Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament!

by Inceptor57

The World Tournament is upon Ōarai! Ōarai will travel the world and learn the different culture of Tankery while fighting each country's chosen contenders for the top place in the World Tournament exhibition matches! Finally, a battle with nothing at stake from the odds...or is there? [Rated T for language and potentially intense scenes. OC belong to me. I do not own GuP.]

17. Absence Without Leave

Girls Und Panzer: The World Tournament!

Chapter 17: Absence Without Leave

The cloud was dark, blotting out the sunlight from reaching the Earth. It was raining, but not like the tender one in the forest. It was coarse and rough, with a gale blowing the harsh droplets all over her. The river roared with force and waves, echoing from the canyon below to her left. Between the gale and the rushing rapids, her hearing was numbed to all except that of a petrol engine to her rear.

She gripped her chilled hands, trying to break it from stagnation. She felt a tough structure blocking her movement. She looked down and saw herself in a drum-shaped structure, while she stuck herself up above exposed to the elements. A hatch stuck to her right, locked in place so that it did not sway with the momentum and the wind. Thunder and lightning clashed in the air, the crack clearing through the ambience and boomed into her ears.

Miho's body could feel the rumble of her tank on the thin mountainside road. Her tank, the flag tank with its small red flag flying proudly above the commander's cupola, was given the objective of the destruction of Pravda's fighting force and their flag tank. Her tank, the famous Panzerkpfwagen VI "Tiger I" Ausf. E, rolled along the rocks smoothly with the Schachtellaufwerk torsion bar suspension. The turret and cannon leveled to the front for any enemies encountered in their position. To her front and rear were two Panzer III Ausf. L tanks, assigned as support for the heavier Tiger.

Suddenly, a blast erupted next to the lead Panzer III's right. Then another, larger blast. The force pushed the Panzer III towards the left, careening off the slope. In the rain and mud, the Panzer III had no traction as it slid down the unforgiving slope towards the river below. Miho watched as the Panzer III slipped off the last ledge and fell straight into the rapids. The tank's volume had it stutter a moment above the water, before starting to sink into the dark, murky underworld.

"No!" Miho lept out of her cupola, her legs carrying her down the slope. She did not notice the incoming T-34-85s of Pravda as she slipped and rolled down the rough slope. The rocks scraped and bruised her, but she did not stop and on the ledge, dived straight into the black river. The water, cold and forceful, blew her around as she swam to the sinking Panzer III. Particles in the rushing river smacked into her face, skin, and body. As the turret began to go under, she dived down and reached for the side hatches in the suspension.

She flailed her arms, searching under the darkness for her target. A metal link… she grabbed onto the rough texture as she dragged herself down onto the suspensions. Her hand then gripped onto the large road wheels of the torsion bar suspension. Finally, she reached once more for the rectangular hatch between the tracks and wheels. A solid grip on the metal panel, and she pulled all her might against the water pressure, opening it. She reached in and grabbed felt flesh, and pulled the crew member out.

By the time she got back onto the surface, with the other Panzer III crew members follow suit, it was all over. Miho looked up on the mountainside to see her proud Tiger I now lying with a smoke-covered white-flag on top of the turret. As the Panzer III crew coughed up any water in their system, Miho could only stare at her flag tank… Someone grabbed her on the shoulders… but she did not look back.

"Miho…" The voice said. Koume Akaboshi…

Miho looked back, but it wasn't Koume, and the whole world turned dark.

"S-sister?" Miho looked at her face. Her face that has almost been forgotten after being separated for so long.

But the face… it wasn't the tender one that Miho saw after the end of the 63rd Nationals, the end of the fight against University. It wasn't the stoic one before the conclusion of the nationals as well.

It was pain…

Disappointment...

Heart-break…

Her face contorted between the emotions, but Miho has never seen any of these faces on her sister before. Like an empty blank mask, that image continue to shift among the many as it stared into Miho like a phantom.

"Sister?! What's wrong?" Miho asked as she reached in. Suddenly, the figure lunged at her. The faces transforming to a ghostly scream as it reached into Miho's face. Her grip was deathly, suffocating Miho as a dark fog surrounded them.

Miho's scream was muffled as she felt the hands creeping into her heart.

---

Quebec, Canada

"GAAAAHHHHH!"

Hands forced her down, trying to prevent her from struggling.

"Miho!"

"Miporin, snap out of it!"

"Nishizumi!"

Miho flailed, her arms and leg jumped around. She opened her eyes and saw something soothed her. Sunlight. It shone down on her like she had been absent from it for so long. Four obstructions to it laid above her. Miho took a moment and realized they were faces. She was about to jump free before she noted their appearances.

A redhead with shoulder-length hair.

A girl with elbow-length hair with bangs resembling curtains.

A brunette with fluffy, cuddly hair.

A short girl with a white band in her hair, along with one if the plainest expression if the bunch.

"Everyone…?" Miho said in a stunned voice. Her breath panting rapidly.

"Yes, it's us, Miho. You were just dreaming Miho…" Hana said in a calm voice.

Miho looked up and saw the dazzling view of the sky. The clouds were gone and so was the rain. The light glistened through the forest like a sparkling crystal.

"C'mon… get up Miporin, you're getting heavy on my lap…"

"Huh?" Miho jot up and looked back to see Saori. She suddenly felt dizzy and woozy.

"Whoa, take it easy Miho," Hana said as she held Mihi steady. Miho shaked her disorientation out.

"W-what happened to me?" Miho asked.

"You got shot," Yukari said, sitting to Miho's left.

"Shot…? Oh yea- Ow, ow, ow…" Miho felt the pain on her back return on its mention. The shot had knocked her out? "Wow, Yukari… you got shot like this in England?"

"Yeah, but it hurts a lot more this time…" Yukari recalled. "I was wearing a suit that Isabelle gave me though…"

Miho got back up sitting, her back still aching. She then noticed that the platform they were on is moving. "Wha-? Where are we?"

Yukari suddenly beamed as if some story-telling had been growing inside her. "The Panzer IV is being towed out of the forest by a Centurion Armoured Recovery Vehicle! We're on the Panzer now! They're helping us out so that we don't have to completely fix the tracks!"

"A Centurion ARV…? Wait, so the match is…"

"Over", Mako said bluntly.

"We won, Miho," Hana said with a warm smile.

Miho looked with a brief period of disbelief. "Wow, so we really did it, huh?"

"Yep!" Yukari yelped out in affirmative."

"Three cheers for Ōarai!" Saori shouted in glee!

"Yeah!" Anglerfish cried out.

"Will you girls keep it down back there?!" A manly scream came atop the moving Centurion. Miho and the others shirked a bit.

"I'd imagine we'll see a few people in a bad mood once we get back…" Miho said sheeply.

The girls giggled lightly as the stayed on the towed Panzer IV's roof as it was moved out of the forest. Although Miho laid deep in her thoughts on what she had saw.

---

"God damn it Miho, you messed everything up!" Montgomery came up like a volcano to Miho and her crew.

As the girls arrived at the rallying center for the match, they saw that they were the last of the Ōarai members to be extracted from the forest. As the rest of the Ōarai team had went and prepare their tanks for the transport out of the forest, Montgomery had the pleasure of being the first to meet the captain of the victorious team.

"I- ah…" Miho stammered as Monty looked at her with the meanest face she's seen on him yet. But the shell broke and Monty broke out with a large grin.

"But bloody hell, that was an awesome match."

The 4 other Anglerfish girls were stunned by Monty's sudden change. Miho, on the other hand, pinched her own hand to make sure she wasn't still dreaming of a emotion-twisting phantom.

As Monty laughed heartily, shaking a few of their hands. A voice called out behind him. "There you are!"

"Isabelle!" Yukari yelled out. "Didja see us there?!"

Isabelle approached, "You girls are the craziest sons of bitches I've ever seen. Seriously, what were you thinking before you fell off the hill?"

"Obviously, they weren't," Monty said. "Your rash, reckless attacks with unpredictableness has made you a dangerous opponent on the battlefield."

"I-I wouldn't put it like that…" Miho tried to explain.

"But it's still stupid."

"S-sorry?" Miho said.

"Don't rely on such moves like that," Montgomery said. "It's okay to be aggressive sometimes, but always know when it is appropriate to retreat. You don't want to end up like a Sixth Army at Stalingrad…"

Miho instinctively thought of her battle against Pravda back during the 63rd Nationals upon hearing "Stalingrad".

"Gah, but what can I do? In the end, the 'Legend' has bested me and my group today." Monty said before muttering to himself, "gah, how am I going to explain this to the officers…"

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Hey Montgomery, where's Emma? I'd like to talk to her," Yukari asked as she looked around. Indeed, Emma was nowhere to be seen around Monty now.

Monty looked back as well, scanning the area. "I'm… not sure. She said she had to do something, but I haven't seen her since. I'm sure she's just busy doing her business."

"Aw, alright," Yukari said, deflated. Miho wondered if Yukari intended to rub the victory in Emma's face, though she doubted that action from the fluffball.

Montgomery and Miho looked at each other once more. "Uh…" Miho wanted to say. "Thank you for everything so far. None of this would've been possible without your help."

"Heh," Montgomery said, but he also looked surprised by Miho's gratitude. "It's a competitive world out there Miho. Anyone could fall out of favor with a drop of a dime."

"But, then why'd you help as much as you did?" Miho asked. The way it was, Montgomery pretty much engineered his downfall by helping Ōarai.

"Well, it'd be even more ungentlemen like to leave my female guests alone in this new world, would it not?" Monty said with a knightly aura around him.

