The Legends Still Live On
Bogen Neunzehn-komma-zwei: Herumalbern am Set!
Kapitel Zwei: Vorschau - Herkunft
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Weissach was a comparatively small town in the state of Baden-Württemberg within Germany. The town itself was not very special, what with having almost nothing of interest. Almost always, it was simply another town name on an Ausfahrt sign along the Autobahn, ignored as most people proceeded either eastwards towards Stuttgart, or westwards towards Pforzheim.
Weissach was nowhere near being special to most people, and had almost nothing interesting to put it on the map. Almost. Though few in number and very specific in their contents, Weissach did have two claims to fame.
The first was that the town's outskirts housed the research center of Porsche, the infamous German sports car maker. The center consisted of a number of buildings ranging from office buildings to a relatively small factory and even including a gift shop, but by and far the highlight of the complex was the test track. The driving playground was relatively modest in size, especially when compared to corporate boss Volkswagen's Ehra-Lessien testing grounds, but when compared to Weissach's land area, the Porsche testing grounds occupied a massive chunk of the town. The size of the driving park said more about the town's small size than it did of its own.
Nevertheless, Weissach became a name known by car enthusiasts because of its association with Porsche. The name was first made known to auto engineers and the most dedicated of enthusiasts when Porsche introduced their 928, which incorporated a new rear suspension arrangement known as the Weissach axle. It was a design meant to eliminate lift-throttle oversteer by allowing the rear suspension to adjust itself during cornering.
A few decades later, the town's name became known to almost all enthusiasts that held some interest in Porsche, as the famed sports car builder had offered up a special option on specific car models that was known only as the Weissach package. It was offered on the 991.2 generation 911 GT2 RS, the most potent 911 model ever built excluding the late-90s 911 GT1 which was practically a Porsche 962 with a revised front end; as well as the 918 Spyder, the first of the hybrid supercars. The Weissach package took those cars to even greater extremes, by stripping down the cars of anything unnecessary and refining their performance further. Because of those efforts, both cars became the cream of the crop of performance cars.
They had both raised the bar even higher among the performance world when both had gone on to set record lap times on the Nürburgring Nordschleife race track, universally known to drivers as the toughest race track in the world and given the well-deserved nickname of The Green Hell. Nearly thirteen miles long and extremely demanding on both car and driver, the 918 Spyder with the Weissach package had managed to lap the circuit in six minutes and fifty-five seconds, which was a production car record at the time it was set. Later, Porsche again claimed the fastest record time for a production car when they took a 911 GT2 RS with the Weissach package and set a time of six minutes and forty-seven seconds. Though still far off from the all-time record lap time of six minutes and eleven seconds set by a Porsche 956 decades prior, none could say that these newest machines brought to life by the Weissach-based research center were slow.
But Weissach did have another claim to fame that did not involve cars. This claim involved the world of air combat. The small town was distinct as being the birth place of Erich Hartmann, the highest-scoring fighter pilot of all time.
And about a century later, Weissach had found itself with another claim to fame involving two of the Luftwaffe ace's descendants. The small town had been luckily graced with the home of the Hartmann family, and the two newest daughters to that family were quite special, as they were sure to prove throughout their childhood. These two were prepared to take on the Arts of Warfare with the force of a furious storm, carrying the small rural town's name along with them into their spotlight.
Once
Upon
A time not far away
And the names of such striking maidens? The elder of the two was named Isabel-Justina Hartmann, and the one-year-younger girl was named Erika-Dietlinde Hartmann. Both looked identical to each other by way of physical features, exemplified by how both preferred putting their hair into a Bubischnitt, or a bob as it was known to English-speakers. What differentiated them was the color of their hair and eyes. Isabel had black hair with brown eyes while Erika had blonde hair and blue eyes.
We
Both swore
The oath to seize the day
Neither of them had wasted any time to get up and out into the world of aviation. For instance, by the time Erika was five, she was already learning the basics of air combat while six-year-old Isabel relentlessly tested her younger sister's skills. It led to several times where Isabel had to exercise a lot more authority than would be expected of someone her age, like the time Erika had foolishly run herself out of fuel for her Bf 109 B-2 and landed in the surrounding fields. The elder girl had seen a Panzer II adorned with the Dunkelgelb finish roaming around the surrounding area, and she chose to wave at it and flag it down, for she had grown an idea.
