Brook woke up the next morning as it was clear she had passed out the day before, feeling rested and reunited with her buddies. She soon began stretching as she began making her way out of bed as she decided to get herself changed. Things were finally going back to normal. They were docked at the port the ship was being resupplied from as well as receiving the influx of new students coming onto the ship. Once done, she gathered her things as she walked out of her dorm, locking the door behind her as she wanted to meet with all of the new students. This was going to be her 3rd year in school. She was now strolling around as she spotted Nonna who was helping students on board.
"Ahh a new year, a new start, I wonder what these free for all matches would bring? Nonna asked Brook as she was busy pulling the luggage for the freshmen that just transferred to Pravda. Brook looked at her as she began speaking.
"Hopefully no more bloody rebellions, that's for sure. We don't know how much longer we should be able to hold out for this. Maybe we can finally get some rest." Brook sighed as she began helping Nonna to the work as Nonna began speaking once more.
"Yeah you were exhausted from the last one seeing how you did play a major role in it." Nonna told her. She soon slipped a piece of paper to Brook as she knew it was time. "Brook I've talked to Klara and Katyusha about it and based on your grades, you're doing pretty good. I want to see if we can get you back in Sensha-Do. I mean Klara has applied as her 3rd program and she chose that and you get to be with Nina and Alina more often." Brook looked at Nonna as she placed her luggage down. Brook soon began speaking.
"You sure, I've proven my worth as a ground soldier, you sure you want me riding in a tank?" Brook asked as she was wondering if Nonna was sure. Nonna looked at Brook as she began to speak.
"Yes I am sure. Now let's get you applied." Nonna told her as she began to do the application process with the girl. She circled off her program as she knew that the girl would be the most comfortable with. "Take Kay's words into consideration. Maybe she wants you to give it another shot. Your friends will be participating so I suggest you put all your grudges aside and come join us. Maybe you can get up to the rank of commander, who knows." Brook decided to think about it for a moment, she soon began to smile. And then she spoke again.
"You're right Nonna, maybe I should give it another shot. Let's see what this year has to offer." Brook said happier than ever. She soon got up as she followed Nonna out with the paper, things were going to be uplifting. Their adventures were only just beginning.
End of Part 2:
"Now everything we've learned is things are going to be unpredictable, no one can have a straight line in life. Nothing will be in our favor or how we want it. However, there is hope, if we work very hard to our goals, the road will smooth out and we can make choices of our own. It is something that should be taught to us about in life but even life can be a cruel mistress."
[A/N]: This is just an Epilogue as it is meant to wrap everything up. We hit 1k views for the month and I am more than happy to say the least however now I have nowhere else to take this world in what direction so I'll most likely be taking a break until I can get more ideas up and start up more projects. If I do in the future then maybe I can give out more quality material. So be sticking around.
I'm also announcing I might take my time with actual novel writing, it's been something I've been tossing around in my head for a while so I didn't want to dilly dally with this but it gives me something to do. With nothing to do in life, at least it keeps me busy. Anyways here are going to be Alternative ideas I've scrapped for whatever reason and the references I've made so you can have a full takedown guide on what you might want to find out. That is all.
Alternate ideas:
Kay wasn't going to be the friendly face that she is: I originally wanted to make this the idea as Kay would have been a much younger student at the time who would only grow into the person she is, very optimistic yet rowdy and loud. This is what I didn't like about her. However I wanted to make her right in certain aspects because I didn't want to totally villainize her. This idea was scrapped since I received some backlash from the community so I decided to listen and split this personality into Himari.
Naomi singing Brook the Cossack's Lullaby was ultimately scrapped for a song which I ultimately don't like. The point was when the schools got into a fight, and Nonna sings this later on, Brook breaks down and weeps in her own sorrow realizing the error of her ways and apologizes to the students of Saunders.
It is unknown what Brook's heritage was, if it was certain what it was, she could have been sent to one of the smaller schools as she could have possibly fit in better. Possibilities were Serbian, Croatian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Slovakian, and possibly Polish. However I stuck her into Pravda as I didn't want to mix with all of these smaller communities together and start another war.
Brook being placed in Gregor was one of the two options and she gets a nut into Romanian history and of course, music. This was because Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia being together known as the Little Entente during the interwar years. Another student called Stefanik was also considered which kind of befriends Brook and gets into a serious relationship with her. She develops a somewhat hatred for Magyar girl's academy and therefore teams up with count and crushes them. Thus Gregor and Count become closer together. The idea was scrapped due to the fact that I haven't heard from Stefanik's creator in a while therefore unfortunately leaving her in the dust.
Brook being placed in SSISSN for her actions during the rebellion, was considered as my friend Sima had created a school since there is no school for Yugoslavia. The idea was to have the Balkan wars play out between SSISSN, A Greek themed school and Yogurt Academy going against Kebab. Yogurt Academy betrays them and starts up a fight between them, Kebab rejoins along with Count as they try to wrestle the unruly Yogurt students. Idea was scrapped due to tense relationships with the creator of SSISSN which thankfully cooled down. And I didn't want to spend so much time researching the Balkan Wars as they weren't that eye catching but did set the stage for WW1. Them singing about removing the so called Kebab was also brought up as Anti-Saunders but was ultimately dropped as well as the school being split into 8 gangs, each gang representing a country of former Yugoslavia.