Miho and the girls beamed by Monty's generosity. Even if he shot himself in a foot like this; at least to Miho, it seemed Monty didn't mind any of it at all. Kind of like Daniel Marshall, these two attended Tankery not for any primary goal of glory, but for the fun of it all. The two surely contrasted to Kraus and his school's attitude to Tankery.

"Alright, Sir Arthur, that's enough out of you," Isabelle slugged her arms around his neck. She surely was a tall girl.

"Yes, yes," Monty said as he got out of Isabelle's grip, "you girls and the yank oughta go now. You've got two more matches ahead of you, and I promise they won't be as easy as with me or Marshall."

"Yeah… especially since Russia is still there for the count…" Isabelle said with a rash, hostile tone. Miho wondered why.

"Alright, before my presence cause you all a series of inaction, I will take my leave. Toodles… Legend." He turned away with a hand up waving as he walked to wherever his team was.

"I don't know about that name yet…" Miho said openly.

"Really, Miho?" Isabelle said, surprised by Miho's continual rejection of that title. "You led your Panzer IV on a kill streak of nine tanks, and you won't call yourself a 'legend'?"

"I don't know…" Miho said in confused frustration. "It's just not right… And did we really destroy nine tanks?" Miho counted on her fingers, recalling each shot the Panzer IV fired.

"Eight actually," Mako said quickly.

"Still a lot," Isabelle said. "Historically, you'd be a tank ace in just that match."

"Ugh…" Miho groaned. One more tick on her annoying namesake.

"Don't worry about it, Miporin," Saori tried to cheer her up. "Think of the positives on this event!"

"Like what?" Miho asked.

"Uh, well…" Saori didn't expect that response. "Well,maybe you can use your fame to easily get a boy? No… that's not right…"

"It's alright, Saori," Miho said solemnly, about to plant her hand on Saori's shoulder before pausing.

Her paused lasted longer than she thought as she appeared in a suspended state with her hand hovering in the air by Saori. Saori looked a Miho puzzlingly at her stance.

"Miho, are you okay?" Hana asked. Miho blinked hard a few times before relaxing.

"Y-yeah… I think I'm fine," Miho said, but the girls could see she was quite shaken up. "Let's go girls."

---

The girls walked a short distance to the train yard, where the tanks were transported here and there from the ports to the match. The Ōarai team had been busy getting the tanks ready for the ride back to the aircraft carrier.

"Alright," Isabelle finally said as they approached the rails, "you girls handle loading the tanks, I need to finish loading the care package."

"Care package?" Yukari asked curiously on the usage of such terminology.

"Few things I asked for since last week. I got it during your match when some of the ACA cadets were able to make it."

"The American cadets were here?" Saori asked Isabelle.

"Yeah. They're gone now though. Though they loved your performance."

"What kinds of things did you ask for?" Hana was also interested on what Isabelle would order for Ōarai.

Isabelle smiled, but her eye trailed to Yukari, "You'll see when we get back to the ship. Now move out, we leave as soon as everything's ready for transport." Isabelle concluded while waving the girls forward.

"Yes ma'am!" Yukari said loudly of the five Anglerfishes. Her steadfastness also urged the girls away to the flatbed cars while Isabelle move on to her own direction.

Their towed Panzer IV had already made it to the loading area of the train yard, which was in the process of being hooked to a crane to move it onto the flatbeds. As the Miho and the others got closer and went within eyesight of the rest of the team, everyone all cheered for their arrival.

"That's our team captain, right there!" Rosehip yelled out loud upon spotting Miho and the Anglerfish girls. The team seemed to roar in applause.

"Good work, Miho!"

"Wooo! Match point!"

The praises and victorious chants came in as Miho was once again struck in awe. "Oh you all…" Miho said, touched by the team spirit.

"C'mon Miho," Anzu said as she stepped right up to Miho. "The train ain't going to wait forever, even for the 'Legend'!"

"Ah…" Miho wanted to say, but she decided to roll with it for now.

"Oh, uh, sorry about that," Anzu said. "Guess your reputation really is getting around, hmm?"

"Not that I enjoy it…" Miho said, "but yeah, it is."

"Well, Miho. We're only a train ride away from celebrating victory back home!" Anzu said cheerfully before turning to the rest of the girls. "So let's get all these tanks up and set for the trip back! C'mon! Get this Panzer IV up that flatbed car!"

"Yes ma'am!" Some of the girls really into the spirit said. Everyone was jolly from their victory against the British 3rd RTR cadets. After their previous defeat by them in the first practice match, they were really on the roll with after beating the Americans and the British.

Miho couldn't help but break into a smile to see the whole team up and cracking again.

"Miho!" A cry came out next to the cars of Shermans being loaded up.

"Kay!" Miho shouted out loud towards the Saunder girls while waving. She headed towards her while the Anglerfish girls handled the Panzer IV's loading process. Miho climbed onto the flat car Kay was on with her M4A3E2 Jumbo. The other Saunder girls were also there nearby, doing their own thing like chewing bubble gum or playing with a paddleball.

"You did good out there, Miho," Kay said. "It was all very exciting!"

"Yeah, it was," Miho recalled how her blood flowed through her during that vital last minutes with Emma's Achilles and Fireflies. "What happened to Dandelion at the time? We couldn't reach you for most of the match…"

"Yeah…it was a really mess up there…" Kay seemed to reminisce on her situation. "We met up a group that decided to come from the North, right? The first engagement was confusing as hell. See, in one intersection, I met Naomi's Firefly and their Firefly in one go."

"Oh my, that's confusing." Miho almost snickered when she remembered the time the Hetzer slammed itself into Kuromorimine's line during the finals of the 63rd Nationals.

Kuromormine…

Miho couldn't help but feel the name gnawing on her brain.

"You okay Miho?" Kay asked. Miho blanked out and she readjusted herself.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks," Miho reoriented herself. "So how did you sort the situation out?"

"Well… in a way we really didn't…" Kay said seriously. "I think there was some friendly fire in the mix… In the end, we were decimated by 17-pounder fire. Sorry about that, Miho."

"It's alright, Kay. It all turned out okay, right?"

Kay smiled, "Yeah, I guess it did. Can't get too bogged down for a mistake." Her boisterous self came back to maximum as though a weight had been lifted from her spirit. Miho could only smile back with as much enthusiasm as she could pack into it.

"I need to help everyone else finish the loading process, so I'll see you later Kay," Miho bid her farewell to Kay. Kay and the other Saunder girls present waved back as they got to their own business.

As the leaves crinkled under her boots, Miho could feel the moisture and dew in the air. However, a thought continued to linger inside her…

Sister.

Kuromormine.

Sister.

Miho paused in her path as the words circulated her mind. Why? She's thought about the whereabouts of Maho and Kuromorimine for some times now, but now these thoughts came in as pangs. She couldn't shake it. Miho took a few deep breaths before continuing forwards. It can wait… Miho kept thinking to herself. It can wait… There were more urgent needs at hand.

---

A few hours later - Ōarai Girls High School, Ōarai Carrier

The crane carried the broken down tanks up from the ferries that took them to the Canadian shore. Inside the noisy loading docks of the school carrier, the girls on ship duty organized the offloading of the cargo while the Ōarai Compound team members headed their way up to the deck.

The efficiency of the ship girls with the different machinery present on board was impeccable. Before long, the first of the tanks were already on the deck, carried up by the large elevators present on the carrier design.

The Black Prince, Churchill , BT-42, KV-1, StuG III, Hetzer, and Char B1 made their way back to the tank garage under their own power. With the exception of the BT-42, KV-1, and the Char B1, the tanks helped tow a disabled tank towards the tank tanks were also carried back on truck trailers. Another series of linking, unlinking, loading, and unloading took place as the tanks were all finally put to their place in the tank garages.

Among the cargo of parts and the such, Miho noted a large wooden box almost her height that was riding next to the Panzer IV on its truck trailer. The care package? Miho thought, it was the only peculiar and new package compared to what they left with in the morning. By the time the girls finished unloading everything, the sun had settled and only a brief orange hue existed on the horizon.

Miho looked at the tanks that were still running compared to those that were obliterated. The casualty rates still coincided with the nationals, but if this keeps up… Miho was thinking along that line before someone came up and five-starred her in the back. Kay stood above her on her left smiling, trying to cheer up the team captain. "Looks like everything is in order cap'n!" Kay said with a cheerful tone. Miho didn't know what else to say other than agree.

"Uh...Yep. Everything is accounted for."

"Hey Isabelle! We good over here?!" Kay turned her attention over to the American vice-commander, who helped with the unloading process along with the rest of the girls that came with her. As she passed by, Kay seemed to grab her closer with her right arm into a small group huddle.

"Wha- wha?" Isabelle, almost taken off balance by Kay's urging, tried to comprehend her situation. "Uh, yeah. All the tanks are back, and so are the crew…"

"Great!" Kay now grabbed around the two girls on her side and hugged them. Her arms, with only one wrapped around each girl, squeezed the two with a strength the two never accounted for. Isabelle managed to free a space for herself while Miho struggled. "After we brush up the tanks, set them up ready for the motor pool; let's all take a nice, victorious soak in the bath!" Kay shouted with continue glee.

All the girls in the room cheered at that notion.

"Wait, what?" Isabelle objected as she freed herself from Kay's grasp.

"What's wrong?" Kay asked the hesitant American on that.

"When you say bath, you mean as in… altogether?" Isabelle questioned.

"Yeah, duh, don't you do that?"

"Uh, Kay," Miho felt like she needed to remind the Saunders girl. "She's American, remember?"

