore her boasting blonde driver. "My turret is still stuck facing forward."

"That shouldn't be too much of an issue, Makoto-san. I'm calling this plan 'Divide and Conquer'. Miho quickly outlined her strategy to the crews of both Panzers. "It's not guaranteed to work, but I can't think of a better option. So let's try it and find out. Minna, good luck! Oh, and thank you, Luna team. Your performance today is a big part of why we're still in the match."

"Luna isn't done yet, Miho" Makoto spoke, the brunette's words laced with determination. "Even with a busted turret. Ok, Minako-chan. Show us what you're really got! Hit that gas pedal!"

. . . . .

Maho stood brazenly exposed above her Tiger's turret, grinning wickedly as the two Ooarai Panzers suddenly began charging in single file towards her position with Makoto's tank still in the lead. "Here they come, crew. Like little lambs to slaughter."

Her gunner centered her sights on Luna team's short-barreled Panzer, resting her finger lightly on the trigger. "They're making this way too easy, Commander! They aren't even zig-zagging! Your sister must be feeling desperate, trying for a quick kill."

"Desperate and sloppy. Open fire on those rookies at maximum range" Maho ordered. She shook her head and laughed, "Is that really the best Ooarai can do? It's pathetic! Miho is even worse at tactics than I had imagined!"

The charging Panzers soon reached their top speed, narrowing the gap as quickly as they possibly could.

The Tiger's gunner adjusted her weapon's elevation slightly lower, expertly leading the first Panzer. "Firing in three... two... one..." But just before her finger tightened on the trigger the tanks sharply parted, with Luna team angling left and Anglerfish's tank heading right. The Koromorimine shell harmlessly cratered the ground between them.

"Nani?" the gunner blurted. "I missed?"

"Target Miho's long-barreled Panzer!" Mako snapped at the stunned gunner. "That's our biggest threat! That other tank with its puny gun is just a toy to us!"

"Hai!" The Tiger's powerful gun began to swing right.

. . . . .

The teens at Makoto's house were all out of their seats, clustering closely around the television. "I'm no Sensha-do expert, but it looks to me like Ooarai is taking a huge gamble" Yuji murmured, crossing his fingers on both hands. "They're really playing with fire."

"It's a lot like auto racing, Yuji-chan" Haruka chuckled. "Sometimes, when the race is nearly over and you're running far behind the leader, you have to throw caution to the wind and let it all hang out."

"They're certainly doing that!" Taro exclaimed, his eyes wide. "I almost don't want to see what happens next but I can't look away!"

"In this instance we are one and the same, Taro-chan" Michiru smiled. "The phrase 'sitting on pins and needles' comes to mind."

"More like 'on long sharp nails' in my case" Yuuichirou grinned. "I'm getting more grey hairs from watching this than when Rei drives on the expressway!"

. . . . .

Seven hundred meters from her sister's Tiger, Miho watched closely as its gun turned towards her Panzer. "Now Mako! Hard right!"

The Anglerfish tank abruptly heeled towards the Tiger as it fired, the shell whistling breathtakingly close past its turret. Hana returned fire, striking the Kuromorimine tank's upper hull.

She frowned, "It didn't penetrate the armor, Miho."

"That's ok, Hana! We'll need to shoot them more than once to take a Tiger out!"

Becoming annoyed by the strike on her Tiger, Maho told her driver, "Move us forward at low speed. That should prevent them from hitting us so easily again." Having dropped into her cupola, she checked on the location of the second Panzer. "The rookie tank is still too far away to concern us. Gunner, I expect you to hit your target next time! Fire when ready!"

"Zig zag, Mako!" Miho spoke. "And stop closing on them!"

"Hai." The girl at the controls began vigorously working her track levers forward and back, trying to make her direction changes as random and as unpredictable as possible as she gradually turned her Panzer away from the enemy tank.

Another shot blazed from the Tiger, once again narrowly missing the Ooarai Panzer.

"Have you gone blind?" Maho fumed at her flustered gunner. "If they get much closer, they could get lucky and damage us!"

"They're breaking off, Commander!" her driver spoke. "Should we pursue?"

"No! That would leave the rear of our hull exposed to that other Panzer! Maintain your current path and speed!"

. . . . .

"Now, Minako-chan! Straight at 'em with everything you've got!" Makoto blurted. "Don't forget you're doing most of our gun's aiming now!"

"I'm on it!" The blonde with the red bow in her hair swung Luna team's Panzer to point directly at the Tiger, standing on the accelerator pedal so hard, she lifted herself out of her seat. "Faster, my big steel stallion!" she urged her tank. "Let Momma Minako hear your engine scream like its never screamed before!"

"Again with the momma talk!" Rei muttered above the engine's bellowing roar. "Minako is really starting to scare me. And I'm not talking about how she drives."

"Me too, Rei-chan!" Usagi gasped. "I'm glad Taro can't hear her talk like that!"

"I'm sure he does, Usagi-chan. A lot. Remember, Minako's bedroom in Mako-chan's house is next to mine." The miko sighed, "You wouldn't believe the things I've heard..."

