The Legends Still Live On
Bogen Dreizehn-komma-zwei: Extra Vier
Kapitel Achtzehn: Überleben
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On yet another random day aboard the Zuikaku, all of the members for Ooarai's Arts of Warfare programs were out on the tank training grounds, which were within the forest aboard. Most of the members there were in combat outfits more commonly seen being worn by modern day infantry. The outfits themselves had a bit of a commando look to them.
There was a choice for one of two general outfits. One was a Flecktarn-camouflaged outfit fit with a vest that wasn't camouflaged which held various combat equipment within the pouches. These outfits also generally had a bandana around the neck. The second outfit was generally the same as the first, except it was all black instead of camouflaged and the vests were not present. These outfits had the pouches integrated with the top jacket-like garment. These outfits did not have the bandanas. All outfits did include some goggles of varying styles depending on the person.
"Now then," Aprikose began as he held everyone's attention. "We've all brought some Infanteriekampf stuff so we could have a survival fight!" He ended by using his left hand to cycle the bolt of the firearm he held with his right hand by the pistol grip. His chosen firearm was a Heckler und Koch Gewehr, the G36A2. He was wearing the Flecktarn outfit.
Everyone began to cheer at the announcement as they also raised their fists in approval. They seemed to be eager to get on with the fighting. But there were eight specific people, all in the same clique, that weren't there at the moment.
"Hey, this is so we can learn!" Pfirsich announced to try and quell down the cheers. He was wearing the all black outfit, and he wielded an FN SCAR-H that he cycled the bolt on to ready it for fire. "Don't lose your focus!"
"Anyway," Anzu continued as she drew back the charging handle on her M4A1 carbine with her left hand. She had the Flecktarn outfit on as well. "This'll be done with squads. All the squads will be the same as the teams we're in for the Arts of Warfare. Last squad to have a member left wins!"
All of the other student council members were with each other. Yuzu and Zitrus also had the Flecktarn outfits on, while Momo had the all black outfit. Momo had herself an FN P90 that she pulled the charging handle on in preparation. Yuzu and Zitrus drew back the charging handle on their different models of the Steyr Armee Universal Gewehr. Zitrus had the AUG A1 model, and Yuzu had the AUG A3 model. The differences were that the scope and foregrip on Zitrus' model were integral to the weapon, while Yuzu had used the Picatinny rails on her model to attach the same attachments.
"I'm raring to go, eh!" Nathan claimed with enthusiasm as he rotated the cocking handle on his weapon clockwise to chamber a round. Such an unusual process was necessary, as he had an extremely unique Heckler und Koch Gewehr, the G11. He was around his friends for the moment. All wore the all black outfits with two exceptions.
"Witness my military geekitude in action!" Yukari similarly proclaimed with enthusiasm as she slammed the cocking handle down on her Heckler und Koch Maschinenpistole, the MP5A3.
"I'm not really good at stuff like this…" Miho shyly said with a similar smile as she drew back the slide of her Mauser M712 Schnellfeuer.
"Sichern und laden," Erich calmly said to the whole group with a smile he drew back the charging handle on his Sturmgewehr 44.
With Saori, she was having a noticeably hard time keeping her gun up without getting tired. Her weapon of choice was an IWI TAR-21.
Nearby, Anton had no difficulties keeping his weapon up, which was somewhat remarkable considering his weapon of choice was an M240B. He was for now casually inspecting it.
The two exceptions to the all black outfits were further back from the others. Hana and Herz both chose to wear the Flecktarn outfits, but their outfits were further modified into ghillie suits. It was fitting since both of them were armed with precision rifles. Hana had herself an Accuracy International AW that she cycled the bolt on to chamber a round, while Herz had the bigger and badder Barrett M82A1 that he was currently loading a magazine into. He chose to do it via holding the rifle up by the trigger grip so the barrel end pointed straight up, which emphasized the weapon's sheer size, and he loaded the magazine in while the rifle was pointed up.