"Yeah? And?" Kay rather innocuously let that information fly over her.

"And we're Japanese…"

"...Oh!" Kay suddenly beamed like a lightbulb. "Hehehe, right…" She rubbed her head bashfully as she turned to Isabelle. "You Americans don't like to bath with one another, or rather, you don't like to get naked with others."

"No, we don't," Isabelle reaffirmed, crossing her arms in a stern stance.

As Kay talked loudly and proudly near the blunt and quiet Isabelle, Miho wondered which of the two was more "American".

---

Honestly, that girl never shuts up… Isabelle thought to herself as she walked through the tank garages. The rest of the girls, except some of the motor pool personnel, had already left for the nearest bath house.

The Japanese culture had been… quite interesting to Isabelle during their stay since she and her comrades volunteered to assist Ōarai. She only read bits by bits of Japanese culture from mangas and stories that U.S. soldiers stationed in Japan say about the country. Her experience on Ōarai alone had proven a lot of the stories of the Japanese lifestyle and culture. Some were plain weird, like the public baths. Other were quite revolutionary, like vending machines holding cold sodas and hot coffees. How convenient was it that a few yen coins could buy a can of coffee? The architecture was also soothing to look at compared to the rough city buildings and run down rural areas back home.

And then we have the tank garages… Isabelle summed up perhaps the biggest difference between her envisioned Japanese lifestyle to what was present. Really, the large military-like structures and field present contrasted with everything demonstrated by the suburban environment of Ōarai Girls High School Carrier.

As she walked around in thoughts, the whir of machinery and twists of bolts echoed within the garage as the girls fixed up their tanks. The other's school's tanks have their own motor pools working on their downed vehicles. On the Ōarai tanks, there were four girls in yellow mechanic uniforms working away at their rare VK 4501 (P). Very dedicated girls, Isabelle wished some of the men in the Cadet Armours were as enthusiastic as they were. Was this a cultural thing too? Sensha-Dou was a lot different than what Tankery provided.

Still, the difference in Asian and Western culture was a big one, a gap that would be hard to overcome.

"I'd like to keep my body to myself, thank you very much."

"Did you say something?" a girl with dark complexion, or tanned skin, asked the absently-minding Isabelle. Her mechanic top part was rolled down with the sleeves wrapped around her waist, showing off a white sleeveless shirt on top.

"Oh no, don't mind me," Isabelle extricated herself out of that situation. She continued walking by the Ōarai tanks, interested by the personification the Ōarai girls had given them. The M3 Lee with a pink rabbit dual-wielding knives was cute, even if someone back in the cadets would have a hernia over such an "unnecessary addition". Then there was the Type 3 Chi-Nu, a rare tank to see even with their reproduction in Tankery and Sensha-dou. The anteater pasted on the turret side doing a ribbon dance was by far one of the most absurd decoration Isabelle had seen someone put on the vehicle, and she's saw some of the Air Force people with their blinged out A-10 Warthogs.

Then there was the pride of Ōarai, the Panzer IV. Though she noted the Marshall's care package next to the tank, the Panzer IV was quite a breathtaking vehicle with elements of antiquity and robustness. It's got quite an unusual paint coat of just simply brown paint on top. Usually, the Germans tank would use the yellow Dunkelgelb coat with green or red-brown coloring as camouflage. To go so simple as…

THUNK

The sound erupted from the Panzer IV, surprising Isabelle to turn a head towards it. Do they have a cat or something? Isabelle first thought, but realized a feline wouldn't have been able to make such a noise even by accident. She looked over at the maintenance crew working on the Tiger (P) and see they haven't changed their focus. Maybe I'm just hearing stuff no-

CLUNK-dunk

Now Isabelle positively looked at the German Panzer with suspicion. Something was inside and Isabelle was determined to find out what. In the case it was a baby bear ready to maul anyone who dared opened the tank, Isabelle went to an end of the garage and took a "Little Joe", a large wrench intended to assist in track tensioning of M3 chassis vehicles like the M3, M4 mediums and their derivatives like the M10. Taking the large wrench that could double as a club in her hands, she walked over to the questionable Panzer IV, the mechanic crew now curious on what on Earth the American was doing.

She then took up "Little Joe" with two hands and swung it at the front side of the Panzer IV, a loud metallic CLANG echoed in the garage

GAH!

"Come on out!" Isabelle yelled out loud as she held the wrench in a baseball bat style in case. God, I wish I had my .45 pistol right now.

The driver's hatch opened up slowly with a creak. "With your hands up!" Isabelle added that notion just in case. Soon two hands popped out first, then the sleeves which showed a woodland camouflage uniform, then the unique duo hair-color of blonde and pure brunette, then the intruder's face.

I guess I wasn't entirely wrong on the cat thing, was the first thought that crossed Isabelle's mind. "Puma?" She asked for confirmation on what she was seeing.

The figure, now sitting on the rim of the driver's hatch on the hull roof with her two hands still hanging in the air, let out a small laugh. "Hey Isabelle, what's up? Fancy seeing you here."

---

After Miho and the girls left the bath, they thought they were going to go home until they got a call from Isabelle. Well, five missed calls as they only found out when they got out of the bath.

So Anglerfish and the student council went back to the tank garage to meet their new guest.

"Emma?" Yukari was the first to say anything upon seeing the British vice-commander stared down onto a chair by Isabelle, who was on a call with someone.

"Hello Yukari, how's your wounds?" Emma asked the Ōarai agent.

"Uh, they're fine. They don't hurt anymore."

"Good, because I wanna give you a new definition of-" As Emma got up from her chair, a quick movement by Isabelle and her legs kicked her back down. Emma could only react with an annoyed face.

"What's going on here?" Miho asked, more towards Isabelle.

"Miho, hold her here for a moment, would you? I'm almost done with this call," Isabelle asked. Miho agreed as she and Yukari moved closer to Emma's chair while Isabelle stepped aside for a moment.

"How'd you get here?" Miho asked.

"Stowed away on your Panzer IV," Emma explained, "somehow."

"Somehow?"

"Look, even I'm not too sure what I was doing, a'ight?" Emma admitted.

Whatever happened in the thought process surely was not as rational as it was interpreted if that meant sneak-up-inside-enemy-base-via-their-tanks.

"Are you here to scout on us? A bit late for that…" Momo asked the British agent.

"And so?" Emma replied. "What? You expect me to talk?"

"No..." Yukari and Miho said.

There was a pause between the girls, only broken by Emma's heavy sigh. "Y'know, you could've gone somewhere with that," she said eyeing Yukari.

"What?" Yukari asked.

"Ever watched Goldfinger?"

"Okay, okay, so you two are getting along, that's great," Anzu got into the two.

However, Emma snapped back. "Getting along? Us? Oh no, this girl and I still got blood to spill!"

Yukari took a step back from Emma. "Uh, like what?" She said with honest ignorance.

"What'd she do to you?" Saori asked.

"Humiliated me back in the base, and now you all beat us at Canada…" Emma listed.

"Your team lost at Quebec fair and square," Momo refuted. "Miho and her team knocked out your flag tank, that simple."

Emma recollected her thoughts, "Then it's just with you, Yukari!"

"Can't we just take those shots you hit me with in the match and call it even?" Yukari tried to compromise.

"No, no, no. Not after what you did to me."

"What did I even do?!" Yukari now did not understood Emma's rage.

"Give me back those photos!"

The room seemed to go silent with those words. "What photos?" Miho asked meekly compared to the tension.

"Gah!" Emma roared with frustration as she got up. However, just as before, she was kicked back down by Isabelle, who had just returned from her call.

"Sorry about that, had a call with Montgomery about Emma's situation," Isabelle explained to Miho.

"I was wondering about that," Miho said, expecting some response by Montgomery for Emma's unauthorized presence on the Ōarai school carrier.

"Oh yeah, what'd he going to do about me?" Emma asked with defiance. "Put me on AWOL?"

"Oh, even better," Isabelle seemed to savor the words she was about to say. "Since there is no applicable way to retrieve you at this time, he's assigned you to advisor duty with a foreign school to help them out with Tankery."

Emma blinked for a moment at Isabelle, then glanced at the Ōarai team to her left, then back to Isabelle with a finger pointing to Ōarai. "With them?" She asked.

"Yes," Isabelle clarified, "in an advisor duty under my command for Ōarai."

Emma seemed to be in disbelief as she alternated between Isabelle and Ōarai. She sighed heavily before getting up. "Welp, that's just fantastic, isn't it?"

"Say for yourself," Isabelle said to Emma.

"So will Emma be staying with us until the end?" Miho asked tenderly to the two girls who looked like they were ready to clash.

"Yes, she is."

"No, I wo-"

"Okay then, tell me how you plan to get back home?" Isabelle asked Emma.

Emma grew silent as she pondered. She thought for a while before relenting, "Fine, I'll stay and help out."

"Well, then welcome aboard!" Miho reached in with a hand. Emma stared at it for a second before shaking it.

"Emma will stay where the rest of my team and I are residing," Isabelle said. "We'll think of some things to do tomorrow while the tanks get fixed."

"Understood!" Miho agreed along with it. "Tomorrow will probably be back to normal for us. School then practice for the next match, right prez?"

"Yep!" Anzu said brightly. "I'll let you all know where the next match is as soon as I get it."

"Okay!" Miho said, confident that everything was settled. "It's getting late though, so we should retire for the night…"

"Yeah…" Mako said, yawning heavily, "Why am I even still awake now?"

"C'mon Mako, live a little…" Saori said, catching the slumping girl.

"Alrighty then," Anzu said. "I hope to see you all do your best tomorrow, okay?"