Moving on, at the speed of light
Still united, undivided
Erika whined so pitifully and nearly cried when she found herself being forced to drive the light tank just so she could tow her powerless Bruno back home. Her small stature had ached and screamed in pain while her mind called her older sister numerous unpleasant names, but she was not completely helpless, even if it was the first time she had driven a tank, though she hoped it to be the last time. Those that had operated the tank prior were so kind as to give her some pointers, especially the one with light brown hair and eyes. She found herself immediately liking that boy. She had picked up their names from hearing Isabel talk with the other boy, who looked ever-so-slightly older and had darker brown hair and eyes. Michael was what Isabel kept calling the more mature-looking one, and the name Manfred had come up a few times, which was met with a turning of the head from the younger of the two boys. Erika found herself mentally giggling when she heard Michael first introduce himself to Isabel with the Nishizumi surname. To the blonde, the name sounded so out-of-place on someone who was so obviously German in attitude and appearance that it was just funny.
We're sisters in arms
Though quite forceful in her will, Isabel was not heartless. Far from it, in fact. After making Erika drive the Panzer, she spent the rest of the day with her playing games and just generally being a kind and caring older sister. That came to her as naturally as breathing did, just as naturally as flying came to both of them.
Earning our gold and glory
The reverse was also true. Erika absolutely adored her elder sister, even during times where she thought Isabel was just evil. So when she got wind that Isabel had claimed the spot of number one ace in the secondary school circuit of the Arts of Warfare that season despite only being in her first year of Gymnasium, the just recently turned ten-year-old Erika mentally congratulated her. She would've loved to congratulate her physically with a hug, but Erika was still only in Grundschule, though thankfully it was her last year. Then she would ascend to secondary school and join Isabel aboard the Graf Zepellin, the massive Schulschiff that housed Schwarzwaldspitze Gymnasium.
Stay true to your heart (Hey!)
Come follow, heed the call
To pass that time quicker, Erika had made some friends over the course of primary school. She had, of course, Manfred Nishizumi, younger brother to Michael, but she had some others as well. Those she had included Gertrud Königsberg, nicknamed Trudi, a brunette girl originally from Neckarsulm that was not the easiest to get along with on a good day, and downright hostile on a bad day; Heidemarie Wiese, also called Heidi, an almost eternally hyper girl looking for her place in the world; and Johanna Bär, or sometimes Hanna for short, the Fußballer of the foursome, and quite good at it, too.
But nothing's forever
No, nothing at all!
"Tell me, Isabel. Why did you ram her?" Erika insistently asked her older sister one evening. She had a gaze that expressed her unwillingness to leave Isabel be until she had an answer for why the black-haired girl had done something so unbecoming of someone with such great experience, which had incited grave future consequences that threatened to end one of the blonde girl's friendships. Though by now shorter than her sister since Isabel had already started puberty, Erika did not waver under her sister's gaze.
Isabel looked away for a split-second as guilt flashed across her face, but she schooled her features back to conceal that. Her guilt level was bad enough when she had pissed off Trudi to almost mythical proportions with just her appearance. Isabel did not wish to be the reason her younger sister lost a good friend. If that happened, she figured she would lose Erika the same way. That would be quite the summer break for her. "I got too impatient," the black-haired eleven-year-old reluctantly revealed. "I wanted to grab that victory so bad that I wanted it right then and there. And… well, that came back to bite me… I closed in too much and didn't realize it until it was too late."
Come
Take flight
Two templars of the skies
The only way to settle that conflict, Erika believed, was to do it the old-fashioned way, and fight. It seemed only natural since Trudi was such a hardhead and also preferred to resort to violence as a method of conflict resolution. That was why both Erika and Isabel were taking off from the fields surrounding their home, each in their own Bf 109 E-4. The younger blonde knew that this was the only way to convince Trudi that Isabel was more than meets the eye. But she knew that she also had to win to make it work, which was looking ever the more daunting of a task when the pair of Emils split off from each other to get to their starting positions, which were in opposite directions from each other. Despite the sheer talent Erika had, Isabel was still an extremely formidable opponent.
Rise
So high
Let's fight and prove we're knights
And formidable Isabel was. She never gave Erika any time to think, constantly attacking and keeping the younger girl on alert. But Erika made her Messer dance like a ballerina to throw off her opponent and saw exactly what the elder girl's plan was. So the next time Isabel made a dive to attack, Erika pulled up to meet her head-on and closed with do-or-die intent. The end result: a tie and plenty of work needed to bring the two mangled Emils back up to snuff.