Nearby, Noriko grew a rather alarmed look upon hearing the sound of Herz cycling the large bolt of the Light Fifty, clearly in dread of its extreme power. She chose to wear an all black outfit, as did the rest of the sports players with her. All of the volleyball girls wielded Uzis while the badminton boys wielded PPSh-41s fitted with the 71 round drum mag.
The freshmen chose to wear the Flecktarn outfits, and Yuuki was currently trying to pull off a girly pose. "At last I can do my army look…" she remarked in satisfaction. All of the freshmen girls wielded the Beretta M9, as they weren't confident enough to wield anything more. The freshmen boys were more confident as they all wielded a classic Maschinenpistole, the MP 40.
But there was a noticeable sound distinct as a small force charging toward the area. Everyone looked over to the sound in response, but they soon felt the increasing sense of imminent doom as they saw who had shown up.
"The time to wage battle has finally arrived!" Abe proclaimed as all eight history buffs charged forth to start the battle. Abe had on one of the blue Union Army uniforms, specifically one resembling that of the cavalry. He also wielded a Henry rifle equipped with a bayonet.
Gustav was on a horse he had somehow acquired as he wielded a Carolean-era sabre while wearing absolutely no armor whatsoever. Instead, he wore one of the later Carolean uniforms distinctive for its blue coat.
Leonidas had a full suite of greaves armor including a bronze helmet, and he was armed with a large hoplon shield and a long dory spear.
Wolf had on one of the green uniforms distinct as one from the German Fallschirmjäger. He had a fitting weapon, too. It was a Fallschirmjägergewehr 42. Specifically, it was one of the earlier models with the distinct sharply angled pistol grip and ribbed stock.
Saemonza had her Sengoku-era samurai armor, one of the tosei-gusoku types, which included an era-appropriate uchigatana sword.
Oryou had on one of the Bakumatsu-era military uniforms along with a musket as she also rode a horse.
Caesar had a full legionary's armor on, which included a shield and a sword along with an appropriate helmet.
Erwin had on one of the World War One-era Sturmtruppen outfits, fit with trench coat, Stahlhelm, and even a gas mask. But the weapon she wielded was not from that era. Instead, she wielded a Maschinengewehr 42.
All of the history buffs quickly began attacking the nearest people to them, and everyone broke apart in response to escape. All of them chose to escape in groups. Those groups were based on their respective cliques. But Erich and Miho got separated from their groups during the chaos.
"Runter!" Erich called out as he instinctively brought his own head down along with forcing Miho's head down to avoid fire from Erwin's MG 42 and Wolf's FG 42, and they made a fighting retreat as they backed away from the battlefield while returning with suppressive fire using their StG 44 and M712 respectively. That return fire forced the two German history buffs to get down and avoid the fire.
"Los!" Erich told Miho upon noticing the German history buffs duck down. They both then ran to the safety of their friends, who had all gotten into defensive stances close to some trees as they covered the two German commanders.
Wolf and Erwin gave up on trying for the two German commanders, and they switched targets to take on some easier foes. Erwin proceeded to gun down many of the freshmen with her buzzsaw while Wolf chose to reload his FG 42 while he had the time. He removed the magazine in the left of the receiver, got a new one, rocked it into the left of the receiver where the magazine well was, and pulled the charging handle. During that time, both Oryou and Gustav drew their respective swords as their horses raised up on their back legs, as if preparing to charge like cavalry.
Some of the history buffs had already taken down some of the freshmen. Saemonza had taken down and was sitting on top of a despaired Yuuki with a glint in her only eye visible through her armor. Abe had charged with his bayonet-equipped Henry rifle to attack Erick, who tried to run in vain. Caesar had charged Aya with her shield and sword at the ready. Aya was sitting on the ground with a hand stretched out toward the Italian history buff, as if begging for mercy, but she never got it. Leonidas had his spear extended as he charged Julius, who had tried to run away from the phalanx-style maneuver, but it was in vain.