"Right!" Anglerfish crew agreed.

"Alright, dismissed!" Anzu said as the girls all dispersed to their own path. Anglerfish went their own direction back home as the student council and the foreigners went to their own residences.

"Hey Yukari?" Miho called for her friend.

"Yeah Nishizumi-dono?" Yukari replied.

"What did Emma mean by 'photos'?"

Yukari was silent.

"Yukari?"

"Oh, hehehe, uh, it's a small thing we have together when I saw her at Britain. Classified stuff, heheheh…" Yukari bumped it off with that response.

Miho looked at Yukari strangely before conceding. "Okay…" A private matter, perhaps?

---

Miho's Apartment, Ōarai Carrier

"Mmm…" Miho couldn't sleep. She was restless, tossing and turning as she laid on the bed. Even past midnight, she couldn't feel that hook to be drawn into dream world. When she felt comfortable, she suddenly became hot. When she got out of the blanket, some wrinkle on her clothes prodded on her skin. After a rough rolling around, she didn't feel any better at all.

She looked at her room sleepily, yet awake with alert. The day ended after a long and hard battle against the British, and she felt exhaustedly awake. She wanted to sleep, but her body wasn't letting her. She sighed heavily before conceding to her body's wishes, getting up from her bed at the time setting of one in the morning.

A quick trip to the kitchen and back with a warm cup of milk, she went to her desk and opened her laptop. The white light beamed brightly in the room and she turned on a nearby lamp to dissuade the complete contrast of lighting between the laptop and the room. She checked her school email first, the daily newsletter from the morning already was still there, not opened by Miho. Above it, Miho found a new email unopened by Anzu, but the sender was the International League. Opening it up to reveal Anzu had CC'ed Miho to future messages from the League, Miho read the contents.

The layout of the message was the format of a newsletter, important news in the middle with smaller bits of information on the right. In the middle, Miho saw exactly what she expected.

"LEGEND" DEFEATS BRITISH CADETS IN STUNNING MATCH IN THE SECOND ROUNDS.

"Ugh…" Miho rubbed her forehead. That name was never leaving her at this rate. She thought about forfeiting and getting that title over with, but she slapped some sense into her to remove the clouded judgement.

The article read under the title the circumstances of the match, what happened on all fronts of the battle. Miho was indeed intrigued at this part as on the field, she felt she didn't get a good idea on what was going on either. Soon, she read to the end, which read:

Next match tomorrow will be the Suvorov Military School from Russia against Hamina Armored Institution from Finland. Location of the match between Ōarai and the winner of that round will be in Europe. Precise location will be announced at the conclusion of tomorrow's match.

Europe, hmm? Miho noted. With that information, she would not be surprised if the carrier set sailed before dawn. At the rate these ships can go, they'll be in the Europe continent within three days.

Miho finished reading the small newsletter given. It was rather simple, with no other extraneous information aside from the match just yesterday. There were no links to any official pages or network, no media links suggesting sponsorship, no social media, nothing. Very simple in format. How exactly does this League run? Miho wondered.

Finishing that, she now had nothing else on her school email. She went to her personal one and found little more than advertisements and junk mail which she hastily sent to the spam folder. An uneventful search on the internet.

She opened her own social media page and see if there were any updates. Friends posting their own stuff like Rabbit team watching that tank movie that came out a few years ago, Hippo team dressing up in their historical persona in front of their StuG, Mallard posting notice as the Morals Committee reassuring students and residents that the firearms wielded by the Ōarai Security Force were not lethal and the risks presented were no worse than that of Sensha-Dou matches.

Small tidbits of her friends and acquaintances show up. She noticed an absence and went to her "family" bar and searched for an individual.

Maho Nishizumi

Maho never did use social media to the same degree as Miho did, but she created one to keep in contact with her younger sister. A back-up just in case. Miho looked at the page updates. It was very simple, many of the personality traits are still blank as Maho never bothered to fill them out except her family section, of which Miho was under.

Miho smiled at this sign, but then noted that the page hasn't been through much. With very little updates, it is a poor way to show if Maho was still active out there. But it was the last alternative way to contact her bigger sister, her calls and messages are still not being replied too. With desperation sweeping over, Miho typed down on the site's messaging service:

Hello big sister, it's me Miho. Where are you? Why are you not picking up your phone?

Miho read the message in her mind repeatedly, making sure the simple message had the idea conveyed in the way she wanted. After reading it for the fifth time, she clicked [Enter] and the message was sent.

Despite that, Miho knew deep inside that the message may never be seen.

---

The next day rose like a beam of light into Miho's room, sapping all the energy from the land.

Miho groggily rose from her bed, after managing to fall asleep, and got ready for school. Leaving her apartment, she reached all the way outside in front of the pastry store before she heard a familiar call.

"Good morning, Miporin!" Saori shouted from down a block behind her. Hana and Mako were also there. The only thing peculiar about this bunch was Mako was walking on her own two legs this morning.

"G-Good morning, Saori, Hana, M-mako," Miho said almost slurring.

"Are you okay, Miho?" Hana asked. "You don't look very well."

"I didn't sleep that well last night," Miho told the girls. "It's really messing with my mind."

"Well, maybe THIS will wake you up!" Saori said, opening her school bag to take out a large, wrinkled, bunch of paper. Miho saw the text and then recognized it as a newspaper. Saori unfolded the chunck of articles and showed Miho the very front page.

ŌARAI GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL WINS AGAINST BRITISH CADETS IN WORLD TOURNAMENT! MOVES ON TO THE NEXT STAGE!

"Oh, um… oh boy," Miho said to the bolded title.

"We're on the front pages! Again!" Saori said proudly.

"Probably the only time we'll ever get that much attention," Mako said. Miho simply chuckled at that notion.

"You know, it's curious how our paper never uses your, well, 'title' that everyone else uses," Hana pointed out.

"Hmm? Now that you mention it…" Miho took the paper from Saori. She read bits of the article under the front page header. "Yeah, they use my name only, but no reference to any 'Legend'."

"You'd probably want it this way, don't you?" Mako asked.

Miho looked at the paper, then back at her friends, "Yeah… let's just keep it like this."

The other girls agreed as Saori snatched back her papers and the girls walk towards school, just like another regular day.

---

"Good afternoon Nishizu-oomph!" Yukari does her usual antics to the girls as they were heading to the tank garages.

"S-sorry, Yukari! Again!" Miho said to Yukari, who she had hit when turning to react to a threat, only for Miho's elbow to meet Yukari's gut.

"Haha, I'm fine…" Yukari said as she got back up. "Good afternoon, Nishizumi-dono! Everyone!"

"Good afternoon, Yukari," the responses came. Miho was glad to see Yukari still as lively as ever.

The whole school was lively as a matter of fact. The school girls all around were talking about Ōarai's victory in the world tournament. It made an exciting buzz in the school atmosphere, spirit and morale was at an all-time high. Posters and banners were hanged up, just like the time in the nationals, to show the school's support for the Ōarai Compound Team. It wasn't as festive as the like of Anzio or Saunders, but it showcased Ōarai's unique spirit as a public school.

"Do you think our tanks will all be ready by now?" Yukari asked of Miho and the girls.

"Leopon's been working hard to make sure they're back in working order…" Miho said, "but I wouldn't be surprised if a few were still broken down. We sustained nearly 75% casualties yesterday."

"Even if we they weren't, would we need them so fast?" Saori asked. "I think we got this in the bag! Everyone's stunned by our performance! A day's break can't hurt anyone, could it?"

"I don't know…" Miho said, apprehensive.

"What do you mean, Miho?" Hana asked.

"Well, back when I talked with Daniel in America. He made it seem like we've seen nothing yet, that Tankery doesn't get as intense as those practiced by Russia and Germany."

"Well, Pravda and Kuromormine back in the nationals were kind of like that too, hmm?" Saori remembered. "If you're there to lead us Miho, I'm sure we'll be in tip-top shape!"

Miho still worried, but her teammate's confidence in her added faith and weight onto her back. The American Cadet Alliance and the British 3rd Royal Tank Regiment cadets were very powerful in terms of Sensha-dou standards. Unique tanks, large guns, how much worse can it get from that? Miho wondered that all the way to the tank garage.

The sun was up and shining above the field as the girls gathered around the garage, their enthusiastic chattering could be heard all the way to the school buildings that the Anglerfish girls came out of. "Everyone's so lively now," Hana said.

"Yeah," Miho commented. Best to capitalize on this new found spirit now than later.

As they walked towards the field, a figure jumped out at them from behind a bush. "Miho Nishizumi!~!" The cry went as the person glomped Miho, two large pigtails waved into her face… Grey hair with a hue.

"A-Anchovy!?" Miho exclaimed surprise as the figure now seemed to shake her.

"Where are your snacks?! Where are your stalls?!" A frantic captain of the Anzio Sensha-dou team cried out in front of Miho.

"Yeah!" Another voice cried out as she rushed Miho, this one with short spikey black hair. "Where are all the snacks!?"

"...huh?" Miho said dumbfounded to the two Anzio students. "What snacks?"

"Food! Stalls! Pasta!" Anchovy explained, standing up and facing Miho right into her eyes. "You're having a festival right now, right?! Where's all the food?!"

"Food!"

"Uuhh… Anchovy, Pepperoni; there isn't a festival right now." Yukari said, somewhat familiar of Anzio's lifestyle.

"Then what's with all the banners?! The cheering?! The 'Go Win!' morale boosting posters for us?"

"That's… just them cheering us up… it's a school spirit thing."

