The Legends Still Live On
Bogen Neunzehn-komma-ein: Extras Fünf und Sechs
Kapitel Siebzehn: Geräte
XXXXXXXXXX
Another day, another practice. At least, that was the plan for Anzio's Arts of Warfare programs as activity bristled around the hangars. It explained why all of the Italians involved in said programs were in their battle outfits, which highly resembled the Arditi uniforms for the Panzerkraft team and the Regia Aeronautica's white officer uniforms for the Jägermeistern group.
Anzio was unusually focused on getting to do their training, or that's what it would seem to an outsider. Usually, Anzio's students were actually pretty good at getting prepared for a practice session, particularly the Jägermeistern team, and the reasoning behind that was because of one particular black-haired comandante with a heavy hand.
"Get moving!" Franco barked out as he wildly yet sharply gestured with his arms and crop to direct his gruppo. "Come on, Fernando! You're moving slower than molasses going uphill in January!"
Of course, Fernando, always the oddball to put it lightly, was the only one who didn't seem to be affected by Franco's firm commands. He was dragging his feet to get to his Fiat CR.42bis, and unintentionally making a show of it.
Everyone else, though, was following their comandante's orders to the T. The other pilots were settled into their respective aircraft, which was a mix of CR.42s and Macchi C.202s, with more of the Falchi than of the Folgori in the mix. Ground crews were working around the clock to get each plane set up, including the lone Fiat G.55 Serie 1 that was flown by Franco himself. The Folgori and the Centauro were taking a bit longer due to them using the Italian-produced versions of the German DB 601 and DB 605 engines respectively. Anzio's ground crews still weren't used to such advanced technology, 'advanced' being relative considering Italy never produced any home-designed aircraft engines with the kind of power output levels that the German inverted V12s had.
Watching off from the side was the trio of Panzerkraft leaders for Anzio: Anchovy, Carpaccio, and Pepperoni. They were simply watching the Italian aviators for no particular reason besides it being the only thing they could do at the moment. The Panzerkraft girls were left to prepare on their own, as Anchovy trusted they wouldn't be able to cause nearly as much trouble as she believed the Jägermeistern folks were liable to cause. The trio silently noted the forceful demeanor that Franco adopted for battles, a personality not usually open to and experienced by the Anzio student body.
After a little, Anchovy deemed it unnecessary to stay any longer, having gotten the information she wanted on the status of the Jägermeistern folks, and she turned to begin to walk away.
"Oh, wait, duce! Could you hold up a sec?" Carpaccio quickly asked Anchovy before she stepped too far away.
Anchovy stopped and looked over to Carpaccio with a raised eyebrow. "What is it?" she asked, not entirely getting why the blonde wanted her attention.
"Just hold still for a bit," Carpaccio responded as she pulled on the hilt of something and drew the object out from a knife's sheath she wore on her left hip.
Anchovy's eyebrows both rose up in surprise upon seeing that Carpaccio did not wield a knife, but a comb, oddly designed using the hilt of a knife.
The comb-wielding blonde offered Anchovy a smile before setting off to start brushing her long greenish-gray twin tails. Anchovy relaxed greatly and let Carpaccio do her thing upon discovering she held no weapon like she had thought prior. Though il duce then perhaps figured Carpaccio just had a unique sense of fashion that she had never seen until now.
The whole scenario had also caught the attention of Pepperoni. "Ah, so that's what you've had in that the whole time?" she wondered.
"Yup," Carpaccio responded while she continued combing Anchovy's distinctive hair.
"Huh," Pepperoni said in recognition. She then moved to draw something from her own dagger sheath, also on the left hip, as she continued. "Well, I've got-"
"AAAAAH!" both Carpaccio and Anchovy screamed in horror and jumped back.
What Pepperoni had drawn was an actual dagger, and not another fashion accessory with a knife hilt like Carpaccio had with her comb. This dagger was the real thing, and its tip and down the blade was covered in blood, nearly fresh by the looks of it. Some of it had flung off the blade when Pepperoni had drawn it.
But before the blundering tenente could explain herself, the blade was quickly smacked away with a crop. The dagger was dislodged from her hand and clanged to the ground several meters away.
All of the girls held even more surprised faces when they discovered it was Franco who had smacked the dagger away with his crop without any prior warning.
Yet, Franco also held some surprise in his face, as if he had not expected himself to do what he just did. "… Sorry. It's just instincts, you know?" he finally spoke up after a long time of silence. He then looked over to the blade, which laid at rest on the ground a few meters away, the sunlight glistening off the stainless steel blade and the blood that coated it. He studied it for a few seconds before speaking up with a look of amusement directed at Anchovy and Carpaccio. "Though really, girls. It's not what you think, what's on that knife. That stuff kind of reminds me of fish mackerel, if anything."
Anchovy and Carpaccio took a look at each other and then towards Pepperoni. Il duce then shook her head, as if not believing something like that just really happened.
"Anyway," Franco awkwardly began. He fully recognized the restraint Anchovy was having to exercise to prevent herself from scolding Pepperoni to pieces and made to end the conversation. "You girls ready yet? If not, get going." He emphasized with a shooing motion.
XXXXXXXXXX
Part of Projekt Jägermeistern.
XXXXXXXXXX
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.
Feel free to ask any questions if you have them. Please note, however, that questions asked without being signed in will not be answered. The author would prefer to address questions outside of the story, and leaving questions while signed in provides that ability.