Watching the entire chaotic battlefield from a distance was Anzu and Aprikose. They had set up a defense quickly with the rest of the student council, and for the moment they just watched the battle progress.
"I know I told them to come equipped to fight, but…" Aprikose trailed off.
"This is reminding me more of G.I. Samurai now…" Anzu said nonchalantly as she looked on at some of the freshmen trapped by the history buffs try to plea for mercy.
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Elsewhere in the cover of the surrounding forest, the groups of Erich and Miho regrouped with each other. Both of the German leaders for the groups were reloading their weapons for the moment.
"Okay," Erich began after he pulled back the charging handle on his Sturmgewehr to chamber a round from his latest magazine. "Let's take advantage of the situation and get some of the other groups while they're distracted. We'll split up and pick them off. Guys follow me, and girls follow Miho. Got that?"
"Got it!" everyone else confirmed as they held their weapons. The group then split up into the groups that Erich had described and went their separate ways. They did not pay any attention to two people sleeping against a nearby tree trunk, David and Mako. Both had the all black outfits, but they were evidently not participating in the fight as their sleeping indicated.
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Meanwhile, Wolf and Erwin were systematically dropping the other freshmen with their FG 42 and MG 42 respectively as many people ran for the trees or anywhere else to find any kind of cover.
Both Yuzu and Zitrus targeted Oryou and Gustav respectively through their AUGs' sights, and they shot the two history buffs off their horses and downed them. The horses then ran off into the forest and away from everyone else. Wolf immediately responded by turning to engage the rest of the student council. He quickly suppressed them as he covered the flank of the history buffs.
But the student council soon found themselves getting picked off one by one as fire came in from another direction. They all turned to engage, but by that point, Miho's squad had gunned down all of them in a very brief close-range engagement. Saori had, in a surprising display of adrenaline, gunned down two of the student council with her Tavor. Hana had dealt the final blow as she took down Anzu with her AW. Afterwards, she cycled the bolt to chamber another round.
"That's for deceiving me with the hot instructor!" Saori called out to the student council as she reloaded her Tavor with another magazine. Her current adrenaline from combat meant she had no difficulties with keeping her gun up.
"Man, is she still not over that?" Yukari wondered with the others as the group began to move out. She and Miho were currently reloading their MP5 and M712 respectively.
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At the same time, Erich swept through another area of the forest alone. Upon spotting them, he briefly stopped and opened up with his StG 44 at the sports groups, and he took down Noriko from his brief fire before he ran through the trees to escape intense retaliatory fire from their rapid-fire submachine guns. All of the sports groups paid their attention to him as they tried to take him down.
From another direction while the sports groups were preoccupied with Erich, Herz unleashed the massive power of his Barrett rifle and effortlessly took down Ron. Nathan followed with some very quick bursts from his G11 to take down a couple, and Anton leveled the whole area with his M240 and took down the rest in conjunction with bursts from Nathan and a couple of .50 caliber rounds from Herz.
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The history buffs had by this point finished off the freshmen in the small clearing where everyone had previously gathered. Wolf also just finished reloading his FG 42 again, as he and Erwin took down the majority of them with their weapons.
"Enemies right! Engage!" Caesar ordered for the group as she spotted another group of enemies nearby.
They then engaged the gamer groups, who were all armed with sniper rifles. The girls had M40A3s while the guys had CheyTac M200 Interventions. They all had on ghillie suits as well to fit.
The gamers hastily sighted into their scopes as they tried to engage upon getting caught off guard, but they were all quickly and effortlessly cut down by Erwin's MG 42 supported by Wolf's FG 42.
"I guess quick-scoping doesn't work in real life…" Neville commented as the gamers lied on the ground in defeat.