Pepperoni's legs seemed to wobble and she collapsed while Anchovy seemed to be on the verge of following suit. "So… no pasta?"

"No pasta," Mako reiterate.

Anchovy and Pepperoni seemed to be on a verge of tears before someone yelled "Oi! Catch!"

Two items flew over Anglerfish, but the Anzio students quickly reacted like they were on springboards and caught the items. "It's not pasta, but its food!"

Miho and the girls took a moment to realize those food pieces were burgers.

"You five want some too?" Kay said with hints of light chewing in her voice.

"N-no thanks Kay," Miho said quickly while turning to look at the Saunders captain.

"Ready for another day at the tank range?!" Kay said very enthusiastically as the two voracious girls downed their burgers like no tomorrow.

"Just like any other day!" Yukari yelled out with nearly the same tone as Kay.

The girls made their way to the tank garages. The two garages have their doors wide open and the tanks inside looking almost new. However a few tanks from Saunders and Chi-Ha-Tan were still under repairs, part of a larger queue due to the annihilation of Dandelion team yesterday.

The girls had all gathered in the open area in front of the garages just like any normal day before practice, the large crowd now chattering eagerly among each other about their prospect in the tournament. No more fear now, everyone wants to fight the next enemy. Soon, the student council and the few instructors available stood in front of the main tank garage that held most of Ōarai's tanks. The instructors, Ami, Isabelle, Helena, and Kyline all stood in a line, with a new addition of Isabelle in the mix, though she looked less energetic and disciplined than the others.

"Listen up, everyone!" Momo yelled out on top of her lungs over everybody. The large crowd of more than 150 students were soon at attention. "We beat two schools already, but we can't let our guard down now! We're heading to the semi-finals, and the enemy there will be more ferocious than anything we've fought before!"

"We'll fight as hard as we had against those Brits!" Someone in the crowd said.

"Against the British cadets yesterday, it showed that we still have a lot to work on with communication between distant units! Victory can't come without teamwork! Focus all your efforts in coordinating efforts against the enemy!"

"You use the same word twice there, Momo," Yuzu pointed out casually.

"Don't undermine me!" Momo cut back, "We can't lose ourselves in the fogs of war like last time! Even if this is all just an exhibition match, who says we can't give it our all?! Right?!"

"Right!" Some of the more eager girls in the crowd said in unison.

"We're quite fired up, aren't we?" Hana commented. Around them, the aura of the large group making up Ōarai Compound Team was ecstatic and energetic.

"Let's hope so!" Miho said with a smile.

"Alright! Get to your tanks! Training assignments will be assigned by squads!" Momo said at last, and without a pause between her previous statement, "What are you all standing around for?! Get moving!"

"Right!" The girls dispersed towards their tanks.

"Well, let's go, Miporin!" Saori said, riding the wave of energy with everyone else.

Miho nodded as the girls made it to their beloved Panzer IV. The instructors were also dispersing as they headed to their stations or prepare for training methods for the compound team.

As Anglerfish made it to their tank and began to climb their Panzer IV, Miho heard Isabelle say, "Shit, almost forgot about that!"

Miho looked back and saw Isabelle and the other instructors except Ami moving towards her Panzer IV.

"Is there something wrong?" Miho asked the girls.

"Oh no, forgot about that," Isabelle pointed at the large wooden box next to the Panzer IV.

"What's that?" Miho asked, recognizing it as the mysterious wooden box she saw yesterday.

"It's the care package from Marshall and the others. I was going to open it last night, but something...," Isabelle said with an accent as she leaned towards Emma, "...came up."

"Well, excuuuse me, Princess!" Emma retorted.

Now Miho was curious on what Isabelle had brought on board Ōarai. She gestured towards Helena and Kyline for help as she brought out a crowbar. She dug in a flat end into the space between the box cover and body. She pulled, prying the wood pieces apart and a splitting CRACK as the box cover propped off away from the nails. Isabelle then propped the box cover open on the wall as she and the others looked inside. Isabelle on the left side of the box and pulled out a black, ribbed plastic box that looked nigh-unbreakable.

"Wha-" Emma started.

"Classified," Isabelle instantly said as she put the first box down on the concrete floor. She reached in and grabbed two more larger boxes of the same type.

"Oh that's a load of bollocks," Emma only said as she watched the Americans unload their stuff.

Helena helped Isabelle unload her boxes, some heavier than the others. Kyline was on the right, struggling to remove a small wooden panel that was covering sector. Removing it revealed an olive green tarp underneath, which which she removed as well. She looked at the content inside and stared. "Holy shit, sarge."

"What?"

"Check this out!" Kyline reached inside the box, some clattering of wood came as she lifted a formidable, long piece of hardware, dusting off the metallic pieces on it.

"No way!" Isabelle said in disbelief as she placed her black box down and scampered towards Kyline, taking the piece of machinery into her hand while Kyline took out another one in the box. Helena also came up excited.

"Are those from the CMP?!" Helena shouted as she came up excitingly to the girls.

"Hell yeah! Modified for us truly!" Kyline shouted as she pulled on a protrusion on the facing to the right from the piece. The piece clacked back with a sound just like that of a MP40.

"M1 Garands!?" Yukari finally said, sticking her head out of the loader's hatch on the Panzer IV. The girls with the "greatest implement of battle ever devised" were in their own world as they inspected their fine pieces of engineering.

Kyline reached in and grabbed a few more out before reaching down once more and coming up empty-handed. Her look of disappointment brought the attention of the other two. "Only five?"

"Only the three of us are fully trained on this firearm, Kyline," Isabelle said. "The others are just spares. I won't be surprised if there's only two boxes of .30-06 ammunition as well."

Kyline reached down the box once more and brought up two OD green boxes, the texts written in blue rather than the more common yellow to indicate the usage of non-lethal rounds. "Son of a bitch," Kyline said as she looked at the ammunition load, as if quite dejected she can't go wild on the M1 Garand's firepower.

Despite their training schedule, Anglerfish and the crew around them, Rabbit and Hippo, had became curious at the American's new gifts. "Anything for us?" Aya said, as if expecting a souvenir.

"Hmm?" Kyline took notice as she was inspecting the ammunition, "eh, what the heck." She tossed something towards the second-years. They missed it and it fell down onto the concrete with a very noisy PING. "That's it though."

The girls picked up the black rectangular u-shaped piece of metal. Their excited tone of voice and chattering overshadowed Helena as she picked up a large metallic piece of hardware, full metal with no wood at all.

"Hey, a grease gun!" Yukari was the first to react.

"Yep, the M3A1 submachine gun," Helena explained it as she inspected the interior by pulling the bolt. "Heard some of the Abrams tankers used this until the M4 carbine came about. Wanna hold it?"

Yukari nodded as Helena handed the empty M3 Grease to the enthusiastic girl. Yukari weighed it, feeling it was lighter than the MP40 the girls carried around in their Panzer IV. Helena reached down and pulled out one more M3, but she looked solemn. "Only two?"

"Yeah, the second one's a spare," Isabelle said.

"You only asked for one? For what?"

"Extracurricular activities," Isabelle simply said, "Give it here."

Helena shrugged as she tossed the M3 towards her commander. Kyline and Helena continued to unload small miscellaneous stuff from the box, ammunition and the such. Kyline also picked up a piece of gear with large pouches on them, only three.

"Is the box just for you three?" Miho asked. Such a large box for the three Americans here."

"I admit, I only had us in mind when I placed the request. Made shipping easier," Isabelle told Miho. "Hey Yukari, you free later this afternoon?"

"M-maybe, why?" Yukari asked.

"I want to go over some personalized training for you for your next mission," Isabelle said. "If you'll be permitted that is."

Yukari looked at Miho, who understood what Isabelle meant by the mission. Miho worried about Yukari's safety in the hands of Isabelle, but now that they were all aware of what was expected, it was better to take the proper steps for the operation than to just drop her in like last time. "That's fine, Yukari," Miho gave her approval with a nod to Yukari, who brightened up with that.

"I'll be sure to give you a replacement for the position, Miho," Isabelle said, but Miho didn't worry about it.

Emma was tinkering about with one of the spare M1 garands when Isabelle put her hand onto the English's shoulder. "You too."

"What?" Emma said, lost in the situation.

"At 1500, rally by the firing range on me," Isabelle said facing Yukari and Emma, full of hand gestures. "Until then, as you were. Emma, with me."

Isabelle then hooked a sling around the M1 Garand, whipped it around her shoulder and walked away to her own business. Emma stook around staring at Yukari, who looked meekly back. "Emma! With me!" Isabelle shouted once more outside the garage before Emma followed.

"You need to settle your thing with that girl, whatever it is…" Saori said, feeling the aura the British girl was placing onto them.

"She's very different than how she was when we first met, huh?"

"Yeah…" Yukari replied. "She seemed friendly at first."

"Maybe we just didn't get to know her whole self…" Miho said, "we still might not know."

"You should see some of the boys I've met," Saori said, "Like there's this one who acted nice, but he's really a-"

"I really don't need that story repeated, Saori," Mako said loud enough from her driver's position. Mako then turned the engine on the Panzer IV on and the start-up noise drowned out Saori's objection.

"We spent too long on this…" Miho agreed as she looked at the time. "Alright girls, mount up!" She said towards the dismounted Rabbit and Hippo team while Helena and Kyline were managing the care package contents. They all proceeded their own paths. The garage was soon alive with engine noise as idle tanks had their engine turned on following Anglerfish. The crew got back to their position, Yukari handing back the Grease gun to one of the Americans as she climbed back into her position, then closing the hatch on the turret side.