Brook changing her name to Nadiya was considered but was dropped because I mostly forgot about that.
Also the idea of having a communist revolution was dropped due to the Russian Revolution being a very complicated topic to talk about and would most likely get its own story sometime in the future.
The US Themed Middle School ship being based off of the Maine was supposed to be the original since it was a famous ship in history during the Spanish American war, it was switched to the Maryland since it wasn't a Dreadnought or a Pre-Dreadnought. It was an armored Cruiser built in 1886 which would make it outdated when the Russo-Japanese War came around.
Trivia to the references: (And strap in because there is a lot.)
Part 1:
The fanfic opens on a Life of Boris reference to one of his videos, these references are scattered throughout mostly in the beginning since there is a difference to being Slavic and truly Russian. Last reference to him is in chapter 23 when Nonna is explaining to Brook what Kompot is in Russian.
Kvass is a very light beer which it takes on any flavor you give it. The only type of Kvass that you can actually get drunk off of is Honey Kvass, Brook's favorite.
Brook's favorite food is Pierogi which is actually Polish and could be a reference to the most amount of Slavic speaking people living in America are Polish.
The chapter title of chapter 8 is this one reference to Hearts of Iron 4 which the Balkan countries attack each other and then the clickable button reads: "The Powderkeg never Disappoints" this is the reference to that.
The dreams of her being a Russian Soldier can somewhat be traced to reality, chapters 1,2, &4 & 9-18 have all have to do with the Russo-Japanese War, a war that really isn't talked about all that much, Each chapter from 9-18 was named after a battle that occurred during the war from the first shots to general surrender with chapter 19 being the treaty that was the results.
The arms of the rebels were mainly unified as they were using all equipment from the Russian Empire. The reoccupation force had a mixture of weapons representing each school that participated. Plus the rebels had no tanks which left them exposed but they somehow fought to not produce a very decisive victory for the reoccupation force for the war on the land.
Japan and Russia were using modern battleships at the time but Antonio used the ships in a much more efficient manner which ended up destroying the Russian fleets.
Most of the students of the war were based off of actual leaders with the exception being Wilgelm Vitgeft and Zinovy Rozhestvensky. Antonio was loosely based off of Japanese admiral Togo Heihachiro, Olivia Kaya mostly on Count Nogi Maresuke and Kay on Oyama Iwao, Brook Taylor was based off of Alexei Kuropatkin and Yuri Nakamura being based off of Major General Anatoly Stessel.
Yuri Nakamura shares a name with the character from Angel Beats however this is where all similarities end. Yuri in this is a lot more combative and stubborn; this is shown by her refusal to leave Port Arthur even on multiple occasions being ordered to relocate. She would lead an unsuccessful defense of the port against Olivia
The fate of the Naval generals is kept true with Wilgelm Vitgeft being killed in the battle of the Yellow Sea and Rozhestvensky being himself. However the 3rd Naval admiral I want to bring up that fought in the war is Stepan Makarov, he was an unconventional admiral but he got the job done. However much Vitgeft, he didn't contribute enough to change the course of the war, when his flagship the Petropavlovsk strikes a mine in the port, decapitating Admiral Makarov from the resulting explosion.
When Olivia says she is the immortal Sugimoto, she is referencing the anime Golden Kamuy when one of the characters named Lt. Tsurumi overran the 203 meter hill.
Erika in chapter 12 makes a reference to Sir Ian Hamilton, a British spectator that served in the war: "As far as the instruction in marksmanship is concerned, a soldier might as well just fire blank cartridge if he doesn't know where his bullet has struck or what faults he has committed in elevation or direction. The Russian Infantry shot badly and the Japanese Infantry shot excellently."
The revolution that brought all the reinforcements back to their school ship is based off of a mixture of the 1917 & 1905 revolutions which the 1917 revolution formed the USSR and the 1905 revolution was peaceful where the Tsar outplayed the people.
In chapter 3 and 17 Brook mentions Ilya Shatrov, who is a composer who did On the Hills of Manchuria or know in this chapter as На сопках Маньчжурии this becomes a haunting memory for Brook which the song is a haunting Waltz.
Olivia saying this one line: "Looks like Tsar Nicholas the II is going to wake up from a nightmare about the battered and wounded Russian forces returning from battle." is a reference from an actual Japanese propaganda piece made during the war.
Chapter 18 is mostly accurate. Each of the ships are based off of Dreadnoughts and Pre-Dreadnoughts that were built and served. The Russian Baltic Fleet (Renamed to the Second Pacific Squadron) ships are mostly accurate, the only exception being the Cruiser Aurora serving Kay's force instead of the Second Pacific Squadron. However the stuff relating to the fleet ending up in Manilla bay is accurate as the ship and a couple others headed for Manilla to escape capture from the Japanese.