On
And on
The story must go on
Running free, we always will be
A few weeks later, Isabel had her suitcase and a backpack on her shoulders as she waited along the docks of Kiel. Her summer break was up, and it was time to get back on board the Graf Zepellin. But this time, she was not returning to Schwarzwaldspitze Gymnasium on her own.
A glance out of the corner of her eye had her see Erika beside her, struggling to stay still with her own backpack over her shoulders as she fiddled with her suitcase's handle. Isabel's mouth twitched upwards in amusement. She had already predicted that having Erika back by her side would bring with it a very interesting year.
We are what we are
"Ad victoriam," was what Isabel always ended a briefing with, purposely leaving something else hang off her lips. As the Geschwaderkommodore of Schwarzwaldspitze's Jagdgeschwader, she bore a lot more responsibilities than before. It wasn't made any easier by the fact she was so far the youngest Geschwaderkommodore in Schwarzwaldspitze's history, at fifteen when she was given the spot midway through the previous season, meaning a lot was expected out of her. She had matured over the years into a very capable, responsible, and, to some, very attractive young woman. She had not lost her wings, though. Not one bit.
And we always strive for glory
"Ex machina!" was what the rest of the Jagdgeschwader chanted in response throughout the hangar, completing the motto Isabel had grown fond of. Among those was Isabel's de facto Stellvertreter, Erika, who was up near the front. She had also matured, though it was mostly a physical maturation. Mentally, she still very much embraced her inner child, which was why she often dumped any work she had to do as second-in-command onto Isabel's hands. But with her maturing also came a greater extension of herself on the battlefield, which was why Isabel trusted her completely as her Leutnant despite the blonde pushing away paperwork whenever it approached her.
Together as one (Hey!)
We shine like the sun!
The two Hartmann sisters stuck close to each other practically all the time ever since Erika ascended to secondary school. But they were not alone. Both Michael and Manfred Nishizumi were very common faces to see with the two Hartmann girls, and it wasn't by coincidence. The four of them together all shared a quaint house, after all. Only just large enough for all of them, but small enough to make it feel cozy, the house had only the necessities for all four to stay together. For instance, there were only two bedrooms, which required doubling-up. Much to Erika's protest, Isabel took the same room as her and left the Nishizumis to share the other. It was an unconventional arrangement, but it worked.
The house itself was aboard the Graf Zepellin, but the massive ship was docked in Kiel undergoing a major refit currently. So the students of Schwarzwaldspitze Gymnasium all temporarily transitioned to the land-based campus in Freiburg.
Beyond the divine, we're soaring
Let it be said that there was always a possibility of boys taking their chances with trying to woo the Hartmann girls. After all, who wouldn't want a girl as hot as either of them? Not to mention the two girls' high status? Add to that they were fucking rich, and who could resist them?
That problem was easy enough to remedy, though. Isabel simply brushed off any advances with the same indifference she always had for them, and if that wasn't enough for the black-haired girl, then Michael was always there to 'convince' any pursuers to back off. Erika, on the other hand, preferred to toy with any admirers she earned. She wasn't sadistic, no. Toying with them was simply a way to try and make sure no one would come after her. Humiliation was a powerful weapon. She wasn't looking for relationships. After all, something so serious as a relationship was not for someone so laid-back as Erika.
Shining on, so glorious
The bloodline of true warriors
Of course, one problem with Erika's attitude was that it did her no favors among the Jagdgeschwader. In fact, some actually resented her, because she seemed to put forth no effort, yet still managed to be better than everyone else in battle. That was the line of thought for one Hanna Jochen as she stared at Erika with a look of massive jealousy from across the hangar as the latter made no effort to help out the maintenance crews. With long blonde hair flowing down almost to her lower back and eyes as blue as the sky, Hanna had what could be argued as a dream body. That was thanks to her taking the initiative to become better than anyone else at being a fighter pilot and pushing herself to achieve that. And Hanna believed that Erika was an obstacle in her path of becoming the best, hence why the relatively toxic rich girl from Sindelfingen always challenged the blonde from the countryside in an effort to prove herself superior.
Fighting for the right to be
Part of the legacy!
In one instance, the challenge Hanna offered to Erika was a one-on-one dogfight with both using a Bf 109 B-2. The fight eventually ended in a draw because they both ran out of ammo, but Hanna was absolutely worthy of comparison to Erika. Though not making any logical sense in her flying, like putting herself into situations that should've ended with her getting shot down, Hanna was an extremely talented flyer. She put herself into such situations because her sheer accuracy with her shooting plus her high skill in manipulating not only her own energy, but that of her opponent as well, often enabled her to shoot down the enemy regardless. All she needed was a split-second and she could nab a kill.