"Alright," Miho said as she put on her comms and radio, "Panzer Vor!"

---

Practice out on the Ōarai field proceeded along well. As Momo had mentioned, training focused on long-range communication and coordination. The large Ōarai field provided ample opportunities for company and squad commanders to try to analyze movement of positions of friendly units on a map based only on radio transmissions, while the maneuvering units must be able to transmit information clearly so their commanders could interpret it.

Miho, as the team commander, stayed back near the garages on the first set of training exercises and listened into the multiple transmissions while reading the map inside the Panzer IV. On it, with pencils, she marked the movements of Jasmine, Dandelion, and Sunflower.

Once in awhile, when she looked around, she could see Isabelle and Emma walking together, almost touring the area. Both were pointing a lot at the different areas, from the garages to the fields to even the specific geographics on the Ōarai tank field. I wonder what they're doing… Miho thought every time she saw them pointing around. Almost like they were surveying the area.

Break was announced at 1:30 and the most of the girls made it back to the garage area, with only a few alternating off with girls whose tanks are still broken down and being fixed. They moved back out to the field to hone their skills, but the ones resting had their own leisure time.

Miho got out of her tank. "Fwah!" she breathed in fresh air outside the tank's interior, then patting herself down from the dust that's accumulated on her clothes and hair. She climbed out of her tank and decided to check on the others.

Some girls played around on their break, like Duck team with their volleyball, Hippo with Shogi, Anteater with their portable consoles, and Mallard with maintaining order. She could see all the other school's pass time as well, some of Saunders broke out some cards, some from St. Gloriana just finished heating up water from a kettle for their tea time, Anzio broke out a couple of canned pasta, Continuation were messing around with their tanks, Chi-Ha-Tan chanted their battle cries, Pravda girls were singing songs with vigor, and Kuromormine was…

Oh yeah… Kuromormine is not here…

Miho felt her motivation just drain away on that note, suddenly lethargic to continue. She leaned aside to get her mind straight before continuing on.

"Miho? Is something wrong?" A voice said above her. She looked up to see Kay sticking her head from on top of the wall she was at.

"Oh- hi, Kay…" Miho said.

"What're you doing down there?"

"Resting a bit… what are you doing up there?"

"This is my tank."

Miho looked at the "wall" she was leaning on and found it was metal and OD green. The color of the sides of a M4A3E2 Jumbo. "O-oh…"

"Miho," Kay climbed out of her cupola and dropped down next to her. "If there's anything you want to talk about, I'm here, y'know? We all are." Kay said while waving her hand, gesturing to everyone resting on the field right now. "So don't be afraid to talk when you want to."

Miho looked at Kay's concern very thoughtfully, "Thanks, but… I think I'll be fine."

Kay looked at Miho with some concern, "Like I said, we're here for you, okay? We'll always be."

Miho did get her mind clearer and said her farewells to Kay as she moved on to the next person.

"Miho, would you like a cup of tea?" Darjeeling said as Miho came up to the mini-table St. Gloriana had set up next to the Black Prince. The crew of the Black Prince and Churchill had settled down to drink. "Sage is good for keeping the mind at peace."

Miho smiled at the gesture. "No thank you, Darjeeling."

"You seem to be stressed out," Orange Pekoe said, looking at Miho.

"I am?" Miho said, feigning ignorance.

"You should take the rest of the day off," Assam then said. "Prolonged exposure to combat does do things to a person's mind.

"Isn't that only for PTSD? I don't think it is that bad, Tankery isn't that different from Sensha-Dou."

"I'm not referring only to the matches though," Assam finished, "it could be cumulative from all the years you've been at it in Sensha-dou now."

Miho thought back on it. True, she's been practicing Sensha-dou for a long time now. Officially getting into it since middle school. Ever since then, every year she had been in the battlegrounds of Sensha-dou. But she's never felt like this before.

Miho shook off the thoughts. "I'll be fine, girls. Thanks."

As Miho walked off, Darjeeling helped pour another cup for Assam. "She's been spacing out a lot lately," Orange Pekoe said.

"Mmm," Darjeeling softly agreed, "her transmissions are getting delayed from expected response times."

"What could be on her mind?" Assam pondered. "The match yesterday must've been really stressful to her and her crew if the daughter of a Nishizumi could be affected so."

"That would explain the stoicness of Maho Nishizumi." Rukuriri said.

"Is Miho still unable to contact her?" Orange Pekoe asked.

"I'd assume so," Darjeeling said with her cup hovering in front of her lips. "I can only imagine how much anxiety that is leaving for poor Miho…" She sip the tea as she finished.

---

Miho carried on and encountered the Anzio crews lazing on their tank hull eating out of cans. "Where'd you get those from?" Miho asked them.

"From our secret reserves!" Anchovy said.

"Where?"

"From in our tanks!" Anchovy said, pounding a fist onto her P40. "This school's got quite an appetite issue if I have to break into our precious stock of pasta!"

"Yeah! You tell her, Duce!" Pepperoni with her tomato-stained mouth said out loud.

Miho looked at the pleasured Anzio crews, content with their simple canned meal. Must be nice to appreciate the little things Miho thought quickly swirled her mind.

"On the real subjects though, just give us the word and we'll roll out against the enemy!"

"Yeah, Duce!"

"Alright, I'll make sure you all are still on my list," Miho said to the excited Anzio team before moving on.

The Chi-Ha-Tan girls kept screaming "Banzai!" or "Uoooooooooo!" in charging cries. Continuation were simply tinkering with their tanks, melodies coming from the BT-42 while curses and metallic clattering from the from that, Chi-Ha-Tan and Continuation didn't have much else going on, too busy with themselves at their breaks and with nothing else to report to Miho.

Miho finally came across Pravda with their tanks all fixed up. Miho saw Klara, Nonna, and Katyusha all on the IS-2 doing their own deeds. Nonna saw Miho came up and put a small Shh gesture with her finger, then with the other hand gesturing to a standing Katyusha on the IS-2 turret. She was on a phone. Miho thought it must be important one before Katyusha suddenly started stamping her feet.

"What do you mean 'you can't ship them to me'?! You people always have!"

She seemed very upset.

"Look, I made an order two weeks ago, and I'm suppose to have them yesterday!... Okay! That was an exaggeration! But I made a valid purchase!"

Klara was on the hull rear of the IS-2 and Miho made her way up to her first. "Who's Katyusha talking to?"

"The supplier of our tanks in Russia, there is a dispute going on," Klara said almost as coldly as Nonna, though her Russian accent interfered with complete clarity of her language.

"Listen, that policy never existed on the Terms of Condition! I read it myself! … Yes! Because no one told me I wasn't suppose to read it in entirety! I'm not crazy here!"

"What kind of dispute?" Miho asked Klara in between Katyusha's shouting.

"They are not sending the tanks we have purchased. That's why Ms. Katyusha is upset."

"What tanks did you try buying?"

"Fine! Keep your stupid tanks! Pravda can win this tournament, without you!" Katyusha finished stamping and violently hanged up on her phone before screaming "Gaaahhh! How dare they!"

Miho and Klara stayed silent among Katyusha's ranting.

"Oh, hey Miho…" Katyusha finally noticed and climbed down from the turret. She sat down next to Klara on the hull rear before sighing heavily.

"What happened?" Miho asked.

Katyusha drank a bit from a canteen Klara offered before answering. "I ordered tanks two weeks ago. The newer ones, like the T-44 and anything from the ISU family."

"Those would be nice additions," Miho thought of those tanks in comparison to Pravda's current inventory.

"BUT!" Katyusha cut off Miho hard. "They decided not to go through with the transaction because they just recently ran out of stock! Can you believe they tried to pass off the blame to sanctions of all things?! That is absolutely absurd because back when the Ukraine thing happened, we certainly didn't have problems getting tanks then!" Katyusha ferociously spoke and caught her breath at the same time.

"So why do you think they're holding back the tanks?" Miho said.

"One reason I can think of," Katyusha said, with a finger wagging at Miho in a I-know-they're-up-to-something fashion. "See, this company that sells Tankery and Sensha-dou approved vehicles got itself one of the biggest buyers of armored vehicles in Russia. Can you guess who?"

Only one certain buyer comes to mind that resides in Russia. "Suvorov…"

Klara nodded with contempt. "Suvorov…" she said, almost swirling that word in her mouth.

"So yeah, they'd buy ALL the tanks available by the company so they don't have anymore left to sell! And even if I did buy it first, they want to supply some pompous school because they're afraid of offending their biggest business deal yet!"

Katyusha finally took a breath in, and was panting for air. Klara again offered her canteen, to which Katyusha took up.

"Well, whether we'll fight them or not really depends if they win the next round, right?" Miho tried to provide some degree of hope.

"They will win," Klara said with a voice firm in belief, yet uneasy at that thought.

"You're from Russia, aren't you?" Katyusha brought up Klara's heritage. "Why don't you tell us about Suvorov?"

"I… uh," Klara hesitated. "I don't know much about them. My eyes had only been for Pravda since my time in Russia, nothing more."

"Pity," Katyusha said. Indeed, they might've gotten some nice details about Suvorov's impact to Russia. "But it's nice to see Pravda's influence stretch far and wide like a Siberian plain!"

"So it is devoid of people?" Klara asked in amusement veiled with innocence.

"...shut up!" Katyusha shot back before walking back to Nonna on the turret. Miho looked at Klara and noted she was smiling with mild amusement.

"I'll be going now," Miho said to Klara.

"Mmm, Das vidanya," Klara waved Miho goodbye.