The Srednyaya shkola russkikh koroley middle school ship's Kamchatka fits well with the school since both school and ship as well as the Russian empire in the 1900's were highly incompetent. The Kamchatka sends out messages that it was under attack by Japanese Torpedo Boats when it was just fishing trawlers. The Kamchatka also fired shots on the Cruiser Aurora thus the cruiser lashing out at the repair ship would be justified. The Kamchatka would be sunk to the bottom of the ocean along with the rest of the 2nd Pacific Squadron. Makes me feel bad for a certain Eugene Politovsky, the fleets head repair-man.
Drachinifel's video on the Kamchatka and the 2nd Pacific Squadron as a whole is quite famous. The Kamchatka much like Italy's performance in WW2 is remembered to be only a meme. Olivia mentions this ship 5 times much like in one of his videos.
Also Nicholas the II and his family being killed in this battle is inaccurate, the family would last for another 13 years before they were all shot in Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks. However due to the amount of time being condensed down to a few years, I would have to mention this war again or work a way around it to make it fit with this timeline.
Nisshin's disarmament is quite true. And I didn't mention this but one admiral Isoroku Yamamoto loses 2 fingers on his left hand, if he lost a third, he wouldn't become the famed legendary naval admiral in Japan like he is now as he could have been discharged from service.
Part 2:
There is a slight continuity error regarding Nina's Hair color, this same mistake was in a Tale of Two girls with Nina's hair being brown instead of black. I decided to make her molt hair colors between brown and black so when the final molt came around, Nina's hair color would be black.
Nonna and Brook speaking to each other in Russian was one of many instances where Brook spoke this language, probably being somewhat taught by Yuri, she knows a few words and can formulate sentences. When Katyusha tells them to "Speak Japanese" Nonna replies with "How is this my commander?" in actual Japanese. Katyusha soon breaks the 4th wall and demands that they go back to speaking English.
When Nonna mentions ВАЛЬСЪ БЕРЕЗКА, I'm referring to the old Russian Waltz titled, "The Birch Tree" a very soothing and calming piece of music to listen to if you feel stressed or uncertain.
When Commissar Nakhimov is introduced, he says: "Welcome to basic training comrade." This is in reference to the Russian Tutorial level in CoD 2.
There are a couple of references related to Stranger Things, specifically Season 3. All of these references have to do with the Russian Scientist character Alexei. When Brook ends up getting shot by Himari, who is a hitman at this point, Nina screams Alexei's name, in reference to when Alexei was shot and killed in a carnival. So instead of Alexei defecting from Russia to America, Brook wants the exact opposite, this kind of raised a few red flags. This is why the last Slurpee I got was flavored Cherry which thankfully I didn't get an allergic reaction too.
Chapters 28-35 (And the title of chapter 28) are all in reference to the one movie directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. However the stuff regarding the Barrier troops is inaccurate. The quote from the 7 Red Army myths states this of the following: "Blocking detachments only had small arms, rifles and pistols, and therefore weren't considered tactical units. In fact, if the front lines broke during an attack, rather than gunning down fleeing soldiers, as the myth would have it, blocking detachments would usually flee in advance of the retreat."
The introduction of Klara only speaking Russian is the same Klara you will see in Der Film. I decided to introduce her here since we don't see her through the main series. Surprised she didn't mention Tankery until the last chapter.
The person I based Sasha off of is named Sasha Filippov, who was a spy for the characters, only difference was that Sasha in this is 10 while the real Sasha was 17 and the film he was 12.
This one line in chapter 31: "Now don't spill it on the way back you Antifa bastard!" is a reference to this quote: "And try not to spill it all on your way back, you Marxist bastard."
Speaking of Antifa, this is one of the many spineless groups that needs to be shot. We cannot have something like this wrecking our homes, I mean what are we going to do if they win. So anyone who is currently working for any US Government, let this fanfic be a warning, we cannot have anymore radicals trying to take over and silence us.
Farewell of Slavianka is a white army song made during the Russian Civil war, Same thing for красная армия самая сильная (The red army song from the same war.)
The so called tractor factory was based on the Volgograd Tractor Plant (Which still exists today but on a much smaller scale) which helped produce tanks during the war.
Yuri putting Sasha to his grave was expected since Sasha leaked secrets to Kay regarding the tractor factory and the train yard where Yuri was hiding.
The medal Brook receives is in reference to the Hero of the USSR medal which is the highest award anyone could get in terms of medals.
Brook's total count is 242 with Yuri being the only real casualty in the rebellion. This is based on the propaganda that the Germans we're getting so frustrated with Vasily's success they sent their own top sniper, Major Konigs or sometimes referred to as Heinz Thorvald. It said after a 3 day battle of intense wits, Vasily took out Konigs with a shot to the head. The accuracy on this duel is doubtful. It is unlikely that the Germans would send their top sniper to the wrecked city where Vasily was when they were fighting a brutal war along North Africa and the vast eastern front. Plus the city they were fighting in stretched for 20 miles along the Volga river and it would be unlikely they would meet for a duel. Plus no historian has ever located a Major Konigs or a Heinz Thorvald for that matter.
The title of the story is based on a 2011 movie where some Koreans ended up going on a long journey from serving the ranks of the Japanese to fighting the allied landings on D-Day. It's pretty crazy to say the least but they got the barrier troops inaccurate.