In the next couple days to follow, Yuri's rebels were forced to fall back. However they soon began taking up a defensive position on the many hills of Saunders upon which they knew they could hold off Kaya-san and her forces long enough to exhaust them and then they could go on an all-out attack. Olivia however had other ideas.
Fukuda and Kinuyo were sent to reinforce Olivia's vanguard of destruction as they were now rolling up the artillery to where Yuri was reported to be taking position. Olivia was looking out with a pair of binoculars as she wanted to see how she was going to assault the position. She puts them down from her face as she knew this fight was going to be a tough one. Fukuda walked over.
"So what are the plans on taking the hill, sempai?" Fukuda asked as she was wondering what the plans were. Olivia knew she needed to be prepared for this.
"They got artillery, Machine gun pieces, they're dug in to the hill with trenches and they have barbed wires stringing the defense. It's best we rain the artillery down on them from a distance before rushing forth and setting up machine gun positions to keep the opponent under fire. Once the barrage has stopped, we rush forth to try to break their lines. The barrage will be brief but accurate. We should be able to concentrate our barrage on that hill, we stake everything on this." Olivia laid out her plans as the students looked at her. Kinuyo looked at her as she saluted.
"We accept nothing but a complete victory. Let's get ourselves prepared." Kinuyo told them as she and Fukuda walked away. Olivia stared at the sky for a minute more as she continued to observe, large gray clouds were gathering overhead as a Thunderstorm was rolling in, hopefully she could use the thunder to muffle their guns and confuse the rebels on the sound that was happening. She walked away as they needed to be prepared.
Later, the thunderstorm did hit as the students were waiting around. This storm was a big one as the students were waiting in their newly formed trenches they dug out near the base of the hill. The artillery was stationed not too far behind their lines. Lightning was crashing down and striking around the hill as Thunder was heard just a second later, maybe even less. Olivia knew this was the perfect opportunity to strike. She soon looked at the students that were working the Artillery as Alisa had volunteered to man the guns as she wanted to strike the hill force with everything she had. Alisa soon turned to Olivia who was polishing her rifle she used in matches.
"Miss, I bet this would be an easy victory for us, you outnumber Yuri's hill force 10 to 1. You should be able to overwhelm her with those numbers." Alisa told her as Olivia nodded.
"Okay we have an objective we need to complete and we are pursuing after it. Although there is a Thunderstorm happening right now, we can use the storm to our advantage as we will charge their lines." Olivia shouted as the students raised their weapons, yipping and cheering with delight. "Fire away Saunders." Soon the artillery pieces began opening up as they wanted to waste the hill force so they didn't have time to prepare themselves.
"Some of the students were looking out as they weren't comfortable with the storm. The distant explosions that were going on seemed to be more like lightning bolts than anything serious.
"Hey do you hear that?" One of the students asked. Another one looked at the student as more explosions were going off.
"Uh. Nope, could be the storm." The other student replied as the shells exploded, they were taking out sections of the defenses, like the barbed wire and static nests they had stashed around the hill. Fukuda returned as several Type-95 Ha-Go tanks were going to participate to take out some of the static defenses.
"Okay Kaya-San, we've got the tank force ready for battle." Fukuda reported as she was taking the lead of the armored charge. Olivia nodded as she looked at the small Chi-Ha-Tan student.
"Okay and stop." Olivia gave the order to stop bombarding the hill. One by one, the guns fell silent as Olivia soon pulled out her Airsoft Luger P08. "Okay everyone on me. Banzai!" She soon led the charge as the students began to exit from their trenches as they were following directly behind her. Some of the students were carrying Mg08/15's and Hotchkiss machine guns as they were going to provide support to the charge to take on some of the nests. Yuri looked out to see that the students were charging out at her directly and the 10 Type 95 Ha-Go tanks providing support. She knew she needed to withdraw.