Miho continued walking, checking on everyone on the way. Chatting up with a few of the girls present on how they were doing. A group of Saunder girls with their own M4 Sherman tank saw Miho coming and stood in attention. "Hello ma'am!" They said in near unison as she approached. Miho was surprised at this show of respect.

"You can rest easy," Miho assured them, and they slouched a bit. Miho noticed one of the girl's hands shaking. "Is something wrong with your hand?" Miho asked the girl.

"N-no!" The Saunder girl nearly yelped out.

"Are you alright?"

"N-no, just nervous…" The girl said nervously.

"W-why?" Miho asked. Was there something she was not aware of?

"W-well…" The girl said. "You're the 'Legend'..."

Miho looked at the girl in a daze. She looked back at the other four girls. When she did, they changed their forward stance towards her direction. "Does that warrant this kind of view?" Miho asked, unsure of how to dispel this mythicism around her.

"Well…" The same girl stammered, "When Kuromorimine was on their streak years ago, there was always this cult of personality around them…"

Miho looked back at the girl. The girl shirked back as if she's touched a trip wire she never should've touched.

For a second, Miho could see how Ōarai and her now stood in the Sensha-dou world. After Kuromormine's streak had been smashed by her personally, the sport needed a new idol to follow behind, to inspire others to follow the sport and art. It was obvious that the void was filled by the newest kid on the block. It was an unspoken nomination, no official endorsement was needed. Ōarai had become the new school to follow behind in the idolization of Sensha-dou.

And Miho's title had become a rally call, following the old Nishizumi tradition.

"We don't do that kind of stuff here," Miho finally said to the Saunder girls. "Just do your jobs and take it easy."

"Yes ma'am!"

"And just call me by my name. There is no need for formalities."

"Oh, uh, okay, Ms. Nishizumi."

Miho decided that was enough before leaving the Saunder girls. She didn't know what to think of that experience. Is this what they called power? A sense of authority over a particular field?

Suddenly, Kraus' words came back to her head.

A third-year high school student who led a no-name school to victory not once, but twice! Against immeasurable odds, was able to win! Our integrity was shaken! Suddenly, our name meant very little next to you and your so called 'Ōarai' school.

Was the power struggle in Tankery more volatile than that of Sensha-dou? Miho couldn't grasp her head around it. I just want a normal high school life…

As Miho nearly finished her walk near the garage, she saw a strange sight. Isabelle and Emma sitting next to each other on a storage box watching something in Isabelle's hands inside the garage.

She walked in softly, almost instinctively, towards the two. Emma first turned back and saw the Ōarai commander coming towards her. She silently gestured Miho closer. Miho walked normally up to them and saw that Isabelle had a smart tablet in her arms. On it was a stream service with familiar announcers talking.

"-and they're really on their last leg, Anderson! It seemed as if decades of vengeance from the Russians are being unleashed onto the Finnish!"

"And they really needed to, George! Hamina had put up one hell of a fight with what they've got. They've beaten Suvorov two tournaments ago, and Suvorov seems to have no intention of suffering that same humiliation again!"

"What's this?" Miho asked the two cadets as they watched the scene unfold.

"Streaming service of today's match," Isabelle said, "It's Suvorov's military school from Russia against Hamina from Finland." Her voice was weary and in a resigned submission to what was about to happen on-screen.

"It seems as if we're reaching the endgame for Hamina though. They did well with what little tanks they've got."

"I'd say, George. I've never seen someone gutsy enough to use a T-26 and take out a T-34 before! I'm sure that crew was embarrassed!"

"Still, even with their most modern equipments of Panzer IV J's, StuG III, and even an ISU-152, they just couldn't deal with the continued onslaught! They're down to only their flag tank now!"

The stream soon switched to a scene of the match. The scene showed the match area of a swamp with an evening light shining onto the landscape. Not the best tank environment, but that is where the League apparently thought was the best place for a showdown against Finland and Russia. The screen showed a lone Panzer IV tank in the middle of piece of muddy land, surrounded by large patches of water. One length of tracks were broken and the Schürzen plates were all beaten up with large holes punched into them. Despite the damages, the crew did not attempt to fix it, instead they hid inside their tank. One camera panned over and Miho got a good look on one of their faces. It was determined, but Miho could see an emotion as the person looked around frantically. Fear, anxiety, awareness.

"What's going on? What are they doing?" Miho asked.

"Bloody reds about to do what they love to do…" Emma said, also staring into the screen. Though unlike Isabelle, her eyes seemed to show a glint of anticipation, as if expecting quite a show.

"The commander is struggling George… He knows there's no way out, but he's going to fight to the bitter end!"

"Love his spirit! Oh look! They're starting!"

What was starting? Miho first thought and then a large light show played out on the tank. Bright lights of green and red bounced off the tank, along with tiny sparks. Miho looked again. It wasn't a light show, it was a barrage of bullets. Bullets fired from the firearms like the MP40, P-38, and Kar 98Ks Ōarai has now.

"A firefight in a tankery match?" Miho asked with surprise. Sure, she was shot at in the last match, but this…

"Oh yeah, ballsy people like the friggen' Russians would do stuff like this…" Isabelle said while shaking her head.

"This type of fighting is legal?"

Emma looked back at Miho, "Did you ever read that rule book we gave you in Britain?"

"N-not really…" Miho said with mild embarrassment.

"Then shh now, ask later."

The screen flashed with the display of lights. The commander on his cupola fought back against their assailant. A metallic piece in his arms and a very rapid muzzle flash erupted from the machine at the direction of fire. Soon, Miho saw the loader hatch open on the right and the loader inside the tank also fired back. The Schürzen plates on the hull providing cover against the small arms fire. As the two turret crew member shot, the machine gun port on the hull was also spraying fire towards the tank front. The camera stayed on the tank, not showing who they were firing against. The turret turned slowly towards the direction the commander and loader were firing, a cause by the manual traverse mechanism on the J verison of the Panzer IV.

As it turned, the loader suddenly lurched up a bit and flopped over the hatch rim, his slump body laid in a relaxed form half out the turret. The commander soon dropped from his cupola and the loader's body was soon dragged inside. The Panzer IV turret still traversed, and the driver was now outside his hatch and firing into the wilderness to the left of the tank.

A figure dashed on the corner of the camera. Miho saw it briefly, a man with brown fatigues with a dark green helmet. He moved among the foliage around the tank. The grass, the tree, the water all reacted to his presence, but in the chaos the commander had missed that sign.

Rapid tracer rounds zipped in, smashing into the protruding cupola on the turret roof as they bounce all over the place. The commander only fought back by firing his submachine gun at the tracer direction, only the tracer seemed to move up the cupola and smash into the commander instead. He fell down into the cupola as the turret finished its traverse. Though facing right towards the source of tracer, its coaxial did not fire.

Men now surrounded the tank. Miho saw seven men surrounding the tank, outside of the hull machine gun's angle and began climbing what was becoming a metal coffin. The driver with his open hatch, popped out and fired a few rounds into a person climbing near his position, but another man then came in and shot him with a pistol. The driver fell back into his position.

The Russians were now on all over the Panzer IV. The men present increased to thirteen. One was at the open cupola the commander fell down in and another pointed his weapon down through the driver's hatch. They did not fire and simply aimed hardly at the interior.

Soon, the gunner and assistant driver's hatches open and two men popped out with hands up.

Isabelle sighed, "Well… that's that."

"What happened?" Miho was still processing what on earth happened in that scene.

"You can have your so-called tankers pull infantry duty and knock out tanks from the ground, or knock out the crew members," Emma explained. "Such is of Tankery and war. Tanks had always been at the mercy of lone infantry squads able to get onto their blind spots and knock them out."

"But why?" Miho asked. "Wouldn't it be easier to just use another tank?"

"Easier? yes? Empowering? no," Isabelle said, putting away the tablet. "The Russians did that because they could. They had T-34-85s and IS-2s, all that heavy hitting stuff, and they decide to use infantry to finish off the Finnish."

Miho was about to make a mental note to never put anyone in that position, then remembered what she did in the last match's conclusion. "So where does this leave us?"

"Well," Emma started. "You, Ōarai Girls High School, are about to fight one of the baddest, worst, ferocious team out there in Tankery's history."

"The Russians?"

"Bingo. Suvorov Military School. They're just like us, training children to become full-fledged soldiers. Only they're Russians."

"Being Russians don't necessarily mean they're that bad." Isabelle said.

Emma stood up, "If you ask me, they're pretty darn bad."

"How bad?" Miho butted into the two's little talk.

"Well, first of all, Suvorov has a history of pushing the rules to the limits," Emma started.

"They break rules?"

"No, no. I said 'pushing to the limits', they'd do things that are 1) so crazy no one would think of it, and 2) do things that are technically legal, but are often questioned."

"Like use a radio-intercepting balloon instead of an aircraft?" Miho asked.

"Yeah, kind of like that."

"Okay…" Miho settled. "We've dealt with schools bending rules like that before, it shouldn't be too bad…"

"I'm sorry…" Emma said, blinking as if she couldn't believe she heard that. "Did you say it 'shouldn't be too bad'?"

"Y-yes?"

"You have no idea what Suvorov has with Tankery, do you?"

"...no…"

"Figures…" Emma said as she paced around walking.

"In Tankery history, there is a long-lasting feud that is said to last since World War I…" Isabelle explained to Miho. "A feud between Germany and Russia. One that I'm certain you're familiar of with their...well, volatile history with each other."

"Eastern fronts in both World Wars...yeah," Miho recalled.

"Well, that translates to the modern one we have today with the only form of combat they can express without killing everyone in the world. In tankery, within the teams of Suvorov Military School for the Russians, and Carius Academy for the Germans."