"That's right, it is! Hehe!" Blushing at the thought, Usagi reached for the trigger of her machine gun and waited for Ami to fire her main weapon.

. . . . .

"Miho's tank is nearly out of our gun's most effective range, Commander."

"She's running away and abandoning her teammates. How cowardly of her" Maho scoffed. "An embarrassment to the family name-"

Her words were cut off by the boom of Luna team's gun and the sharp clang of a shell glancing off the Tiger's thick right-side armor. Maho turned to peer through her cupola's viewport, momentarily ducking as bullets from Usagi's machine gun began pattering against the turret.

"Damn those rookies! Gunner, target the tank approaching from our right! And this time, kill it!"

. . . . .

"Break off now, Minako-chan!"

"Breaking off!"

The Panzer turned sharply right, changing direction before the Kuromorimine tank returned fire. Its gunner corrected her aim and squeezed the trigger back tight, while far off to the Tiger's left, Mako again turned her Panzer towards Maho's machine, racing towards the massive Tiger one last time.

"My lucky shell is loaded, Nishizumi-dono" Yukari confirmed. "Our gun is ready."

Saori looked up from her radio. "You've got this, Hana. Make it count."

. . . . .

The harsh, jarring impact of the Tiger's shell shook Ami's hand from her weapon's trigger. "Mako-chan, I think they hit our gun barrel!"

One glance forward by the brunette confirmed the blue-haired girl's fears. "Hai, the barrel is crushed, Ami-chan! Don't shoot again! Rei-chan, unload the weapon!"

"Unloading!"

Makoto grumbled, "First the turret got stuck, now our gun is wrecked. I'm surprised we're still moving." She activated her microphone. "Miho-san, Luna's gun is disabled. Sumimasen."

"Understood. Try to keep the Tiger distracted as much as possible, Makoto-san. We're running in for our final attack now."

. . . . .

"We hit the rookies' Panzer but their condition is uncertain" the Tiger's gunner told Maho. "I think their gun may be damaged."

"Hit them again! Finish them!"

"Hai!"

. . . . .

"Zig zag towards the Tiger, Minako-chan! And keep your speed up! We need to buy Miho more time!"

The tired and wounded Panzer IV circled left, giving its all to the five teenage girls riding within its old hull. The tank thrashed wildly to and fro, gradually drawing near Kuromorimine's sole remaining tank.

The Tiger's potent weapon shifted to match the gyrating Panzer, its operator hesitating to ensure a clean kill.

"I'll shoot when they begin reversing direction!" the weapon's gunner exclaimed. She waited a few seconds, then a few seconds more, watching the tank began to pivot before finally unleashing her gun's high-caliber round.

The shell struck near the engine compartment of Makoto's tank with an ear-splitting crash when it was only a hundred yards away. Minako felt the engine lose power, then heard it rattle and die. The Panzer clattered to a stop, its white flag extended and pointing towards the bright blue sky above.

. . . . .

"The rookie tank is out of action, Maho-san!" the Tiger's gunner yelled triumphantly.

"And about time! Target Miho's Panzer and finish her off with one shot!"

Maho spun around in her cupola to spot the Ooarai tank and gasped as the onrushing Anglerfish Panzer loomed large in her viewing window, its gun barrel aimed directly at her engine compartment.

"Driver, accelerate-"

Boom!

The round that Yukari had written upon and vowed would disable Maho's Tiger did exactly that, ripping through the relatively thin ventilation shroud above the tank's powerplant and driving deep into the engine's cylinder block, sending pieces of hot metal flying in all directions. A cloud of oily black smoke arose from the rear of the Tiger like a funeral pyre, signalling the demise of Kuromorimine's last tank and ending the final skirmish of the match.

"White flag on the Tiger" Hana spoke from behind her gunner's scope. "It's over, Miho!"

"You won, Nishizumi-dono! You beat your sister! Again!" Yukari sprang from her seat and flung her arms around her brown-haired commander's waist. "I knew my lucky shell would work! Congratulations!"

"I didn't win the match, Yukari" Miho smiled shyly at her loader. "We all did. Every girl on Red team shares in the victory today."

. . . . .

Epilogue:

Later that evening, and with the post-match party in full swing, Kino Makoto shook her head at Usagi as the blonde walked up to their table. Smiling happily, the odango-haired girl sat beside her team beneath the curved metal roof of the giant prefabricated structure that served as Saunders' party building.

"More cheeseburgers, Usagi-chan?"

"Just two, Mako-chan! I'll go back to the food truck later for fries!"

"You're going to make yourself sick again" Rei muttered. "Remember how awful you felt this morning?"

"That was then and this is now, Rei-chan! I haven't eaten a single bite in hours! So stop nagging me!"

Across the table from Makoto and her Luna teammates, Anzu spoke up from her seat between Momo and Yuzu, "Save room for dessert, Usagi-san. The chocolate cake Saunders serves is delicious. Or did you already know that?" she laughed.