Though Erika was not someone those skills could work against, because she preferred bringing herself extremely close to her enemy at high speed and firing off a quick burst, which was almost impossible to defend against when combined with her talent for maintaining the element of surprise. Erika also had grown into being able to predict her opponent, which was why Hanna could never land a shot on her. The blonde Hartmann girl would always spoil her aim just when the girl from Sindelfingen thought she had her.
Earn your rep and your riches
The gold awaits for you, my sis
Hanna and Erika had managed to attract a lot of attention to their aerial fight, aweing spectators as the two seemed to make their Brunos dance around the skies effortlessly while constantly trying to get an attack in. They had even drawn the attention of Isabel, who looked on from down below atop the turret of Tiger number 212, which was commanded by one Michael Nishizumi. Isabel's lips twitched up at the sight of the two blondes realizing they had run out of ammo. Had they the ammunition, Isabel figured the two could fight each other endlessly. They were that well-matched.
Courage is your guiding star
And it will take you far!
And of course, when the two got back down on the ground, Isabel met them partway. Both of the formerly sparring blondes looked to the black-haired Geschwaderkommodore with widened eyes filled with fear. After all, they had known that it was not in-line with the rules to take off for any reason without expressed notification, and both knew how serious Isabel was with making sure her rules were treated as law.
Instead, though, Isabel smiled. "Might I ask what you two were doing just now?" she asked in an innocent voice. Erika and Hanna, in their paranoia and irrationality caused by their fears, believed the Black Demoness was simply toying with them. Isabel did not earn that nickname for nothing, and was plenty sure both Hanna and Erika were fully aware of how she got that moniker.
"Um… Uh…" both of them stuttered, glancing at each other periodically.
While she waited for a coherent response, Isabel flipped her relatively short black hair back with a hand so the ends came to rest on the outside of her jacket's collar. Her neck had started itching from her hair and bugged her too much to ignore anymore. She had on Schwarzwaldspitze's aviator uniform, the same one that Erika and Hanna also wore at the moment, which consisted of a dark red skirt and a similarly colored button-up shirt covered by a black jacket with red accents. There was a small Iron Cross on each side of the collar, white in color. The jacket itself was similar in style to a Luftwaffe trench coat, except it was much shorter in length. It was more comparable to a normal jacket in length, and the Black Demoness had the habit of leaving it completely undone, as did her younger sister.
On one shoulder of the jacket was a patch with the German black, red, and gold tricolor, a patch that was required to be worn for identifying purposes. Occasions of taking prisoners of war within the Arts of Warfare were much more common than one might believe at first, because it was also very common for nothing less than an all-out war to be waged during the time leading up to battle, especially if both sides were both large schools. Even though the Arts of Warfare were a sporting form of combat made remarkably safer over the years, there were still fail-safes in place to prevent fatalities. The shoulder patch depicting country of allegiance was one of those. It made it easier to account for combatants and identify them, and if the world had learned anything over the course of history, it was that logistics and organization were very important.
After all was said and done, Erika limped along in the halls of the school the next day, her entire body sore. Isabel's punishment for her and Hanna was nothing less than the younger Hartmann had expected, but it still hurt like hell. She and Hanna had been forced to push their Bf 109Bs into their positions in the hangar they came from, all by themselves with absolutely no help.
The young blonde ultra-ace was practically half-dead throughout the day's lessons, but the first time she saw her best bud Manfred, she regained her life force immediately with a start. The light brunette had a massive bruise along his left cheek. It wasn't pleasing in the least to see her friend so visibly abused like that, so while she was helping however she could with getting the light brunette boy better, she had managed to cajole out of him who did that to him. She rolled her eyes exasperatedly when Manfred revealed he had never wanted her to find out. Erika thought he was just being ridiculously too humble and letting people walk all over him. But she wouldn't let anyone walk all over him, if she had a say in it.
The next day when she caught sight of him, Erika marched straight over to another boy with an absolutely livid look on her face. The most distinctive feature about the teenager was his very light blonde hair, quite unruly in a manner that only made him seem even more arrogant than was possible by the way he held himself. He heard footsteps come up behind him and turned, and Erika caught how his blue eyes widened with surprise for a split-second.