"Everyone begin withdrawing the supplies yet we hold them off for as long as possible. The minefield of firecrackers would be enough to deter them away." Yuri gave the orders. Soon the charging forces were beginning to head down a ridge as they were going to cross a trap. The Students soon reached the bottom as the firecracker mines began exploding, sending students flying as the mines were exploding with an abundance of colors. "Fire!" Yuri shouted as their airsoft PM M1910's began spraying the area. The students at the top of the ridge set up their own MG's as they began to respond back to the spraying batteries trying to take down the students. Olivia soon got the base of the hill as she was now waiting for the support of her students following behind. Some of the students lay injured as the mines were simply too much for them as the rain continued to pour on them in sheets. The Type 95 Ha-Go tanks were struggling as the mines they were running over we're taking out the tracks. Fukuda got out of her tank as she wanted to know what was wrong with hers.
"Watch out!" Olivia shouted but it was too late, three firecracker mines exploded simultaneously. As Fukuda hit her head on the back of the tank as she fell forth and laid there, she was crying in pain as her legs were burned up by the mines. Olivia looked out as she ran over to Fukuda as the rain poured onto her knees. "Fukuda-San are you okay?" She tried her best to stand Fukuda up but she wailed out in agony.
"My knees are on fire!" Fukuda wailed despite the rain doing its best to take away the burning sensation. Olivia popped open her canteen of water she carried with her as she began to douse the girl's knees with it.
"It is going to be okay I promise you, we'll get you home." Olivia responded as she tried her best to keep the student's mind away from the pain. Soon, two students ran up to her as they picked her up to bring her back to the rear of their lines.
"We got her Kaya-San, finish the job!" One of the medics from the school team shouted as he and another student got out a stretcher as they put Fukuda on it so they could haul her away to safety. Olivia turned to see that Fukuda wasn't the only one badly injured. Many students were crying out from the mines they were unfortunate enough to step on. Olivia turned back to everyone that had made it as she had one last job.
"Okay everyone, we're continuing up the hill. Someone get the wire cutters ready since we got barbed wire, let's move." Olivia soon took charge as she began climbing up the hill as the others began following, the students that Yuri had were still in the process of withdrawing as their machine gun batteries continue opening up on the students below. Olivia soon managed to reach the top as the storm continued to keep their minds on the objective. The student with the wire cutters rushed forth as she began snipping the wires to make sure the path was clear. After three snips, the wire was broken. Olivia and the others began pouring through as the trenches were all theirs. The students fired away with their airsoft rifles as they tried to hold the charging students back as the machine gun batteries continued spraying away. Some of the students were tripping up and falling over as the plastic pellets continued to hit them. However this wasn't enough to slow them down.
Olivia leaped into the trench first as the others began to do the same. Olivia swung the butt of the rifle around, slamming a rebel in the cheek as it was enough to knock the rebel over. Another student ran up as she jabbed her enemy with the dummy rifle bayonet. The other students continued rushing forth as they were tackling and attacking the enemy as fist fights continued to explode. Olivia looked up as she knew she needed to do something about the machine gun batteries trying to shred the students down. She held the explosive firecrackers in her hands as she knew she needed to take the batteries out.
"Someone hand me a lighter?" Olivia asked as she knew she wanted to take some of the batteries out. Kinuyo responded as she tossed her a lighter as Olivia began crawling up the hill seeing an opportunity to knock the batteries out. She soon popped on the firecracker explosives open as she soon flicked the lighter on as she lit up the fuse as she knew all that needed to happen was to let the fuse burn away a bit before it blew up. After 10 seconds of waiting and nurturing the flame, she took the firecracker explosive as she tossed into one of the batteries as she rolled down the hill. The firecracker exploded, taking that battery out. Olivia knew she wasn't done just yet. She began to climb up the hill again as she knew there was another battery that needed to be destroyed. She got to the other one as it was still spraying plastic pellets at the trench. She popped open the lid to the other one as she took the lighter and lit the fuse up. The fuse was coking away as she waited for 10 seconds much like the other one before tossing it into the battery. She tumbled down the hill as the firecracker exploded, taking that battery out too. Soon the students began charging up the gap that she made as they wanted to finish the other batteries off. 2 Type 95 Ha-Go tanks that made it through the minefield soon began shelling the rest of the batteries with their cannons in an attempt of taking them out. Yuri knew the situation was unbearable for the troops.