"Lade neu!" Erwin called out as she lifted up the feed tray and began reloading her MG 42. But she soon found herself get picked off by some accurate fire from the history buffs' rear, and Wolf returned fire to the attackers almost immediately as the rest of the history buffs turned to face the threat.
The fire came from the Public Morals Committee, who all wore the all black outfits. The girls each had a Heckler und Koch Universale Maschinenpistole, the UMP45, while the guys all had M16A3s. They had all formed a very organized defense using some trees as cover.
"Take down the riflemen while we push forth!" Caesar ordered as she, Leonidas, and Saemonza pushed forward in a line to the Public Morals Committee. They all used their armor while Caesar and Leonidas also used their shields to absorb the blows from the .45 ACP rounds fired by the UMPs.
After splitting away from the armored trio, Wolf and Abe responded by firing on the riflemen of the Public Morals Committee. Abe soon chose to get up close to them to make use of his bayonet while Wolf picked them off from a distance. Lemu managed to nab Wolf with a burst of fire, but he himself was quickly taken down by a bayonet charge from Abe. Abe then took down the other boys of the committee with fire from his Henry rifle while Caesar, Leonidas, and Saemonza overran the girls with their armor and melee weapons.
Abe took a quick look around the area to look out for enemies, and he found some. "Enemies to our left!" Abe called out, but he was quickly taken down afterwards by a sniper, which was overlaid by a loud and powerful crack of fire. From his place by one of the trees, Herz grinned slightly as he looked through his scope and observed his .50 caliber round strike the American history buff.
At the same time, very heavy automatic shotgun fire started pounding the history buffs as a group of people sprung up to take the history buffs head-on.
The fire came from the mechanically proficient groups. All of them also wore the all black outfits, and they were outfitted with automatic shotguns. The girls all had Atchisson Assault Shotguns, better known as the AA-12, fitted with the 32 round drum, while the boys all had Pancor Jackhammers.
"March!" Yeager ordered, and all of them started marching forth in file to the history buffs with their guns pointed and ready to fire.
The automotive girls led off with the barrage of fire as they opened up, and as the groups got closer to the history buffs, the aeronautics guys started opening fire. Such a salvo of fire was able to take down the remaining history buffs, even with their armor. Their armor could not withstand the extreme power from eight automatic shotguns, and Caesar, Leonidas, and Saemonza eventually were dropped as well, which finally eliminated the history buffs.
But the mechanically proficient groups soon found themselves under attack from two directions. Herz first took down Yeager with a .50 caliber round, which was quickly followed by a shot from the opposite side that came from Hana's AW. That shot dropped Nakajima.
The mechanically proficient groups were stuck trying to reload their shotguns after using up their current magazines to take down the history buffs, and their attackers noticed. In response, Anton came forth and started using his M240 to cut down all of them while they were reloading. Saori also started spraying her Tavor at the shotgunners, which took down at least one.
The remaining automotive girls were taken down from a mixture of bursts from Nathan's G11 and automatic fire from Yukari's MP5 as she closed with the shotgunners. During that time, Erich was watching the fight occur as he circumvented his way around the fight. He did not join in so as to keep his current element of surprise.
Upon seeing the shotgunners start getting greatly weakened, the two attacking groups closed with resolve to cut off and finish off the remaining aeronautics guys. Anton started firing his M240 from the hip, Rambo style, while Nathan and Herz remained behind him to offer support as their group closed.
The girls led by Miho closed further to finish off the group from close range. Yukari started dumping the entire magazine of her MP5 from close range while the other three girls remained behind a bit to offer supporting fire.
Finally, the remaining shotgunners capitulated to the fire and were entirely defeated. What followed next was Herz following an order he was given by Erich earlier to prevent his discovery. Said order was heeded as Herz immediately lined up Hana in his sights, and he effortlessly downed her with his M82.