Carius and Suvorov… So such a relationship could exist?

"Y'know…" Emma started again, "all this drama with the World Tournament that the world all love and enjoy, it's not that they come to see what fruits the different countries can show. They came to watch Suvorov and Carius duke it out to the bitter end."

"When the two arm themselves in the tournaments. They don't arm themselves to survive the tournament; they arm themselves to annihilate the other. Everyone else is small fry," Isabelle said.

"These two schools are literally trading championships with each other in the World Tournament. Sometimes Carius gets it, then Suvorov the next time, then back to Carius. These two schools are very, very powerful in the world of Tankery. No one had been able to compete with them since their formation…"

"And we're next…" Miho finished.

Emma smacked her lips, "Yep."

"Not even Marshall thought it was worthwhile to change our force against the two," Isabelle said. "They're just way, way more dedicated to their arts than any normal person could be."

Such a power struggle in what had always been interpreted as spiritual arts. Has Tankery really gotten itself into such a contention between the two schools? Miho recalled the words the Tankery captains have used.

"You still don't know the true dedication people have with Tankery. People are way more hardcore about this stuff."

Marshall's word had been taken so lightly, but now… it actually explained well with Kraus' attitude.

"My school has been the shining stone of Tankery for decades! I, like the many Captains of Carius beforehand, have been a core part of establishing the dominance of Tankery in this world! Capitalism, communism, terrorism! All that can bow under Tankery! We are the supreme example of the power of Tankery and its influence in the world!"

What a sport to be in! Miho tried to imagine what sorts of audience such a struggle could even come up that would see that as entertainment.

But she was a commander of a Sensha-dou team. She was leading the team against one of those team. Suvorov. No matter how tough they are, a tank must always move forwards!

"W-what can I do against them?" Miho asked the two cadets.

"First step, machine guns," Emma answered.

"Wait, m-machine guns?" Miho was expecting something else here...

"You saw how they chewed up that lone tank in the match," Isabelle said. "Machine guns. Increase the firepower per person. These Russians will be playing dirty, so prepared to put your hands into the same pile."

"Machine guns… I mean, we have a few MG 34 for the infantry, but that's for scouting…"

"Your Panzer IV should have an accommodation for a ring mount around the cupola for the MG 34 machine guns. I'd recommend adding that as soon as possible," Emma said. "Also, your Shermans? Add the .50 cals."

"Lots and lots of .50 cals," Isabelle highlights their importance. "No firepower like more dakka. Then see if you can add those .30 machine guns in front of the commander's cupola as well."

Miho thought about that very large machine gun hanging off the Achilles back then, the way it fired at her was very frightening. But then again, if it worked on her…

"Okay, I'll try to get those-"

"Hey, there ain't no try," Emma butt in. "It's do, or don't. Just like how it's win, or lose. So get snappy on that. Remember, Panzer Glory does international shipping. Cheaper in bulks."

"O-okay…" Miho reminded herself. Machine guns… "Anything else?"

"I'd recommend a scouting mission," Isabelle bluntly laid out.

Emma raised her hand. "I second it," Emma said, supporting Isabelle's statement.

Miho heard that and figured Isabelle was just trying to jam that mission into priority anyway possible to make it happen. But now that Miho was aware of such a thing, she'd be doing her best to prevent reckless situations. Plus if Survorov's as bad as it get… "Alright Isabelle… but Yukari comes back safe, alright?"

Isabelle raised her head on hearing that approval. "Don't worry, leave it all to me."

"Okay, so machine guns and a scouting mission…"

"Don't forget to focus training for your team. Your last match was quite shoddy. Against the Russians, you can not make a single mistake against them. They'll eat you all raw."

"I think that was on the original schedule already," Miho said trying to ease up the situation that Ōarai had something going for it. "That sounds about right…"

"One more thing," Isabelle said. "Improve your firearms training with the other girls."

"Why?" All these emphasis on small arms that won't even be able to defeat enemy tanks, for what?

"Suvorov likes to launch their own scouting missions as well," Emma explained.
"Even on smaller institutions like yourself. Best keep yourselves on alert. Put some efforts into defense strategies. I've been taking a look around just now and there's a few improvements I can help with if you don't mind."

"I'd appreciate it!" Miho said to Emma. Anything to help ease the workload now burdened on her.

Emma and Isabelle seemed to be recounting anything else that could be said, like pulling into a box of criticism for Ōarai and reading it out loud. "Well, that's a start I suppose… right?" Emma asked Isabelle, to which she nod lightly.

"Nishizumi-dono!" A familiar voice called out from the garage door.

"Yes, Yukari?"

"We're all waiting for you! Practice is about to commence soon!"

"Oh! Sorry Yukari! I'll be out there in a bit!"

"Actually…" Isabelle stood up and faced Yukari. "That practice session we talked about earlier? Let's do it now."

"Huh? Why?" Yukari asked.

"I'll explain later. First, Miho should go back to attend to her team." Isabelle said before turning to Miho, "Sorry for taking her earlier than mentioned."

"That's fine," Miho replied. "Make the most of the time, alright?"

"Don't worry, I got it," Isabelle said to Miho. Miho then proceeded out the garage.

"What's going on, Nishizumi-dono?" Yukari asked as Miho passed by.

"We're against Suvorov Military School next in the tournament."

"The Russians? Oh boy, we're in trouble, aren't we?"

"As long as we all do our jobs, we'll be fine," Miho said. "And, um… when you go back out there…" Miho paused as she looked at Yukari. She saw how the Russians chewed up those crew members in their Panzer IV. What would happen when Yukari, in her own little world, go out there and fail against the Russians. What would they do? Why is she sending her friend into a place where one of the most ferocious team live in? "...you be careful, okay?"

Yukari knew Miho worried a lot about her being out there in enemy territory. Ever since she's come back from Britain that night, she knew Miho had kept a close eye on her safety. "Don't worry Nishizumi-dono. I can more than handle myself!"

Miho smiled at Yukari's confidence, then left the garage.

"Come here, Yukari!" Isabelle's voice echoed in the hangar as Yukari walked in.

"Don't worry, I won't bite…" Emma was also there, looking at Yukari.

Yukari, nervous that Emma just might lunge at her over their little feud, hurried along closer to Isabelle's side.

"Okay, first of all," Isabelle said, addressing the two of them. "Let's get this stupid little grudge out of the way. Yukari, did you bring the data?"

"Y-yeah…" Yukari said as she reached into a pocket. Isabelle pulled out a simple digital camera from hers and opened a side door for the memory. Yukari then pulled out a SD card.

"Is that...?" Emma said surprised at what was unfolding. Isabelle paid no attention while she worked on the camera. She took the SD card from Yukari and half-inserted the card into its position, only needing a click to be locked in.

"Okay now, Yukari, do you swear that this was the only copy of the data you took in Britain that day?"

"Y-yeah!" Yukari said loudly and as confidently as she could.

"Alright, now Emma," Isabelle handed the camera to Emma, "check out if your stuff is here. Do what you want with it."

Emma took it rather cautiously and suspiciously. She then fitted in the SD card and closed the card gate. She turned on the camera. A few seconds of her own scrolling, she stared up to Yukari, who eyed cautiously before escaping her glare.

"Everything you expected?" Isabelle asked Emma, who still looked surprised at this circumstance.

She looked between Isabelle and Yukari, expecting maybe that this was all just one big trick, except it wasn't. "Yes…"

"Anything else I can do to help repair your dignity?"

Emma, annoyed by Isabelle's tone, simply push in a few clicks, beeps, and then returned the camera. "That'll be all… thanks."

Isabelle took the camera back and examined its content once more before putting it away. "Okay, now that all the offending content of 'sleeping kitty' is gone."

"Hey!"

"So you're both even now right?"

"...Right" Emma said warily. Yukari didn't say anything over the tense wall between the two. Who knows how deep Emma's dug the grudge hole.

"Good, now we can move on to Yukari's training for her upcoming scouting venture, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So what do I have to do with it?"

"Well…" Isabelle said before focusing her attention to Yukari. "You're going to help me teach Yukari some basic combat skills, like close-quarter combat, gunnery, and give her any advice you have about scouting. I want you to train with her too. Show her how to do things like get the right stance to throw people, put people in chokeholds, and all those other hand-to-hand combat techniques. Then help her on the firing range. Got some new equipment for her to take on her next mission so we'll also have to help her familiarize herself around those too."

"Surely you're not serious?" Emma asked.

"I'm serious, and don't call me Shirley," Isabelle looked at Emma seriously. Emma simply conceded with a shrug. Isabelle reached down and grab the M1 Garand that was resting along the box they sat on this whole time. "Alright Yukari, let's get this show on the road."

---

So another slice of life on what the girls are doing on their little carrier.

That's a large cast living on a carrier, huh? All the tanks brings us to nearly 150 people participating as crew in the 35 tank tournament. It will be even more once I bring it up to 40 and 50 tanks.

Either way, I hope you're enjoying this small interlude between the two battles. This will be the set-up to the next battle and hopefully we can get the plot ball rolling downhill with full steam!

Thanks for reading my story and my new chapter! If you want to see what will happen next, feel free to Follow and Favorite the story! Don't be afraid to drop a review as well! I hope I see you all next time!

Also, apologies to the Finnish.

Edit 04/03: For those of you wondering where my Chapter 18 I posted on 04/01 went, I put it onto the story's forum if you want to see it still.

Edit 06/29: Siberian, not Serbian plains. Thanks to Goodalwayswins98 for pointing it out.