"Fall back!" Yuri gave the order, the troops began filing out of the area as they were taking what they could with them as they raced down the hill. Yuri was the first to withdraw along with all the others and within minutes, the students were gone with those that were caught by their enemies being taken back. Olivia panted as she reached the top and sliced the rope holding the flag up. The flag fell down as she was exhausted.
"It's over, we've taken the hill. We've lost too many good students today" Olivia was feeling guilty that some of the students had to suffer, she was relieved that it was finally over as Kinuyo ran forth to congratulate her.
"Yeah that was no walk in the park, she must have put up a fight despite us having the 10 to 1 advantage. She made you pay big." Maho soon arrived as she was observing the battle as she went to take a number count of their combined forces. She began tallying the numbers as she began to speak. You're combined force was about 3,550 students against 380 of theirs, You've suffered, 620 students being injured with the minefield and the charge you took to take out the trench plus out of the 10 tanks we sent in, only 2 made it to their objectives, 3 of them were knocked out completely and 5 more suffered damage from those mines. Let's hope you make her pay for your losses next time you come across. Take care." And with that the sophomore student loaded into one of the jeeps and drove off. Olivia knew that she needed more supplies if she were going to continue, might as well take a day off and pursue further objectives if she was going to deliver a knock-out punch to Yuri and make sure that her force wasn't a threat.
Kay heard the news as she was holding a cookout in the storm to keep the student's morale up. She looked over as she began speaking.
"Well looks like Kaya-san managed to take the hill." Kay began as she was digging into her food. Darjeeling looked at her as the students that suffered injuries during the battle were being taken back to be treated.
"Yes Kaya-san managed to use an overwhelming force against Yuri. And although Yuri was able to inflict heavy casualties onto her forces, Yuri failed to hold her ground at the end. So the little fighter of yours might be onto something." Darjeeling responded as Kinuyo arrived back as she was on the front line participating in the battle as she and Alisa got out of the jeep as they wanted to report the news back to Kay.
"Kay, Kaya-San says she's suffering supply shortages and will halt the advance until she gets more supply and we're getting more reinforcements coming tomorrow since she would want to trap Yuri in her own port. Fukuda was injured when she was struck by 3 mines, she is fine but her uniform has been ripped in several places and her knees were burned by the firecracker mines. Fukuda would make a recovery from this but she'll have to sit out for the rest of the war with burns like these, we need to send more tanks down south if we are going to force Yuri to surrender." Kinuyo told her the news as she wanted to tell her about this as Kay nodded. Darjeeling however was confused as she was reading a book that she managed to find about the sport that they were usually playing. She was tending to Fukuda's side as she was still laying on the stretcher.
"Yeah and now we need to call actual doctors and nurses onto the ship as we suffered many injured students in that one attack." Darjeeling told them as one of the doctors from the St. Gloriana's ship walked over as he began to tend to Fukuda's injuries.
"Injured, what from?" Kay asked as she was wondering what was going on. Darjeeling looked at her as she began to speak.
"Firecracker mines but this one in particular which is a S variant which sends hundreds of burning pieces of cracker in all directions. They were banned some years ago due to leaving the students in intense agony and therefore were confiscated among all of the school ships. However Srednyaya shkola russkikh koroley middle school lied to the other schools saying they tossed the mines overboard but in reality, they stuffed them down into the storeroom of the Kamchatka as it was evident here that they decided to bring them along to the battle, who knows how many more they have on that repair ship of theirs?" Darjeeling explained the mines and their purpose as she was wondering how many do they have left. Kay looked at Darjeeling as she was curious about this.
"How do you know about this?" Kay asked as if she was puzzled about the mines, Darjeeling looked at her as she continued explaining.