"Hai, I did, and that's my next stop after the fries!" Usagi grinned at the Ooarai Student Council President before taking a huge bite of her burger. "Mmm! So tasty!"

Another song began playing in the background and Momo frowned deeply as Miho and the girls of Anglerfish team left their table where they had been sitting beside their boyfriends. She watched the five couples hold hands while they walked onto the dance floor, each girl gathering her guy close in a tender embrace and beginning to sway gently together to the slow, romantic melody.

"What kind of song is that, Ami-chan?" Usagi asked the teen sitting beside her. "It sounds really old-fashioned, but kind of nice."

"This particular song is quite old, Usagi-chan. It's a style of music that was very popular a long time ago, back in the day when our tanks were brand new."

"Isn't this referred to as big band music, Ami-chan?" Rei asked. "I think I heard something like it before in an old Hollywood movie on tv."

"Hai, you're exactly right, Rei-chan" the blue-haired girl nodded. "If I remember correctly, the name of this tune is 'Moonlight Serenade' and it was performed by a band lead by a famous American musician. I believe his name was... um... Glenn Miller."

"Is there anything you don't know a whole lot about, Ami-chan?" Makoto chuckled, teasing her blushing friend. "I feel like I'm sitting beside that famous scientist Alfred Einstein!"

"Um... that would be Albert Einstein, Mako-chan" Ami smiled. "But Alfred was close."

"I give up!" the brunette laughed. She glanced around the large packed room. "I do know one thing. This party isn't anything like that dull St. Gloriana shore party we went to. For starters, there's a lot more teenage boys here."

"Especially the five boys who matter most, Mako-chan!" Minako exclaimed, gesturing toward the busy dance floor. "Just look at our happy couples dancing and cuddling!"

Makoto turned to face the direction the blonde was pointing, spotting Yukari and Ryoto within the midst of the crowd. The young couple's eyes were closed and they held each other with their bodies pressed snugly together, bright smiles of pure joy on their faces as they slowly moved from side to side in time to the rhythm of the music.

"I wish my Yuji was dancing with me here tonight" the brunette sighed. "There are no words in any language to describe just how much I miss him."

"Your boyfriend couldn't make it to the match today, Makoto-san?" Yuzu asked. "That's a shame. I'm sure he would have enjoyed watching you compete."

"He's... uh... he lives just outside of Nerima, Yuzu-san. Near Tokyo. A very long distance away from here."

"That would be a lengthy journey for him" Anzu agreed. "Maybe he can join you for our next exhibition match, Makoto-san."

"It would be great if he could!" Makoto grinned.

"Minna, do you know what I'm thinking right now?" Minako smiled, spotting Miho and Yusei sharing a tender kiss while they danced together.

"With that one-track mind of yours, I'm not sure we want to know, Minako-chan" Rei shuddered. "Am I going to want a cigarette after I hear what you have to say?"

"No, silly!" the blonde giggled. "It isn't about my honey muffin! I was just thinking that the Anglerfish girls and their guys are ready for Phase Three! Hai, they're more than ready!"

"Phase three, Minako-san?" Yuzu puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Oh! Uh... well... um..." The blonde hesitated, then whispered, "Guess what? Mako-chan's lover boy isn't here but someone is joining us! There's a really cute guy coming over to our table!"

The teenage male in question slowly walked up to Minako and shyly spoke, "Um... please excuse me, miss. I was wondering if... if you'd like to dance."

"I'm afraid I must decline" Minako answered with a sweet smile. "But only because I already have a boyfriend, and it wouldn't feel right to dance with another guy. Most of the other girls at this table have boyfriends too."

"Oh. Sumimasen" the boy blushed. "I had no idea." He bowed politely, "I'm very sorry to have intruded."

The blonde reached out and grasped his arm as he began to turn away. "Wait! Don't go anywhere yet!"

"Nani? But..."

"I happen to know that there are three girls sitting right here who happen to be unattached." Minako wiggled her index finger at the Student Council members across the table from her. "Why don't you ask one of them to dance?"

"Hontou? Uh... sure!" His bright blue eyes flitted between the three girls before quickly settling on the tall thin Public Relations manager.

"Miss... would you mind if I ask you to-"

"Me?" Momo gasped in shock. "Me? You want to dance with me?"

"Uh... hai. If you don't-"

Momo promptly sprang from her chair, scurried around the table and latched tightly onto the boy's arm. "Ok! I'll dance with you! Hai! Let's do this! By the way, my name is Kawashima Momo! What's yours?" She briskly escorted the teen onto the dance floor where they disappeared into the crowd.

"That was... rather unexpected" Makoto grinned.

Anzu looked up at the taller Vice President and sighed wistfully. "Isn't it always this way for us, Yuzu? Always the bridesmaid, never the bride."

"Never say never!" Minako exclaimed. "The night is still young, and I'm just getting warmed up! Did you know that I'm not just a skilled Panzer driver? I happen to be the world's greatest matchmaker too!"

Rei looked at Makoto and sighed. "Here we go again."

. . . . . . . . . .