The girls hastily reacted to the betrayal as they all started to spread out in hopes of outmaneuvering the boys. Saori fired off her Tavor at Herz and managed to take him down. Nathan immediately took Saori down afterwards with a precise burst from his G11. Following that was Yukari closing with Nathan with her MP5 at the ready. Yukari then opened fire and hosed down Nathan, but she herself was quickly leveled by Anton's M240.
Anton turned to try and engage Miho, but he found himself getting his gun deflected by an arm block from Miho, who had closed the distance with him. She then aimed her M712 and took down Anton with a shot to the head at point-blank range. Anton dropped to the ground immediately after being defeated.
What followed after the fight was an eerie silence as the explosion of gunfire came to an end. But Miho knew that the fight wasn't yet over. She had not seen Erich lying among the defeated, and from the betrayal of his boys to her girls, she could only assume that he was also hostile.
She was now looking around her surroundings in a bit of a paranoid manner as she started getting nervous. Miho very well knew Erich's great expertise in surprise attacks, which made her grow paranoid since she had no way to foresee any attack he might make. So she resolved to constantly scanning the area around her as she tried to stay mobile. She kept her M712 at the ready as she held it close and pointed up, ready to aim in an instant.
But she stopped after she heard some rustling. She quickly turned and aimed to the source, but she found nothing there. She tried to calm herself as she took some breaths, but she wasn't able to stop herself from continuously scanning her surroundings out of an increasing sense of paranoia.
She continued walking on, remembering to keep her steps quiet as she tried to seek out Erich. She closely observed as many trees as she could for anything unusual, like a body part or a weapon barrel sticking out from behind it, but she found nothing so far, and she continued on.
But she heard another rustle that she determined to be above her, and she looked up to the source. But she had looked too late, and she could not bring up her weapon in time.
The source of the rustling was from Erich, who had literally dropped down from one of the trees with his Sturmgewehr on his back as he landed on top of Miho and took the both of them down to the ground. Taking advantage of the shock factor and her disorientation, he quickly subdued her as he turned her over to have her front against the ground before he restrained her arms behind her back and tossed her M712 away from them. He then held her down against the ground and drew a knife. All of that took place in the span of a few seconds.
Upon hearing the sound of a knife get drawn, Miho struggled in an effort to break free, but Erich had too strong of a grip to allow her to break away. It also didn't help that he knew her capabilities in full, and as such could counter any moves she could possibly make in this situation.
"You give up yet?" Erich quietly said to her as he lightly trailed the blade of his knife against the side of her cheek, reminding her of where her odds for victory currently stood. The knife itself was a Kampfmesser 42.
Miho struggled on for a few more seconds, but she soon found her efforts to be in vain, and she sighed in defeat and gave up. "Yes… I give up," she acquiesced to the surrender offer.
"Well, then it's official…" Anzu remarked among the others lying in defeat. "Erich is the last one standing, therefore Messer Squad wins…"
Everyone else was lying around the battlefield in defeat. They were not harmed, as the weapons and outfits used were modified wherever possible to not allow lethal harm to human bodies while retaining all other characteristics, such as penetration abilities for bullets or sharpness for melee weapons. But everyone was in varying levels of pain, as the custom modifications were only meant to stop everything from killing humans. They did not necessarily stop the weapons from hurting them.
Erich then holstered his Kampfmesser and got up from Miho, and he offered her a hand. Miho took it as she grew a relieved smile upon not having to effectively be paranoid anymore.
"And you said you were no good at stuff like this, #2 survivor," Erich said to her with a teasing tone and similar grin.
"Oh, shut it!" Miho responded with a grin as she smacked his chest. Such a smack wasn't painful in the least to Erich, as evidenced by his chuckling at the hit. She then leaned against him and grew a more relaxed look as they walked off together after their duel and the fight ended.
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Part of Projekt Jägermeistern.
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The author doesn't claim to own "Girls und Panzer" or any other references made. "Girls und Panzer" belongs to Actas. Any references made belong to their respective owners.
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