"Orange Pekoe told me this before the matches began that a couple of students brought along a couple of cylindrical shaped stuff to class mistaking them for Bouncing Betty mines, the class freaked out as the two mines were confiscated. I was presented with them and I knew exactly what they looked like. We still have them but we managed to disable them and keep them on display." Darjeeling told Kay about where her school got the deadly explosives from. Kay soon asked a question.
"How can they be disabled safely without blowing up?" Kay asked if there was a possibility of safely disarming them. Darjeeling sipped her tea as she began to explain.
"Simple, they explode with 100 pounds or more weight or force placed on them. So if I push it down with my hand gently, they won't go off on you so they're a pressure mine. With the students running all at once, we managed to trigger a whole ton of them. Once you dig them out, just unscrew them open and take out all of the components, they're cheap to make but easy to safely take apart. Plus metal detectors work well with these mines to easily find them so just take your time disarming the area." Darjeeling responded as Kay knew full well on how to take care of them. She soon thought about the commander.
"I'm surprised Kaya-San didn't trigger any of them, and that girl is as light as a feather so if she steps on one it wouldn't go off right? She managed to crush the forces under a storm and won but her frontal charges if she continued doing this would end up getting more students injured. Kaya-San fights very aggressively and Yuri is fighting very defensively. We need to teach her much better tactics if we are to catch them off guard." Kay explained as she was surprised but she was worried for her forces as she was using them completely recklessly.
"I mean Kaya-San herself lost about 25 pounds over the course of a few months, she's mere bones with skin over her body as she said that this year was stressful. She would go nights without eating just to drill the team in their gunnery and attempts to win. I get worried about her condition sometimes like how does she do it without starving herself to death?" Darjeeling was getting worried for the 8th grader's condition as Kinuyo soon arrived as she knew she wanted to get this battle over with and out of the way.
"Well we should hold no students back as reserves as I believe if we all attack at once, we should be able to break the rebels down before they have time to reorganize and cut us off from Kaya-San and trap us in our own port. So for now we should pray that she manages to pin Yuri in place before you launch your attack on Brook-San." Kinuyo told her as she wanted the plan to go along with it. Kay knew that Kinuyo was right as she didn't want to get cut off from their forces that were delivering the news of victories. Fukuda woke up. The three girls turned to see the girl's legs wrapped in ace bandaging as it was clear she was one of many injured as the doctors were tending to the others. Fukuda, how are you feeling?" Kinuyo asked her as she wanted to know how she was holding out. Fukuda looked at her as she began speaking.
"My legs are numb." Fukuda meekly responded as she couldn't move her legs. Kinuyo walked over as she wanted to give the tanker some comfort. She looked at her.
"It's just the medicine you're on sweetie, in a week or so you'll be back on your feet but I'm afraid you'll be sitting out for the rest of the war though until your strength is back in your legs." Kinuyo explained to her as she soon kissed her on her forehead. Kay looked at her as Kinuyo walked off to tend to the other injured students. Kay followed her behind.
"Wait, should Kaya-San halt her forces so we can clear the path and get the supplies through?" Kay asked as she knew that this girl was going to over extend herself if she kept going and with the losses she took on her part, it would be best to rest up for a day then keep going. Kinuyo soon nodded as she went to her radio.
"That was what I was going to tell her as we're getting more reinforcements. I want to address this to her since she is still on the front lines." Kinuyo soon responded as she knew exactly what Kay had said as she walked back to address the force on the front lines. Kay soon began speaking of motivation.
"Okay send more supplies to her to see if she can pin Yuri in place, after this storm clears up." Kay told them as she wanted to see the girl deliver more victories in the future. Things for the attackers would only get better for them.
[A/N]: Looks like Olivia managed to snag herself another victory as she is pivoting the rebellion back into Kay's favor but the issue of logistics would still be a thing as she would most likely spend a day or two resting up until more supplies can be delivered to her. Yuri has had her first taste of battle with Kaya-San and sadly failed to hold her ground against her resulting in another victory for Kay.
If you want more of these let me know so I can continue the battles onward if you want to read more like these. That is all.