She only saw them for a split-second, because the very next split-second, she had punched him straight in the face, hard. Her fist connected hard enough to send the light blonde falling to the floor with a yelp. But Erika didn't stop there. She continued to pummel his face with the aim to make it unrecognizable using her fists and her feet. Her feet were the ever-more-painful of the two because of the blonde girl's odd preference for wearing black combat boots as everyday wear.
Erika was not able to fulfill her promise to mangle that young prick's face, because she found some arms take up residence under her shoulders and start pulling her back. Needless to say, the young blonde girl put up a fight, kicking her legs indignantly in an effort to somehow reach that bastard with her boots and smush his face in.
"Stand down, Erika!" she heard Isabel's voice sharply command her from behind. The action was enough to get her to at least take notice of everything around her, and she found out that Isabel was the one holding her back from behind. Add to that the two Nishizumi brothers being present, with Michael having a quiet discussion with the light blonde boy that was just on the receiving end of Erika's fury after helping him stand again.
Shining on, so glorious
The bloodline of true warriors
"That is Erika," Michael muttered to the other the identity of who was prepared to shove him six feet under. The light blonde had a piece of cold steak applied to one side of his face to stem the swelling. "Trust me, Erik. You don't want to piss her off…" Erik Ignatz was a rich boy hailing from Stuttgart, and while seen as relatively good-looking with his unique light blonde hair and blue eyes that were fully expressive of his moods, he did not get off on the right foot with Erika. All the blond-haired flying ace saw in Erik was an arrogant bastard who did whatever he wanted. She saw in him the one who hurt her best friend, and that was the one thing that would make her lose it.
Fighting for the right to be
Part of the legacy!
"You listen to me, and you better listen good," Erika demanded as she pressed Erik against the wall of an empty hallway a day later. Though noticeably shorter, the look of pure hatred in the girl's blue eyes made the light blonde boy shut up and listen as he stared down at her. But he also held a look of contempt as a counter, to not seem affected adversely by the blond-haired ultra-ace. "If I ever hear that you hurt Manfred Nishizumi again, then I will break every single bone in your body, slowly, intimately, and just when your voice gives out from your endless screaming, I'll split your skull!" Erika fisted Erik's shirt with both of her small, feminine hands that were paradoxically flexed in anger, and brought his head closer to her own to make sure he could fully comprehend the next words she snarled out. "I will make you long for something as sweet as pain!"
Earn your rep and your riches
The gold awaits for you, my sis
"What did you do to him?" Manfred asked Erika a day after she confronted Erik again with his eyebrow raised. The younger Nishizumi asked such because he found it odd that Erik wasn't acting like his usual self: an arrogant prick that loves to hear his own voice, as Erika once so eloquently put it. No. The snowball-head, once again a name originated from the blond-haired ultra-ace, was instead doing well to stay out of Manfred's way. The rich boy from Stuttgart didn't pass up the chance to snarl at Erika, though.
The blond-haired ultra-ace simply shrugged off Manfred's question with nonchalance. "I don't know what you're talking about," she innocently said with an idle smile.
Courage is your guiding star
And it will take you far!
"Everyone, pack your bags," Michael Nishizumi announced to all of Schwarzwaldspitze's combatants out on the runway one evening. "We're heading to Bad Zwischenahn."
Erika and Manfred, at the front beside each other, raised both eyebrows in surprise and looked at each other with that same expression. They both knew that Michael was implying they had a practice match set up, though against who they did not yet know. Erika looked directly at Isabel with a questioning look. The black-haired Geschwaderkommodore was alongside Michael since they were both the captains of their respective forces, Michael leading the Panzerwaffe and Isabel leading the Jagdwaffe.
The Black Demoness returned a look to Erika in response. It was a grin that showed teeth, but was relatively dark and predatory in nature. She also had a fire in her eyes as her competitive spirit flared up again. It was a look that Erika understood meant she was basically saying her favorite saying, 'Ad victoriam.'
Erika grew a similar grin, showing off her own teeth in a somewhat predatory nature along with her own flare of competitiveness reaching her eyes, and she responded wordlessly, 'Ex machina.'
The two young Hartmann girls, hailing from Weissach, finally had the opportunity needed to satisfy their massive thirst for increasing their kill count. They were both born to fly, and they both lived to achieve glory. They already had the glory of having the Hartmann name, but they wanted to go further and push themselves to be even better than their ancestor that put the name on the map in the first place.
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Part of Projekt Erika.
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The author doesn't claim to own "Girls und Panzer," the music used, or any other references made. "Girls und Panzer" belongs to Actas. The music belongs to Hammerfall. Any references made belong to their respective owners.
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